A SBIR Phase I contract was awarded to Physical Sciences in March, 2018 for $149,974.0 USD from the U.S. Department of Defense and United States Air Force.
Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) will develop an innovative refrigeration condenser for airborne applications based on PSIs established fractal heat exchanger geometry. This configuration is 60% smaller and 20% lighter than comparable heat exchangers because it uses a branched feed network instead of pipe headers (the heaviest parts of existing heat exchangers).Test articles will be produced with a volumetric energy density of greater than 4.7kW/L (60% better than current) and a specific power greater than 7.4 kW/kg (20% better than current). These laboratory test samples will verify the performance of the design in preparation for full-scale testing in Phase II.PSIs condenser is light enough to be used on refrigeration-equipped aircraft to enable cooling of internal components. The condenser reduces aircraft drag because of its reduced cross-sectional area. It improves packaging within the aircraft due to its reduced overall volume. Together, these changes make it feasible to consider refrigeration as a means to increase internal heat loading on a 6th generation fighter airplane.The advances in mass, frontal area, and volume are made possible by PSIs novel geometry, which makes use of recently-developed numerical optimization techniques and additive manufacturing of metals.