Keywords: transient, thermal, ANSYS, MATLab, multi layer insulation, nano-satellite.

Nano-satellites are satellites that weigh between 1 and 10 Kgs. There is a current market shift towards the development of these miniature space systems because of the reduced costs and shorter development time. This is very beneficial for many smaller companies and universities as well, and has opened up new avenues in technology miniaturization.This non linear transient thermal analysis is of paramount importance amongst the various analyses done on any satellite. The treatment of this analysis, understanding concepts of wavelength dependent radiation and temperatures attained helps a thermal designer to enhance the performance of the system. The on-board components such as the GPS receiver and magnetorquer need to function for most of the time, so that the orbital stability of the satellite is not compromised at any point. If the temperatures do not permit the effective working of these components, it would be very hard to control the satellite i.e. for a major part of the time the satellite would be in shut down mode. To summarise: a MATLab code has been written that is extremely flexible and depending on the orbital parameters, the thermal simulation of any orbit can be obtained. The geometry is created on CATIA and then imported into ANSYS workbench. Initially the thermal environment around the aluminium frame and panels were considered. It was observed that the temperatures were at extreme ends and the upper limit was completely unacceptable. Then the solar panels and PCBs were added, without any thermal protection, and were analysed. It was realised that there was a requirement for a protection system because none of the interior components could withstand the environment around it. Also, it was very clear that only passive systems could be used considering power and cost constraints. With the addition of paints, the higher temperature range decreased. However, the lower temperature range dipped significantly enough as a result of high emissivity that it would not allow the functioning of the system as desired. When multi layer insulation (MLI) was added on the aluminium surface, the upper temperature and lower temperature were brought under control. From a research point of view, increasing the number of layers could have still got the temperature ranges closer. Thus, the scope of this paper will help any nano-satellite team to design their thermal subsystems with all stringent constraints taken into consideration.

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