Design and analysis of an advanced thermal management system for the solar close observations and proximity experiments spacecraft

In this paper,the mission and the thermal environment of the Solar Close Observations and Proximity Experiments(SCOPE)spacecraft are analyzed,and an advanced thermal management system(ATMS)is designed for it.The relationship and functions of the integrated database,the intelligent thermal control system and the efficient liquid cooling system in the ATMS are elaborated upon.For the complex thermal field regulation system and extreme space thermal environment,a modular simulation and thermal field planning method are proposed,and the feasibility of the planning algorithm is verified by numerical simulation.A solar array liquid cooling system is developed,and the system simulation results indicate that the temperatures of the solar arrays meet the requirements as the spacecraft flies by perihelion and aphelion.The advanced thermal management study supports the development of the SCOPE program and provides a reference for the thermal management in other deep-space exploration programs.

Controllable thermal rectification design for buildings based on phase change composites

Phase-change material(PCM)is widely used in thermal management due to their unique thermal behavior.However,related research in thermal rectifier is mainly focused on exploring the principles at the fundamental device level,which results in a gap to real applications.Here,we propose a controllable thermal rectification design towards building applications through the direct adhesion of composite thermal rectification material(TRM)based on PCM and reduced graphene oxide(rGO)aerogel to ordinary concrete walls(CWs).The design is evaluated in detail by combining experiments and finite element analysis.It is found that,TRM can regulate the temperature difference on both sides of the TRM/CWs system by thermal rectification.The difference in two directions reaches to 13.8 K at the heat flow of 80 W/m^(2).In addition,the larger the change of thermal conductivity before and after phase change of TRM is,the more effective it is for regulating temperature difference in two directions.The stated technology has a wide range of applications for the thermal energy control in buildings with specific temperature requirements.

CFD-Based Numerical Analysis of the Thermal Characteristics of an Electric Vehicle Power Battery

Towards the end to solve the problem of temperature rise in the power battery of electric vehicles,a method based on the coupling of electrochemical,thermal and hydrodynamic aspects is implemented.The method relies on the COMSOL Multiphysics software,which is used here to simulate the thermal behaviour,the related fluid-dynamics and the life attenuation of the power battery.A 3D battery model is built assuming a cylindrical geometry.The diameter of the battery is 18 mm,and its length is 65 mm.The battery charges and discharges at 3C,and the initial temperature is 25°C.Intake flow is set to 0.5 m/s after the air of the battery is cooled.The results show that:(1)The highest temperature of the battery unit increases significantly from 1.14°C of the original nylon heat pipe to 0.17°C of the hot pipe core shaft;(2)When the short circuit of the battery is simulated,the temperature rise of the single battery is close to 20°C,the minimum rise is about 12°C,and their difference reaches 8°C.

Developing selective mining capability for longwall shearers using thermal infrared-based seam tracking

Longwall mining continues to remain the most efficient method for underground coal recovery. A key aspect in achieving safe and productive longwall mining is to ensure that the shearer is always correctly positioned within the coal seam. At present, this machine positioning task is the role of longwall personnel who must simultaneously monitor the longwall coal face and the shearer's cutting drum position to infer the geological trends of the coal seam. This is a labour intensive task which has negative impacts on the consistency and quality of coal production. As a solution to this problem, this paper presents a sensing method to automatically track geological coal seam features on the longwall face, known as marker bands, using thermal infrared imaging. These non-visible marker bands are geological features that link strongly to the horizontal trends present in layered coal seams. Tracking these line-like features allows the generation of a vertical datum that can be used to maintain the shearer in a position for optimal coal extraction. Details on the theory of thermal infrared imaging are given, as well as practical aspects associated with machine-based implementation underground. The feature detection and tracking tasks are given with real measurements to demonstrate the efficacy of the approach. The outcome is important as it represents a new selective mining capability to help address a long-standing limitation in longwall mining operations.

Experimental Research of Electronic Devices Thermal Control Using Metallic Phase Change Materials

A Phase-change thermal control unit( PTCU) filled with metallic phase change material( PCM) Bismuth alloy for electric devices thermal protection was developed and investigated experimentally. The PTCU filled with PCM was designed and manufactured. Resistance heating components( RCHs) produced 1 W,3 W, 5 W,7W,and 10 W for simulating heat generation of electronic devices. At various heating power levels,the performance of PTCU were tested during heating period and one duty cycle period. The experimental results show that the PTCU delays RCH reaching the maximum operating temperature. Also,a numerical model was developed to enable interpretation of experimental results and to perform parametric studies. The results confirmed that the PTCU is suitable for electric devices thermal control.

