Heaters for Electron Guns Navy SBIR FY2013.1 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2013.1 Topic No.: N131-023 Topic Title: Heaters for Electron Guns Proposal No.: N131-023-0453 Firm: InnoSys 2900 South Main Street Salt Lake City, Utah 84115 Contact: Jennifer Hwu Phone: (801) 975-7399 Web Site: www.innosystech.com Abstract: The need for wire that is able to be heated up to high temperatures span a very large and diverse number applications and fields of use from everday consumer applications to advanced military and industrial applications. Some of these applications require heater wire that operate at very high temperatures. There are still a number of military and defense systems that use vacuum tubes/electronics. For example, some of the typical vacuum electronic devices (VEDs) that produce the electron beams. The Navy is using rhenium-tungsten (abbreviated Re-W or W-Re) heater wire in existing vacuum tube technologies to heat the cathodes of the electron guns. Domestic manufacturing sources for this type of heater wire are decreasing causing a continual increase in the costs to both government and industry to manufacture and purchase the wire. Various factors combine to create the diminishing manufacturing base. To address this need for a replacement heater wire/heater assembly for this Navy SBIR program, we propose two approaches for replacing the traditional and conventional method of W-Re heater wire fabrication. These two innovative approaches provide highly efficient precise, cost-effective heater solutions for cathodes for VEDs provide equivalent or enhanced performance at lower cost and are amenable to automated manufacturing. Benefits: Anticipated benefits/potential commercial applications of the research or development are vast and diverse and include dual use needs for both the military and commercial sectors and markets, for example, microwave tubes with dispenser cathodes utilized in many military systems and commercial or government systems and industrial settings. The potential for rhenium-tungsten wire replacement which is currently used for heating elements in high temperature furnaces,thermocouples, and in electronics is significant. The new capabilities and materials to be developed under this Navy SBIR would have commercial applications in industrial and semiconductor sputtering, food processing, large electric motor control, electric vehicles, linear accelerators (LINACS), X-Ray machines, etc. Other possible commercial applications include fusion and plasma research, materials processing and civilian radars. Return