Inventors:
J. Clair Batty - North Logan UT, US
Scott M. Jensen - Logan UT, US
International Classification:
F28D 15/00
Abstract:
A composite panel provides structural strength and rigidity for modular assembly of spacecraft while serving the dual purposes of structure and heat transfer for thermal management of an environment for equipment, such as a spacecraft. Instruments, gimbals, surveillance, imaging, detectors, and the like may be mounted in a spacecraft designed and constructed from standard panels to provide the structural and heat transfer requirements to support the onboard equipment. Extremely small temperature differentials required by the panels support a substantially isothermal perimeter for the structure, able to sink heat from any location on a panel, transport it to a rejection site, and reject it to the cold environment of space, thus easing the task of design and packaging of instrumentation and infrastructure of satellites and other spacecraft. Two-phase mass transport of fluids inside the panels aids high heat flux rates with minimal temperature differentials, even with reinforced, composite, polymeric materials for the structural elements of the panels.