Heat Pipe Radiator For M-109 A6 Howitzer

The M109 A6 Howitzer is a tracked combat vehicle that operates at high power and in very hazardous environments. During vehicle field use and engine maintenance operations, the current M109 radiator is vulnerable to core damage causing the loss of engine coolant. Loss of engine coolant immobilizes the vehicle because the excess engine heat cannot be removed leading to engine seizure. The proposed innovation would utilize heat pipes incororated into a radiator design that would be damage resistant, redundant, reliable, and maintainable. A heat pipe radiator can contain enough redundancy that even if a significant number of the heat pipes were damaged, the radiator would continue to operate. The loss of a heat pipe does not result in the loss of th eengine coolant or immobilization of the vehicle. As a result, the heat pipe radiator will improve the damage resistance, operation, and survivability of the M109 AG. The Phase I technical objective will be to design an innovative M109 A6 heat pipe radiator that is damage resistant, reliable, and maintainable. A representative segment of the heat pipe radiator will then be fabricated and tested under simulated service conditions. At the completion of the Phase I effort, a firm foundation will have been provided for the Phase II effort which involves fabrication and testing of a prototype heat pipe radiator installed in an M109 A6 Howitzer.