ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 11 -- United States Patent no. 12,545,442, issued on Feb. 10, was assigned to Raytheon Co. (Arlington, Va.).
"Switchable thermal link" was invented by Kurt S. Ketola (El Segundo, Calif.), Thomas Gabor Kalman (San Pedro, Calif.), Tuan Le Duong (Santa Barbara, Calif.), Jesus Gerardo Vera (McKinney, Texas) and Scott Randall Sorbel (Manhattan Beach, Calif.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An apparatus for transmitting heat from a component side to a radiator side on a spacecraft includes a component side that contains a heater, an electrical component, an optional first conduction link, and a first portion of a switchable thermal link and a radiator side that includes a radiat...