Advanced Space Radiator Demonstration

As more powerful space systems emerge, radiator technology is challenged to dissipate the waste heat at minimum weight. Through the integration of thin aluminum sheet or low mass carbon fiber composites and high conductivity annealed pyrolytic graphite, the development of a new class of high performance weight efficient radiators is feasible. A radiator concept based on k Technology Corporation's (kTC) high conductivity encapsulated annealed pyrolytic graphic materials (k-Core) has demonstrated this concept. APG is a highly crystalline material with a room temperature thermal conductivity of 1700 W/mK and density of 2.26 g/cm³. This design concept can manage high thermal flux systems, have small thermal distortions and be highly survivable. kTC's k-Core radiator concept outperformed a baseline aluminum/heat pipe design by a factor of five. The k-Core concept with 8 inch spaced heat pipes outperformed the baseline aluminum design with 4 inch heat pipe spacing by nearly a factor of three. This paper will present the completed work including the measured performance of these k-Core radiators.