Present isotopic heat sources for radioscope thermoelectric generators have potenially serious problems with toxicity and accountability. it is desired to identify alternative isotopic fuels that do not have these problems. the proposedprogram involves the development of a technique for constant… More

Thermacore has developed, in other materials, technology for producing substantial increases in capillary pumping pressures in heat pipes. the improvements stem from the use of small pore structures fabricated from sintered powders. the objective of the proposed phase i program is to develop and… More

Nasa is currently evaluating centralized thermal control systems for future space station applications. the centralized system is required to serve modular subsystem heat loads that are added or removed from the spacecraft as mission objectives dictate. the interface connection between the module… More

The program is for the development and demonstration of highperformance flexible heat pipes for use in thermal management of spacecraft. the approach is based on combining several proven technologies: flexible screen arteries and high performance circumferential distribution wicks within an envelope… More

A unique use of heat pipes to cool the high heat flux areas of high performance, low power rocket thrusters is the focusof this project. the objectives are greater thrust and longer life.

Advanced spacecraft currently being designed have complex thermal management requirements. these requirements may be best satisfied by heat pipes capable of accepting heat from multiple heat sources. there is no thorough analytical or experimental basis for the design of heat pipes of this type. the… More

This project is concerned with an engineering assessment of the potential of intrinsic surfaces as maintenance-free radiating surfaces for long-lived spacecraft. an intrinsic surface is one whose radiating characteristics derive from its geometry rather than from the thermal properties of the… More

Space-based directed energy weapons have the potential for attacking satellite communication and information gathering systems. accordingly, there is a strong incentive to develop protective systems which will alleviate or negate the damaging effects of these weapons as structures. a potentiallly… More

For extended silent operation, military compact vehicles require an active environmental control system which operates on negligible power. small subambient thermal storage services may be suitable for such use. this proposal is phase i of a program to develop a family of thermal storage devices… More

Thermal management is emerging as a key and sometimes enabling technology in future space missions. heat pipes are a key element in thermal management technology. growth versions of the space station will require heat pipe heat acquisition capability of 10 w/cm(2) and heat transport capability of… More

Full, effective use of the thermal bus on the space station will require universal thermal/mechanical mounting plates for power dissipating experiments and permanent equipment. this project involves phase i of a program to develop a high performance modular thermal mounting position for space… More

Some missile inertial guidance systems use the missile structure as a heat sink. the heat sink temperature changes during the elapsed time between launch and when the missile becomes ballistic. this change in temperature results in a change in guidance system temperature which in turn causes… More

As the number of activities planned for the space station, and their associated energy requirements continue to grow, concern over thermal management is increasing. one area of current development is advanced methods for the effective dissipation of excess thermal energy. the most effective method… More

Future space systems will undoubtedly utilize two-phase heat transport devices to manage their complex thermal systems. many concepts have been proposed for a two-phase thermal bus such as heat pipes, capillary pumped loops, and mechanically pumped loops. this proposal defines a work plan directed… More

Thermacor proposes to apply two phase cooling techniques to high power optical components. low jitter, low distortion and low power consumption are anticipated.

In the electronics industry there exists an ever increasing demand for ultra high purity single crystal materials. thermal fluxuation in the furnance during the crystal's growth or impurities which remain within the crystal can drastically effect the morphology and inturn, negatively effect the… More

The icbm deep base program will equip an underground facility with all of the life support equipment necessary for human survival during the post-attack phase of a nuclear war. these systems will include power generation, co2 removal etc., and the heat generated by operating these systems must be… More

Many near-future military satellites will have power requirements of five to ten kilowatts. this requirement is expected to grow to 100 kw or more during the next twenty years. the much higher heat loads expected on future satellites will cause the radiator panels to become a large part of the total… More

Designs for space based structures are becoming increasingly larger and more complex. as these structures grow, their level of power consumption is also increasing. to satisfy this demand for power, energy systems, such as the sp-100 are being designed to meet the anticipated requirements. the power… More

