Авіаційно-космічна техніка та технологія (Feb 2023)
Influence of construction parameters of thermoplate on thermal load hysteresis
Abstract
The contact heat exchangers designed to remove heat from the cooled devices are used in mechanically pumped two-phase loops of thermal management systems for ground and space applications, a thermoplate (heat sink). After the device is turned on, it may overheat abnormally during the process of reaching a stationary operating mode. Overheating is associated with the phenomenon of thermal load hysteresis during the onset of boiling, the transition from single-phase convection to developed boiling in the evaporator of a heat sink material. This work studied the influence of the construction parameters of thermoplate on the hysteresis phenomenon at the integral level. For this purpose, a thermoplate testing methodology was implemented, which includes experiments with slow (quasi-stationary) and quick heating after turning on the device immediately at full power. Overheating of the device is possible during both "slow" and "quick" heating. The maximum overheating in the experiments performed was ~18 K. Such overheating can pose a danger to the reliability of the device. The study was performed with ammonia as a coolant on 5 models of thermoplate that differ in evaporator channel roughness, length, material, longitudinal thermal conductivity, the heat capacity of the structure, etc. The danger of overheating the device is also determined by the maximum thermal load at which the device is operated. The following conclusions were made: the greatest influence on the hysteresis parameters is the value of the evaporator channel surface roughness. Increasing the roughness reduces the risk of overheating the device, and changes the nature of the "boiling curves" in the thermoplate; an increase in the length and longitudinal thermal conductivity has a favorable effect on reducing the risk of overheating; the evaporator surface is made of aluminum alloy instead of stainless steel, which makes hysteresis impossible; in the case of rapid heating of the thermoplate, the maximum heat flux at steady-state has an ambiguous effect: with its increase, overheating due to hysteresis first increases, and in the case of further increase, it decreases and may disappear altogether. A significant increase in the maximum heat flux compared to the heat flux at the beginning of boiling reduces the danger of hysteresis affecting the overheating of the device. The results of this work provide recommendations on how to avoid the dangerous overheating of the device due to the hysteresis phenomenon.
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