Methane cryogenic heat pipe for space use with a liquid trap for on-off switching

Abstract

A methane cryogenic heat pipe with a liquid trap for on-off actuation was developed by ATK for use on Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Space Interferometer Mission Lite (SIM Lite) pre-Phase A hardware technology demonstration tests. The cryogenic heat pipe coupled to a cold radiator at 160K provides cooling to the Charged Coupled Device camera focal planes. The heat pipe was designed for a transport capacity of 15 W across a 1.5 m span through a near room-temperature spacecraft environment. A key and driving requirement for the heat pipe was the need for switching the heat pipe on and off needed to support low power decontamination cycles to near room temperature of the cryogenic focal planes. The cryogenic heat pipe is turned off by removing the methane working fluid from the heat pipe and storing in the liquid trap. The heat pipe is turned-on by simply reintroducing the working fluid from the liquid trap. This on-off switching capability is a key requirement for cryogenic heat pipes used with passive or active cryocoolers for cooling focal planes or optics. This switching capability provides a means to decouple a cold focal plane or optics from a redundant stand-by cryocooler or a passive cooler when in need for a decontamination cycle.