Company
Portfolio Data
Back to Company SearchUNITED PROTECTIVE TECHNOLOGIES, LLC
UEI: MBJQM9EQS4Q6
Number of Employees: 93
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
SBIR/STTR Involvement
Year of first award: 2004
16
Phase I Awards
6
Phase II Awards
37.5%
Conversion Rate
$2,071,878
Phase I Dollars
$6,178,716
Phase II Dollars
$8,250,594
Total Awarded
Awards
Superior Wear-reducing Improved Friction Technology (SWIFT)
Amount: $1,249,438 Topic: AFX235-CSO1
Auxiliary Power Units used on C-130 aircraft regularly cease function due to bearing failures. This project sets out to study this bearing design and suggest improvements to the component, including thin film and low-friction coatings designed to increase bearing life, decrease operating friction, and help prevent catastrophic structural divergence of the bearing. A complete test program comparing existing bearings to the new design is planned as a part of this work. While the phase I work was focused on Reaction Wheel Bearings, the data gathered during that work on coating typical bearing materials directly applies to the work proposed for the bearings being studied in the phase II effort. The work proposed seeks to extend bearing life by a minimum of 50% and to decrease the parasitic friction in the bearings by a minimum of 15%, leveraging UPT’s strong technical background in thin film coating technology and extensive experience taking SBIR technology to TRL9/MRL10 levels. All coating work will be accomplished in UPT production reactors, where 1.5 million parts will be coated in 2023.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2024
DOD
USAF
High Impedance Ferro-materials for use in Additive Manufacturing (HIFAM)
Amount: $139,622 Topic: N24A-T024
The nation needs to advance our electronic warfare capability to counter modern threats including drone swarms. To do so novel magnetic materials are needed to enable the creation of High Power Magnetic systems (HPM). These materials must have high ferromagnetic and ferroelectric properties and have high electrical resistivity and dielectric breakdown. Another requirement of these materials is that they are compatible with modern additive manufacturing techniques (AM) without losing their properties. UPT proposes to create nanostructured “core-shell” composite that will create a powder useful in AM systems. Furthermore, this functionalized powder will create a material with a high dielectric and high permeability. A similar process has already been used to produce nanostructured core-shell ceramics for other applications that significantly improve the strength and toughness of the composite.
Tagged as:
STTR
Phase I
2024
DOD
NAVY
NANO-COMPOSITE COATINGS FOR REACTION WHEEL BEARINGS
Amount: $74,743 Topic: AFX235-CSO1
Reaction wheels are used in military orbital systems to maintain platform orientation or to actively point sensors carried on board. These reaction wheels experience premature bearing failures due to electrical arcing across the bearing elements induced b
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2023
DOD
USAF
Alternate Lubrication Mechanisms for Small UAV and Attritable Weapon Systems(COIL)
Amount: $139,861 Topic: N231-058
Small, unmanned aerial and attritable weapon systems are considered a cost-effective alternative to legacy strategies which risk high-value aircraft, as well as their personnel and expensive support logistics. The target of unmanned designs is to trade operational lifetime for reduced procurement and maintenance costs. The turbine engines used for these vehicles are one of the most expensive components and their lubrication systems can account for up to 30% of overall propulsion system weight, volume, and cost. Thus, technologies that replace legacy lubrication methods can significantly reduce overall vehicle ownership costs. United Protective Technologies (UPT) has developed two innovative nanocomposite self-lubricating coating technologies for high wear applications common in UAV and attritable engine designs. The first innovative coating has been designed to be used in dry applications where it has been proven to reduce contact friction from 0.8 to below 0.1 for steel-on-steel interfaces and has reduced wear by several orders of magnitude compared to grease lubricated commercial coatings. The second has been designed for use in fuel lubricated applications where it transforms jet fuel into a highly lubricious film for oil-like friction and wear performance. Applying these corrosion resistant thin film coatings to engine bearings and other critical wear surfaces will provide oil lubricated levels of performance during even high G and oil starved situations as well as potentially eliminating the maintenance necessary for long term storage of attritable aircraft technology
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2023
DOD
NAVY
Nano Matrix Composites for Advanced Thermal Protection
Amount: $238,922 Topic: N222-127
The Thermal Protection System (TPS) materials for current hypersonic vehicles have limited structural capability in all-weather environments and a low level of manufacturing sophistication. Nanoshell Matrix Composites (NMC) are a class of materials being developed at United Protective Technologies to address the most difficult challenges faced in hypersonic environments. NMC materials allow the properties of dissimilar ceramics to be combined to produce new materials with advanced properties like tunable coefficients of thermal expansion, thermal conductivity, and emissivity. United Protective Technologies proposes to adapt the NMC technology to produce TPS materials for hypersonic applications.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2023
DOD
NAVY
Low Emissivity Transparent Hypersonic Atomic Layer (LETHAL) Composite Windows
Amount: $139,827 Topic: N212-117
