Test Evaluation of an Affordable Fighter Aircraft Vapor Cycle System

Advanced centrifugal compressor vapor cycle refrigeration systems are being tested extensively in the laboratory before they are introduced to new affordable fighter aircraft. It was determined that further testing was needed to establish the effects on a centrifugal compressor system due to high and rapidly varying G forces encountered during fighter aircraft maneuvers. Flight weight aircraft vapor cycle components were tested up to 4G_x, 4G_y and 9G_Z on the Air Force Armstrong Laboratory Dynamic Environment Simulator Centrifuge Facility under the Integrated Closed Environmental Control System (ICECS) Program at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. The tests demonstrated that a properly designed digital controlled integrated vapor cycle system will operate in the variable G field (9G_Z) of a fighter aircraft. It showed that heat exchangers can be designed with minimum effect to gravity “G” fields. The future for vapor cycle systems in new affordable aircraft looks promising.