Revolutionizing Satellite Cooling with Edge-Welded Metal Bellows Technology

The Challenge

The customer needed a coolant reservoir capable of accommodating the volume fluctuations inherent in the satellite’s system, while maintaining positive pressure on its pump as the system underwent heating and cooling cycles. The reservoir had to be lightweight, to reduce fuel costs, and hold the highest standards of reliability, to ensure performance over a 15-year mission with limitations of maintenance for satellites in orbit.

Our Solution

Our edge-welded metal bellows solution included a lightweight design, with an all-metal construction. This design ensured that the reservoir would maintain a stable pressure, optimizing the system’s cooling technology against all heat extremes within outer space. The reservoir also included an integrated sensor which allows for precise monitoring of fluid levels, accurately transcribing performance during the lengthy operation.

Key Features of our Coolant Reservoir

• Weight-Optimized: Ability to be manufactured from a variety of high strength alloys, allowing for a lightweight design that minimizes fuel costs.
• All-Metal Design: Contains robust, all-metal construction that utilizes edge-welded bellows with zero elastomeric components— ensuring leak-tight, maintenance-free reliability over the life of the mission.
• Stable System Pressure: Optimizes the cooling performance of the system by maintaining a stable system pressure over a wide temperature range, due to the custom engineered design.
• Integrated Sensor for Fluid Level monitoring: Allows the customer to precisely monitor fluid levels to ensure reliable performance during operation.

The Result

Senior Metal Bellows’ custom solution successfully solved the customer’s challenge of cooling the satellite’s electronic payload and alleviated the severe effects of direct exposure to sunlight and radiation. The Solutions Engineering team at Senior Metal Bellows proactively collaborated with the customer to design a weight-optimized coolant reservoir. The team provided an innovative solution for a key component of the satellite’s liquid coolant system to ensure efficient and reliable cooling of the electronic payload in the testing environment of space.