Lancaster, Pennsylvania – April 28, 2014. Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc. (ACT) announced today that it is continuing its rapid thermal technology diversification through multiple R&D contract wins. In 2013 ACT was awarded over 20 new contracts through government-funded Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR), Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR’s) and Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) programs. These contracts were awarded from several different government agencies, including DOE, NASA, DoD (MDA, Army, Air Force, Navy, Office of the Secretary of Defense, DARPA), and NSF. These contracts will enable development of innovative thermal management technologies and perform R&D in new areas that include corrosion-resistant coatings and advanced modeling. According to Dr. William Anderson, Chief Engineer at ACT, “These multiple awards again demonstrate both the breadth of our innovative thinking on emerging thermal technologies and the confidence the many agencies have in our ability to develop it.” Some notable examples include:
- Compact Heat Exchangers for Directed Energy Weapons (Navy)
- Passive thermal management for cooling high power fiber lasers (MDA)
- High temperature heat pipes for space nuclear fission (NASA)
- Heat pipe based exhaust heat recovery systems for generator sets (ARMY)
- Waste heat recovery in rocket motors to aid in weight reduction (MDA)
- Passivation coatings for microchannel coolers to suppress erosion and corrosion (DARPA)
- Pumped two-phase cooling loops for managing thermal loads in high heat flux electronics and laser diodes (NSF)
- Increasing the energy density of liquid fuels by adding stabilized aluminum nanoparticles (Air Force)
- Advanced modeling including new activities in corrosion fatigue and composite material damage (Navy)
- Advanced radiator development for fission power thermal control (NASA)
In addition, ACT has continued to focus on energy-related applications in areas that include:
- LED Cooling
- Advanced thermal management for batteries and fuel cells
- Thermoelectric power generators for waste heat recovery systems
- The development of ultra-high temperature heat pipes for concentrated solar power (CSP) applications.
Many of ACT’s R&D programs are in collaboration with industrial and academic partners. Some of the academic partners in the past year include: California Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Texas Dallas, Lehigh University, Rowan University, North Carolina State University, Pennsylvania State University, Texas A&M University, University of Texas Dallas, and Villanova University.