Two Phase Cooling Technologies for Electric Weapon Platforms

"Effective two-phase cooling techniques with high heat transfer rates and low surface superheat are essential for the thermal management of high-power electric weapons. The thermal management system must be designed and built so that it can operate on DODplatforms under realistic operating environments. It is envisioned that to meet all the requirements, the thermal management system must use a high-flux two-phase heat acquisition technique such as spray cooling, a refrigeration cycle, and possibly athermal energy storage subsystem. RTI proposes an approach that integrates spray cooling into a compact two-phase heat transport cycle. Conceptual analysis, design, and subscale experiments are proposed to demonstrate the robustness of the integratedheat acquisition/transport/rejection system that can operate in harsh environments such as extreme temperatures and transient g forces. In addition, the thermal management system should not introduce unacceptable levels of shock and vibration to theelectric weapons. Thus the use of large coolant flow rates should be avoided. The proposed effort also includes a system analysis to demonstrate system level payoffs. Thermal management is one of the most important technical issues facing high-powersolid-state lasers. The proposed efforts will enable diode-pumped solid-state lasers to be operated at increased power density, leading to more lethal electric weapons that can be housed in many DO