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US 11,448,431 B1Granted
Thermal management systems for extended operation
AssigneeBooz Allen Hamilton Inc.
InventorsJames A. Davis, Igor Vaisman, Joshua Peters
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Thermal management systems include an open circuit refrigeration system featuring a first receiver configured to store a gas, a second receiver configured to store a liquid refrigerant fluid, an evaporator configured to extract heat from a heat load that contacts the evaporator, and an exhaust line, where the first receiver, the second receiver, the evaporator, and the exhaust line are connected to provide a refrigerant fluid flow path.
Claims39
A thermal management system, comprising:
- an open circuit refrigeration system that has a refrigerant fluid flow path, with the refrigerant fluid flow path comprising:
- a first receiver configured to store an inert gas;
- a second receiver configured to store a liquid refrigerant fluid, with the second receiver coupled to the first receiver, and with the second receiver further configured to receive the inert gas from the first receiver, so as to maintain the liquid refrigerant fluid in a sub-cooled state;
- an evaporator coupled to the second receiver, the evaporator configured to extract heat from a heat load that contacts the evaporator;
- and
- an exhaust line.
3 more elements
A thermal management method, comprising:
- transporting a refrigerant fluid along a refrigerant fluid flow path that extends from a refrigerant receiver through an evaporator to an exhaust line;
- extracting heat from a heat load in contact with the evaporator;
- transporting an inert gas from a gas receiver to the refrigerant receiver at least prior to transporting or during transporting of the refrigerant fluid to control a vapor pressure in the refrigerant receiver;
- and
- discharging the refrigerant fluid from the exhaust line so that the discharged refrigerant fluid is not returned to the refrigerant fluid flow path.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.