Compact Thermoelectric-based Pre-Cooling Assembly for the E-2D Liquid Cooling System Navy SBIR FY2010.2 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2010.2 Topic No.: N102-114 Topic Title: Compact Thermoelectric-based Pre-Cooling Assembly for the E-2D Liquid Cooling System Proposal No.: N102-114-1324 Firm: Mainstream Engineering Corporation 200 Yellow Place Pines Industrial Center Rockledge, Florida 32955-5327 Contact: Michael Cutbirth Phone: (321) 631-3550 Web Site: www.mainstream-engr.com Abstract: A 5 degree farenheit decrease in cooling temperature within the E-2D Liquid Cooling System (LCS) would translate to an additional 15 kW capacity to remove electronic waste heat. For this, thermoelectric cooling represents a compact, minimally intrusive method for achieving the desired augmentation while meeting all system constraints. However, a major disadvantage to thermoelectric cooling is the energy penalty associated, with a coefficient of performance (COP) on the order of 0.5 typical, compared to vapor-compression refrigeration cycles with COP of 3 typical. For thermoelectric cooling, the COP is directly dependent upon the packaging of the thermoelectric modules and the overall thermal resistance between the heat source and heat sink. For the E-2D LCS, Mainstream has designed a pre-cooler assembly utilizing commercial-off-the-shelf thermoelectric coolers and advanced heat exchanger designs to yield 5 ,aF of pre-cooling during ground operations and 8 degree farenheit of pre-cooling during flight operations with an overall COP of 0.6 and 0.9, respectively. Due to Mainstream��s extensive history with custom heat exchanger designs, the Phase I effort will focus on fabrication and demonstration of the pre-cooler at a 1:13 scale. The Phase II effort will result in full-scale demonstration units for field-testing. Benefits: For the current research and development, Mainstream has focused on minimizing the thermal resistance path between the heat source and heat sink using advanced heat exchanger designs. This approach, which is based upon minimizing technology risk, will have direct benefits for the E-2D Hawkeye acquisition platform by delivering full-scale demonstration units by the conclusion of the Phase II effort. In addition, the heat transfer fluid pre-cooler may be employed within other platforms for which the environmental control system is currently limited by fluid capacity. The advanced heat exchanger designs developed within the current SBIR effort can be utilized in several additional technology areas, including: waste heat thermoelectric generators, high-heat flux cooling, and chip-level cooling. Each of these technologies is currently limited by the heat transport from source to sink. Return