A novel arterial Wick for gas–liquid phase separation

Abstract

Gas–liquid phase separation under microgravity conditions or in small‐scale fluidic systems represents a challenge for two‐phase liquid‐continuous systems. In this study, capillary channels formed by 3‐mm diameter stretched stainless‐steel springs coated with a commercial superhydrophobic coating are used to remove air bubbles from water. A single channel is capable of absorbing a stream of 3.7‐mm diameter bubbles impinging on a small area of the channel at a rate of over 50 bubbles/s. High‐permeability walls lead to fast individual absorption events (4 ms for 2.5‐mm bubbles) where bubble collapse time is limited by the inertia of the surrounding liquid. A horizontal three‐channel array has been shown capable of absorbing impinging bubbles from a sparger at superficial gas velocities of 0.03 m/s. The ultimate capacity of the 3‐mm diameter channel is predicted to be much higher than what could be measured with the existing apparatus. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 65: 1340–1354, 2019

Magnetic phase separation in microgravity

“…Numerous phase separation methods have been developed for microgravity conditions. Centrifuges 1,2 , forced vortical flows 3,4 , rocket firing 5,6 , membranes 7,8 , and surface-tensionbased technologies 9,10 , which include wedge geometries [11][12][13][14] , springs 15 , eccentric annuli 16 , microfluidic channels 17 , or porous substrates 18,19 , among others, are the most traditional solutions. As an alternative, the use of electrohydrodynamic forces has been studied since the early 1960s 20 and successfully tested for boiling [21][22][23] , two-phase flow management 24,25 , and conduction pumping 26 applications.…”