An Advanced Endothermic Fuel System for Thermal Management in Hypersonic Vehicles

Air breathing hypersonic vehicles generate much greater heat loads than traditional aircraft and therefore the fuel must provide additional cooling from endothermic chemical reactions on top of that normally supplied from sensible heating.  Logistics fuels can provide only a small amount of chemical endotherm from thermal cracking reactions, and the process also produces coke which can block fuel flow.  Unfortunately, with the projected increases in Mach and temperature that are anticipated in future missions, logistics fuels will not be able to meet the cooling needs of the next generation of hypersonic vehicles. In this project, Reaction Systems will demonstrate an advanced endothermic fuel technology that will provide the cooling capacity needed by evolving hypersonic vehicles.  The reaction that this fuel undergoes produces a much higher chemical endotherm at substantially lower temperatures compared to thermal cracking reactions, and perhaps most important it does not produce coke and therefore eliminates the potential to block the fuel flow.  In this project, Reaction Systems will partner with the Boeing Company who has stated that Reaction Systems’ endothermic fuel system represents enabling technology for the development of their hypersonic vehicle.