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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 163 records · Page 9

Temperature control in wafer-level testing of large multi-segment electromigration test structures

The paper describes two methods for maintaining a constant metallization temperature throughout a wafer-level isothermal electromigration test of large multisegment test structures where Joule-heating is high and chip to chuck thermal contact is poor. In the first method, an initial calibration of Joule heating versus metal temperature is carried out. During the isothermal electromigration test, the Joule heating is continuously monitored and the chuck temperature is adjusted based on the calibration results to maintain a constant metal temperature. In the second method, temperature sensors are fabricated on the chip and then the sensors are used to monitor the chip temperature directly. The chuck temperature is then adjusted as needed.

Zamani, Nasser↗

A temperature-controlled fluid flow regulator

Slide-type valve, constructed of materials having different coefficients of thermal expansion, provides variable flow area as the slides move in relation to each other with temperature changes.

Tomlinson, L. E.↗

Spacecraft Radiator Freeze Protection Using a Regenerative Heat Exchanger with Bypass Setpoint Temperature Control

Spacecraft radiators are sized for their maximum heat load in their warmest thermal environment, but must operate at reduced heat loads and in colder environments. For systems where the radiator environment can be colder than the working fluid freezing temperature, radiator freezing becomes an issue. Radiator freezing has not been a major issue for the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station (ISS) active thermal control systems (ATCSs) because they operate in environments that are warm relative to the freezing point of their external coolants (Freon-21 and ammonia, respectively). For a vehicle that lands at the Lunar South Pole, the design thermal environment is 215K, but the radiator working fluid must also be kept from freezing during the 0 K sink of transit. A radiator bypass flow control design such as those used on the Space Shuttle and ISS requires more than 30% of the design heat load to avoid radiator freezing during transit - even with a very low freezing point working fluid. By changing the traditional ATCS architecture to include a regenerating heat exchanger inboard of the radiator and by using a regenerator bypass flow control valve to maintain system setpoint, the required minimum heat load can be reduced by more than half. This gives the spacecraft much more flexibility in design and operation. The present work describes the regenerator bypass ATCS setpoint control methodology. It includes analytical results comparing the performance of this system to the traditional radiator bypass system. Finally, a summary of the advantages of the regenerator bypass system are presented.

Ungar, Eugene K.↗

Phase Change Material for Temperature Control of Imager or Sounder on GOES Type Satellites in GEO

This paper uses phase change material (PCM) in the scan cavity of an imager or sounder on satellites in geostationary orbit (GEO) to maintain the telescope temperature stable. When sunlight enters the scan aperture, solar heating causes the PCM to melt. When sunlight stops entering the scan aperture, the PCM releases the thermal energy stored to keep the components in the telescope warm. It has no moving parts or bimetallic springs. It reduces heater power required to make up the heat lost by radiation to space through the aperture. It is an attractive thermal control option to a radiator with a louver and a sunshade.

phase change material↗

Temperature-Controlled Support for a Seed Crystal

A rodlike structure called a sting has been proposed for supporting a seed crystal at center of a body of saturated fluid and for controlling temperature/time profile of seed for experiments on crystal growth. Seed crystal is cooled or heated by thermoelectric modules while surrounding sheath remains at solution temperature. Heat is withdrawn to cooling fins by heat pipe, which replaces solid copper rod in a previous design.

Reeve, J. L.↗

Phase change material for temperature control and material storage

A phase change material comprising a mixture of water and deuterium oxide is described, wherein the mole fraction of deuterium oxide is selected so that the mixture has a selected phase change temperature within a range between 0.degree. C. and 4.degree. C. The mixture is placed in a container and used for passive storage and transport of biomaterials and other temperature sensitive materials. Gels, nucleating agents, freezing point depression materials and colorants may be added to enhance the characteristics of the mixture.

