Advanced Heat and Mass Transfer by Amir Faghri, Yuwen Zhang, and John R.

Howell

1.5 Modern Applications of Heat and Mass

Transfer
1.5.1 Energy Systems

Selected applications of multiphase systems in these technologies

are reviewed in this section.
Alternate sustainable and renewable energy sources must be
further developed to ensure an adequate supply of energy in the
future.
Sources being developed include

Solar
Wind
Geothermal
Biomass
Photosynthesis
Hydro
Photovoltaic

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Advanced Heat and Mass Transfer by Amir Faghri, Yuwen Zhang, and John R. Howell

1.5.1 Energy Systems

Thermal Energy Storage

The major barrier to more widespread use of solar

energy is its periodic feature, i.e., it is available only
during daytime, and so a heat storage device is needed
to store energy and release it for use at night.
The latent heat thermal energy storage system, which
utilizes phase-change materials (PCMs) to absorb and
release heat, is widely used for this purpose.
The PCM in the thermal energy storage system is molten
when the system absorbs heat, and it solidifies when the
system releases heat.
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1.5.1 Energy Systems

The advantages of the latent heat thermal

energy storage system are

a large amount of heat can be absorbed and

released at a constant temperature
the size of the latent heat thermal energy
system is considerably smaller than its
counterpart using sensible heat thermal
energy storage.

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1.5.1 Energy Systems

High-Capacity Active Cooling Systems

A photovoltaic (solar) cell directly converts light energy

into electrical energy without going through thermal
energy
Cells must be properly cooled to avoid irreversible
damage or efficiency loss
Necessary to maintain a low and uniform cell temperature
while minimizing power consumption

Passive cooling sufficient for single cells

Active cooling necessary for densely packed cells under high
concentrations

Cooling technologies include liquid impingement, microchannels,

and two-phase cooling devices

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Advanced Heat and Mass Transfer by Amir Faghri, Yuwen Zhang, and John R. Howell

1.5.1 Energy Systems

Controlled Rate of Combustion

Combustion is a chemical reaction process between a fuel and an

oxidant that produces high-temperature gases
Systems must be modeled to include many considerations

Simultaneous heat and mass transfer between the fuel and mainstream
flow
Conductive and convective heat transfer
Multi-component nature of real fuels
Effect of realistic pressure and temperature levels on latent heat and
diffusion coefficients
Non-homogenous flow patterns from complexities of combustion of solid
fuel

Fluid mechanics and heat transfer control rate of energy addition to

the cycle
Accurate prediction is critical to successful combustor design
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1.5.1 Energy Systems

Fuel Cells

A fuel cell is an electrochemical energy device that converts the chemical energy in
the fuel directly into electrical energy.
It is becoming increasingly attractive alternatives to other conversion technologies,
from small-scale passive devices like batteries to large-scale thermodynamic cycle
engines.
Unlike conventional power devices, i.e., steam turbines, gas turbines and internal
combustion engines, which are based on certain thermal cycles, the maximum
efficiency of fuel cells is not limited by the Carnot cycle principle.
A fuel cell generally functions as follows:
1.
2.
3.

electrons are released from the oxidation of fuel at the anode,

protons (or ions) pass through a layer of electrolyte,
the electrons are required for reduction of an oxidant at the cathode.

The desired output is the largest flow of electrons possible over the highest electric
potential.
Although other oxidants such as the halogens have been used where high efficiency
is critical, oxygen is the standard because of its availability in the atmosphere.
Fuel cells typically use hydrogen, carbon monoxide or hydrocarbon fuels (i.e.,
methane, methanol).
The hydrogen and carbon monoxide fuels may be the products of catalytically
processed hydrocarbons.
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1.5.1 Energy Systems

Oxidant
(e.g., Oxygen, Air.)
Reactant Products
(e.g., H2O, CO2 .) & Heat

Cathode
Load

Electrolyte

e-

Anode

Fuel
(e.g., H2,

CH4, CO, CH3OH.)

Figure 1.16 Fuel cell schematic.

