Application of Spot Cooling Technologies for the Thermal Management at the Source
Funded by US Army TARDEC
Project Summary
In this research program, Aegis Technology is developing and demonstrating a novel class of thermal management technology by utilizing electrowetting-based spot cooling (EBSC) that would enable the implementation of thermal management at the source for future power systems with highly concentrated hot spots. This electrowetting-based spot cooling (EBSC) that is based on the concept of electrowetting-based droplet manipulation is anticipated to dramatically enhance the cooling effectiveness and capabilities compared with commercially used cooling methods, thereby resulting in a much smaller and lighter cooling system that can be directly applicable to both the military and commercial applications. Aegis Technology Inc. has well demonstrated the technical feasibility of the proposed concept of EBSC in Phase I. In this Phase II project, we have focused on the following tasks: (1) Design and fabrication of PCB board based electrodes; (2) Design and construction of the electronic controller along with associated software; (3) Design of the compact structure for portable applications; (4) Demonstration of the droplet manipulation and EBSC prototype; and (5) Cooling hot spots. The ultimate goal is to develop a compact, detachable electrowetting-based spot cooling system that can be powered with a small profile DC supply (e.g. a battery).