The Boeing Company

Theboeing Company

Clyde D Newman

Alan Zachary Ullman

Albert D Tomassian

David Wait

Brian Leigh Wherley

Apparatus, systems, and methods provide for the cooling of an aircraft subsystem. Coolant is routed through a heat-producing subsystem to absorb heat from the subsystem and to maintain the subsystem at a desired temperature. Bleed air from an aircraft engine is cooled, dehumidified, and routed to a cooling mechanism. In the cooling mechanism, a portion of the heated coolant is evaporated into the dehumidified bleed air, cooling the remaining coolant. The reduced-temperature coolant is routed back to the subsystem to absorb further heat. Humid air from the cooling mechanism and the dehumidifying mechanism is utilized by other aircraft subsystems.

Evaporative cooling for an aircraft subsystem

The disclosure provides for a chemical reaction-based thermal management system and method. The system comprises a heat source for heating a first flow element, a heat exchanger for transferring heat from the first flow element to a reaction mixture flow, and a heat sink comprising one or more endothermic chemical reactions to absorb heat from the heat exchanger. The system further comprises a reactor element for approaching chemical equilibrium of the reaction mixture flow, a product removal element for removing one or more products from the one or more endothermic chemical reactions, and a plurality of driver elements for moving the first flow element and for moving the reaction mixture flow.

Chemical reaction-based thermal management system and method

An apparatus and method for vaporizing liquid are provided which employ a plurality of rods disposed within a storage vessel that serve as the heat transfer element. While the plurality of rods are generally submerged by the liquid fuel to facilitate heat transfer and vaporization of the liquid fuel, the rods may be packed closely together such that the liquid inventory required to maintain the rods in a submerged state is substantially less than required by conventional fuel supply systems, thereby permitting the weight of a fuel supply system that incorporates the apparatus and method to be reduced while still permitting effective vaporization of the fuel.

Method and apparatus for vaporizing liquid

A cooling system may comprise an array of plates, an array of channels, a conduit system, and a phase change material. The array of channels may have a number of a first type of channels alternating with a number of a second type of channels. The conduit system may be capable of circulating coolant through the number of the first type of channels. The phase change material may be located within the number of the second type of channels.

Phase change material cooling system

A thermal buffer for an intermittent thermal load, e.g., a directed energy weapon (DEW) system, includes a phase change heat exchanger (PCHEX), an apparatus for circulating a first working fluid of the thermal load through first conduits of the PCHEX cell in a first direction such that heat is transferred between the first fluid and a phase change material (PCM) of the PCHEX in a second direction and causes a first phase change in the PCM, and an apparatus for circulating a second working fluid of, e.g., a heat pump through second conduits of the PCHEX in a third direction opposite to the first direction such that heat is transferred between the second fluid and the PCM in a fourth direction opposite to the second direction and results in a second phase change in the PCM opposite to the first phase change therein.

Thermal buffer system

An apparatus and method for gas/liquid separation on an array of jets or streams of liquid is provided. Layers of structured packing material are configured to 'quiet' high-velocity liquid flow with entrained gas to provide a flow at moderate or low velocity from which the gas has been substantially separated from the liquid.

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Oak Park, CA, United States of America

Clyde D Newman