Cooling System for High Power Vacuum Tubes
AssigneeRaytheon Company
InventorRichard M. Weber
Life of this patent
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Abstract
According to one embodiment, a two-phase cooling system includes a condensing heat exchanger fluidly coupled to an evaporator assembly and a pressure controller. The condensing heat exchanger condenses a coolant from a vapor phase to a liquid phase by removing heat from the coolant. The evaporator assembly is thermally coupled to a vacuum tube and operable to receive liquid coolant from the condensing heat exchanger, cool the vacuum tube by evaporating the coolant from the liquid phase to the vapor phase, and transporting the evaporated coolant to the condensing heat exchanger. The pressure controller maintains the pressure of the coolant in the evaporator assembly at a sub-ambient pressure to lower the boiling point of the coolant for reducing the operating temperature of the vacuum tube.
Claims21
A two-phase cooling system for a vacuum tube comprising:
- a condensing heat exchanger that is operable to condense water from a vapor phase to a liquid phase by removing thermal energy from the water;
- an evaporator assembly having an inlet and an outlet that are fluidly coupled to the condensing heat exchanger, the evaporator assembly in thermal communication with a vacuum tube and operable to:
- receive, through the inlet, the water in the liquid phase from the condensing heat exchanger;
- cool the vacuum tube by transferring thermal energy from the vacuum tube to the water, the transfer of thermal energy causing the water in the liquid phase to boil and vaporize;
- and
- transport, using a pump, the vaporized water to the condensing heat exchanger through the outlet;
- and
- a pressure controller operable to maintain the pressure of the water in the evaporator assembly and the condensing heat exchanger at a sub-ambient pressure of less than three pounds-per-square-inch-absolute.
A two-phase cooling system for a vacuum tube comprising:
- a condensing heat exchanger that is operable to condense a coolant from a vapor phase to a liquid phase by removing thermal energy from the coolant;
- an evaporator assembly having an inlet and an outlet that are fluidly coupled to the condensing heat exchanger, the evaporator assembly in thermal communication with a vacuum tube and operable to:
- receive, through the inlet, the coolant in the liquid phase from the condensing heat exchanger;
- cool the vacuum tube by transferring thermal energy from the vacuum tube to the coolant, the transfer of thermal energy causing the coolant in the liquid phase to boil and vaporize;
- and
- moving the vaporized coolant to the condensing heat exchanger through the outlet;
- and
- a pressure controller operable to maintain the pressure of the coolant in the evaporator assembly at a sub-ambient pressure.
A method for cooling a vacuum tube comprising:
- receiving a coolant in a liquid phase from a condensing heat exchanger, the condensing heat exchanger operable to condense the coolant from a vapor phase to the liquid phase by removing thermal energy from the coolant;
- cooling the vacuum tube by transferring thermal energy from the vacuum tube to the coolant, the transfer of thermal energy causing the coolant in the liquid phase to boil and vaporize;
- moving the vaporized coolant to the condensing heat exchanger;
- and
- maintaining the coolant at a sub-ambient pressure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.