SIMULATION IN THERMAL DESIGN FOR ELECTRONIC CONTROL UNIT OF ELECTRONIC UNIT PUMP

The high working junction temperature of power component is the most common reason of its failure. So the thermal design is of vital importance in electronic control unit （ECU） design. By means of circuit simulation, the thermal design of ECU for electronic unit pump （EUP） fuel system is applied. The power dissipation model of each power component in the ECU is created and simulated. According to the analyses of simulation results, the factors which affect the power dissipation of components are analyzed. Then the ways for reducing the power dissipation of power components are carried out. The power dissipation of power components at different engine state is calculated and analyzed. The maximal power dissipation of each power component in all possible engine state is also carried out based on these simulations. A cooling system is designed based on these studies. The tests show that the maximum total power dissipation of ECU drops from 43.2 W to 33.84 W after these simulations and optimizations. These applications of simulations in thermal design of ECU can greatly increase the quality of the design, save the design cost and shorten design time

Thermal Design and Optimization of Heat Pipe Radiator for Satellites

Satellite＇s thermal control subsystem （TCS） has to maintain components and structure within their specified temperature limits during satellite service life. TCS designers have to face the challenge of reducing both the weight of the system and required heater power while keeping components temperature within their design range. For a space based heat pipe radiator system, several researchers have published different approaches to reach such goal. This paper presents a thermal design and optimization of a heat pipe radiator applied to a practical engineering design application. For this study, a prospective communication satellite payload panel with applied passive thermal control techniques was considered. The thermal passive techniques used in this design mainly include multilayer insulation （MLI） blankets, optical solar reflectors （OSR）, selected thermal coatings, interface fillers and constant conductance heat pipes. The heat pipe network is comprised of some heat pipes embedded in the panel and some mounted on inner surface of the panel. Embedded heat pipes are placed under high heat dissipation equipments and their size is fixed; minimum weight of the radiator is achieved by a minimum weight of the mounted heat pipes. Hence, size of the mounted heat pipes is optimized. A thermal model was built and parameterized for transient thermal analysis and optimization. Temperature requirements of components in both worst case conditions （Hot case and cold case） were satisfied under optimal sizing of mounted heat pipes.

Guide and control of thermal conduction with isotropic thermodynamic parameters based on a rotary-concentrating device

A rotary-concentrating device for thermal conduction is constructed to control and guide thermal energy transmitting in elastic plates.The designed device has the ability of concentrating for thermal conduction and controlling the processes of thermal diffusion in a plate.The multilayered isotropic material properties of the rotary-concentrating device are derived based on the transformation and rotary medium method and a rotation parameter to control the thermal diffusion process is introduced.The efficiency of the rotary-concentrating device for thermal conduction is verified.Stability of temperature fields in a plate with the rotary-concentrating device is analyzed to study the performance of rotary-concentrating.Numerical examples show that the constructed rotary-concentrating device for thermal conduction can effectively rotate and focus on the thermal energy into the device for a wide range of diffusion temperatures,which can enhance the thermal conduction.Therefore,this study can provide a theoretical support for potential applications in fields of energy harvesting and thermal conduction control.

Thermally Controllable Break Junctions with High Bandwidths and High Integrabilities

Break junctions are important in generating nanosensors and single molecular devices. The mechanically con- trollable break junction is the most widely used method for a break junction due to its simplicity and stability. However, the bandwidths of traditional devices are limited to about a few hertz. Moreover, when using traditional methods it is hard to allow independent control of more than one junction. Here we propose on-chip thermally controllable break junctions to overcome these challenges. This is verified by using finite element analysis. Adopting microelectromechanical systems produces features of high bandwidth and independent controllability to this new break junction system. The proposed method will have a wide range of applications on on-chip high speed independent controllable and highly integrated single molecule devices.

