SBIR Phase II: Passive Cooling Materials for Transparent Applications in Refrigerated Trucking and Solar

这个小型企业创新研究（SBIR）二期项目旨在生产和验证该公司的被动冷却薄膜，以满足冷藏拖车、逆变器和太阳能光伏（PV）应用等特定市场需求。产品平台可以通过开发和验证透明和高反射/不透明薄膜来满足无数应用和用例的需求。拟议的努力可能会通过使冷藏卡车、太阳能、家庭制冷和其他市场的客户减少温室气体排放，同时降低成本，从而推进改进冷却技术的目标。仅以冷藏卡车运输业为例（全球价值10亿美元），美国每年就可以减少超过1500万吨二氧化碳当量的温室气体排放。此外，应用于太阳能逆变器和光伏电池可以提高可再生能源发电的效率。这些用途共同有助于提高多个行业的可持续性，其长期影响是抵消化石燃料的使用以及与之相关的负面环境、社会和健康影响。该项目的智力优势是基于选择性光子发射器的开发，该发射器允许某些波长的光发射到大气上方，允许超过12.5摄氏度（100 W/m2）的被动冷却，零能量输入，无废热产生。鉴于被动冷却是薄膜微观结构固有的，并且不需要电气连续性，即使在薄膜发生机械故障的可能性不大的情况下，该产品也可以提供无缝冷却能力。针对特定应用的薄膜优化需要成功完成三个目标，这是第二阶段项目的重点：1)研究制造技术，以提高薄膜性能，满足关键市场应用的需求；2)开发特定应用的安装方法，同时保持高性能要求；3)开发改进的制造工艺，以扩大生产规模。这些目标的成功实现将使技术进入各种应用市场，无论是新的还是改造的。从技术角度来看，研究和开发活动可能会推进被动辐射冷却系统的知识，以及如何将其应用于支持温度控制的可持续创新。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project seeks to produce and validate the company’s passive cooling thin films to meet specific market requirements such as for refrigerated trailer, inverter, and solar photovoltaic (PV) applications. The product platform may meet the needs of myriad applications and use cases through the development and validation of both transparent and highly reflective/opaque films. The proposed effort may advance the goal of improving cooling technologies by enabling customers in the refrigerated trucking, solar energy, home cooling, and other markets to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions while reducing costs. Examining the annualized refrigerated trucking industry alone, which is valued at $1 billion globally, could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 15 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent per year in the U.S.. In addition, application to solar inverters and PV cells may increase the efficiency of renewable power generation. These uses collectively serve to improve the sustainability of multiple industries, with a long-term impact of offsetting the use of fossil fuels and the negative environmental, societal, and health effects tied to them. The intellectual merit of this project is based on exploitation of selective photonic emitters that allow certain wavelengths of light to be emitted above the atmosphere, allowing passive cooling of more than 12.5 degrees C (100 W/m2), with zero energy input and no waste heat generation. Given that the passive cooling is inherent in the microstructure of the film and there is no need for electrical continuity, the product may provide seamless cooling capabilities, even in the unlikely event of mechanical failure of the film. Optimization of the thin films for application-specific use requires the successful completion of three objectives, which are the focus of the Phase II project: 1) investigation of fabrication techniques driving improved film performance compatible with the needs of key market applications, 2) development of application-specific installation methods while maintaining high performance requirements, and 3) development of improved manufacturing processes for production scale-up. Successful accomplishment of these objectives will prime the technology for market entry in a variety of applications, whether new or retrofitted. From a technical perspective, the research and development activities may advance the knowledge of passive radiative cooling systems and how they may be applied to support sustainable innovations in temperature control.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.