Collaborative Research: ISS: Probing Interfacial Instabilities in Flow Boiling and Condensation via Acoustic Signatures in Microgravity

合作研究：ISS：通过微重力下的声学特征探测流动沸腾和冷凝中的界面不稳定性

• 批准号: 2323023
• 负责人: Ying Sun
• 金额: $ 27.41万
• 依托单位: University of Cincinnati Main Campus
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-08-01 至 2026-07-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2323023&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; ISS; Probing; Interfacial

Flow boiling and condensation are crucial to the efficient and safe operation of electronics cooling, power generation, refrigeration, water purification, chemical processing, and among others. Two-phase flows are also subject to a wide range of instabilities at the liquid-vapor interface. These instabilities can lead to significant thermal performance degradation, reducing heat transfer coefficient, increasing pressure drop, and causing overheating. To prevent process disruptions or thermal performance deterioration, it is of utmost importance to enhance the understanding of instability mechanisms and continually monitor them. This project seeks to probe the physical mechanisms that dominate flow instabilities in microgravity using wideband acoustic emission (AE) sensing that measures and analyzes dynamic behaviors through acoustic waves. Two-phase flows are complex phenomena where many physical mechanisms simultaneously contribute to the measured signals, resulting in overlapping acoustic signatures and intrinsic noises during ground tests. The long-term microgravity environment on the International Space Station (ISS) inherently decouples the acoustic signatures of the physical mechanisms during two-phase flows and enables the examination of the leading transport mechanisms. The project team will also organize outreach events and create educational materials such as posters, brochures, podcasts, and videos to explain the advantages of research brought by the microgravity environment on ISS. This project aims to advance the fundamental understanding of the transport mechanisms that govern liquid-vapor interfacial instabilities in flow boiling and condensation using wideband AE sensing, with a focus on both the critical heat flux (CHF), the maximum achievable heat flux during flow boiling, and the flow regime transition during flow condensation. The project will fill this broad knowledge gap with three specific aims. First, a self-contained AE sensing module will be developed and benchmarked for individual transport processes including bubble departure, turbulence, and capillary flows in lab-scale tests before its deployment on ISS. Second, the role of interfacial waves and turbulent diffusion in flow condensation will be probed using both ground-based and microgravity flow condensation tests. The latter will be performed using the flow boiling and condensation experiment (FBCE) facility on ISS with the deployed acoustic sensing module. Third, the dominant transport mechanism during flow boiling flow regime transition and CHF will be examined. This project will provide valuable insights into interfacial instabilities of flow boiling and condensation, which are critical to the design and optimization of condensers and boilers that maximize heat transfer and minimize energy consumption. This project will make an impact on power generation, semiconductor manufacturing, chemical processing, and decarbonization of transportation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

流量沸腾和凝结对于电子冷却，发电，制冷，水净化，化学加工等的有效且安全的运行至关重要。在液体蒸气界面处，两相流也受到广泛的不稳定性的约束。这些不稳定性会导致显着的热性能降解，降低传热系数，增加压降并导致过热。为了防止过程中断或热性能恶化，增强对不稳定机制的理解并不断监测它们至关重要。该项目旨在探究使用宽带声发射（AE）传感在微重力中占主导地位的物理机制，从而测量和通过声波来测量和分析动态行为。两相流是复杂的现象，其中许多物理机制同时促进了测量的信号，从而导致了地面测试期间重叠的声学标志和内在的噪声。国际空间站（ISS）上的长期微重力环境固有地将两相流动过程中物理机制的声学签名，并能够检查主要的运输机制。项目团队还将组织外展活动，并创建诸如海报，小册子，播客和视频之类的教育材料，以解释微重力环境在ISS上带来的研究的优势。该项目旨在提高对使用宽带AE感应的流动沸腾和凝结中液态蒸气界面不稳定性的基本理解，重点是关键热通量（CHF），流量沸腾过程中最大可实现的热量，以及在流量过程中的流动状态。该项目将以三个特定的目标填补这个广泛的知识差距。首先，将开发一个独立的AE传感模块，并在实验室规模的测试中在ISS部署之前，在实验室规模的测试中开发和基准，用于个人运输过程。其次，将使用地面和微重力流凝结测试探测界面波和湍流扩散在流凝结中的作用。后者将使用ISS上的流量沸腾和冷凝实验（FBCE）使用部署的声传感模块进行。第三，将检查流动沸腾状态过渡和CHF期间的主要运输机制。该项目将为流动沸腾和凝结的界面不稳定性提供宝贵的见解，这对于冷凝器和锅炉的设计和优化至关重要，这些锅炉和锅炉的设计和优化最大程度地传热并最大程度地减少了能源消耗。该项目将对发电，半导体制造，化学处理和运输的脱碳作用产生影响。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估标准，认为值得通过评估来获得支持。