Thermal controllers equipped with phase-change materials are widely used for maintaining the moderate temperatures of various electric devices used in spacecraft. Yet, the structures of amounts of thermal controllers ...Thermal controllers equipped with phase-change materials are widely used for maintaining the moderate temperatures of various electric devices used in spacecraft. Yet, the structures of amounts of thermal controllers add up to such a large value that restricts the employment of scientific devices due to the limit of rocket capacity. A lightweight structure of phase-change thermal controllers has been one of the main focuses of spacecraft design engineering. In this work, we design a lightweight phase-change thermal controller structure based on lattice cells. The structure is manufactured entirely with AlSi10 Mg by direct metal laser melting. The dimensions of the structure are 230 mm × 170 mm × 15 mm, and the mass is 190 g, which is 60% lighter than most traditional structures(500–600 g) with the same dimensions. The 3 D-printed structure can reduce the risk of leakage at soldering manufacture by a welding process. Whether the strength of the designed structure is sufficient is determined through mechanical analysis and experiments. Thermal test results show that the thermal capacity of the lattice-based thermal controller is increased by50% compared to that of traditional controllers with the same volume.展开更多
基金supports from Beijing Institute of Spacecraft System Engineering and the Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by China Association for Science and Technology(Nos.2017QNRC001,2016QNRC001)
文摘Thermal controllers equipped with phase-change materials are widely used for maintaining the moderate temperatures of various electric devices used in spacecraft. Yet, the structures of amounts of thermal controllers add up to such a large value that restricts the employment of scientific devices due to the limit of rocket capacity. A lightweight structure of phase-change thermal controllers has been one of the main focuses of spacecraft design engineering. In this work, we design a lightweight phase-change thermal controller structure based on lattice cells. The structure is manufactured entirely with AlSi10 Mg by direct metal laser melting. The dimensions of the structure are 230 mm × 170 mm × 15 mm, and the mass is 190 g, which is 60% lighter than most traditional structures(500–600 g) with the same dimensions. The 3 D-printed structure can reduce the risk of leakage at soldering manufacture by a welding process. Whether the strength of the designed structure is sufficient is determined through mechanical analysis and experiments. Thermal test results show that the thermal capacity of the lattice-based thermal controller is increased by50% compared to that of traditional controllers with the same volume.
