Thermacore, Inc. has been awarded a $9.5 million contract, if all options are exercised, by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for the development of Micro-technologies for Air-Cooled Exchangers (MACE). It is stated that the successful development of this technology will significantly improve the thermal performance of military electronic systems such as telecommunications, active sensing and imaging, radar, and other platforms. The goal of the MACE program is the development and demonstration of micro-technologies that will enable thermal performance improvements and reduce electrical consumption of air-cooled heat exchangers. The MACE program is a two phase effort designed to run 48 months through the fourth quarter of 2013.
"We are very excited to be awarded the DARPA MACE program as the prime contractor. We look forward to working with our partners to help develop the next generation air cooled heat exchanger technology in an effort to maintain the technological superiority of the U.S. military," said Gregg Baldassarre, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Thermacore, Inc. "Conventional air cooled heat sinks do not provide the necessary cooling for the existing or future high performance DoD systems. Alternative cooling technologies such as pumped liquid cooling, spray cooling, submersion cooling, and vapor-compression refrigeration cooling bring added complexity, fluid leakage concerns, long-term reliability problems, and increased cost. At the completion of this program, we expect to enable these high performance DoD systems with innovative air cooled technologies rather than the more complex and costly alternative cooling technologies."
To support this development effort, Thermacore assembled a team of academic and industrial partners which will each bring their technology and platform experience to bear on the proposed solution. Thermacore will coordinate these efforts and attempt to move these technologies into an "applied product" to support the current and future needs of the US Military. Thermacore’s partners in this effort include the University of Minnesota, Lockheed Martin Company, and The Bergquist Torrington Company.
