Space

Electrohydrodynamic cooling system to beat the heat on deep space missions

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Cooling technology developed at WPI is undergoing a long-term test aboard the International Space Station
NASA
Cooling technology developed at WPI is undergoing a long-term test aboard the International Space Station
NASA
Jamal Yagoobi, left, floats beside a prototype of the new cooling pump during a test flight on a NASA zero-gravity aircraft
WPI

When astronauts head for Mars, keeping them cool will be a major concern, so a team of mechanical engineers at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) led by Jamal Yagoobi is working on a new electrical cooling system that has no moving parts. Already being tested aboard the International Space Station (ISS), the electrohydrodynamic (EHD) cooler uses electrically charged fluids running through tiny tubes to carry away heat without noise or vibrations.

Heat is one of the biggest and most persistent threats to space travel. Though a spacecraft set in shadow is theoretically subjected to temperatures hundreds of degrees below zero, the real problem is high temperatures. When subjected to sunlight, the craft will quickly heat up to above the boiling point of water unless its surface is made reflective.

But the bigger problem is that space is a vacuum and a spacecraft is essentially a giant thermos flask. Spacecraft produce a lot of heat from their power systems, electronics, mechanical parts, and even the bodies of the astronauts. And because these are all surrounded by a vacuum, the fact there's no air to conduct or convect the heat away makes getting rid of this heat is difficult.

Instead, the heat needs to be transferred to panels that allow it to be radiated out into space. One drawback with this is that current systems aren't as efficient as they could be, and their pumps and motors generate noise and vibrations that create their own problems. So a simpler, quieter system that uses less energy has more than one advantage.

Jamal Yagoobi, left, floats beside a prototype of the new cooling pump during a test flight on a NASA zero-gravity aircraft
WPI

"When you're in space, you can't open the window and let the cold air come in and cool you off," says Yagoobi. "As we move forward, a lot of electronics will be jammed into a very small area in a spacecraft or in a satellite. We're going to use a lot more advanced electronics and produce a lot more heat. That's why we need to develop this technology. Whether it's for travel to Mars or any other mission outside Earth, you have to have cooling devices that are very effective, durable, and non-mechanical, and which require minimal power to function."

Called "Electrohydrodynamically Driven Liquid Flow in Parallel Micro-Tubes," the WPI experiment has already flown on zero-gravity airplane flights in 2012 and 2013, and a version was sent to the ISS aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo ship in February 2017, where it will operate until this August. It will be replaced in 2021 by a more complex version that is anticipated to cost around US$10 million all up and is expected to run for about a year during testing.

Like the present experiment, the more complex "Electohydrodynamically Driven Liquid Film Flow Boiling," system uses electrically charged liquids for cooling, but instead of using electric fields to just circulate the fluid, the new version uses a two-phase, non-mechanical EHD pumping system with a condenser section and a boiling section. According to WPI, this allows the circulating fluid to boil, so it absorbs more heat like in a domestic refrigerator, then it returns to a liquid form as it passes through a radiator, which dumps the heat into a radiator panel and then out into space.

Outside of being used on space stations and future manned Mars missions, the team also sees the technology as having applications on satellites and deep space probes, as well as in industrial cooling and heating, ventilation, air conditioning, and refrigeration systems back on Earth.

"We're greatly encouraged that our work has been deemed a success" says Yagoobi. "This is the first time ever for this type of cooling pump technology in space, and the outcome has been very positive. This positions us well for the next phase of the work."

The video below shows the electrodynamic cooling system in action.

Source: WPI

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6 comments
highlandboy
So it’s is heat pump that uses electrical potentials to pump instead of a compressor. Novel idea. Use solar radiation or atomic heat to generate electricity that then disposes of the excess heat without mechanical pumps.
Malatrope
If they would simply introduce a force gradient by spinning the craft, they could use far, far simpler heat pipes.
Trylon
In his novel, Sundiver, David Brin had a spaceship visiting the sun that kept itself cool by using its heat to pump a laser. It's too bad nobody can figure out a low thermal delta version of that. Although given its many abilities, I wouldn't be surprised to read sometime in the next few years that a researcher has created such a system using graphene.
Expanded Viewpoint
What is the cost/weight/efficiency formula for using a Peltier Junction like in my friend's wine cooler to remove the heat? Put up a sun shade to block the solar radiation from hitting the radiating fins, and I think that it would work.
Randy
MirekKaras
If I am correct heat pipes are used in space craft since 1960s. There no moving parts with the heat transfer up to 80 time better then solid metal. Because the medium is liquid in partial vacuum, the weight is minimal. Somebody mention to use solar radiation to generate electricity. That will work however the efficiency will be at best 40%. Heat pipes are more then two time better.
MirekKaras
My be they need to think about different application. How about ship propulsion.