Collette J.P., Nutal N., Steelant J., Rochus P., Romero-Fernandez P
DOI Number XXX-YYY-ZZZ
Conference Number HiSST-2022-59
High-speed vehicles using a hot aero-structure concept require a different design strategy for mounting
electronic units and handling their dissipated heat for which one cannot rely any longer on the heatsink approach as in the case of cold structures. Phase Change Materials (PCM) offer the possibility to
store thermal energy directly as latent heat of fusion. A PCM is a material having a high heat of fusion,
whose change of state at the relevant temperature is able to store a large amount of energy. Highly
dissipative electronic units such as transmitters can be directly mounted onto this PCM device. During
the change of state, the temperature remains almost constant. Thanks to previous R&D projects,
WalOpt and CRM have developed and qualified a PCM Heat Storage Device that is now available for
flight. The modeled thermal behavior is described together with the chosen implementation to optimize
the mass gain.