ACT AWARDED DOE PHASE IIA CONTRACT
March 29th, 2023 – Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc. (ACT) – announces it has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy for a Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase IIA project. This project is focused on developing systems that rapidly cool the furnaces that DOE uses at Oak Ridge National Laboratory for neutron scattering experiments.
Neutron furnaces are used to provide a high-temperature environment during neutron scattering and diffraction experiments. For a typical neutron furnace, the temperature at the center can be more than 1600°C (2912°F). To realize these high temperatures, layers of thin-walled radiation shields (made from neutron-friendly materials) are used to insulate the furnace’s center from its surroundings. However, these same radiation shields cool slowly once the experiments are completed, especially when the temperature is below 400°C. The low cooling rate is a major bottleneck to high throughput neutron experimentation. The high-cost neutron beamline must wait idle for more than six hours until the furnace cools down to safe operating levels (<100°C) before the next experiment can be set up. The closed-loop helium circulation technology developed by ACT can reduce the neutron furnace turnaround time from hours to minutes, saving thousands of dollars in lost testing time. Furthermore, the rapid sample cooling technology enables new scientific studies of materials under high cooling rates, such as high-strength steel manufactured via fast cooling.
The objective of this SBIR Phase IIA extension is to commercialize the successful research results from the prior SBIR Phase II program. “This program will allow ACT to add an additional product to our current line of Custom Thermal and Mechanical Systems,” said Bill Anderson, Chief Engineer for R&D at ACT. “Our current products include Temperature Calibration Systems, Thermal/Optical and Thermal/Compressibility Test Systems, and Single- and Two-Phase Thermal/Flow Test Systems.”
About ACT
Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc. (ACT) is a premier thermal management solutions company, providing design and manufacturing services to meet our customers’ needs across all points of the product lifecycle. We serve our global customers’ thermal management and energy recovery needs in diverse Markets including Defense, Aerospace, Electronics, HVAC, Medical, Enclosure Cooling and Calibration Equipment. We specialize in providing innovative and performance-optimized thermal management technologies and solutions that meet the unique needs of each customer.