Nucleate boiling of low-concentration alcohol aqueous solutions for the development of thermal management systems in space

To develop high-performance space thermal management systems using boiling phenomena, the heat transfer characteristics of low concentration alcohol aqueous solutions were investigated on ground. For mixtures of 1-Propanol/Water, 2-Propanol/Water and Water/1-Butanol, i.e. substantially positive mixtures at very low concentration range of alcohol, heat transfer enhancement was observed, while only heat transfer deterioration was reported in most of existing studies for nucleate boiling of mixtures. A concept of coexisting heat transfer enhancement due to Marangoni effect additionally to the heat transfer deterioration due to mass transfer resistance was emphasized. The concept seems to be true for mixture nucleate boiling independent of gravity level.