Article

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Title

Overview of electric pump units for spacecraft thermal control systems

Authors

¹E.B. Korotkov, ¹O.V. Shirobokov, ¹S.A. Matveev, ²Z.A. Yudina

Organizations

¹Baltic State Technical University «VOENMEH» named after D. F. Ustinov
Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation
²JSC «Academician M. F. Reshetnev» Information Satellite Systems»
Zheleznogorsk, Krasnoyarsk region, Russian Federation

Abstract

The paper reports a brief description of spacecraft operating conditions, the main reasons of heating and thermal gradient appearance and need to reassign the thermal energy. Active thermal control systems and their advantages are considered, spacecraft for which the use of this type of thermal control systems is a priority. The electric pumping unit is pointed as a key unit of active thermal control systems. The electric pump unit is considered from the as the electromechanical system, its key elements are pointed. A description of the preferred pump types is reported and the types of active thermal control systems are briefly discussed. The foreign and domestic operating experience of spacecraft electric pumping units, the features of their designs are considered, the most common types of key elements are determined. Based on the results of the review, it is concluded that the most relevant layout of the electric pump unit is a centrifugal electrical pump with a brushless DC motor and hydrodynamic bearings. It is also indicated that the electric pump unit is a product with a long lifetime, which complicates the task of monitoring the technical condition in order to prevent failure.

Keywords

spacecraft, thermal control system, electric pump unit, centrifugal pump, brushless direct current motor.

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For citing this article

Korotkov E.B., Shirobokov O.V., Matveev S.A., Yudina Z.A. Overview of electric pump units for spacecraft thermal control systems // Spacecrafts & Technologies, 2021, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 198-207. doi: 10.26732/j.st.2021.4.03

This Article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).