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They sweat for safety.
How can hypersonic vehicles be protected from high temperatures of more than 2,200 °C that occur when flying at speeds exceeding Mach 5? The answer to this question was offered by the RTX Technology Research Center: you need to make them "sweat".
Hypersonic flight can dramatically change aeronautics, just as it happened after breaking the sound barrier in 1947. However, the transition from supersonic to hypersonic speeds was much more difficult. The main problem is the huge amount of heat generated by an object traveling at five times the speed of sound. At these temperatures, most materials either melt or become unworkable.
The obvious solution is to cool the outer shell of the device. However, this adds extra weight and complicates the design, which does not suit engineers.
Alternatively, under a contract with DARPA, RTX is considering cooling hypersonic vehicles using a mechanism similar to human sweating. The idea is to build a network of microchannels into the leading edges of the hypersonic vehicle, which feed liquid to the surface of the shell, similar to human sweat glands. When the liquid reaches the surface, it evaporates, taking heat with it.
According to project manager John Sharon of the RTX Technology Research Center, a model the size of a credit card was created, which was later subjected to various tests. The next step will be to refine the technology, reduce the size of the channels and increase the size of the model to the scale of a real hypersonic vehicle.
"When you're flying at five times the speed of sound, the temperature can rise rapidly - in just a fraction of a second," Sharon said.
How can hypersonic vehicles be protected from high temperatures of more than 2,200 °C that occur when flying at speeds exceeding Mach 5? The answer to this question was offered by the RTX Technology Research Center: you need to make them "sweat".
Hypersonic flight can dramatically change aeronautics, just as it happened after breaking the sound barrier in 1947. However, the transition from supersonic to hypersonic speeds was much more difficult. The main problem is the huge amount of heat generated by an object traveling at five times the speed of sound. At these temperatures, most materials either melt or become unworkable.
The obvious solution is to cool the outer shell of the device. However, this adds extra weight and complicates the design, which does not suit engineers.
Alternatively, under a contract with DARPA, RTX is considering cooling hypersonic vehicles using a mechanism similar to human sweating. The idea is to build a network of microchannels into the leading edges of the hypersonic vehicle, which feed liquid to the surface of the shell, similar to human sweat glands. When the liquid reaches the surface, it evaporates, taking heat with it.
According to project manager John Sharon of the RTX Technology Research Center, a model the size of a credit card was created, which was later subjected to various tests. The next step will be to refine the technology, reduce the size of the channels and increase the size of the model to the scale of a real hypersonic vehicle.
"When you're flying at five times the speed of sound, the temperature can rise rapidly - in just a fraction of a second," Sharon said.
