KULR Technology Group, a specialist developer of battery safety and thermal management technologies, has provided thermal management design services to a global Tier-1 manufacturer of aerospace and defense technology to improve thermal subsystems needed for increased performance of hypersonic weapons.
A Congressional Research Services report in December 2020 shows that the Pentagon’s FY2021 budget request for all hypersonic-related research is $3.2 billion, up from $2.6 billion in the prior year’s request.
Hypersonic strike systems are valued for their unique war-fighting aspects of range, speed, maneuverability, survivability and lethality, according to Mike E. White, the assistant director of hypersonics, Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. These features make the development of – and investment in – improved hypersonic systems a priority for the Department of Defense.
“As the national need for long-range airborne vehicles grows, and commercial demonstrations like Space X continue to show the viability of reusable space and sub-orbital vehicles, active and passive heat management become increasingly critical elements to mission success,” says Dave Harden, founder and CEO of The Outpost and KULR advisory board member.
“KULR’s closed loop core cooling technology, along with its problem-solving team, are rapidly establishing themselves as essential building blocks for hypersonics, space vehicles, long range stand-off weapons and long loiter drones.”
KULR’s advanced phase-change heatsink design services will assist the manufacturer in the design of hypersonic weapons with longer range and larger kinetic power than existing systems, which are limited by their inability to disperse heat. The ability to keep inner bay components cool within extremely hot outer skin environments – while maintaining highest safety levels – is essential to mission success and market dominance.
“Efficient thermal management is a critical component of hypersonic weapons,” said Michael Carpenter, KULR’s vice president of Engineering. “Our engineers have already designed and built the evaporative cooling device for the DAQ and transmitter modules in the nose of the X-51 Waverider, and from this project we amassed a lot of technical insight. Using this knowledge, it is fairly straight-forward for us to adapt our technology to serve the needs of next-generation hypersonic weapons.”
Hordon Kim
International Editor, hordon@powerelectronics.co.kr
