In business since it was founded to produce advanced radiators and oil coolers for professional race car teams, in 2015 Internatonal Mezzo Technoligies broadened its focus to work for NASA in collaboration with Lockheed Martin to develop the firm's microtube heat exchanger for use on the space agencys planned Orion spacecraft. The firm's 2019 SBIR contract with DOE further expands application of the International Mezzo Technologies capabilites to new arenas: development of a higher-temperature heat exchanger that could make energy conversion more efficient and affordable. Firm is working on design, manufacture, and test a compact, nickel-based superalloy supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) recuperator using laser-welded micro tubes and function at 800°C (1,472°F) and 275 bar (3,989 psi) - major shift on current capabiites. Using the laser welding micro tubes offer a low-cost approach to fabricating heat exchangers, potentially increasing the economic competitiveness of sCO2 power cycles. Heat exchangers are applied to better thermal energy use in a variety of uses, such as electricity generation, transportation and nuclear reactors.
