Experimental Investigation of Micro Heat Pipe Radiators in Radiation Environment

Abstract

Abstract A flexible micro heat pipe radiator, fabricated by sintering an array of aluminum wires between two thin aluminum sheets, was developed as part of a program to conceptulize, develop, and test lightweight, flexible radiator fin structures for use on long-term spacecraft missions. A detailed experimental investigation was conducted to determine the temperature distribution, maximum heat transport capacity, and radiation efficiency of these micro heat pipe radiators in a radiation environment. Experimental results from three Aluminum-Acetone micro heat pipe radiators with wire diameters of 0.635 mm, 0.813 and 1.016 mm are presented, evaluated and discussed. The results of the experimental program indicted that the maximum heat transport capacity and radiation efficiency, both increased with increasing wire diameter. The maximum heat transport capacity of the micro heat pipe radiator utilizing a wire diameter of 0.635 mm was 15.2 W. The radiators utilizing wire diameters of 0.813 mm and 1.016 mm never reached the maximum heat transport capacities for the given test conditions. In the tests, temperature distributions were recorded for several sink temperatures and indicated that as the sink temperature decreased the radiation efficiency decreased for a given heat input. The maximum heat transport capacity increased with increasing evaporating temperature for the micro heat pipe radiator utilizing a wire diameter of 0.635 mm. Comparison of micro heat pipe radiators with and without working fluid, indicated that significant improvements in temperature uniformity and radiation efficiencies could be obtained, especially at high heat fluxes. A maximum radiation efficiency of 0.95 was observed. In general, while some variation in performance was observed, all three micro heat pipe radiators were found to be capable of meeting the thermal requirements of long-term missions.