Spacecraft Thermal Control

Lars Bylander
Picture Maya Heat Ltd.

Lecture contents
Radiation Radiation heat exchange Spacecraft thermal environments Thermal control hardware Conduction heat exchange Mounting and interfaces Thermal design analysis Thermal design examples Thermal testing

Radiation
The electromagnetic power spectrum is described by Plancks radiation law:

Radiation peak is at (know as Wien's displacement law):

2.898103 [ m] = T

Radiation
For bulk samples and opaque films the relation between the spectral directional hemispherical reflectance, (,), spectral directional emittance, (,), and the spectral directional absorptance, (,), is given by Kirchoffs first law: (,) = (,) = 1 - (,) where (,) is the reflectance at all angles from a monochromatic beam incident from the direction (,).

Radiation
The solar absorptance, S, is defined as (where
power):

i P

denotes the incident spectral solar

S =

P d
i 0 i P d 0

1 i d = P S 0

And by using Kirchoffs law the solar absorptance can be written:

1 i d S = (1 )P S 0

Radiation
The temperature dependant emittance, (T), is defined as (where
P (T)
bb

(T ) =

bb P (T)d 0 bb P (T)d 0

1 bb P (T)d = bb P (T) 0

denotes the temperature dependant spectral blackbody radiant power):

And by using Kirchoffs law the emittance can be written:

(T ) =

1 bb (1 )P (T)d bb P (T) 0

Radiation
Examples of electromagnetic power spectra:

Radiation

The world according to a human eye

The world according to an infrared camera

(Pictures source: Wikimedia Commons)

Radiation heat exchange

Black body radiation (StefanBoltzmann's law, =5,67010-8, T = surface temperature, unit is Kelvin): A non black bodys radiation per square meter (=emission coefficient): A non black bodys total radiation (Ae = emitting area) :

W / m
4 2

W / m
4 2

Ae [W ]
4

Radiation heat exchange

Absorbed power (S is the Solar constant, S is the solar absorption, Aill is the illuminated area):

S S Aill [W ]

Radiation heat exchange

An objects equilibrium temperature can be calculated by balancing the objects absorbed and emitted power.

Ae

= S S Aill
S S Aill Ae

Spacecraft thermal environments

S

The illuminated area of a sphere is r2 and its emitting area is 4r2. This results in an equilibrium temperature of:

4 S S 4

Spacecraft thermal environments

Solar flux versus distance from the Sun= 1376.5 / AU2 (W/m2)

Figure from Spacecraft Thermal Control Handbook, David G. Gilmore et.al., 2002

Spacecraft thermal environments

Equilibrium temperature of a sphere having S=.

Figure from Spacecraft Thermal Control Handbook, David G. Gilmore et.al., 2002

Spacecraft thermal environments

Orbits around planets means albedo (reflected solar radiation) and planet IR-radiation. Earth IR average temperature is about -18 C. Note! At 1280 km altitude 310 W/m2 albedo and 175 W/m2 IR

Figure from Spacecraft Thermal Control Handbook, David G. Gilmore et.al., 2002

Spacecraft thermal environments

Calculate the temperature of a sphere where: -altitude is 1280 km -S=(T) -in eclipse and sunlight S (W/m2) 0 1376 Albedo (W/m2) 0 310 IR (W/m2) 175 175 T (C) -106 28

4 S S 4

Eclipse Sunlight

Thermal control hardware

Optical Surface Reflectors (OSR) S= 0.08, =0.8

Thermal control hardware

Multi Layer Insulation (MLI) S= 0.03, insulation<=0.02

Picture from Satellite Thermal Control for Systems Engineers and ESA Integral.

Thermal control hardware

White colour, example S= 0.17, =0.86 Black paint, Chemglaze, S= 0.95, =0.85 Polished aluminium, S= 0.08, =0.03 Solar cells, S= 0.7 to 0.9, =0.76 to 0.8

Thermal control hardware

Heat pipes are used to improve heat sharing in a satellite

Conductive heat exchange

One-dimensional heat conduction through a region ( = thermal conductivity, xA = distance, A = cross section heat flow area, T1-T2 = temperature difference over xA):
A Q= 1 T2 ) [W ] x A (T

Conductive heat exchange

The quantity:
K = A [W ] x K A

is called conduction conductance (or just conductance) and is an important quantity in thermal modelling. The inverse is called conduction thermal resistance. Example: A 5 cm long rod with cross section area 1 cm2, made of a Aluminum alloy having thermal conductivity 185 W/mK, has an conductance of 0.37 W/K.

