Improvement of the Satellite Thermal Control Subsystem Performance with Smart Radiator

In order to reduce the weight and increase the efficiency of thermal control subsystem of the small satellites, employing efficient equipment is necessary. Smart radiator is one of the useful equipment in this field. Emission coefficient of these radiators change as a function of temperature or voltage. These variations cause heaters consumption power to be decreased in satellites. In this study, smart radiator is simulated and used in a thermal control subsystem of a small satellite. The result is compared to a conventional radiator. Non-linear proportional-integral method is employed to control the temperature. In this method, each part temperature is considered as state variable and heaters are considered as operators. Simulation results show that non-linear proportional-integral control method has better performance in decreasing the overshoot and settling time in comparison with the linear proportional-integral control method. Besides, smart radiators cause heaters consumption power to be declined. In a way that for the battery about 7% and for the top plate about 27% of the heater power consumption has been reduced.