The mechanical heat switch is a device that is used as a secondary stage of cooling an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerators (ADRs). The heat switch allows cooling of high sensitivity imaging sensors to allow for deep IR detection. A lab prototype was previously designed; however, the design lacked durability and used ferrous materials which interfere with the normal operation of the ADR.

The goal of this project is to iterate the design of the lab prototype to utilize non-ferrous materials and ensure that it maintains reliability at 2 Kelvin for at least 1000 cycles per customer requirements. The system must be designed to fail open in flight and must operate in a sounding rocket for at least ten minutes at altitudes in excess of 350 kilometers. The heat switch must be proven to meet these requirements via tests conducted in the laboratory.

Project Name

F.R.O.H.S.T. - Flight Ready On-board Heat Switch Technology

Project Number

P20129

Project Family

Heat Switch

Start Term

2191 - Fall Semester 2019

End Term

2195 - Spring Semester 2020

Faculty Guide

Marty Pepe

Primary Customer

Dr. Michael Zemcov

Sponsor (financial support)

Center for Detectors

Planning & Execution

Project Photos and Videos

Imagine RIT

Gate Reviews

Problem Definition

Systems Design

Preliminary Detailed Design

Detailed Design

Build & Test Prep

Subsystem Build & Test

Integrated System Build & Test

Customer Handoff & Final Project Documentation (Verification & Validation)

PRP

Customer Requirements

Engineering Requirements

Schedule

Risk Management

Use Cases

Benchmarking

Functional Decomposition

Morphological Chart

Pugh Concept Selection

BOM

Mechanical Drawing Package

Electrical Schematics

Software Diagrams

Facility Layout

Manuals

Mockups

Test Fixtures

Prototyping

Test Plans

Analysis Results

Simulations

Test Results

Design Review Documents

Technical Paper

Poster

Imagine RIT Exhibit