Phase Change Problems with Void

A problem on a phase change related to thermal energy storage in Manned Space Station is being studied by D.G. Wilson, J.B. Drake and R.E. Flanery at Oak Ridge National Laboratory:

“It is intended that the manned space station satisfy a considerable portion of its power requirements with solar energy. The station will orbit the earth in about ninety minutes and spend about two thirds of each orbit in sunlight and about one third in the earth’s shadow. Under these conditions it will be necessary to store thermal energy during the station’s exposure to the sun and to retrieve it during the transit through the earth’s shadow. Several systems have been proposed for accomplishing this. We describe in rough outline one such system and a problem associated with modeling its performance.