Design considerations for a micro-g superfluid helium fluid acquisition system

✍ Scribed by J.M. Lee

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1989
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 543 KB
• Volume: 29
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0011-2275
• DOI: 10.1016/0011-2275(89)90100-8

✦ Synopsis

The general description, operation and design of a superfluid helium (SFHe) fluid acquisition system (FAS) for use under micro-gravity conditions is presented. For the type of FAS considered here, where fine-mesh woven screens are used to retain flowing SFHe within a gallery arm (flow) channel, those forces which determine the flow dynamics are the micro-g accelerations, liquid surface tension and tensile strength and cumulative pressure drops along a flow path that begins at the bulk liquid and ends at the entrance to a pump. For this case, the dimensionless number, NT, is written as the ratio between the pressure drop across the screen and the surface tension forces at the screen for low fluid velocities. Static Bond number measurements have been taken for SFHe using 325 x 2300 twilled Dutch screen and have indicated a screen pore hydraulic radius, r H, of 3.1 x 10 -4 cm. A design equation incorporating rH, channel dimensions and residual liquid relates NT tO the various flow losses at low fluid velocities. The results show that in principle it is possible to design a micro-g SFHe FAS for steady-state flow conditions.