Thermodynamics of Heat Seeking missiles
I have been told that many infrared homing missiles operate at very low
temperatures in order to reduce noise, and that they use canisters of
compressed air that expand isothermally (thus cooling the surroundings).
However, it seems unlikely to me that this thermodynamic process can
counteract the heat produced from the missile's rocket enough to make a
significant difference. How much cooling is really done, and what
temperature does the system have to operate at in order to be functional?
No comments:
Post a Comment