The proposed effort investigates the use of smart materials (such as strain actuators and sensors) and modern control theory to suppress unsteady buffet loads encountered by vertical tail aircraft such as the F/A-18. The active smart material system proposed has distinct advantages over traditional… More

Active Control eXperts, Inc. (ACX) proposes to apply its expertise in actuator and control system design to high force, high bandwidth machine tool position control applications. ACX proposes to develop novel hybrid linear actuators which can operate at high loads (greater than 1000 lbs.) at high… More

Herein, an innovative aircraft weighing system based on a set of piezopolymar film pad sensors is described. The wieghing system, which would operate automatically as the aircraft taxi over it, would be unobtrusive, accurate, and reliable. These sensor pads could be integrated into the flight deck… More

Herein, ACX proposes to develop compact, low cost, integrated smart packs for vibration reduction. Each package would include actuators and sensors, drive and signal conditioning electronics as well as simple controllers to yield a self standing solution to vibration problems. The electronics… More

Unsteady buffet forces excite the vertical tails of aircraft flying at high angles of attack and cause excessive stress and vibration in the tail structure. This results in increased fatigue which ultimately reduces aircraft life. It has been shown by ACX that distributed piezoceramics can… More

Herein ACX proposes a damage detection system based on ACX's QuickPack+ technology to combine piezoelectric actuators and sensors in a robust, easily mounted transducer package. The QuickPack encapsulates a piezoceramic with insulating flex circuit material and a simple connector. The transducer… More

ACX proposes an innovative new process for the manufacture of smart structures using a High Velocity Oxy-Fuel (HVOF) thermal spray process. This simple, multi-step process will be capable of depositing electroded piezoceramic coatings. The coatings will be poled while still hot, reducing poling… More

ACX proposes to develop durable and reliable conformal geometry actuator packages. These packages will have the ability to operate as linear actuators for motion control applications as well as to conform to structures with curved surfaces for applications requiring induced strain actuation. These… More

ACX proposes an alternate approach to damping for extreme environments, which uses an electrically shunted, surface mounted, smart material. This shunting approach has been most widely used in less extreme environments in conjunction with piezoceramic materials. The smart material is bonded to the… More

Active Control eXperts, (ACX) Inc. proposes to design, fabricate, and demonstrate a novel hybrid vibration ccntrol actuator system capable of very precise, controllable motion. This system will combine the advantages of a capacitive actuator with feedback control capability. This system will possess… More

In many structures with vibration problems, the nature of the problem is uncertain, or varies over time. Thus it is not possible 'a priori to design a linear, time-invariant, (LTI) feedback control law which is guaranteed to meet performance, or possibly even stability requirements over the entire… More

Vibration reduction will be an important contributor to the success of future earth observing platforms. Unwanted motion in the micrometer to nanometer range must be prevented from interfering with components requiring precise alignment and pointing such as telescopes and interferometers. Active… More

Active Control eXperts (ACX), Inc. proposes a Phase I research and development effort for the development, conceptual design, and proof-of-concept experiment of a hybrid active/passive sound attenuation system for aircraft interiors. While the attenuation of structural vibration and structure-borne… More

Active Control eXperts (ACX), Inc. proposes a Phase I research and development effort for the development, conceptual design, and proof-of-concept experiment of a hybrid active/passive sound attenuation system for aircraft interiors. While the attenuation of structural vibration and structure-borne… More