Evaluation of Inherent Uncertainties of the Homogeneous Effective Thermal Conductivity Approach in Modeling of Printed Circuit Boards for Space Applications

Electronic components are normally assembled to printed circuit boards (PCBs). Such components generate heat in operation which must be conducted away efficiently from the small mounting areas to frames where the PCB is fixed. The temperature of the component depends on heat dissipation rate, technology and parameters of mounting, component placement and finally effective thermal conductivity (keff) of the board. The temperature of some components may reach significant magnitudes over 100°C while the PCB frame is kept at near-ambient temperature. The reliability of electronic components is directly related to operating temperature;?so the thermal project should be able to provide a correct temperature prediction of all PCB components under the hottest operational condition. In space applications, the main way to spread and reject heat of electronic equipment is by thermal conduction once there is no air available to apply convection-based cooling techniques. The PCB keff is an important parameter for the electronics thermal analysis when the PCB is modeled as a simplified homogeneous board with a unique thermal conductivity. In this paper, an intrinsic uncertainty of such approach is firstly reveled and its magnitude is evaluated for a real space use PCB. The simulation uses SINDA/FLUINT Thermal Desktop and aims to determine the keff of the PCB by comparison between a detailed multi-layered anisotropic model and an equivalent homogeneous single-layer model. The model was validated using available data for two-layered FR4-copper PCB. Multiple simulations are performed with different dissipating component position and mounting area.

Cooling High Power Dissipating Artificial Intelligence (AI) Chips Using Refrigerant

High power dissipating artificial intelligence (AI) chips require significant cooling to operate at maximum performance. Current trends regarding the integration of AI, as well as the power/cooling demands of high-performing server systems pose an immense thermal challenge for cooling. The use of refrigerants as a direct-to-chip cooling method is investigated as a potential cooling solution for cooling AI chips. Using a vapor compression refrigeration system (VCRS), the coolant temperature will be sub-ambient thereby increasing the total cooling capacity. Coupled with the implementation of a direct-to-chip boiler, using refrigerants to cool AI server systems can materialize as a potential solution for current AI server cooling demands. In this study, a comparison of 8 different refrigerants: R-134a, R-153a, R-717, R-508B, R-22, R-12, R-410a, and R-1234yf is analyzed for optimal performance. A control theoretical VCRS model is created to assess variable refrigerants under the same operational conditions. From this model, the coefficient of performance (COP), required mass flow rate of refrigerant, work required by the compressor, and overall heat transfer coefficient is determined for all 8 refrigerants. Lastly, a comprehensive analysis is provided to determine the most optimal refrigerants for cooling applications. R-717, commonly known as Ammonia, was found to have the highest COP value thus proving to be the optimal refrigerant for cooling AI chips and high-performing server applications.

Advances of phononics in 2012-2022

Due to its great potential applications in thermal management,heat control,and quantum information,phononics has gained increasing attentions since the first publication in Rev.Mod.Phys.841045(2012).Many theoretical and experimental progresses have been achieved in the past decade.In this paper,we first give a critical review of the progress in thermal diodes and transistors,especially in classical regime.Then,we give a brief introduction to the new developing research directions such as topological phononics and quantum phononics.In the third part,we discuss the potential applications.Last but not least,we point out the outlook and challenges ahead.

Progress on the use of satellite technology for gravity exploration

In this paper, the technological progress on Chinese gravity exploration satellites is presented. Novel features such as ultra-stable structure, high accurate thermal control, drag-free and attitude control, micro-thrusters, aerodynamic configuration, the ability to perform micro-vibration analyses, microwave ranging system and mass center trimmer are described.

Dark Matter Particle Explorer, the First Satellite of China Space Science Pilot Project

The Dark Matter Particle Explorer(DAMPE) is the first high energy detector satellite in China,whose physics goal is to find evidence of the existence of dark matter particles by investigating the composition and energy spectra of primary cosmic rays,especially those for electrons,positrons and gamma rays,over the dynamic range from 5 Ge V to 10 Te V.DAMPE is a satellite launched by China with the largest payload ratio,where the payload is composed of a BGO(Bismuth Germanate Oxide) Calorimeter,a Plastic Scintillator Detector,a Silicon Tungsten Tracker and a Neutron Detector.This paper introduces the technical scheme of DAMPE,including requirement analysis,composition,technical innovation,on-orbit status and prospect of development for the future.

