The objective of this proposal is to demonstrate the feasibility of an innovative design that combines centrifugal separation, cross-flow filtration (CFF), Dean flow surface cleaning and back-flush techniques into an effective micro-filtration unit. The centrifugal separation is effective in… More

The objective of this proposal is to continue the development of the innovative design that combines a surfactant-inert and water-selective filter cartridge with centrifugal separation, cross-flow filtration (CFF), Dean Flow surface cleaning, andback-flush techniques into an effective… More

"Cased Telescoped Ammunition (CTA) has the potential to allow use of lighter ammunition-feed swing chambers, and more efficient ammunition storage, which will move the Army toward the lighter vehicles required by the Future Combat Systems (FCS) program.Technical obstacles have blocked the widespread… More

Modern airfoil design evaluation requires accurate analysis of both structural dynamic as well as fluid oscillatory response. The level of calculation reliability has, in principle, increased significantly, so that now the opportunity exists to optimize aeroelastic behavior in the design stage. This… More

Short ammunition-feed swing chambers and efficient on-vehicle ammunition storage, consistent with Cased Telescoped Ammunition (CTA), will facilitate the Army's Force Transformation, through lighter vehicles required by the Future Combat Systems (FCS)program for the Objective Force. Sealing of… More

Using MSI?s Stochastic Optimization of Aeroelastic Response (SOAR) framework, time-savings of several-fold can be achieved during the airframe conceptual design stage. The availability of fast and inexpensive computers along with higher-fidelity design models has provided the opportunity to optimize… More

The inexpensive RPG has caused havoc with US armored vehicles since WWII. Therefore, MSI has conceived of an active protection system that consists of six evenly spaced stationary horizontal gun tubes, able to shoot projectiles containing thousands of tungsten balls toward an RPG firing, as… More

The proposed acoustic evaluation technology is a major improvement over past art because, in addition to monitoring naturally occurring operational noise, it uses artificial stimulation to determine component "ring-out" frequency response. This independently establishes excitation forces separate… More

MSI has conceived a novel wall penetration and behind-wall-activated munition in lethal and nonlethal varieties. The U.S. Army currently does not possess a compact, man-portable weapon specifically designed to breach structure walls and deliver a submunition of choice (lethal or nonlethal) to an… More

United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) currently has identified a need to develop improved door breaching capabilities. In response, Mechanical Solutions, Inc. (MSI) has conceived a novel, non-lethal, door-breaching munition. This 12-gauge shotgun round would contain magnetic powder… More

MSI's Phase II effort will produce and install a fully operational system capable of autonomously performing online diagnostic and prognostic calculations for the determination of rotating machinery system health using an acoustic intensity image as the basis for diagnosis. The system will be… More

The proposed development project delivers an RPG defeat system for U.S. Marine Corps Light Armored Vehicles. The Shotscreen RPG Defeat system is lightweight compared to competing concepts, and incorporates simplistic technology in an effort to provide a rapid fielding potential and high probability… More

The feasibility of a Multi-mode Wall Penetrating munition delivered by an M203 grenade launcher has been demonstrated. An initial "shot" non-lethally performs the wall penetrating function. A second shot delivers the multi-mode lethal or non-lethal generic submunition. Both shots are contained in… More

Driven partly by a succession of catastrophic accidents, the U.S. armed services began insensitive munitions (IM) technology development some time ago. However, most of these efforts to date, including new packaging technologies, have focused on tactical applications such as bombs, small missiles,… More

There are several ongoing challenges in non-contacting stress measurement systems (NSMS) that have limited the applicability of blade tip sensors for general purpose blade health monitoring. Two of the most pressing needs to address are the undersampling that is inherent in time-of-arrival data… More

Characterizing the dynamic response of advanced turbomachinery designs is often challenged by the real-world limits in the amount of instrumentation that is available, and by instrumentation longevity. By combining data from multiple sources, and tightly integrating the test results with… More

