Miniaturized Thermoacoustic Cryocooler for Missile Defense Applications(1001-088)

The U.S. military envisions a range of cryocooler systems that can enable specific operational requirements. For missile defense applications, Triton is targeting cooling of infrared focal plane arrays (FPA) in optics which address surveillance, missile threat warning systems and missile seeker systems in general. Triton Systems Inc proposes to develop thermal management solutions for space electronics small-scale thermoacoustic cryocoolers for cooling sensors in the 10-100 K range, relevant to the needs of the MDA and manufacturers of optical equipment. Keeping in mind potential mission needs, we will design and develop mesoscale thermoacoustic cryocoolers that focus on miniaturization, weight savings, minimal design impact, and redundancy while maintaining efficiency and long lifetimes. We will build from miniaturization designs that we developed in previous thermoacoustics projects, designs that will both enable simple drive schemes and improve scalability due to the different fluid dynamics in confined spaces. Validation with software packages and experimental data will be performed.