Award Data

This research aims to develop decision support tools for better maintenance and planning of renewable energy generation and storage assets using atmospheric, local weather, and on-ground environmental data blended with site-, regional- and national-generation data. The study will use a combination of these data to understand the relationship between non-cloud cover based atmospheric conditions and ...

We propose to use Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) measurements as an early warning system, to cue on-site validation of the soiling station and any available meteorological (MET) station data to validate if a work order to clean deposited particulate matter is necessary. This would move from reactive maintenance – often weeks delayed, to proactive maintenance – getting ahead of the weather impact ...

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) are known to have a variety of unique functional properties with utility in applications including optical sensing, electronics, pharmaceuticals, and water filtration. However, when manufactured, SWCNT occur as a heterogenous, polydisperse material that exhibits a range of properties that diminish performance. Purification of SWCNT by aqueous two-phase (ATP) ...

Aqueous two phase (ATP) systems have been developed and patented by NIST for separation of chiral pure single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT). These methods have been successfully deployed at bench-scale in many laboratories around the world but have yet to be demonstrated in an automated, scalable manufacturing method. It is the intent of this Phase I project to license this IP from NIST and comp ...

The product to be delivered based on this innovation is a neutron scattering sample environment that enables efficient neutron scattering measurements of biopolymer solutions at high pressure. The proposed high-throughput, high-pressure small-angle neutron scattering (HTHP-SANS) sample environment addresses key customer needs and provides substantial advantages to both the scientific user ...

We address a need of the neutron user community by creating a minimum viable prototype of the only high-throughput hydrostatic pressure small angle neutron scattering sample environment (HTHP-SANS-SE). Our HTHP-SANS-SE will greatly improve the ease of use and reliability of measurements under extreme environments, thereby increasing throughput on the beamline and expanding feasibility. Current HP- ...

This Phase II project will continue the prototype development of a pharmaceutical spray quality audit system. The spray quality audit system will estimate the planar mass distribution, mass flux, and drop size of pharmaceutical sprays that are used in functional coating applications and inhalers. A prototype tomography system will be designed and fabricated and evaluated using various fluorophore.

Passive microwave sensors aboard satellites provide valuable information regarding weather conditions by measuring atmospheric attenuation over a broad range of frequencies from 0-200 GHz. Additional ground-based sensors are desirable to provide complementary upward looking measurements that can be used to refine existing attenuation models. Operating over such a large bandwidth, however, places ...

In the proposed effort, we will leverage this extensive experience and capabilities to realize a frequency agile mmW radiometer that can cover the range of DC-110 GHz and can be scaled to DC-200 GHz under Phase II. Ours is a photonic system that multiplies and up-coverts a low-frequency reference signal onto an optical carrier (laser) using EO modulation, then uses the modulation sidebands to inj ...

Magnetic Resonance Imaging data needs to be calibrated using a universal standard. NIST and the ISMRM SQRM committee have developed the NIST/NIST MR phantom. The group had two phantoms manufactured to their specifications and these phantoms have been imaged at numerous imaging facilities. Sigma-K now proposes to develop a complete manufacturing method that will produce 50 MRI phantoms. These phant ...