2015 - Analytical Investigation of A Nanosatellite Panel Surface Temperatures For Different Altitudes and Panel Combinations
2015 - Analytical Investigation of A Nanosatellite Panel Surface Temperatures For Different Altitudes and Panel Combinations
2015 - Analytical Investigation of A Nanosatellite Panel Surface Temperatures For Different Altitudes and Panel Combinations
Research paper
h i g h l i g h t s
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history: The thermal control of future nanosatellite will be challenging due to dedicated panel surface area for
Received 9 June 2014 radiation. The thermal control concept is to keep the payload within allowable temperature ranges. In
Accepted 17 October 2014 order to predict the temperature for a nanosatellite in orbit, a basic thermal model of the nanosatellite
Available online 30 October 2014
was designed and analyzed. A thermal control system of the nanosatellite at an altitude 600 km with an
inclination of 98 is presented. A thermal analysis of the nanosatellite was also performed with different
Keywords:
altitudes from 500 km to 2000 km. A thermal control analysis of CubeSat's passive thermal control
Nano-satellites
system was conducted. A temperature distribution of the solutions was computed. All electronic
CubeSat
Satellite design
equipment and structural parts were within allowable temperatures, except the batteries. The batteries
Satellite analysis were out of their allowed range of temperatures in the cold case condition. The results of the study
showed that the panel surface temperature results for different altitudes and panel combination are
highly sensitive by the chosen surface coating of the nanosatellite.
© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction CubeSat satellites allow universities to design, built, test and pro-
cure a launch provider at a reasonable cost in order to place the
Advances in computer technologies and miniaturization of satellite in orbit. The reasonable price is between $50,000 and
components allow small satellites, such as the CubeSat, to be used $200,000. Incentivized by this relatively low cost, many universities
for scientific research in space. The CubeSat concept was originally around the world have created new Cubesat programs in the last
developed in 1999 by Dr. Jordi Puig-Suari from California Poly- few years [3]. Typical payloads include GNSS receivers, CDD cam-
technic State University and Professor Bob Twiggs from the Stan- eras, etc. A recent survey of pico- and nanosatellite missions is
ford University [1,2]. CubeSats satellites are cubic pico-class given in Ref. [4].
satellites that measure 10 10 10 cm3 and have mass close to 1 kg Nanosatellites were developed to facilitate more space-based
and not to exceed 1.33 kg. Typical power consumption is on the experiments by reducing satellite size, mass, cost and develop-
order of a few watts, and available date rates do not exceed 1 Mbps ment time, thereby providing more universities and small entities
[3]. The short development time, small size and low mass of with the opportunity to build and fly satellites [5]. A large number
of groups all around the world are currently working on the design
and development of nano-satellites. Especially for students and
universities, a satellite project can only be realized if the total
* Corresponding author. Sakarya University Engineering Faculty, Mechanical
Engineering Department, Esentepe, Sakarya 54187, Turkey. Tel.: þ90 533 418 7825. project cost remains modest. As the cost of a spacecraft is related to
E-mail address: [email protected] (M. Bulut). the complexity of the system and the absolute size of the satellite, a
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2014.10.059
1359-4311/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
M. Bulut, N. Sozbir / Applied Thermal Engineering 75 (2015) 1076e1083 1077
very small satellite is the perfect opportunity for these groups to structures and components [20]. Another recent study was done on
participate in space engineering and space science. The tendency micro-variable radiator for spacecraft thermal control. The impacts
towards smaller satellites culminated in the development of highly of the various factors, including the emission characteristics of gold
integrated compact systems with a mass as low as one kg. Minia- film, thickness of polyimide film, structures, and processing tech-
turization and improved performance of components allow for niques, on the thermal performance were experimentally and
much smaller designs, not only in the satellite payloads, but also in theoretically evaluated [21]. Torres et al. [22] presented the details
the supporting subsystems. There are a few options for the thermal of proposed architecture and mathematical model. The model is
control of such small spacecraft that can be explored. The small size used to provide novel thermal control architecture to maximize the
of the spacecraft limits the design freedom of the thermal engineer. available radiation areas by passively selecting the appropriate
The main reason for this limitation is that a passive thermal control radiators.
subsystem is usually implemented as a result of limited mass and This paper presents the thermal design and analysis of a nano-
power budgets. However, other limitations also impact the thermal satellite operating Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The nano-satellite is
control subsystem design for such satellites [6e11]. Rotteveel et al. designed for a circular and near sun synchronous Low Earth Orbit.
