The ASETS-II experiment consists of three oscillating heat pipes (OHPs), an electronics box, and mounting structures that control boundary conditions. Each OHP consists of 34 channels in a typical single-layer closed loop design. Butane was selected as the working fluid for OHP #1 and #2 for its performance stability. R-134a was selected for OHP #3 in order to explore the Bond number limit’s influence on OHP operation in microgravity.
The ASETS-II Flight and Flight Spare hardware were subjected to a comprehensive set of ground testing to baseline performance prior to flight testing. For most test conditions, the Flight and Flight Spare test results for OHP #1 and OHP #2 are within the margin of uncertainty in the measurements. OHP #3 on the Flight hardware performs similarly to OHP #3 on the Flight Spare hardware; however, the difference in performance is outside the margin of uncertainty in the measurements. This variation in performance may be attributable to the fact that OHP #3 is being pushed to operate near its Bond number limit.
