Code for Analyzing and Designing Spacecraft Power System Radiators

GPHRAD is a computer code for analysis and design of disk or circular-sector heatrejecting radiators for spacecraft power systems. A specific application is for Stirlingcycle/linear-alternator electric-power systems coupled to radioisotope general-purpose heat sources. GPHRAD affords capabilities and options to account for thermophysical properties (thermal conductivity, density) of either metal-alloy or composite radiator materials. GPHRAD also enables specification of a heat-pipe radiator design with a radial location of the embedded heat-pipe condenser section determined numerically so that minimum radiator area is obtained. Alternatively, the user can specify a radial location of the heat-pipe condenser section for easier assembly with other components. In this case, GPHRAD determines the tradeoff cost in increased radiator area for this choice. A third option is to design a radiator without heat pipes, with heat flowing radially outward from the cylindrical cold section of the Stirling power system. A major subroutine, TSCALC, calculates an equilibrium sink temperature for a radiator, taking account of the solar absorptivity and thermal emissivity of the radiator surface, the spacecraft-to-Sun distance expressed in astronomical units (AU), the angle at which solar radiation is incident on the radiator surface, and the view factor to space of the radiator surface and the infrared absorptivity-to-emissivity ratio for planetary thermal radiation, if any. The sink temperature, along with the heatsource temperature and properties of the radiator material, serve as inputs to the GPHRAD code, which then calculates dimensions of, and temperature distribution within the radiator for a required heatrejection load at given heat-rejection source temperature, such as the Stirling power system “cold” side temperature. The option to specify the disk tip-to-hub thickness ratio permits investigation of mass savings achieved by trapezoidal of parabolic tapering of the disk radiator design.