Chiller for Direct Conversion of Waste Heat to Cooling for Power Electronics

The Navy needs Advanced Thermal Management technologies to remove high heat fluxes from power electronics, and Waste Heat Conversion technologies to use the removed heat for space cooling on Navy ships. We propose to develop a system that converts the waste heat into space cooling directly (our system requires no intermediate conversion of heat into electricity). We propose to develop: (1) an Impingement Evaporator, which will remove high heat fluxes from power electronics; and (2) an Absorption Chiller, which will directly use the removed heat for space cooling. This proposal focuses on development of the Absorption Chiller. In Phase I, we will design, build, and test a breadboard Absorption Chiller that converts 3kW of heat from vapor below 125 C into chilling power. The Phase I work will involve selecting non-hazardous fluids that can be used in an absorption chiller driven by vapor below 125 C. We will also analyze costs for fleet insertion. In Phase II, we will: (1) optimize the design of our Absorption Chiller (consistent with Navy performance standards); (2) build the optimized Absorption Chiller; and (3) test the Absorption Chiller with a 250 kW prototype power module that generates approximately 3 kW of waste heat. In Phase III, we will build and sell our Absorption Chiller for many Navy ship-based and land-based applications, as well as private-sector applications. Our Advanced Thermal Management + Waste Heat Conversion system (which includes our Absorption Chiller) will benefit a wide range of applications in the federal government and the private sector. Promising markets include power electronics; computers (ranging in size from mainframes to laptop PCs); cogeneration systems; and simultaneous cooling of high-heat-flux components and cabin cooling or heating in automobiles and commercial aircraft.