Performance of a water suction system using hydrophilic fibrous cloth under low gravity and microgravity in parabolic flight.

Abstract

For suction of water from a water supply vessel including both water and air under microgravity and g-jitter conditions, a water suction system using hydrophilic fibrous cloth was developed and its performance was evaluated at 0.01-0.02 g-realized for 20 s by parabolic flight in an aircraft. Vessels used for the experiment were glass flasks and had a suction port for suction filtration. A piece of hydrophilic fibrous cloth was arranged along the inner surface of the vessels and the end was fixed to the suction port of the vessels. In vessel without hydrophilic cloths and containing 220 mL of water, the water did not move more than 5 mm along the inner surface and did not reach the suction port under low gravity. When hydrophilic cloths were used, on the other hand, water gathered onto the cloth surface, moved up along the cloth and reached the suction port under low gravity. The amount of water sucked from vessels varied with the amount of water in the vessel and the sectional area of hydrophilic cloths. When the vessels including both water and air were flown during parabolic flight (10(-4) g), water in the vessel moved along the cloth and a water film was formed on the cloth. These results indicated that it is possible to suck water using the fibrous cloth suction system under low gravity and microgravity conditions. Under low gravity conditions, it was difficult to suck water only. However, it is not necessary to separate water from air when the system is used for supplying water to plant root medium consisting of both liquid and gas phases.