Versatile Cold Spray
Established in 1963, the R&D 100 Awards is the only S&T (science and technology) awards competition that recognizes new commercial products, technologies and materials for their technological significance that are available for sale or license. The R&D 100 Awards have long been a benchmark of excellence for industry sectors as diverse as telecommunications, high-energy physics, software, manufacturing, and biotechnology. This 2021 R&D 100 winner is listed below, along with its respective category.
Category: Process/Prototyping
Developers: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Co-Developers: TTEC Thermoelectric Technologies
United States
Product Description:Versatile Cold Spray (VCS), developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, outperforms other cold spray and additive manufacturing techniques by depositing both ductile and brittle materials to any substrate of any shape without adhesives. The unique VCS nozzle and feed system preserves the functional qualities of brittle materials such as semiconductors, including thermoelectrics, and magnets, achieving a coating with greater than 99% density. The streamlined, portable, low-cost VCS design enables high-density, functional coatings in place, providing a viable pathway to creating energy-harvesting thermoelectric generators from heat-emitting industrial components of any form factor. These thermoelectric generators present an elegant solution — with no moving parts or chemicals — to begin to capture the 13 quadrillion BTUs of energy lost to waste heat each year from U.S. industrial operations. The LLNL/TTEC team that developed VCS has demonstrated its effectiveness in building a thermoelectric generator as well as its capability to apply magnetic coatings, creating permanent magnets inside motor housing or generator parts, and insulating materials, an important component of energy harvesting and storage devices.
Developers: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Co-Developers: TTEC Thermoelectric Technologies
United States
Product Description:Versatile Cold Spray (VCS), developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, outperforms other cold spray and additive manufacturing techniques by depositing both ductile and brittle materials to any substrate of any shape without adhesives. The unique VCS nozzle and feed system preserves the functional qualities of brittle materials such as semiconductors, including thermoelectrics, and magnets, achieving a coating with greater than 99% density. The streamlined, portable, low-cost VCS design enables high-density, functional coatings in place, providing a viable pathway to creating energy-harvesting thermoelectric generators from heat-emitting industrial components of any form factor. These thermoelectric generators present an elegant solution — with no moving parts or chemicals — to begin to capture the 13 quadrillion BTUs of energy lost to waste heat each year from U.S. industrial operations. The LLNL/TTEC team that developed VCS has demonstrated its effectiveness in building a thermoelectric generator as well as its capability to apply magnetic coatings, creating permanent magnets inside motor housing or generator parts, and insulating materials, an important component of energy harvesting and storage devices.
Figure 1 The streamlined VCS spray unit (left) and controller (center) are portable, enabling easy setup for coating of industrial components and materials (right)