N092-112 TITLE: Thermal Management System for Tactical Airborne High Power Laser Applications

TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Air Platform, Sensors, Weapons

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: PMA242, Direct and Time Sensitive Strike Programs

The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals, their country of origin, and what tasks each would accomplish in the statement of work in accordance with section 3.5.b.(7) of the solicitation.

OBJECTIVE: Develop, fabricate, and test a thermal management system that will be capable of cooling high power fiber lasers that will be deployed on tactical airborne platforms.

DESCRIPTION: The development and continued improvements of solid state high energy lasers (SSHEL) and their consideration for weapon applications will have many subsystems. The current wavelength of operation for SSHEL�s will be at 1.064 micron and will be a fiber laser array using a spectral beam combining (SBC) architecture. This fiber laser design has an electrical slope efficiency of 80%. The design also has a high efficiency laser pump diodes in development that will be > 65% electrical to optical efficient and operate at a temperature > 75 degrees C plus or minus 2 degrees C. The cooling required for a 25 kW laser output will be

35 kW or 46 horsepower. Scale-up of the Phase I and Phase II design to cooling laser systems of 300 kW output power is also of interest, with weight and volume being paramount for a successful design. Designs for liquid to air (radiator-type) and liquid to material are of interest, with the main focus being on a radiator based cooling design for an airborne 30 kW laser system with an operational temperature of 70 to 80 degrees C. This will include operation in the vibrational and shock of tactical platforms. Phase II overall system weight must not exceed 200 lbs and 12 cubic feet for a laboratory environment. The control system must be compatible with the current fiber laser architecture and have turn-on times to stable operation of 10 seconds or less. Final goals will be to reduce the weight and volume further under Phase III funding with goals of <100 lbs and 8 cubic feet for 115 VAC, 400 Hz operation on airborne platforms. Innovative designs that address performance as well as total cost of an operational SSHEL will receive major consideration.

PHASE I: Develop a conceptual design and prove via modeling feasibility of an appropriate high efficiency, thermal management system that meets Navy tactical airborne requirements, see description section above with emphasis on a 30 kW laser system with an overall efficiency of 35%. Include methodology and predicted prototype performance that will demonstrate the proposed concept at the specified heat load, weight and volume. Using ambient air or jet fuel (JP-5) as the cooling heat sink and water/glycol-based coolant as the liquid for component heat extraction should be considered.

PHASE II: Develop and fabricate detailed designs for the high efficiency, thermal management system beardboard suitable for proof of concept testing in a laboratory environment. Conduct prototype testing demonstrating performance at specified performance parameters and weight and volume.

PHASE III: Further reduce weight and volume to the requirements in the description section above . Fabricate and install thermal cooling in Navy facility for testing and evaluation.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL: Any application that has a requirement for a compact, high efficiency thermal management system, such as cooling for medical equipment and systems and ultrafast computer systems, will find potential for this technology.

REFERENCES:
1. "On-board Thermal Management of Waste Heat from a High-energy Device", Klatt, Nathan D., Air force Inst of Tech, 1 Mar 2008, http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA485398

2. "Thermal Management Research Studies. Volume 3. Heat Pipe in High-G Environment: Analysis, Design, and Testing", Ponnappan, Rengasamy, Universal Energy Systems Inc., 11 Sept 1996, http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA323828

KEYWORDS: High Energy Laser; Laser Weapons; Thermal Management System; Airborne Platforms; cooling

** TOPIC AUTHOR (TPOC) **

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