Observation of collecting process of liquid droplets in Liquid Droplet Radiator

The first stage of droplet collection in a droplet collector of the Liquid Droplet Radiator is collisions of droplet streams with a liquid film formed in an inner surface of the collector. When the droplet streams are absorbed in this liquid film, no splashes should be formed to achieve high collection efficiency. As specifications of a droplet collector, a miscapture rate of incoming droplets is required to be less than 10 exp -6. The collisions and the splashing phenomena of incoming droplets with a liquid film were observed by using a magnifying CCD camera with synchronized irradiation by a laser diode. When the uniform droplet stream is produced where the droplet diameter is less than 300 mm and the droplet speed less than 20 m/s, no splash is observed.