Development of MEMS Microchannel Heat Sinks for Micro/Nano Spacecraft Thermal Control

Abstract

MEMS-based microchannel heat sinks are being investigated at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for use in micro/nano spacecraft thermal control. The current stage of development focuses on the integration of microchannel heat sinks into spacecraft pumped cooling loops. Two microchannel heat sinks, adapted from a Stanford University Microfluidics Laboratory design, were fabricated at JPL and tested for thermal and hydraulic performance in a single-phase pumped cooling loop. The first microchannel heat sink design was demonstrated to remove heat fluxes of up to 25 W/cm2 with a maximum device temperature of less than 80 °C. Both the original and redesigned heat sinks where shown to meet hydraulic performance criteria requiring less than 1 psi pressure drop with water as the working fluid. It was concluded that the design methodology developed for this project produces microchannel heat sink devices capable of high heat flux removal in future micro/nano spacecraft thermal control architecture.