Award Data

78365 Free-surface, flowing, liquid-metal cooling systems are an option for the removal of heat from energy-producing fusion devices. However, these free flowing liquid films are difficult to direct and contain because of their interactions with the high energy plasma and the powerful magnetic fields present in these machines. This project will develop a, capillary assisted, thin flowing, lithi ...

75554B Fuel cells are an efficient, combustion-less, virtually pollution-free source of power. In particular, Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cells are ideal for a number of applications, due to their ¿quick¿ warm-up characteristics. However, these fuel cells contain some inherent inefficiencies, which results in waste heat that must be removed rapidly via a coolant ¿ currently, either D ...

Ribbon Mills and its subcontractor Northrop Grumman Corporation (NGC) propose a Phase II program, to continue the research into advanced complex performs concepts utilizing weaving technology applied to state-of-the-art composites to enhance the revolutionary low frequency, conformal load-bearing antenna structures (CLAS) foliage penetration ground/air moving target indicator (FOPEN GMTI/AMTI) rad ...

Blade Diagnostics Corporation proposes to study the feasibility of developing a field mistuning tool and an associated approach for managing the mistuning problem in integrally bladed rotors (IBRs). The field inspection tool will determine the frequencies of individual blades in IBRs using the methods developed at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). The tool will be a faster, automated version of ...

79737B Only half of the estimated carbon delivered to the atmosphere by human activities in the 1990s remains there. The "missing" carbon was absorbed by terrestrial ecosystems and oceans, thus mitigating human perturbations to the carbon cycle. Carbon isotopes play a central role in understanding this terrestrial carbon sink at a variety of scales, but instrumentation to directly measure carbon ...

79513S Sodium hypochlorite is an industrial chemical that is produced with technologies that rely on organic membranes and undivided cell methods, which have performance limitations from fouling and limited selecivity. This project will develop an innovative and energy efficient, low temperature, cost-effective, and environmental friendly electrochemical process that uses a sodium-ion-conducting ...

79234S In January of 2004, the EPA published draft regulations for the control of mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants, and one of the most promising technologies for controlling mercury involves the treament of flue gas with activated carbon. As a consequence, the fly ash collected from power plants contains high concentrations of mercury-impregnated activated carbon, which would make ...

79252 As environmental regulations become increasingly stringent, there is mounting pressure on automobile manufacturers to substantially lower unburnt hydrocarbon emissions. This will require monitoring the hydrocarbon content in the exhaust with more accuracy than currently possible using the two oxygen sensor system. This requirement is especially important during start-up conditions, which a ...

76066S Ceramic membranes with ion-specific conducting properties can provide gases with purity unmatched by other gas separation methods. However, in order to realize the full potential of these membrane devices, high temperature seal materials are required to isolate the ultrahigh purity product gas from the inlet gas mixture. This project will develop a composite seal material that combines t ...

Systems Development (SD) processes demonstrate a need for improvement, particularly to increase the frequency with which systems succeed in real world settings. Cognitive Systems Engineering (CSE) offers numerous principles, methods, and tools that are well-suited to addressing areas in which SD is currently most weak (e.g., handling complexity and supporting the design phase). In response to thi ...