[Space] Heating

Jonathan Moore moore at eds.org
Fri Feb 12 05:29:54 UTC 2010


On Thu, Feb 11, 2010 at 9:04 PM, Christie Dudley <longobord at gmail.com> wrote:
> Nichrome seems to make sense if we were going to go with electric heat,
> which is probably a good idea for keeping the camera lens defogged/frost
> free.  I wouldn't want to use it for much else, and also probably focusing
> on trying to get thermally insulative materials whenever possible.  (Which
> means aluminum is right out.)

Well If insulation is enough but for longer flights we might need
something more.

> What would the purpose of the 555 chip be, though?  I don't think the
> nichrome would work with PWM very well, although I might be mistaken.  Then
> you'd have to have a circuit to drive the 555 and...

Yes I was thinking PWM, I see no reason why that would not work. 555
circuits are super simple.

> I understand a thermistor, if well-positioned, could be instrumental in
> controlling the current, but if you have a well-designed circuit to limit
> current flow, wouldn't the thermistor be all you need?  What would the
> circuit you have in mind look like?
> Possibly using it in a wheatstone bridge or some other tuned simple circuit
> could be employed to good effect to run the nichrome, don't you think?

I don't really know. The thing about PWM is you could have it
basically 100% if you did not need the heat.

-Jonathan



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