DFVLR/AEDC Cooperative Thermal Vacuum Test III

Abstract

Abstract : A 40-cm-diam sphere and a 30- by 30-cm flat plate, which was used to simulate a hot spot, were tested in the AEDC Aerospace Chamber (12V). This test was part of a cooperative thermal vacuum test program between AEDC and DFVLR in Porz-Wahn, West Germany. The test was conducted in four phases. Phase 1 was conducted with the solar simulator (radiant flux of one solar constant) and employed both the filtered (spectrally) and unfiltered modes; the flat plate temperature was fixed at -190, 21, and 125C. In Phase 2 the solar simulator was turned off and the temperature about the test sphere was measured for flat plate temperatures of -190, 21, and 125C. For Phase 3 the solar simulator was again turned off and small strip heaters were attached to the interior of the hollow test sphere. The heaters were used to simulate hot spots on the sphere, with the heaters set to produce 0.10, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, and 1.00 watts of heat. The results of this test were compared with some of the results obtained on the same sphere when tested by DFVLR in Porz-Wahn. For Phase 4 the infrared (IR) scanning camera was employed to remotely map the temperature of the sphere. The thermocouple results are compared with the IR camera temperature measurements.