Award Data

Currently spark ignition (SI) engines dominate the light vehicle market, with over 80 million light vehicle engines made worldwide. These SI engines experience exceptionally poor efficiency at low to medium loads and speeds, making it difficult to meet new fuel efficiency standards expected to be imposed in many countries. Low wall temperatures at the end of the combustion process leads to emissio ...

The objective of this program is to develop low cost, high efficiency lightweight solar cells to provide renewable electrical power to stand‐alone electrical systems and the nation’s power grid. Perovskite solar cells have recently shown significant increases in their power conversion efficiency but suffer from environmental degradation that limits their performance lifetime, manufacturing pro ...

By 2050 43,400,000 metric tons of cumulative wind turbine blade waste is expected to exist and continue growing at 2,000,000 metric tons/year globally. Even in the near term, wind turbine blade waste generation is expected to approach 1,000,000 metric tons/year by 2029. In short, the amount of wind turbine blade waste needing disposal is growing rapidly while the status quo option of landfilling, ...

Hazard assessment tools that model the transport and dispersion of Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosive (CBRNE) materials through urban areas are only as good as the 3D models that inform the physics model. Maintaining accurate, up-to-date 3D models of urban areas is challenging. Even in the commercial world, urban construction and demolition may result in the models created a ...

This proposal aims to develop a revolutionary 2Tbps, DWDM, radhard Photonics Integrated Circuit in partnership with MIT’s Lincoln Lab. The device leverages the light loopback circuits developed for our General Timing Synchronization protocol and interfaces with our top of line IP Access Gateway Hardware and FPGA. The assembly perfectly matches in bandwidth and timing synchronization and it is th ...

State of the art yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) based thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) are typically limited to maximum use temperatures of 1200-1300C. A thermal barrier coating (TBC) with a 1500C temperature capability would be a major gas turbine materials breakthrough. New coatings with a 200C temperature advantage can be used by the gas turbine industry to significantly increase turbine effi ...

Aerogel of high optical quality is needed for hadron identification in nuclear physics experiments in the momentum range 3 - 8 GeV/c, where other techniques are not effective. The large-volume aerogel Cherenkov detectors for the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) and those in three halls at the Jefferson Lab require high-quality, hydrophobic aerogel material. This Phase I/II project addresses this need w ...

There is a need for compact, high-efficiency, and high spacial-resolution neutron scattering imagers. Improvements in neutron detectors for use at high-flux pulsed neutron sources are required for materials research involving neutron scattering experiments conducted at Department of Energy (DOE) laboratories, including single crystal diffractometers, neutron reflectometers, and time of flight (TOF ...

Phase II will utilize knowledge gained from phase I work to develop and execute a manufacturing process suitable for producing quantities of 3-D printed discrete circuits for radiation detection systems.  The goal is to support mobile radiation detection system requirements for high voltage, analog amplification, and MCA functionality to produce differential pulse height spectra in time sequence. ...

Control of extremely lightweight, long endurance aircraft poses a challenging aeroservoelastic (ASE) problem due to significantly increased flexibility, and aerodynamic, structural, and actuator nonlinearities. To obtain the benefits of increased aerostructural efficiency, the controller needs to trim at a specified optimal shape while minimizing structural fatigue from gust disturbances. Tao Syst ...