Study of Plate Type Evaporator with Communication Wick

Abstract

An evaporator with communication wick is necessary for compact thermal control system. Two-phase fluid loop systems with the evaporator is very promising in thermal performance as one of the thermal control systems. Developments of high thermal performance and compact or plate-type thermal control systems are demanded for satellites. The evaporator with communication wick was investigated in the heat transfer performance. First, heat transfer characteristics of the evaporator with communication wick were analyzed with calculation. The evaporator was manufac tured on the basis of the analytical evaluation, and the experiments of the heat transfer were carried out using ethanol as the working fluid. As a result, it was found that the overall heat transfer coefficient showed the value of maximum 20 kW/m2 for ethanol in experiment and had the higher value in the case of the working fluid, ammonia, in the analysis.