Remote Sensing Satellite Technology Workshop 2016 Nov.

28, 2016

FORMOSAT-5 THERMAL CONTROL DEVELOPMENT AND DESIGN

IMPROVEMENT ON HIGH POWER UNIT
Meng-Hao Chen, Jeng-Der Huang, Chia-Ray Chen
National Space Organization (NSPO)

ABSTRACT minutes when it repeatedly passes through day

The aim of this study is to discuss the and night. In addition, the satellite must endure
thermal control of FORMOSAT-5 (FS-5) the thermal cycles for thousands of times
satellite. First, the development of thermal during its operational lifetime. Hence, a well
modeling and correlation on FS-5 is described. thermal modeling and analysis are necessary in
The modeling process uses finite differential the design phase due to the satellite is almost
method and lumped-parameter approach with impossible to be recovered or repaired in space
numerous analysis cases to predict and once it has been launched. The first topic of
determine the temperatures and thermal this study is to discuss the thermal control
hardware allocation. With the comparison of development of FORMOSAT-5 (FS-5) [1-4]. It
thermal vacuum test (TVT) data, correlation is is an extension of FORMOSAT-2 satellite and
achieved by minimizing uncertainties in model can provide one panchromatic band with 2
input and recognizing the relevant parameters meters resolution and four multi-spectrum
for effective model tuning. Second, the bands with 4 meters resolution. It will be
improvement on FS-5 X-band transmitter operated on sun-synchronous orbit with 5
(XTx) is proposed with the technique of years mission lifetime.
phase-change device. It uses the material The second topic is to introduce the
properties of solid-liquid and liquid-vapor thermal design improvement on FS-5 X-band
phase transitions to realize heat storage and transmitter (XTx) by using phase change
rapid heat diffusion. The developing technique material (PCM) technique. It is an excellent
is expected to be a favorable solution on high passive thermal control strategy, in cases
heat flux unit for future space missions. where the applications involve high heat flux,
low thermal inertia, cyclical operation or
KEYWORDSFORMOSAT-5, thermal control, thermal environments [5-6]. The expected
phase change material (PCM), heat spreader effectiveness of this solution is to eliminate
temperature variation of thermal hot spots. In
1. INTRODUCTION
addition, with the combination of heat
An orbiting satellite is exposed to varying spreader and PCM, thermal energy can be
internal and external thermal energy from diffused rapidly and stored in the PCM during
complicated space thermal environment and peak heat loads. The stored thermal energy can
unit heat dissipation. For example, a satellite then be released during lower heat loads. This
in low-earth orbit (LEO) experiences extreme can result in a decreased radiator area and a
temperature swings approximately every 100 reduced heating power.

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2. THERMAL MODELING and solutions. From the analysis results, all the
temperatures can be controlled within their
The FS-5 thermal models are completed
allowable ranges with sufficient margin.
with the development of TRASYS (Thermal
Radiation Analyzer SYStem) and SINDA/G
(System Improved Numerical Differencing
Analyzer) codes. TRASYS models are
constructed to provide the radiation exchange
factors among all surfaces and transient orbital
heating array from the sun, albedo and earth
emission. The internal radiation conductance
and external heat flux calculated by TRASYS
models are then inserted into SINDA/G, which
takes advantage of a lump parameter approach
for conduction and radiation heat transfers. A
lumped resistance-capacitance (R-C) thermal
network model was solved by finite-difference
method following the energy balance equation.
Figure 1 Example of FS-5 thermal contours.
Based on the cold-bias design approach,
tens of cases are performed to demonstrate
overall thermal compliance. This approach
means that we use passive thermal control first
to lower all the unit temperatures under their
allowable high limit, such as multi-layer
insulation (MLI), radiator, thermal filler,
thermal isolator, surface finish and so on. The
temperature sensor and heater are then used to
raise some unit temperatures if they are below
their allowable low limit. Important thermal
parameters, such as angles, thermo-optical
properties, thermal environments and satellite
attitudes, are taken into account in these cases.
The analyses aim to ensure sufficient
radiator area and available heating power
budget. Examples of predicted temperature
distributions and orbital trending graphs are
depicted in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2. The worst case
identification and critical unit thermal design
Figure 2 Example of FS-5 orbital temperature
are accomplished by proper thermal controls
trend at hot case.

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3. THERMAL MODEL CORRELATION

This section describes the correlation

results between the thermal mathematical
models and the test observations. As shown in
Fig. 3, the satellites thermal vacuum test
(TVT) was conducted in a chamber with the
vacuum level higher than 510-5 mbar and the
surrounding temperature of -30 or -130 C.
The TVT features five phases, including
Figure 4 FS-5 bus TVT profile.
pump-down, thermal cycling, performance test,
thermal balance and transient cool-down. Hot
and cold balance test data are used to verify
the models conductive coupling, radiative
coupling and power dissipations. The phase of
transient cool-down is used to validate the
thermal capacitance of satellite components.
The TVT profile is depicted in Fig. 4, and
Figure 5 FS-5 bus steady state correlation.
the correlation results of steady and transient
states are shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6. After
recognizing and tuning the relevant parameters,
most of the temperature differences between
model prediction and TVT data are less than 5
C. Hereafter, the final thermal model are
updated and re-calculated to make sure that all
the temperatures are still within their allowable
temperature ranges.
Figure 6 FS-5 bus transient state correlation.

