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ISSN Online: 2377-424X

International Heat Transfer Conference 12
August, 18-23, 2002, Grenoble, France

Advanced Loop Heat Pipes For Spacecraft Central Thermal Bus Concept

Get access (open in a dialog) DOI: 10.1615/IHTC12.2780
6 pages

Résumé

Next generation spacecraft and satellites are becoming increasingly smaller and more compact, yet their electronics get even denser and dissipate more heat than ever. Accordingly the thermal control subsystem (TCS) will not only have to reduce its size but also compete with other subsystems for the limited space on-board the spacecraft. In recent years, spacecraft engineers have begun considering a central thermal bus (CTB) and/or deployable radiator (DR) concept as a plausible solution to the "real estate" issue. In a CTB/DR concept, heat dissipating electronic boxes and batteries are arranged tightly on a cold plate (or deck) which is, in turn, located inside the spacecraft. Waste heat is collected from the cold plate and transported to space radiators positioned far away from the main spacecraft for ultimate heat rejection. To minimize the spacecraft launch configuration envelope to fit inside a launch vehicle, the DR stows near the spacecraft. When in-orbit, a deploying mechanism extends and points the DR to an optimal attitude for heat rejection.

Enabling technologies for the CTB/DR concept are Loop Heat Pipe (LHP) and Capillary Pumped Loop (CPL). Both have extremely high heat transport capability for removing large amounts of heat from the CTB and their transport lines can be made flexible for the DR deployment. Despite sharing some similarities, LHPs and CPLs differ in many operational aspects. They have their own advantages and disadvantages in different areas of operation. As a result, implementing each separate system into the CTB/DR concept would be difficult. An advanced concept of LHP (A-LHP) was developed recently combining a LHP and a CPL into one loop. The ALHP demonstrated all advantages of both systems without the disadvantages of either one.