A small Raleigh startup that makes miniature electronic heat pumps has scored $10 million in venture capital to create prototypes of its product for demonstration to potential customers.
Phononic Devices, with 10 employees at its Centennial Campus office, plans to hire up to 20 scientists and engineers in the next 18 months as it ramps up production of its thermodynamic devices.
The 2-year-old company is developing a product designed at Oklahoma University to replace conventional equipment that removes heat from computer and refrigeration components.
"We think we an tackle compressors head on," said Phononic CEO Anthony Atti. "What we can deliver is better efficiency at a lower cost."
Phononic is hiring materials scientists and semiconductor device and packaging engineers.
In the past two years, Phononic won a prestigious $3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy and $2 million in venture capital. The first $5 million went into research, development and design.
The latest round of venture financing will pay for further testing and assembly of prototypes to be pilot-tested with potential customers.
The semiconductor material used to make the Phononic product comes from a proprietary chemical compound, Atti said.
John Murawski has been a full-time newspaper reporter since 1991, with stints at Legal Times and The Chronicle of Philanthropy (both in Washington, DC), The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Palm Beach Post (in South Florida) before arriving at the N&O in December 2004. At the N&O he covers energy (nuclear, coal, renewable, efficiency), utilities (electric, natural gas, telephone) and telecommunications. His beat includes such publicly traded companies as Progress Energy, Duke Energy, PSNC Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas, PowerSecure International, Tekelec, Cisco Systems, AT&T, among others. You can reach him at 919-829-8932 or 
