EgyCubeSat_1 Thermal Design

M. Assem* and A. Zaki*

*National Authority for Remote sensing and space sciences
*maged3asem@hotmail.com,amal@narss.sci.eg

Abstract: Cubesat is a standardized platform for
small orbital experiments, which prescribes a
satellite with dimensions 10x10x10cm and mass
one kilogram. One of the important parts of the
cubesat design is the thermal analysis,where the
conditions of life for all subsystems inside the
CubeSat must be maintained in the sense that
electronics & batteries mustn't fail before the
satellite perform it’s mission. This requires the
temperature to be within certain limits. Thermal
analysis is done in order to compute the
temperature distribution at each subsystem inside
the cubesat ,after that the critical regions can be
determined and the decision for thermal control
either using passive or active method can be
taken precisely.
Keywords: Cubesat, Thermal, Heat sources,
Mission analysis, Critical temperatures.
aims to show the effect of changing sides
material on the conduction heat transfer.
The design process ends by the final design
phase, at which the heat transfer through all
subsystems is considered. Finite element method
is applied including all subsystems using
COMSOL Multiphysics.
2. Sources of Heat loads:
Cubesat receives heat flux by radiation from
different sources in space. Sources & values of
heat flux are:
 The Sun: The Sun – energy 1353 W/m2.
 The Earth: Infrared – energy 237 W/m2.
Albedo – 30% of direct solar
flux energy (406 W/m2 ).

1. Introduction

This paper discusses three phases of thermal

design of Egycubesat_1.Starting by the
conceptual design (mission analysis),
preliminary design & ends by final design.
Firstly the mission analysis of the satellite. In
this phase some calculations done to put first
estimates about the temperature of the satellite
according to heat loads applied on it. The target
is to calculate the minimum and maximum Figure 1. Sources of heat radiation affects
critical temperatures for the satellite as a whole, cubesat in space
so in this phase satellite is treated as a cube
orbiting in space and receiving heat loads,
neglecting the internal heat transfer between 3. Mechanisms of Heat Transfer:
subsystems.
After mission analysis a closer look is taken There are three mechanisms by which thermal
during the preliminary design, considering the energy is transported.
materials ,and the conduction heat transfer
through cubesat sides. Actually side panels of the 3.1 Conduction:
cubesat are the most important in this phase as In definition of heat transferred through
they are the external housing of the satellite and conduction, the following formula is used:
the most affected parts by heat flux received
either from the sun or the earth. Two . A.T
dimensional finite volume simulation performed Qc           (1)
L
on cubesat sides using MATLAB.The simulation

This work is supported from a project funded by EU with a grant No C1/S1/155 MED/2008/169-442
where,
λ thermal conductivity [W/m.K]
A cross section area [m2]
L length of the conduction path [m]
∆T difference temperatures between the two
bodies, T1 and T2
3.2 Convection:
In space convection can be neglected. Due
to, the surrounding temperature in space is 2.7
Kelvin,very close to absolute zero. Then there is
no transfer between hot and cold air as on the
Earth.
3.3 Radiation:
A particle of electromagnetic energy is a
photon, and heat transfer by radiation can be
viewed either in terms of electromagnetic waves
or in terms of photons.
For calculation of the amount of heat transferred
by radiation, Stefan-Boltzmann law:
Qrad   . . A.T 4        (2)
where,
ε emissivity
σ Stefan-Boltzmann constant equal with 5.67e-8
W/m2 K4
A surface area of object [m2]
T temperature [K]
4. Mission analysis:
On the mission analysis ,Equilibrium
temperature is calculated to put first estimates
about thermal conditions inside cubesat. Thermal
equilibrium is reached when the absorbed power
Qa is equal to emitted power by radiation Qe.
These values are given by the following equations:
Qa  S o . . Ain      (3)
Qe   . . Aout.Teq        (4)
4
So is solar irradiation (1353 W/m2 in case of
sunlight, 237 W/m2 , in case of eclipse)
α represents the absorbitivity of the material,
Ain is area illuminated by solar irradiation [m2]
ε emissivity of the material
σ Stefan-Boltzmann constant equal with 5.67e-8
W/m2 K4
This work is supported from a project funded by EU with a grant No C1/S1/155 MED/2008/169-442
Aout radiating area [m2]
Teq equilibrium temperature [K].
4.1 Equilibrium Temperature at Sunlight:
Solar irradiation is taken into account
without respect of Albedo and infrared heat from
the Earth.
A1. N  So
Teq  4 . .                (5)
A1 
5.   1. cam
where,
A1 is the area of one side [m2]
N is number of illuminated sides
εcam represents the emissivity of material on side
with camera.
ε' emmisivity with respect to coverage
α' absortbitivity with respect to coverage
4.2 Equilibrium Temperature at Eclipse:
The source of heat for this case is only infrared
radiation produced by the Earth by. Then the
general equation can be written as follows:
N cam  N cells
.( N cells . ' N cam. cam ).So
N cam  N cells
Teq  4
   (6)
(5. '1. cam ).
where
Ncam = 1 if the side with camera is illuminated
0 if the side with camera is not illuminated
Ncells is the number of sides with cells
illuminated
α the absorbtivity with respect of coverage,
ε emissivity with respect of coverage
αcam is the absorbtivity of side with camera
εcam is the emissivity of side with camera
So 237 [W/m2 ] the irradiation due to infrared
heat from the Earth.
σ Stephan-Boltzmann constant .
From the previous analysis of the equilibrium
temperature at different satellite positions, it can
be concluded that the worst case in hot conditions
is Tmax=324.86 K=51.86 oC the worst case in
cold conditions is Tmin=149.51 K=-123 oC.
The critical hot case occurs at sun light when three
sides are illuminated by the sun ,while the critical
cold case occurs at eclipse when camera side is
pointing to the earth.
5. Preliminary Design: properties, boundary conditions can be computed
by Stefan-Boltzmann law:
As cubesat sides are the most critical in
thermal analysis due to they act as external Srad   .T 4.                  (11)
shielding of the satellite, also they are directly Temperature can be computed as:
exposed to the sun and earth. The preliminary
S
design is focused on the analysis of cubesat T  4 rad                (12)
sides and thermal effects on different materials.  .
Structured grid is used with equally spaced dx where ,
and dy. Boundary conditions are calculated from Srad is the solar heat flux, equal with 1353 W/m2
radiation sources discussed before. Matlab code ε represents the emissivity.
is written to solve the conduction equation over σ is Stephan-Boltzmann constant
the cubesat sides based on the finite volume
technique considering the critical cases of
thermal loading.

