Research on a dynamic thermal management strategy for thermal energy storage tank based on mission profile

Abstract

To improve the heat sink utilization of the aero-engine thermal management system (TMS) across a flight mission profile, this study proposes a dynamic thermal management control strategy incorporating a thermal energy storage tank (TEST). The TEST enables the architecture to redistribute fuel flow among mission segments on demand. A transient TMS model was established to implement a fuel supply strategy driven by mission segments, and its effects on system performance were examined. The results indicate that the TEST scheme actively regulates the fuel heat sink, augmenting its heat dissipation over the mission profile. Compared with the baseline architecture, under a fuel temperature limit of 150 ℃, with a 50-kg TEST and a fuel supply ratio of 0.69, the proposed strategy lowers the main fuel tank temperature by 2.45 ℃ and raises the residual heat sink cooling capacity and heat sink utilization efficiency by 2.38% and 6.58%, respectively, demonstrating its potential for future aero-engine thermal management.