Award Data

Modern aircraft make extensive use of fasteners made of steel, titanium, nickel and other alloys mated with aluminum and composite airframe materials. This coupling of dissimilar materials yields galvanic corrosion issues, which degrades mechanical integrity, is costly to inspect, and poses a safety and reliability risk. Traditional design approaches of corrosion rate predictions based on open cir ...

Advanced effective Micro-glider development will be conceived under this Phase I effort.

A model for structural health measurement is desired that is capable of assessing the accumulated damage and remaining useful life of components post-flight. This model will eliminate the need for load tracking during flight and prevent the additional weight and complexity of components utilized during flight. Safe is partnering with researchers at University of Memphis for this work to relate the ...

Combustion instability, or screech, occurs in many modern gas turbine systems, and is due to the complex physical coupling of the acoustic resonances in the combustion chamber with fluctuations in the heat release of the combustion process. These instabilities can produce large pressure fluctuations that can be severe enough to damage engine hardware. Next-generation gas turbines will increase the ...

We propose a wearable, dual-use neurotechnology device. The Personal Brainwave Headband, driven by tablet or smartphone, is designed for noninvasive closed-loop acoustic stimulation, to permit improved circadian regulation. It will measure brain electrical activity from scalp overlying four key sectors of cortex, perform high-resolution spectral analysis of the signals, and use software algorith ...

Few-cycle mid-infrared lasers are highly demanded for a variety of practical applications. NP Photonics and University of Arizona propose to develop a wavelength tunable and power-scalable optical parametric laser system at 8-12 micron capable of producing collimated few-cycle pulses with pulse energy>100 microJoule. In this phase I program, we will design the whole laser system and do a feasibil ...

Modeling of multi-flight-mode rotors that provide lift in hover and lift is proposed. Work leverages on company sponsored development efforts that have followed an innovative risk reduction spiral technology development approach. The proposed effort features a wind tunnel test in Phase I to demonstrate modeling fidelity.

We propose an all-fiber approach to heat removal from devices such as high-power RF amplifiers. In our approach, the cooling fiber segment, the pump fiber laser, and the optical fiber used for photon waste removal are all integrated into a single fiber configuration. NP Photonics' high efficiency thulium-doped fiber lasers are used to pump high purity thulium-doped glass fibers, which provide the ...

High strength copper alloys are preferred as the base rails for railguns due to their combination of strength and electrical and thermal conductivity, but suffer damage due to high current densities, arcing, gouging, and exposure to molten aluminum armatures. A refractory metal/alloy coating on the copper base alloy is an attractive approach for increasing rail life if the refractory metal coating ...

The Team of M-DOT Aerospace and University of Texas, Arlington propose to analyze, construct and test a 40 mm foil thrust bearing featuring a unique bump foil concept and top-foil profile designed by Dr. Daejong Kim. The design is simple, affording low production cost in high quantity. The design can be adapted for use on small gas turbines, small turbochargers and any small rotating machine that ...