Radar Performance Improvements with Nanotube Enhanced Spray Cooling

Mainstream has already demonstrated that active cooling systems can be used to increase the output power and the power added efficiency of gallium arsenide (GaAs), high power amplifier (HPA), monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICs) by 36% and 14%, respectively. Now, Mainstream has developed a new and highly innovative technology that will not only improve the performance, increase the reliability, and extend the life of ballistic missile radar systems but also reduce the size, weight, and power consumption of the active thermal management system. An innovative surface enhancement technology has been demonstrated that promotes nucleation and surface wetting in nucleate pool boiling. Because the nucleate boiling mechanism is also present in spray cooling, the potential to increase the two-phase heat transfer coefficient by 50% and decrease thermal management system power consumption by 18% exists. In Phase I, Mainstream will experimentally demonstrate the improved spray cooling technique on surface enhanced heaters to measure thermal improvements and on a surface enhanced GaAs HPA MMIC to measure RF improvements. In Phase II, the improved spray cooling technology will be applied to a radar system at the T/R module-level.