Heat seeking missiles such as the Sidewinder require ultra-purified, high-pressure argon to pressurize and cool their infrared homing devices. Eaton’s Air Dry pioneered the development of the ground cooling unit (model GCU-26A/E) to meet that requirement. The recharging unit compresses commercially available bottled argon up to a pressure of 5,100 psig, purifies and filters it, and manifolds it to eight charging stations for portable coolant pressure vessels.
The unit compresses argon with an air-operated booster pump and includes an air compressor and an accumulator tank for instant, smooth booster pump operation and a steady air supply to pump controls.
The argon purifier system consists of three molecular sieve desiccant purifying vessels and a mechanical particle filter. The molecular sieve purifying elements remove moisture, carbon dioxide and hydrocarbon gasses from the argon stream. The particle filter is a sintered bronze element with a 3-micron rating.
After entering a manifold, the purified argon is distributed to eight separate filling stations designed for ruptured vessel fragment containment.
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