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1.5.1 Energy Systems

In the first case, the oxidant at the cathode combines with

electrons, which tend to circumvent the electrolyte, and
becomes anions which travel through the electrolyte to the
anode
At the anode, the anions give up their electrons and combine
with hydrogen to form water.
The water, depleted fuel, and products are exhausted from
the anode surface, and the depleted oxidant and products are
exhausted from the cathode surface.
In the second case, where the electrolyte conducts cations,
the hydrogen containing fuel is decomposed
electrochemically, giving up electrons and leaving hydrogen
cations to travel through the electrolyte.
Upon reaching the cathode the cations combine
electrochemically with the oxidant and electrons, which tend
to circumvent the electrolyte to form water.
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1.5.1 Energy Systems

There are several types of fuel cells, and

they belong to either of the two cases just
described.

Anion-conducting electrolyte fuel cells

Alkaline fuel cells
Solid oxide fuel cells

Cation-conducting electrolyte fuel cells

Phosphoric acid fuel cells
Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells.

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1.5.1 Energy Systems

The best candidate as an alternative energy

source is the Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel
Cell (PEMFC)

Lightweight
Durable
High power density
Rapid adjustment to power demand
Can be fueled by either hydrogen or methanol

A PEMFC can be subdivided into three parts

Membrane Electrode Assemblies (MEAs)

Gas Diffusion Layers (GDLs)
Bipolar plates

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1.5.1 Energy Systems

Gas Diffusion Layer

Catalyst Layer

Proton Exchange Membrane

Bipolar Plate

Bipolar Plate
-

H2O

H2O
H+

H+

H2

O2

H2

O2

Figure 1.17 Basic construction of a typical PEM fuel cell stack (Faghri and Guo, 2005)
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1.5.1 Energy Systems

The MEA
Key component of the PEMFC
Composed of a proton exchange membrane sandwiched
between two fuel cell electrodes
The anode where hydrogen is oxidized
The cathode where oxygen form air is reduced
A gas diffusion layer is formed from a porous material that
has
High electric conductivity
High gas permeability
High surface area
Good water management characteristics
One side of the bipolar plate is next to the cathode of a
cell
Other side of the plate is next to the anode of the
neighboring cell

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1.5.1 Energy Systems

The fuel cell stack consists of a repeated, interleaved structure of

MEAs, GDLs and bipolar plates
Flow channels essential for flow distribution

Typically on the order of a 1 mm hydraulic diameter

As shown in Fig. 1.17, one channel wall is porous (gas diffusion

layer)

This falls into the range of minichannels hydraulic diameters from 0.2
to 3 mm

Mass transfer occurs on this wall along its length.

Hydrogen is consumed on the anode side along the main flow

dimension in minichannels.
Oxygen from air is introduced on cathode side to form water at
catalyst sites at the cathode
This water is transported into the minichannels through the gas
diffusion layer. then removed from the cell by the gas flow (and
gravity, if so oriented)

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1.5.1 Energy Systems

Fuel cell efficiency

Operating temperature determines the maximum theoretical

voltage at which a fuel cell can operate.

Higher temperatures correspond to lower theoretical maximum

voltages and lower efficiencies
However, high temperature at the electrodes increases
electrochemical activity, which increases efficiency
Higher operation temperature also improves the quality
(exergy) of the waste heat

Increasing pressure increase both maximum theoretical

voltage and electrochemical activity

However, cell efficiency is lowered by

Electrical resistance in the electrodes and corresponding

connections
Ionic resistance
Electrical conductivity in the electrolyte

Efficiency also effected by mass transport of products to the

electrodes, as well as product permeation through the
electrolyte

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1.5.2 Biological and Biomedical Systems

Transport phenomena research in biological

systems is being done to understand and control
transport phenomena at the cellular level.
By doing so, we can

Develop novel targeted therapies, including

therapies based upon advances in nanotechnology
Pursue advances in pharmacology, including drug
discovery and screening, pharmaceutical
manufacturing, and drug delivery
Investigate tissue engineering

Study of the thermal sciences will significantly

contribute to improved health and environment.

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1.5.2 Biological and Biomedical Systems

Heat and mass transfer in single cell, tissue, and organs has been
investigated because their structure must allow rapid exchange of
molecules between blood and tissues (Truskey et al., 2003).
Although transport process occurs in all organs, the effect is very
significant in some organs such as cardiovascular and respiratory
system, the gastrointestinal tract, the liver and kidneys.

