Advanced Cooling Technologies awarded $5.5M in new contracts with DOE

Lancaster-based Advanced Cooling Technologies Inc., a leading provider of thermal management solutions, has won five Department of Energy Phase II SBIR projects, totaling $5.5 million in funding, over the past month.

These awards further enhance ACT‘s position within the energy market, where the company is already providing cutting edge products for wind energy, nuclear energy and power electronics/power conversion systems.

“Winning five DOE Phase II SBIRs is a tremendous achievement for ACT,” Bill Anderson, chief engineer for ACT, said in a release. “The programs demonstrate the breadth of ACT’s research and development, including CO2 (carbon dioxide) sequestration, pulsating heat pipes, very high-temperature thermal storage, cryogenic loop heat pipes and electronics radiation shielding.”

The five projects are:

· Direct CO2 air capture using acid-base ion-exchange and low-grade heat: ACT is working on a low-cost resin-material-based direct air capture system to remove CO2 from the atmosphere.

· Advanced cooling solutions for high-frequency medium-voltage planar transformers: This project focuses on improving cooling for high-frequency transformers used in electric vehicle charging stations, increasing charger efficiency and power, to support more widespread EV adoption.

· Integrated high operating temperature heat storage system for process waste heat: ACT is developing a high-temperature thermal energy storage system to capture and reuse industrial waste heat.

· Polymer-based conformal space radiation shield with thermal management manufactured by five-axis 3D printing platform: ACT is developing a 3D-printed radiation shield using polymer composites for space electronics.

· Thermal management of low-temperature semiconductor detector arrays: ACT is developing an advanced cryogenic loop heat pipe to cool semiconductor detector arrays in scientific instruments.

“We have been a trusted thermal partner for the DOE in the past and will continue to pursue bids from them,” said Jens Weyant, vice president, product and technology development. “Our strategy is to put out competitive bids and back them up with expert engineering and manufacturing.”

Paula Wolf is a freelance writer