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- All Subjects: Heat Transfer
- Creators: Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
This work summarizes the development of a dynamic measurement platform in a cryostat to measure sample temperature response to space-like conditions and the creation a MATLAB theoretical model to predict sample temperature responses in the platform itself. An interesting variable-emittance sample called a Fabry-Perot emitter was studied for its thermal homeostasis behavior using the two developments. Using the measurement platform, it was shown that there was no thermal homeostatic behavior demonstrated by the sample at steady state temperatures. Theoretical calculations show other ways to demonstrate the cooling homeostasis behavior through time-varying heat inputs. Factors within the system such as heat loss and thermal mass contributed to an inhibited sample performance in the platform. Future work will have to be conducted, not only to verify the findings of the initial experiments but also to improve the measurement platform and the theoretical model.
It was predicted that increasing the surface area roughness would increase the number of electrons present in the reduction oxidation reaction and decrease the activation resistance of the thermogalvanic system. Decreasing the activation resistance, a component of total internal resistance, would therefore increase the power output of the cell by a small magnitude. The results showed that changing the surface area roughness of the Copper electrodes evidently had no effect on the outputs of the cell system. Additionally, the Seebeck coefficient was also unaffected by the presence of increased surface area roughness.
The work presented in the following paper is part of a continuing effort to better understand the performance of thermogalvanic cells and their heat to electrical energy transfer properties.