Heat Actuated Cooling System

A cooling system that converts waste heat from power supply units into useful space cooling is sought by the U.S. Army to reduce the electrical loads and fuel consumption in mobile military platforms. Unfortunately, conventional heat actuated systems are too large and inefficient. ThermAvant Technologies has developed a thermally-driven cooling system that combines environmentally benign fluids with an innovative ejector refrigeration cycle to offer a superior balance of size and efficiency. In addition, a heat-pipe-inspired thin film evaporation heat exchanger will be investigated to improve the heat flux and reduce the superheat between the system’s heat sources and phase change fluids. Phase I research goals are to: A) build a test rig with COPs of at least 0.7 and up to 1.5 under extreme high and low temperatures; and B) demonstrate the applicability of thin film evaporation to reduce the size of the system’s evaporators. Phase II efforts will be dedicated to integrating the proposed solution with real world power units and peripherals. If successful, this technology will enable the mass-market development of compact, light weight and highly efficient heat actuated cooling devices for both military and commercial applications.