Cryogenic aerospace terrestrial radar system thermal analysis

A first order systems analysis was conducted on the components of a 1 MW conventional ground-based radar power system in order to determine system benefits gained as a result of cryocooling the generator, power conditioning and antenna equipment. The analysis revealed that by using current state-of-the-art cryogenic technology for the three key components mentioned above, it was distinctly possible to develop a near-term demonstration of a cryogenic radar power system that offered significant savings in mass, volume and fuel consumed, in comparison to the conventional power system. For a fixed antenna output of 50 kW-RF, the best option offers 50% reduction in system mass, 43% reduction in system volume and 70% reduction in fuel consumption. For fixed mass, volume or fuel consumption, the 30% T/R option with cryocooled generator/power conditioning offered a four-fold increase in RF output. Cryocooling all three major components of the power system did not necessarily yield the best results because of the refrigeration penalties associated with a large cryocooler