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The objective of this paper is to describe the design of an experiment that will examine the effects of elevated acceleration environments on a high-temperature, titanium-water loop heat pipe for actuator cooling. An experimental test setup has been designed for mounting a loop heat pipe on an 8-ft-diameter centrifuge table, which is capable of radial accelerations of up to 12 g's. A high-temperature PAO loop will interface the condenser of the loop heat pipe to simulate the rejection of the transported heat to an elevated temperature. In addition to LHP experimentation, a mathematical model has been developed for aerodynamic heating of highspeed aircraft. A flat plate at zero-incidence, used to model an aircraft wing, was subjected to sub- and supersonic flow to examine whether heat will be rejected or absorbed. The results of this analysis will be used to determine the condenser conditions of the loop heat pipe during centrifuge testing.

An innovative thermal management system (TMS) that provides both effective active heat transfer and high passive thermal energy storage capacity has been developed and successfully demonstrated. The TMS integrates the high latent heat advantages of a phase change material with an actively cooled cold plate design. The resulting TMS concept has direct use on many transient system applications, where the amount of heat dissipated varies over time. The example discussed in this paper is the transient operation of electric flight control actuator hardware that is proposed for the More Electric Aircraft (MEA) Initiative. The development of the TMS concept, the successful fabrication and validation testing on actual flight control electronic hardware is provided. The advantages of the Thermal Management System include: significant weight savings, high thermal performance, high thermal energy storage capability, high reliability and reduced maintenance.

A review of rotating thermosyphon technology with specific applications in aircraft thermal management and control is given. Successful use and operation of thermal control systems aboard aircraft require high performance operation in environments consisting of high “g” loads, vibration and multiple orientation possibilities. Rotating thermosyphon technologies offer possible applications in aircraft thermal management and control in these operating environments and provide capabilities for dissipating high heat flux thermal loads.