Adaptive Thermal Conductivity Metamaterials: Enabling Active and Passive Thermal Control

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Austin A. Phoenix ◽  
Evan Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Thermal Management ◽  
Passive Control ◽  
Coefficient Of Thermal Expansion ◽  
Thermal Strain ◽  
Thermal Control ◽  
Variable Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Highly Nonlinear ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Nonlinear Thermal Conductivity

The novel adaptive thermal metamaterial developed in this paper provides a unique thermal management capability that can address the needs of future spacecraft. While advances in metamaterials have provided the ability to generate materials with a broad range of material properties, relatively little advancement has been made in the development of adaptive metamaterials. This metamaterial concept enables the development of materials with a highly nonlinear thermal conductivity as a function of temperature. Through enabling active or passive control of the metamaterials bulk effective thermal conductivity, this metamaterial that can improve the spacecraft's thermal management systems performance. This variable thermal conductivity is achieved through induced contact that results in changes in the F path length and the conductive path area. The contact can be generated internally using thermal strain from shape memory alloys, bimetal springs, and mismatches in coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) or it can be generated externally using applied mechanical loading. The metamaterial can actively control the temperature of an interface by dynamically changing the bulk thermal conductivity controlling the instantaneous heat flux through the metamaterial. The design of thermal stability regions (regions of constant thermal conductivity versus temperature) into the nonlinear thermal conductivity as a function of temperature can provide passive thermal control. While this concept can be used in a wide range of applications, this paper focuses on the development of a metamaterial that achieves highly nonlinear thermal conductivity as a function of temperature to enable passive thermal control of spacecraft systems on orbit.

Variable Thermal Conductance Metamaterials for Passive or Active Thermal Management

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Austin A. Phoenix ◽  
Evan Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Thermal Management ◽  
Contact Area ◽  
Passive Control ◽  
Thermal Strain ◽  
Thermal Conductance ◽  
Nonlinear Material ◽  
Intermediate Step ◽  
Applied Loading ◽  
Highly Nonlinear

To continue to meet spacecraft systems ever increasing thermal management requirements, new control methods need to be developed. While advances in metamaterials have provided the ability to generate materials with a broad range of material properties, relatively little advancement has been made in the development of adaptive metamaterials. This paper is focused on the development of a thermal management metamaterial that enables the active and passive control of a metamaterial’s thermal conductance. This variable conductivity is achieved through the application of internally or externally applied loads that induce internal contact resulting in changes in the conductive path length and the effective conductive area. This capability enables active or passive control of a metamaterial’s effective thermal conduction through the application of mechanical and thermal strain. Passively applied thermal strains can be used to design a highly nonlinear material thermal conductivity as a function of temperature. Actively, this can be used to precisely control the temperature of an interface through dynamically changing the instantaneous heat flux through the metamaterial. This work expands on the field of thermal switches by enabling a non-binary configuration where the initial air gap is slowly closed as contact sequentially introduced into the metamaterial. As internally or externally developed loading is applied, contact is introduced with an increasing contact area until full contact is achieved. This intermediate step of partial contact enables unique design capabilities that enable highly nonlinear thermal conductivity as a function of temperature as well as stability regions that allow passive thermal control. An example metamaterial was developed and evaluated to quantify the potential of this concept. The specific metamaterial configuration assessed in this paper uses offset flat and curved copper plates that are connected at the edges of the plate using a low conductivity epoxy. To evaluate the metamaterial performance, the stiffness and thermal conductivity are calculated as a function of the resulting contact area and the required applied loading. This work is focused on determining the potential of this metamaterial concept by evaluating this initial concept confirmation to establish the magnitude of the thermal conductance change, and the design of the conductivity change a function of applied loading.

