Investigations into the thermal performance of multilayer insulation (300-77 K) Part 1: Calorimetric studies

Abstract

The thermal performance of multilayer insulation (MLI), consisting of double aluminized Mylar radiation shields and nylon net thermal spacers, was evaluated using a double guarded cylindrical calorimeter and a tank calorimeter over the temperature range 300-77 K. The degradation in the effective thermal conductivity of MLI was evaluated to be 1.68 using the calorimeters. The optimum number of layers for the MLI was 40 to 50 at a layer density of 25 layers cm −1. The temperature profile and heat flux through the MLI were obtained as a function of vacuum level for different numbers of insulation layers. The temperature profile of the MLI indicates the relative predominance of the conduction and radiation components of heat transfer through the insulation. It is observed that for a given number of layers, the temperature of a specific layer between the cold and warm boundaries decreases with an increase in chamber pressure and vice versa.