TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Air Platform, Sensors, Battlespace

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: PMA-234, EA-6

OBJECTIVE: Develop innovative and cost effective thermal management techniques to improve the system performance and reliability of high heat flux, air cooled, RF electronic systems operating in naval airborne operational environments.

DESCRIPTION: Modern RF electronics such as those used in airborne active electronically scanned array (AESA) based radar systems employ high power density, high temperature electronic devices requiring advanced thermal management technology. For optimal operation these devices, in particular the transmit/receive (T/R) modules in an array need to efficiently dissipate significant quantities of heat and maintain accurate temperature control across the array. Traditional air cooling has generally been deemed to be ill suited to the high packaging density of an AESA. As a result most modern high-performance AESAs are liquid cooled. However, a liquid cooling system is not feasible for many airborne platforms. To compound this problem, the more recent utilization of wide band gap technology based on Gallium Nitride (GaN) devices can vastly increase power densities, and inevitably generate more waste heat, requiring even more advanced thermal management to fully take advantage of these devices.

Novel materials and structures are needed to improve the heat dissipation capability of air cooled AESA systems at C, X and Ku bands. Heat dissipation improvements may be achieved at the chip, module and system level. For example, performance improvements are needed in enhanced convection and fin efficiency of heat sinks, enhanced thermal interface materials between electronic devices and module cases, and less restrictive cooling channels through the array to reduce both thermal resistance and cooling fan power requirements. The total T/R module heat load for applications of interest is on the order of 3 watts per module. As this is for an airborne application total system weight is critical. Heat sink weight must be taken into consideration.

PHASE I: Identify and define approaches for high-performance thermal management techniques for air-cooled AESA radar systems. Demonstrate feasibility through numerical modeling and/or experimentation. Develop a full scale development and assessment plan on an array concept identified by the Navy.

PHASE II: Perform design optimization, fabrication process refinement, and performance enhancements for the thermal management system and demonstrate prototype for applicable candidate AESA.

PHASE III: Transition the developed technology to the appropriate platforms in the Fleet.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: The technology developed under this SBIR is directly applicable to a very wide range of consumer and military electronic systems such as high density computing clusters or high power communication transmitters.

REFERENCES:
1. Icoz, T. & Arik, M. (2010). Light Weight High Performance Thermal Management With Advanced Heat Sinks and Extended Surfaces. Components and Packaging Technologies, IEEE Transactions on, Vol. 33, pp. 161 - 166

2. Ohadi, M. & Qi, J. (2005). Thermal Management of Harsh-Environment Electronics. In Kakaç, S. (Ed.) Microscale heat transfer: fundamentals and applications (pp. 479 � 498) http://www.springerlink.com/content/mh8n16hv50424unh/fulltext.pdf

KEYWORDS: Electronics; Thermal Management; Air-Cooled Electronics; Air-Cooled Active Electronically Scanned Array; Heat Exchanger

** TOPIC AUTHOR (TPOC) **

DoD Notice:   Between November 10 and December 12, 2010, you may talk directly with the Topic Authors to ask technical questions about the topics. Their contact information is listed above. For reasons of competitive fairness, direct communication between proposers and topic authors is not allowed starting December 13, 2011, when DoD begins accepting proposals for this solicitation.

However, proposers may still submit written questions about solicitation topics through the DoD's SBIR/STTR Interactive Topic Information System (SITIS), in which the questioner and respondent remain anonymous and all questions and answers are posted electronically for general viewing until the solicitation closes. All proposers are advised to monitor SITIS (11.1 Q&A) during the solicitation period for questions and answers, and other significant information, relevant to the SBIR 11.1 topic under which they are proposing.

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