Numerical simulation of spacecraft electronics cooling (study) : using SYRTHES

Abstract

The objectives of this project are to understand the phenomena involved in the thermal behavior of electronics systems on board of spacecraft; to study the relevancy of the thermal contact resistance in the control thermal system; to generate meshes of a real geometry to numerical simulations and to evaluate, if it possible, the simulation of electronic systems using open-source heat transfer software. Firstly, a review on satellite thermal control has been done to understand the thermal environment and the external conditions faced by the satellite, and the different control thermal hardwares that keep satellites temperature properly. Secondly, a review of theoretical study on the heat transfer and thermalcontact resistance has been done to know how implement the different correlations of the thermal contact conductance. After that, a simple case with thermal contact resistance in SYRTHES is explained, step by step, highlighting how to mesh and simulate the case. The different problems found during the case are also exposed, pointing out the solutions achieved to mesh and simulate the case correctly. Thirdly, a study of the different parameters involved in the thermal contact conductance has been carried out. The effect of these parameters have been analyzed varying the values of this parameters. Then, a 1D approximation model of a simple case has been conducted to well understand the effect ofthe thermal contact resistance in the maximum system temperature. The 1D model has been also compared with the SYRTHES simulation. Finally, a real geometry case has been meshed and simulated taking intoaccount different parameters, implementing the thermal contact resistance too