The proposed system will be capable of providing diagnostic and prognostic nonlinear structural analysis for gas turbine engine metallic components and component assemblies. This approach will use vibration testing and analysis techniques that have proven to be successful for determining… More

The proposed approach adds critical and innovative methods to existing vibration and electric current based CBM systems that allow more detailed evaluation of machinery health. The key methods, termed as TAPT (Time Averaged Pulse) and BLIPT (Bump Load Induced Pulse), involve artificial stimulation… More

There are several ongoing challenges in non-contacting blade vibration and stress measurement systems that can address closely spaced modes and blade-to-blade variations (mistuning). Traditional NSMS systems are applicable but have limitations due to the undersampling that is inherent in… More

The Marine Corps Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) experiences excessive air handling unit noise and the cooling fan does not meet the requirements that have been established for its operation. During the past fifteen years, substantial progress has been made in noise mitigation through the use… More

This Phase II project proposes the innovative use of radar sensors to address limitations in non-contacting stress measurement systems (NSMS). By using radar sensors with a continuous data stream, as opposed to time of arrival from discrete sensors, continuous blade vibration measurements could be… More

The Phase I project successfully demonstrated that the advanced non-contacting stress measurement system (NSMS) was able to address closely spaced modes and blade-to-blade variations (mistuning). MSI's advanced NSMS method uses a radar-based blade vibration measurement system with the following… More

A Portable Missile Miss-Distance Identification System (PMMDIS) is needed to efficiently and precisely quantify the miss-distance of Man-Portable Air Defense System (MANPADS) missiles fired at fixed targets. Current techniques for determining missile miss-distances such as radar-based systems are… More

Mechanical Solutions, Incorporated's (MSI's) Phase II effort will develop a health monitoring system for compressor trains and other plant equipment. This system will be primarily based on vibrations as gathered from accelerometers and eddy current sensor probes, but may also monitor other types of… More

A self-powered cook-off sensor is a critical path item for meeting federally mandated insensitive mention (IM) requirements. The sensor must reliably help the venting system mitigate fast and slow cook off when temperatures hit the range of 275oF to 350oF. The output from the sensor must… More

With propulsion research programs focused on new levels of efficiency and noise, there are two emerging avenues for advanced gas turbine technology: the geared turbofan and ultra-high bypass ratio fan engines. Both of these candidates are being pursued as collaborative research projects between… More

MSI proposes to develop a reliable control system that will electrically combine multiple 10 to 50kW turbo-alternators to create a stable 100 to 500kW micro-grid. The military needs to easily and reliably set up compact micro-grids for a variety of power-supply applications. The emergence of… More

Many of the most challenging categories of propulsion system development are related to the prediction of interacting effects between the fluid loads, thermal loads, and the structural deflection. In practice, the interactions between technical disciplines are often not fully explored analytically,… More

Designed and successfully demonstrated in the laboratory by Mechanical Solutions, Inc. (MSI) during Phase I, the fast and slow cook-off mitigation sensor (FASCOMS) generated sufficient electrical power from the surrounding environment to function a military-standard squib, which can control a… More

As outlined in the original SBIR topic solicitation, the Marine Corps Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle (EFV) experiences excessive air handling unit noise and the cooling fan does not meet the established operational. A noise reduction of 35dB was demonstrated during Phase I. This Phase II project… More

MSI and subcontractor, Fairmount Automation, propose to develop the capability to monitor and control different power sources to maintain voltage and power system stability with a master controller while maximizing efficiency for a Navy ship under different operating modes. The Navy is taking… More

Tens of thousands of energy wasting pressure

Experiments using synchrotron radiation to understand engineering material failure modes such as fracture and fatigue require specialized machinery. This machinery must be able to induce these failure modes on material specimen while adhering to strict size, weight, and geometric limitations… More

Many of the most challenging categories of propulsion system development are related to the prediction of interacting effects between the fluid loads, thermal loads, and the structural deflection. In practice, the interactions between technical disciplines are often not fully explored analytically,… More