Effect of proton irradiation on the optical properties of thermal control coating based on polystyrene with silica filler

This paper presents the results of studying the surface properties changes of a ther-moregulating coating based on polystyrene and silicafiller after proton irradiation with an en-ergy of 50 keV at afluence of 3�1015 cm�2.After proton irradiation,the values of the contact angle of wetting with water increase by 3.5%and 14.9%for polystyrene and the coating,respectively.The free surface energy(energy of the surface layer)of polystyrene and the coat-ings before and after proton irradiation was calculated using the Owens-Wendt-Rabel-Kaelble method.There was a significant increase in the polarity of the polystyrene surface(gp increased by a factor of 2.2)after proton irradiation.For the coating,an increase in gp by a factor of 3.89 was observed after proton irradiation.Structural changes in the coating were presented by IR Fourier spectroscopy.A slight decrease in the absorption intensity of all characteristic bands compared to the unirradiated sample was noted.It was found that the irradiation of the coating with protons led to the formation of macromolecules with hydroxyl,carbonyl,and carboxyl bonds,as well as the formation of dimeric and oligomeric siloxane chains.It was also found that after irradiation of a pure polystyrene sample with protons,the value of the solar absorption as increased by only 4.2%;whereas for the coating with silicafiller,the value of as increased by 28.6%.

Application of entransy to optimization design of parallel thermal network of thermal control system in spacecraft

For distribution optimization of the flow rate of cold fluid and heat transfer area in the parallel thermal network of the thermal control system in spacecraft,a physical and mathematical model is set up,analyzed and discussed with the entransy theory.It is found that the optimization objective of this problem and the optimization direction of the extremum entransy dissipation principle are consistent in theory.For a two-branch thermal network system,the distributions of the flow rate of the cold fluid and the heat transfer area are optimized by calculating the extremum entransy dissipation with the Newton method.The influential factors of the optimized distributions are also analyzed and discussed.The results show that the main influence factors are the heat transfer rate of the branches and the total heat transfer area.The total flow rate of the cold fluid has a threshold,beyond which further increasing its value brings very little influence on the optimization results.Moreover,the difference between the extremum entransy dissipation principle and the minimum entropy generation principle is also discussed when they are used to analyze the problem in this paper,and the extremum entransy dissipation principle is found to be more suitable.In addition,the Newton method is mathematically efficient to solve the problem,which could accomplish the optimized distribution in a very short time for a ten-branch thermal network system.

Thermal control system of Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer

Since its installation on the International Space Station(ISS)in mid-May 2011,the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer(AMS)has spent over two years on orbit,fully operational,collecting an enormous amount of data including the temperatures from the on-board 1118 sensors for thermal control.A large database is continuously updated and analyzed to understand the thermal behavior of the experiment in the space environment and its interaction with the ISS.This paper specifies the design,building,analysis and testing of the thermal control system and its various components for an overview of the AMS thermal control system and its space environment.Also given are some examples of analysis and correlation of the space environmental and ISS parameters with the thermal behaviors of various AMS components.

Active Thermal Control for Delaying Maintenance of Power Electronics Converters

Several studies have reported about power semiconductors and capacitors being the most sensitive components in power converters.The lifetime of these devices is associated with the mission profile and the resulting temperature profile.For preventing failures,it is of interest to estimate the Remaining Useful Lifetime(RUL)and several condition monitoring methods have been proposed for this purpose.Moreover,modular power converters consist of a high number of components and methods have been proposed to reduce the thermal stress and therefore extend the lifetime of a system with software,referred to as active thermal control.For power converters with limited accessibility,the RUL detected by the condition monitoring system may not fit to the scheduled maintenance of the system and devices may still have a significant RUL when their replacement is scheduled.Therefore,this work proposes to control the stress of the most deteriorated components in the system such that the failure probability of multiple building blocks is equalized when the next maintenance is scheduled.Moreover,this concept is proposed to extend the time to the next maintenance and reduce the number of maintenance instances without affecting the mean lifetime of the system.

Effects of the thermal environment on the thermal control system of AMS

This paper presents an overview of the AMS thermal control system and its thermal environment on the ISS.We give examples of analysis and correlation of space environmental impacting on the thermal control system of AMS.The most critical factors that affect the thermal environment to AMS are beta angle,attitude of ISS,ISS solar array and ISS radiator positions.The design of a special sandwich structure with embedded heat pipes provides the radiator with higher heat transfer ability for electronics and power crates,and it provides a large heat retaining capacity to balance the frequent changes of the space environment temperatures as well.In cold cases,the thermostatically controlled heaters are working actively to protect AMS.However,sometimes,because of ISS special operations plus extreme beta angle condition,AMS needs to request NASA to adjust the ISS configuration for thermal control.The AMS thermal control system is reliable and stable,which has been verified by its operation on the ISS for more than three years.All the detectors operate normally,the electronics and crates work within their specific temperature limits.