Nucleate Pool Boiling Experiments (NPBX) on the International Space Station

Abstract

During the period of March–May 2011, a series of boiling experiments was carried out in the Boiling Experimental Facility (BXF) located in the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) of the International Space Station (ISS). The BXF Facility was carried to ISS on Space Shuttle Mission STS–133 on February 24, 2011. Nucleate Pool Boiling Experiment (NPBX) was one of the two experiments housed in the BXF. Results of experiments on single bubble dynamics (e.g., inception and growth), multiple bubble dynamics (lateral merger and departure, if any), nucleate pool boiling heat transfer, and critical heat flux are described. In the experiments Perfluoro-n-hexane was used as the test liquid. The system pressure was varied from 51 to 243 kPa, pool temperature was varied from 30° to 59°C, and test surface temperature was varied from 40° to 80°C. The test surface was a polished aluminum disc (1 mm thick, 89.5 mm in diameter) heated from below with strain gage heaters. Five cylindrical cavities were formed on the surface with four cavities located at the corners of a square and one in the middle. During experiments the magnitude of mean gravity level normal to the heater surface varied from 1.2 × 10 − 7ge to 6 × 10 − 7ge. The results of the experiments show that a single bubble continues to grow to occupy the size of the chamber without departing from the heater surface. During lateral merger of bubbles, at high superheats a large bubble may lift off from the surface but continues to hover near the surface. Neighboring bubbles are continuously pulled into the large bubble. At low superheats bubbles at neighboring sites simply merge to yield a larger bubble. The larger bubble mostly locates in the middle of the heated surface and serves as a vapor sink. The latter mode continues to persist when boiling is occurring all over the heater surface. Heat fluxes for steady state nucleate boiling and critical heat fluxes are found to be much lower than those obtained under earth normal gravity conditions. The data are useful for calibration of results of numerical simulations. Any correlations that are developed for nucleate boiling heat transfer under microgravity condition must account for the existence of vapor escape path (sink) from the heater, size of the heater, and the size and geometry of the chamber.