MIT Libraries logoDSpace@MIT

MIT
View Item 
  • DSpace@MIT Home
  • MIT Libraries
  • MIT Theses
  • Undergraduate Theses
  • View Item
  • DSpace@MIT Home
  • MIT Libraries
  • MIT Theses
  • Undergraduate Theses
  • View Item
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Condensation on superhydrophobic copper oxide nanostructures

Author(s)
Dou, Nicholas (Nicholas Gang)
Thumbnail
DownloadFull printable version (2.911Mb)
Other Contributors
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.
Advisor
Evelyn N. Wang.
Terms of use
M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582
Metadata
Show full item record
Abstract
Condensation is an important process in many power generation and water desalination technologies. Superhydrophobic nanostructured surfaces have unique condensation properties that may enhance heat transfer through a mechanism driven by surface tension. The increased droplet removal rate and reduced size of departing droplets facilitates improvements over traditional filmwise and dropwise condensation. This work investigates copper oxide nanostructures as a potential substrate for superhydrophobic condensation. We first explored and refined a procedure for creating and functionalizing oxide nanostructures on copper surfaces. The condensation behavior of these samples was characterized using an optical microscope and an environmental scanning electron microscope by quantifying the distribution of nucleation sites and droplet growth behavior. Using the knowledge gained from these studies, an experimental test bed was designed and fabricated to measure macro-scale condensation heat transfer for flat and tubular sample geometries. Preliminary results validate previous theoretical and experimental studies of filinwise condensation and demonstrate heat transfer enhancement with dropwise condensation. The copper oxide nanostructures exhibited jumping, which shows the effectiveness of the synthesis procedure.
Description
Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2012.
 
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
 
Includes bibliographical references (p. 33).
 
Date issued
2012
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/74515
Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Keywords
Mechanical Engineering.

Collections
  • Undergraduate Theses

Browse

All of DSpaceCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

My Account

Login

Statistics

OA StatisticsStatistics by CountryStatistics by Department
MIT Libraries
PrivacyPermissionsAccessibilityContact us
MIT
Content created by the MIT Libraries, CC BY-NC unless otherwise noted. Notify us about copyright concerns.