University of Illinois at Chicago researchers have completed high- and zero-gravity testing of an evaporative cooling system developed for sophisticated microelectronic systems onboard an astronaut training aircraft following three years of preparation supported by NASA.
Managed by CNES subsidiary Novespace since 1997, the Airbus A300—nicknamed the Zero-G—is a short- to medium-range widebody jet airliner used to train astronauts in a zero-gravity environment. The aircraft gives its occupants the temporary sensation of weightlessness by following a parabolic flight path relative to the center of the Earth. As the plan traces a parabola, gravitational force increases as it climbs or descends; as the plane reaches its peak, gravitational force sharply decreases and the crew experiences temporary weightlessness.
That combination of increased gravitational force and temporary weightlessness were what researchers Alexander Yarin, UIC professor of mechanical and industrial engineering; Suman Sinha Ray, a postdoctoral fellow and recent UIC graduate; and Sumit Sinha Ray, a graduate student hoped to test their new evaporative cooling system against.
Developed to cool the elaborate electro-optical and infrared sensors, recording equipment and data processing systems of satellites, rockets and drones in near and outer space, the UIC evaporative cooling system uses thin nanofiber mats to increase cooling efficiency by trapping coolant against the surface so that evaporation is quick and complete.
Data from three separate flights—3.5 hours each, with 31 parabolas per flight—will be analyzed to determine how the cooling system operated under the simulated space conditions.
The flights were physically demanding but “exciting and fun,” Suman said. The researchers were warned not to move about the cabin as astronauts do in the space station to help prevent nausea.
Suman seemed right at home, Sumit said, and worked on the computer very naturally as we ran the experiment. Sumit was responsible for photographing the experiment and monitoring the pressurized rig running the system.
