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Full-Text Articles in Mechanical Engineering

Bubble Nucleation In Superhydrophobic Microchannels Due To Subcritical Heating, Adam Cowley, Daniel Maynes, Julie Crockett, Brian D. Iverson Jun 2018

Bubble Nucleation In Superhydrophobic Microchannels Due To Subcritical Heating, Adam Cowley, Daniel Maynes, Julie Crockett, Brian D. Iverson

Faculty Publications

This work experimentally studies the effects of single wall heating on laminar flow in a high-aspect ratio superhydrophobic microchannel. When water that is saturated with air is used as the working liquid, the non-wetted cavities on the superhydrophobic surfaces act as nucleation sites and allow air to effervesce out of the water and onto the surface when heated. Previous works in the literature have only considered the opposite case where the water is undersaturated and absorbs air out the cavities for a microchannel setting. The microchannel considered in this work consists of a rib/cavity structured superhydrophobic surface and a glass …


Numerical Analysis Of An Electrical Transformer With Fins And Horizontal Pins, Sean Ferneyhough May 2018

Numerical Analysis Of An Electrical Transformer With Fins And Horizontal Pins, Sean Ferneyhough

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Three-dimensional numerical simulations are run on a cylindrical electrical transformer that is generating heat in order to study the resulting natural convection that is driven by density variation. The transformer generates a constant heat flux and is incased in a sleeve with radial fins. At first, the sleeve is analyzed without fins and compared to an analytical solution in order to validate the numerical simulations. Next, fins are added to the sleeve in order to maximize the heat transfer from the transformer. Heat transfer from the sleeve per number of fins is to be determined. Small pins are then added …


Thermomagnetic Convective Cooling Of Hall Effect Thruster, Elizabeth M. Vanheusden Jan 2018

Thermomagnetic Convective Cooling Of Hall Effect Thruster, Elizabeth M. Vanheusden

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This work proposes and shows that thermomagnetic convection could be used in zero gravity to cool components of a Hall-effect thruster. A ferrofluid cavity was develop in the thermal and geometric model of a Hall-effect thruster. Simulations show that with an Ionic Liquid Ferrofluid after two minutes of thruster operations thermomagnetic convection occurs and in zero gravity will produce a larger velocity then natural convection that occurs in earth gravity. However, experiments did not result in heat transfer enhancement due to the limitation of the ferrofluid. Replacement of the Ferrotec EFH1 dispersant with dodecylbenzene did not result in Ionic Liquid …