Flexible Across-Gimbal Cryogenic Cooling Transport System

The proposed Advanced Cryogenic Loop Heat Pipe (A-CLHP) is an enabling technology for DoD, NASA, and commercial space missions requiring infrared sensor payloads on gimbaled platforms. Using a revolutionary design concept, the A-CLHP can be implementedwith flexible transport sections that allow the sensor to be cooled by a remotely mounted cryogenic mechanical cooler. No other existing passive heat transport technology is able to accommodate this requirement. The benefits of this technology'scapabilities are: reduced gimbal mass and volume for better pointing agility, reduced cooler induced jitter for better image stabilization, optimum cooler placement next to heat rejection surfaces, easier implementation of cryocooler redundancy, moreadaptable cryogenic system integration architecture, and lighter, more compact, lower power gimbaled spacecraft architectures. The Phase I effort will demonstrate the feasibility of the technology through development, design, build, and test of a prototypeA-CLHP. The proposed Phase II effort will further enhance the A-CLHP performance and function and produce a proto-flight unit that is ready for space flight testing.