The largest immediate NASA application of the proposed thermoelectric materials is the radioisotope thermoelectric generator, already being used in a large number of NASA missions. The unmatched efficiency combined with the light weight of the proposed material will provide the competitive advantage to MicroXact sufficient for successful market penetration, and will result in significant savings to NASA. Other potential NASA applications include energy recovery from processors and other electronics. The proposed concept, when developed and commercialized, is expected to cause a significant impact on the cost, safety and reliability of future NASA missions.
The proposed ultraefficient thermoelectric materials and devices are expected to find applications in automotive and aviation industry (to reduce the fuel consumption), as well as in electronic device cooling (microprocessors, focal plane arrays, etc.), food storage/processing (wine cellars, refrigerant-free refrigerators). Automotive applications are expected to be the most important market for the proposed technology due to both the large size and readiness of the market.
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