Abstract
On-orbit filling is one of the important technologies for long-period space exploration. Filling without moving components and with low mass loss has obvious advantage for on-orbit fillings, especially for small volume filling. For such purpose, a no-pump no-vent filling system was proposed, and the working principle of the filling and the criterion to end the filling in microgravity were equivalently verified on ground. In such filling system, two distinct filling phases were witnessed: a fast and effective liquid transfer phase followed by a slow and ineffective vapor transfer phase. The vapor in this phase came from the evaporation of the remaining liquid in the capillary structure, which has to be evaporated by heating in microgravity. The heating power determines the period of the vapor transfer phase for a given system with certain capillary structure. It was found that the transition point of the system pressure from increase to decrease can be used as a criterion to end the filling. Experiment that simulated such vapor transfer phase on ground provides data supports for optimizing the filling control scenario.
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This work is supported by China Manned Space Engineering Application System, and the Center for Space Technology Program of Sun Yat-Sen University, Zhuhai Key Laboratory of Center for Space Technology.
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This article belongs to the Topical Collection: Multiphase Fluid Dynamics in Microgravity
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Gu, X., Xu, J. & He, Z. Ground Experiment for On-Orbit Fluid Filling without Moving Component. Microgravity Sci. Technol. 32, 265–273 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12217-019-09767-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12217-019-09767-x