Recent active thermal management technologies for the development of energy-optimized aerospace vehicles in China

Recently, the development of modern vehicles has brought about aggressive integration and miniaturization of on-board electrical and electronic devices. It will lead to exponential growth in both the overall waste heat and heat flux to be dissipated to maintain the devices within a safe temperature range. However, both the total heat sinks aboard and the cooling capacity of currently utilized thermal control strategy are severely limited, which threatens the lifetime of the on-board equipment and even the entire flight system and shrink the vehicle’s flight time and range. Facing these thermal challenges, the USA proposed the program of “INVENT” to maximize utilities of the available heat sinks and enhance the cooling ability of thermal control strategies. Following the efforts done by the USA researchers, scientists in China fought their ways to develop thermal management technologies for Chinese advanced energy-optimized airplanes and spacecraft. This paper elaborates the available on-board heat sinks and aerospace thermal management systems using both active and passive technologies not confined to the technology in China. Subsequently, active thermal management technologies in China including fuel thermal management system, environment control system, non-fuel liquid cooling strategy are reviewed. At last, space thermal control technologies used in Chinese Space Station and Chang’e-3 and to be used in Chang’e-5 are introduced. Key issues to be solved are also identified, which could facilitate the development of aerospace thermal control techniques across the world.     

Design of nanofluid-cooled heat sink using topology optimization

The paper presented topology optimization of 2D and 3D Nanofluid-Cooled Heat Sink (NCHS). The flow and heat transfer problem in the NCHS was treated as a single-phase nanofluid based convective heat transfer model. The temperature-dependent fluid properties were taken into account in the model due to the strong temperature-dependent features of nanofluids. An average temperature minimum problem was studied subject to the fluid area and energy dissipation constraints by using the density method. In the method, the design variable is updated according to the gradient information obtained by an adjoint based sensitivity analysis process. The effects of the energy dissipation constraint, temperature-dependent fluid properties and nanofluid characteristics on optimal configurations of NCHS were numerically investigated with following conclusions. Firstly, branched flow channels in the optimal configuration increased with the rise of the allowed energy dissipation. Secondly, temperature-dependent fluid properties were significant for obtaining the appropriate optimal results with best cooling performance. Thirdly, heat transfer performances of optimal configurations were enhanced by reducing the nanoparticle diameter or increasing the nanoparticle volume fraction. Fourthly, the optimal configuration for nanofluid had better cooling performance than that for its base fluid.     

Precipitation behavior and properties of extruded 7136 aluminum alloy under different aging treatments

In this work, the mechanical properties and electrical conductivity of the extruded 7136 aluminum alloy treated by single-stage aging treatment (T6), retrogression and re-aging treatment (RRA), and multiple retrogression and re-aging treatment have been investigated by means of hardness measurements, electrical conductivity tests and tensile tests. The results have shown that the properties of the 7136 alloy such as hardness, tensile strength and electrical conductivity were sensitive to retrogression time (within 90 min). With prolonging the retrogression time, the tensile strength was enhanced first and then decreased, yet the electrical conductivity was continuously increased. The 60 min-treated alloy performed the highest tensile strength (716 MPa), whereas the 90 min-treated alloy possessed the highest electrical conductivity (33.95%IACS). Compared with the T6-treated alloy, the tensile strength and electrical conductivity were improved by 3.3% and 18.9%, respectively. The electrical conductivity showed an obvious increase with repetitious times of the RRA treatment. After 3RRA60 treatment, a good combination of tensile strength (705 MPa) and electrical conductivity (33.20%IACS) can be obtained. Compared with the T6 condition, the tensile strength and electrical conductivity were improved by 1.7% and 16.3%, respectively. The mechanism of microstructure evolution under different aging treatments has been discussed in detail.     

真空出气对星用聚酰亚胺材料电导率的影响

卫星介质材料在真空环境下的出气有可能对材料本身的介电性能产生显著影响,增加长期服役卫星寿命末期的充放电风险。文章以卫星上常用的聚酰亚胺材料为对象,通过地面90Sr-90Y辐照源加速辐照试验研究了在材料真空出气后其表面充电平衡负电位的变化,并据此计算出材料电导率的变化规律。结果显示,在5 pA/cm2电子辐照强度下,聚酰亚胺样品的电导率随着出气量的增加而明显下降,在总质量损失达到0.5%时,电导率减小一半左右。初步分析了出气导致电导率下降的物理机制。研究结果对卫星寿命末期充放电防护设计有指导意义。     

