Bubble Behaviors in Weakly Conductive Liquid Flow applied by an Electromagnetic Field under Microgravity Environment

An air bubble separation and removal system is necessary, especially in space, for fluid processing devices. We have developed a new bubble separator for microgravity environments in which bubbles are pushed through a hydrophobic membrane by an electromagnetic body force. Our ground experiments using the separator model confirmed that air bubbles can be removed efficiently by an electromagnetic force. Subsequently, we carried out microgravity tests of 10-second duration in a drop shaft. In these tests, the effect of the electromagnetic force on bubble behavior was visually investigated and successfully recognized.