2006/01/23 by Alberto Lobo, M. Nofrarías, Miquel Nofrarias +8 · 1 citation
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #Experimental Learning in Engineering #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #Superconducting Materials and Applications #Thermal Analysis in Power Transmission #astro-ph #gr-qc
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.gr-qc/0601096
11 pages, 3 figures, LaTeX2e (compile with pdflatex), sumbitted to CQG
arxiv created 2006/01/23 · openalex publication_date 2006/01/23 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
This paper reports on the methods and results of a theoretical analysis to design an insulator which must provide a thermally quiet environment to test on ground delicate temperature sensors and associated electronics. These will fly on board ESA's LISA PathFinder (LPF) mission as part of the thermal diagnostics subsystem of the LISA Test-flight Package (LTP). We evaluate the heat transfer function (in frequency domain) of a central body of good thermal conductivity surrounded by a layer of a very poorly conducting substrate. This is applied to assess the materials and dimensions necessary to meet temperature stability requirements in the metal core, where sensors will be implanted for test. The analysis is extended to evaluate the losses caused by heat leakage through connecting wires, linking the sensors with the electronics in a box outside the insulator. The results indicate that, in spite of the very demanding stability conditions, a sphere of outer diameter of the order one metre is sufficient.