Publicou 4 edições por ano
ISSN Imprimir: 2151-7975
ISSN On-line: 2151-7991
INITIAL EVALUATION OF ON-ORBIT EXPERIMENT OF FLAT-PLATE HEAT PIPE
RESUMO
Oscillating heat pipes are thin heat transport devices with high heat transport capability. Due to their excellent characteristics, many experimental and simulation study have been conducting and oscillating heat pipes have been already applied to many ground applications such as thermal management of electronics. They are also attractive for space applications as well as ground applications and are expected to be excellent heat transfer devices for the thermal management system of future spacecraft with large heat dissipation. The heat transfer mechanism of oscillating heat pipes is quite different from that of conventional heat pipes. In order to apply oscillating heat pipes to space applications, the heat transfer characteristics of oscillating heat pipes under the micro-gravity condition should be examined in advance. Although many researchers investigate the effect of gravity on the performance of oscillating heat pipes by changing the orientation of the test articles relative to the gravity direction, on-orbit experiment have not been reported yet. In this study, on-orbit experiment of an oscillating heat pipe with check valves has been conducting using small satellite SDS-4 in order to evaluate directly the effect of gravity on the thermal performance of oscillating heat pipe. SDS-4 was launched on May 18th, 2012 and on-orbit experiment started one month after the launch. The results of initial evaluation of on-orbit experiment show that the heat transfer characteristics under micro-gravity condition of oscillating heat pipe are almost the same as those under 1-g condition, and no degradation is seen after nine months on orbit. This paper describes the initial evaluation of on-orbit experiment of an oscillating heat pipe with check valves.