Military researchers consider converting reclaimed microelectronics waste heat into useful electricity
ARLINGTON, Va. – U.S. military researchers are notifying industry of their interest in a future project to capture waste heat from microelectronics packages and reclaim it as useful electric power.
Officials of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va., issued a special notice (DARPA-SN-25-69) on Thursday for the Microsystem Electricity Generation project.
Microsystems in commercial and defense applications consume significant amounts of power, DARPA researchers explain. This power transforms into heat and dissipates through the packages and heat sinks.
Microsystems waste heat
Instead, researchers in the DARPA Microsystems Technology Office (MTO) would like to develop technologies for microsystem packages that can capture waste heat and reclaim it as useful electricity.
Reclaiming waste heat from microchips might not be easy, however. The potential for heat reclamation efficiency is limited not only because of heat spreading, but also because today's reclamation devices cannot capture heat where it is generated in microsystems.
To overcome these limitations, DARPA researchers plan to ask industry for ways to tap microsystems waste heat from chips, substrates, and heat sinks in central processing units (CPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs), and RF amplifiers.
Finding these new approaches is necessary because low-grade waste heat provides great potential anywhere microsystems are present; without it, designers are leaving the greatest readily available source of electrical power on the table, DARPA researchers say.
Dissipating heat
One of today's challenges involves microelectronics waste heat that dissipates faster than it can be reclaimed efficiently. Still, it would be worth it to overcome today's challenges because energy reclamation enables new capabilities anywhere microsystems can be found. These include small uncrewed aircraft, satellites, aircraft, large surface warships, and large data centers.
DARPA is not issuing calls for abstracts, white papers, or proposals on the Microsystem Electricity Generation project yet; this notice simply is to tell industry about DARPA's interest.
Email technical and administrative questions or concerns to DARPA at [email protected]. More information, including a slide show, is online at https://sam.gov/opp/cfd1410bd9114d9bb35d78a243e76889/view.
John Keller | Editor-in-Chief
John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.
