Mathematical model:

Torque Tube and Radiation Shield are divided into 4 regions as shown in the schematic for analysis.
Cylindrical coordinate system is employed in each of these regions with the following assumptions.

𝜕𝑇
 The model is axi-symmetric. The variation of temperature with θ is zero 𝜕𝜃
=0
 The thickness of the torque tube and radiation shield is small compared to the length so
variation of temperature along thickness is assumed to be zero. This means for regions 1, 3, 4
𝜕𝑇 𝜕𝑇
we have 𝜕𝑟 = 0. In Region-2 this assumption translates to 𝜕𝑧 = 0
With the following assumptions the model becomes one dimensional. The differential equations and
their corresponding boundary conditions for each region are described below.

Region -1
The general governing differential equation is
𝑑𝑇 𝑑𝑇 𝜎
(𝐾 ) = (2𝑇 4 − 𝑇𝐻4 − 𝑇𝐿4 )
𝑑𝑠 𝑑𝑠 𝑡𝑟𝑠
Boundary conditions
𝑑𝑇
| = 0 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑇| 𝐿 = 𝑇𝑖𝑛𝑡
𝑑𝑠 𝑠=0 𝑠=
2
Where 𝐿 is the length of radiation shield

Region – 2
The general governing differential equation is;
1 𝑑𝑇 𝑑𝑇 𝜎
((𝑅𝑟𝑠 − 𝑦)𝐾 ) = (2𝑇 4 − 𝑇𝐻4 − 𝑇𝐿4 )
(𝑅𝑟𝑠 − 𝑦) 𝑑𝑦 𝑑𝑦 𝑡𝑟𝑠
Boundary conditions
𝑑𝑇 𝑑𝑇
| = | 𝐿 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑇|𝑦=0 = 𝑇𝑖𝑛𝑡
𝑑𝑦 𝑦=0 𝑑𝑠 𝑠=
2
𝑅𝑟𝑠 is the radius of radiation shield and 𝑡𝑟𝑠 is the thickness of radiation shield.

Region- 3
The general governing differential equation is;
𝑑𝑇 𝑑𝑇
(𝐾𝐴 ) = 0
𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑥
Boundary conditions
𝑇|𝑥=0 = 𝑇𝐻 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑇|𝑥=𝑋̅ = 𝑇|𝑦=(𝑅𝑟𝑠 −𝑅𝑡𝑡 )

𝑅𝑟𝑠 is the radius of radiation shield and 𝑡𝑟𝑠 is the thickness of radiation shield. The radiative heat
transfer from torque tube surface is neglected in the above formulation.
Region – 4
The general governing differential equation is;
𝑑𝑇 𝑑𝑇
(𝐾𝐴 ) = 0
𝑑𝑢 𝑑𝑢
Boundary conditions
𝑇|𝑢=0 = 𝑇|𝑦=(𝑅𝑟𝑠 −𝑅𝑡𝑡 ) 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑇|𝑢=(𝐿𝑡𝑡 − ̅𝑋) = 𝑇𝐿

𝑅𝑟𝑠 is the radius of radiation shield and 𝑡𝑟𝑠 is the thickness of radiation shield. The radiative heat
transfer form torque tube surface is neglected in the above formulation.

For any given value of 𝑋̅ the temperature distribution across torque tube and radiation shield can be
solved as follows:
1. Guess the value of 𝑇𝑖𝑛𝑡
2. Solve for temperature distribution in all the four regions.
3. Check for heat flux continuity at anchor point
𝑑𝑇 𝑑𝑇 𝑑𝑇
− 𝐾𝑡𝑡 𝐴𝑡𝑡 | = − 𝐾𝑡𝑡 𝐴𝑡𝑡 | − 𝐾𝑟𝑠 𝐴𝑟𝑠 |
𝑑𝑢 𝑢=0 𝑑𝑥 𝑥=𝑋̅ 𝑑𝑦 𝑦=(𝑅 −𝑅 )
𝑟𝑠 𝑡𝑡
4. If the condition is not satisfied guess a new value of 𝑇𝑖𝑛𝑡 and repeat steps 2 & 3 until the check
condition in 3 is satisfied.
The subscripts ‘tt’ and ‘rs’ stand for torque tube and radiation shield respectively. 𝐴𝑟𝑠 is the total surface
area of radiation shield.

Simple Model:
For initial proof of concept that an optimum anchoring distance exists on the basis of minimizing the
total heat flux into cold rotor a simple analysis can be made under the following assumptions.

1. Constant thermal conductivity. The variation of thermal conductivity with temperature is not
considered.
2. Uniform temperature distribution across the radiation shield. (This means that the product of
thermal conductivity and cross sectional area of radiation shield is large)
Under the following assumptions the heat flux continuity at anchor point can be simplified to
𝑇 − 𝑇𝐿 𝑇ℎ − 𝑇
𝐾𝑡𝑡 𝐴𝑡𝑡 ( ) = 𝐾𝑡𝑡 𝐴𝑡𝑡 ( ) + 𝜎𝐴𝑟𝑠 (𝑇𝐻 4 − 𝑇 4 )
𝐿𝑡𝑡 − 𝑋 ̅ 𝑋̅
The total heat flux that is entering into the cold end of the rotor is given by
𝑇 − 𝑇𝐿
𝐾𝑡𝑡 𝐴𝑡𝑡 ( ) + 𝜎𝐴𝑟𝑠 (𝑇 4 − 𝑇𝐿 4 )
𝐿𝑡𝑡 − 𝑋̅
For a given value of 𝑋̅ the temperature of the anchor point can be determined by using heat flux
continuity at anchor point. The heat leak into the rotor can be determined from the above equation.

For the simple model the material of both torque tube and radiation shield is considered as stainless
steel. Other geometric parameters are considered as follows.
Description Value Unit
Length of radiation shield 1.5 m
Length of torque tube 0.55 m
Radius of radiation shield 0.35 m
Thickness of radiation shield 0.05 m
Radius of torque tube 0.275 m
Thickness of torque tube 0.05 m
Thermal conductivity of stainless steel 16 W/m-K

The value of heat leak into the rotor for different values of 𝑋̅ is shown in the figure below.

The above plot clearly shows that there exists an optimum distance 𝑋𝑜𝑝𝑡 at which the total heat leak
into the cold rotor is minimized. The location of this anchor point is closer to the hot end in the current
simple model.