Electrowetting modulated enhancement of critical heat flux in pool boiling

Critical heat flux (CHF) represents the upper limit for nucleate boiling, beyond which heat transfer de-teriorates due to the boiling regime transition to film boiling. This paper reports a new strategy for CHF enhancement by employing electrowetting (EW) to tailor the far-field and near-field effects of CHF. With electrowetting, the instability of liquid-vapor interface is amplified due to the reduction in the hydrody-namic wavelength, apparent contact angle is reduced and the bubble's lateral expansion over the heating surface is refrained by a resistive electric force, all contributing to CHF improvement. A comprehensive theoretical model is developed to understand the effects of the electric field on various aspects of CHF. Experiments are conducted to demonstrate the feasibility of this CHF enhancement strategy and to vali-date the theoretical model.(c) 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.