The cardiovascular system transports oxygen within red cells and

removes carbon dioxide.
In the respiratory system, oxygen delivers to tissues when it is
metabolized and removal of carbon dioxide.
Digestion and absorption of nutrition are done in gastrointestinal track.
Liver perform metabolic function such as carbohydrate storage and
release, cholesterol metabolism, synthesis of plasma and transport
proteins including removing toxic molecules from the blood.
Kidneys are responsible for removal of urine and water products.

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1.5.2 Biological and Biomedical Systems

In a number of diseases, alternation of transport

processes are very important factors.
In the area biomedical engineering, understanding of
transport phenomena plays an essential role on design
of replacement tissues, and delivery of drugs.
The Drug Delivery Devices (DDDs) are polymer porous
devices with pores interacted for drug loading and
release.

These DDDs can be implanted or taken orally by the patient.

The drug can be either released continuously or distributed in
discrete alternating sections to achieve a pulse release.
The pattern for drug release can be controlled by varying local
porosity within the DDDs.
Understanding of transport phenomena during the
manufacturing processes is the key to achieve desired porosity
and porous structure.

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1.5.2 Biological and Biomedical Systems

A cell is regarded as the basic organizing unit of life and

cell biology plays essential roles in human disease, such
as bacterial infections and cancer.
The cells are usually in thermal equilibrium and the
transport phenomena encountered in the cell are mainly
momentum and mass transfer.
While most existing models treat cells as well-mixed
homogeneous system, cell heterogeneity is essential to
capture many important phenomena at the cellular level.
To fully understand the role of transport phenomena in
the cellular level, it is essential to develop more
sophisticated models incorporating non-Newtonian
mechanics, heterogeneities, time-dependence and
stochastic fluctuations.
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1.5.2 Biological and Biomedical Systems

Lasers have been widely used in medical applications for

more than three decades. The majority of those
applications involve thermal effects.

In laser coagulation, laser beams can cause immediate

irreversible damage of pathological cells by heating them to
above 60oC.
In laser surgery, the laser beam can vaporize and cut tissues
like a scalpel when tissue temperature is heated to as high as
100oC.

No matter which treatment a doctor performs, a thorough

understanding of the damage distribution within both the
pathological tissue and the surrounding healthy tissue is
imperative.
During laser processing of pathobiological materials,
plasma can be formed and it will interact with the laser
beam.
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1.5.2 Biological and Biomedical Systems

Cryopreservation uses liquid nitrogen to

deep-freeze, and thus preserve, biological
materials including oocytes, embryos,
tissues, and even entire organs.
Both freezing and thawing can cause
severe damage to the cells.
Cooling rate must be controlled to prevent
cell damage, and ensure the cells function
properly after freezing and thawing.

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1.5.2 Biological and Biomedical Systems

Damage to cells in suspension

Damage to cells in tissue

If the cooling rate is too low, cells are exposed to a

hypertonic condition for a long period and they
become pickled.
If the cooling rate is too high, intracellular ice
formation can occur.
Water in the tissues can exist as a continuous liquid
phase in a small extracellular compartment
Water in tissues can exist as a non-continuous
phases within the individual cells.

Heating rate must be controlled and optimized to

minimize cell damage during thawing

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1.5.3 Security

Security involves homeland/defense security,

food/water security, and economic security.
Topics related to transport phenomena include

Biological and chemical threat detection

Biosensors
Aerosol generation and dispersion
Distributed power generation
Portable power infrastructure
Fire protection
Particle transport

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1.5.3 Security

Creation of a real time capability of emergency response against

chemical, biological, or radioactive attacks or accidents
The long term effects of these events on the environment are also
crucial as the different substances behavior differently.

The effect of chemical agents is strongest at its initial release and

decays with time.
The effects biological agent initially increases with time until reach to
a peak, after which the effects gradually decay and eventually
disappear.
The effects of radioactive agents can take a relatively long time to see,
by which time it is often too late to undo the damages.

