Thermal and Cryogenic Testing Systems Development

SPACE Center; NASA-URC

Kalind Carpenter Graduate Student in Mechanical Engineering California State University, Los Angeles

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Program: Minority Student Programs; Education Office
Thermal and Cryogenic Testing Systems Development
Kalind Carpenter California State University Los Angeles
170K:

JPL Mentors: Eugenio Urquiza

For this data point the temperature change over time converged nicely towards zero leading me to believe it was a good data point. Unfortunately as demonstrated by the up oscillations of the data that the transient e ects had not subsided making this an outlying data point.

Experience:

Jet Propulsion Laboratory Eugenio Urquiza Ph.D., P.E. Abstract: Design, model, fabricate, setup, conduct and analyze thermal and cryogenic test results for several current JPL projects. Ultra Compact Imaging Spectroscopy (UCIS): Quantify the e ective thermal conductance of a data cable to enable optimization of tactical cryocooler use in future systems. Airborne scanning MultiSPectral Infrared instrument (AirMSPI): Set up and run a test to determine whether normal operating thermal stresses on a silica lter will result in epoxy failure and delamination of the layers within the silica lter. Mars Atmospheric Trace Molecule Occultation Spectrometer (MATMOS): Created interface parts in Solidworks for the physical connection between the radiator, thermal strap and load; and created a LabVIEW data acquisition graphical user interface for the test data characterizing the cooling system thermal performance. Sounding Oceanographic Lagrangian Observer Thermal RECharging (SOLO TREC): Help conduct testing of the accumulator portion of the power generation subsystem for the SOLO TREC Submersible that derives its power from the changing thermoclines of sea water. Tasks include implementing improvements to the power generation subsystem, to increase reliability and lifetime. Relevance to NASA: While none of the projects will be going into space any time soon, both AirMSPI and SOLO TREC will be utilized on active NASA missions in the near future. During this internship MATMOS lost its funding when NASA pulled out of the European Space Agencys ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter that is slated to launch in 2016. But the technology is good and the results of the thermal vacuum test should help to sell the technology for future projects. UCIS is still in its infancy, but could very well end up on a future rover, or utilizing a small space on a satellite to conduct experiments. Purpose: As a test engineer it was my goal to quickly set up and conduct tests pertaining to the performance of parts and systems under working conditions. I will discuss each of my projects individually to better illustrate my work. Project Methods: The UCIS project ts many applications, from an airborne or ground based spectroscopy instrument to future applications in a small space on commercial satellites or a rover on other planets or moons. In the current con guration it was found that there was a heat leak that required a second tactical cryocooler to maintain the desired temperature of 150K. This means there was an unaccounted for heat source. It was determined that this was probably through the data cable that communicates to the exterior instruments. UCIS is currently used in the atmosphere in places like Death Valley, so it is safe to say there is at least a 150K temperature di erence between the ends of the cable. UCIS is designed as an inexpensive alternative to past portable Spectrometers, therefore a pre made cable was used, this while saving cost meant it could not be designed for the speci c application and properties sought. There is an un-quanti ed amount of copper being used sandwiched with Kapton, a polyamide that is stable at a large range of temperatures and does not outgas in a vacuum. This precludes the ability to calculate the conductance based on pure material properties and necessitates a test of the working conditions to get an overall conductance of the complete cable. This will allow the right sizing of the tactical cryocooler in the future to keep cost and power consumption down.

180K For this data point the temperature change over time converged nicely towards zero con rming the accuracy of the data.

Airborne scanning MultiSPectral Infrared instrument (AirMSPI): This project utilizes a specially made silica lter. The lters are on layers between the silica glass. The whole thing is epoxied together using an epoxy with a similar clarity and refractive index as the silica. It was found through calculations that, due to the di erence in coe cients of thermal expansion thermal stresses would form. The operating temperature of the sensor is 200K at that temperature using the listed speci cations for the epoxy and silica there was a chance that the lter would delaminate. These speci cations where for properties at room temperature and probably have an unspeci ed factor of safety, therefore a test would let us know for sure if delamination would occur under operating conditions.

Test Setup I created the through ports into the vacuum chamber, cables and connections for the heaters and the silicon diodes. I also tested the system for control because we wanted only to test the ability of the lter to handle the thermal stress of the operating temperatures not that of an abrupt temperature change. After an e ective dry run, the lter was incorporated and I ran the test again with a slow cool down and warm up.

