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Requirements for cooling and power consumption in space platforms are subject to significantly greater constraints than the requirements for terrestrial applications. Existing cooling systems incorporate various mechanisms including thermoelectric (Peltier) cooling elements, radiative cooling, and phase-change compressor-based systems. This paper outlines an alternative mechanism currently in development called “thermotunneling”. This mechanism exploits electron tunneling across a vacuum gap of ∼10nm to effect a temperature differential with high efficiency. When complete, these devices (“Cool Chips”) are expected to offer a compact, lightweight, low maintenance and highly efficient (in excess of 50% of Carnot Efficiency) thermal management solution ideally suited for the needs of aerospace applications. © 2004 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Power Chips technology employs a gap of 4–10 nanometers in a gap diode to allow for efficient thermal conversion with very low thermal leakage. The design ΔT is on the order of 400 degrees single stage, with operation possible from 1 K to 1600 K, depending on configuration and meeting engineering challenges. Efficiency is projected to be in the range of 70% of Carnot-defined maximum. R&D work on this approach has been in progress since 1997. The main technical challenge of fabricating and maintaining the required gap has been overcome; thin film and packaging issues remain. The technology is anticipated to be ideal in terms of size, weight, efficiency, and reliability. Power Chips can be packaged identically as conventional thermoelectrics making them a drop-in replacement in many cases including RTGs. Applications for Power Chips include RTGs as well as thermal conversion from a waste heat stream or solar-thermal conversion. © 2004 American Institute of Physics [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]