Condensation on Curvilinear Fins (Effect of Groove Flooding): EMERALD Experiment of ESA

Abstract

Some aspects of the ESA space program EMERALD are presented. A problem of the film type condensation on curvilinear fin is considered with taking into account the essential influence of the capillary forces and non uniform temperature of the fin. Disjoining pressure effect on condensate film flow is studied numerically, because of very thin film of condensate on the fin tip. Value of the groove flooding depth changes significantly the condensate outflow from the condenser. Calculations for water condensation predict a very high value of the heat transfer coefficient, more than 50 kW/m2K, on a quite important part of the surface area and confirm the idea of proposed condenser and Double Capillary Pumped Loop. © Z-Tec Publishing.En ligne: http://www.springerlink.com/content/wh6hr411604367k2/SCOPUS: cp.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe