Laboratory prototype flash evaporator
A laboratory prototype flash evaporator that is being developed as a candidate for the space shuttle environmental control system expendable heat sink is described. The single evaporator configuration uses water as an evaporant to accommodate reentry and on-orbit peak heat loads, and Freon 22 for terrestrial flight phases below 120,000 feet altitude. The design features, fabrication techniques used for the prototype unit, redundancy considerations, and the fluid temperature control arrangement are reported in detail. The results of an extensive test program to determine the evaporator operational characteristics under a wide variety of conditions are presented.