Cheminformatic Selection of a Fluid for Use in a Single-Loop Thermal Control System

The heat transfer fluid (HTF) for a single-loop thermal control system is selected according to the temperature of heat rejection. Additionally, the application can impose many different restrictions on the HTF such as toxicity, materials compatibility, pour point, boiling point, or flammability. Mainstream Engineering used cheminformatic techniques to identify promising new heat transfer fluids with good materials compatibility, low toxicity, and optimized thermal performance. Data from chemicals with known properties were used to generate predictive models of fluid properties. The properties of interest to this study were thermal conductivity, viscosity, heat capacity, density, boiling point, flash point, and melting point. The models were optimized to best predict larger and more complex molecules which had a wide operating temperature range. The chemicals predicted to be the best performers were then further evaluated on toxicity and flammability bases. The potential HTFs were experimentally evaluated to validate the model predictions. Model development and property testing as part of a single-loop thermal control system design strategy will be presented.