Structural Design and Thermal Analysis of a UAV Electronic Payload

In response to the characteristics of a certain unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) electronic payload host, such as light weight, small volume, high heat consumption, dust and rain resistance, and suitability for multiple scenarios, a natural heat dissipation method based on the heat pipe cold plate is adopted in this paper. According to the specific positions of the heat-generating modules and chips, the layout of heat pipes and heat dissipation fins is rationally planned. Lightweight, compact, and portable dual-purpose electronic payload host structure and sealed case are designed, which can be used both for the UAV loading and the ground case loading. After the design is completed, thermal simulation analysis is conducted on the digital model, and the physical product is tested and verified. The results show that the maximum error between the measured temperature and the simulated temperature is within 5%, and the highest temperature of the chips is all lower than their respective allowable case temperatures. The overall performance of the product meets the design specifications, which fully verifies the rationality of the electronic payload structural design and thermal simulation analysis.