Flowpath heat exchanger for thermal management and power generation within a hypersonic vehicle
AssigneePratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, Inc.
InventorsDavid C. Jarmon, Mark A. Sillence, Paul Attridge, Jean Yamanis
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An electrical power generation system incorporates thermoelectric devices (TE Devices) for electrical power generation adjacent a flow path heat exchanger (HEX) adjacent to a vehicle flowpath structure such as a scramjet flow path to take advantage of the waste heat, high thermal gradients, and available, unused volume. A thermally conductive material communicates thermal energy from a vehicle external skin structure to the TE Device while a thermally conductive compliant material allows the TE Device to “float” with minimal mechanical stress.
Claims16
An electrical power generation system comprising:
- a heat exchanger adjacent a scramjet combustion flow path;
- a vehicle external skin structure;
- a support structure which mounts said heat exchanger to said vehicle external skin structure;
- and
- a thermoelectric device mounted between said heat exchanger and said vehicle external skin structure, said thermoelectric device bonded to said heat exchanger such that radiant heat from said vehicle external skin structure heats a non-bonded side of said thermoelectric device to produce a thermal gradient within the thermoelectric device power generation.
A hypersonic vehicle comprising:
- a vehicle external skin structure;
- a heat exchanger adjacent a scramjet combustion flow path;
- and
- a thermoelectric device mounted between said heat exchanger and said external skin structure, said thermoelectric device bonded to said heat exchanger such that radiant heat from said vehicle external skin structure heats a non-bonded side of said thermoelectric device to produce a thermal gradient within the thermoelectric device power generation.
An electrical power generation system comprising:
- a heat exchanger adjacent a scramjet combustion flow path;
- a vehicle external skin structure;
- a support structure which mounts said heat exchanger to said vehicle external skin structure;
- a thermoelectric device mounted between said heat exchanger and said vehicle external skin structure, said thermoelectric device bonded to said vehicle external skin such that radiant heat from said vehicle external skin structure heats a non-bonded side of said thermoelectric device to produce a thermal gradient within the thermoelectric device power generation;
- and
- a thermally conductive material adjacent said heat exchanger, said thermally conductive material is in-contact with said-heat exchanger through a thermally conductive compliant material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.