Optimization of Power and Thermal Management System of Hypersonic Vehicle with Finite Heat Sink of Fuel

Abstract

The scramjet of hypersonic vehicles faces severe high-temperature challenges, but the heat sink available for scramjet cooling is extremely finite. It is necessary to optimize its power and thermal management system (PTMS) with a finite heat sink of hydrocarbon fuel. This paper proposes a two-level optimization method for the PTMS of hypersonic vehicles at Mach 6. The PTMS is based on a supercritical carbon dioxide (SCO2) closed Brayton cycle, and its heat sink is airborne hydrocarbon fuel. System-level optimization aims to obtain the optimal system parameters for the PTMS. The minimum fuel weight penalty and the minimum heat sink consumption of fuel are the optimization objectives. The segmental (SEG) method is used to analyze the internal temperature distribution of fuel–SCO2 heat exchangers in the system-level optimal solution set. This ensures the selected optimal solutions meet the requirement of a pinch temperature difference greater than or equal to 10 °C. Further, the component-level optimization for the fuel–SCO2 heat exchanger is carried out based on the selected optimal solutions. The lightest weight of the heat exchanger and the minimum entropy production are the optimization objectives in this step. Finally, the optimal system parameters and the optimal key component parameters can be searched using this presented two-level optimization method.