Spacecraft Thermal Management Systems

Background:

• CubeSats in a low-Earth orbit often experience irregular heat fluxes coming from the sun
• This requires a thermal management system to regulate temperature and heating distribution 
• Variable emissivity devices (VEDs) may pose a solution to this problem
• Controlling emissivity allows for temperature regulation when conduction and convection heat transfer mediums are absent
• The project is interested in the performance and manufacturing process of VEDs

Goals and Objectives:

• Investigate VEDs in the hopes of achieving improvement in manufacturing cost and performance
• Develop a manufacturing process that yields a consistent deposition of transition metal oxides with high life cycles
• Create a transparent electrolytic medium for electrochromic function
• Implement a vacuum chamber to simulate conditions found in low-Earth orbit during thermal testing
• Determine whether E-ink technology can be used as an alternative to conventional VEDs in space 

Project Manager:

• Amber Truong (amberkt@uci.edu)

Chief Chemical Engineer:

• Janay Bombino (jbombino@uci.edu)

Chief Mechanical Engineer:

• Brandon Grajeda (bgrajeda@uci.edu)

Advisors:

• Dr. John LaRue (jclarue@uci.edu)
• Dr. Khalid Rafique (krafique@uci.edu)