Thermal Management System Toolkit for Naval Warfare Applications

CU Aerospace (CUA), teamed with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), proposes to research, develop, and demonstrate thermal management simulation tools for next-generation two-phase cooling systems designed for transient high heat-flux naval applications. The software developed in this program can be used to evaluate advanced thermal management designs for critical emerging naval electronics applications (e.g. radar, railguns, and directed-energy). The improved heat transfer, increased power density, and reduced packaging size achievable with two-phase designs are advantageous when compared to single-phase cooling (e.g. water flow). However, active control features are required to address temperature variation, thermal lag, flow instabilities, and critical heat flux not found in current state-of-the-art single-phase systems. Addressing this, the proposed program introduces innovative tools for simulating two-phase systems which can serve as an industry standard for evaluating and optimizing naval thermal management designs. Phase I efforts will focus on component model development and preliminary experimental validation, serving as a basis for advanced multiple-cold-plate architecture pursued in Phase II. The toolset produced in this program will have major implications for the future designs of two-phase thermal management systems in warships, offering a comprehensive approach for reducing size, weight, and power consumption, while improving thermal load handling.