Mechanical Properties of Microscale Graphitic Carbon Foam Ligaments and Nodes

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Ganguli ◽  
A. K. Roy ◽  
R. Wheeler
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Thermal Management ◽  
Thermal Protection ◽  
Solid Phase ◽  
Coefficient Of Thermal Expansion ◽  
Carbon Foam ◽  
High Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Uniform Size ◽  
Open Cell ◽  
Carbon Foams

Carbon foam is recognized as having the greatest potential to replacement for metal fins in thermal management systems such as heat exchangers, space radiators, and thermal protection systems [1–5]. Carbon foam refers to a broad class of materials that include reticulated glassy, carbon and graphitic foams that are generally open-cell or mostly open-cell. They can be tailored to have low or high thermal conductivity with a low coefficient of thermal expansion and density. These foams have high modulus but low compression and tensile strength. Among the carbon foams, the graphitic foam offers superior thermal management properties such as high thermal conductivity. Graphitic foams are made of a network of spheroidal shell segments. Each cell has thin, stretched ligaments in the walls that are joined at the nodes or junctions. The parallel arrangement of graphene planes in the ligaments confers highly anisotropic properties to the walls of the graphitic foams. The graphene planes tend to be oriented with the plane of the ligaments but become disrupted at the junctions (nodes) of the walls. Since conduction is highest along parallel graphene planes, the thermal conductivity is highest in the plane of the ligaments or struts, and much lower in the direction transverse to the plane of these ligaments. In a previous study [6] extensive mechanical and thermal property characterization of carbon foams from Kopper Inc. (L1) and POCO Graphite, Inc. (P1) were reported. These foams were graphitic ones that are expected to have high thermal conductivity. Figure 1 shows sections of light microscopy images of the three foams of four foams. The most important thing to notice is that the images were not at the same magnification. The large cells in the GrafTech foam have an average diameter of only ∼100 μm but have a bimodal distribution cells with many small closed-cells few micrometers in diameter. Changes in density in the GrafTech foam was accompanied by a change in the large cells’ diameter — larger diameter giving greater porosity and lower density without changing the smaller cells’ sizes that filled the solid phase between the larger bubbles. The POCO foam has a fairly uniform size cell distribution of a few hundred micrometers. The Koppers’ foams show larger cells yet with the left (“L” precursor) having a uniform size while the right-hand (“D” precursor) is a less uniform and lower porosity.

The relationship between thermal conductivity and matric suction of soils

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sen Lu
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Matric Suction ◽  
Dew Point ◽  
Pulse Technique ◽  
Highly Nonlinear ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Mean Square Errors ◽  
The Relationship

<p>The soil thermal conductivity (λ) and matric suction of soil water (h, the negative of matric potential) relationship has been widely used in land surface models for estimating soil temperature and heat flux following the McCumber and Pielke (1981, MP81) λ-h model. However, few datasets are available for evaluating the accuracy and feasibility of the MP81 λ-h model under various soil and moisture conditions. In this study, we developed a new λ-h model and compared its performance with that of the MP81 model using measurements on 18 soils with a wide range of textures, water contents and bulk densities. The heat pulse technique was used to measure λ, and the suction table, micro-tensiometers, pressure plate device, and the dew point potentiometer were applied to obtain soil water retention curves at the appropriate suction ranges. In the range of pF (the common logarithm of h in cm)≤3, the λ-h relationships were highly nonlinear and varied strongly with soil texture and bulk density. In the dry range (i.e., pF > 3), there existed a universal λ-h relationship for all soil textures and bulk densities, and an exponential function was established to describe the relationship. Independent evaluations using λ-h data on five intact soil samples showed that the new model produced accurate λ data from pF values with root mean square errors (RMSE) with the range of 0.03–0.18W m<sup>−1</sup> K<sup>−1</sup>. While, large errors (RMSEs within 0.17–0.36W m<sup>−1</sup> K<sup>−1</sup>) were observed with λ estimates from the MP81 model. </p>

Thermophysical Properties of Molybdenum Copper Multilayer Composites for Thermal Management Applications

2015 ◽  
Vol 825-826 ◽  
pp. 297-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Seiss ◽  
Tobias Mrotzek ◽  
Norbert Dreer ◽  
Wolfram Knabl
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Thermal Expansion ◽  
Thermal Management ◽  
Thermophysical Properties ◽  
Copper Content ◽  
Coefficient Of Thermal Expansion ◽  
Strong Anisotropy ◽  
Multilayer Composites ◽  
Properties Of Materials ◽  
Materials Used

