Comparison of Heat Exchanger and Thermal Energy Storage Designs for Aircraft Thermal Management Systems

Abstract

Thermal management is evolving as a major challenge in the design of current and future more and all electric aircraft (M/AEA). These aircraft have ever increasing numbers of onboard heat sources, higher heat loads from integration of advanced intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) sensors and directed energy weapons, limited and even decreasing numbers of heat sinks, the use of composite materials, etc. The associated challenges have pushed the conventional thermal management systems and their components to the limit. More efficient methods of thermal management must be implemented to ensure that the M/AEA aircraft do not overheat and prematurely abort their missions. Crucial to this effort is the need to consider advanced heat exchanger concepts, comparing their designs and performance with those of the conventional compact exchangers currently used for onboard aircraft thermal management systems. The present work identifies two promising advanced concepts, namely, microchannel heat exchangers and phase change thermal energy storage systems. Detailed conceptual design and performance models are developed for these as well as a conventional plate-fin compact heat exchanger, and their design and performance optimized for minimum dry weight. In this paper, results of these studies are presented along with comparisons with current systems, conclusions, and recommendations for future research. The results show that microchannel heat exchangers and phase change energy storage systems offer potentially significant performance benefits for aircraft thermal management.