Thermal design and optimization of the stratospheric airship equipment module

Abstract Stratospheric airship is a special air vehicle which suspended in the stratosphere for a long period of time, it can be used for military and civil investigation,observation, communication and other purposes to the Earth’s surface. Because its altitude is about 20 km,its thermal environment is different from normal aircrafts or spacecrafts. On the one hand,the solar heat flux during daytime and the heat source of the equipment require a good heat dissipation design of the airship;on the other hand,the radiation and convective heat exchange at night require a good thermal insulation design of the airship. The key thermal design of the airship is how to balance daytime heat dissipation and nighttime insulation. In this paper,the convective and radiative heat transfer model of a certain stratospheric airship is established based on the CFD simulation method,and the daytime and nighttime operating modes are analyzed. Three thermal design optimization schemes including compartmentalization,cooling holes, and fans are proposed and evaluated by simulation methods. The calculation results show that the thermal design margin in different operating modes of the airship can be effectively improved by controlling the fan operating, which provides a reference for future development of corresponding models.