Advanced Refrigeration System for Non-Lethal Direct Energy Weapon System

The Non-Lethal Direct Energy Weapon (NLDEW) system, including ADT and RF Vehicle Stopper, has significant cooling requirements that can be addressed by mechanical refrigeration systems. These include cooling of various high powered ADT solid state array or RF vehicle stopper vacuum microwave power electronics during short period of"ON"time, as well as long duration of"standby"cooling. The proposed"Advanced Refrigeration System for Non-Lethal Direct Energy Weapon System"uses a design similar to flat plate heat exchanger to offer an innovative and reliable technology to reduce the weight and volume of NLDEW, while providing improved performance, reliability and maintainability. In the proposed project, Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc., supported by Villanova University, will develop an advanced vapor compression refrigeration system consisting of two key components: a load leveling heat exchanger with high thermal conductive Phase Change Material embedded with Graphite Nanofibers, and a highly integrated heat exchanger combining the evaporator, condenser and subcooler, to meet NLDEW cooling requirements. Phase I will demonstrate the feasibility of the concept through system trades, integration study and preliminary prototype testing. Phase II will design, build and test a full scale system, and demonstrate its ability to support NLDEW cooling requirements.