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Boiling eXperiment Facility - Microheater Array Boiling Experiment (BXF-MABE)
05.15.09

Overview | Description | Applications | Operations | Results | Publications | Images

Experiment/Payload Overview

Brief Summary

BXF-MABE will obtain data to understand the process involved with boiling in gravity and microgravity. The research should enable the development of more efficient cooling systems on future spacecraft and on Earth.

Principal Investigator

  • Jungho Kim, Ph.D., University of Maryland, College Park, MD

    • Co-Investigator(s)/Collaborator(s)

  • John McQuillen, Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH

    • Payload Developer

    Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH

    Sponsoring Agency

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

    Expeditions Assigned

    Information Pending

    Previous ISS Missions

    BXF-MABE is a unique investigation, nothing like this has flown in space before. It measures local heat transfer coefficient with finer temporal and spatial fidelity than any previous pool boiling experiment.

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    Experiment/Payload Description

    Research Summary

    • BXF-MABE is one of two investigations scheduled to operate in the Boiling eXperiment Facility (BXF). The other investigation is Boiling eXperiment Facility - Nucleate Pool Boiling Experiment (BXF-NPBX).


    • Understanding of microgravity effects on boiling mechanisms is critical to the proper design of heat removal equipment for use in space-based applications.

    Description

    Boiling efficiently removes large amounts of heat by generating vapor from liquid. It is being used in electric power plants, electronic cooling and purification and separation of chemical mixtures. An upper limit, called the critical heat flux, exists where the heater is covered with so much vapor that liquid supply to the heater begins to decrease. Supplying constant power above this limit for prolonged periods can increase the heater temperature to the point whereby the heater is destroyed. Determination of critical heat flux in microgravity is essential for designing cooling systems for space. Boiling is being studied to increase the effectiveness of cooling in space.

    The Boiling eXperiment Facility (BXF) will house two separate investigations, BXF-MABE and BXF-NPBX. BXF is planned for the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) located in the US Lab on the International Space Station (ISS). The purpose of the BXF is to validate models being developed for heat transfer coefficients, critical heat flux and the pool boiling curves.

    BXF-MABE will provide localized, time-dependent, heat transfer coefficients that will be correlated against known positions of vapor and liquid above the heater array to determine the mechanisms by which heat is removed through boiling in the absence of gravity.

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    Applications

    Space Applications

    In microgravity, a bubble can cover an entire heater array instead of just a small area, resulting in burnout of components if local hot spots are present. The increased spatial resolution of these measurements will enable the extent of the dry spot to be measured along with the heat transfer from the liquid surrounding the dry spot. This technique can be applied to other areas including spray cooling, turbulence measurements and flow boiling.

    Earth Applications

    The proposed research has shown that transient conduction is the dominant heat transfer mechanism in boiling of refrigerants-like fluids. This research will provide insight into creating more efficient cooling systems on Earth.

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    Operations

    Operational Requirements

    BXF-MABE utilizes two heater arrays ( (7 mm x 7 mm and 2.7 mm x 2.7 mm), each heater array consisting of 96 individually controlled heaters. The heaters are operated at a constant temperature, enabling measurements to be made at critical heat flux and beyond. A group of experiments is run with each microheater array. Each group contains a set of individual experiments with the initial starting point at a specific bulk fluid temperature and pressure. For each experiment, the temperature of the selected microheater array is increased to the desired temperature and the heat transfer distribution during boiling is measured. During the experiments, video is recorded using the MSG cameras and stored on a hard drive. If Ku band is available video data will be downlinked from ISS to the Glenn Research Center TeleScience Center in Cleveland, OH. The heater data will be overlaid onto the high-speed video data to correlate vapor and liquid position on the heater array. These results will be used to validate and test theoretical models of boiling mechanisms.

    BXF-MABE will require crew time to set up the hardware to perform forty test sessions. The data from the test sessions will be captured on videotapes and hard drives that will be changed out by the crew. The hard drive and videotapes will be stowed for later return to Earth for analysis by the investigator.

    Operational Protocols

    This investigation will require the crew to set up the BXF hardware in the Microgravity Science Glovebox. Once activated, BXF is controlled by a ground-based crew. BXF-MABE will run for twenty-eight hours and perform a total of forty test sessions. The crew will need to perform hard drive and videotape changes at specific intervals throughout the sessions. After the session is completed the crew will deactivate the BXF hardware. The hard drive, videotape and NPBX samples will be labeled and stowed for return to Earth.

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    Results/More Information

    Information Pending

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    Related Web Sites
  • Boiling in Microgravity

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    Publications

    Results Publications

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      Related Publications
      • Kim J, McQuillen J, Balombin J. Microheater Array Boiling Experiment. NASA TM. ;2002-211167. 2002
      • Henry CD, Kim J, McQuillen J. Dissolved Gas Effects on Thermocapillary Convection During Boiling in Reduced Gravity Environments. Heat and Mass Transfer. ;42:919-928. 2006
      • Henry CD, Kim J. Thermocapillary Effects on Low-G Pool Boiling From Microheater Arrays of Various Aspect Ratio. Microgravity Science and Technology. ;XVI:170-175. 2005
      • Demiray F, Kim J. Microscale Heat Transfer Measurements During Pool Boiling of FC-72: Effect of Subcooling. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer. ;47:3257-3268. 2004
      • Henry CD, Kim J. Heater size, subcooling, and gravity effects on pool boiling heat transfer. International Journal of Heat and Fluid Flow. ;25(2): 262-273. 2004
      • Yin Z, Prosperetti A, Kim J. Bubble Growth on an Impulsively Powered Microheater. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer. ;47(5):1053-1067. 2004
      • Henry CD, Kim J, Chamberlain B, Hartmann TG. Heater aspect ratio effects on pool boiling heat transfer under varying gravity conditions. Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science. ;29(7):773-782. 2005
      • Myers JG, Yerrramilli VK, Hussey SW, Yee GF, Kim J. Time and space resolved wall temperature and heat flux measurements during nucleate boiling with constant heat flux boundary conditions. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer. ;48(12):2429-2442. 2005

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      Images

      imageImage of liquid boiling on a heater array during the low gravity produced by NASA's KC-135 aircraft. Blue regions indicate regions of low heat transfer. Courtesy of University of Maryland.
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      Information Provided and Updated by the ISS Program Scientist's Office
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