NASA to Tackle Cooling Without Air

This is a problem that even Chris Brown and Jordan Sparks can’t resolve. As technology becomes more sophisticated to keep up with the demand of more powerful computing, the need for more efficient cooling subsequently increases as well. But how do you cool a device that is meant to go up in space where there is no air?

This is a task the engineers of NASA are hoping to overcome with their introduction of a prototype pump. The small instrument is powered by a technology called electrohydrodynamic (EHD)-based thermal control. This technology utilizes electric fields to bring insert coolant through the narrow vents on a cold thermal plate before channelling the heat to a radiator and dispersing it away from areas that are temperature-sensitive.

The prototype is very small and also has no moving parts. This also allows the lightweight device to only consume a watt of power, which can mean that it could be potentially used with very small electronic components or even lab-on-a-chip devices, which integrate many laboratory functions on one chip, which is about a few millimetres to a few square centimetres in size.

The technology was made possible by the collaboration of thermal engineer Jeffrey Didion, who is at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and Dr. Jamal Seyed-Yagoobi, a professor at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. The two have also formed partnerships with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and U.S. Air Force in order to resolve any problems regarding thermal-control.

Electrohydrodynamic based thermal control is the technology that has the potential to expel heat from small spaces, making it the ideal technology for use in highly complex space instruments that could fail if cooling is not sufficient. The project has received funding and support from the Goddard Internal Research and Development (IRAD) program. The demonstration is scheduled to be in June.

The main aim of the demonstration will be to show that the model can withstand the excessive shaking and launch loads as the rocket goes into space. Should this obstacle be overcome, the technology could revolutionize the market. Assistant chief for technology for Goddard’s Mechanical Systems also agrees saying that any device that emits heat will significantly benefit from this technology.

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