Test Setup

Target Focus After modeling the cable in Solidworks, I designed a test that would give me the e ective conductance of the cable. Conductance is the gradient of heat (watts) over temperature drop (kelvin), therefore, I had to nd a way to accurately measure the heat rate input in watts and the temperature on either end of the strap. We are only interested in the conductance so the other forms of heat transfer need to be negated as much as possible. To negate the e ects of convection, the mean free path between particles in the surrounding has to be greater than the size of the test chamber. To achieve this, a vacuum chamber at 10^-6 Torr will give a mean free path between particles much greater than the whole vacuum chamber. To minimize radiation, a Multi-Layer Insulation (MLI) blanket is used so the vast majority of radiation heat is returned to the cable. It is also used to block any view of the cold sensor end of the assembly. This way we can assume that the applied watts are going into and through the data cable. To produce the temperature di erence between the two ends, a cryocooler is used on the sensor end of the cable. It can reach temperatures as low as 40K so heat lift must be provided. To accomplish this, four 25W heaters are used each at 50ohms. The heaters are on two di erent circuits each heater in parallel, cutting the resistance to 25ohms per circuit, using a 50V power supply this gives a maximum of 100W of heat per circuit. Enough heat lift to maintain temperatures so much higher than the 40K the cold head is designed for. Through thermal modeling in Solidworks, I determined that in order to get a fairly even temperature distribution on the sensor end of the cable, a three quarter inch piece of 6061 aluminum would be su cient. For each of the three data out plates a 5W heater would su ce on a three eighths piece of 6061 aluminum. In all cases, a one eighth piece of 6061 aluminum is used as a compression backing using indium to increase the thermal connection then they are compression t securely together.

After plotting the results of the temperatures over time the lter was sent to be checked with an electron microscope. It did not delaminate, the best case for everyone involved.

Flora:

Test Results Using the same setup we also categorized the conductance of a exible strap made of pyrolytic graphite sheet (PGS). Conductance is temperature dependent and also is in uenced by the temperature di erence. It was necessary to test the strap at di erent stabilized temperatures using the di erence of the two ends of the strap as the normalizing factor, then applying a heat load to the bottom to create a larger temperature di erence and taking the measurement after stabilization of temperature occurred again.

Test Setup

Computer Models The three data out cables are then hung from manganin wires. At Cryogenic temperatures which are 150K or below, silicon diodes provide the best temperature reading using phosphor bronze wires to minimize heat leak. By curve tting the resistance change across the diode as a function of temperature, curves have been developed to get temperature readings. By applying a known current, then reading the voltage across the diode, the resistance can be determined, (R=V/I) input that into the curve function and an accurate temperature reading is generated. By connecting the diodes to a Lakeshore temperature reader these temperatures are read constantly with the right curves applied. By placing one silicon diode at each of the edges of the kapton/copper cable the temperatures can be monitored. After the sensor end is stabilized at 150TH and the data out ends at 300K. The voltage is read across the resistance heaters and also from either side of an installed shunt resistor of an absolute known resistance. The actual current can be determined for each heater by dividing the voltage over the shunt by its known resistance. By squaring the current and multiplying by the resistance of the heaters the power can be determined. By adding up these powers in then dividing by the temperature di erence the e ective conductance is determined.

Mars Atmospheric Trace Molecule Occultation Spectrometer (MATMOS):

Project Components

http://instrumentsystems.jpl.nasa.gov/projects/matmos/

The purpose of this test is to determine if the empirical results match the calculated results of a passive cooler designed for MATMOS. By using a multi stage passive cooler that radiates to cold space, the change in temperature between any two sides of a stage limited to maximize conductance, this is a state of the art cooler that needs no external power. The polished surfaces are to re ect the heat from the planet and the higher edge is extra insurance that the sun never shines directly on the cooling manifold if there is a wobble in the orbit of the satellite. I modeled the exible straps and their connectors and modi ed the cold head attachment above. Also interfaced with six Lakeshore devices of four to eight channels reading silicon diodes placed strategically throughout the test system, sixty channels from an Agilent reading thermocouple temperatures and voltages across the heaters and shunt resistors. Using these I programed the data writing virtual instrument to calculate the powers and the current for eight heater circuits. This LabVIEW project was my focus for a LabVIEW course that culminated in me passing the Certi ed LabVIEW associate developers (CLAD) exam o ered on lab. Sounding Oceanographic Lagrangian Observer Thermal RECharging (SOLO TREC): The Solo Trec completed a successful year and half o the coast of Hawaii of continuous dives measuring the salinity down to 500m of the ocean then transmitting the data on each resurface three times a day. This generation will utilize wing-like structures to direct the dives covering more area and providing a much higher resolution study of the oceans salinity than the current thirty thousand probes being utilized for this function. With an improved power generation subsystem this generation should prove extremely e ective. It uses phase changing materials (PCM) formulated for various freezing points down to the four degrees Celsius found at ve hundred meter depths. The freezing and melting of the materials pushes on a exible membrane, in return pushing hydraulic uid through a one way valve into an accumulator. The accumulator consists of a contained piston with nitrogen on one side and the hydraulic uid on the other. The hydraulic uid compresses the nitrogen up to 3000psi, when the vehicle needs power it releases some of the built up pressurized hydraulic uid to drive a generator, the hydraulic uid then travels into an unpressurized reservoir waiting to be pulled into the PCM tube to start the cycle again. An increase in e ciency for this generation comes from the use of open cell aluminum foam cylinders touching the outer walls of the vehicle. By boring a hole through the center and placing the membrane containing the PCM in the center, there is a better heat transfer from the ocean to the PCM. Being the PCM only changes volume by 10% its increase pushes into the open cells of the foam further increasing the area of contact for heat transfer and displacing the hydraulic uid. One issue with this well thought out system is the leak of nitrogen in the accumulator across the piston into the hydraulic uid over time. The nitrogen being compressible would decrease the e ciency of the whole system. To determine the impact this phenomena may have, a power generation subsystem was built using a pump instead of the PCM to build up pressure. By running this through thousands of repetitions we can measure the amount of nitrogen that leaks into the hydraulic uid.

