Master's Theses

Document Type

Thesis - campus only access

Date of Award

Summer 1996

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Physics

Advisor

Committee Chair

Abstract

In the space environment heat dissipation to the outside of the spacecraft mainly relies on radiation. A two-phase based coolant is used for the heat transfer. The first order phase transition of vaporization serves as the initial stage of heat transport. The latent heat, molar volumes, and specific heat are calculated from the intermolecular binding energy, the radial distribution function, the second virial coefficient, and the equations of state. The process of self-consistent iteration is used to solve the inexact Clapeyron equation; in particular, the critical value of vapor quality at the exit of the evaporator is addressed. Ammonia was used as the reference fluid to test the theory. In the range of 240 to 320 Kelvin, the calculated latent heat of vaporization fits measured physical data within 4%. The theory gives the projection of the vaporization curve on the T -P plane, thus, one is able to construct the phase diagram for the coolant. From this approach, a foundation for selecting the coolant and the study of the non-equilibrium thermodynamic process for space application is established.

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Rights

© 1996 Kent M. Kolbeck

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