Session: 11-16-02: Oscillating Heat Pipes and Thermosiphons

Paper Number: 114220

114220 - Thermal Orbital Spacecraft Analysis of an Additively Manufactured Deployable Radiator Oscillating Heat Pipes (AMDROHP) CubeSat 

As small spacecraft technologies develop, thermal management devices need to meet the growing demands of high-powered electronics. Currently being developed to meet this demand in CubeSats is the Additively Manufactured Deployable Radiator Oscillating Heat Pipes (AMDROHP). AMDROHP seeks to implement the high thermal conductivity, two-phase technology of Oscillating Heat Pipes into a unique deployable radiator design for a 3U CubeSat, all while being additively manufactured as a single part. While much consideration has been put into designing the AMDROHP on its own as a heat exchanger, there is also the need for it to be evaluated thermally at a system-level with the rest of the CubeSat while in orbit. In this study, thermal orbital spacecraft simulations, through the Thermal Desktop software, were performed to analyze how AMDROHP thermally integrates and interacts with the rest of the CubeSat and evaluate the survivability of temperature-sensitive components on the spacecraft. The simulations in this study included an 11th-orbit beta angle sweep for a tumbling orientation in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). These simulations were performed with two AMDROHP devices in the CubeSat bus, each under a direct 25 W heat input and performing with a thermal conductance of 6 W/K, which corresponds to the projected performance of the AMDROHP device while in operation. In this paper, the Thermal Desktop model of the AMDROHP CubeSat is outlined including a description of the modeling of all components, connections, heat loads, and thermal and optical materials, steps taken to improve the computational speed of the model, and the details of the case studies for the set of simulations. Furthermore, the means of addressing the modeling of the complex two-phase behavior of the OHP is outlined. From the simulations, orbital temperature of sensitive components, primarily electronics, were collected and analyzed to find the minimum and maximum operating temperatures across all potential orbits. These temperatures were then evaluated to determine the component’s survivability in a worst-case scenario in orbit. From the results, it was found that, with the projected conductance of AMDROHP, all components operate under safe temperature conditions for any beta angle while in Low Earth Orbit. The evaporator is consistently the hottest component of the spacecraft and electronics boards all maintain survivable temperatures and are not at risk of over or underheating, even at worst case temperatures for all orbits tested. Based on the results and analysis of this conceptual study, it is suggested that AMDROHP will perform as an effective management device for small satellites.

Presenting Author: Spencer Miesner California State University, Los Angeles

Presenting Author Biography: Spencer Miesner is a master's student in Mechanical Engineering at California State University, Los Angeles as well as a graduate intern at Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The current focus of Spencer’s research is in exploring the use of Oscillating Heat Pipe technology for spacecraft applications.

Authors:

Spencer Miesner California State University, Los Angeles
Gabriella Shibata California State University, Los Angeles
Neyda Bautista California State University, Los Angeles
Kieran Wolk University of California, Los Angeles
Ben Furst Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Takuro Daimaru Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Eric Sunada Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Scott Roberts Jet Propulsion Laboratory
John Bellardo California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Jim Kuo California State University, Los Angeles