%0 Journal Article %A Glushchuk, Andrey %A Minetti, Christophe %A Buffone, Cosimo %D 2014 %I Begell House %K condensation, liquid film, microgravity %N 1 %P 63-81 %R 10.1615/MultScienTechn.v26.i1.20 %T FIN CONDENSATION IN VARIABLE GRAVITY ENVIRONMENT %U https://www.dl.begellhouse.com/journals/5af8c23d50e0a883,76b61f1d281aea03,6cb44235678061bc.html %V 26 %X We report on a condensation experiment of pure HFE-7100 on a curvilinear brass fin of 16 mm height cooled from the base by a Peltier/heat pipe/heat sink assembly. The experiment has been carried out in variable gravity environment aboard the Airbus A300 Zero-G aircraft of the European Space Agency performing parabolic trajectories during which the gravity has been varied from 1g to 1.8g and eventually to 10-2g. An afocal optical system has been developed to measure the condensate liquid film on the fin with an accuracy of around 6 µm. The temporal evolutions of the liquid film thickness along the fin is determined and used to deduce the local Nusselt numbers in various gravity conditions. The derived heat of condensation increases in hypergravity and decreases noticeably during microgravity. This means that in microgravity a condenser should be designed with a larger surface area than on ground. We have also noticed local troughs of the film thickness most likely due to manufacturing imperfections of the fin. %8 2015-02-13