Thukral, Miljkovic speak to the future of steam condensation heat transfer

Mechanical engineering doctoral candidate Tarandeep Singh Thukral and MechSE Professor Nenad Miljkovic recently published a perspective article in the esteemed energy research journal Joule. Their paper, “Enhancement versus practicality in steam condensation heat transfer,” was written in conjunction with researchers from the Naval Nuclear Laboratory (NNL).

“We always wanted to write something to stimulate meaningful conversations about he advancement of condensation research,” Thukral noted of the perspective, for which he is the first author.

Thukral and peers from Miljkovic’s research lab have collaborated on ongoing projects with NNL researchers, such as investigating a scalable and durable anti-corrosion coating for condensation applications. What started as a systematic review of nuclear energy research findings over the last four decades evolved into a perspective piece as the team found more and more field-specific constructs that were not well-defined.

“For example, ‘durability’ is often cited, but does not have a clear definition [in the field],” Thukral explained. “Is a technology durable if it lasts for three years or fifteen years? From talking with engineers in the electric power generation industry, we learned that they think of durability as the technology persisting during the time between scheduled maintenance periods—roughly three to five years, depending on the component.”

Indeed, defining durability was already a topic of interest for the team, who are currently collaborating with NNL researchers to develop a durable and scalable dropwise condensation (DWC) technology—something that has eluded researchers for the past century despite its potential for monetary and energy savings.

“Our piece points out the dissonance between academic research and industrial needs,” Thukral said. “A lot of experiments performed in the field of steam condensation heat transfer are performed by researchers without realizing the presence of non-condensable gases in their experimental facilities—which produces unreliable data.”

In their perspective, the team discusses how emerging characterization techniques such as infrared thermometry and machine learning can overcome current limitations while improving data reliability and reproducibility. As described in their abstract, the authors “call for improved collaboration between academia and industry for better identification and solution of practical issues, which will help us not only enhance the field of DWC but also realize energy sustainability in a rapidly decarbonizing world.”

Nenad Miljkovic is the Founder Professor in the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering and Director of the Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Center (ACRC).