Wessling, Jr., Francis C.↗

Tailoring physical properties of crystals through synthetic temperature control: A case study for new polymorphic NbFeT e 2 phases

Growth parameters play a significant role in the crystal quality and physical properties of layered materials. Here we present a case study on a van der Waals magnetic NbFeTe 2 material. Two different types of polymorphic NbFeTe 2 phases, synthesized at different temperatures, display significantly different behaviors in crystal symmetry, electronic structure, electrical transport, and magnetism. While the phase synthesized at low temperature showing behavior consistent with previous reports, the new phase synthesized at high temperature, has completely different physical properties, such as metallic resistivity, long-range ferromagnetic order, anomalous Hall effect, negative magnetoresistance, and distinct electronic structures. Neutron diffraction reveals out-of-plane ferromagnetism below 70 K, consistent with the electrical transport and magnetic susceptibility studies. Finally, our work suggests that simply tuning synthetic parameters in a controlled manner could be an effective route to alter the physical properties of existing materials potentially unlocking new states of matter, or even discovering new materials.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Wall temperature control of low-speed body drag

The use of thermal means to control drag under turbulent boundary layer conditions is examined. Numerical calculations are presented for both skin friction and (unseparated) pressure drag for turbulent boundary-layer flows over a fuselage-like body with wall heat transfer. In addition, thermal control of separation on a bluff body is investigated. It is shown that a total drag reduction of up to 20 percent can be achieved for wall heating with a wall-to-total-freestream temperature ratio of 2. For streamlined slender bodies, partial wall heating of the forebody can produce almost the same order of total drag reduction as the full body heating case. For bluff bodies, the separation delay from partial wall cooling of the afterbody is approximately the same as for the fully cooled body.

Lin, J. C.↗

Moderate temperature control technology for a lunar base

A parametric analysis is performed to compare different heat pump based thermal control systems for a Lunar Base. Rankine cycle and absorption cycle heat pumps are compared and optimized for a 100 kW cooling load. Variables include the use or lack of an interface heat exchanger, and different operating fluids. Optimization of system mass to radiator rejection temperature is performed. The results indicate a relatively small sensitivity of Rankine cycle system mass to these variables, with optimized system masses of about 6000 kg for the 100 kW thermal load. It is quantitaively demonstrated that absorption based systems are not mass competitive with Rankine systems.

Swanson, Theodore D.↗

Phase Change Material for Temperature Control of Imager or Sounder on GOES Type Satellites in GEO

An imager or sounder on satellites, such as the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES), in geostationary orbit (GEO) has a scan mirror and motor in the scan cavity. The GEO orbit is 24 hours long. During part of the orbit, direct sunlight enters the scan aperture and adds heat to components in the scan cavity. Solar heating also increases the scan motor temperature. Overheating of the scan motor could reduce its reliability. For GOES-N to P, a radiator with a thermal louver rejects the solar heat absorbed to keep the scan cavity cool. A sunshield shields the radiator/louver from the Sun. This innovation uses phase change material (PCM) in the scan cavity to maintain the temperature stability of the scan mirror and motor. When sunlight enters the scan aperture, solar heating causes the PCM to melt. When sunlight stops entering the scan aperture, the PCM releases the thermal energy stored to keep the components in the scan cavity warm. It reduces the heater power required to make up the heat lost by radiation to space through the aperture. This is a major advantage when compared to a radiator/ louver. PCM is compact because it has a high solid-to-liquid enthalpy. Also, it could be spread out in the scan cavity. This is another advantage. Paraffin wax is a good PCM candidate, with high solid-to-liquid enthalpy, which is about 225 kJ/kg. For GOES-N to P, a radiator with a louver rejects the solar heat that enters the aperture to keep the scan cavity cool. For the remainder of the orbit, sunlight does not enter the scan aperture. However, the radiator/louver continues radiating heat to space because the louver effective emittance is about 0.12, even if the louver is fully closed. This requires makeup heater power to maintain the temperature within the stability range.

