Award Data

The Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) Phase I project will address the need for an advanced process control system for improved manufacturing of photovoltaic cells. Thin film silicon photovoltaic modules offer a potentially lower cost alternative to crystalline silicon modules through reduced materials utilization and lower processing temperatures if improvements in conversion ef ...

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project is focused on the development of a unique diamond carbon coated graphite-copper composite material. The composite material will be used to produce low thermal resistance packaging components for use in RF power amplifiers. Under the Phase I effort, a low-cost diamond carbon coating process will be demonstrated. There is a critical need ...

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project will demonstrate a new method of thermographic imaging to improve the manufacturing yield and energy conversion efficiency of silicon photovoltaic solar cells. Although thermographic imaging is an ideal method for locating the defects and shunts in solar cells which compromise their efficiency, conventional infrared cameras do not have ...

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I research project proposes the development of the design features, sensory system and the control algorithm of an integrated powered knee-ankle power regenerative prosthesis. Despite significant advances in lower limb prosthetics over the past decade, all presently commercially available lower limb prostheses incorporate passive ankle joints. T ...

This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I project seeks to create exoskeleton assist devices for workers in distribution centers and automobile assembly plants. By using these assistive devices, workers can dramatically reduce the load in the vertebrae of the lower back when maneuvering parts and boxes. Such collaboration between humans and machines has the benefit of the intellectual advant ...

The Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) Phase I project will demonstrate the technical feasibility for in-process monitoring of welding quality during high-speed laser welding of thin plates which is critical to manufacturing of fuel cells. The monitoring system is based on laser detection of small ultrasonic signals emitted during the welding process. The proposed technique is a mo ...

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project develops a portable ultrasound device for non-invasively monitoring intracranial pressure (ICP). The key issues for developing such a kind of device are sensitivity, accuracy, repeatability, and portability. Boston Applied Technologies, Incorporated (BATi)and the University of Florida (UF) will develop such an instrument with a novel u ...

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project aims to apply the unique property of high-speed jets to adhere to nearby curved surfaces, with a turning radius much larger than the size of the jet - the so-called COANDA effect. The proposed research aims to take advantage of this effect to manipulate thermal spray jet stream and vector the stream such that the hot thermal gas stream ...

This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I research project will develop a new perception/vision system for a robotic arm and a new software tool to design such embedded systems. Further development will include advances in actuator technology and control theory to create an affordable yet robust highly-dexterous vision-enabled robotic arm for lightweight low-precision tasks. Tasks of this ty ...

The Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) Phase I project addresses the scale-up to kilogram quantities of a novel university laboratory solid-state method of synthesizing metal oxide and metal nanoparticles by mixing common chemical starting materials and baking the resulting precursor material at modest temperatures; and the dispersment of the loosely agglomerated particles for comm ...