I-Corps: A Lightweight, Low-Cost, Liquid-Metal Cooling Vest for Prolonged Cooling

I-Corps：一款轻质、低成本的液态金属冷却背心，可实现长时间冷却

• 批准号: 2246456
• 负责人: Fernando Gómez-Baquero
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: Cornell University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-01-01 至 2024-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2246456&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Lightweight; Low; Cost; Liquid

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a personal cooling system for high-heat work environments such as shipyards, foundries, boiler workshops, and mining and construction sites where workers are exposed to heat exhaustion. Additional potential markets exist in medical, sports, emergency response, military, and animal care fields. The product will compete in the global personal cooling garment market. This I-Corps project is based on the development of a conduction-based, cooling cycle technology using highly thermally conductive fluidic metal, gallium alloy. Gallium alloy is liquid at room temperature and is commonly known as liquid metal (LM). Due to its fluidic nature, LM can be pumped into a microfluidic channel using a low-power pump. Also, LM is 28 times more conductive (16.5W/m·K) than water, which helps absorb heat in a second by conduction, unlike the convection-based cooling cycle. Conventional refrigeration cooling cycles require a high power-consuming compressor to reduce heat transfer time. Low power conduction-based heat transfer along with microfluidic LM flows allow the LM to be used as the primary coolant in the novel personal cooling system. The outcome is a lightweight, low-power, low-cost, LM wearable personal cooling system that can provide day-long high cooling.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发用于高热工作环境的个人冷却系统，例如造船厂，铸造厂，锅炉工作坊以及工人暴露于热量耗尽的采矿和建筑工地。医疗，运动，应急，军事和动物护理领域中存在其他潜在市场。该产品将在全球个人冷却服装市场中竞争。该I-Corps项目基于使用高热传导的镀金合金的基于传导的，冷却周期技术的开发。炮金合金在室温下为液体，通常称为液态金属（LM）。由于其流体性质，可以使用低功率泵将LM泵入微流体通道。同样，LM的导电性（16.5W/m·K）是水的28倍，这有助于一秒钟通过传导吸收热量，这与基于施工的冷却周期不同。常规的制冷冷却周期需要高功耗压缩机以减少传热时间。低功率传导的传热以及微流体LM流动，可以将LM用作新型个人冷却系统中的主要冷却剂。结果是一种轻巧，低功率，低成本，LM可穿戴的个人冷却系统，可以提供一天的高冷却。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的审查标准评估来诚实地获得支持。