Effect of force fields on pool boiling flow patterns in normal and reduced gravity

This paper reports the observations of boiling flow patterns in FC-72, performed during a microgravity experiment, recently flown aboard of Foton-M2 satellite, in some instances with the additional aid of an electrostatic field to replace the buoyancy force. The heater consisted of a flat plate, 20x20 mm2, directly heated by direct current. Several levels of liquid subcooling (from 20 to 6 K) and heat fluxes up to 200 kW/m2 were tested. A complete counterpart test, carried out on ground before the mission, allowed direct comparison with terrestrial data. The void fraction in microgravity revealed much larger than in normal gravity condition: this may be attributed to increased bubble coalescence that hinders vapor condensation in the bulk of the subcooled fluid. In several cases, an oscillatory boiling behavior was detected, leading to periodical variation of average wall overheating of some degrees. The electric field confirmed to be very effective, even at low values of applied voltage, in reducing bubble size, thus improving their condensation rate in the bulk fluid, and in enhancing heat transfer performance, suppressing the boiling oscillations and preventing surface dryout