4. CHALLENGE OF FS-5 THERMAL

CONTROL

4.1 Thermal improvement on FS-5 XTx

The FS-5 XTx reveals relatively high heat
flux with around 15% duty cycle per orbit. As
shown in Fig. 2, the sharp temperature change
indicates the thermal control could be more
effective and the phase-change technique is
Figure 3 FS-5 TVT configuration.
therefore proposed. In our simulation, the
PCM device with n-eicosane is applied on the

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XTx as shown in Fig. 7. A comparison on XTx 4.2 Development of phase-change device

temperature with and without PCM device at 4.2.1 Heat spreader evaluation
55 W heat load is given in Fig. 8. The result A heat spreader is generally used when
shows obvious difference in temperature the heat cannot be conducted away effectively.
distribution in response to the presence of It is typically designed as an intermediate layer
PCM device. The maximum temperature is between heat source and heat sink. The heat is
dramatically reduced from 65.28 to 49.17 C, moved from a limited area to a favorable
and the minimum temperature is slightly geometry. The spreader is often simply a plate
increased from 14.02 to 14.49 C. It can be made of aluminum or copper, which has high
observed that in the beginning of 14 minutes thermal conductivity. With the consideration of
of XTx operation, the PCM device is still in higher heat flux unit and mass budget, some
the solid phase, i.e., sensible heat phase. The non-conventional heat spreading techniques
temperature rise of XTx slows down gradually are evaluating and developing in our team,
because of PCMs thermal inertia. From 14 to including diamond-copper composite material,
20 minutes, the PCM starts melting and keeps vapor chambers and embedded heat pipes (As
at 36.7 C. Meanwhile, the temperature rise of listed in Table 1).
XTx slows down obviously owing to the latent
heat that stored large amounts of waste heat. Table 1 Heat spreader candidate.
After the XTx is turned off, the PCM device
starts to release stored energy and keeps at
36.7 C again until all the n-eicosane is frozen.

Figure 7 FS-5 XTx with PCM device.

4.2.2 PCM device simulation
In practice, the adopted materials for
PCM device usually have drawback of low
thermal conductivity that leads to large
thermal resistance. This section thus presents
both 2D and 3D simulations on configuration
design of PCM container. Various cases are
conducted as depicted in Fig. 9 and Fig. 10,
and the results show the effectiveness of
Figure 8 FS-5 XTx temperature trend with and pin-fins inside PCM container that act as the
without PCM device. thermal conduction enhancer. Additionally, the

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PCM performance can be improved with the So far, the benefit of PCM device on thermal
increase of pin-fin volume ratio from 6 to 12%, control is preliminary verified.
and with the decrease of pin-fin dimension
from 33 to 11 mm2.

Figure 11 PCM prototype.

Figure 9 PCM 2D simulation.

Figure 12 PCM prototype validation.

5. CONCLUSION
Figure 10 PCM 3D simulation.
The first topic of this study describes the
4.2.3 PCM prototype validation FS-5 satellite thermal design and analysis,
As shown in Fig. 11, the prototype is which are completed with the development of
designed as container dimension of 150 150 thermal geometrical and mathematical models
18 mm3 and pin-fin dimension of 22 mm2 from preliminary to critical phases. In order to
with 484 pin-fins. N-octadecane is adopted as minimize analysis uncertainties, the post-TVT
the PCM and the filling ratio is controlled to model correlation is conducted to achieve
about 80% volume fraction to account for the effective model tuning. The second topic
material expansion upon melting. The top introduces the thermal improvement on FS-5
surface of prototype is sealed by O-ring and XTx by using PCM device. Moreover, the
M3 bolts. The performance test is conducted developing phase-change techniques in our
with top surface heating, and the data is team are proposed, including the PCM,
recorded by T-type thermocouple and IR composite material, vapor chambers and heat
thermal camera with the comparison of empty pipes. They are hoped to be the advanced
container (i.e., w/o PCM) as shown in Fig. 12. thermal solutions for next space programs.

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6. REFERENCE

[1] M. H. Chen, J. D. Huang, and C. R. Chen,

Thermal Design and Analysis of
FORMOSAT-5 Satellite Bus, Proceed-
ings of 2013 Asian-Pacific Conference on
Aerospace Technology and Science, May
23-26, 2013, Taiwan.
[2] M. H. Chen, J. D. Huang, and C. R. Chen,
FORMOSAT-5 Satellite Bus Thermal
Model Correlation, 2015 AASRC Con-
ference, Yunlin, December 5, 2015.
[3] C. E. Ho, J. D. Huang, and C. R. Chen,
FORMOSAT-5 Remote Sensing Instru-
ment Thermal Design, 2011 RSSTW,
HsinChu, November 24, 2011.
[4] C. E. Ho, J. D. Huang, and C. R. Chen,
Thermal Model Correlation of FOR-
MOSAT-5 Remote Sensing Instrument,
2015 RSSTW, HsinChu, November 20,
2015.
[5] T. Y. Kim, B. S. Hyun, J. J. Lee, and J.
Rhee, Numerical Study of the Spacecraft
Thermal Control Hardware Combining
Solid-Liquid Phase Change Material and
a Heat Pipe, Aerospace Science and
Technology, vol.27, pp. 10-16, 2013.
[6] M. Gottero, V. Perotto, R. Martino, B.
Leyda, and B. Ozmat, Phase-Change
Thermal Capacitors for ExoMars 2016
Mission, the 44th Int. Conference on
Environmental Systems, Tucson, Arizona,
July, 2014.

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