CSEM and its partners whipped up a cutting-edge 3D-printed part that’s nothing short of amazing. This clever design can both heat and monitor a mechanically pumped fluid loop, a novel satellite thermal control system developed by Thales Alenia Space. What’s more, its ingenuity extends to future terrestrial IoT and Industry 4.0 applications, wherever highly integrated heating and/or in-situ measurement is needed. CSEM’s Instrumentation business unit led the international innovation project AHEAD, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research program ATTRACT.
Telecommunications satellites are usually placed in geostationary Earth orbit, a circular orbit 35,786 kilometres above the equator, following the direction of Earth’s rotation. In this harsh environment, robustness, reliability and longevity of operational systems are essential. To prevent onboard devices from overheating in the sun or freezing in the shadow, the satellite may be equipped with a Mechanically Pumped Loop (MPL) for thermal management. CSEM, Lisi Aerospace Additive Manufacturing, and Thales Alenia Space France have co-developed an ingenious technology brick as part of the AHEAD project (Advanced Heat Exchange Devices). The result is a 3D-printed pipe segment that can heat the fluid in the MPL and measure its temperature. With its built-in electrical connector and precise fluidic interfaces, the pipe makes the integration much easier compared to conventionally bonded film heaters and temperature sensors.
Optimizing thermal regulation performance by heating and monitoring
Designed for temperatures ranging from -65 °C to +85 °C, the stainless-steel element can withstand high payloads. In the Thales Alenia Space use case, the MPL contains pressurized ammonia of 48 bars, absorbing heat at hot spots and transferring it to cold spots. To ensure continuous operation, ammonia must not get too cold. It is therefore heated locally while its temperature is constantly monitored.
Hervé Saudan, Group leader Precision Mechanisms at CSEM and coordinator of AHEAD, explains:
“Thanks to Design for Additive Manufacturing, we implemented built-in wires to heat the segment. Through the wires’ arrangement, we achieve optimum heat transfer all around the tube, whereas conventional film heaters only heat a limited area” .
Another advantage of the pipe segment is that it is easy to install into an MPL, as the heater, sensor, and connector are already part of the pipe. This could only be realized through an innovative manufacturing concept involving laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), resin injection and machining.
Read the full story on the CSEM website.
CSEM and its partners whipped up a cutting-edge 3D-printed part that’s nothing short of amazing. This clever design can both heat and monitor a mechanically pumped fluid loop, a novel satellite thermal control system developed by Thales Alenia Space. What’s more, its ingenuity extends to future terrestrial IoT and Industry 4.0 applications, wherever highly integrated […]
