The Drying Kinetics and CFD Multidomain Model of Cocoa Bean Variety CCN51.

The CCN51 cocoa bean variety is known for being highly resistant to diseases and temperature variation and for having a relatively low cultivation risk for the producers. In this work, a computational and experimental study is performed to analyze the mass and heat transfer within the bean when dried by forced convection. A proximal composition analysis is conducted on the bean testa and cotyledon, and the distinct thermophysical properties are determined as a function of temperature for an interval between 40 and 70 °C. A multidomain CFD simulation, coupling a conjugate heat transfer with a semiconjugate mass transfer model, is proposed and compared to the experimental results based on the bean temperature and moisture transport. The numerical simulation predicts the drying behavior well and yields average relative errors of 3.5 and 5.2% for the bean core temperature and the moisture content versus the drying time, respectively. The moisture diffusion is found to be the dominant mechanism in the drying process. Moreover, a diffusion approximation model and given kinetic constants present a good prediction of the bean's drying behavior for constant temperature drying conditions between 40 and 70 °C.

Non-dimensional groups for electrospray modes of highly conductive and viscous nanoparticle suspensions.

Multiple modes of atomization in electrosprays are affected by viscosity, surface tension and electrical conductivity of the semiconductor nanosuspensions. While the effect of gravity is dominant in the dripping mode, the electric field degenerates the electrospray mechanism into a microdripping mode that can potentially allow the deposition of semiconductor nanodots on a substrate. Drop size and frequency of droplet formation are obtained as functions of non-dimensional parameters, which agree well with experimental data. The analysis shows that it is possible to produce the desired size and frequency of ejection of monodisperse droplets by manipulating the electrode voltage for any nanosuspension.

Laser-induced subwavelength structures by microdroplet superlens.

Nanoscale patterns on rigid or flexible substrates are of considerable interest in modern nanophotonics and optoelectronics devices. Subwavelength structures are produced in this study by using a laser beam and microdroplets that carry nanoparticles to the deposition substrate. These droplets are generated from an aqueous suspension of nanoparticles by electrospray and dispensed through a conical hollow laser beam so that laser-droplet interactions occur immediately above the substrate surface. Each microdroplet serves the dual role as a nanoparticle carrier to the substrate and as a superlens for focusing the laser beam to a subwavelength diameter. This focused beam vaporizes the droplet and sinters the nanoparticles on the substrate. The deposition of subwavelength nanostructures and thin films on a silicon wafer are demonstrated in this paper. This process may be applied to produce novel nanophotonics and electronics devices involving a variety of subwavelength patterns including an ordered array of semiconductor nanoparticles.

Electrospray mode transition of microdroplets with semiconductor nanoparticle suspension.

Electrosprays operate in several modes depending on the flow rate and electric potential. This allows the deposition of droplets containing nanoparticles into discrete nanodot arrays to fabricate various electronic devices. In this study, seven different suspensions with varying properties were investigated. In the dripping mode, the normalized dropsize decreases linearly with electric capillary number, Ca e , (ratio of electric to surface tension forces) up to Ca e ≈ 1.0. The effect of viscous forces is found to be negligible in the dripping mode since the capillary number is small. For flow rates with low Reynolds number, the mode changes to microdripping mode, and then to a planar oscillating microdripping mode as Ca e increases. The normalized dropsize remains nearly constant at 0.07 for Ca e > 3.3. The microdripping mode which is important for depositing discrete array of nanodots is found to occur in the range, 2 ≤ Ca e ≤ 2.5. The droplet frequency increases steadily from dripping to microdripping mode, but stays roughly constant in the oscillating microdripping mode. This work provides a physical basis by which the flow rate and the voltage can be chosen for any nanosuspension to precisely operate in the microdripping mode at a predetermined dropsize and droplet frequency.

Droplet impact on deep liquid pools: Rayleigh jet to formation of secondary droplets.

The impact of droplets on a deep pool has applications in cleaning up oil spills, spray cooling, painting, inkjet printing, and forensic analysis, relying on the changes in properties such as viscosity, interfacial tension, and density. Despite the exhaustive research on different aspects of droplet impact, it is not clear how liquid properties can affect the instabilities leading to Rayleigh jet breakup and number of daughter drops formed after its pinch-off. In this article, through systematic experiments we investigate the droplet impact phenomena by varying viscosity and surface tension of liquids as well as impact speeds. Further, using numerical simulations, we show that Rayleigh-Plateau instability is influenced by these parameters, and capillary time scale is the appropriate scale to normalize the breakup time. Based on Ohnesorge number (Oh) and impact Weber number (We), a regime map for no breakup, Rayleigh jet breakup, and crown splash is suggested. Interestingly, crown splash is observed to occur at all Ohnesorge numbers; however, at high Oh, a large portion of kinetic energy is dissipated, and thus the Rayleigh jet is suppressed regardless of high impact velocity. The normalized required time for the Rayleigh jet to reach its peak varies linearly with the critical height of the jet.