Mechanically Pumped Loop as Heatsink Solution for Advanced Onboard Data Processors

Advanced onboard processing comes with thermal challenges. This paper presents a solution to efficiently transport the dissipated power of a processor to a radiator. It is an active thermal control system that is capable of providing higher heat transport than the most efficient passive technologies -like heat pipes-, while keeping the added complexity low. The Mini-MPL system is a Mechanically Pumped Loop (MPL) solution intended for SmallSats that allows scalability in heat transport capability from 10 to 200 W and intended for a satellite quality class from CubeSat to MiniSat.