Conductive heat exchange

A thermal interface is created between e.g. an electronics box and the satellite deck it is mounted on. The thermal contact resistance depends on:
Surface roughness Contact pressure Use of fillers
Interface

Mounting and interfaces

Example of an electronics box which:
Is painted black to maximize radiation heat exchange Has mounting lugs at the bottom for conducting heat exchange
Figure from Spacecraft Thermal Control Handbook, David G. Gilmore et.al., 2002

Mounting and interfaces

Example of an electronics box internal thermal design with:
Printed circuit boards mounted on heat sink modules Heat sinks mounted with good thermal connection to the bottom plate
Figure from Spacecraft Thermal Control Handbook, David G. Gilmore et.al., 2002

Mounting and interfaces

Machined surface finish has an impact on heat conduction through an interface Surface finish is defined as roughness average (RA) and waviness
Figure from Spacecraft Thermal Control Handbook, David G. Gilmore et.al., 2002

Mounting and interfaces

A filler material improves interface heat conduction Filler gasket consists of thermal conductive particles (e.g. AlO2) and an elastomeric binder (e.g. silicone)
Figure from Spacecraft Thermal Control Handbook, David G. Gilmore et.al., 2002

Mounting and interfaces

Example of thermal filler conduction resistance per cm2 versus mechanical pressure.

Figure from Spacecraft Thermal Control Handbook, David G. Gilmore et.al., 2002

Thermal design analysis

Analysis is typically done using a CAD software with a thermal solver A model is built e.g. by adding a mesh to a simplified mechanical model Optical and material properties are defined Nodes in the mesh get connected through a conduction network Heat loads are defined The thermal solver calculates radiation exchange and the heat conductance between elements

Thermal design analysis

View factors (or form factor), is basically the fraction of radiated energy emitted by element i that is intercepted by element j.

Thermal design analysis

View factors can be solved analytically, see e.g.: http://www.me.utexas.edu/~howell/tablecon.html
C-125: Sphere to coaxial disk.
Reference: Feingold and Gupta; Naraghi and Chung (1981);

Governing Equation:

where R = r/a

The good news is: Your CAD software will do it for you.

Thermal design analysis

Example, analytic calculation of a view factor: Two infinitely long, directly opposed parallel plates of the same finite width.
h h F1 2 = F21 = 1 + ( w ) (w ) 2

F1-2

0 0 1 2 h/w

Thermal design analysis

Entity Filter Mode: Off Display Group Current Grp: INSIDE_SAT_ENCLOSURE

Example of a satellite interior mesh. The green mesh represents a cavity in the satellite and the red mesh two electronic boxes in the cavity. Meshed elements are connected through a conduction network

Thermal design analysis

The thermal solver solves the equation:

Thermal Design Examples

Sun 6-14 kW/m2 13 kW/m2 Mercury The BepiColombo spacecraft will be irradiated with two spectra, the Suns and Mercurys. The spacecraft itself will radiate with a spectrum closer to the room temperature. BepiColombo with wire booms

Thermal Design Examples

Irradiance Reflected irradiance, Infrared emitter (e.g. Quartz glass) Solar reflector (e.g. Silver) The absorption and emission coefficients be calculated from reflectance data: ==1-. Typical for a OSR is shown in the graph. The high Solar reflectance and low infrared reflectance result in relatively low temperatures.

OSR

Thermal Design Examples

Mimic the OSR reflectance spectra by sputter a thin film of ZrO2 on the wire booms Silver braid. Below is a section of the 1.5 mm diameter wire boom:
ZrO2 Silver braid

Insulator Copper wire

Thermal design examples

Ground track

Eclipse cone

A test object orbiting Mercury.

Planet equator plane

Thermal testing
Thermal tests are done at both unit level and on complete assembled satellites. Thermal tests are also done to find material properties. E.g. calorimetric tests to measure emissivity

Thermal testing of wire boom

Solar simulator Inside of walls cooled with liquid nitrogen

Wire boom

Testing of a wire boom at the Institute of Space Physics, Kiruna.

Thermal testing of wire boom

Walls Wire, Twire

Tw1

Tw2

A A 4 4 emit S A = T ) + emit (T 4 T 4 ) (T wire w1 wire w2 S ill 2 2

Aemit = 2rl

Thermal testing of wire boom

Aemit 4 4 4 S S Aill = (2Twire Tw1 Tw 2 ) 2 2 r l 4 S S 2 r l = (2Twire Tw41 Tw42 ) 2 4 4 4 S (2Twire Tw1 Tw 2 ) = S 2

Thermal testing of wire boom

S/ 1.6 1.5 1.3 1.3 1 Twire (K) 332 S Tw1 (W/m2) (K) 5.6703 1350 90 10-8 90 90 225 263 Tw2 (K) 90 200 263 225 263

Thermal testing of wire boom

Assuming Aill = 2 r lcos 45 and Aemit = 2rl:

S S Aill S S 2 r l S S T = = = Aemit 2 r l 2 2
4

T wire (C) 280 270 250 220

Solar flux 14 489

S/ 1.6 1.5 1.3 1

Thermal balance tests

Thermal balance tests are done to verify the thermal behaviour and simulation models Test chamber at Jaxa, Japan.

Thermal balance test of MEFISTO-S Thermocouple Solar lamp Walls liquid Nitrogen cooled MEFISTO-S front

Thermal testing of BepiColombo

Rotation table Test jig

Sun radiation Drawing of BepiColombo MMO (diameter about 2 m) in a test chamber.

Thermal testing of Cluster

The Cluster satellite in a space simulator test chamber at IABG outside Munich.