Fauna:

Test Setup The rst time I set up the experiment and measured the resistance of each of the data out heater circuits, I found that there was an increase of resistance of 9ohms from the manganin wire. This would not be a lot except that the 5W heaters I had on hand were only 25ohms of resistance. This set the stage for large joule heating losses through the manganin wire that would be impossible to accurately predict if it was going into the cable or not. So 500ohm resistors were ordered to be over-nighted. The ndings are as follows The e ective Conductance is: Temp (K) Conductance 150 0.009897 160 0.010112525 170 0.012046678 180 0.009959191
Conductance (W/K)

Conductance W/K
0.014 0.012 0.01 0.008 0.006 0.004 0.002 0 145 150 155 160 165 170 Cold End Temperature (K) 175 180 185

Watts

Heat Leak:
Applied Heat Warm End (W)

1.8 1.6 1.4 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0 145 150 155 160 165 170 Cold End Temperature (K) 175 180 185

Temp (K) Watts 150 1.483956593 160 1.437933664 170 1.565345354 180 1.200082555

The following data shows the results from the e ective conductance test. The heater power (W) is calculated by P=I^2 R using the current found by reading the voltage across a shunt resistor than dividing that by the known resistance of the shunt. The heaters are at 300K roughly room temperature where there resistances should be the same as measured at room temperature. Back up data and graphs: 150K: For the 150k data point this is the data from two di erent days and also hours apart. The conductance and total power through the strap vary only slightly supporting the integrity of the data. The di erence in conductance of the two most stabilized readings is = 7.36x10^-4(mW/K) The di erence in total heat is = 0.599(mW) 160K By taking readings periodically it was possible to check the convergence of the change in temperature on zero.

http://www.greencleaningideas.com/2010/05/nasas-solo-trec-robotic-diver-gets-powered-by-changing-ocean-temperatures/

Testing Rig My part was to maintain the testing system and to install the motor and pump to simulate the PCMs. To make this work properly, the right pump and motor needed to be used. The rst two pumps blew o rings and leaked, the next motor was not strong enough to get up to the pressures needed. The third pump used a di erent viscosity of hydraulic uid meaning the system needed to be drained, cleaned and re lled with a homogeneous viscosity of hydraulic uid, in case the viscosity played a part in the nitrogen leak rate. The working system is at the moment running well thanks to the hard work of all involved. The nitrogen leak appears to be minimal. Acknowledgements:

There is a de nite convergence but not at zero, looking at the sensor plate there is a slight temperature increase that is tapering o as shown. Once the sensor plate stabilized the data out ends of the cable should converge towards zero. The e ective conductance at the time of data collection for this period changed by 2.09x10^-4(W/K) or 0.046% therefore even without total equalization this is fairly accurate. The total power also changed by 2.76x10^-4(W) or 0.0038%, unless a greater accuracy then that is desired this point is good.

I would like to thank Jose Rodrigues for his direction and expertise. Dean Johnson for his ever smiling demeanor and co ee brewing. Jack Johnson for his enthusiasm and fantastic projects. Scott Leland for his help and wealth of information and stories. Russ Sugimura for his camaraderie and technical writing help. Howard Tseng and Jason Kempenaar for their friendship and in depth knowledge of the thermal world. Arthur Na-Nakornpanom for his stories and insights on OCO2, Dr. Helen Boussalis for the opportunities and support that has opened so many doors for me. Jenny Tieu for her belief and dedication in nding me a mentor. My family for their enthusiasm and supporting me through all the extra hours. And a special thanks to my mentor Eugenio (Keno) Urquiza for his guidance and personal tutelage, may his new endeavor be extremely successful. Also to the Space Grant and everyone involved in the NASA URC program, especially those at Space Center who have helped guide and push my knowledge and research skills.

This work is supported by the NASA University Research Center (URC) Grant No. URC NCC NNX08BA44A in collaboration with Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Special thanks to our SPACE Center Director, Dr. Helen Boussalis.