Thermal Control of a LIDAR Laser System Using a Non-Conventional Ram Air Heat Exchanger 902019
This paper describes the analysis and performance testing of a uniquely designed external heat exchanger. The heat exchanger is attached externally to an aircraft and is used to cool a laser system within the fuselage. Estimates showed insufficient cooling capacity with a conventional staggered tube array in the limited space available. Thus, a non-conventional design was developed with larger tube and fin area exposed to the ram air to increase the heat transfer performance. The basic design consists of 28 circular finned aluminum tubes arranged in two parallel banks. Wind tunnel tests were performed to simulate air and liquid flight conditions for the non-conventional parallel bank arrangement and the conventional staggered tube arrangement. Performance comparisons of each of the two designs are presented. Test results are used in a computer model of the heat exchanger to predict the operating performance for the entire flight profile. These analyses predict significantly improved performance over the conventional design and show adequate thermal control margins.
Citation: Killough, B., Alexander, W., and Swofford, D., "Thermal Control of a LIDAR Laser System Using a Non-Conventional Ram Air Heat Exchanger," SAE Technical Paper 902019, 1990, https://doi.org/10.4271/902019. Download Citation
Author(s):
Brian D. Killough, William Alexander, Doyle P. Swofford
Affiliated:
NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA
Pages: 12
Event:
Aerospace Technology Conference and Exposition
ISSN:
0148-7191
e-ISSN:
2688-3627
Also in:
SAE Transactions - Journal of Aerospace-V99-1
Related Topics:
Heat exchangers
Wind tunnel tests
Computer simulation
Heat transfer
Performance tests
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