From concept to consumer-the commercialization of technology [heat pipes]

The path leading to the commercialization of technology is littered with far more unsuccessful projects than is generally appreciated. The odds on the success of a given project have been likened to those of wildcatting in the oil or gas industry: perhaps one-in-three to one-in-five within a previously established field and from one-in-six to one-in-ten in a new field. This paper examines the commercialization of heat pipe technology as seen through the eyes of the authors, who themselves helped to make it happen. It covers the period from August 1962 to the present. This is the time span from the initial concept of the heat pipe, as reinvented by Dr. George M. Grover of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, to the present day production at DTX of more than 4000 heat pipes per day. The initial application, Government-sponsored nuclear power in space, has not prospered. The present volume market lies in the cooling of CPU chips in notebook computers. The paper explores the personal, engineering, facilitation and market aspects of this transition.