Efficient Thermal Energy Storage (TES) for Mega-Joule Class Weapon Systems

High capacity Thermal Energy Storage (TES) systems that can rapidly absorb peak waste heat using phase change, liquid to vapor, dissipating it gradually during normal operation, are the most ideal and most compact Thermal Management (TM) systems possible for advanced weapon systems. such as. These systems e.g. high power laser diode arrays and microwaves, are typically powered cyclically and intermittently with peak requirement reaching upwards to 1000 kJ/s or 1000 kW per system; with substantially lower average thermal dissipation requirement during normal operation. Water and ammonia offer highest latent heat of vaporization of all liquid candidates; as well as providing high thermal storage density. Furthermore, their near isothermal characteristics during the phase-change and re-constitution processes are perfectly compatible with advanced micro-electronic systems that need to operate within a very narrow temperature range in order to achieve the optimal performance. Two different heat thermal energy storage (TES) approaches are proposed for evaluation using these fluids.. A successful demonstration of the proposed technology will lead to full scale development and demonstration for a real system in Phase III.