PATENT FOR THIS PROJECT WAS SUCCESSFULLY PUBLISHED ON 12/06/2026 IN THE TITLE "ADDITIVELY MANUFACTURED ALUMINIUM DECK PLATES WITH INTEGRATED HEAT PIPE COOLING"

OUR TEAM

Dr.A.ARUN NEGEMIYA

MOHAMED RIZWAN M

NAGA PRASAD S

SHANMUGARAJ N

SIVA SAVEEN Y K

PROBLEM

Current avionics support structures in launch vehicles and satellites use aluminum sandwich deck plates with honeycomb cores, which are effective but costly and complex to manufacture. These designs require separate thermal management systems, increasing integration complexity and mass, and often lack efficient internal cooling, risking hot spots and reduced reliability. There is a need for multifunctional, additively manufactured sandwich deck plates with aluminum skin, lattice-type cores, and integrated cooling System to combine structural and thermal functions, reduce cost and complexity, and enable precise cooling for avionics in aerospace environments.

OUR SOLTION

This approach not only increases part count and integration complexity but also limits design flexibility and adds to overall mission mass. Advancements in additive manufacturing and composite engineering now enable novel approaches that address these limitations. This project proposes the design and fabrication of 3D-printable aluminum sandwich deck plates featuring 5 mm thick aluminum face sheets and a 30 mm truss-lattice core with integrated triangular heatpipe-like cooling channels. By embedding 16 triangular gyroid wick segments per 30×30 mm cell—each with 0.3 mm walls, 0.2 mm ligaments surrounding 2 mm diameter cylindrical vapor channels—the design delivers efficient two-phase thermal management directly within the structural core. The main part is additively manufactured via laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), evacuated and partially filled (30-60%) with working fluid (e.g., acetone), then hermetically sealed by joining a closing part with complementary wick projections using laser welding or brazing. This integration promises reduced post-processing, part count, assembly complexity, mass, and cost compared to conventional honeycomb decks plus external heat pipes, while enhancing reliability for avionics support in spacecraft and launch vehicle environments.

PARTS AND ASSEMBLY

MAIN PART DETAILS

CLOSING PART DETAILS

ASSEMBLY DETAILS

WORKING PRINCIPLE

The integrated triangular heatpipe segments operate via two-phase closed-loop thermosyphon principles, where avionics waste heat (100-200 W total, hotspots up to 0.4-0.8 W/cm²) conducts through the top 5 mm aluminum face sheet (evaporator) into the underlying gyroid lattice wick regions within each 30×30 mm cell. The working fluid (acetone, 30-60% channel fill) contained in the 0.2 mm thick gyroid ligaments rapidly evaporates when heated, generating vapor at ~40-80°C operating range; this saturated vapor enters the central 2 mm diameter cylindrical vapor channel oriented perpendicular to the face sheets, experiencing minimal viscous and gravitational pressure drops due to short axial lengths (~30 mm core thickness). Vapor flows axially toward cooler regions of the deck plate, driven by partial pressure gradients, while the surrounding triangular walls (0.3 mm thick) and continuous gyroid wick maintain structural separation between adjacent heatpipe segments, preventing cross-talk while providing primary bending/shear stiffness via the 3 mm truss framework. At the bottom face sheet interface (condenser), vapor contacts the cooler aluminum surface (~5-10°C ΔT from evaporator), condenses, and releases latent heat of vaporization (~520 kJ/kg for acetone), which conducts through the closing part's 5 mm face sheet to external radiators or spacecraft structure. The continuous gyroid wick network—formed by interlocking main part and closing part projections across the mid-plane interface—provides high capillary pumping pressure (ΔP_cap ~ 2σ/r_eff, where r_eff ~0.1 mm effective pore radius) via surface tension, returning condensate to evaporator zones against minor gravity head and viscous losses without mechanical pumps. Each of the 16 segments per cell independently transports 2-3 W, yielding dense array performance equivalent to discrete heat pipes but monolithically integrated; the self-contained design eliminates external thermal straps, cold plates, or phase change modules, reducing system mass by 30-50% while maintaining honeycomb-equivalent stiffness for avionics mounting.

APPLICATIONS

Spacecraft avionics decks: Mounting and cooling of guidance, navigation, control, and power electronics in satellites and launch vehicle upper stages, where 100–200 W must be dissipated in a compact bay.
Integrated electronics panels for small satellites: Structural–thermal panels for CubeSats and smallsats, replacing conventional aluminum honeycomb decks plus separate heat pipes or cold plates.
High‑power payload and sensor platforms: Support and thermal management for payloads such as SAR, optical instruments, and high‑power RF/communication modules that generate localized hotspots.
Upper‑stage and launch vehicle control bays: Avionics rings and equipment decks in upper stages, where reduced mass and integrated cooling directly improve payload capacity and reliability.
Reusable spacecraft and space station modules: Internal equipment panels that must survive repeated thermal cycling while maintaining both stiffness and efficient waste‑heat spreading.
Demonstrators for LPBF structural-thermal components: Benchmark part for validating metal additive manufacturing of complex lattice cores with internal two‑phase cooling, supporting broader adoption in aerospace structures.

CONCLUSION

This work demonstrates that a fully 3D‑printed aluminum sandwich deck plate with an integrated internal cooling system can simultaneously meet structural and thermal requirements for spacecraft avionics support within a compact, lightweight architecture. By combining two 5 mm aluminum face plates with a 30 mm truss‑lattice core subdivided into triangular compartments—each equipped with a gyroid wick and 2 mm vapor channel operating as a heatpipe segment—the design achieves high bending and shear stiffness while transporting 100–200 W of avionics heat with modest temperature gradients. Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) was used to fabricate the main part (top face plus open‑ended lattice core) and the closing part (bottom face plus complementary gyroid projections and channel terminations) as separate aluminum components, followed by powder removal, heat treatment, evacuation, partial fluid filling, precision assembly, and hermetic laser welding or brazing. This manufacturing route confirms that complex internal two‑phase networks can be realized without discrete tubes, plugs, or multi‑step honeycomb bonding processes, thereby reducing part count, interfaces, and integration complexity relative to conventional honeycomb decks with externally mounted heat pipes. Overall, the project confirms the feasibility and benefits of integrating two‑phase cooling directly into a load‑bearing LPBF aluminum sandwich structure, offering a promising alternative to traditional panel‑plus‑hardware approaches for future spacecraft and launch vehicle avionics decks. It also establishes a foundation for further work, including optimization of wick topology, alternative working fluids, larger panel scales, and extended environmental testing to qualify the concept for flight use.