The TacSat‐4 micro‐satellite uses an aluminum/ammonia loop heat pipe (LHP) to transport 700 W of heat from the electronics to two radiator sections. In addition to the thermal requirements, there were additional specifications for the primary and secondary wicks, and the flow balancer between the two LHP condensers. This paper discusses the experimental test rigs designed to verify the LHP performance against these requirements. The measured LHP performance at various operating conditions including start‐up, un‐balanced condenser heat removal, transient power, high power, and shut‐down is discussed.
Loop Heat Pipe for TacSat‐4
SPACE, PROPULSION & ENERGY SCIENCES INTERNATIONAL FORUM: SPESIF‐2009 ; 2009 ; Huntsville (Alabama)
AIP Conference Proceedings ; 1103 , 1 ; 91-100
2009-03-16
10 pages
Conference paper
Electronic Resource
English
Performance of CommX Loop Heat Pipe on TacSat 4 Spacecraft
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