Sacrificial Fiber Anisotropic Recuperator (SFAR) Navy SBIR FY2016.1 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2016.1 Topic No.: N161-062 Topic Title: Sacrificial Fiber Anisotropic Recuperator (SFAR) Proposal No.: N161-062-0170 Firm: CU Aerospace 301 North Neil St. Suite 502 Champaign, Illinois 61820 Contact: Chris Mangun Phone: (217) 239-1704 Web Site: http://cuaerospace.com Abstract: The mass and cost of low temperature Joule-Thomson and Brayton cryocoolers can be greatly reduced with a better recuperator configuration. CU Aerospace (CUA) and team partner Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company (LMSSC) propose to develop a robust, anisotropic recuperative heat exchanger capable of excellent heat exchange efficiency with low cost and low mass. This technology relies on 3D weaving of sacrificial fibers into a polymeric matrix, which are subsequently vaporized to obtain a uniform array of capillaries. By weaving these sacrificial fibers with a perpendicular array of copper wires and using computational modeling to optimize the design, this device can achieve good lateral thermal conductance while retaining very low parasitic heat conductance. This recuperator geometry can be tailored to a wide variety of cryocooler temperatures and heat loads by scaling the width and length of the recuperator. The performance benefit derived from the inherently anisotropic thermal characteristics of the woven structure will lead to a new class of low cost, high performance recuperator configurations beneficial for many cryogenic applications requiring counterflow heat exchange. Benefits: We regard the Sacrificial Fiber Anisotropic Recuperator (SFAR) as having high potential for infusion to external customers as the hardware geometry and manufacturing process can be adapted for a wide variety of uses. The recuperative heat exchanger can also be used in Joule-Thomson coolers, such as the sorption coolers used on Herschel, Planck, Astro-E and Astro-H. Similar coolers are used for cooling 4 K superconducting RF receivers, 3 K optical absorption energy sensors, and may be a cooling component in Return