5.1 Steady two dimensional Conduction

equation:
The governing scalar transport equation is
written as:
.J  S              (7)
where,
J is the diffusion flux vector
S is the source term
In Cartesian geometries, the gradient operator is
given by:
 
 i j          (8)
x y Figure 2. Structured Grid for CubeSat side

The diffusion flux vector for conduction:

J   KT                  (9)
Since in our problem there no source term exists
so the final conduction equation will take the
form:
( J .A)e  ( J .A)w  ( J .A)n  ( J .A)s  0      (10)
where e,w,n,s represent flux from neighbouring
cells east,west,north & south respectively.
5.2 Grid Generation:
The generated grid is structured two
dimensional grid generated by MATLAB. The
grid is equally spaced dx=dy=0.02 mm. The
domain descretized into 250000 cells.The grid is
shown in Figure 2.
5.3 Boundary Conditions:
Due it is not possible to establish temperature
distribution only from heat flux and material
5.4 Solution procedure:
 Define material to be used Carbon or
Aluminum 6061_T6.
 Generate the Grid (for 10 cm side).
 Assume initial conditions, in the discussed
case initial conditions T=100 K .
 Put boundary conditions for the domain
using equation (12) according to the
radiation transfer to the selected edge.
 Solve the internal domain using equation
(10).
 Compute new values of Tnew all over the
domain.
 Compute the error between T new & Tprevious.
 Repeat until the error converge to 1e-5.
5.5 Results:
The simulation applied for two different
materials aluminum & carbon.

This work is supported from a project funded by EU with a grant No C1/S1/155 MED/2008/169-442

Figure 3. Temperature contours over Aluminum side
Figure 4. Temperature contours over Carbon side
Figure 5. Comparison between horizontal centre line
temperature distribution
This work is supported from a project funded by EU with a grant No C1/S1/155 MED/2008/169-442
Figure 6. Comparison between vertical centre line
temperature distribution
6.Critical Design:
Critical design is the last design phase, during
this phase temperature range of every subsystem
inside the cubesat must be checked to be within
the operating range of each subsystem. If the
temperature is within the operating range then
the cubesat is considered to be accepted & if not
methods of thermal control must be applied to
subsystems out of temperature range. The
operating temperature range for each subsystem
is listed in Table.1.
Table 1: Operating temperature ranges for
EgyCubesat_1 subsystems
Subsystems Temperature Range [°C]
Structures -45 to 65
Battery 0 to 40
Electronics -40 to +85
Camera -10 to +70
6.1 Finite element analysis:
Finite element methods used widely in solving
heat transfer problems. In detailed design we
must compute the temperature for each
subsystem inside the cubesat. COMSOL
Multiphysics finite element program used to
solve this problem. From mission analysis the
most critical cold and hot cases were defined so
the simulation will be done two times for hot and
cold critical cases.
 Mesh charecteristics:
Tetrahedral elements : 3856862
Triangular elements : 868644
Edge elements : 38836
Vertex elements : 751
Degrees of freedom: About 5millions & 600
thousands degrees of freedom (5624327)
Figure 7. Egycubesat_1 Mesh
6.1.1 Critical Hot case:
Maximum thermal load the satellite will
expose to in space is when three sides are
illuminated by the sun and one side exposed to
the earth, boundary conditions of the problem
were imposed depending on this criteria.
Figure 8. Temperature distribution in critical hot case
This work is supported from a project funded by EU with a grant No C1/S1/155 MED/2008/169-442
6.1.1.1 Subsystems temperatures :
 Payload subsystem:
payload subsystem includes the camera, camera
bracket and the payload electronics.Figure.9
shows the temperature distribution for payload
subsystem, and line graphs for different sections
of this subsystem. The maximum operating
temperature for the camera as listed in table.1 is
70°C,computed results for temperature
distribution is under this limit so the camera is
considered to be accepted in critical hot case.
The payload electronics is not included in this
part and it will be tested with the electronics as it
is belong to their limits of operation.
Figure 9. Temperature distribution for payload
subsystem
 Electronic components & PCB's:
The temperature limits of operation for the
electronics is bounded from -40°C to 85°C.Figure
10 shows the temperature distribution for power
electronics ,ADCS(attitude determination and
control) and communication subsystem. it was
found from the simulation that the payload
electronics satisfy the required limits. On the
contrary the communication board & ADCS board
temperature exceed the required limit of operation
that is why they must be thermally controlled.
 6.1.2 Critical Cold case:
Another critical condition is happened when
the satellite is in eclipse. From mission analysis it
can be detected that the satellite temperature will
be minimum in eclipse when camera side pointing
towards the earth. Boundary conditions imposed is
that the satellite only receives radiation flux by
infrared radiation comes from earth.

