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WATER VAPOR CONDENSATION HAS MANY APPLICATIONS IN LOW EARTH ORBIT OR DEEP SPACE NASA MISSIONS BUT TRADITIONAL WATER CONDENSERS DESIGNED FOR GROUND APPLICATIONS MAINLY RELY ON GRAVITATIONAL FORCES TO REMOVE CONDENSED LIQUID FROM COOLING SURFACES. IN THE ABSENCE OF GRAVITY CONDENSED LIQUID COLLECTS ON SOLID SURFACES WHICH INCREASES THERMAL RESISTANCE AND HINDERS FURTHER CONDENSATION. IN THIS PROPOSED EFFORT THE ELECTROWETTING-ON-DIELECTRIC (EWOD) EFFECT WILL BE UTILIZED TO PROMOTE DROPLET NUCLEATION AND AUTOMATE THE REMOVAL OF CONDENSED DROPWISE WATER DROPLETS FROM THE CONDENSING SURFACE AS THEY FORM THEREBY FREEING SURFACE AREA FOR CONTINUED CONDENSATION AND SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASING CONDENSATION EFFICIENCY. THE CURRENT TECHNOLOGY READINESS LEVEL (TRL) OF THIS CONCEPT IS LEVEL 4. WE HAVE CARRIED OUT EXPERIMENTS IN LABORATORY AND VALIDATED ENHANCED CONDENSATION WITH EWOD ON THE GROUND. THE HIGHER CONDENSATION RATE IS DUE TO STRONGER DROPLET DYNAMICS AFFECTED BY ELECTRIC FIELD WHICH HELPS DROPLETS TO SELF-PROPEL FROM THE CONDENSING SURFACE MORE EASILY. FURTHER ENHANCEMENT OF CONDENSATION WITH EWOD IS EXPECTED TO TAKE PLACE IN A ZERO-G ENVIRONMENT BECAUSE IT CAN INDUCE DROPLET JUMPING MORE EASILY WITHOUT GRAVITY INDUCED DROPLET FLOW. TO PROVE THIS CLAIM AND CERTIFY EWOD CONDENSATION AS USEFUL FOR SPACE MISSIONS IT IS NECESSARY TO TEST OUR INNOVATION IN A ZERO-G ENVIRONMENT. THE ZERO GRAVITY CORPORATION (ZERO-G) WILL SUPPORT OUR ZERO-G FLIGHT TESTS WITH PARABOLIC MANEUVERS. ZERO-G IS A SOLE SOURCE PROVIDER OF PARABOLIC FLIGHTS IN THE UNITED STATES PROVIDING HIGH QUALITY MICROGRAVITY ENVIRONMENTS USING SPECIALLY-MODIFIED B727-200. FOUR PARABOLIC FLIGHTS WITH THREE PEOPLE ON BOARD ARE SCHEDULED IN MARCH AND NOVEMBER 2019. THE PLANNED MISSIONS OF FLIGHT TEST INCLUDE A) VISUALIZATION OF WATER DROPWISE CONDENSATION IN ZERO-G ENVIRONMENT; B) VISUALIZATION OF EWOD ENHANCED DROPWISE CONDENSATION BEHAVIOR IN ZERO-G ENVIRONMENT AND C) ASSESSMENT ON KEY PARAMETERS OF CONDENSATION DYNAMICS UNDER ZERO-G ENVIRONMENT FOR SYSTEM OPTIMIZATION. THE EXPERIMENTAL SETUP IS COMPOSED OF NOVEL CONDENSING SURFACES ENABLED WITH ELECTROWETTING FOR FLIGHT TESTING A COOLER FOR COOLING SAMPLE SUBSTRATE THERMOMETERS FOR TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT A HUMIDIFIER TO GENERATE MIST A LIGHTING SOURCE FOR HIGHLIGHTING CONDENSATION DYNAMICS A POWER SUPPLY WITH PEAK VOLTAGE OF ABOUT 50V AND A CONTROLLABLE FREQUENCY A HIGH-SPEED CAMERA AND A DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEM. THE TOTAL MASS AND SIZE OF THE EXPERIMENTAL SETUP SHOULD BE WITHIN 25LBS AND 8FT X 6FT X 8FT (L H W) RESPECTIVELY. WORKING FLUID IS WATER (LESS THAN 0.5 GALLONS). NO HAZARDOUS MATERIAL IS USED. THE ONLY SAFETY CONCERN WOULD BE THE STABILITY OF INSTRUMENTS DURING FLIGHT TESTING. THE SUCCESSFUL DEVELOPMENT OF PHASE-CHANGE HEAT TRANSFER TECHNOLOGY UTILIZING EWOD ENHANCED CONDENSERS WILL HAVE A PROFOUND IMPACT ON FUTURE DEEP SPACE NASA MISSIONS SUCH AS THE PSYCHE MISSION AND THE EUROPA CLIPPER WHOSE DISTANCE FROM THE EARTH WILL CAUSE SIGNIFICANT TIME DELAY IN SIGNAL EXCHANGE WITH THE EARTH. THIS WILL NECESSITATE COMPUTATIONALLY INTENSIVE AUTOMATED DECISION MAKING WHICH WILL ADD TO THE HEAT GENERATION CAUSED BY THE OTHER ELECTRONICS ON BOARD. AN EFFICIENT AND RELIABLE THERMAL CONTROL SYSTEM WILL BE CRUCIAL FOR KEEPING ALL SYSTEMS IN THEIR OPTIMAL OPERATIONAL TEMPERATURE RANGE. EWOD ENHANCED CONDENSERS WILL ALSO HAVE APPLICATIONS IN ANY FUTURE PROJECT INVOLVING HUMAN HABITATION SUCH AS THE LUNAR ORBITAL PLATFORM OR THE ORION SPACE CAPSULE. TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY CONTROL ARE VITALLY IMPORTANT FOR LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS AND EFFICIENT WATER CONDENSATION HAS APPLICATIONS IN CABIN AIR CONDITIONING AND DEHUMIDIFICATION. LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS ALSO RELY ON EFFECTIVE WASTEWATER RECYCLING WHICH OFTEN INVOLVES A DISTILLATION PROCESS AND AN EWOD ENHANCED CONDENSER COULD PROVIDE AN EXCELLENT SOLUTION FOR THE COLLECTION OF WATER CONDENSATE IN A DISTILLATION SYSTEM.

$558,192FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA

University Of Missouri System, Columbia MO

Investigators

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