Design and Characteristics of a Dynamic Cooler for Space Use

The design and performance characteristics of a dynamic cooler are described. This unit can be used as a stand-alone refrigerator in spacecraft as well as within a fluid loop system that will provide active thermal control for payloads. The design of the cooler, featuring a vapor compression cycle, satisfies three basic requirements: (1) Heat removal rate at the source (payload or fluid loop) of about 0.8 kW at source temperatures of about 20° C, (2) maintaining the payload at a temperature level as low as -30° C with required heat removal rates of the order of a few tens of Watts, (3) heat rejection to a fluid with an initial temperature up to 45° C.