Abstract: A combination of efficient cooling techniques and intelligent control strategies provides a feasible solution to a satellite thermal control system. Focusing on the application scheme of the satellite thermal control system using micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) based micro-channel heat exchanger and micro-machined louver arrays, a dynamic response model for the controlled object is established by means of the lumped parameter method. Then an autonomous temperature control strategy is presented with the corresponding factor of the external orbital heat flux and the expert intelligent tuning proportion-integrd-differential(PID) controller. Simulation tests on a nano-satellite is performed as an instance and the results indicate that the tempera-ture control strategy can autonomously regulate several controlled variables according to the expectation of the system situations and variety tendency. This strategy can not only satisfy the demanding cooling requirements of the heat payload of internal electronics, but also has the distinguished potential of being applied to satellite autonomous flight. The temperature control strategy proposed may also be applied to other control occasions.

Key words: satellite, thermal control system, autonomy, MEMS, simulation