Reliable Capillary Pump

Future spacecraft will require reliable, passive thermal control systems. Capillary pumped loops (CPLs) are currently limited by the performance of conventional capillary evaporators because their heat transport capacity and their heat flux capability are low. We propose to develop a reliable CPL with higher flow and pumping head capacity than conventional CPLs, thus increasing the heat transport capacity of the system and the intensity of the heat flux that can be absorbed. Benefits are a passive, lightweight, low cost, and reliable thermal control system. In Phase I we will prove the feasibility of the reliable capillary pump by (1) proof-of-concept experiments that demonstrate operation of the key CPL component, (2) fabrication experiments that demonstrate the feasibility of economically producing the capillary pump, (3) conceptual design of a CPL, and (4) analysis of CPL performance to quantify the expected benefits.