invents / designs / analyzes / fabricates / tests thermal control components & systems for ground / air / space applications
Thermotive designs, fabricates, and tests high-conductance flexible thermal straps and thermal control systems for scientific instruments and space hardware. Its Pyrovo(R) Pyrolytic Graphite Film thermal straps are patent-pending with confirmed space flight heritage on NASA missions including the International Space Station. Staff includes California-licensed Professional Engineers with experience at Federally Funded Research and Development Centers, space agencies, and research universities.
Eugenio "Keno" Urquiza
High-conductance flexible thermal straps in aluminum, copper, and Pyrovo(R) pyrolytic graphite film, available as standard Lab Series and Standard Series products or fully custom designs made to specification.
Patent-pending pyrolytic graphite film straps with space flight heritage. Specific thermal conductivity (k/rho) is 10x better than aluminum and 20x better than copper, with even higher conductivity at cryogenic temperatures. Available in standard and custom configurations.
Lab Series (most economical, off-the-shelf components) and Standard Series (conductance made-to-specification, several foil width and terminal options) straps in aluminum or copper foil; fully custom straps also available.
Most economical option using copper rope or braid where stiffness, mass, and volume are less critical than cost.
Thermal straps integrated with a thermoelectric cooler for precise temperature control at a thermally sensitive interface in vacuum applications.
End-to-end design and implementation of thermal control systems, including interface design, thermoelectric device sizing and selection, and system-level thermal management for vacuum and space environments.
Standardized and custom thermal strap and interface design for devices operating in vacuum environments.
Thermoelectric device sizing, selection, and integration with control systems and trim heaters for temperature-sensitive scientific instruments.
Computational thermal and mechanical analysis supporting design verification and optimization.
Prototype and component testing in ambient and vacuum environments, including full thermal vacuum performance characterization.
Precision fabrication, cleaning, structural bonding, and sensor attachment for thermal hardware from conception through delivery.
Active R&D in aerospace instrument thermal control, including advanced flexible thermal straps, deployable passive radiators for small satellites, innovative heat switch designs, and phase change material energy storage.
Research into lighter, more conductive, more flexible, and cleaner thermal strap technologies beyond current foil-type designs.
Development of deployable passive radiators for instruments and small satellites, including CubeSats and NanoSats.
Hydrocarbon-based PCM devices with high heat of fusion for stabilizing orbital temperatures of pulsed-operation instruments and components.
Aerospace · Space · Defense · Federal · Research Facilities · Laboratories · Electronics · Semiconductors · Telecommunications · Medical Devices
Space · 2017 · Client: University of Alabama in Huntsville / NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
Designed, fabricated, and tested custom copper and aluminum thermal hardware for the STP-H5 Lightning Imaging Sensor. The hardware stabilizes the temperature of the instrument's optical detector. The LIS launched February 19, 2017 aboard SpaceX CRS-10 on the Falcon 9 rocket and was mounted to the ISS.
Space · 2017 · Client: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Delivered thermal hardware integrated into the Deep Space Atomic Clock payload aboard Surrey Satellite US's Orbital Test Bed spacecraft. The clock is an ultra-precise mercury-ion atomic clock developed at JPL for deep-space navigation.
Space · 2017 · Client: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory / MIT
Delivered custom thermal hardware for ASTERIA, a JPL-MIT collaboration designed to achieve arcsecond-level pointing error and highly stable focal plane temperature control. The hardware supports the precision thermal control system that isolates the payload, passively cools the detector, and uses trim heaters for temperature correction. ASTERIA was deployed from the ISS in November 2017.
Space · 2016 · Client: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Pyrovo(R) PGF thermal straps replaced a heat pipe in an electronics cooling application on OCO-3, a NASA-JPL space instrument designed to investigate carbon dioxide distribution on Earth from the International Space Station.