Stable Maneuverable Airborne Thermal Management for Directed Energy Systems

In response to the need for improved thermal management in airborne DE systems, i2C Solutions and New Mexico State University (NMSU) are developing a Stable Maneuverable AiRborne Thermal Management (SMART) two-phase cold plate designed specifically to interface with laser diode arrays resulting in an exceptionally effective, lightweight and simple thermal management subsystem. The SMART device incorporates capillary microstructure technologies being developed at i2C Solutions combined with ultra-omni-philic surface modifications developed at NMSU that enable passive regulation of flow rate in response to varying heat flux and promotes efficient flow boiling even under g-loads observed in tactical aircraft. During the proposed Phase II program, i2C Solutions will increase heat transfer coefficients up to 10X by incorporating NMSU’s ultraomniphilic surface treatments, which have been shown to drastically increase boiling efficiency, into prototype hardware and mature the hardware into laser diode bar / diode module prototypes.