Technical Paper
High Capacity Grooved Heat Pipes
1993-07-01
932303
In the frame of an ESA technology program, the development of a High Capacity Grooved Heat Pipe (HGP), based on the thermal requirements of the next generation of telecommunication satellites, was contracted to SABCA. Different promising concepts and methods of groove technology were reviewed. A trade-off and design study was performed on potential HGP concepts, taking into account theoretical performances (on earth and in micro-gravity), ease of manufacturing and of assembly as well as the heat pipe working reliability and priming capability. The two finally selected concepts were aluminium extruded heat pipes (outer diameter of 25 mm, vapour core diameter of 15 mm), based on a multi re-entrant grooves concept or on a mixed rectangular/re-entrant grooves concept.
