SBIR Phase II: Development of long service life vacuum insulation composites

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project is focused on establishing full-scale production parameters, quality control procedures, operational testing and commercialization of cutting-edge compartmentalized vacuum composites. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is in cold chain shipping, storage, building insulation, automobiles, aerospace and other advanced markets. The first application is in the cold chain shipping industry, for packaging and storage of temperature sensitive materials. A new generation of thin (less than 1"), light weight, highly insulated (R value 25-30), durable, and long service life boxes will meet a critical need in this area. Temperature-sensitive products such as vaccines, blood, organs, and diagnostic specimens are shipped using insulated containers, and the new materials to be developed will permit longer shipping duration, higher impact resistance, and re-usability. The cold chain shipping market includes the Red Cross, blood banks, pharmacies, clinical trial shippers, diagnostic centers, life science material providers and whole sale distributors. The annual United States market potential in life sciences packaging is estimated at $291 million. The resulting materials also have significant potential for uses in permanent and temporary structures, and in a variety of transportation applications. Successful completion of the Phase I work has resulted in cost-effective (an order of magnitude lower expected cost), stronger (ten times the impact resistance of Styrofoam), lightweight, thin (less than 1"), highly-insulating (R 16-22), compartmentalized vacuum composite materials. An exclusive machining capability was also demonstrated, whereby vacuum composites can be cut and sized on-site without degradation in thermal performance, an issue which affects current vacuum insulation panels (VIPs). Optimization of the developed composites to achieve targeted insulation rating, cost, and service life characteristics will be conducted during Phase II. Thermal performance, mechanical characteristics and operational performance will be evaluated for their application in cold chain shipping and in building/structural insulation. The team will also validate boxes fabricated using these materials in cold chain shipping to verify safe transportation of blood products, organs, and/or pharmaceuticals. Based on the Phase II work, it is anticipated that these materials will be poised to replace petroleum-based foam materials and vacuum insulation panels as a high-performance and economical solution in these markets.