Efficient and Compact Thermal and Water Management Systems using Novel Capillary Structure for Space Technology

NASA requires next-generation spacecraft technologies, including efficient and compact thermal and water management systems, to extend human presence in space. NASA has employed liquid-vapor, phase-change-based thermal and water management systems, but limited performance per surface area (i.e., low heat flux) requires bulky systems and additional control systems. This results in complex and expensive spacecraft, CubeSat, spacesuit, and habitat designs. Improving evaporator and condenser performance using capillary forces would create lightweight thermal and water management systems that would function in space. Similar scientific and engineering challenges occur in sustainable energy, environmental, and industrial systems on Earth, including efficient electricity production, water boilers, water desalination, smart buildings, electronics packing, and food production. To solve these compelling research problems and address societal needs, research infrastructure will be established by five Assistant Professors with joint expertise at three Kansas (KS) research Universities [Wichita State University (WSU), Kansas State University (KSU), and University of Kansas (KU)], along partners at two NASA centers [Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), Glenn Research Center (GRC)], two KS industries (WireCo, and Cargill, Inc.), and education centers (Cosmosphere, a NASA science museum in KS, and outreach centers at WSU/KSU/KU). This new research infrastructure in KS will stimulate research activities and empower a future Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) workforce to solve research challenges for NASA over the next 30 years. The proposed research will develop innovative evaporators and condensers using bimodal wick structures that enable (a) very high heat flux removal (1 kW/cm2) with extremely low thermal resistances (0.01 K/[W/cm2]) at large scales (>100 cm2), and (b) waste water recycling and humidity control. These research objectives directly address NASA’s technological needs, including Heat Pipe Capillary-Based Loops (TA 14.2.2.5), Two-Phase Pumped Loop System Develop (TA 14.2.3.2), Micro- and Nano-Scale Heat Transfer Surface (TA 14.2.2.10), and Water Recovery and Management (TA 6.1.2), and Habitation (TA 6.1.4). Enhanced performance will reduce the weight and size of thermal and water management systems for successful future NASA missions and sustainable economic growth in KS. Innovative evaporator and condenser designs require the combination of expertise in thermofluid sciences, advanced manufacturing, and image-based diagnostics. The proposed approach includes bimodal wicks to sustain liquid films for evaporation and remove condensed liquid in condensation. Bimodal wicks include micro-scale particles combined into larger, millimeter-scale structures for capillary wicking in space and on Earth. This work is enabled by laser-based, additive manufacturing to quickly prototype bimodal wicks, and X-ray-microtomography-based, 3D nondestructive analysis methods to characterize pores. The team will work together to fundamentally understand and create wicking structures with superior thermal performance that can be economically manufactured in space or on Earth. This work will train five graduate and five undergraduate students in an inter-university partnership combining experimental and theoretical approaches. The team has experience recruiting underrepresented students and will continue their successful strategies. The proposed education program will highlight this NASA research to hundreds of undergraduate students through coursework and several NASA student summer internships. Outreach programs in thermal science, manufacturing, and image-based diagnostics will be implemented in summer camps at the Cosmosphere and all three universities. The combination of research-based outreach and educational programs will create a pipeline to ensure a strong KS STEM workforce.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

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