With propulsion research programs focused on new levels of efficiency and noise, there are two emerging avenues for advanced gas turbine technology: the geared turbofan and ultra-high bypass ratio fan engines. Both of these candidates are being pursued as collaborative research projects between NASA… More

For many years, electrically driven heat pumps have proven to be an effective method of extracting heat from ambient air. As air temperature falls, however, heat pump performance falls off, essentially limiting their year round usefulness to warmer climates. In colder climates heat pump-equipped… More

Solid State Lasers, high power microwaves and other future Directed Energy Weapons (DEWs) are notoriously inefficient, typically converting 20 percent or less of their input energy to useful output, with the remainder requiring removal in the form of heat. In most cases, the devices must be paused… More

ABSTRACT: This proposal describes radar sensors and data processing algorithms that address the technology gap between NSMS and strain gage vibration surveys. The radar-based approach provides data that can be processed in the time and frequency domains to accurately track blade vibration down to… More

Mechanical Solutions, Inc. (MSI) is currently developing a Vibration and Physics-Based Health Management system that focuses on rotating machinery. MSI is now proposing to augment this system to also address valve health monitoring. This will require the incorporation of additional condition… More

Mechanical Solutions, Inc. (MSI) has successfully utilized remote troubleshooting by resolving a vibration and exhaust hood cracking problem on a 660MW steam turbine generator. The crux of the problem is the paucity of qualified troubleshooters, and the time wasted by qualified problem solvers… More

The widespread use of gas turbine engines for shipboard propulsion and electric power generation offers an increasingly significant opportunity utilize their high temperature exhaust. Effectively harnessed, benefits range from reduced onboard fuel storage and increased sailing distance to reduced… More

Applications ranging from deep water drilling rigs and wells to in-situ seismographs and AUV recharging require subsurface electrical power. Undersea thermal vents create opportunities to generate significant levels of at-sea power. Effectively harnessed, benefits derived from subsea power sources… More

Mechanical Solutions, Incorporated (MSI) proposes to use a series of proven aerodynamic and aero-acoustic optimization techniques coupled to the latest Computer Aided Engineering (CAE), Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software to evaluate advanced underhood… More

ABSTRACT: This proposal describes hot section radar sensors and data processing algorithms that address the technology gap between NSMS and strain gage vibration surveys. The radar-based approach provides data that can be processed in the time and frequency domains to accurately track blade… More

ABSTRACT: Man-Portable Air Defense System (MANPADS) missiles are a serious threat to aircraft. Susceptibility is typically examined using computer modeling techniques where an infrared (IR) model of the aircraft is generated and a missile is digitally flown toward the aircraft to determine if it… More

For many years, electrically driven heat pumps have proven to be an effective method of extracting heat from ambient air. As air temperature falls, however, heat pump performance falls off, essentially limiting their year round usefulness to warmer climates. In colder climates heat pump-equipped… More

Mechanical Solutions, Inc. (MSI) is proposing to modify its existing extended range 40mm non-lethal munition to carry a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) payload to detect and confirm explosives at a stand-off distance of 100 meters. The MIP is accurately delivered and distributed with very low… More

ABSTRACT: The overall goal for this project is to develop and validate a robust online blade vibration and tip clearance measurement system for compressor and turbine blades, and to transition that technology to engine control system manufacturers, thereby improving engine performance, cost, and… More

ABSTRACT: The goal of the Phase II SBIR project is to develop a practical valve health monitoring system for control valves that are utilized at AEDC facilities. The technical problem addressed is the impact of unplanned valve maintenance or valve failure on wind tunnel operations at AEDC. Valve… More

The project goal is to enable the electrical outputs of multiple, very compact turbogenerators in the 10-50 kW range to be combined ("mechanically paralleled") in order to create a compact, stable, reliable, and efficient microgrid capable of providing up to 500 kW… More