Effect of Gravity on combustion behavior of a wire: Microgravity Combustion

Vibhor Jajoo*, Naoki Shigeta**, Osamu Fujita** *Department of Mechanical Engineering, Banaras Hindu University, India **Laboratory of Space Utilization, Hokkaido University, Japan *Corresponding author (email: vibhor.jajoo.bhu@gmail.com) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ignition limits, with large electric currents Abstract when compared with the situation under In a foreseeable future, residing for a long normal earth based gravity. The increase in time in Space like in International Space the ignition probability is explained by station. Some issues have to be solved to decreases in the minimum ignition energy in improve the conditions of living within the microgravity interacting with the ignition International Space Station. One of these mechanism. issues is the risk of fire in microgravity. In space, the fire is most often caused by an overload in electrical wires: wires which have an internal resistance can generate pyrolized gases and heat which can make melt the insulation material and cause the ignition. Ignition condition is more probable in microgravity in comparison to normal gravity. In previous research [2] the authors reported dramatic extensions of ignition limits (defined as minimum electric current to cause ignition under a given oxygen concentration) under microgravity. in real electric systems a circuit breaker would be activated to shut down the electric current when overloads occur. Therefore, as well as the continuous supply case, understanding the conditions of ignition with a short-term excess current supply is also important. The results showed that the microgravity environment significantly increases the ignition probability, including the occurrence of delayed ignition and extended

Introduction
Buoyant convection, which provides oxidizer to sustain and invigorate fires on earth, is absent in the weightlessness of a spacecraft in free fall orbit. In the absence of convection, molecular diffusion of oxidizer is the only means of transport of oxygen to a fire, and this is a slow process compared with convection. As such, supported by the first combustion experiments in space (Kimzey, 1974), expectations of some spacecraft designers were that microgravity commonly offered reduced flammability and fire spread rates. Such expectations are commonly met when the spacecraft environmental atmosphere is quiescent, but quiescence is not a normal condition owing to ventilation system operation. Furthermore, the life-threatening event on Mir, when the ruptured generator provided its own oxygen and convection, served as proof of the possibility of on-orbit fires.

Experimental Setup
An outline of the experimental set-up (Fig. 1) is shown below. It is composed of a combustion chamber with the sample wire inside, a constant current supply system, and an image recording system. The combustion chamber has inside dimensions of 230(W), 140(D), and 170(H) mm. The sample holder in the chamber can hold the wire with moderate tension to keep the wire straight even when thermal expansion occurs as a result of temperature increases. Both ends of wire are connected with a constant current power supply through the electrodes of the sample holder. The chamber allows optical access through the front and back windows, by which backlight imaging with a highspeed camera (500 fps) is possible, together with simultaneous direct imaging from the top. The tested sample in is a nickelchrome core wire coated with polyethylene, which was specially provided for experimental purposes. A nickel-chrome core has the advantage of control of the Joule energy generated in the core, because its larger resistance in comparison with copper wire allows avoiding heat generation in the wire harness other than the tested sample wire. The Nickel-Chrome wire has a diameter of 0.5 millimeters, a length of 8.5 centimeters (effective length 7centimeters) and its polyethylene insulation thickness is 0.15 millimeter. The electrical resistance given by the constructor is 5.5 ohm/m. In the tests, the time the current is applied, t, was 1.0 s (to simulate delays in the circuit breaker activation). Microgravity experiments were conducted at the Akabira

drop tower, Japan which provides a high quality microgravity environment of 10 G0 (G0: gravity level on the ground) for around 2.8s. To film the sample during the experiments, two video cameras are used: a HD Camera which took 30 pictures per second and a high speed camera which took 500 frames per second.

Figure 1: Combustion chamber

Attaining Microgravity
Basically, if there are no outer gravitational accelerations measurable inside a laboratory system, the physical definition describes it as weightless and is called condition of Microgravity. In order to achieve a state of weightlessness objects have to uniformly move on feasible paths without propulsion in the gravity field of the earth. These conditions can be achieved in the case of a free fall the inertial force will compensate the forces of gravitation. In drop tower operations, the quality of the compensation depends on the limitation of the residual pressure acting on the drop or catapult capsule inside the drop tower tube. Hokkaido University, Japan has such

facilities in Akabira with collaboration with Uematsu electric Co. Limited. Akabira drop tower heights 50 meters and can decrease the gravity upto 10-3G during about 2.8 seconds.

Drop Capsule Experiment

put inside a drag shield: a rectangle box with a round bottom. Gravity pulls equally on the drag shield and the experiment package. Because experiment setup is free from the outer shield, the experiment doesn't feel the aerodynamic drag as it falls, so it falls more freely -- as though it is in microgravity.

Results and Discussion

Figure 3 shows a typical example of wire combustion immediately after ignition in microgravity. The flame shows a cylindrical two-dimensional shape surrounding the sample wire in the absence of buoyancy induced convection. Both ends of the bright flame are at the position of the sample edges. Small melted insulation spheres also can be seen in figure stick to wire. This section determines differences in ignition limits and ignition delay times under normal gravity and in microgravity. The Ignition limit is defined as the minimum value of the electric current causing ignition. In the following figures, normal gravity and microgravity conditions are noted as 1G and G as shortened expressions, respectively.

