The capillary pump loop (CPL) is the current state-of-the-art space cooling system. It provides higher cooling capacity than most heat pipes, more installation flexibility, and much greater distance of heat transport due to the small diameter of wickless transport lines. Major disadvantages of the CPL include long and complicated startup procedures and the possibility of depriming at high heat input and load variation. The presented work was an experimental study to characterize the startup process for an EHD-assisted CPL system. Startup is achieved by an almost stable differential pressure and average temperature at the evaporator wall. When the electric field is applied, it interacts with the vapor/liquid distribution inside the core and the wick. It also provides an additional pumping effect of liquid to the evaporator surface. As a result, less time is needed to build up the meniscus. Furthermore, the instability-induced EHD pumping at liquid-vapor interface pushes the liquid-vapor interface near the evaporator wall to enhance the phase-change. These EHD-enhanced mechanisms collaborate to reduce the required duration at different regimes and hence realize the EHD-reducing startup time for a CPL system. Experimental data showed that about 50% startup time, reduction was attainable.
Experimental investigation of reducing startup time on capillary pumped loop with EHD assistance
Space technology and applications international forum - 1998 ; 1998 ; Albuquerque,New Mexico (USA)
AIP Conference Proceedings ; 420 , 1 ; 464-470
1998-01-15
7 pages
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English
Experimental Investigation of Reducing Startup Time on Capillary Pumped Loop with EHD Assistance
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