Possibility of long-distance heat transport in weightlessness using supercritical fluids

Heat transport over large distances is classically performed with gravity or capillarity driven heat pipes. We investigate here whether the "piston effect," a thermalization process that is very efficient in weightlessness in compressible fluids, could also be used to perform long-distance heat transfer. Experiments are performed in a modeling heat pipe (16.5 mm long, 3 mm inner diameter closed cylinder), with nearly adiabatic polymethylmethacrylate walls and two copper base plates. The cell is filled with H-2 near its gas-liquid critical point (critical temperature: 33 K). Weightlessness is achieved by submitting the fluid to a magnetic force that compensates gravity. Initially the fluid is isothermal. Then heat is sent to one of the bases with an electrical resistance. The instantaneous amount of heat transported by the fluid is measured at the other end. The data are analyzed and compared with a two-dimensional numerical simulation that allows an extrapolation to be made to other fluids (e.g., CO2, with critical temperature of 300 K). The major result is concerned with the existence of a very fast response at early times that is only limited by the thermal properties of the cell materials. The yield in terms of ratio, injected or transported heat power, does not exceed 10-30 % and is limited by the heat capacity of the pipe. These results are valid in a large temperature domain around the critical temperature.