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The purpose of the Inflatable Torus Solar Array Technology (ITSAT) Demonstration Program is to develop the technology required to fly an inflatable solar array. As a first step to this development a preliminary thermodynamic and thermal finite element (FE) analysis was conducted. A detailed thermal and thermodynamic analysis was required in order to fully understand the thermal response and characteristics of the structure; and, how the quantity of gas required to inflate the structural support tubes will be effected. Results from the thermal analysis indicate that during deployment, which may last up to 2 minutes, the loss of internal energy of the gas and the loss of thermal energy of the structure may impede proper inflation of the tubes and thus result in deployment failure.

The Alkali Metal Thermal-to-Electric Converter (AMTEC) system is a thermally regenerative electrochemical device converting heat energy to electrical energy. Minimal thermal computer modeling and analysis has been conducted on this device. Using an industry standard Computer Aided Engineering / Computer Aided Design (CAE/CAD) computer package, a detailed finite element model (FEM) has been developed and studies conducted. The FE analysis simulates the thermal performance of the cell by the calculation of the intrinsic and parasitic thermal losses. It is these losses that need to be identified and resolved because they reduce the overall cell efficiency and total electrical output. The temperature field of the cell is presented for steady state operation under various boundary conditions. This modeling effort is sponsored by, and conducted in conjunction with and compared to testing conducted at the U.S. Air Force Phillips Laboratory.