Three dimensional temperature field in a conducting sphere due to an arbitrarily located split ring heating source

Thermal control of spacecrafts plays an important role in space missions. In the design stage the preliminary thermal analysis of the spacecraft requires an estimate of the conductive thermal resistance between the various spacecraft components. With this in mind, the fully three dimensional problem of determining the thermal field in a conducting sphere with an asymmetric split ring current carrying heating source is resolved in an analytical or almost analytical form, implying either a closed form solution or utmost expressions involving a simple numerical integration. This has immediate application for evaluation of thermal resistance in spacecrafts. Green's function integral techniques are used. Comparisons are made with series solutions and also with purely numerical solutions to contrast the simplicity and highlight the elegance of the present method. Parametric studies reveal expected behavior.     

厚度和环境对复合涂层导电性能的影响

为了给数字化刻铣曲面频率选择表面(FSS)结构的制作和加工提供参考和依据,对比研究了含片状银粉颗粒的聚氨酯基和环氧树脂基2种复合导电涂层的基本性能,并通过环境加速试验,重点研究了温度、湿度以及腐蚀气氛对2种导电涂层的界面强度、微观结构和导电性能的影响.通过电桥法测量涂层表面电阻的变化,并通过扫描电境观察环境试验前后,涂层表面和剖面的微观结构和形貌变化.试验结果表明:聚氨酯基涂层的综合性能优于环氧树脂基涂层;在实验所涉及的参数变化范围内,环境因素对2种涂层与基体的界面结合影响不大,但对其导电性能的影响比较明显.环境因素对导电性能的削弱作用,源于相应过程中导电涂层的微观结构损伤.     

基于区域热核不变量的SAR图像变化检测

快速精确地检测SAR图像的变化是SAR应用亟待解决的问题。针对这一问题,提出了基于区域热核不变量的SAR图像变化检测方法。该方法利用图上热核的特征,可以充分发挥图谱理论的优点,且计算简便、矩阵的扰动性小。通过模拟分析研究了热核的特征,并应用于实际SAR图像的变化检测。实验结果表明该方法可以快速精确地检测到变化区域,且其变化检测的精度要优于区域似然比检测方法。     

压电阻抗技术用于铝板损伤检测的实验研究

为了实现对金属铝板的损伤检测,从而为航空装备提供高效、可靠的维修检测技术保障。介绍了压电阻抗技术用于结构损伤检测的基本原理,并以含裂纹铝合金圆片为对象开展了实验研究和深入探讨。研究结果表明,高频激励下,可以通过PZT电阻抗实部响应曲线谱的变化来识别结构损伤。同时引入了不同损伤下,PZT电阻抗实部相关系数偏差（1-R2）,以（1-R2）3来定义损伤指数,从而实现了损伤初步定量估计。     

磁激等离子体超声速气流的瞬态加速系统及其实验研究

研制了基于激波风洞的热电离系统,设计了马赫数Ma=1.5的喷管和分段法拉第型实验段,并选用了合理的磁场及电场方案。采用氦气驱动氩气模式,通过在激波管低压段注入电离种子K₂CO₃粉末实现气流的热电离;压缩后的高温氩气启动喷管,以瞬态超声速导电流体形式通过实验段。实验结果表明:当激波管高压段压力为1.1 MPa、低压段压力为500 Pa时,喷管出口的超声速导电气流温度约为4 185.91 K,压力约为0.037 MPa;当电容电压为400 V、磁感应强度为1.0 T时,由实验段中间位置电极的放电特性可以估算出气流电导率约为78.1 S/m,单对电极输入功率约为9.46 kW;用感应电压法对加速效果进行初步评估,出口气流速度增加了29.3%,电效率为26.1%。     

Soybean cultivar selection for Bioregenerative Life Support Systems (BLSSs) – Hydroponic cultivation

Four soybean cultivars (‘Atlantic’, ‘Cresir’, ‘Pr91m10’ and ‘Regir’), selected through a theoretical procedure as suitable for cultivation in BLSS, were evaluated in terms of growth and production. Germination percentage and Mean Germination Time (MGT) were measured. Plants were cultivated in a growth chamber equipped with a recirculating hydroponic system (Nutrient Film Technique). Cultivation was performed under controlled environmental conditions (12 h photoperiod, light intensity 350 μmol m⁻² s⁻¹, temperature regime 26/20 °C light/dark, relative humidity 65–75%). Fertigation was performed with a standard Hoagland solution, modified for soybean specific requirements, and EC and pH were kept at 2.0 dS m⁻¹ and 5.5 respectively.