Mixed convection and heat management in the Mars gravity biosatellite

The Mars Gravity Biosatellite will house fifteen mice in a low Earth orbit satellite spinning about its longitudinal axis. The satellite's payload thermal control system will reject heat through the base of the payload module and provide air circulation vital to maintaining a habitable environment for the mice. The centripetal acceleration due to rotation creates the tendency for heated air to move by free convection toward the axis of rotation. Dominance of forced convection throughout the payload module will ensure nearly isothermal air and effective heat rejection from the payload to the bus module via fan/heatsink/thermoelectric cooler units. Circulation effectiveness is measured by the Richardson number, which expresses the ratio of the influence of free convection to the influence of forced convection in a mixed-convection flow. Experiments were executed with the current circulation system to determine the forced convection flow velocity. The free convection flow parameter was determined theoretically. Cross-flow fan/heatsink units mounted on the baseplate rim created low Reynolds number (88-985) flow throughout the enclosure. The calculated Richardson number for the worst-case 19°C difference between heated components and cooled air is between 0.78 and 2.34.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Marsh, Jesse B. (Jesse Benjamin)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• John E. Keesee.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/40453

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/40453