Paper 13100-106
Paper 13100-106
Technology readiness assessment of graphene thermal straps for the WFI instrument
21 June 2024 • 09:15 - 09:30 Japan Standard Time | Room G214, North - 2F
Abstract
The Camera Head of the Wide Field Imager (WFI), which is to fly on the X-ray telescope NewAthena, is a compact sub-system requiring the integration of three separate temperature regions. One will be the environment temperature of the instruments support structure. The other two temperature environments are governed by the requirements of the detector front-end electronics and the sensor itself. Due to the limited space available and high heat fluxes that the system needs to remove at temperatures as low as 160 K, graphene thermal straps are used. Although already in use in some space applications, space qualified graphene thermal straps are not available on the market, therefore a qualification program, specific for the environmental conditions and requirements of the WFI system, has been carried out. The thermal straps are tested for their thermal performance, structural stability and particle shedding, thermally cycled and outgassed.
Presenter
Jan Philipp Moeller
Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik (Germany)
Jan is the structural engineer for the Wide Field Imager (WFI) at the Max-Planck-institute for extraterrestrial physics (MPE). He took up his position after graduating from the university of applied sciences in Aachen in September of 2022 in the field of aerospace engineering. During his bachelor thesis he dove deep in to the theory of linear thermal conductor calculation and thermal simulation. For his master thesis Jan went into the topic of structural design and analysis of rocket motor static fire infrastructure. At the MPE Jan is now responsible of the structural analyses of the WFI system, predicting and preparing structural tests as well as thermal tests. In the course of his work he took up the task of assessing the technology readiness of the graphene thermal straps that were chosen for the WFI project.