Experimental Study on Porous-Plug Phase Separator for Superfluid He2

摘要

Superfluid liquid helium 2 was requested for cooling of such spaceborne instruments as infrared detectors down to absolute zero. A phase separator composes of a crucial part of such cryogenic systems to allow the liquid phase to be separated from the vapor in order to safely contain He2 in containers in the zero-gravity state. Porous-plugs were fabricated and tested to understand the basic flow characteristics through porous-plugs both in the laboratory and in the zero-gravity state aboard a rocket. Results show that the phase separation and the cooling power control were satisfactorily performed in both situations. The fundamental feature of the flow phenomena through porous-plugs is made clear quantitatively as well as qualitatively to provide sufficient data for the practical design of porous-plugs for potential spaceborne IR telescope systems.