11-12-02

By David Stauth, 541-737-0787, and Gregg Kleiner, 541-753-0018
SOURCE: Kevin Drost, 541-737-2575

CORVALLIS - Some day soon, members of the American armed forces who have to fight in a sweltering hot desert climate may wear a suit fitted with a tiny, lightweight heat pump that cools them off.

In the future, microreactors the size of a cigarette lighter might run a laptop computer for weeks, instead of using batteries that die in hours. Minuscule medical devices would manufacture chemicals such as insulin right inside the human body. And humans may travel to Mars.

If any of these things become possible, it will be because of the fascinating new innovations being created with microtechnology. In the past 20 years, advances in microelectronics helped usher in the Information Age, computers and the Internet. In coming decades, advances in microtechnology may affect everything from our automobiles to medicine, home heating, pollution control and national defense.

And the Pacific Northwest, experts say, may lead this technological revolution.

"In the past, anything 'micro' tended to come out of the fields of electrical engineering or computer science, and was made out of silicon or computer chips," said Kevin Drost, a professor of mechanical engineering at Oregon State University. "But there's so much more to microtechnology than that, and the breakthrough products of the future may evolve from mechanical and chemical engineering."

Researchers at OSU and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory believe the newly formed "Microproducts Breakthrough Institute" could become an international leader in developing new scientific advances in microtechnology, create spin off companies and jobs, and make the Pacific Northwest a national center of some of the most exciting new technologies in the world.

The current initiative, Drost said, grew out of work at PNNL in Richland, Wash., about a decade ago, when it became apparent to researchers that very high rates of heat and mass transfer could be achieved if processes functioned at the extraordinarily small sizes of 10-100 microns - around the thickness of a human hair. OSU scientists were also early leaders in this field.

A heat exchanger working at these sizes, for instance, has about five times the efficiency of one that uses larger components. Such small sizes also lend themselves to chemical and biological systems, in which temperature, pressure or nutrients can be precisely controlled. And the small sizes and precision depend not so much on exotic new materials, but on innovative fabrication techniques with some tried-and-true materials such as copper, aluminum, and stainless steel - along with a few more modern polymers, plastics and ceramics.

"These processes are also amenable to mass production and scales of economy," said Drost. "That's one reason it's so exciting. These technologies are close enough that we can think about developing working products, creating new businesses and jobs."

Working heat pumps, for instance, have been around for decades. They're a fairly efficient form of heating used in millions of homes. Imagine, as an alternative to a conventional noisy system, many miniaturized heat pumps so small and quiet that one could be placed inside the wall in each room, allowing individually controlled heating and cooling. This eliminates energy losses in ductwork, performs at an even higher efficiency and dramatically reduces installation costs. This single product might save billions of dollars in energy costs and revolutionize home and business air conditioning around the world. And that's just a start.

"We predict that 10 years from now you'll be seeing microtechnology products in your daily lives," Drost said. "We're going to change how people live."

Collaborators from OSU and PNNL are already busy on a new three-year, $7 million project funded by the Department of Defense to create portable cooling systems that could be used by individuals in combat. Such suits might also be invaluable to firefighters or other professionals who have to do critical work in extraordinarily hot conditions.

A prototype of the new system should be complete within three years, researchers say, weigh perhaps 3-4 pounds and be able to cool a person for several hours before refueling.

Other projects either underway, or considered at some point in the future include:

• A biosensor the size of a lapel pin currently under development will detect chemical and biological warfare agents, and other environmental toxins like E.coli.

• Chemical reactors are being created for new environmental applications, such as pen-sized reactors capable of cleaning up underground toxic waste onsite by converting it into inert components.

• Heat-actuated air conditioning units to cool automobiles using waste engine heat.

• Water-cooled micro-chips with tiny "veins" etched into the surface to transfer heat and allow for even faster computer chips.

• Tiny devices that produce on-site small volumes of hazardous materials needed by industry, eliminating the need to transport the materials.

• Microprocessing fuel plants sent to Mars to provide astronauts the necessary fuel for a return trip to Earth.

• Small systems to produce hydrogen for fuel cells in automobiles, changing a power plant that now fills the back of a pickup truck into a unit the size of a briefcase.

Another key goal of the initiative, officials say, is to bridge the gap between fundamental research in the laboratory and applied processes ready to license to industry - a 1-3 year gap in which many good concepts die and never make it to the marketplace.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is a feature sidebar that accompanies a news story headlined "OSU, PNNL Join Forces in New Microproducts Institute." Digital images to help illustrate these stories can be obtained at the web site of PNNL, at http://picturethis.pnl.gov News & Communication Services Homepage
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