Legov Systems Group, Boise, Idaho, has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant for $225,000 to conduct research and development (R&D) work on a shape memory alloy (SMA) Thermal Energy Harvesting System.
The innovation will be an SMA actuator comprised of a novel, porous SMA material operating in a compact rotary form. The porous material’s small feature size will allow for fast heat transfer and phase transformation, compared to solid SMA actuators. The grant will support research headed by Legov Systems Group co-founders, Julie Slaughter, Kelly Rowles, and Rick Zrostlik.
“NSF is proud to support the technology of the future by thinking beyond incremental developments and funding the most creative, impactful ideas across all markets and areas of science and engineering,” said Andrea Belz, division director of the Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships at NSF. “With the support of our research funds, any deep technology startup or small business can guide basic science into meaningful solutions that address tremendous needs.”
“Legov Systems Group is developing fast-acting SMA actuators as a key part of our thermal energy harvesting system,” Zrostlik said. “This novel actuator is expected to result in the recovery of substantially more power from low-grade waste heat than competing technologies, potentially leading to reduced operating costs, reduced energy demands, and improved sustainability for targeted users such as owners/operators of combined heat and power (CHP) installations, metal manufacturers, chemical and food processors, industrial boilers, and other industrial facilities currently unable to recover the substantial amounts of low-grade waste heat that their facilities generate.”
