Passively-Deployed Radiator Fin CubeSat Prototype

I had the pleasure of being hired by the BYU Flux Lab to design and build a CubeSat prototype which could passively deploy radiator fins for heat management. Their idea was to use coiled bimetallic strips to deploy fins which were thermally coupled with the CubeSat's aluminum body. I designed the prototype using Solidworks, and fabricated it using a combination of manual and CNC machining.

The animation above is a time-lapse video of the prototype reacting to a heat gun aimed straight at it. As the body of the CubeSat prototype warms up, heat conducts through the pin joints to the fins and bimetallic coils, which uncoil in response to the increased temperature, thereby deploying the fins.

My part in the project was to design and build a manufacturable, functional prototype as a proof of concept for testing. See Internally Stowed, Radially Deployed Radiator Panels for Passive CubeSat Thermal Control by Cannon et al. for more details.