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DARPA: Student Competitors Sought for Cool Design Challenge |
This
story was retrieved from the DARPA website. Neither DARPA nor any other
entity represented in the article endorses this website.
Student Competitors Sought for Cool Design Challenge
July
16, 2012
Thermal connector challenge builds on last year’s success
Recently, students from universities across the country traveled
to the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL)
to participate in the first annual Field-Reversible Thermal Connector
(RevCon) Challenge, sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency (DARPA) and the Office of Naval Research (ONR).
The RevCon
Challenge asks undergraduate and graduate students to develop a novel
design concept for a field-reversible, low-resistance thermal connector,
which could be used in military electronic modules. The goal is to encourage
science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and
inspire future innovators to consider thermal management techniques
and the key role they will play in tomorrow’s electronics.
 Today,
DARPA and ONR
announce the second RevCon challenge. The program is managed by
Avram Bar-Cohen, DARPA program manager and Mark Spector, ONR program
officer. Student teams are invited to design a thermal connector with
the chance to receive DARPA and ONR support for building their design
and testing it at Johns Hopkins. Participants are asked to develop a
novel field-reversible, low-resistance, thermal connector that could
improve upon the presently available “wedgelocks.” Such thermal connectors
are ubiquitous and critical components in high power, military electronic
modules, where they serve to transfer heat from the edge of a printed
circuit board to the water-cooled or air-cooled wall of the electronic
module.
“This is a great opportunity for students looking for
an idea for their fourth year design project,” said Bar-Cohen. “Participants
will gain experience developing, assembling and demonstrating a potentially
transformative technology. Finalists will have the unique opportunity
to travel to Johns Hopkins for testing and to engage experts from DARPA,
ONR and industry.”
During last year’s challenge, four teams from
across the US were chosen to travel to JHU/APL to present their RevCons
to a Government and industry panel and demonstrate their operation on
an APL test rig. As results were displayed real-time on a large screen,
the panel provided feedback to the students on their designs and shared
their experiences and perspectives on the potential use of the student
RevCons in actual military systems.
All four RevCons were evaluated
with the JHU-APL test rig and all four exhibited better thermal resistances
than the baseline commercial connector. The judges’ panel took special
note of the diversity and creativity of the concepts implemented during
the challenge. Prizes were awarded to the teams in the following categories:
- Most Creative:
University of Missouri, Columbia: device based
on magnetic force and ferrofluids University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign:
device based on linear actuators
- Lowest Resistance:
Georgia Institute of Technology: device
based on a copper plate with hydraulic fluid
- Easiest to Implement:
University of California, Los Angeles:
device based on a temperature-sensitive spring made of Ni-Ti compound
DARPA and ONR anticipate teams completing their designs during the fall
semester, with final demonstrations occurring in the spring.
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