IIT-Patna student devises coolant fit for use in space, gets patent

PATNA: An IIT-Patna student and a faculty member of its mechanical department have got patent for their 'Surfactant Based Boiling System for Zero Gravity' cooling device, which can protect electronic systems from overheating even in space.
Qaiser Raza, who completed his PhD recently from the institute on 'Heat Transfer', along with faculty member Rishi Raj, had applied for a patent for the device in February 2015 and procured it (314531) on June 24 from the Indian Patent Office, which is administered by the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (CGPDTM), government of India.
Raza and Raj started their invention in 2013 at Thermal and Fluid Transport Laboratory (TFTL) of IIT-Patna and completed it in 2015. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has collaborated with the TFTL at IIT-P to assess the potential of this cooling device, which may be used in satellite in future. Raj said he is working with ISRO on this project, but refused to share more details.
Raj told this newspaper on Sunday that the electronic devices used on earth do not work the same way in space because of loss of gravity. "So, we have replaced water with aqua surfactant solution (water mixed with detergent) to make this cooling device that can work even in space. The equipment we designed is lightweight and called boiling-based thermal control system (TCS) for space applications," he said.
"The surfactants we used in the device is found in common soaps and detergents to avoid vapour accumulation and remove bubbles away from the heat surface, even in the absence of gravity," Raj said.
'Device is lightweight, inexpensive'
"Due to the limitations, the scientists use conventional single-phase strategies which use pumps that cool down the space-based electronic systems. Such techniques are typically bulky and energy intensive and, hence, incur high launch and maintenance costs. This device is lightweight and inexpensive," Raj explained and added: "Its size depends on its application in space devices."
Raj had done his post-doctoral research from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and PhD from University of Maryland, College Park, in the USA.
He hails from Bhagalpur and did his BTech from IIT Guwahati and Intermediate from BN College, Patna.
Expressing his delight, Raza said it was a very good experience for him and he will further research in heat transfer. He is going to pursue his post-doctoral research in heat transfer at University of Toulouse, France.