Loop Heat Pipe Testing and Analytical Model Verification at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
Heat transfer characteristics of a Loop Heat Pipe (LHP) is difficult to predict due to the complex nature of thermal interaction between the LHP itself and the environment it operates in. The overall thermal conductance varies not only with the power input, sink temperature and ambient temperature as expected, but also with the system initial condition and/or previous history of its operation. Hence, the analytical modeling of LHPs often yielded inaccurate results when compared with the actual data. The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) recently completed the development of a transient LHP model. Accordingly, NRL carried out an extensive LHP test program, in part, to provide test data for the model verification. In this paper, description of the test program and results of the model verification will be presented.
Capillary heat loop technology: Space applications and recent Canadian activities
Abstract Capillary heat loops (CHL) are heat transfer designs with high-effectiveness, high-performance, high-reliability, high-flexibility, and anti-gravitation features of interest to the space community. At the Canadian space agency a project has been initiated since 2002 to develop an understanding of CHL technology. The technology is targeted towards the thermal control systems of miniaturized satellites. This paper presents reviews of CHL modeling and space applications and introduces the recent development of loop heat pipe (LHP) technology in Canada in the hardware development, application, performance testing, analytical prediction and numerical modeling.
Loop Heat Pipe Applications for Thermal Control of Martian Landers/Rovers
In early nineties Mars was designated as the planet to be explored. The present results of Mars program include the following: Background of Mars program. Thermal control design for Martian spacecraft. Loop heat pipe for Lander and Rover. Test results. and LHP applications for future Martian Lander and Rover.