Development of Lightweight Heat Exchangers for Man-Portable Battery Recharging System

This Phase I SBIR effort will demonstrate a compact, lightweight, and ultra-low thermal resistance air-cooled heat exchanger for man-portable thermoelectric battery recharging systems. The underlying heat transfer technology will be the Oscillating Heat Pipe (OHP). ThermAvant currently makes OHP-based heat sinks, heat spreaders and heat exchangers with ultra-high effective thermal conductivities (e.g., >30,000W/mK) and ultra-low thermal resistances (e.g., <0.1C//W). For this project ThermAvant will investigate how to incorporate the OHP technology into thin , lightweight envelope materials with three-dimensional fluid turns and working fluid(s) optimized for the real-world heat sources (e.g. stove or campfires at 300C) and ambient air heat rejection (e.g. 0-40C).Research will focus not only the thermal performance of Phase I prototypes but also their design for easy yet durable transport and low-cost, high-volume manufacture.