Experimental analysis of a Flat Plate Pulsating Heat Pipe with Self-ReWetting Fluids during a parabolic flight campaign

Anselmo Cecere , Davide de Cristofaro , Raffaele Savino , Vincent Ayel (1) , Thibaud Sole-Agostinelli , Marco Marengo (2) , Cyril Romestant (1) , Yves Bertin (1)

1 COST - Convection, Optimisation, Systèmes Thermiques [Institut Pprime]
2 UniBg - Università degli Studi di Bergamo = University of Bergamo

A Flat Plate Pulsating Heat Pipe (FPPHP) filled with an ordinary liquid (water) and a self-rewetting mixture (dilutes aqueous solutions of long-chain alcohols with unusual surface tension behavior) is investigated under variable gravity conditions on board a ‘Zero-g’ plane during the 65th Parabolic Flight Campaign of the European Space Agency. The FPPHP thermal performance in terms of evaporator and condenser temperatures, start-up levels and flow regimes is characterized for the two working fluids and a power input ranging from 0 to 200 W (up to 17 W/cm2 at the heater/evaporator wall interface). The experimental set-up also includes a transparent plate enabling the visualization of the oscillating flow patterns during the experiments. For a low power input (4 W/cm2), the pulsating heat pipe filled with pure water is not able to work under low-g conditions, because the evaporator immediately exhibits dry-out conditions and the fluid oscillations stops, preventing heat transfer between the hot and cold side and resulting in a global increase of the temperatures. On the other hand, the FPPHP filled with the self-rewetting fluid runs also during the microgravity phase. The liquid rewets several times the evaporator zone triggering the oscillatory regime. The self-rewetting fluid helps both the start-up and the thermal performance of the FPPHP in microgravity conditions.

Mots clés: Self-rewetting fluids; Pulsating heat pipe; Microgravity Start-up conditions

Domaines: Mécanique des fluides [physics.class-ph]; Matériaux et structures en mécanique [physics.class-ph]; Acoustique [physics.class-ph]; Automatique / Robotique; Electromagnétisme; Milieux fluides et réactifs; Energie électrique; Thermique [physics.class-ph]; Vibrations [physics.class-ph]; Physique mathématique [math-ph]; Physique Quantique [quant-ph]; Acoustique [physics.class-ph]; Biomécanique [physics.med-ph]; Matériaux; Polymères

Anselmo Cecere, Davide de Cristofaro, Raffaele Savino, Vincent Ayel, Thibaud Sole-Agostinelli, et al.. Experimental analysis of a Flat Plate Pulsating Heat Pipe with Self-ReWetting Fluids during a parabolic flight campaign. Acta Astronautica, 2018, 147, pp.454-461. ⟨10.1016/j.actaastro.2018.03.045⟩. ⟨hal-02294183⟩