Impact of High Energy Pulsed Systems on an Aircraft's Power and Thermal Management System

Many advances in technology are expected to increase the capabilities of next generation aircraft. One of the advancement areas is the integration of a high energy pulsed system (HEPS) onboard an aircraft. This enhancement, along with all the other potential advanced electronics that may be featured on next generation aircraft could cause a significant thermal load onboard an aircraft, where heat dissipation is already a challenge. HEPS generate excessive amounts of heat during operation, creating challenges in how to integrate them into an aircraft without overwhelming the vehicle’s power and thermal management systems. In order to evaluate the impact of the HEPS electrical and thermal load on the aircraft's mission, a vehicle level modeling and simulation (M&S) effort must be executed of the power and thermal management systems. To accurately evaluate the total effect on the aircraft, the HEPS must be integrated into a Tip to Tail (T2T) model of the system that includes the aircraft power and thermal management subsystems. With the HEPS system integrated into the T2T model, not only can its mass and volume effects can be found, but also the transient power and thermal loads created by the new system can be evaluated for their effect on other aircraft subsystems. Furthermore, the aircraft subsystems can be optimized to vehicle level metrics instead of at the subsystem level only. This will result in a more effective and balanced aircraft design overall. Using a T2T model to evaluate the integration of a HEPS system on an aircraft will enable assessment of its overall impact to next generation aircraft. Therefore, the significant impact of highly dynamic power and thermal loads on next generation aircraft are addressed.