title: An instrument for evaluation of performance of heat dissipative coatings.
abstract: An instrument is developed to evaluate the performance of heat dissipative coatings. The instrument has features to measure the apparent emissivity of a given surface under different input power settings. The emissivity of aluminum (Al Q-panel) and copper, as measured from 60-135 degrees C, showed a value of 0.15+/-0.03 and 0.42+/-0.05, respectively, consistent with reported values in literature. The relative emissivity of a heat dissipative coating, called as molecular fan carbon nanotube "MF-CNT," was found to be approximately 0.97. A simple mathematical model is built to evaluate the role of different heat transfer mechanisms (convection and radiation) on cooling performance, and it was observed that convection plays a dominant role in cooling, with more than 90% of heat transferred by convection. In presence of MF-CNT coating, radiation heat transfer increases to approximately 30% and lowers the steady state temperature by 10 degrees C. It is illustrated that radiative cooling could be a significant factor in thermal management.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois 60115, USA.
authors.forename: Chetan N
authors.initials: CN
authors.lastname: Suryawanshi
authors.forename: Taesam
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Chhiu-Tsu
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Lin