The key properties of materials used for thermal management in electronics are thermal conductivity and the coefficient of thermal expansion. These properties can be tailored by stacking molybdenum and copper layers. Here, molybdenum copper multilayer composites with varying copper content, from 63 to 88 wt%, have been investigated. It is demonstrated, that thermal conductivity and coefficient of thermal expansion, can be adjusted by the copper content. Two flash methods for measuring the thermal conductivity are compared and the validity of the results is discussed since measurements on thin materials with strong anisotropy require a certain setup of the measurement device. For the studied compositions the thermal conductivity was determined to be between 220 to 270 W/m/K and the coefficient of thermal expansion between 6.1 to 11.5 ppm/K.

scholarly journals Calibration of non-ideal thermal conductivity sensors

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 151-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. I. Kömle ◽  
W. Macher ◽  
G. Kargl ◽  
M. S. Bentley
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Granular Material ◽  
Temperature Measurement ◽  
Temperature Response ◽  
Electrical Current ◽  
Diameter Ratio ◽  
Conductivity Sensor ◽  
Highly Nonlinear ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Length To Diameter Ratio

Abstract. A popular method for measuring the thermal conductivity of solid materials is the transient hot needle method. It allows the thermal conductivity of a solid or granular material to be evaluated simply by combining a temperature measurement with a well-defined electrical current flowing through a resistance wire enclosed in a long and thin needle. Standard laboratory sensors that are typically used in laboratory work consist of very thin steel needles with a large length-to-diameter ratio. This type of needle is convenient since it is mathematically easy to derive the thermal conductivity of a soft granular material from a simple temperature measurement. However, such a geometry often results in a mechanically weak sensor, which can bend or fail when inserted into a material that is harder than expected. For deploying such a sensor on a planetary surface, with often unknown soil properties, it is necessary to construct more rugged sensors. These requirements can lead to a design which differs substantially from the ideal geometry, and additional care must be taken in the calibration and data analysis. In this paper we present the performance of a prototype thermal conductivity sensor designed for planetary missions. The thermal conductivity of a suite of solid and granular materials was measured both by a standard needle sensor and by several customized sensors with non-ideal geometry. We thus obtained a calibration curve for the non-ideal sensors. The theory describing the temperature response of a sensor with such unfavorable length-to-diameter ratio is complicated and highly nonlinear. However, our measurements reveal that over a wide range of thermal conductivities there is an almost linear relationship between the result obtained by the standard sensor and the result derived from the customized, non-ideal sensors. This allows for the measurement of thermal conductivity values for harder soils, which are not easily accessible when using standard needle sensors.

scholarly journals Effect of variable thermal conductivity on entropy generation in a plate with internal energy generation

2018 ◽  
Vol 144 ◽  
pp. 04001
Author(s):  
T. K. Favas ◽  
G. Jilani
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Mathematical Model ◽  
Entropy Generation ◽  
Energy Generation ◽  
Variable Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Entropy Generation Rate ◽  
Fluid Temperature ◽  
Numerical Predictions ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Generation Parameter

The current numerical investigation aims at analyzing the effect of variable thermal conductivity on local and global entropy generation rates in an energy generating plate dissipating heat by conjugate conduction-forced convection heat transfer. In order to fulfill this objective, the physical model of the plate dissipating heat into surrounding coolant is transformed into a mathematical model governing the temperature field in the plate as well as flow and thermal fields in the fluid. The resulting mathematical model, being a set of coupled and non linear partial differential equations, is solved by adopting stream function-vorticity formulation and by employing Alternating direction implicit scheme. Keeping Prandtl number of the fluid, temperature of the free stream coolant and maximum permissible plate temperature as fixed, numerical predictions are obtained for wide range of values of aspect ratio, conduction-convection parameter, energy generation parameter and flow Reynolds number. It is concluded that unrealistic constant thermal conductivity assumption leads to underestimation of entropy generation rates. It is also found that an increase in energy generation parameter results in significant increase in underestimation of global entropy generation rate.

