A heat rejection system that employs temperature sensitive shape memory materials to control the heat rejection capacity of a vehicle to maintain a safe vehicle temperature. The technology provides for a wide range of heat rejection rates by varying the shape and thus effective properties of the heat rejection system in response to temperature. When employed as a radiator for crewed spacecraft thermal control this permits the use of higher freezing point, non-toxic thermal working fluids in single-loop thermal control systems for crewed vehicles in space and other extraterrestrial environments.
Variable heat rejection device
2019-03-12
Patent
Electronic Resource
English
IPC: | F28F Einzelheiten von Wärmetauschern oder Wärmeübertragungsvorrichtungen für allgemeine Verwendung , DETAILS OF HEAT-EXCHANGE OR HEAT-TRANSFER APPARATUS, OF GENERAL APPLICATION / B64G Raumfahrt , COSMONAUTICS / F01P Kühlung von Kraft- und Arbeitsmaschinen oder Kraftmaschinen allgemein , COOLING OF MACHINES OR ENGINES IN GENERAL / F28D Wärmetauscher, soweit in keiner anderen Unterklasse vorgesehen, in denen die Wärmetauschmittel nicht in direkte Berührung miteinander kommen , HEAT-EXCHANGE APPARATUS, NOT PROVIDED FOR IN ANOTHER SUBCLASS, IN WHICH THE HEAT-EXCHANGE MEDIA DO NOT COME INTO DIRECT CONTACT |