Design experiment and in orbit application of flat plate loop heat pipe coupled with TEC

Abstract In response to the heat dissipation and temperature control requirements of a certain type of spacecraft payload, this paper designs a set of ceramic core flat plate loop heat pipes and couples them with TEC for use. The start-up of the loop heat pipe with the assistance of TEC was tested in the air, and the loop heat pipe started quickly. Comparing the operating states of the loop heat pipe under different loads without TEC, without TEC, and when TEC is turned on, the experimental results show that TEC coupled loop heat pipe can offset the heat leakage from the evaporator and the environment to the reservoir, reduce the temperature of the reservoir, and improve the thermal conductivity of the loop heat pipe. When TEC is not turned on, TEC has a significant side effect on the operation of the loop heat pipe. The influence of different measuring point positions on temperature control accuracy during temperature control was compared. The experimental results showed that precise temperature control of the heat source can be achieved by using TEC temperature control. The placement of measuring points has a significant impact on temperature control accuracy. The measuring points placed on the heat conduction strip have higher temperature control accuracy, while those placed on the heat source have larger temperature fluctuations. A temperature control circuit can be arranged on the liquid storage tank to improve the temperature control accuracy of the heat source. The TEC-coupled flat plate loop heat pipe has been successfully applied on a certain model to dissipate heat and control temperature for a certain load. Analysis of in-orbit data shows that the loop heat pipe starts quickly, runs stably, and has high-temperature control accuracy.