ThermAvant Technologies Secures NASA Phase II Award to Advance High-Temperature Oscillating Heat Pipe Technology
(COLUMBIA, MISSOURI) — ThermAvant Technologies, the leading innovator in oscillating heat pipe (OHP) based thermal management systems (TMS), is pleased to announce the receipt of an $898,299 NASA Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant for the development of their cutting-edge "High Temperature Oscillating Heat Pipe Transport System." This award, granted by NASA Glenn Research Center, marks a significant milestone in the advancement of spacecraft thermal management technologies and builds on the promising results achieved during Phase I.
Phase II of this project aims to push the boundaries of meter-scale high-temperature heat pipes by increasing operating temperatures to 1300K, demonstrating higher heat flux capacity, and overcoming gravitational effects observed during Phase I. The team will also explore refractory envelope materials and the impact of radiation on OHP materials. These advancements are critical for de-risking the insertion of this technology into nuclear systems. A key benefit enabled by OHP architecture includes interface optimization with the Brayton power conversion system, through the inclusion of an additively manufactured inert gas heat exchanger on the OHP cold side.
During Phase I, ThermAvant demonstrated a 3-meter OHP operating at temperatures exceeding 800°C, achieving over 110 W/K thermal conductance. The success of Phase I has laid the groundwork for this next phase, where ThermAvant aims to achieve even greater performance metrics.
“This award reflects the hard work and dedication of our team at ThermAvant Tech,” said Patrick Margavio, Director of Technology Development at ThermAvant Technologies. “We are thrilled to continue our collaboration with NASA Glenn Research Center to push the boundaries of thermal management systems above in space applications. The advancements we aim to achieve in Phase II will not only benefit space nuclear energy generation systems but will apply more broadly to higher temperature thermal challenges like concentrated solar thermal and hypersonics”.
Alex Miller, the Phase I/II Principal Investigator, adds, “Phase I OHP hardware significantly exceeded prior published performance, with respect to heat pipe device length, evaporator length, acquisition temperature, transport power, and thermal conductance. We are excited to continue the maturation of OHP technology, in competition with conventional wick-based heat pipes and mechanically pumped solutions.”
The project is a part of NASA's Spacecraft Thermal Management initiative, under topic number Z2.01, which focuses on developing innovative solutions for managing the extreme thermal environments encountered by spacecraft. With the support of this NASA SBIR grant, ThermAvant Tech is well-positioned to make significant contributions to the future of space exploration and technology.
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ABOUT THERMAVANT TECHNOLOGIES
ThermAvant Tech is the world’s leading oscillating heat pipe (OHP) technology developer and product manufacturer. We embed the OHP technology into materials to maximize thermal-mechanical performance and minimize Size, Weight, Power plus Cost (SWaP-C). Technology firms and U.S. agencies use our OHPs to deliver more power in smaller packages without temperature constraints imposed by status quo heat transfer solutions. For more information, visit thermavant.com.
