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Laser weapon systems

Speaker::Sean Ross

May 31st, 2018

ITherm 2018

100kW optical : get it to exit the aircraft in a particular way

Laser source - Controller - thermal management - power management

Main challenges:

Size/weight: laser system vs the thermal management system

Operating temp- Delta T requirements - T stability

Transient behavior-planned and unplanned transients

mechanical transients - on/off - get it to stop and start

insufficient heat sink: heat sink on the aircraft is the fuel

Requirements flow and generation- givers and takers - conversation

Main solutions:

increase operating temperature of laser diode

alter architecture for greater Delta

Fuel to photons:

1% system efficiency of system

Single phase

percent of size,weight,power in integration

engine at 250C - heat sink at 100

not enough convective cooling and/or air

Raising diode operating temperature

so that heat sink can be higher too which is convenient

Passive temperature stability

reduces control requirements

maintaining a certain ∆T

or cooling a certain existing ∆T

thermal architecture to have higher ∆T

Increase Delta T

mass flow rate - cooling rate

150kW <-> gallons per time to maintain

Solution:

Binning diodes

altering thermal architecture

thermally in series, same wavelength

temp to diode wavelength relation exists when manufactured

Latent heat involvement

boiling heat transfer

operating time scales of the two-phase solutions

transient types:

planned

time interval known and rates of ramps known

gentle ramps

unplanned

dynamic predictive avoidance

turn currents to diodes off to shunt the thermal transients

thermal transient:

affects bandwidth - temp excursion increases bandwidth- quality of beam

pump and valves can't match laser transients

transient mitigation:

System Engineering: upstream requirement management

Technology Readiness level:

is the tech mature enough for the overall system

Integration readiness level:

Causality analysis:

which sub-system enables what

what's the most causal

Manufacturing readiness level

Equally optimize all 3 readiness levels through iteration

be in pace for all the requirements

Evaporator: how close to the diode- transition from single to two-phase modes and the resulting system transients

Can one add heat somewhere to remove heat from somewhere else?

higher pressure and lower pressure stages in flow delivery - pressure recovery upon a certain process

Mixing valves

how to close loop in the thermal flow circuit

where to dump or does it require it

Duty cycles:

fuel-to-application,

application need and

equipment performance delivery level

Laser weapon systems