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Design of Accumulators and Liquid/Gas Charging of Single Phase Mechanically Pumped Fluid Loop Heat Rejection SystemsFor single phase mechanically pumped fluid loops used for thermal control of spacecraft, a gas charged accumulator is typically used to modulate pressures within the loop. This is needed to accommodate changes in the working fluid volume due to changes in the operating temperatures as the spacecraft encounters varying thermal environments during its mission. Overall, the three key requirements on the accumulator to maintain an appropriate pressure range throughout the mission are: accommodation of the volume change of the fluid due to temperature changes, avoidance of pump cavitation and prevention of boiling in the liquid. The sizing and design of such an accumulator requires very careful and accurate accounting of temperature distribution within each element of the working fluid for the entire range of conditions expected, accurate knowledge of volume of each fluid element, assessment of corresponding pressures needed to avoid boiling in the liquid, as well as the pressures needed to avoid cavitation in the pump. The appropriate liquid and accumulator strokes required to accommodate the liquid volume change, as well as the appropriate gas volumes, require proper sizing to ensure that the correct pressure range is maintained during the mission. Additionally, a very careful assessment of the process for charging both the gas side and the liquid side of the accumulator is required to properly position the bellows and pressurize the system to a level commensurate with requirements. To achieve the accurate sizing of the accumulator and the charging of the system, sophisticated EXCEL based spreadsheets were developed to rapidly come up with an accumulator design and the corresponding charging parameters. These spreadsheets have proven to be computationally fast and accurate tools for this purpose. This paper will describe the entire process of designing and charging the system, using a case study of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) fluid loops, which is en route to Mars for an August 2012 landing.
Document ID
20150008766
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Conference Paper
External Source(s)
Authors
Bhandari, Pradeep
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Dudik, Brenda
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Birur, Gajanana
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Karlmann, Paul
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Bame, David
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Mastropietro, A. J.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
May 26, 2015
Publication Date
July 15, 2012
Subject Category
Spacecraft Design, Testing And Performance
Meeting Information
Meeting: International Conference on Environmental Systems
Location: San Diego, CA
Country: United States
Start Date: July 15, 2012
End Date: July 19, 2012
Sponsors: American Inst. of Chemical Engineers, American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, American Society of Mechanical Engineers
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
HRS
space
thermal control
pumps
Mars

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