Thermocapillary Convection Experiment Facility of an open Cylindrical Annuli for SJ-10 Satellite

• DOI: 10.1007/s12217-016-9486-9
• Publication Date: 2016-05-04T20:42:20Z
• Authors: Qi Kang; Li Duan; Li Zhang; Yongli Yin; Jingsong Yang; Wenrui Hu
• Keywords: 0103 physical sciences; 01 natural sciences; 7. Clean energy

Thermocapillary convection has always been a hot topic of great importance in either crystal growth or thin films science. A space experiment about thermocapillary convection in an open cylindrical annuli pool will be done on SJ-10 satellite. A payload for space experiment has been established, which includes a cylindrical annuli thermocapillary convection system, a thermocouple temperature controlling system and measurement system, a thermal infrared imager, a high-precision displacement sensor, and an experiment controlling system. Some experiments have been done on the ground in order to compare with the results of space experiment. Some results from the ground experiment are shown, such as temperature oscillation, surface oscillation, and flow pattern transfer.