A hollow microlattice based ultralight active thermal control device and its fabrication techniques and thermal performances

Abstract

This paper introduces a new thermal control device (TCD) which has not only low weight and high efficiency but also passive and active cooling capabilities. The TCD mainly consists of hollow graphene-enhanced-metallic microlattice material, phase change material (PCM) and a peristatic pump. The PCM is inside the spatial-interconnected millimeter-scale diameter tubes, which are the basic constitution of the hollow microlattice material, in addition, the peristatic pump was connected with the tubes and used to force the liquid-state PCM to circulate inside the interconnected thin tubes. Thus, the proposed TCD takes combined advantages of the ultralight and high thermal transfer properties of the hollow graphene-enhanced-metallic microlattice materials, the thermal storage capability of the PCM and forced convection of the PCM driven by the peristatic pump as the PCM is in liquid state. The manufacturing process of the active TCD was also developed and proposed, which mainly includes additive manufacturing, composite electroless plating, polymer etching, liquid PCM injecting and the peristatic pump connecting. In addition to that, a thermal test system was built and the effective thermal conductivities of the TCD in passive cooling and with active cooling modes were experimentally studied. The TCD can absorb heat and actively dissipate heat by means of forced convection. Consequently, the proposed active TCD can be used to guarantee the electronic components and spacecrafts operate in a specific temperature range.