Fabric space radiators
Future Air Force space missions will require thermal radiators that both survive in the hostile space environment and stow away for minimal bulk during launch. Advances in all aspects of radiator design, construction, and analysis will be necessary to enable such future missions. Currently, the best means for obtaining high strength along with flexibility is through structures known as fabrics. The development of new materials and bonding techniques has extended the application range of fabrics into areas traditionally dominated by monolithic and/or metallic structures. Given that even current spacecraft heat rejection considerations tend to dominate spacecraft design and mass, the larger and more complex designs of the future face daunting challenges in thermal control. Ceramic fabrics bonded to ultra-thin metal liners (foils) have the potential of achieving radiator performance levels heretofore unattainable, and of readily matching the advances made in other branches of spacecraft design. The research effort documented here indicates that both pumped loops and heat pipes constructed in ceramic fabrics stand to benefit in multiple ways. Flexibility and low mass are the main advantages exhibited by fabric radiators over conventional metal ones. We feel that fabric radiators have intrinsic merits not possessed by any other radiator design and need to be researched further. 26 refs., 16 figs., 17 tabs.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC06-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 5655242
- Report Number(s):
- PNL-6458; ON: DE88005569
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Portions of this document are illegible in microfiche products
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
RADIATORS
DESIGN
SPACE POWER REACTORS
CERAMICS
HELIUM
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
SPACE WEAPONS
WEIGHT
XENON
ELEMENTS
FLUIDS
GASES
HEAT EXCHANGERS
MOBILE REACTORS
NONMETALS
POWER REACTORS
RARE GASES
REACTORS
NESDPS Office of Nuclear Energy Space and Defense Power Systems
210600* - Power Reactors
Auxiliary
Mobile Package
& Transportable