Field Controlled Charge and Heat Transfer Involving Macroscopic Charged Particles in Liquids

Abstract

When an electric field is applied to a system of electrically conducting particles in an insulating liquid, the rates of charge and heat transfer are augmented. Charged during collisions in the field, the particles execute field-induced excursions between the electrodes interrupted by collisions with other particles. Thus a combination of particle migration and particle-induced fluid convection results in the increase in heat transfer. Experimental values for the Nusselt number are obtained for heat transfer across the parallel electrode configuration. The model developed using these results consists of a well-mixed central region with thermal boundary layers about one particle diameter thick near each electrode.