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Frontiers in Energy >> 2011, Volume 5, Issue 2 doi: 10.1007/s11708-010-0105-y

Analysis of the radiation heat transfer process of phase change for a liquid droplet radiator in space power systems

School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China

Available online: 2011-06-05

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Abstract

The optimization of a space power system is greatly affected by the radiation heat transfer in a liquid droplet radiator (LDR). Radiation heat transfer in a two-dimensional bed of phase-change particle is modeled by solving the radiative transfer equation using the discrete ordinates method and the energy equation using the implicit finite difference method. The Mie theory is used to calculate the radiative properties of the droplet bed, whereas the effective medium theory is used to obtain the optical constants of partial solidification droplets. Multiple factors affect heat flux in the LDR, such as size distribution, flow velocity, phase change of droplets, layer thickness, droplet concentration in the layer, and material type of the work fluid; each of these must be analyzed. Calculations show that once size distribution is neglected, the relative error increases significantly. Size distribution has a remarkably strong effect on heat flux when the flow velocity of the working fluid is above 100 m/s. An increase in flow velocity leads to an increase in the total heat flux for the layer with a fixed volume fraction of droplets. The solidification zone occupies nearly half of the layer, and droplets of different sizes exhibit temperature differences to some extent due to local thermal non-equilibrium among them. Droplet concentration in the layer and the material type of the working fluid have strong effects on heat flux, whereas the thickness of the layer has a mild influence on heat flux.

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