空间微重力环境下交流电渗驱动的研究

The ability to drive the fluid is the foundation and precondition of the fluid management in space which is crucial in space applications. As a novelty active fluid-driven technique , AC electroosmosis has many advantages, such as the simple and reliable structure without movable parts, the current switching without valves and the low operating voltage to avoid the water electrolysis. Therefore, AC eletroosmosis may have great potential in the fluid control in space. In this project, the AC eletroosmosis fluid-dirven technique in micro-channels will be stidued through experimentations and numerical simulations, and then Furhthermore Due to the fact that the ratio of volume to surface of the micro-channel is much larger than that of large scale channel in space, the results will be verified and improved through experimentations in the short-term microgravity platform (drop tower) due to the fact that the ratio of volume to surface of the micro-channel is much larger than that of large scale channel in space. This stuy will provide the important theoretical and technique foundation for the application of AC eletroosmosis in the fluid management in space.

流体管理在航天应用中具有重要的意义。对流体进行驱动是各项流体控制的基础和前提。电渗驱动方式具有结构简单可靠、无需活动的结构部件、可以实现无阀的液流切换等优势。交流电渗驱动是新兴的流体驱动技术，具有施加电势低，在水溶液中不会产生电解反应等优点，因而交流电渗技术在空间流体管理中具有重要的应用潜力。本项研究将通过地面实验和数值模拟的方法开展微通道平台上的交流电渗驱动技术的研究。同时，由于微通道的表面/体积比远大于空间大尺度流道的表面/体积比，这些技术将通过短时微重力设施平台（落塔）上的大尺度通道的交流电渗驱动实验研究进行验证和改进。本项研究可以为交流电渗技术在空间流体管理中的应用提供重要理论和技术基础。

本项目采用理论、实验和数值模拟相结合的方法，开展了水溶液和非水溶液的微通道及空间大尺寸通道内交流电渗驱动的流体动力学研究，给出细致的通道内流场分布以及与实验/模型各参数，例如外加电压及频率、电极大小、电极间距、电极对间距等的依赖关系，同时研究了具有自有面的液层的高度对交流电渗驱动对流的影响。基于以上结果，本研究进行了微通道和空间大尺度通道交流电渗驱动方案的优化设计。此外研究团队提出了非水溶液交流电渗驱动中添加电解质的创新性关键技术，显著降低非水溶液交流电渗驱动所需施加电压及消除了电极损耗，使得交流电渗装置可以长期使用。以上研究成果为交流电渗驱动技术在空间流体管理中的应用提供重要的技术基础。