Heat Transfer Efficiency of Aluminum Substrates With Embedded Semi-Active Thermal Control Device

摘要

This article presents the work carried out in evaluating the efficiency of embedded heat pipes in simulated satellite substrates subjected to localized heat sources. The experimental setup that comprises either an aluminum plate or an aluminum honeycomb sandwich panel with an electrical heating element was designed. Various experiments were conducted on the substrates with and without embedded heat pipes at various heating power inputs. Case studies with adjoined and inclined substrates, employing either one or two embedded heat pipes having different insertion lengths, were performed. With the help of COMSOL Multiphysics 3.5a software, an equivalent three-dimensional finite-element model of the experimental setup was created and analyzed under the same real-time conditions. Based on the experimental results, design guidelines are proposed for optimized heat management within a satellite substrate using embedded heat pipes.