Feedback positioning and control of one flight control hydraulic actuator requires dozens of wires between the actuator and flight control computer. it is desirable to reduce this wire count by incorporating feedback loop closure and redundancy management electronics on or within the flight control… More

The use of heat pipes can greatly simplify the difficult problem of cooling the product collector plates in the atomic vapor laser isotope separation (avlis) technique. because of very tight space requirements, the cooling technique used must provide sufficient capability to extract the necessary… More

Current hypersonic aircraft designs require cooling on their leading edge surfaces. heat pipes have the potential of providing a lowweight method of cooling these surfaces. however, current heat pipe designs require an auxiliary heat exchanger coupled to the heat pipe condenser. this heat exchanger… More

Thermionic energy converters, as they now exist, are three-temperature devices: input (emitter), output (collector) and cesium reservoir. the reservoir requires precise control at a temperature on the order of 600k. a separate reservoir is required for each converter or thermionic fuel element. the… More

Strategic defense requirements for high-temperature waste heat rejection include a need for hardened, lightweight radiator equipment to operate near 875 degrees kelvin. current designs under consideration plans to use materials such as itianium composite as the heat pipe radiator wall material. this… More

An important component of a fusion reactor is the faraday shield of the radio frequency (rf) antennae used for coupling power into the confined plasma. these antennae currently use direct water cooling to absorb thermal energy from plasma impingement and induction heating of the coolanttubes. in the… More

Hypersonic vehicle applications require cooling on the wing leading edges and cowl leading edges. heat pipes can cool these surfaces either actively or passively. cooling the leading edge actively requires an auxiliary hydrogen cooled heat exchanger coupled to the heat pipe condenser. this method… More

The sodium-sulfur battery is a candidate energy storage mechanism for satellites. thermal management of the battery cells is required during charging and discharging. proper thermal management will isothermalize the battery cells by providing thermal insulation during recharge or sunlight operation… More

Current nasa requirements include a need for one meter long low temperature heat pipes capable of carrying 5 to 50 w of power with evaporator heat fluxes as high as 1 w/in(2). axially grooved heat pipes are undesirable for some applications because of poor lift and/or low evaporative heat transfer… More

The nasa technical solicitation requested innovative applications of new materials for use in heat transport and cooling. this proposal describes an effort to demonstrate the feasibility of using composite materials in the construction of ambient temperature heat pipes. carbon composite materials… More

The alkali metal thermal to electric converter (amtec) is a high temperature, high efficiency system with no moving parts for converting thermal to electrical energy. published conceptual design studies on nuclear space power systems using an amtec vapor-fed cell have shown that this technology… More

Beginning in the 1970s numerous experimental studies were conducted in space in near-zero-g environments to study the effects of crystal growth in the absence of gravity. these tests were conducted aboard skylab and during the apollo-soyuz test project. even though the results proved the advantages… More

Evaporating a coolant from the surfaces of a fine porous wick can do something no other known cooling scheme can do: maintain a nearly constant surface temperature while the heat flux is varied by ten times or more. the program goal is to cool high-powered laser mirrors, and other tough cooling… More

Isothermalizing a Thermionic Fuel Element (TFE) may increase efficiency from 8.78% to 10.8%. Phase I will design an isothermal heat pipe for the thin emitter wall of a long TFE. Recently demonstrated two-phase flow in sintered power metal wick structures will be used to achieve isothermal conditions… More

Direct energy conversion employing gallium-antimony thermophotovoltaic (tpv) cells can achieve conversion efficiencies and specific power (w/kg) about twice as high as the achievable efficiencies and specific power for thermoelectric conversion. on the other hand, thermophotovoltaic cells must… More

The power output of gyrotrons used in the fusion program is limited by the cooling of the microwave cavity. existing designs can extract a heat flux of 1 to 3 kw/cm(2). the russians have reported a flux of 4 to 5 kw/cm(2) using porous metal heat transfer. porous metal heat transfer uses a thin… More

