• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.66-72
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• 2019

The observation satellites which uses high heat-dissipating equipment such as synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites require a radiator to transmit heat from the equipment into outer space. However, during cold conditions it requires a heater to maintain the temperature of equipment within the allowable minimum limit when it is not in operation. In this study, we proposed a variable conductivity radiator that changes its thermal conductivity value through movement of the liquid metal between two reservoirs based on the temperature condition. This reduces the power consumption of the heater by limiting heat transfer path to the radiator in cold condition, while effectively transferring heat to the radiator during hot condition. The feasibility of the proposed radiator was validated through comparison of the thermal control performance with the conventional fixed conductivity radiator via a thermal analysis.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.1-7
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• 2022

Recently, satellites equipped with high-performance electronics have required higher power consumption because of the advancement of satellite missions. For this reason, the size of the solar panel is gradually increasing to meet the required power budget. Increasing the size and weight of the solar panel is one of the factors that induce the elastic vibration of the flexible solar panel during the highly agile maneuvering of the satellite or the mode of vibration coupling to the satellite or the mode of vibration coupling to the micro-jitter from the on-board appendages. Previously, an additional damper system was applied to reduce the elastic vibration of the solar panel, but the increase in size and mass of system was inevitable. In this study, to overcome the abovementioned limitations, we proposed a high -damping yoke structure consisting of a superplastic SMA(Shape Memory Alloy) laminating a thin FR4 layer with viscoelastic tape on both sides. Therefore, this advantage contributes to system simplicity by reducing vibrations with small volume and mass without additional system. The effectiveness of the proposed superelastic SMA multilayer solar panel yoke was validated through free vibration testing and temperature testing using a solar panel dummy.