In the preliminary design phase of the project, R245fa has been selected as the working fluid of the thermal control system, because of its non-flammability, low toxicity, and excellent thermal performance. Initial tests have been carried out with this fluid on several heat exchanger samples, and these tests show an excellent cooling performance. Many parts of the system will be manufactured with 3D metal printing of aluminum, and several tests have been carried out to select the best aluminum alloy and the optimal printing process parameters.
In the detail design phase of the project, several tests were carried out in order to reduce the risks of new technologies that are used in the TOPMOST system. These tests include corrosions tests on 3D printed aluminium samples and orbital welding tests. This resulted in a complete detail design for the two-phase system, including CAD drawings, a list of components, and FEM analyses.
During the construction phase of the project, 3 demonstrators have been built. Two of the demonstrators have be delivered to Thales Avionics Electrical Systems, and one demonstrator has been used for qualification tests.
In the test phase of the project, thermal, vibration and salt spray tests have been carried out. The demonstrators have an excellent thermal performance, and the tested system has passed the environmental tests.
The TOPMOST project has resulted in 3 peer reviewed conference papers. The TOPMOST work was presented at these three conferences and also at 1 workshop. Furthermore, the TOPMOST results were presented at three exhibitions.
