Illinois-based Livingston Products has developed a new liquid cooling pump system that uses the heat from a battery to propel a proprietary cooling fluid through a system of tubes. The Transthermal Heat Bridge, the subject of more than ten individual patents pending, can be scaled to fit almost any battery configuration, according to the company, from a laptop computer to a vehicle or large-scale battery storage unit.

The key to the system is a bubble pump that does not require an energy source to run.  Waste heat from the battery activates the pump, which cycles the cooling agent as long as the device is running. The coolant is a slurry that consists of a liquid with a low boiling point and microspheres formed of metallic foam. The microspheres flow onto a heat source and penetrate the coolant boundary layer, transferring heat from the source onto the microspheres and thence to a heat-dissipating component.

“Heat kills all battery types and the charging rate is limited by the temperature rise caused by the charging current and chemical processes in the battery,” said Livingston founder and President Troy Livingston.  “We have simply found a way to use this heat to our advantage as energy to move a cooling agent. We think the Transthermal Heat Bridge has applications in all modes of transportation using batteries, from cars and buses to military vehicles and commercial airplanes.”

Source: US Patent Office, Livingston Products