Technical Paper
Water Behavior Control at Body Cleaning in Micro-gravity Condition
1994-06-01
941534
Active control of water behavior is inevitable in the daily life using water, such as hand/face washing and bathing, under the micro-gravity environment in space. Water used for hand-wash and body cleaning clings to the body skin by the surface tension effect, and shed water droplets float around in a washing chamber or in a crew cabin. Water behavior during hand-washing activity in a free air stream was investigated on the NASA KC-135 jet plane introducing 15-20 seconds of micro-gravity condition at parabolic flights. Downward air stream was proved to provide quasi-gravity force to wash down water droplets to the bottom of the chamber. Then the air flow analysis was conducted to predict water droplet behavior in a chamber designed for space hand washer. Disturbance of air flow by the hands inserted from an opening to the chamber was analyzed.