Achievements and status: ​

• TRL = 6 achieved for three different type of hoses (for different ranges of movement)​
• Pressure drop preliminary measured​
• Resistive torque characterized in various conditions (temperatures, pressure)​
• Tested in relevant mechanical environment (vibration): test permits to highlight the need of some system level design improvements (i.e. retaining system for the hoses during launch) ​

Benefits: ​

Microvibrations are a critical issue to more and more ESA missions and represent a significant technical challenge due to the stringent stability requirements of the payloads. The ongoing TDE activity ?High performance microvibration isolation system? is developing a very promising semi-active isolation technology based on electro-magnetic shunt damper, which can be used to isolate either noise sources or payloads.

Capillary Driven Loops, as Loop Heat Pipes are currently assembled and filled at the loop heat pipe manufacturer. LHPs are used to transport heat from dissipative units where sometimes these units could be in an area that is difficult to access. In these cases, the LHP tubing routing could be very complex which makes the task of inserting these two-phase devices very challenging. Furthermore, the radiators used by LHPs could be an access panel which would need to be opened and closed multiple times.

Composite materials are widely used in space applications as they offer very high specific stiffness and strength properties. Their nature and manufacturing processes offer the possibility of embedding sensors for measuring fundamental quantities that can be used to monitor the structure during its entire life-cycle. Fiber optical sensors, for instance, are a promising candidate for this application. Optical fibers are compatible with common resins; they can be embedded into composites during conventional manufacturing processes such as hand layup, filament winding, tape placement, etc.

Digital engineering tools have been used by space thermal analysts for decades, in particular the core modellers, and thermal/radiative kernels used in every space project. However, many parts of the thermal engineering and analysis process are still manual, data exchange is not standardised. Often these parts of the process lie between different main activities, or occur when pure ?thermal analysis? meets adjacent disciplines.

For space applications, the reliability of any component with respect to mechanical failure is a key requirement, especially in the case of ceramic components, where a single defect at a critical position may lead to crack initiation, growth and fracture of the component under mechanical or thermomechanical load. Instead of proof testing, an automatized and reliable method based on Computed Tomography (CT) non-destructive testing methods supported by a fast data evaluation would reduce ceramic components development risk and cost.

Background and justification: