THERMAL CONTROL APPARATUS

摘要

A heat exchanging apparatus (20, 25, 27, 29) including a working fluid (26) and a structure for exchanging heat between the working fluid and an external environment. The structure includes at least one wall element (28) having an external surface (28B) exposed to the external environment and an internal surface (28A) exposed to the working fluid such that heat can be exchanged between the environment and the working fluid by conductive heat transfer through the wall element. The apparatus can further include a reservoir element (34) for providing a reservoir for the working fluid and a distribution element for distributing the working fluid along the wall element to provide isothermal heat exchange between the working fluid and the external environment. In one embodiment, the structure can be a double lumen tubular structure having an inner lumen which provides a reservoir for the working fluid, and a lumen where heat is exchanged between the working fluid and an external environment. The inner tube can be a porous structure with a plurality of pores that uniformly distribute the working fluid to the outerlumen.