Award Data

Migration of the vehicle fleet from the current, pneumatic-only, automatic air brake (AAB) system to ECP presents a significant challenge due to the systems’ inherent operational incompatibility. This project will investigate the feasibility of devices that can help to ease this transition by allowing ECP equipped cars to operate in a conventionally braked train, as well as devices to permit con ...

This Phase I Small Business Innovation Research Project develops methods of recycling rare earth alloys from used nickel metal hydride batteries. Alloys of rare earth metal, nickel and other metals provide functional hydride storage materials that are critical to the operation of nickel metal hydride batteries and their applications. The current fleet of hybrid electric vehicles relies upon nick ...

Organophosphates cannot currently be analyzed in the field using existing technologies, due to insufficient sensitivity of currently fielded instruments. This inability reduces the number of analyses that a government agency can perform on a water supply to ensure its safety to humans and the environment. The objective of this Phase I effort is to design a novel strategy that preconcentrates org ...

Current anaerobic digester systems are designed for capturing energy from waste from large heads of farm animals. GHD, Inc., a leading manufacturer of anaerobic digesters, has stated that a minimum dairy heard size for economical implementation of a biogas system as 800 cows. These require turbine or diesel generator sets of 100 Kilowatt size and larger, a limiting factor in economically scaling ...

CONTAMINATION OF THE NATION'S DRINKING WATER SUPPLIES BY HAZARDOUS, SYNTHETIC VOLATILE ORGANIC CHEMICALS (VOCS) IS BECOMING A WIDESPREAD PROBLEM. THIS PROBLEM IS OF GREAT CONCERN WITH RESPECT TO CONTAMINATED GROUNDWATER. GROUNDWATER IS THESOURCE OF DRINKING WATER FOR ABOUT HALF THE NATION. THE EPAESTIMATES THAT UP TO 20% OF THE DRINKING WATER THAT COMES FROM GORUNDWATER CONTAINS VOCS. METHODS FOR ...

METALS AND METAL COMPLEXES PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN MANY INDUSTRIAL PROCESSES. DUE TO THE WIDESPREAD AND LARGE-SCALEUSE OF METALS, MONITORING THEIR PRESENCE IN WASTE STREAMS AND CONTROLLING THEIR LEVELS OF DISCHARGE INTO THE ENVIRON-MENT ARE DIFFICULT AND COSTLY TASKS--TASKS THAT ARE ALL THE MORE IMPORTANT GIVEN THE TOXICITY OF MANY COMMONLY USED METALS. CURRENTLY AVAILABLE SENSOR TECHNOLOGY FOR ...

VAST QUANTITIES OF INDUSTRIAL ACIDS, BASES, PROCESSING SOLUTIONS, AND SLUDGES CONTAIN HEAVY METALS. THESE ARE OFTEN HAZARDOUS, AND IF LEFT UNREGULATED, PRESENT A SERIOUS THREAT TO GROUNDWATER AND THE SURROUNDING ENVIRONMENT. TECHNOLOGIES AVAILABLE FOR TREATING INDUSTRIAL WASTES ARE TYPICALLY INADEQUATE AND EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE. NEW METHODS ARE CLEARLY NEEDED FOR REMOVING TOXIC METALS FROM PROCESS S ...

MANY METHODS HAVE BEEN TRIED TO INCREASE THE USE OF SAFETY BELTS BY CHILDREN BUT EDUCATION SEEMS TO BE THE MOST PROMISING. STUDENTS UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF SAFETY BELT USE WHEN THEY UNDERSTAND THE PHYSICS OF CRASHES. THEY ALSO VISUALIZE PHYSICS CONCEPTS BETTER WHEN A DRAMATIC AND REALISTIC EXAMPLE IS USED, SUCH AS THE DIFFERENCE IN CRASH CONSEQUENCES WHEN SAFETY BELTS ARE WORN. VIDEO TAPE IS ...

THE PROPOSED PROGRAM EXAMINES OPPORTUNITIES FOR LIGHTWEIGHT CONTAINMENT STRUCTURES IN AIRCRAFT AND ROTORCRAFT AND SEEKS TO DEVELOP FIBER REINFORCED MATERIALS AS THE ENERGY ABSORBING CORE OF POTENTIAL CONTAINMENT DESIGNS. THE PROGRAM BEGINS FROM BASELINE DESIGNS FOR FAN CONTAINMENT WHICH EMPLOY PLAIN WEAVE KEVLAR LAMINATES TO ABSORB BLADE FRAGMENT ENERGIES. VARIOUS ADVANCED FIBERS INCLUDING POLYETH ...

THE DESIREABLE PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF LEAD ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ITS WIDESPREAD USE IN WATER DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS PLUMBING SYTEMS, EVEN THOUGH VERY LOW LEVELS OF LEAD MAY POSE A SIGNIFICANT HEALTH HAZARD AND CAUSE LEARNINGDISABILITIES IN CHILDREN. THOUGH MUNICIPAL WATER SUPPLIES GENERALLY HAVE VERY LOW LEAD LEVELS, THEY FREQUENTLY BECOME CONTAMINATED WITH LEAD FROM THE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM AND/O ...