Technical Paper
An Excel User Interface for Modeling LHPs in SINDA/FLUINT
2004-07-19
2004-01-2555
Loop Heat Pipe (LHP) Technology has become an accepted technology for thermal management of spacecraft. Despite the acceptance of the technology, there remains a lack of understanding about how to analyze these devices, creating the myth that inadequate tools exist for modeling LHPs and CPLs (capillary pumped loops). LHPs are two-phase devices with a very tight thermal coupling to their environment. Consequently these systems must be modeled in a manner capable of capturing both thermal and fluid behavior. Over the past decade various programs have been written to model LHPs and CPLs, however the majority of them have been either design-specific or focused on capturing a specific behavior within the system. SINDA/FLUINT is a thermal/fluid modeling code fully capable of capturing both heat transfer and fluid dynamics of an LHP. In addition it provides the flexibility to model any portion of the system in as much or as little detail as needed.