Heat pipes with variable thermal conductance property developed for space applications

Abstract

The activities presented in this paper focus on a new approach to provide passive regulation of the electronic unit thermal regime of the MASCOT lander (DLR) onboard the NEA sample return mission Hayabusa 2 (JAXA), by using heat pipes. It provides information on the development and testing of heat pipes with variable thermal conductance in a predetermined temperature range. Such heat pipes acts as thermal switches, but their construction does not include additional elements inherent to gas loaded heat pipes (GLHP) and thermal diode heat pipes (TDHP). Copper heat pipes with metal fibrous wick were chosen as baseline design. We have obtained positive results by choosing heat carrier and structural parameters of wick (i.e. pore diameter, porosity and permeability). A rising of heat pipes thermal conductivity from 0.04 to 2.1 W/K was observed in the temperature range between -20°C…+55°C. The heat pipes transferred predetermined power not less than 10 W within the temperature range of +20°C… +55°C. These heat pipes are in flight since December 2014 and the telemetric data obtained in September 2015 showed normal operation of the thermal control system.