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Freezable Radiator Coupon Testing and Full Scale Radiator DesignFreezable radiators offer an attractive solution to the issue of thermal control system scalability. As thermal environments change, a freezable radiator will effectively scale the total heat rejection it is capable of as a function of the thermal environment and flow rate through the radiator. Scalable thermal control systems are a critical technology for spacecraft that will endure missions with widely varying thermal requirements. These changing requirements are a result of the space craft s surroundings and because of different thermal loads during different mission phases. However, freezing and thawing (recovering) a radiator is a process that has historically proven very difficult to predict through modeling, resulting in highly inaccurate predictions of recovery time. This paper summarizes tests on three test articles that were performed to further empirically quantify the behavior of a simple freezable radiator, and the culmination of those tests into a full scale design. Each test article explored the bounds of freezing and recovery behavior, as well as providing thermo-physical data of the working fluid, a 50-50 mixture of DowFrost HD and water. These results were then used as a tool for developing correlated thermal model in Thermal Desktop which could be used for modeling the behavior of a full scale thermal control system for a lunar mission. The final design of a thermal control system for a lunar mission is also documented in this paper.
Document ID
20090038922
Acquisition Source
Johnson Space Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Lillibridge, Sean T.
(NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Guinn, John
(Jacobs Technologies Engineering Science Contract Group Houston, TX, United States)
Cognata, Thomas
(Jacobs Technologies Engineering Science Contract Group Houston, TX, United States)
Navarro, Moses
(Jacobs Technologies Engineering Science Contract Group Houston, TX, United States)
Date Acquired
August 24, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2009
Subject Category
Fluid Mechanics And Thermodynamics
Report/Patent Number
JSC-CN-19217
Meeting Information
Meeting: 40th International Conference on Environmental Systems
Location: Barcelona
Country: Spain
Start Date: July 11, 2010
End Date: July 15, 2010
Sponsors: American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Funding Number(s)
WBS: WBS 119103.03.01.01
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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