Cooling System for Laser Enclosure

The Navy is in need of a lightweight, reliable and efficient cooling system for a laser enclosure, with a specific focus on removing heat from a laser head. These types of systems are commonly employed on fixed wing and rotorcraft platforms. The first expected use of this technology will be on the H-60 platform as part of a lightweight electronics enclosure. Mentis Sciences, Inc. and the University of New Hampshire will establish the feasibility for the design of an extremely light weight thermal management system with a focus on removing heat from the systems laser head using thermoacoustic heat pipes and lightweighting other components of the system. In previous work Mentis and UNH teamed up for the development of an extremely lightweight, modular electronics enclosure. The enclosure is designed to be mounted from a BRU-14 or BRU-65, as found on many Navy applications, including the H-60 helicopter. The entire pod is cooled using a vapor-compression system to maintain an internal temperature of 655 degrees F The team will leverage this work to demonstrate the feasibility of the system through modeling as well as by manufacturing representative thermoacoustic heat pipes.