NASA, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center, Procurement Office, Marshall Space Flight Center, AL 35812

44 -- PROTOTYPE HEAT PIPE CARTRIDGE ASSEMBLIES SOL 8-W-6-FA-35275 POC Contact Nettie P. Warren, GP24-U/Contract Specialist, 205-544-0301, or Elaine W. Hamner, GP24/Contracting Officer NASA/MSFC plans to issue a Request for Quotation (RFQ) for the design, fabriation, and delivery of two prototype heat pipe cartridge assemblies in accordance with the statement of work and sketch -- NASA/MSFC intends to purchase from Thermacore, Inc., 789 Eden Road, Lancaster, PA 17601 the following items: Item 1, Prototype Heat Pipe Cartridge Assemblies per sketch and statement of work, 2 ea -- This procurement is being conducted under the Simplified Acquisition Threshold (SAT) portion of the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act (FASA) -- The cartridge assemblies shall be constructed of a Monel alloy, with a sintered Monel wick structure -- Prototype cartridge design and assembly drawings and/or sketches shall be provided to the MSFC within 10 days after contract award -- Two identical prototype heat pipe cartridge assemblies shall be fabricated in accordance with the approved design within 10 weeks after contract award -- The assemblies shall be evacuated, charged with working fluid, and sealed -- The design shall provide a uniform cylindrical envelope equal to the heat pipe inner cartridge inner diameter both internally and externally at the condensor end of the cartridge assembly to facilitate experiment ampoule changeout and egress of test thermocouples -- Ampoule changeout shall be accomplished via the condenser end of the cartridge -- The evaporator end of the sample volume shall be closed, i.e., capped -- The working fluid within the prototype heat pipe cartridge shall be water -- The contractor shall define the means for verifying the pressure integrity of each cartridge with regard to working fluid charge -- The prototype heat pipe cartridge design shall be capable of rejecting a minimum of 150 watts from the cartridge inner wall at the evaporator section, with a design goal of 250 watts -- Axial variation of the heat transfer characteristics along the length of the unit, i.e., over the course of sample translation, shall be minimized to the degree possible, with a design goal of a constant level of heat rejection independent of evaporator position -- The condenser secton of the heat pipe cartridge shall be cooled during all operational periods by direct contact with a water cooling jacket maintained between 15 - 40oC -- A 10-inch length of the cartridge opposite the condenser will be inserted within a furnace maintained at temperatures between 300 - 1300oC -- The remainder of the cartridge assembly not explicitly mentioned above will be subject to intermediate temperatures determined by radiative view factors to the furnace bore and conductive/convective effects -- The heat pipe working fluid enclosure of the cartridge assemblies shall incorporate an integral burst disk to provide pressure relief in the event of loss of condensor cooling -- The pressure relief design shall ensure that the maximum internal pressure of the annular heat pipe portion of the cartridges does not exceed 100 psia -- The burst disk shall be designed to vent at the condenser end of the cartridge and in a direction perpendicular to the cartridge axis -- The heat pipe cartridge assembly shall include a condenser section 3 inches in length which shall be mechanically mated (clamped) to a cooling jacket -- Immediately adjacent to the condenser, an evaporator section 10 inches in length shall be provided -- The sample ampoule extension section of the heat pipe shall be 1.5 inches in length -- The pressure relief and charging ports shall be located within an axial envelope 2 inches in length adjacent to the condenser (opposite the evaporator section) but outside the keep out zone limitations -- A cylindrical volume of 0.527 inches diameter shall be provided in the heat pipe cartridge for housing of the sample/ampoule assembly -- The outer diameter of the cartridge inner shell shall be approximately 0.625 inches in diameter -- The outside diameter of the cartridge outer shall be approximately 1 inch, with a maximum acceptable diameter of 1.009 inches -- To ensure successful cartridge integration with the test furnace assembly, the plumbing required for the heat pipe cartridge charging port, charging shut-off valve, and burst disk assembly shall be located within the mounting envelope limitations -- The plumbing shall occupy no greater than 180o angular portion of this cylindrical volume -- Prior to delivery to NASA/MSFC, the prototype heat pipe cartridge assemblies shall successfully complete a functional test to verify proper operation and heat transfer capability -- Note: This procuremen is sole-source based on predominant experience with both centered metal technology and heat pipe design -- Interested firms have 15 days from the publication date of this synopsis to submit in writing their qualifications/capabilities in the critical areas mentioned above -- Such qualifications/capabilities will be used solely for the purpose of determining whether or not to conduct this procurement on a competitive basis -- Responses received after the 15 days or without the required information will be considered nonresponsive to the synopsis and will not be considered -- A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed contract, on a full and open competitive basis, based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the Government -- See Numbered Note 22 -- Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice -- Responses must be submitted in writing -- Transmission by facsimile to 205-544-0301 or by Internet e-mail to nettie.warren@msfc.nasa.gov is acceptable -- The solicitation and any related documents to this procurement will be available over the Internet -- These documents will be in ASCII format and reside on a World-Wide Web (WWW) server, which may be accessed using client browsers, such as, MOSAIC -- The WWW address, or URL, of the MSFC Procurement home page is: ''http://procure.msfc.nasa.gov''. 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