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Evelyn N. Wang. Queeney, John (John Keeler) Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering 2016-01-15T21:10:59Z 2016-01-15T21:10:59Z 2015 2015 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/100886 933610023 Thesis: S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2015. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (pages 28). Car air conditioning systems cool the entire cabin, which is inefficient, as only the air surrounding the passengers needs to be cooled to realize a similar effect. These air conditioning units draw large amounts of power, enough to be detrimental to fuel efficiency. This presents problems for cars with smaller engines and electric cars that lack the battery capacity to provide adequate cooling with traditional air conditioning technology. A novel solution to these problems uses evaporative cooling via jumping droplet condensation on superhydrophobic surfaces to provide localized cooling with 100 times less power input. Jumping droplet condensation takes place when microscale droplets coalesce on superhydrophobic surfaces and excess surface energy is converted to kinetic energy, resulting in droplets that jump perpendicularly off the surface. As these droplets fall through the air, they evaporate, cooling the surrounding air and providing localized cooling. To test this technology, a prototype device was designed, fabricated, and tested at different relative humidities in an environmental chamber. Cooling of up to 4.8°C relative to ambient was achieved at 80% relative humidity, 4 cm from the condensing surface. This result suggests an optimal humidity for the operation of these devices and prompts further lines of study for the optimization of this technology. by John Queeney. S.B. 38 pages eng Massachusetts Institute of Technology 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 Mechanical Engineering. Evaporative cooling via jumping droplet condensation on superhydrophobic surfaces for localized car air conditioning Thesis application/pdf false Publication unknown unknown <Publication xmlns="https://www.openaire.eu/cerif-profile/1.1/" id="b1646486-d649-4b74-a0be-e7d41bd40f74"> <Type xmlns="https://www.openaire.eu/cerif-profile/vocab/COAR_Publication_Types">http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_1843</Type> <Language>eng</Language> <Title>Evaporative cooling via jumping droplet condensation on superhydrophobic surfaces for localized car air conditioning</Title> <PublishedIn> <Publication> </Publication> </PublishedIn> <PublicationDate>2015</PublicationDate> <Authors> <Author> <DisplayName>Queeney, John (John Keeler)</DisplayName> <Affiliation> <OrgUnit> </OrgUnit> </Affiliation> </Author> </Authors> <Editors> </Editors> <Publishers> <Publisher> <DisplayName>Massachusetts Institute of Technology</DisplayName> <OrgUnit /> </Publisher> </Publishers> <License>http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582</License> <Keyword>Mechanical Engineering.</Keyword> <Abstract>Car air conditioning systems cool the entire cabin, which is inefficient, as only the air surrounding the passengers needs to be cooled to realize a similar effect. These air conditioning units draw large amounts of power, enough to be detrimental to fuel efficiency. This presents problems for cars with smaller engines and electric cars that lack the battery capacity to provide adequate cooling with traditional air conditioning technology. A novel solution to these problems uses evaporative cooling via jumping droplet condensation on superhydrophobic surfaces to provide localized cooling with 100 times less power input. Jumping droplet condensation takes place when microscale droplets coalesce on superhydrophobic surfaces and excess surface energy is converted to kinetic energy, resulting in droplets that jump perpendicularly off the surface. As these droplets fall through the air, they evaporate, cooling the surrounding air and providing localized cooling. To test this technology, a prototype device was designed, fabricated, and tested at different relative humidities in an environmental chamber. Cooling of up to 4.8°C relative to ambient was achieved at 80% relative humidity, 4 cm from the condensing surface. This result suggests an optimal humidity for the operation of these devices and prompts further lines of study for the optimization of this technology.</Abstract> <Access xmlns="http://purl.org/coar/access_right" > </Access> </Publication>