Heat Transfer Interface And Method Of Improving Heat Transfer
An embodiment of a heat transfer interface includes a solid material having first and second surfaces, and a nanotube forest covering at least a portion of the first surface, In operation in a heat exchanger, the heat transfer interface transmits heat from a first side to a second side of the heat transfer interface. An embodiment of a method of improving heat transfer in a heat exchanger includes applying a nanotube forest to a heat transfer surface of a heat transfer interface and installing the heat transfer interface in the heat exchanger.
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This application is the national phase application of International application number PCT/US2010/026560, filed Mar. 8, 2010, which claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/159,017, filed on Mar. 10, 2009, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
STATEMENT OF GOVERNMENT SUPPORTThis invention was made with government support under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231 awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy. The government has certain rights in this invention.
FIELD OF THE INVENTIONThe present invention relates to the field of heat exchange and, more particularly, to the field of heat exchange where a surface enhancement provides improved heat exchange.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThere is currently great interest in alternative energy sources including wind, geothermal, tidal, and solar. Solar energy has excellent long term potential. There are two major “direct” ways to extract energy from sunlight, which are to generate electricity in a photovoltaic cell or to generate heat that is then converted to electricity (e.g., the heat may be used to generate steam, which is used to drive a turbine that generates electricity). The latter is referred to as thermo-solar. Two key elements in thermo-solar are absorption of sunlight (i.e. radiant heat transfer or collection and heat transfer to a fluid (i.e. conduction and convection near an interface between a solid and a fluid).
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONAccording to an embodiment, the present invention is a heat transfer interface that includes a solid material having first and second surfaces, and a nanotube forest covering at least a portion of the first surface. In operation in a heat exchanger, the heat transfer interface transmits heat from a first side to a second side of the heat transfer interface.
According to another embodiment, the present invention is a method of improving heat transfer in a heat exchanger that includes applying a nanotube forest to a heat transfer surface of a heat transfer interface and installing the heat transfer interface in the heat exchanger.
The present invention is described with respect to particular exemplary embodiments thereof and reference is accordingly made to the drawings in which:
An embodiment of a heat transfer interface of the present invention is illustrated in
Another embodiment of a heat transfer interface of the present invention is illustrated in
It will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art that the radiation heat transfer for the heat transfer interface 200 may be away from the nanotube forest 108 to some radiation absorbing body that is at a temperature lower than a temperature of the nanotube forest 108.
Another embodiment of a heat transfer interface of the present invention is illustrated in
It will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art that convection heat transfer of the heat transfer interface 300 may be from the fluid 316 to the nanotube forest 108 of the interface 200.
Another embodiment of a heat transfer interface of the present invention is illustrated in
It will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art that that various modifications may be made to the heat transfer interface 400 such as including a superhydrophilic surface treatment for the nanotube forest 108.
An embodiment of a heat transfer interface of the present invention may include a cylinder that is illustrated in
An embodiment of a cylindrical heat transfer interface of the present invention is illustrated in
Another embodiment of a cylindrical heat transfer interface of the present invention is illustrated in
It will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art that various modifications may be made to the cylindrical heat transfer interfaces, 600 (
An embodiment of a heat exchanger of the present invention is illustrated in
A method of improving heat transfer within a heat exchanger in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention includes applying a nanotube forest to a heat transfer surface of a heat transfer interface and installing the heat transfer interface in the heat exchanger. The method may further comprise applying a superhydrophilic surface treatment to the nanotube forest.
Carbon nanotube forests have been applied to solid material substrates using a CVD technique (e.g., see Wang, K., et al., Proc. SPIE 2005, 5718, 22-29), which was modified as follows. To increase forest adhesion to a substrate, a 10 nm thick Fe catalyst film was applied to the substrate prior to applying the carbon nanotube forest to the substrate. Also, a high ethylene concentration was used during nanotube growth. Specifically, flowing pure ethylene at 200 sccm for 10 min. at a growth temperature of 750° C. resulted in forests with an average nanotube diameter of approximately 40 nm. The as-grown forests were resistant to deformation by strong solvent streams and significant mechanical pressure and scratching. It is believed that the observed durability stems form a cementing effect caused by amorphous carbon deposited on the nanotube surface during growth.
Substrates having a carbon nanotube forest on at least a portion of a surface were subject to a superhydrophilic surface treatment using a perflouroazide as schematically illustrated in
It is understood that the examples and embodiments described herein are for illustrative purposes only and that various modifications or changes in light thereof will be suggested to persons skilled in the art and are to be included within the spirit and purview of this application and scope of the appended claims. All publications, patents, and patent applications cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes.
Claims
1. A heat transfer interface comprising:
- a solid material having first and second surfaces; and
- a nanotube forest covering at least a portion of the first surface,
- wherein in operation in a heat exchanger, the heat transfer interface transmits heat from a first side to a second side of the heat transfer interface.
2. The heat transfer interface of claim 1 wherein the nanotube forest comprises carbon nanotubes.
3. The heat transfer interface of claim 1 wherein in operation of the heat exchanger, the first surface receives radiant energy.
4. The heat transfer interface of claim 3 wherein the radiant energy comprises sunlight.
5. The heat transfer interface of claim 1 wherein in operation of the heat exchanger, the first surface transmits heat to a fluid.
6. The heat transfer interface of claim 5 wherein the fluid is a liquid.
7. The heat transfer interface of claim 6 wherein the nanotube forest further comprises a superhydrophilic surface treatment.
8. The heat transfer interface of claim 1 further comprising a second nanotube forest covering at least a portion of the second surface.
9. The heat transfer interface of claim 8 wherein in operation of the heat exchanger, the first surface receives radiant energy, thereby producing heat in the solid material, and the second surface transmits the heat to a fluid.
10. The heat transfer interface of claim 9 wherein the fluid is a liquid.
11. The heat transfer interface of claim 10 wherein the nanotube forest further comprises a superhydrophilic surface treatment.
12. A heat transfer interface comprising:
- a solid material having first and second surfaces;
- a first nanotube forest covering at least a portion of the first surface; and
- a second nanotube forest covering at least a portion of the second surface, the second nanotube forest comprising a superhydrophilic surface treatment,
- wherein in operation in a heat exchanger, the heat transfer interface transmits heat from a first side to a second side of the heat transfer interface.
13. The heat transfer interface of claim 12 wherein in operation of the heat exchanger, the first surface receives radiant energy that produces heat within the solid material and the second surface transfers the heat to a liquid.
14. The heat transfer interface of claim 13 wherein the liquid comprises water.
15. A method of improving heat transfer in a heat exchanger comprising:
- applying a nanotube forest to a heat transfer surface of a heat transfer interface; and
- installing the heat transfer interface in the heat exchanger.
16. The method of improving the heat transfer of claim 15 further comprising operating the heat exchanger.
17. The method of improving the heat transfer of claim 16 wherein the heat transfer surface receives radiant energy.
18. The method of improving the heat transfer of claim 16 wherein the heat transfer surface transfers heat to a fluid.
19. The method of improving the heat transfer of claim 18 wherein the fluid is a liquid.
20. The method of improving the heat transfer of claim 19 further comprising applying a superhydrophilic treatment to the nanotube forest.
21. The heat transfer interface of claim 1 wherein in operation of the heat exchanger, the first surface transmits radiant energy.
22. The heat transfer interface of claim 21 wherein the radiant energy comprises sunlight.
23. The heat transfer interface of claim 1 wherein in operation of the heat exchanger, the first surface transmits heat from a fluid.
24. The heat transfer interface of claim 23 wherein the fluid is a liquid.
25. The heat transfer interface of claim 24 wherein the nanotube forest further comprises a superhydrophilic surface treatment.
26. The method of improving the heat transfer of claim 16 wherein the heat transfer surface transmits radiant energy.
27. The method of improving the heat transfer of claim 16 wherein the heat transfer surface transfers heat from a fluid.
28. The method of improving the heat transfer of claim 27 wherein the fluid is a liquid.
29. The method of improving the heat transfer of claim 28 further comprising applying a superhydrophilic treatment to the nanotube forest.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 8, 2010
Publication Date: May 17, 2012
Applicant: The Regents of the University of California (Oakland, CA)
Inventor: Alexander K. Zettl (Kensington, CA)
Application Number: 13/255,876
International Classification: F28F 7/00 (20060101); B21D 53/02 (20060101);