Hybrid Direct Vapor Compression Thermal Management System for 300-kW Class Lasers

Mainstream is partnering with Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems (LM RMS, letter of support attached) to mature our existing direct vapor compression (DVC) system for laser weapons systems (LWS) thermal management systems (TMS).  Historically, LWS TMSs have been composed of a two-loop system; a pumped loop (either single- or two-phase) that collects heat from the LWS and a vapor compression loop that lifts the heat to reject to ambient.  The proposed DVC system eliminates the pumped loop entirely and directly cools the LWS with the vapor compression system.  Because the pumped loop is no longer necessary the single-loop DVC is at least 45% smaller, 53% lighter, and consumes 5% less peak input power than two-loop systems for a continuously operating LWS that needs tight temperature regulation.  In Phase I we demonstrated compliance with current 300-kW LWS thermal interface requirements with an alternant DVC configuration.  In Phase II, we will demonstrate this low SWaP approach operating with live laser loads at a meaningful scale.