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Orlando, Fla. (February 16, 2004) - Rini Technologies, Inc. (RTI), a UCF Technology Incubator company focused on thermal management technologies, today announced that the company has secured two Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts and one Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) contract together totaling over $900,000.
Dr. Daniel P .Rini, president of RTI, said the company was awarded a Phase II SBIR contract for approximately $750,000 with funds allocated by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and contracted by the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL), to build a subscale prototype of a lightweight cooling system for laser weapons using RTI's patented evaporative spray cooling technology. In the preceding Phase I SBIR, RTI established that a laser cooling system using RTI's spray technology would yield a 3x reduction in the weight and size of the cooling system, enabling the combined laser and cooling system to fit onto compact military platforms, including fighter aircraft and mobile ground vehicles.
RTI also procured a Phase I STTR and a Phase I SBIR with a combined total of $170,000, both funded and contracted by NASA. The Phase I STTR effort will establish the feasibility of developing an astronaut thermal management system using technology RTI is currently developing for Army soldiers deployed in hot and hazardous environments and has potential cooling applications for soldiers, firefighters, first responders and HazMat workers. This is a "water bottle" size refrigeration system worn on the hip that cools the body via a water vest. RTI proposed the use of this technology to NASA for cooling and heating astronauts on future planetary missions. RTI will subcontract one-third of this effort to Dr Louis Chow and Dr Jay Kapat from the Department of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of Central Florida.
"The research of Drs. Chow and Kapat in the field of miniature systems is invaluable for this program," said Rini.
RTI, along with researchers at UCF, has developed a centrifugal compressor design resulting in a more reliable and higher cooling capacity reverse turbo-brayton cycle (RTBC) cryocooler. RTI is developing a small scale centrifugal compressor for use in compact spray cooling systems and RTBC cryocoolers. The Phase I SBIR effort will determine if the RTI compressor design, which can reduce the temperature of space-based electronics and sensors to 250 degrees below freezing, is suitable for use with NASA applications.
Founded in 2000 by Dr. Daniel P. Rini, Rini Technologies, Inc., RTI is developing advanced cooling technologies to address one of the most critical issues for the U.S. Department of Defense; thermal management for deployment of solid-state laser technology on mobile tactical vehicles like a fighter jet, tank or HMMWV. With its first patent awarded in June 2003, RTI has seven additional patents pending for the design and application of the thermal management technologies under development at RTI. For more information, please contact 407-384-7840.
Since its founding in 1999, the UCF Technology Incubator has helped more than 70 emerging technology companies create over $140 million in revenue and more than 450 new jobs with an average salary of $59,000. As a result of this success, the UCF Technology Incubator was recently named the 2004 Technology Incubator of the Year by the National Business Incubation Association. Headquartered in Research Park near the University, the Incubator is a true collaboration in economic development between UCF, Orange County , the City of Orlando and the Florida High Tech Corridor Council. For more information, please visit http://www.incubator.ucf.edu
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Contacts:
Melissa Debach 407-882-0205 UCF Technology Incubator
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