Fabrication and Properties of Copper/Carbon Composites for Thermal Management Applications

2008 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. 169-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Schubert ◽  
T. Weißgärber ◽  
Bernd Kieback
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Thermal Expansion ◽  
Thermal Management ◽  
Coefficient Of Thermal Expansion ◽  
Copper Matrix ◽  
Carbon Composites ◽  
Powder Mixing ◽  
Heat Spreader ◽  
Interfacial Behaviour ◽  
The Ideal

The ideal thermal management material working as heat sink and heat spreader should have a high thermal conductivity combined with a reduced and tailorable thermal expansion. To meet these market demands copper composites reinforced with diamond particles were fabricated by a powder metallurgical method (powder mixing with subsequent pressure assisted consolidation). In order to design the interfacial behaviour between copper and the reinforcement different alloying elements, chromium or boron, were added to the copper matrix. The produced composites exhibit a thermal conductivity up to 700 W/mK combined with a coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of 7-8 x 10-6/K. The copper composites with good interfacial bonding show only small decrease in thermal conductivity and a relatively stable CTE after the thermal cycling test.

scholarly journals Calibration of non-ideal thermal conductivity sensors

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 685-701
Author(s):  
N. I. Kömle ◽  
W. Macher ◽  
G. Kargl ◽  
M. S. Bentley
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Granular Material ◽  
Temperature Measurement ◽  
Temperature Response ◽  
Electrical Current ◽  
Diameter Ratio ◽  
Conductivity Sensor ◽  
Highly Nonlinear ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Length To Diameter Ratio

Abstract. A popular method for measuring the thermal conductivity of solid materials is the transient heated needle method. It allows to evaluate the thermal conductivity of a solid or granular material to be evaluated simply by combining a temperature measurement with a well-defined electrical current flowing through a resistance wire enclosed in a long and thin needle. Standard laboratory sensors that are typically used in laboratory work consist of very thin steel needles with a large length-to-diameter ratio. This type of needles is convenient since it is mathematically easy to derive the thermal conductivity of a soft granular material from a simple temperature measurement. However, such a geometry often results in a mechanically weak sensor, which can bend or fail when inserted into a material that is harder than expected. For deploying such a sensor on a planetary surface, with often unknown soil properties, it is necessary to construct more rugged sensors. These requirements can lead to a design which differs substantially from the ideal geometry, and additional care must be taken in the calibration and data analysis. In this paper we present the performance of a prototype thermal conductivity sensor designed for planetary missions. The thermal conductivity of a suite of solid and granular materials was measured both by a standard needle sensor and by several customized sensors with non-ideal geometry. We thus obtained a calibration curve for the non-ideal sensors. The theory describing the temperature response of a sensor with such unfavorable length-to-diameter ratio is complicated and highly nonlinear. However, our measurements reveal that over a wide range of thermal conductivities there is an almost linear relationship between the result obtained by the standard sensor and the result derived from the customized, non-ideal sensors. This allows to measure thermal conductivity values for harder soils, which are not easily accessible when using standard needle sensors.

scholarly journals A generalized model between thermal conductivity and matric suction of soils

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sen Lu
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Matric Suction ◽  
Dew Point ◽  
Soil Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Pulse Technique ◽  
Highly Nonlinear ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Mean Square Errors

<p>Soil thermal conductivity (λ) is an important physical property in land surface parameterization. The soil thermal conductivity (λ) and matric suction of soil water (h, the negative of matric potential) relationship has been widely used in land surface models for estimating soil temperature and heat flux following the McCumber and Pielke (1981, MP81) λ-h model. However, few datasets are available for evaluating the accuracy and feasibility of the MP81 λ-h model under various soil and moisture conditions. In this study, we developed a new λ-h model and compared its performance with that of the MP81 model using measurements on 18 soils with a wide range of textures, water contents and bulk densities. The heat pulse technique was used to measure λ, and the suction table, micro-tensiometers, pressure plate device, and the dew point potentiometer were applied to obtain soil water retention curves at the appropriate suction ranges. In the range of pF (the common logarithm of h in cm)≤3, the λ-h relationships were highly nonlinear and varied strongly with soil texture and bulk density. In the dry range (i.e., pF > 3), there existed a universal λ-h relationship for all soil textures and bulk densities, and an exponential function was established to describe the relationship. Independent evaluations using λ-h data on five intact soil samples showed that the new model produced accurate λ data from pF values with root mean square errors (RMSE) with the range of 0.03–0.18Wm−1 K−1. While, large errors (RMSEs within 0.17–0.36Wm−1 K−1) were observed with λ estimates from the MP81 model. </p>

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