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Calibration of a calorimeter for measuring the performance of thermal control surfacesThe calibration to evaluate the heat leak in terms of the deviation from a perfect calorimeter is described. A thermal vacuum test was carried out to characterize the performance of the calorimeter. The calorimeter was equipped with a heater to control the sample disc temperature and with specific instrumentation to measure the heat leak. The radiation sink temperature of the black cavity target was varied from -192 to +31C, while the heater power was varied from 0 to 311 milliwatts. A steady state thermal model was developed to correlate the results. The calorimeter performance was characterized in terms of the heat leak as a percentage of the ideal heat flow of the calorimeter disc. Large deviations from ideal performance occur at low sink temperatures. The effect of the use of the heater is discussed. The effects of transient conditions during low Earth orbit are discussed. It is concluded that heat leak calibrations are necessary for a wide range of conditions.
Document ID
19940016905
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Houseman, John
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Siebes, Georg
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 16, 2013
Publication Date
June 1, 1993
Publication Information
Publication: CNES, Fifth International Symposium on Materials in a Space Environment
Subject Category
Instrumentation And Photography
Accession Number
94N21378
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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