[6] presented on the specific thermal control issues regarding Cube satellite is a nanosatellite that has dimensions of
nano- and picosatellites. They showed that the nanosatellite of the 10 cm 10 cm 10 cm and a weight of 1 kg. Based on the mission
Technical University of Delft in particular served as a design of the satellite requirements, a passive thermal control has been
example to point out the specific design issues in thermal control designed. In the satellite, different type of surface coatings are used
for nano- and picosatellites. Simulation results and design solutions to achieve the required thermal control. The goal of this study is to
were presented. Spacecraft thermal control design using passive take suitable measures to ensure all the components will operate in
and active hardwares were presented by Bulut et al. [7e9]. They their safe range of temperatures with a proper rejection.
demonstrated that the thermal control of the satellite was affected
by thermal properties of passive hardwares. Sozbir et al. [10,11] 2. Thermal environments
showed that the common design approach was to use a combina-
tion of passive and active hardwares. They showed that the thermal Thermal control is a process of energy management in which
control of the satellite was impacted by the location of the elec- environmental heating plays a major role. The principal forms of
tronic equipments. environmental heating in orbit are direct sunlight (solar), sunlight
The nanosatellite thermal design, analysis and test information reflected off the Earth (albedo), and Earth Infrared (IR) emitted by
are available in the literature [2,5,12e19] but there is no paper Earth [23]. The amount of external heat absorbed directly from
established in analytical investigation of the nanosatellite panel solar energy is a function of an object's material properties and its
surface temperatures for different altitudes and panel combina- orientation with respect to the Sun. The energy balance between
tions. Thermal design, analysis and test have been studied at the satellite and space is shown in Fig. 1 [15]. The temperature of
various nanosatellites and published in various documents and the satellite is the result of a balance between absorbed and
journals [12e16]. Tsai used a general thermal mathematical model emitted energy of all of these sources.
for the entire satellite constructed from a combined conduction and
radiation heat transfer equation with environmental heating and
cooling as boundary conditions [13]. Escobar et al. [14] explored the 3. Nano-satellite thermal control
advantage of using genetic algorithms for the automated design of a
small satellite thermal control. Bulut et al. [15] modeled CubeSat The goal of this paper focus on the thermal design and the re-
and the thermal analysis was performed by using ThermXL- sults of an initial and detailed thermal analysis of the nanosatellite
spreadsheet-based thermal analysis tool. Onetto et al. [16] and analytical investigation of the nanosatellite panel surface
designed and analyzed the satellite on a Lower Earth Orbit (LEO). temperature for different altitudes and panel combinations. Ther-
There have been also many senior projects, master dissertations mal control system is to guarantee that all the components are
and PhD thesis which have been published from universities within their allowable temperature limits throughout the satellite
[2,5,17e19]. Thermal simulation of the CubeSat was performed mission. All the components have to work from the beginning to
using Thermal Desktop and ANSYS Icepak to make sure that the the end of the lifetime with required performances. The thermal
internal electronics were operating within the various specified control can be passive or active, depending on the design approach.
safety limits [2]. Garzon [5] studied the research, development, and
verification of a conceptual model and analytical model of the
thermal controls for the Orbital Satellite for investigating the
response of the ionosphere to stimulation and space weather
(OSIRIS-3U). The spacecraft thermal analysis was performed by
Bauer et al. [17]. They showed that COMSOL is a finite element
method solver. It was chosen due to its ability to import SolidWorks
models and for its extensive thermal modeling capabilities. Czernik
[18] presented thermal design and analysis of Compass-1. Com-
pass-1 is designed for a circular, Sun-synchronous Low Earth Orbit
(LEO) and dimensions 10 10 10 cm3 and a total mass of not
more than 1 kg. Moffitt et al. addressed thermal modeling used
during the design and analysis of the combat sentinel satellite
[12,19].
