Thermal performance assessment of tungsten based magneto-resistive heat switch at different oblique plane angles for space application Ranjan Gautam1,2, Desale Yash Bhausaheb1,2, Patel K. S.2, Naik B. Kiran1,2,*, Singh Vivek Kumar3 1Sustainable Thermal Energy Systems Laboratory (STESL), Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Rourkela, Rourkela, Odisha - 769008, India 2Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Rourkela, Rourkela, Odisha - 769008, India 3Thermal Engineering Division, Space Applications Centre, ISRO, Ahmedabad - 380015, India *E-mail ID: naikkb@nitrkl.ac.in, k.bukke@gmail.com
Online published on 4 December, 2023. Cryogenic heat switches are critical components of many space cryogenic systems. These heat switches are commonly used to control heat flow between two surfaces and are classified into many categories. Among them, a magneto-resistive heat switch (MRHS) is used for controlling the heat flow at a very low temperature of below 10 K. Tungsten is the material for magneto-resistive heat switch due to its lower critical (Tc = 0.015 K) and high Debye temperature (310 K). Tungsten-based magneto-resistive heat switch (MRHS) works on the principle of controlling the heat flow at an applied magnetic field. This makes it suitable for space applications where there is a need for regulating the heat flow at a cryogenic temperature of below 10 K. So, in the present study, the thermal performance of MRHS at different oblique plane angles in detail by developing an analytical model. Initially, an analytical model is developed using conductivity tensors for predicting the thermal conductivity on three mutually perpendicular planes (X, Y, Z) passing through a point and then finding expressions for thermal conductivity on different oblique planes. Later, the developed model was compared with the experimental data available in the literature and observed reasonable agreement with a maximum possible error of 8.30 different angles in the Tungsten material of the magneto-resistive heat switch is analyzed in detail using temperature, magnetic field, and switching ratio as performance parameters. Further, it is realized that the developed model procedure can be adopted to assess the thermal performance of different heat switches used for space applications. Top Keywords Low Temperature, Magnetic field, Switching ratio, Analytical model, Magneto-resistive material, Thermal performance. Top |