An Overview of the Heat Transfer Performance of Nanofluids in Spray Cooling

  • Roy J. ISSA
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  • College of Engineering, West Texas A&M University, Canyon, Texas 79016, USA

Online published: 2025-07-04

Copyright

Science Press, Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, CAS and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2025

Abstract

With the growing need for greater cooling capacity in electronic and heat exchange systems, significant attention has been directed toward improving the heat transfer by incorporating nanoparticles into the base fluid. While the use of nanoparticles in spray cooling shows promise for enhancing heat transfer, additional clarification is required. The paper compiles empirical data from existing literature focusing on spray cooling using nanofluids. Its objective is to clarify how nanoparticles impact the efficiency of spray heat transfer and investigate the effects of factors such as spray Weber number, nanoparticle concentration and droplet spread. Gathered data reveal that when compared to water droplets, nanofluid droplets exhibited more extensive surface spreading at low impinging droplet Weber numbers. Data also show that the heat transfer effectiveness of nanofluid sprays at the critical heat flux and film boiling temperature decreases with the increase in the spray Weber number. At the critical heat flux temperature and for intermediate spray Weber numbers, sprays utilizing nanofluids are more effective than sprays utilizing pure water; however, the situation reverses when dealing with exceedingly high Weber numbers. The data indicate that for surfaces heated within the film boiling range, it remains unclear whether sprays containing nanoparticles demonstrate higher heat transfer efficiency compared to sprays using pure water alone. For surfaces heated to the critical heat flux temperature, there is a critical nanoparticle concentration below which spraying with pure water is more effective than spraying with a nanofluid. However, for surfaces heated to temperatures near the Leidenfrost point, there is no clear indication that nanoparticle concentration plays a role. With the introduction of nanoparticles into sprays, there is a tendency for both the critical heat flux and the Leidenfrost temperatures to shift to a higher temperature range and to increase with the increase in nanoparticle concentration.

Cite this article

Roy J. ISSA . An Overview of the Heat Transfer Performance of Nanofluids in Spray Cooling[J]. Journal of Thermal Science, 2025 , 34(4) : 1301 -1313 . DOI: 10.1007/s11630-025-2099-0

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