Project number
25028
Organization
Acron Aviation
Offering
ENGR498-F2024-S2025
UAM is an emerging market that includes electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, which prioritize compact, space-efficient, integrated systems. However, the small volume and close proximity of heat-generating components result in high thermal concentrations. This degrades avionics performance and longevity. Passive thermal management strategies are key to enhancing system reliability and avoiding the design complexities, energy usage and maintenance requirements that come
with active cooling solutions.
The team created a passive thermal management system that integrates copper heat pipes, an aluminum heat sink and thermal interface materials to efficiently dissipate heat. The team designed, assembled and tested a compact hardware enclosure featuring this thermal management system and used polyimide heaters to simulate internal heat loads based on expected operating conditions. Computational fluid dynamics and thermal analyses were performed using SOLIDWORKS Flow
Simulation followed by experimental testing in a thermal chamber to validate the design’s performance across an ambient air temperature range of -32°C to 70°C. The final design offers a compact, lightweight thermal management solution with no moving parts. This ensures reliable avionics performance in weight- and size-constrained environments like eVTOL aircraft.
with active cooling solutions.
The team created a passive thermal management system that integrates copper heat pipes, an aluminum heat sink and thermal interface materials to efficiently dissipate heat. The team designed, assembled and tested a compact hardware enclosure featuring this thermal management system and used polyimide heaters to simulate internal heat loads based on expected operating conditions. Computational fluid dynamics and thermal analyses were performed using SOLIDWORKS Flow
Simulation followed by experimental testing in a thermal chamber to validate the design’s performance across an ambient air temperature range of -32°C to 70°C. The final design offers a compact, lightweight thermal management solution with no moving parts. This ensures reliable avionics performance in weight- and size-constrained environments like eVTOL aircraft.