TPX for In-Orbit Demonstration of Two-Phase Heat Transport Technology: Evaluationof Flight and Post-Flight Experiment Results

摘要

As two-phase flow and heat transfer is expected to strongly depend on the gravitylevel, a Two-Phase eXperiment has been developed for ESA to demonstrate two-phase heat transport system technology in orbit. TPX, a reduced-scale capillary pumped two-phase ammonia loop with a flat and a cylindrical capillary evaporator and an actively controlled reservoir for loop temperature setpoint control, included downscaled components of mechanically pumped loops: multichannel condensers, vapor quality sensors, and a controllable 3-way valve for vapor quality control exercises. The presented detailed evaluation of the experiment results obtained during the TPX flight on STS60, clearly proves the viability of two-phase technolgoy for space.