Lightweight structure of a phase-change thermal controller based on lattice cells manufactured by SLM

Thermal controllers equipped with phase-change materials are widely used for maintaining the moderate temperatures of various electric devices used in spacecraft. Yet, the structures of amounts of thermal controllers add up to such a large value that restricts the employment of scientific devices due to the limit of rocket capacity. A lightweight structure of phase-change thermal controllers has been one of the main focuses of spacecraft design engineering. In this work, we design a lightweight phase-change thermal controller structure based on lattice cells. The structure is manufactured entirely with AlSi10Mg by direct metal laser melting. The dimensions of the structure are 230 mm × 170 mm × 15 mm, and the mass is 190 g, which is 60% lighter than most traditional structures (500–600 g) with the same dimensions. The 3D-printed structure can reduce the risk of leakage at soldering manufacture by a welding process. Whether the strength of the designed structure is sufficient is determined through mechanical analysis and experiments. Thermal test results show that the thermal capacity of the lattice-based thermal controller is increased by 50% compared to that of traditional controllers with the same volume. Keywords: Lattice structure, Lightweight, Selective laser melting (SLM), Spacecraft, Thermal controller