Near term potential NASA commercial applications include incorporation within current and next-generation: EVA spacesuit gloves and boots and "zero-G" station boots. Additional NASA commercial applications include new spacesuits to support planned Lunar and Martian environment service as well as enabling near earth asteroid (NEAs) exploration. Both of the thermal control technologies presented herein could also be readily leveraged as personal garments for building occupants to extend their range of thermal comfort. Passive and active technologies may reduce the national energy expenditure on thermal control within buildings by allowing the neutral-band to be expanded. Since the majority of the nation's yearly energy expenditures revolve around the thermal control of commercial and residential buildings, garments that take advantage of NanoSonic's existing technologies could yield substantial savings in energy costs. Beyond the incorporation of flexible Metal Rubber heating circuits into space glove, diver gloves and boots, and first responder glove systems, there are other applications of Metal Rubber heater and other circuits and Metal Rubber material itself. Unlike so‐called 'flex circuits,' which can bend but not be strained, Metal Rubber circuits are truly flexible and stretchable. The future of such circuits lies in personal communication and display equipment, biomedical diagnostic sensors and equipment, and as sensors of large physical displacements that cannot be measured without failure by conventional foil strain gages. NanoSonic currently works with a major U.S. biomedical system manufacturer and several U.S. aerospace companies in these areas, and all have purchased NanoSonic's Metal Rubber material products.
More »