Terrestrial and microgravity boiling heat transfer in a dielectrophoretic force field

In order to maintain steady nucleate boiling in microgravity another force must be imposed on the boiling process to replace the buoyancy force. The objective of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of a static electric field for maintaining nucleate boiling in microgravity. Semi-transparent Sold-film heaters are used to measure the instantaneous average heater surface temperature and to provide a bottom view of the boiling process. Three electrode geometries are designed with this heater: a diverging plate, a flat plate, and a pin electrode. Depending on the heat flux level and voltage strength, it was found that each of these electrodes is able to effectively move the boiling bubbles away from the vicinity of the heater surface in microgravity. Both flow visualization and measured heat transfer data are obtained to verify these results. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.