Advanced Cooling System for Modular Power Electronics

Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc. (ACT) proposes to develop and mature a compact and effective cooling system for standardized modular power electronics aiming for future space missions. In Phase I, ACT performed a trade study and developed two advanced heat spreaders for 3U electronics cooling: (1) Hi-K plate and (2) pulsating heat pipe (PHP) thermal plane. Both heat spreaders outperform the conventional heat spreader (conduction only aluminum plate), and can operate in both vertical and horizontal orientations. PHP is 10% lighter than Hi-K plate and aluminum plate. In Phase II, ACT will continue to mature the PHP heat spreader technology and develop the complete cooling system of a Modular Electronics Unit (MEU) for space missions. The thermal performance of the PHP from theoretical models and manufacturability will be evaluated to yield an optimum design applicable for various electronics in Space VPX platforms. To characterize the heat spreader performance under various conditions, both transient and steady-state operation will be tested for high and low heat fluxes, as well as in vacuum, and at system level. The performance of PHPs and Hi-K plate will be compared in relevant Space VPX environments. An advanced enclosure with embedded cooling will also be developed to minimize the overall system thermal resistance from the cards to the ultimate heat sink on a spacecraft. The final deliverable will be a flight-like MEU cooling system, consisting of down-selected PHP heat spreaders, enhanced conduction card retainers, and an embedded cooling chassis. As power electronics evolve, conventional cooling system using conduction only mode of heat transfer cannot meet high heat flux requirements. Both NASA and Space VPX are envisioning an open standard for creating modular power electronics systems, with interoperable backplanes for various space missions in the future. As such, it is imperative to develop an improved cooling system that has size, weight and performance (SWaP) characteristics superior to conventional system, at provides the flexibility to handle higher heat loads from more powerful electronics. To address this problem, Advanced Cooling Technologies, Inc (ACT) will develop an advanced two-phase based cooling system to effectively transfer heat dissipated by the cards to the heat sink. To serve as thermal card/planes, two-phase based heat spreaders: Hi-K plate (heat pipe embedded cards) and pulsating heat pipes (PHP) are being developed. To reduce overall thermal resistance of the system, enhanced card retainers and chassis with embedded cooling will be developed. The overall objective of the Phase I and Phase II programs is to develop and mature an advanced cooling system that has better size, weight, and performance (SWaP) characteristics in comparison to the standard thermal plane i.e., conduction only aluminum plate heat spreader. ACT developed two prototype two-phase based thermal heat spreaders for electronics cards, and demonstrated significant improvement in thermal resistance. In Phase II, ACT will optimize the two-phase heat spreader design for Space VPX and identify cost-effective manufacturing processes. Focus will be to improve both TRL and MRL of the heat spreader cards, especially PHP-based. Additionally, an improved chassis with embedded cooling will be developed and improvement in the system thermal performance will be demonstrated. The reliability of two-phase cooling system will be tested under various operating scenarios. Upon successful demonstration of thermal performance and reliability, the final deliverable will be a flight-like modular electronic unit (MEU) cooling system. This system will include advanced two-phase heat spreaders, enhanced conduction card retainers, and an embedded cooling chassis.

The proposed cooling system can effectively remove the waste heat from electronics cards to the heat sink. This will allow for a long duration operation of high-power electronics in space. Many NASA applications will benefit, including human landing systems, cis-lunar Gateway, Electric propulsion to Mars and Planetary habitat, etc. The two-phase thermal plane and embedded chassis cooling concepts are also applicable for high-performance CubeSat thermal management. High-power-density electronics (e,g, MOSFETs, GTOs, IGBTs, IGCTs) and Space VPX systems will be the major market for the proposed cooling solutions. The “plug-and-play” components developed under this program are adaptable for many terrestrial applications, including MIDS communication systems for military, electronics in missile and radar systems, electric vehicles, data center cooling, etc. 

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 6) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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