In recent study was done for thermal design of micro and
nanosatellites on the sun-synchronous orbit of the 500 km of
altitude and was pointing to the Earth [20]. The main purpose was
to keep the temperature within the design temperature range of
components according the combinations of optical properties on Fig. 1. Energy balance between satellite and space [15].
1078 M. Bulut, N. Sozbir / Applied Thermal Engineering 75 (2015) 1076e1083
Table 2
Environmental heat sources: average, hot and cold cases.
Material properties for covered surfaces are shown in Table 3. A For steady state thermal analysis in Eq. (1), dTi/dt is 0. For
more detailed material properties is available in Refs. [27,28]. In the transient thermal analysis in Eq. (1), dTi/dt is not 0.
analysis, these covered surfaces are considered as combinations of For most satellites, the thermal environment and the external
the panels. heat loads are determined by the specific orbit for the mission, the
orientation of the satellite, the surface properties, and the size of
4. Thermal analysis the system. From these, the absolute worst hot and cold case con-
ditions are determined [29]. At any given time the CubeSat has at
The primary task of the thermal control system is to balance the most three faces facing the sun, while the other faces are in the
thermal energy of the satellite to ensure that all of the internal shadow facing and absorbing the Earth's albedo [2].
components remain within their acceptable temperature limits During the hot case condition, the nano-satellite is in sunlight. It
during the worst hot and cold cases [29]. means that the satellite receives the maximum environmental flux
There are two types of thermal analysis which are a steady-state (solar, albedo, and Earth IR), orbit illumination, and electrical po-
thermal analysis and a transient thermal analysis. A steady state wer, mostly dissipated into heat. The closer the spacecraft is to
thermal analysis determines the temperature distribution and Earth, the larger Earth IR and albedo heat fluctuations it receives.
other thermal quantities under steady-state loading conditions. A During the cold case condition, there are minimum environ-
steady state loading condition is a situation where heat storage mental fluctuations, which means that there is the maximum
effects varying over a period of time can be ignored. A transient eclipse time and no internal dissipation. The farther away from
thermal analysis determines the temperature distribution and Earth the nanosatellite is, the less Earth IR radiation it receives.
other thermal quantities under conditions that vary over a period of Therefore, the only external load is the Earth IR radiation. As the
time. The calculation of the steady-state temperatures uses a basic emissivity does not suffer great variation over time, while the ab-
energy balance. The equilibrium temperature is obtained from the sorptivity tends to increase, the Beginning of Life (BOL) values are
condition Qin ¼ Qout. The effects included in the calculation are considered for the cold case condition and the End of Life (EOL) for
internal dissipation (Qid), Solar radiation (QSun), Albedo (Qalbedo), the hot case.
Earth radiation (QEarthIR) and radiation from the body to space. An important parameter to consider when performing thermal
The basic goal of thermal analysis is finding the spatial tem- analysis for the satellite is that the space vehicle often spins as it
perature distribution and the temporal temperature evolution. This orbits the Earth. This spinning effect causes the vehicle to receive
goal is achieved by solving the energy balance equation. heat on one side and dissipate heat through the remaining sides [2].
