Ebru Demir

Hydrodynamic cavitation kills prostate cells and ablates benign prostatic hyperplasia tissue

Hydrodynamic cavitation is a physical phenomenon characterized by vaporization and bubble formation in liquids under low local pressures, and their implosion following their release to a higher pressure environment. Collapse of the bubbles releases high energy and may cause damage to exposed surfaces. We recently designed a set-up to exploit the destructive nature of hydrodynamic cavitation for biomedical purposes. We have previously shown that hydrodynamic cavitation could kill leukemia cells and erode kidney stones. In this study, we analyzed the effects of cavitation on prostate cells and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) tissue. We showed that hydrodynamic cavitation could kill prostate cells in a pressure- and time-dependent manner. Cavitation did not lead to programmed cell death, i.e. classical apoptosis or autophagy activation. Following the application of cavitation, we observed no prominent DNA damage and cells did not arrest in the cell cycle. Hence, we concluded that cavitation forces directly damaged the cells, leading to their pulverization. Upon application to BPH tissues from patients, cavitation could lead to a significant level of tissue destruction. Therefore similar to ultrasonic cavitation, we propose that hydrodynamic cavitation has the potential to be exploited and developed as an approach for the ablation of aberrant pathological tissues, including BPH.

The Effect of Nanostructure Distribution on Subcooled Boiling Heat Transfer Enhancement over Nanostructured Plates Integrated Into a Rectangular Channel

In this study, subcooled flow boiling is investigated over nanostructured plates at flow rates ranging from 69 mL/min to 145 mL/min. The first configuration of the nanostructured plate includes ˜600-nm-long, closely packed copper nanorod arrays distributed randomly upon the surface with an average nanorod diameter of ˜150 nm, and the second configuration consists of a periodic structure having ˜600-nm-long copper (Cu) nanorods with an average nanorod diameter of ˜550 nm and a center-to-center nanorod separation of ˜1 μm. The nanorod arrays are deposited utilizing glancing angle deposition (GLAD) technique on the copper thin film (˜50 nm thick) coated on silicon wafer substrates. Dimensions of the test section, heat flux values, and flow rates are chosen to ensure that nanostructured plates remain intact along with their nanorods in their original shape and position, so that the nanostructured plates could be used for many experiments. A consistent increase (up to 30%) in heat transfer coefficients is observed on nanostructured plates compared to the Cu thin film, which is used as the control sample. However, no significant difference in the boiling heat transfer performance between the random and periodic nanorods was observed, which indicates that the distribution of nanostructures may not be very critical in achieving enhanced heat transfer. In light of the obtained promising results, channels with nanostructured surfaces are proven to be useful, particularly in applications such as cooling of small electronic devices, where conventional surface modification techniques are not applicable.

Assessment of Probe-to-Specimen Distance Effect in Kidney Stone Treatment With Hydrodynamic Cavitation

The aim of this study is to focus on the effect of probe-to-specimen distance in kidney stone treatment with hydrodynamic bubbly cavitation. Cavitating bubbles were generated by running phosphate buffered saline (PBS) through stainless steel tubing of inner diameter of 1.56 mm at an inlet pressure of ∼10,000 kPa, which was connected to a 0.75 mm long probe with an inner diameter of 147 μm at the exit providing a sudden contraction and thus low local pressures. The bubbles were targeted on the surface of nine calcium oxalate kidney stones (submerged in a water pool at room temperature and atmospheric pressure) from three different distances, namely, 0.5 mm, 2.75 mm, and 7.75 mm. The experiments were repeated for three different time durations (5 min, 10 min, and 20 min). The experimental data show that amongst the three distances considered, the distance of 2.75 mm results in the highest erosion amount and highest erosion rate (up to 0.94 mg/min), which suggests that a closer distance does not necessarily lead to a higher erosion rate and that the probe-to-specimen distance is a factor of great importance, which needs to be optimized. In order to be able to explain the experimental results, a visualization study was also conducted with a high speed CMOS camera. A new correlation was developed to predict the erosion rates on kidney stones exposed to hydrodynamic cavitation as a function of material properties, time, and distance.

