Thermacore was awarded a $3 million Option Phase contract extension by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to continue the development and commercialization of active heat sink technologies for Micro-technologies for Air-Cooled Exchangers (MACE). The original contract had been awarded in December 2008 and is worth $9.5 million.
To qualify for the contract extension, Thermacore successfully created a thermal solution demonstrator using a combination of existing and developmental heat transfer technology that exceeded the requirements of the initial 24-month “base effort” phase of the contract, according to the company. The solution’s heat flux was more than double the contract’s requirements, and thermal resistance was 10 percent lower than what was originally proposed. The requirements included a power/heat input capability of 1 kilowatt, a volume of 4 inches by 4 inches by 4 inches, a mass of 800 grams or less, thermal resistance less than 0.05 degrees C/Watt and electrical power consumption of 33 Watts or less. In the current Option Phase, which runs from Oct. 1, 2010 through Jan. 1, 2012, Thermacore will commercialize and re-engineer the technology for more specific applications and incorporate active heat sink technology to improve thermal performance even further.