THE SUCCESS OF FUTURE SPACE MISSIONS IS DEPENDENT ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF ADVACNED RADIATORS. THIS PROPOSAL DESCRIBES A NOVEL, LIGHTWEIGHT, INTERIOR CAPILLARY PUMPED LOOP (CPL) DESIGN THAT CAN BE USED FOR AMBIENT TEMPERATURE HEAT REJECTION. THE HEAT PIPE RADIATING SYSTEM IS EXTREMELY LIGHTWEIGHT DUE… More

This proposal concerns the development of a novel energy source for sdi applications. hydrogen is used as a fuel; power producing electrolytic cell technology is used for the catalytic process; electrolysis is not required. the result is a passive, self sustaining non-electrolytic method for… More

THERMACORE HAS RECENTLY DEMONSTRATED HEAT FLUXES IN EXCESS OF 6000 W/cm2 AND HEAT TRANSFER COEFFICIENTS OF NEARLY 100 W/cm2 - DEGREE C USING AN APPROACH CALLED POROUS METAL HEAT TRANSFER,USING COPPER AS THE HEAT EXCHANGER MATERIAL, AND WATER AS THE COOLANT. THE PROPOSED PROGRAM WILL MEET ALL… More

Most surface emissivity coatings exhibit adherence problems under there severe operating conditions of an arcjet. A porous surface produced from powdered tungsten would more than double the effective emissivity, and would maintain full metallurgical integrity with the tungsten anode. Certain… More

Divertor plates used in tokamak fusion devices can be subjected to heat fluxes of up to 1 to 5 kw/cm(2). efficient cooling of these and other plasma-facing surfaces is necessary for reliable tokamak operation. the capability for porous metal heat transfer to handle heat flux as high as 6 to 8… More

Recently proposed hybrid thermionic nuclear space power sysems have been given much attention due to the benefits of the dual mode of operation. a hybrid reactor system can provide electric power for on-board requirements through the thermionic converters as well as propulsion through direct in-core… More

The proposed work plan will examine the use of heat pipe cooling in turboshaft engines to increase performance by reducing or eliminating the compressor discharge bleed air required to cool engine components. areas to be examined include vanes, shroud, and the inter-turbine duct. for turboshaft… More

The innovation is the incorporation of capillary pumped loop (CPL) heat pipe technology into Thermacore developed Flexible Heat Pipe Cold Plate (FHPCP) hardware. Thermacore has successfully designed, fabricated, and tested four FHPCP geometries for four difference aircraft applications. The results,… More

The innovation in the proposed program is the replacement of conventional heat pipes in the current design with Russian-designed and patented loop heat pipes. This significantly reduces the radiator mass, by eliminating the need for a wick in the adiabatic and condenser sections of the loop heat… More

In turboshaft and turbofan gas turbine engines, anti-icing of the cowl currently uses compressor discharge bleed air. Use of this air decreases the net thrust or shaft horsepower, and increases the fuel consumption. This proposal contains an innovative loop pipe method to eliminate the use of bleed… More

The Alkali Metal Thermal to Electric Converter (AMTEC) is a high temperature, high efficiency system for converting thermal to electrical energy, with no moving parts. Published conceptual design studies on AMTEC space power systems show that AMTEC technology offers significant advantages over other… More

Bimodal space nuclear power systems which combine both thermal propulsion and electric power generation capabilities in a single integrated power and propulsion platform have recently emerged as strong candidates for future military and commercial space applications. for propulsion, the reactor… More

The objective of this program is to demostrate the capability of porous metal cooling to effectively remove heat absorbed by a multi-stage depressed collector of high power b-factory klystrons. heat to be removed can typically be many kilowatts, and peak heat fluxes can exceed 1000 w/cm (2). … More

The M109 A6 Howitzer is a tracked combat vehicle that operates at high power and in very hazardous environments. During vehicle field use and engine maintenance operations, the current M109 radiator is vulnerable to core damage causing the loss of engine coolant. Loss of engine coolant immobilizes… More

The following proposal describes a conceptual thermionic converter configuration and operating mode which, if successfully developed could provide 12-15% efficiwent thermionic energy conversion at cathode temperatures below 1500K. The concept builds on experimental work done in the United States on… More

