Kun Zhang, Liang Bi Wang

Frontiers in Heat and Mass Transfer (FHMT) 7 - 18 (2016)

Detailed numerical analysis is presented for the effect of spaceship orbital transfer on solution convection during protein crystal growth under microgravity. The results show that the flow and mass transfer during protein crystal growth are unsteady in the process of orbital transfer. For the case of quasi-steady acceleration, the flow is so weak that the effect of flow on concentration field can be negligible. For the case of position adjustment, the convection is enhanced with protein crystal diameter d_c > 0.2 mm and slightly alters the purely diffusive concentration distribution under zero gravity condition. For the case of motor working, the solute transport is mainly controlled by convection and the concentration field near the crystal surface is altered obviously.