Choi, Michael↗

UNCERTAINTIES FOR IN-REACTOR TESTING OF TRITIUM LOADED GETTERS WITH TEMPERATURE CONTROL

The fourth experiment in TPBAR Materials Irradiation Separate-Effects Test (TMIST) series (TMIST-4) is planned to experimentally determine the effect of neutron irradiation on the equilibrium vapor pressure of tritium over a tritium loaded Nickel-Plated Zirconium (NPZ) getter in a simulated TPBAR service environment. This pressure will be used to estimate the tritium permeation rate. In the thermal design in the TMIST-4, two evaluations are required. 1) The cladding temperature is calculated to estimate the feasibility of detecting potential irradiation enhancement of the partial pressure for an NPZ getter. This work is required to obtain a precise cladding temperature for measurement of a low tritium partial pressure. This work has been completed and indicated that the required/target cladding temperatures based on the TMIST-4 test plan can be satisfied under the test condition range by modifying the capsule component shapes and inserting a thermally conductive metal sleeve. 2) The evaluation of uncertainties associated with the test design and operation is performed. This includes fabrication tolerances, and power and nuclear operating conditions. These factors will impact the component temperatures inside capsules and resulting the tritium partial pressure. The tritium permeation rate is a function of temperature and tritium partial pressure. The prediction of tritium permeation rates affects the feasibility of obtaining measurement resolutions required to reach reasonable conclusion for potential irradiation enhanced performance. This work will investigate the uncertainties.

TTP, TPBAR, TMIST-4, TPBAR Materials Irradiation S↗

Temperature control of silica mirrors for cryogenically-cooled telescopes in space

The SIRTF (Space Infrared Telescope Facility) optical subsystem, including the primary mirror, has been modeled using lumped-parameter techniques and a thermal and cryogenic transient analysis program developed previously. Since silica mirrors have been shown to have significantly less distortion due to cryogenic cooldown, a silica primary mirror of approximately 1 m diameter is being considered. Thermal responses to variations in aperture heat load and heat sink temperature have been explored. Calculations have been made of system noise components from primary mirror spatial and temporal temperature variations. Background-limited infrared observations can be made at wavelengths out to 200 micrometers. Mirror thermal performance with and without copper wires for cooling is also considered.

Melugin, R. K.↗

Evaluation of commercially supplied silver coated Teflon for spacecraft temperature control usage

A series of tests are described which were performed to evaluate the acceptability of a commercially supplied silver backed teflon thermal control coating relative to teflon previously coated at GSFC. Optical measurements made on numerous samples indicate that the commercial material possesses an average solar absorptance of 0.085, an emittance of 0.76 and an average alpha/epsilon equal to 0.112, all of which are equivalent to the GSFC coated teflon. The emittance of the protective inconel backing was found to be 0.037. The coating is shown to have good adhesion at the Ag-teflon interface and exposure to UV irradiation uncovered no coating irregularities. Temperature cycling over the range -135 C to +200 C produced crazing in the evaporated Ag layer as expected but no delamination was observed. The suitability of Mystik no. 7366 and 3M no. 467 adhesives as bonding agents for the metallized polymer is demonstrated. Various problems associated with production reproducibility and selection of a proper bonding process are discussed.

Heaney, J. B.↗

Closed fluid system without moving parts controls temperature

Closed fluid system maintains a constant temperature in an insulated region without the use of any moving parts. Within the system, the energy for thermodynamic cycling of two-phase heat transfer fluid and a hydraulic fluid is entirely supplied by the heat generated in the thermally insulated region.

Stenger, F. J.↗

Temperature-controlled resistor

Electrical resistance of a carbon-pile resistor is controlled by the compression or relaxation of a pile of carbon disks by a thermally actuated bimetallic spring. The concept is advantageous in that it is direct-acting, can cover a wide range of controllable characteristics, and can handle considerable power directly.

Perkins, T. G.↗