The effect of electric field on heart and mass transfer

The process of evaporation from flat and cylindrical surfaces into an air stream flowing tangentially to them has been experimentally investigated. An electric field has been induced in the system from an emitting electrode in the form of needles arranged in a plate placed above the grounded water surface. A decisive effect of the ion-drag force pn the evaporation process has been confirmed in the experiments proving that the ionic wind had intensified the process. About 8-fold increase in the average values of the heat and mass transfer coefficients caused by an electric field of an intensity 5 kV/cm in comparison with those obtained without the field has been observed. General correlations relating the evaporation rate to the process parameters have been suggested. The system under consideration can be treated as a model one for a solid dried at a constant rate period. The drying experiments with a kaolin plate have been carried out under conditions corresponding to those applied in water evaporation from a flat surface to provide the same values of the heat and mass transfer coefficients. Intensification of the drying process by the electric field, similar to that of water evaporation, has been recorded. Copyright (C) 1996 by Marcel Dekker, Inc.