Design of Space Science Experiment Integrated Thermal System with Thermoelectric Cooler

As an important mission of space stations, space science experiment usually requires effective temperature control measures. Scientific experiment rack (ER) is a general design for space science experiment. In the ER, the entire surrounding is indirectly heated or cooled by the ambient air, local target element surface is heated or cooled by liquid. In this paper, an integrated thermal system (ITS) is designed for a specific ER, which has liquid assembly (LA), air assembly (AA), nitrogen assembly (NA), exhaust assembly (EA) to provide target surface cooling, entire surrounding cooling, nitrogen filling, gas exhausting for experiment. As the heat sink of LA and AA is the fluid of moderate temperature loop system (MTLS), the working range of LA and AA is depended on the temperature of MTLS. In order to enlarge the working range, additional modular liquid assembly (MLA), modular fan (MF), modular thermoelectric cooler assembly (MTECA) and modular heat exchanger assembly (MHXA) are designed. Thermoelectric cooler (TEC) is the core component for refrigeration attributed to the low complexity and high reliability, which can enlarge the temperature range of air and liquid. The thermal performance of TEC is analyzed, providing guides for the design of the scientific ER and other thermal systems.