Heat transfer to liquid drops passing through an immiscible liquid medium between tilted parallel-plate electrodes

This paper describes an experimental examination of a novel scheme of enhan cing heat (or mass) transfer in liquid-liquid dispersed systems: one liquid is released in the form of drops into a continuous medium of another immis cible, less electrically-conducting liquid which is confined by a pair of p arallel-plate electrodes tilted from the vertical. Each drop is driven by a Coulombic force to bounce back and forth between the electrodes while fall ing down (or rising up) along the axis of tilt of the electrodes due to gra vity, thereby following a zigzag trajectory. An increase in the strength of the electric field should enhance the instantaneous heat transfer to or fr om the drop, while an increase in the tilt angle of the electrodes should l engthen the drop-medium contact time. The heat transfer to single water dro ps passing through a silicone-oil medium between a pair of tilted parallel- plate electrodes has been studied by use of a thermochromic liquid-crystal thermometry technique. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.