Alternative Energy Sources for Heating Rations

An alternate tray ration heating system (ATRHS) utilizing heat recovered from diesel engine exhaust was developed and evaluated for the US Marine Corps. The recovered energy was used to directly heat the water in the ATRHS or be stored in phase change material (PCM) heat storage modules. The heat storage modules provided heat to the ATRHS when the diesel engine had not been run for a period time.

From the results of a design effort, a bench-top prototype system was built and exercised to appropriately size all of the components in the overall system.