Abstract
In order to resolve the large fluctuations in temperature range problem of Luojia 1-01 satellite caused by low heat inertia and poor thermal conductivity of structure, a quasi-all-passive thermal control system (TCS) design is presented under the conditions of limited resources including mass and power consumption. The effectiveness of the TCS design is verified by both ground thermal balanced test and related telemetry data of on-orbit performance. Firstly, according to the structural features and working modes of the satellite, isothermal design was implemented and the effectiveness was verified by thermal analysis using finite element method. Secondly, based on the results of the thermal analysis, thermal design was optimized and verified by the thermal balanced test. Finally, the thermal design was proved to be effective by temperature data acquired from telemetry data of on-orbit performance, and the thermal analysis model was improved and updated based on the results of thermal balanced test and temperature data of on-orbit performance. The on-orbit data indicates that temperature of optical camera stables at about 12 °C, temperature of battery stables at 19 °C, temperature of instruments inside and outside the satellite cabin is ranging from 10 °C to 25 °C. Temperature fluctuation range of optical camera is less than 2 °C when it is not imaging. Temperature fluctuation range of instruments not facing the sun is less than 4 °C. The data suggests that the temperature level of the satellite meets general design requirements, and the quasi-all-passive TCS design of the satellite is practicable.
Highlights
With the advantages of fast development cycle, economic and flexible characteristics, small and micro satellites are attracting more attention from commercial companies, institutes and universities [1].Satellite fleet or satellite constellation which incorporates dozens or hundreds of small and micro satellites helps to improve the revisit cycle, and in turn makes the fleet or constellation more practical and useful nowadays [2,3,4,5,6]
This paper presents a quasi-all-passive thermal control system (TCS) by adopting the isothermal cabin design method
By adopting the presented quasi-all-passive TCS for the Luojia 1-01 satellite we have successfully addressed the problem of low heat inertia and high temperature fluctuation with very limited resources allocated for thermal control
Summary
With the advantages of fast development cycle, economic and flexible characteristics, small and micro satellites are attracting more attention from commercial companies, institutes and universities [1].Satellite fleet or satellite constellation which incorporates dozens or hundreds of small and micro satellites helps to improve the revisit cycle, and in turn makes the fleet or constellation more practical and useful nowadays [2,3,4,5,6]. Owing to the features of being small in volume, lightweight and with low heat inertia, coupled with their complicated working modes and limited satellite battery storage, it’s a great challenge to achieve a well performing satellite TCS [7,8,9]. Satellite TCS design is a critical part of the satellite. It helps to control the heat exchange between the satellite and the outside environment in order to maintain the temperature level of all the subsystems and instruments of the satellite [10]. Due to the limited onboard battery storage, low heat inertia and various work modes of Luojia 1-01 satellite, the mass and power allocated to Sensors 2019, 19, 827; doi:10.3390/s19040827 www.mdpi.com/journal/sensors
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