Design & Technology

Spacecraft Transportation Systems are used for transportation of spacecraft from manufacturing unit to the launch port base. These containers are double walled containers. External surface of the container was provided with corrugation sheet of certain thickness internal surface was provided with certain value of thick Stainless Steel cladding. Polyurethane Foam ( PUF) was filled between these two surfaces. PUF acts as a passive thermal control media for control of temperature during the transportation.

The main aim of project was to determine the outside surface temperature, forced convective heat transfer coefficient and other heat transfer parameters. The project also aimed at reduction of heat at source and transfer of heat from internal Stainless Steel clad of container to the internal volume of container by introducing a low emissive and high reflective thermal foil. Advantages disadvantages of using high low value emissive reflection thermal foil were studied in detail and arrived at selection of suitable foil. Time taken for unit degree rise in temperature was also determined for various heat loads at ambient conditions. It was found that usage of low emissive high reflective tapes had significantly reduced heat load at source, thus reducing the internal air temperature of container. This project assisted in reducing the loads on Air Conditioning unit during active thermal control of transportation container used by a space research organization during spacecraft transportation.