An apparatus comprising a satellite includes a first radiator panel on a first side of a central body of the satellite and a second radiator panel on a second side of the central body is provided. The first radiator panel is thermally attached to the second radiator panel. A third side of the central body is positioned between the first side and the second side. A fourth side of the central body is positioned between the first side and the second side, opposing the third side. The first radiator panel is thermally attached to the second radiator panel by one or more coupling heat pipes, the coupling heat pipes exposed to an exterior environment of the satellite.

This aeronautical equipment for an aircraft, comprising a part configured to be positioned at the level of a skin of the aircraft and means for reheating this part comprising a closed-circuit thermodynamic loop in which a phase-change heat transfer fluid circulates, is wherein it includes means for monitoring the fluid pressure in the loop in order to detect and report a malfunction of the equipment.

A heat pipe has an evaporator portion, a condenser portion, and at least one flexible portion that is sealingly coupled between the evaporator portion and the condenser portion. The flexible portion has a flexible tube and a flexible separator plate held in place within the flexible tube so as to divide the flexible tube into a gas-phase passage and a liquid-phase artery. The separator plate and flexible tube are configured such that the flexible portion is flexible in a plane that is perpendicular to the separator plate.

Techniques for minimizing diurnal temperature variation of a radiator of a spacecraft are disclosed. In one aspect, a spacecraft includes a body, a radiator panel, and a heat dissipating unit thermally coupled with the radiator panel. The spacecraft is configured to operate in an orbital plane, and has a yaw axis within the orbital plane and directed from a spacecraft coordinate system origin toward nadir, a pitch axis orthogonal to the orbital plane, and a roll axis orthogonal to the pitch axis and the yaw axis. The radiator panel includes a surface area external to a body of the spacecraft, a first portion of the surface area facing a first direction that is substantially parallel to the roll axis, and a second portion of the surface area facing a second direction that has a substantial component parallel to the yaw axis.

An orifice insert is provided and includes a center plug and a ring feature. The center plug has first and second ends and an exterior surface extending between the first and second ends. The exterior surface defines multiple inflow channels that extend from the first end toward the second end and terminate at termination points midway between the first and second ends. The ring feature is disposed about the center plug and the multiple inflow channels to define, with the center plug, a plenum with which the termination points of the multiple inflow channels are fluidly communicative.

A panel assembly for use with a spacecraft includes a payload, a radiator panel and a heat pipe. The payload is configured to generate waste heat during operation. The radiator panel is spaced apart from the payload and is configured to dissipate waste heat. The heat pipe is coupled to the payload and the radiator panel. The heat pipe includes a compliant portion to permit the radiator panel to move relative to the payload. Further the heat pipe is configured to transfer waste heat from the payload to the radiator panel.

An apparatus includes a structure configured to receive and transport thermal energy. The structure includes one or more materials configured to undergo a solid-solid phase transformation at a specified temperature or in a specified temperature range. The one or more materials form a heat input region configured to receive the thermal energy and a cold sink interface region configured to reject the thermal energy. The structure also includes one or more thermal energy transfer devices embedded in at least part of the one or more materials. The one or more thermal energy transfer devices are configured to transfer the thermal energy throughout the one or more materials and at least partially between the heat input region and the cold sink interface region. The one or more materials are also configured to absorb and store excess thermal energy in response to a temperature excursion associated with a thermal transient event and to release the stored thermal energy after the thermal transient event.

Inner panels including at least one built-in heat pipe connected in a circumferential direction are provided. In a heat pipe panel including the built-in heat pipe, apparatuses are mounted on the outer side of the plural inner panels connected in the circumferential direction to diffuse generated heat of the apparatuses to the circumferential direction of the inner panels. Webbed panels including a built-in heat pipe horizontally arranged and having heat radiation surfaces are radially arranged at corners of the inner panels as well as a heat pipe is horizontally built in and heat radiation surfaces are arranged also on outer panels facing the inner panels to thermally connect the heat pipes to one another.

An energy-saving loop heat pipe apparatus and an application are provided. The loop heat pipe apparatus comprises a capillary pump component and an evaporation unit component. The loop heat pipe apparatus further comprises at least one heat exchanger disposed between the capillary pump component and the evaporation unit component for heating, by using heat of a circulating working medium in the loop heat pipe, the circulating working medium about to enter the evaporation unit component.

A method for attaching a heat-emitting device and a capillary heat pipe to a panel of a spacecraft wall is disclosed including the steps of: a) positioning a capillary heat pipe on a portion of the panel; attaching female attachment bodies to the panel, the female attachment bodies protruding relative to the capillary heat pipe; c) placing a thermally-conductive and self-curing paste over a portion of the capillary heat pipe or over a heat-emitting device; d) placing a heat-emitting device on the thermally-conductive and self-curing paste and on the female attachment bodies, said heat-emitting device bearing against and being in direct contact with the female attachment bodies, and e) attaching the heat-emitting device and said capillary heat pipe to the panel by attaching male attachment members to the female attachment bodies.