High temperature heat pipe experiments in low earth orbit

Conference · Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1993

OSTI ID:6441843

Woloshun, K; Merrigan, M A; Sena, J T ^[1]; Critchley, E ^[2]

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1. Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
2. Phillips Lab., Kirtland AFB, NM (United States)

Although high temperature, liquid metal heat pipe radiators have become a standard component on most high power space power system designs, there is no experimental data on the operation of these heat pipes in a zero gravity or micro-gravity environment. Experiments to benchmark the transient and steady state performance of prototypical heat pipe space radiator elements are in preparation for testing in low earth orbit. It is anticipated that these heat pipes will be tested aborad the Space Shuttle in 1995. Three heat pipes will be tested in a cargo bay Get Away Special (GAS) canister. The heat pipes are SST/potassium, each with a different wick structure; homogeneous, arterial, and annular gap, the heat pipes have been designed, fabricated, and ground tested. In this paper, the heat pipe designs are specified, and transient and steady-state ground test data are presented.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOD; Department of Defense, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 6441843
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-93-197; CONF-930830-4; ON: DE93007382
• Resource Relation: Conference: National conference and exposition on heat transfer, Atlanta, GA (United States), 8-11 Aug 1993
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
HEAT PIPES
TESTING
CALORIMETRY
CYLINDRICAL CONFIGURATION
DESIGN
HEAT TRANSFER
LIQUID METALS
ORBITS
POTASSIUM
SPACE
SPACE VEHICLES
WEIGHTLESSNESS
ALKALI METALS
CONFIGURATION
ELEMENTS
ENERGY TRANSFER
FLUIDS
LIQUIDS
METALS
VEHICLES
NESDPS Office of Nuclear Energy Space and Defense Power Systems
420200* - Engineering- Facilities
Equipment
& Techniques