Opinions on the research status and development trend of airborne radar cooling technology

With the thrust of science and technology as well as higher performance requirements, the assembly density and power consumption of radar equipment are getting higher (Ping et al., 2009). Unlike ground-based radars, airborne radars are almost applied in controlling and guiding weapons, but also for aerial vigilance and reconnaissance to navigate accurately and fly safely. Moreover, due to the limitation of aircraft carrying capacity, the miniaturization and lightening of airborne radars have become an urgent need (Tang et al., 2011). The rapid development of electronic component integration technology has contributed to the miniaturization and lightness of airborne radars (Wang et al., 2021). For example, in 1990s, the heat flux of integrated circuits was only 20–30 W/cm2 (Ping et al., 2009), but now it has exceeded 100 W/cm2, and this development trend is still expanding. However, the miniaturization of radar also increases the heat flux density, making the thermal management of airborne radars more difficult. In view of the increasing heat flux of airborne radar equipment, harsh environmental conditions, and high reliability requirements, it is urgent to carry out in-depth and systematic research on cooling technology of radar equipment.