Tech Briefs Magazine - November 2021 - 64

SPINOFF
on Rosenberg, who worked in the outdoor
gear industry, learned the hard
way that the outdoor gear market still didn't
entirely take extreme conditions into
account. In just one day, the cold killed
the batteries in the camera he brought
when camping in the Rocky Mountains.
But he knew of a class of high-performance
insulation pioneered by NASA to
keep cryogenic rocket fuel chilled to
-423° F in the Florida heat. The key to
these insulators is a substance called
aerogel, which was invented before
NASA existed. It's made by removing all
the moisture from a gel - usually made
of silica - while leaving the solid structure
intact. The resulting material is
almost entirely air, pocketed in tiny
chambers. It weighs next to nothing and
is nearly impervious to heat. However,
until NASA got involved, it was also too
fragile to use.
J
In the 1990s, NASA's Kennedy Space
Center was looking for better insulation
to maintain the frigid temperatures
needed for storing space shuttle fuel.
The best cryogenic insulations at the
time were layered metallized thin films
that reflected radiated heat and could
be placed in a vacuum to prevent heat
conduction or convection. But they were
relatively expensive and heavy, and their
ability to conduct heat along their surfaces
caused complications.
A company called Aspen Systems had
an idea for incorporating aerogel into
flexible insulating blankets. They developed
a process to coat insulation fibers
with aerogel to trap air while also stopping
heat conduction. The process was
developed and honed over about 10
years. Today, NASA uses aerogel in myriad
ways and Aspen Aerogels has spun off
to specialize in what became one of the
most successful, widespread spinoffs in
NASA's history, incorporated into outdoor
wear, building and industrial insulation,
and more.
PrimaLoft is a brand known for highperformance
insulation since the 1980s.
64
Cov
Spinoff is NASA's annual publication featuring
successfully commercialized NASA technology. This
commercialization has contributed to the development
of products and services in the fields of health and
medicine, consumer goods, transportation, public safety,
computer technology, and environmental resources.
Keeping Warmer in the Great Outdoors
A long-time apparel insulator develops its own takes on popular NASA spinoff material.
Cold Case Gear founder Jon Rosenberg shows
his company's first product, the airtight, lightweight
West Slope smartphone pouch made
with PrimaLoft Gold Insulation Aerogel. (Credit:
Cold Case Gear)
After PrimaLoft employees toured the
Aspen Aerogels manufacturing facility
and became inspired, the company
began developing two new lines of aerogel
insulation. PrimaLoft began purchasing
aerogel blankets from Aspen,
enclosing them in a film to trap any dust
and make them easily manageable, and
cutting them down to fit in boots and
other gear to meet client demand.
This became the PrimaLoft Gold
Insulation Aerogel line and it's what
Rosenberg chose for his new startup,
Cold Case Gear, through which he aims
to build a line of pouches that will protect
small essentials like batteries, electronics,
and snacks. Because it traps air
more effectively than traditional materials,
the insulation can be thinner while
retaining performance. In 2021, Cold
Case Gear moved into full production of
its first product: the West Slope smartphone
case.
Another outdoor company that uses
this new iteration of aerogel blankets in
several products is Outdoor Research,
which began making footwear for the
most extreme winter climbing and in
2019, updated that product line with
www.techbriefs.com
ToC
In 2019, Outdoor Research began incorporating
encapsulated aerogel into some of its
gloves and footwear, where it insulates against
contact with cold objects like metal tools or
ice. (Credit: Outdoor Research)
aerogel insulation, also adding the
material into gloves, campsite footwear,
and a beanie.
PrimaLoft recently created a new line
called Cross Core for general-purpose
use in outdoor apparel. This started
with a bucket of aerogel dust created as
a byproduct from the manufacturing
process Aspen developed with NASA.
Rather than fixing aerogel around and
between fibers, PrimaLoft figured out
how to infuse the Aspen aerogel particles
into the inside of ultra-fine fibers.
The result is a fluffy, soft, breathable
insulation with 15 to 20% better thermal
performance than synthetic fibers
without aerogel. Dozens of apparel
companies are already incorporating
this new aerogel-infused insulation into
consumer products.
Visit https://spinoff.nasa.gov/keepingwarm.
Tech
Briefs, November 2021
https://spinoff.nasa.gov/keeping-warm http://www.techbriefs.com http://info.hotims.com/79419-902
Tech Briefs Magazine - November 2021

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