189 High Performance Heat Pipe Cooling of Electron Cyclotron Heating Mirrors P12-2426--Thermacore, Inc., 780 Eden Road, Lancaster, PA 17601-4275; (717) 569-6551 Mr. James E. Lindemuth, Principal Investigator Mr. Donald M. Ernst, Business Official DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-97ER82501 Amount: … More

Heat pipes can potentially eliminate the need for bleed air cooling of high temperature components in gas turbine engines. The proposed innovation is to incorporate heat pipe technology to cool High Pressure Turbine nozzles in turboshaft engines. The use of heat pipe cooled HPT nozzles will help… More

A porous media enhanced radiator can more than double the capacity of the existing MlOY radiator within the same physical envelope while lowering pressure drop. The enhanced radiator would be capable of rejecting 544 kw if made of copper or 457 kW if fabricated from aluminum. The design choices… More

Heat pipes can potentially eliminate the need for bleed air cooling of high temperature components in gas turbine engines. The proposed innovation is to incorporate heat pipe technology to cool High Pressure Turbine nozzles in turboshaft engines. The use of heat pipe cooled HPT nozzles will help… More

Modern electronic devices dissipate significant amounts of thermal energy at comparatively high heat fluxes up to 200 W/cm2 . Thermal management of power electronics will be very important not only for existing and future DOD applications but also for the success of the electric car, more efficient… More

Ongoing work should lead to a flight test of a Loop Heat Pipe based anti icing system in late 1998 or early 1999 aboard the Global Hawk UAV. The Loop Heat Pipe condenser tubing will be integrated into the composite skin of the engine inlet cowl. This essentially turns the composite skin into a… More

The objective of the program is to demonstrate the feasibility of fabricating the development of affordable, lightweight heat pipes that are made entirely from composite material. Composite material heat pipe technology will help to maintain spacecraft thermal control and will be compatible with… More

Not Available This research project addresses a major processing obstacle to the development and commercialization of high temperature ceramic and metal matrix composites (CMC/MMC) for both military and industrial applications. Interface coatings are required to avoid reaction between fiber and… More

Not Available In this project, we will develop new algorithms for invariant subpixel material identification in thermal infrared hyperspectral images obtained from space-based sensors. Systems based on these algorithms have the potential to achieve high probabilities of detection in combination… More

Magnesium heat pipes are proposed for development to replace aluminum heat pipes as the standard for spacecraft heat rejection at near ambient temperatures. Recent developments have demonstrated the potential for special magnesium alloys to be compatible with the same working fluids as aluminum, but… More

Various techniques have been developed to achieve reliable and cost-effective NOx reductions. Among these techniques, catalytic combustion has been shown to offer the most NOx reduction. In a catalytic combustor, the main combustion occurs at reduced temperatures in a catalytic reaction zone,… More

Multiphase heat transfer technology is one of the most efficient methods of waste heat removal in high power electronics cooling. It is especially advantageous where size, weight, and efficiency are the most important factors. A multiphase heat transfer system consists of evaporator, transport… More

Thermacore Inc. proposes an innovative titanium heat pipe thermal plane for passive thermal control of individual cells within a fuel cell stack. The proposed technology eliminates actively pumped liquid coolant loops, which improves system efficiency, reliability, safety, simplicity, life cycle as… More

Loop heat pipes are commonly used for heat rejection radiators above a few hundred watts. The LHP condener tubing is embedded in composite panels which are manually deployed. By making the LHP condenser tubing out of shape memory alloy tubing, the radiator becomes self deploying and self contained.… More

A new material, diamond-copper composite, is proposed for the evaporator of a copper-water heat pipe. The composite offers two benefits; very high thermal conductivity and CTE in the same range as semiconductor material. These properties enable heat pipes that can be directly attached to the highest… More

LHPs in composite skin,the "Wing as Radiator" concept has demonstrated 25-50 kW to 65k ft. Inflatable radiator has been analyzed for 500 kWt in GEO. Self deploying heat pipe radiators, heat pipes as structure, and LHPs for regenerative fuel cell thermal control have also been demonstrated by bidder.… More

