Cryogel™ Blankets Space and Commercial Applications
A NEW ENGLAND COMPANY,
USING A NASA space age insulation material, has developed a new
superinsulating blanket with numerous commercial and space applications.
Using aerogel, a material with exceptional insulating properties,
Aspen Systems Inc. of Marlborough, Massachusetts, developed a blanket
with an insulation factor higher than any other engineering material.
The aerogel helped Aspen reduce the cost of operating and maintaining
cryogenic systems, as well as make possible a variety of new commercial
applications to benefit consumers.
The current primary market for the Cryogel™ blanket is the
cryogenic insulation market, according to Kang Lee, Aspen Systems
president, but potential markets are many. They include: insulation
for offshore oil well underwater pipelines; refrigerators in luxury
yachts; shipping containers; household freezers, refrigerators and
ovens; spacecraft to guard against deep space cold and the refrigeration
and heating of containers within the spacecraft.
Additional market possibilities are: refractory insulation for
automotive firewalls, floorboards, exhaust systems, race cars and
guidance airfoils in rockets; high-efficiency filtering media for
heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, respirators
and automotive air intake; high-surface-area catalysts; noise suppression
honeycomb structural panels for aircraft and acoustic damping insulation
for buildings, process equipment, head phones, vehicle head liners
and combustion furnaces. There is even a potential market in skylights
and translucent panels for buildings, Lee added.
Potential space applications include the Reusable Launch Vehicle,
Space Shuttle upgrades and interplanetary propulsion and life support
equipment. Aerogel is also being tested for the Space Shuttle upgrade
to a nontoxic orbital maneuvering system, which includes the need
for a high-performance insulation of liquid oxygen tanks and feedlines.
Working under a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract
with Kennedy Space Center, Aspen Systems responded to NASA's need
for an aerogel-based cryogenic insulation system with extremely
low thermal conductivity that is flexible, durable and easy to use.
The Space Shuttle program at Kennedy is particularly interested
in the superinsulation because of the large amounts of cryogenic
fluids consumed during many phases of the launch processing operations.
NASA engineer James Fesmire explained that prototype superinsulation
systems are currently being field-tested at Kennedy. The basic form
of the system is a blanket composed of aerogel-based composites
and radiation shield layers. The final product can be a blanket,
sheet or clamshell unit, depending on the application.
For the cryogenic insulation market, Cryogel™ will be cheaper
than the existing competing technology, multilayer insulation. Compared
to multilayer insulation, aerogel allows a two- to three-order-of-magnitude
reduction in the insulation jacket's required vacuum. This translates
into significantly smaller vacuum stations, rendering reduced operating
and maintenance costs.
For the refrigeration market, Cryogel™ will allow thinner
refrigerator walls, which will increase the refrigerated volume
of the system. For the translucent panels and skylight market, the
product will allow significant light transmissions with a fraction
of the heat loss associated with competing technologies.
Aspen Systems, founded in 1984 to provide its clients with research
and development services, currently has a small pilot manufacturing
plant. Commercial sales of Cryogel™ are less than $100,000
per year, Lee said. Aspen Systems plans to build an interim pilot
plant to increase its production rate twenty-fold and prove the
practicality of scaling up its concept.
Aspen sold or sent samples of its aerogel to organizations to
help identify new markets. The result has been a remarkable realization
of the vast potential of the company's aerogel products. Although
the exact financial size of these markets has not been identified,
they nonetheless represent potentially lucrative commercial markets.
For more information, contact Tom Gould at Kennedy Space Center.
Call: 407/867-6238, Fax: 407/867-2050, E-mail: Thomas.Gould-1@kmail.
ksc.nasa.gov
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