Vitrual laboratories for thermal vacuum tests of spacecraft
Development of the simulator computer models and experimental verification resulted in groundbreaking idea to create a virtual laboratory of thermal vacuum test for spacecrafts.
A virtual laboratory is a combination of interconnected computer models, including:
- CAD-model (Solid Works©)
- Optical model to calculate beam direction (Light tools, ZEMAX Optic Studio©)
- 3D model based on measurements of actual dimensions and position of the optical system elements (Spatial Analyzer©)
- Thermal and physical model of the facility and test subject (ANSYS©, Fluent©).
Virtual laboratory is a powerful instrument designed to simulate temperature fields of the test subject and TVAC test bench elements when exposed to light beams generated by the solar and heat flux simulators. All these contribute to the better planning of the thermal vacuum test in dedicated software and come up with recommendations relevant for real ones.
Synthesis of real tests and virtual laboratory result in much better understanding of thermal modes of a given subject, in comparison with pure testing.
