Collins To Bring SpaceChiller to Bizjets

Collins Aerospace will bring its new multifunctional SpaceChiller thermoelectric aircraft cooling system to the business aviation market, the company recently told BJT.  SpaceChiller was introduced to the airline market earlier this month at Hamburg’s Aircraft Interiors Exposition, where it won the Crystal Cabin Award in the passenger comfort category.

Modular, compact, lightweight, and requiring no refrigerant, SpaceChiller employs “breakthrough” heat exchange technology that is well suited for use in aircraft cabins, “particularly for smaller aircraft,” said Brian St. Rock, the engineering director for Collins interiors’ advanced technology organization. SpaceChiller can provide “compact and convenient chilling capacity to areas where it was previously limited, or couldn’t be chilled at all.” Possible near-term cabin applications include in-seat mini bars, chilled snack bars, “and also providing enhanced thermal comfort for VIP customers.”

Derived from advanced avionics cooling systems that Collins developed for military aircraft, individual SpaceChiller units weigh about one pound and measure five inches square and 1.5 inches deep. It can quickly bring items to food-safe temperatures or provide proper chilling of items ranging from ice cream to Champagne, St. Rock noted, allowing passengers “infinite flexibility in controlling a thermal environment.”

Collins disclosed no details on discussions with aircraft manufacturers, but given the maturity of the technology and SpaceChiller, “We could enter the market with an industrialized product within a year,” St. Rock said.