Diffusive and convection mass transfer plays a significant role on

prediction of propagations of these agents under different weather
conditions.
Wang et al. (2005) developed a 3-dimensional finite element model
for using Lagrangian particle transport technique to simulate
contaminant transport for emergence response.
The real-time simulation will allow instant prediction of trajectory and
risk of the contaminations of chemical, biological and radioactive
agents.
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1.5.3 Security

Figure 1.18 shows how containment

particles introduced at corner of a table
disperse in an office suite (Pepper, 2007).
The door is open and the air inlet velocity
at the door is 1 m/s. The containment
particles are transported through diffusion
and convection from the source in the
secretarys room to the managers room.

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1.5.3 Security

(a) Office configuration

u = 1 m/s

(b) Path of containment particles

Figure 1.18 Containment particle dispersion traces (Pepper, 2007)

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1.5.3 Security

Transport Phenomena in Fire Safety

Combustion and fire can both be defined as an exothermic

chemical reaction process between fuel and oxidant
Combustion is a useful process that chemical energy in
the fuel is extracted and converted to heat

Due to the small scale involved in combustion, detailed

numerical modeling of the physical and chemical processes at
highly resolved temporal and spatial scales are possible.
Takes place in a relatively small scale

Fire is the result of natural or human disasters

The large temporal and spatial scales involved in fire simulation

do not permit simulation of on set of fire because the transport
phenomena and chemical reaction during onset of the fires
occurs at the temporal and spatial scales below the resolution
limits of the most practical calculations (McGrattan et al., 2002).
Usually occurs at a very large scale

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1.5.3 Security

Fire is not considered as a design load in the prediction and evaluation of

structural performance in the current design practices.

In order to consider fire as a design load, it is imperative to develop sciencebased set of verified tools to evaluate the performance of the entire
structure under realistic fire conditions.

For example, the World Trade Center (WTC) towers could have sustained the
impact of the planes during the attack in September 11, 2001, but the resulting
fires caused structure failure and a total collapse (Usmani et al., 2003).

Since the building materials are not intended to use as fuel, the data to
characterize the fuel and the fire environment are not available (Baum, 2000);
this makes development of reliable simulation tool more challenge.

The physical and chemical phenomena occurred during fire caused

structure damage include

Fire dynamics - includes modeling and simulations of combustion, fluid

mechanics, convective heat and mass transfer, and most importantly, radiation
heat transfer in the gases (air and/or smoke)
Thermal response - involves simulation of heating and cooling of the building
materials
Structural response - involves modeling displacements, stresses, and loss of
load carrying capacity of the structure
Heat and mass transfer play dominate roles on fire dynamics and thermal
responses analysis, which subsequently provide the needed data for structure
analysis.

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1.5.4 Information Technology

The recent information technology revolution has led to

increase generation rates of heat fluxes and volumetric
energy
The operating temperatures of devices must be held to
reasonably low values to ensure their reliability.
Transport phenomena must be used to develop new,
more efficient cooling systems.
Limitations on maximum chip temperature and
constraints on the level of temperature uniformity in
electronic components can be resolved with

Heat pipes
Micro heat pipes
Miniature tubes
Heat sinks
Heat spreaders

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1.5.4 Information Technology

Heat Pipes

Heat pipes are devices used to transfer heat via

the processes of evaporation and condensation.
Relative to highly-conductive materials like
copper, they can be designed to move larger
quantities of heat over longer distances through
narrower spaces at lower temperature
differentials.

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1.5.4 Information Technology

Figure 1.19 Principle of heat pipe

with wick (Faghri, 1995).
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1.5.4 Information Technology

The wick heat pipe can operate in any orientation because it uses a wick to
distribute the liquid.
The principle of wick heat pipe operation:

Heat is applied to the evaporator section and is conducted through the wick
and liquid.
Liquid evaporates at its interface with vapor as it absorbs the applied heat.
In the condenser section, the vapor releases heat to its cooler interface with
liquid as it condenses.
In the wick, the menisci are increasingly pronounced approaching the
evaporator end due to the growing pressure drop required to draw the liquid
through the increasing length of wick.
There are additional contributions to pressure drop, such as friction of the
vapor flow and adverse orientation against gravity or other acceleration
sources.
Subsequently, the vapor pressure drops as it flows from the evaporator to the
condenser.
The friction of the liquid flow through the wick causes the liquid pressure to
drop from the condenser to the evaporator.
If the heat pipe is to function, all pressure drop sources need to be balanced by
the capillary pressure differential provided at the menisci in the capillary wick.