In order to maintain technological edge over near peer adversaries, the U.S. needs to quickly expand capability related to hypersonic warfare. This requires the development of new window materials with unique thermo-optical and thermo-mechanical properties that can survive the intense aerothermal environment without blinding the sensor with the emissivity of the hot window. UPT proposes to create Low Emissivity Transparent Hypersonic Atomic Layer (LETHAL) Composite Windows, a next generation nanostructured “core-shell” composite IR window material that is based on a completely new way to manufacture materials. This process has already been used to produce nanostructured core-shell ceramics for transparent armor applications that significantly improve the hardness and strength of the composite, while decreasing the coefficient of thermal expansion, providing enhanced thermal shock resistance. The LETHAL composite leverages the bulk optical properties of low emissivity MWIR materials while also providing the strength of a ceramic composite.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2022
DOD
NAVY
RAPID SPLINE SCANNING SYSTEM (RS3)
Amount: $799,498 Topic: N202-093
Corrosion, fretting, and wear poses a serious threat to Navy aircraft safety and functionality. Splines on the proprotor masts of the V-22 Osprey are plagued with these issues and the process for their inspection and repair is difficult and time consuming, taking hours and requiring removal of the proprotors. United Protective Technologies (UPT) will develop the Rapid Spline Scanning System (RS3) to solve this problem and provide an easy to use, accurate inspection system that will reduce inspection and repair time by 50%, and provide data tracking capability. The inspection system will have no moving parts, and it will scan a full set of spline teeth within 3 minutes. A computer will provide viewing and analysis of the 3D results with a precision of at least 0.0005”, thus providing confidence that inspections and repairs are done correctly to ensure flight worthiness of the aircraft. To develop the RS3, UPT will draw upon its experience developing the EVIAC high-speed vision system for Black Hawk rotor blade analysis, and the R-BAT hand-held measurement device for measuring rotor blade Nickel strip wear. In addition, the core team for this project has many years of combined experience in this field. The Principle Investigator has industrial vision system experience, along with experience in statistical analysis, and reducing gage variation. Our Senior Scientist has developed image processing and analysis algorithms, and our Technical Advisor has 25 years of experience in the inspection metrology space.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2022
DOD
NAVY
High Velocity Erosion (HiVE) System
Amount: $1,499,575 Topic: AF221-D003
Due to the speed and temperatures endured by supersonic and hypersonic aircraft, environmental contaminants such as dust, volcanic ash and sediment tend to accelerate erosion in critical areas such as windows, leading edge materials, and coatings for supe
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2022
DOD
USAF
Super Lubricous Interface Coatings for Gears (SLIC)
Amount: $781,929 Topic: AF221-DCSO1
Gears are critical components for all military and civilian aircraft systems. The maintenance burden of wear, micro pitting and scuffing on these gears in military aircraft and support equipment is a costly impairment of mission readiness. Through a hybrid thin film deposition process which combines gas, solid and liquid precursors, a new level of molecular manipulation has been achieved which allows for new and novel surface physics altering coatings to be deposited at production levels. Using these techniques, United Protective Technologies has developed next-generation nanocomposite high-performance coatings that are currently in use on thousands of components for the automotive, aerospace, industrial manufacturing, and defense industries. In this D2P2 effort, UPT will build from these coating architectures and develop and optimize a next generation super-lubricous nanocomposite coating that reduces friction and wear by more than a magnitude to minimize gear failure and maximize service lifetime for Air Force gearbox components allowing warfighters to focus on missions, not maintenance. This is a BLUESKY Submission.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2022
DOD
USAF
RAPID SPLINE SCANNING SYSTEM (RS3) FOR ACCURATE SPLINE INSPECTION
Amount: $239,817 Topic: N202-093
Corrosion, fretting, and wear poses a serious threat to Navy aircraft safety and functionality. Splines on the proprotor masts of the V-22 Osprey are plagued with these issues and the process for their inspection and repair is difficult and time consuming, taking hours and requiring removal of the proprotors. United Protective Technologies (UPT) will develop the Rapid Spline Scanning System (RS3) to solve this problem and provide an easy to use, accurate inspection system that will reduce inspection and repair time by 50%, and provide data tracking capability. The inspection system will have no moving parts, and it will scan a full set of spline teeth within 3 minutes. A laptop will provide viewing and analysis of the 3D results with a precision of at least 0.0005”, thus providing confidence that inspections and repairs are done correctly to ensure flight worthiness of the aircraft. To develop the RS3, UPT will draw upon its experience developing the EVIAC high-speed vision system for Black Hawk rotor blade analysis, and the R-BAT hand-held measurement device for measuring rotor blade Nickel strip wear. In addition, the core team for this project has many years of combined experience in this field. The Principle Investigator has industrial vision system experience, along with experience in statistical analysis, and reducing gage variation. Our Senior Scientist has developed image processing and analysis algorithms, and our Technical Advisor has 25 years of experience in the inspection metrology space.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2021
DOD
NAVY