The general heat balance equation for node I coupled with nodes The combined effect of a rotating spacecraft and space solar heating
j though n is [25,27]. causes temperature variations on the external body, depending on
the orbit and position of the spacecraft relative to the sun [6].
dT
MCp i i ¼ Qid þ ðQSun þ Qalbedo þ QEarthIR Þi
dt X X 5. Results and discussion
(1)
Jij Ari ðsTi4 sTjr4 Þ Kij ðTi Tjk Þ
j j The initial thermal analysis used a steady state analysis for al-
titudes from 500 km to 2000 km. The detailed thermal analysis
In Equation (1), conduction and radiation couplings are pre-
used a transient analysis at 600 km.
sented as Kij and Jij , respectively. The subsystem specifications that
are needed for solving Eq. (1) are thermophysical of materials (Cp,
k), optical properties of surfaces (a, ε), mass, dimensions, and the 5.1. Initial thermal analysis results
assembly-integration date. In Eq. (1), the solar radiation may be
written Steady state analysis equilibrium temperature results for the hot
case and cold case conditions are listed in Tables 4e7. Figs. 5e8
QSun ¼ Ap $as $S (2) show the temperature results based on altitudes from 500 km to
2000 km.
where Ap is the projected area, as is the absorptance of external In Table 4, the temperature results of 60% solar cell and 40%
surfaces, and S is the solar constant. structure at 600 km altitude is shown. The highest temperature is
Albedo is given as follows, 78.9 C and the lowest temperature is 105.2 C. In Table 5, the
temperature results of 70% solar cell and 30% structure at 600 km
Qalbedo ¼ Ap $Fsatearth $as $fa $S$cos q (3) altitude is shown. The highest temperature is 70 C and the lowest
where, fa is the albedo factor and can vary for different surfaces of
the Earth. Here the albedo factor assumed in Table 3 and q is the Table 4
angle of the satellite position with respect to the zenith. Temperature results of 60% solar cell and 40% structure at 600 km altitude.
For Earth radiation
Side (1, 2, 3, 6) Temperature Side 5 Side 5
QEarthIR ¼ Ap $Fsatearth $ε$G (4) 60% solar cell 60% solar cell
Table 5
Temperature results of 70% solar cell and 30% structure at 600 km altitude.
Table 6
Temperature results of 80% solar cell and 20% structure at 600 km altitude.
Table 7
Temperature results of 90% solar cell and 10% structure at 600 km altitude.
well above the allowable temperatures of the LiPo batteries. The Superscripts
temperatures are below those for solar cells and black paint coatings. A associated with albedo
For the cold case condition, the temperatures were well below the d associated with dissipated heat
allowable temperatures for all coatings. Therefore, using all faces as E associated with emitted Earth radiation
solar cells and the type of coating material need to be justified. These
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M. Bulut, N. Sozbir / Applied Thermal Engineering 75 (2015) 1076e1083 1083
Murat Bulut was born in Osmaniye in 1972. He holds a Nedim So € zbir got his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at
Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering _
Istanbul University in Istanbul, Turkey in 1995. He worked
from Selcuk University in Konya, TURKEY and a Master of as a Visiting Scholar at Mechanical Engineering Depart-
Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Rochester ment, University of Miami, FL, USA from 1994 to 1995 and
Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY, USA. His masters worked as a Visiting Researcher at Thermal Science Lab,
thesis involved Experimental Investigation of Flow Boiling Mechanical Engineering Department, Carnegie Mellon
Heat Transfer with Ethylene Glycol/Water, under the su- University, Pa, USA from 2000 to 2004. He also worked as a
pervision of Prof. Dr. S.G. Kandlikar. He has been Ph.D. Thermal Engineer in Thales Alenia Space, France from
candidate since 2012 in Mechanical Engineering Depart- 2006 to 2008. His research interests are mainly at elec-
ment in Sakarya University, Turkey. He joined TURKSAT A.S tronic cooling, forced convection, heat transfer, spray
in 2006 as Satellite Thermal Engineer and worked for cooling and thermal system design. Now he is working as
Thales Alenia Space between 2006e2007 and 2010e2012 an Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical
in Cannes, France. Before joining TURKSAT, he worked for Engineering, Sakarya University in Sakarya, Turkey.
Carrier Corporation at Large Rooftop Products as an
application and development engineer in Syracuse, New York, USA and McMinnville,
Tennessee, USA. His major interest of study is heat transfer, HVAC, Spacecraft Thermal
Control and Thermal Vacuum applications.