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1.5.4 Information Technology

Micro Heat Pipes

High local heat removal

rates
Convex but cusped
cross-sections
Hydraulic diameters from
10 to 500 m
Transfer heat only in axial
direction
Flat plate heat spreaders
Figure 1.20 Schematic of the micro heat pipe
(Khrustalev and Faghri, 1994)
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1.5.5 Nanotechnology

Ultrashort Pulse Laser Melting and Resolidification of a

Thin Metal Film

When the laser pulse is reduced, the heat flux increases.

Short-pulsed laser processing enables precise control of
the size of the heat-affected zone, the heat rate, and the
interfacial velocity.
Laser energy is first deposited into electrons on the
metal surface, which become excited and move into
deeper parts of the metal.
The electrons are diffused into deeper part of the
electron gas slower than the speed at which they collide
with and transfer energy to the lattice.
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1.5.5 Nanotechnology

If the laser pulse width is shorter than the time

required for equilibrium between electrons and
lattices, they can no longer be treated as if in
equilibrium.
The motion of the solid-liquid interface is now
governed by the nonequilibrium kinetics of
phase change.
The solid phase during melting can be
significantly overheated, while the liquid
temperature during the resolidification stage can
be significantly undercooled.
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1.5.5 Nanotechnology

Figure 1.21 Ultrafast laser surface melting of a metallic material (Wang and
Prasad, 2000; Reprinted with permission from Elsevier).
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1.5.5 Nanotechnology

Explosive Boiling during Ultrafast LaserMaterials Interaction

Material removal can be achieved by liquidvapor phase change by using an ultrafast laser
at intensity higher than that discussed above.

Normal evaporation

Occurs on the liquid surface without nucleation and is

significant only for long-pulsed lasers.

Normal boiling

Requires higher laser fluence and a sufficiently long laser

pulse to allow heterogeneous bubble nucleation of the vapor
bubble.

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1.5.5 Nanotechnology

Explosive boiling (or phase explosion)

melted material on and underneath the laser-irradiated

surface cannot boil for an ultrashort pulsed laser, because
the time scale does not allow the necessary heterogamous
nuclei to form.
The liquid is superheated to a degree past the normal
saturation temperature and approaching the thermodynamic
critical temperature, Tcr.
At the temperature close to the critical temperature,
homogeneous vapor bubble nucleation takes place at an
extremely high rate, which in turn results in the near-surface
region of the irradiated materials being ejected explosively.
The explosion creates waves on the liquid surface, and the
waves can be frozen upon rapid cooling of the surface.

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1.5.5 Nanotechnology

Figure 1.22 Frozen waves on the silicon surface

(Craciun et al., 2002; Reprinted with permission from Elsevier)

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1.5.5 Nanotechnology

Heat and Mass Transfer in Nanofluid

Inherently low thermal conductivity of the
working fluid.
Dispersion of a tiny amount of
nanoparticles in traditional fluids, which
results in nanofluids, dramatically
increases their thermal conductivities.

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1.5.5 Nanotechnology

Keblinski et al. (2002) explored the possible factors

influencing the heat transport capability of nanofluids

Brownian motion of nanoparticles

analysis showed that the Brownian motion of nanoparticles is too

slow to transport significant amount of heat through a nanofluid
several empirical correlations to predict nanofluid thermal
conductivity have been developed based Brownian motion of
nanoparticles

Molecular-level layering of the liquid at the nanoparticle surface

a model of thermal conductivity of nanofluids with interfacial shells

was made by considering the temperature distribution and liquid
layering
the liquid layering thickness cannot be determined by these models
and must be obtained by matching the experimental data.

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1.5.5 Nanotechnology

The nature of heat transport in nanoparticles

The diffuse heat transport theory is valid only if the mean

free path of phonon << size of the crystalline solid.
If the mean free path of the crystalline solid size of the
crystalline solid, the diffusive heat transport mechanism is
no longer valid and ballistic transport is more realistic.

The effects of nanoparticles clustering

Can occur if the nanoparticles are not finely dispersed in the

base fluid.
during stochastic motion of the suspended nanoparticles,
aggregation and dispersion may occur among nanoparticle
clusters and individual nanoparticles.

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