The objective of the Phase II program is to complete the development of the titanium heat pipe thermal plane and establish all necessary steps for production of this heat pipe. The main aerospace application for this titanium heat pipe design is fuel cell thermal management. Electronics cooling is… More

The thermal environment for satellites operating in low Earth orbit varies significantly through the course of a single orbit and throughout its lifetime as the beta angle varies over time. In addition, the operation of many satellite payloads in LEO is highly transient. The combination of… More

The objective of the proposed Phase I effort is to identify a technical development path that will yield a heat pipe with the following characteristics: be passive, requiring no power input other than the heat to be transported; provide equal or superior heat transport performance in the… More

To meet the goals of the Operationally Responsive Space program, the thermal control system must be robust, modular and scalable to cover the wide range of components, payloads, and missions. Innovative solutions that enable isothermal satellite structures and inter-panel connections are needed. … More

Overheating of FADEC electronics has become a limiting factor in their capabilities. Current cooling schemes depend on rejecting the waste heat to a flow of fuel, but fuel is not an infinite heat sink. During ground idle operation on a hot day, or late in a flight when most of the fuel has been… More

Several types of submersibles, including the Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS), house batteries and associated electronics in externally mounted pressure vessels. As batteries are charged or discharged, heat builds up in the cells, increasing the chance of thermal runaway of a given cell.… More

Vehicles typically reject about 70% of the chemical energy contained in their fuel as waste heat through the exhaust. Capturing a portion of this energy and sending it through a bottoming heat engine, which may be solid state or based on a thermodynamic cycle with a working fluid, will allow more of… More

Heat pipes are commonly used for transporting heat over relatively long distances with very low temperature drop. One of the limitations of heat pipes is the capillary limit, which states that the sum of pressure drops of the working fluid cannot exceed the capillary head developed by the wick. … More

Small tactical military operations need to reduce fuel consumption, operational costs, and the need for logistics fuel resupply in the field. One method to accomplish these goals is to have the military units use a renewable energy source that is portable and clean. A good source of renewable energy… More

ABSTRACT: Electronic boxes need to be quickly and easily attached and removed from the satellite payload deck in a spacecraft structure. Hampering the removal process is the vulcanized (RTV) used as the Thermal Interface Material, TIM. Because of its strong bond, it makes removal of the boxes… More

Three tiered Thermal Bus System isothermalizes the satellite, allowing payload components to be mated in arbitrary locations without requiring detailed thermal analysis. The first tier is pyrolytic graphite embedded in aluminum panels (kCore) to provide local spreading. The second tier consists of… More

Capillary Metered, Actively Pumped Two-Phase Cooling for AESA Arrays. Two Phase cooling minimizes required mass flow and isothermalizes the AESA array. Active pumping allows long distance transport to reject to ambient air at convenient location. Capillary structure provides coolant to each element… More

The usage of Brazed Plate Heat exchanger is the key component for this SBIR. By utilizing the large amount of heat transfer surface area that a Brazed Plate Heat Exchanger provide, it will minimize the overall size of the heat exchanger system. The goal is to have the heat exchanger operate without… More

Degassing to remove Hydrogen is an expensive and time consuming problem. One solution is to find innovative degassing processes. Another is to eliminate one of the sources of hydrogen namely Stearic Acid which is the surfactant of choice. This proposal attempts to replace stearic acid with pure… More

To assure satisfactory cooling for future JSF upgrades, the proposed solution is a vapor compression refrigeration system packaged with both a pumped PAO cooling loop and a thermal energy storage (TES) system in a standard avionics rack for the JSF. The vapor compression system, VCS, will… More

The proposed effort will seek to design and develop vacuum brazed high density folded-fin modular heat exchangers. The scalability of these heat exchangers would provide a means for fabricating large area high performance cold plates by joining via friction stir welding. Friction stir welding is a… More

In austere environments, erosion and corrosion seriously degrade the performance of airfoils in fan and compressor sections of gas turbine engines. To prevent damage to titanium airfoils, a powder metallurgy approach will be taken that produces a hard, erosion resistant leading edge. The leading… More