Plasma-Sprayed Thin-Film Selective Emitters

Creare, Inc.

Hanover, NH 

Use of a thermal-spray process to fabricate composite layers of oxides and metals to control spectral emittance

• Demonstrated selective emission characteristics at high temperatures up to 1800 K
• Demonstrated tuned spectral emittance using various rare-earth and doped oxide layers
• Demonstrated reduced out-of-band emittance through the use of reflective metal layers

• U.S. Patent #6379789 issued 4/30/2002
• $100K of commercial development funding for a back-surface reflector (BSR) for IR paper-drying equipment
• Technology laid groundwork for $2.5M project to develop thermophotovoltaic (TPV) power converters for planetary missions
  
• $10K of product sales to JX Crystals Inc. for TPV system components
  
• Pending DoE proposal to integrate BSR in a paper plant for testing and commercialization
  

• Key technology for development of TPV for radioisotope power systems for long-duration planetary missions
  
• Helped Glenn Research Center develop high-temperature optical temperature instrument incorporating a fiber-optic sensor element