Streamlined Inlet Guide and Heat Transfer Surface (SIGHTS)

Bascom Hunter proposes the development of streamlined inlet guide and heat transfer surfaces (SIGHTS) to meet the Navy’s objective of an aerodynamic and multifunctional heat exchanger for aircraft inlets. Bascom Hunter specializes in the design, development, and manufacture of compressors and fans for the aerospace and defense industry.  SIGHTS will be designed to withstand the harsh environment, high vibration loads, and foreign object ingestion requirements of a military aircraft. SIGHTS utilizes aerodynamic rings that promote flow uniformity and that serve as a passive liquid-to-air heat exchanger. The rings feature internal cooling passages to maximize the heat transfer rate per unit weight. SIGHTS offers design flexibility to tailor the pressure and temperature distortions it generates to minimize the resulting distortion pattern and its impact on downstream components. In the base period of performance, detailed aerodynamic and heat transfer design will be completed using a multidisciplinary design approach. North Carolina State University will perform the heat transfer design and will conduct bench tests to validate the heat transfer models. The option period will focus on finalizing the manufacturing approach, developing drawings, and sourcing long lead items.