Lancaster, Pennsylvania – April 30, 2005 – Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc. (ACT) has been awarded three contracts from NASA, Navy and DOE (Department of Energy) to develop advanced thermal control technologies.
The NASA contract is a Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase II program, funded by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The principal objective of this program is to develop a hybrid cooling loop technology that combines the robust operation of mechanically pumped loops with the passive control of capillary pumped loops. The Phase I program was completed in July 2004 and successfully demonstrated the feasibility of the technology concept. A more detailed description of the hybrid cooling loop technology can be found here. This technology is currently pending for the U.S. patent approval. The Phase II program started in April 2005 and will last through March 2007. Engineering units of the hybrid loop technology will be designed, fabricated and tested for a baseline spacecraft thermal control application.
Dr. Jon Zuo, President and Chief Technical Officer of ACT, will be the Principal Investigator on this Phase II program. Dr. Chanwoo Park, a Senior Engineer of ACT, will provide technical support to the program. Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory will be a subcontractor on the program, in support of the liquid control mechanism development.
The Navy contract is a SBIR Phase I program, funded by the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC). The principal objective of this program is to develop a variable conductance heat pipe (VCHP) heat exchanger for passive temperature control of fuel cell reformers. Mr. David Sarraf, a Senior Engineer of ACT, will be the Principal Investigator on this Phase I program.
The DOE contract is a SBIR Phase I program, funded by DOE’s Chicago Office. The principal objective of this program is to develop refractory metal based, capillary assisted lithium film cooling of plasma facing components. The technology is intended for the advanced fusion reactors. Mr. Peter Dussinger, Manager of High-Temperature Programs & Products at ACT, will be the Principal Investigator on this Phase I program.
ACT is a developer and manufacturer of heat pipes, pumped liquid and two-phase loops, and thermal storage devices. ACT’s products and technologies have been used in temperature ranges from -150 to 1,100°C, for applications from spacecraft thermal control to catalytic reactor cooling to medical surgery temperature control. ACT currently serves customers worldwide in electronics, medical equipment, energy systems, calibration equipment, aerospace, military, and government R&D sectors.