Subcooled flow boiling over nanostructured plate integrated into a rectangular channel

Sub-cooled flow boiling was investigated over nanostructured plate (of dimensions 20mm×20mm) integrated to a rectangular channel (of dimensions 33mm×9mm×33mm) at flow rates ranging from 69 ml/min to 145 ml/min. The configuration of the nanostructured plate includes ∼600 nm long copper nanorod arrays with an average nanorod diameter of ∼150 nm. The nanorod arrays are integrated to copper thin film (∼300 nm thick) coated on silicon wafer surface and GLAD (Glancing Angle Deposition) technique was implemented to form the nanostructure configuration. The dimensions and flow rates were chosen to ensure that no change in the nanostructure configurations occurred during the experiments so that the configuration could be used for many experiments. For this, applied heat fluxes (<42 W/cm2) were adjusted in such a way that the wall superheats did not exceed 30°C to avoid any damage on nanostructures. Deionized-water was propelled with a gear pump into the rectangular channel over plates with both plain and nanostructured surface, which were heated with cartridge heaters. Forced convective boiling heat transfer characteristics of the nanostructured plate is investigated using the experimental setup and compared to the results from the plate with plain surface. A significant increase in boiling heat transfer was observed with the nanostructured plate. In the light of the obtained promising results, channels with nanostructured surfaces were proven to be useful particularly in various applications such as cooling of small electronic devices, where conventional surface enhancement techniques are not applicable.Copyright

Multiphase submerged jet impingement cooling utilizing nanostructured plates

An experimental setup is designed to simulate the heat dissipated by electronic devices and to test the effects of nanostructured plates in enhancing the heat removal performance of jet impingement systems in such cooling applications under boiling conditions. Prior experiments conducted in single phase have shown that such different surface morphologies are effective in enhancing the heat transfer performance of jet impingement cooling applications. In this paper, results of the most recent experiments conducted using multiphase jet impingement cooling system will be presented. Distilled water is propelled into four microtubes of diameter 500 μm that provide the impinging jets to the surface. Simulation of the heat generated by miniature electronic devices is simulated through four aluminum cartridge heaters of 6.25 mm in diameter and 31.75 mm in length placed inside an aluminum base. Nanostructured plates of size 35mm×30mm and different surface morphologies are placed on the surface of the base and two thermocouples are placed to the surface of the heating base and the base is submerged into deionized water. Water jets generated using microtubes as nozzles are targeted to the surface of the nanostructured plate from a nozzle to surface distance of 1.5 mm and heat removal characteristics of the system is studied for a range of flow rates and heat flux, varying between 107.5–181.5 ml/min and 1–400000 W/m2, respectively. The results obtained using nanostructured plates are compared to the ones obtained using a plain surface copper plate as control sample and reported in this paper.Copyright

Submerged jet impingement cooling of a nanostructured plate

In this paper, the results of a series of heat transfer experiments conducted on a compact electronics cooling device based on single phase jet impingement techniques are reported. Deionized-water is propelled into four microchannels of inner diameter 685 μm which are used as nozzles and located at a nozzle to surface distance of 2.5mm. The generated jet impingement is targeted through these channels towards the surface of a nanostructured plate. This plate of size 20mmx20mm consisted of ∼600 nm long copper nanorod arrays with an average nanorod diameter of ∼150 nm, which were integrated on top of a silicon wafer substrate coated with a copper thin film layer (i.e. Cu-nanorod/Cu-film/Silicon-wafer). Heat removal characteristics induced through jet impingement are investigated using the nanostructured plate and compared to results obtained from a flat plate of copper thin film coated on silicon wafer surface. Enhancement in heat transfer up to 15% using the nanostructured plate has been reported in this paper. Heat generated by small scale electronic devices is simulated using a thin film heater placed on an aluminum base. Surface temperatures are recorded by a data acquisition system with the thermocouples integrated on the surface at various locations. Constant heat flux provided by the film heater is delivered to the nanostructured plate placed on top of the base. Volumetric flow rate and heat flux values were varied in order to better characterize the potential enhancement in heat transfer by nanostructured surfaces.Copyright