Abstract
This study investigates the enhancement of condensation heat transfer (CHT) through surface modifications applied to a monolithic aluminum heat sink. Condensation heat transfer plays a crucial role in various industries, including power generation, refrigeration, and HVAC systems, with its efficiency heavily influenced by the surface properties of heat exchanger materials. In this research, different surface modification techniques such as surface roughening, coating, and texturing were applied to an aluminum heat sink with the goal of increasing the condensation heat transfer coefficient. The modifications aimed to improve the surface wettability and promote dropwise condensation, which is notably more efficient than filmwise condensation. The experiments were performed under controlled conditions with the heat sink exposed to a saturated vapor environment. Precise thermal sensors and data acquisition systems were used to measure the condensation heat transfer coefficient, and the results were compared to those of an unmodified aluminum surface. The findings revealed a substantial improvement in the condensation heat transfer coefficient for the modified surfaces, with some treatments achieving up to a 40% increase over the unmodified baseline. These results indicate that surface modifications on aluminum heat sinks can significantly enhance the performance of heat exchangers in condensation-based systems. This study advances the understanding of how surface properties influence condensation heat transfer and provides valuable insights for the development of more efficient thermal management systems. Future work is suggested to further optimize these surface modification techniques and assess their effectiveness on other materials and in different industrial contexts.