The streamlined VCS spray unit (left) and controller (center) are portable, enabling easy setup for coating of industrial components and materials (right).
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.
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