Search Results

Heat dissipated in conduction cooled spacecraft components must be transported across the component base plate/spacecraft mounting plate interface preparatory to final radiation to the space sink. Proper engineering requires that this be accomplished in readily predictable ways, with small temperature differentials, using reliable and practical hardware. This paper conducts a review of the subject and provides design guidance. Areas covered are background and general principles; conductance of bare interfaces (or joints) under uniform pressure; conductance of bare bolted joints; thermal/structural analysis; conductance of bolted joints with thermal enhancement fillers. In addition, the review deals with a variety of special mountings, such as honeycomb panels and thermal doublers, and with a number of bolt patterns.

Although high temperature, liquid metal heat pipe radiators have become a standard component design for many high power space systems, no experimental data on the operation of these kinds of heat pipes in a micro-gravity environment exists. Issues such as which wick structures or fluids work best in these conditions are unknown. In addition, the freeze/thaw behavior of liquid metals in zero-g is not well understood. The purpose of the Liquid Metal Thermal Experiment, known as LMTE, is to fill this gap in our knowledge of liquid metal heat pipes by flying three potassium heat pipes on board the Space Shuttle in 1995.