Thermal characterization of sintered regolith simulant for thermal energy storage
- Paper number
IAC-18,A3,2C,3,x43824
- Author
Mrs. Miranda Fateri, Germany, DLR (German Aerospace Center)
- Coauthor
Mr. Alexandre Meurisse, Germany, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR)
- Coauthor
Dr. Aidan Cowley, Germany, ESA
- Coauthor
Prof.Dr. Matthias Sperl, Germany, DLR (German Aerospace Center)
- Coauthor
Mr. Luca Celotti, Germany, Sonaca Space GmbH
- Coauthor
Mr. Marko Piskacev, Germany, Sonaca Space GmbH
- Year
2018
- Abstract
The Moon is currently on the main targets of future spaceflight activities. With an increasing focus being given to sustainable exploration of the surface, different technologies are under investigation in order to provide the required energy for short- and long-term missions using In-situ Resource Utilization (ISRU). In this study, an ESA funded project led by Sonaca Space GmbH (partners: BlueThink S.p.A., the German Aero-space Center DLR and OHB System AG as partners) is introduced with the objective of designing and analyzing a system, based on a technology capability of storing thermal energy for electricity production purposes. An innovative heat storage and electricity generation system is designed using regolith simulant as the heat storage medium. In this process, the stored heat is released after a defined time period for direct heating purposes. Furthermore, the direct released heat energy could be used as an input energy to run a heat engine for electricity generation. Following this idea, optimum manufacturing techniques and parameters are investigated in this study, in order to process the lunar regolith. Reviewing the available regolith simulants properties and conducting different sintering techniques are among the objectives of this project. Initially, lunar regolith simulant (JSC-2A) is sintered using conventional oven under ambi-ent and vacuum conditions. Samples for sintering in oven are prepared using regolith bulk simulant as well as simu-lant pressed at 255 MPa for 10 minutes. Similar experiments are performed with a mixture of JSC-2A + 20 wt.% ilmenite. Moreover, laser, solar and microwave sintering of JSC-2A are studied and samples are manufactured. Sin-tered regolith samples are characterized regarding their physical and thermal properties such as density, thermal diffusivity, thermal conductivity and heat capacitance. Thermal diffusivity is measured using Laser Flash Analysis (LFA) between 25 °C and 150 °C under vacuum. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) is used to analyze the heat capacity of the sintered samples in the temperature range of -100 °C and 150 °C under Argon gas atmosphere. Density measurements are conducted using envelope density method. Values of thermal diffusivity is extrapolated between 25 ̊C and -100 °C in order to calculate the thermal conductivity based on the obtained values from heat capacity, thermal diffusivity and density. The thermal conductivities of the manufactured samples are compared be-tween each other and the optimum processing technique and parameters are introduced for thermal storage application on the Moon.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-18,A3,2C,3,x43824.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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