Award Data

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 ...

To ensure safe and reliable power production by nuclear power plants, a wide variety of materials and components need to undergo inspections and maintenances at pre-determined intervals. Condition based maintenance is highly desirable because it can potentially avoid unnecessarily costly maintenance actions and associated error induced failures. Consequently, it can help achieve nearly all the mai ...

Dimethyl carbonate (DMC) is a high value organic chemical with many potentially important applications. DMC can be made from CO2 directly or indirectly. With the development of CO2 capture and sequestration technology, huge amounts of low cost CO2 will be available as a feed stock. The conversion of CO2 to DMC will be an attractive chemical production investment. A major problem associated the D ...

Carbon dioxide capture systems are currently being considered to mitigate the increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration caused by fossil fuel combustion. The costs to implement and operate these systems must be reasonable to minimize economic impacts. In particular, the required compression systems will consume significant power, and they will require large capital investment. Advanced technol ...

New Generation IV nuclear power plants are being developed that promise to enable nuclear power to achieve its potential as a large scale source of environmentally benign power generation while improving safety and minimizing proliferation risks. These reactors will need large numbers of metallic fuel pins made from uranium alloys, but existing methods for casting these fuel pins are very costly. ...

The increase in the ability of a wave energy converter (WEC) to capture energy from waves is critical to ensuring the viability and cost effectiveness of wave energy power devices. WECs absorb wave power by applying a back force to oppose the forces that waves exert on the system. The back force is implemented by the systems Power Takeoff and is typically chosen via a constant damping value (resis ...

This SBIR Phase I proposal is aimed to develop advanced soft magnetic nanocomposite materials with low loss, high flux density, and capability to operate at high frequency ranges (100kHz-10MHz). With Spectrum Magnetics & apos; proprietary technique, we will develop magnetic flake materials with thickness in the nanometer scale, which effectively reduces the eddy current loss and eliminates undesir ...

There are over 350 thousand contaminated sites in the US which will require cleanup by both government and private industry in the next twenty years. The total cost of this environmental site cleanup is estimated to be in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Amongst federal agencies the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of Defense (DoD) have the largest cleanup liabilities which amount ...

Current lighting technologies are relatively energy inefficient and heavy resulting in considerable energy consumption, particularly in aircraft interiors. Organic light-emitting diode (OLED), potentially an inexpensive diffuse source, may compete directly with conventional lights, and also with inorganic electroluminescent lamps in energy efficient diffuse lighting applications. We have identifie ...

Coal-fired utility boilers generate nearly 42% of the electricity in the United States, and are likely to emit more than 1.8 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2013. The current state-of- the-art CO2 capture technology, aqueous amine absorption, requires significant capital and parasitic power and can raise LCOE (Levelized Cost of Electricity) by more than 80%. CO2 capture technologies with ...