Figure 2: Drop Capsule The experimental apparatus has to be placed inside a drop capsule (Fig. 2) to make microgravity experiments. Actually, the experimental setup is first placed on a steel structure. Then the capsule is risen to the top of the drop tower and after a certain time to dissipate the vibrations, the capsule is released and free falls. To protect the experiment from the aerodynamic drag, it is

Figure 3: 14 ampere 19% O2 and 81% N2, 1.0 s Current Supply time in Microgravity

Figure 4: Soft fuel balls generated near wire at extinction limit of Ignition shows another interesting phenomenon of Soft blue balls in Microgravity near extinction limit.

70 60 O 50 x y 40 g e 30 n % 20 10 0 10 12 14 16 Current (ampere) 18 20 22

Micro G 1G

Figure 5: Flammability map in short term (1.0 s) current supply case Flammability test conditions are chosen according to similar condition in International space station in condition of fire and short circuiting of electrical setup and ignition limit was found to be as seen in Figure 5. Figure 6 below shows high-speed observations of ignition phenomena under the different gravity conditions. Figure 6(A) recorded by a high-speed camera in microgravity. In the figure, the ignition is initiated at a point away the wire and then spread along the whole wire. This is a very common situation for ignition in microgravity, especially at conditions higher oxygen concentration to the ignition limit. In this, the pyrolized gas as well as the heat due to the electrical energy generated in the core resides near the sample wire for a relatively long period, increasing ignition delay period and the ignition occurs. This can be attained only in microgravity, which would be the state requiring the smallest energy input that would initiate ignition among the different types of ignition modes. Fig. 6(B) shows ignition phenomena in the presence of normal gravity. Phenomena suggesting the presence of buoyancy induced flows are clearly observed as well as it can be differentiated that In microgravity melted insulation concentrate around wire while in normal gravity melted insulation starting to fall before ignition. The experiments used backlit images to visualize the motion of the pyrolized gas in addition to showing the ignition position. In the figure, the sample wire can be seen as a horizontal dark line in the pictures. Pyrolized gas (the dark circular shape above the wire) is also observed as a result of upward buoyancy induced flow during the ignition delay as well ejection of pyrolized gas in form of jet can be seen in Fig. 6 B (t = 0.688s) This is also the typical

situation for ignition in the presence of buoyancy induced flows In this, ignition occurs away from the sample surface and usually in end of wire as melted insulation only remained in that position only. In this a large amount of high temperature pyrolized gas needs to be released for ignition to occur as pyrolized gas flows away from the

sample wire and as the gas needs to be able to self-ignite. This would be the cause of the larger ignition energy required for ignition under normal gravity than that in microgravity. As a result of the differences in the energy required for ignition, the ignition limit under the microgravity condition is extended toward lower supplied current values.

Figure 6: Ignition in Microgravity versus Normal Gravity In microgravity conditions are much different than normal gravity as there is no convection force present to heat transfer thus heat energy as well flammable material (Insulation polythene of wire) has rich concentration along the wire than normal gravity. From literature [2] we can say that in microgravity the minimum energy for ignition is almost constant under a constant oxygen concentration and this would imply that there is specific ignition energy for wire insulation ignition. This means that once the supplied energy exceeds the specific value under a given O2 concentration, it may be expected to result in ignition. In normal gravity this minimum ignition energy seems to be affected by the length of time that electricity is supplied. Differences of the time electricity is supplied (time of application) cause differences in the effect of surrounding flows and results in the differences in heat loss. For this reason it becomes more difficult to define specific minimum ignition energies in the normal gravity condition. Overall, the minimum ignition energy required under normal gravity is much larger than that necessary in microgravity and the discrepancies between normal and microgravity conditions are caused by the presence of the surrounding buoyancy induced flow in normal gravity. Below is a graph showing effect on ignition limit on mixture of Nitrogen and Oxygen in short term current supply case.

Conclusion
Wire insulation ignition initiated by short term excess electric current in microgravity has different characteristics from insulation ignition in normal gravity. In microgravity, ignition easily occurs even after the current supply has stopped, while this is rarely the case under normal gravity. This means that in microgravity ignition can occur after the circuit breaker has discontinued the current supply. As future work, long-term microgravity tests would be desirable because the experiments here were conducted under the limitations of microgravity times up to 3.0 s. A determination of the ignition limits and ignition energies without microgravity time limitations is essential for a better understanding of wire ignition phenomena.

3. Microgravity Combustion: Fire in free fall edited by Edited by H. D. Ross (NASA Glenn Research Center), Cleveland, OH, USA, ISBN 0-12598190-2

Reference
1. Experimental Study on Ignition of wire in low oxygen concentration and overcurrent in microgravity in 49th Symposium on combustion, Combustion Society of Japan:- Naoki Shigeta, Yoshitomo Takanoh,Vibhor Jajoo Hiroyuki Ito, Osamu Fujita , D213. 2. Ignition of electrical wire insulation with short-term excess electric current in microgravity Osamu Fujita, Takeshi Kyono, Yasuhiro Kido, Hiroyuki Ito, Yuji Nakamura, Proceedings of the Combustion Institute 33 (2011) 2617 2623