Figure 10. Temperature distribution for electronic

components

 Power subsystem:
The power batteries are shielded with metal to
prevent them from rapid temperature changes, as
shown in Figure 11 the temperature changes
along the batteries are almost constant (20°C )
which is within the limits of operation of the
batteries(0°C to 40°C).The temperature
distribution for power board exceeds the required
limits of electronics.
Figure 12. Temperature distribution in critical cold
case
The temperature results shows that at critical cold
case the temperature range for all subsystems
ranged from -19°C to 20°C .Comparing these
results with temperature ranges of operation in
Table.1,it can be observed that all subsystems are
within the required limits except batteries &
camera at which their temperatures may fall below
the lower limit of operation. Therefore, the
analysis is limited to these two subsystems in
order to decide if they are at risk or not

Figure 13. Temperature distribution for Batteries &

Figure 11. Temperature distribution for power camera
subsystem

This work is supported from a project funded by EU with a grant No C1/S1/155 MED/2008/169-442
Figure 13 shows that the temperature distribution
for batteries & camera are about 20°C which
exceeds their lower operation value. Therefore,
these parts considered as safe in the critical cold
case.
7. Thermal Control:
Temperatures of some components are out of
operation range, these components must be
thermally controlled according to different
methods of thermal control.
There are two methods of thermal control:
7.1 Active:
The active thermal control may requires use
of heaters or coolers, it is mostly used in the
situations that requires very close tolerance
temperature control. Active methods are not
preferred for cubesat missions due to volume &
power constraints.
7.2 Passive:
Passive thermal control techniques requires
use of coatings & insulation blankets (MLI),
these methods are the most preferred in cubesat
thermal control.
. mission.
7.2.1 Heat insulation: to prevent heat from
solar panels from propagating into the
Spacecraft. Using material like MLI
(Multilayer insulation) .This material is
light and thin, so it is preferred for small
Satellites.
Figure 14. MLI insulation material
7.2.2 Changing (α/ε) factor: Changing color or
surface properties of the material changes it’s
absorption & emission characteristics. This
methods considered as easy & reliable.
This work is supported from a project funded by EU with a grant No C1/S1/155 MED/2008/169-442
8. Conclusion:
In the previous, different phases for thermal
design of EgyCubeSat_1 were discussed.
Firstly, mission analysis calculations was done to
estimate the temperature ranges inside cubesat.In
this phase of design the critical hot and cold
temperatures were calculated & the positions of
the satellite at which critical cases happens were
determined. In the preliminary design, the analysis
was limited to the cubesat outer panels as they are
the source of heat transfer to the internal
subsystems either by conduction or radiation.
Finally in the detailed thermal analysis a closer
look was taken to each subsystem inside the
cubesat at the estimated critical cases from
mission analysis. This analysis was done using
COMSOL Multiphysics. Comparing the computed
temperature distribution with the range of
operation for each subsystem ,it can be detected
that the components out of range are at risk.Then
it was decided to apply thermal control to those
components. Concerning the optimum method for
thermal control, passive methods are preferred
than active methods due to volume and power
constraints. Two methods for passive control were
suggested to be the most compatible with the
9. References
1. Artur Scholz, Marco Hammer, Jens
Giesselmann, Oscar Moreno, Georg Kinzy, Robert
Klotz, “COMPASS-1 Picosatellite Project”,
Aachen University of Applied Sciences, Germany,
(2004)
2. Flemming Hansen, “Danish Small Satellite
Programme”, Danish Space Research Institute
3. “EMC and thermal analysis”, Institute of
Energy Technology, Aalborg University, Danish
4. Diana Arce, Benjamin Jutzeler and Guillaume
Röthlisberger, “Swiss cube”, EPFL-Space Center,
Switzerland, (2006)