Analysis and testing of temperature adaptability of large-scale body-mounted radiator

This paper addresses the issue of thermal stress release in large-scale body-mounted radiator for China space station telescope under extreme temperature differences of 80 °C. To address this challenge, an innovative floating combined stress release support mechanism is proposed. Initially, the stress release mechanism for the radiator is designed with an “orthogonal + parallel” layout based on key factors such as radiator size, operating conditions, and thermal stress. Subsequently, through this layout design, specific modeling is conducted for the fixed support point, line-degree-of-freedom release mechanism, and plane-degree-of-freedom release mechanism of the stress release support mechanism. Utilizing elastic mechanics theory, the deformation of the radiator cooling panel is determined to be 2.51 mm, leading to the design of a support mechanism with a release capacity of 5 mm. Finally, the effectiveness of the design is verified through finite element simulation analysis and experimental validation. Thermal-elastic simulation analysis reveals that the strain of the radiator cooling panel under an 80 °C temperature load is 2.75 mm, representing an error of 8 % compared to the theoretical calculation. The maximum stress of 315 MPa in the radiator cooling panel and 873 MPa in the support mechanism are less than the yield strength of the respective materials. Experimental results indicate that during a temperature change of 30 °C, the lateral deformation of the radiator is 0.85 mm, differing by 17.48 % from the simulation analysis result of 1.03 mm for a ΔT of 30 °C. These errors fall within an acceptable range and meet the design requirements. The results strongly confirm that the designed stress release support mechanism can effectively release thermal stress in large-scale body-mounted radiator while ensuring that the deformation of the radiator remains within the safe range of the sliding distance of the stress release support mechanism.