Thermal control units
Orion-ESM TCU
Thermal heaters units
Orion-ESM TCU
The Airbus Crisa’s Thermal Control Unit (TCU) is the only Spanish contribution to the Orion vehicle. The TCUs are the electronic controllers for the Orion’s Thermal Control System (TCS), which is one of the key services provided by the European Service Module (ESM). There are two TCUs per vehicle, working in hot redundancy. The TCU plays a fundamental role in providing the astronauts with a conformable environment and, also, in granting the vital supply of air and water.
Features
Main functions:
- Delivering power to the ESM’s heaters
- Conditioning and acquiring the thermistors used to control the heaters (thermostat)
- Generating the commands to drive the effectors of the consumables’ delivery systems (water, gases)
- Conditioning and acquiring the sensors used to monitor the subsystems in which the effectors are included
Key parameters:
- 1.4 kW heating capability
- Mass: 11 kg
- Acquisition of 230 temperatures and >50 of other magnitudes
- 1 Gbps deterministic Ethernet (Time-Triggered Ethernet)
Thermal heaters units
Thermal control units are used to maintain the temperature in all the spacecraft’s subsystems within a comfortable range for the different equipment. Depending on the application Airbus Crisa can offer units including the temperature’s control algorithms. The most usual features of this family of products are the acquisition of the temperatures provided by the corresponding sensors and the control of the power transmitted to the heaters.
An example of this type of products is the Thermal Heaters Unit (THU) that Airbus Crisa has developed for the Eurostar-3000’s telecommunications platform.
Features
Main functions (E3000 THU):
- Control of up to 48 heaters, delivering up to 2,500 W, with a highly efficient power management.
- Automatic temperature control, embedded in a chip, making the design powerful, light and compact.
- Thermal control based on the temperatures measured in up to 60 points of the satellite.
- Monitored and controlled through a simple serial bus interface.
Key parameters (E3000 THU):
- Main power interface with the primary power bus: 100 V
- Maximum delivered power: 2,5 kW
- Heaters control interfaces: 48 heaters, of 50 W and 150 W
- Mass: <3.3 kg