Award Data

Rotating-to-static seals are critical components of all gas turbine engines. The seals can significantly affect the efficiency, operability, and durability of a gas turbine engine. As such, any improvements to these seals are highly desirable. Improvements may come in the form of reduced leakage and/or improved seal durability. The Air Riding Seal technology is a rotating-to-static seal that redu ...

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 ...

Current status/problem: Wind loading calculations for structures are currently performed according to the ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) 7 Standard. The values in this standard were calculated from simplified models that do not necessarily take into account relevant characteristics such as those from full 3D effects, end effects, turbulence generation and dissipation, as well as minor ...

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 ...

Forest understory is an under-utilized woody biomass totaling about 300 million dry tons in the southeastern U.S. alone. One percent recovery of this potential source of energy amounts to about 25 billion Btu per year. Traditional forest management practices require controlled understory burning. To recover the understory as an economical fuel, this raw biomass must be processed to overcome its in ...

Robust and high-temperature-capable fiber optic temperature sensors are needed to improve the efficiency and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases in power generation using fossil fuels. While these devices are commercially available, their costs are too high. A novel design for the thermal probe of a fiber optic temperature measuring system utilizing a phosphor microsphere is being proposed. I ...

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 ...

The proposed SBIR Phase I program addresses a critical need in solar cell and fuel cell module manufacturing: to inspect in real time the mechanical quality of incoming wafers and finished cells. The objective of the program is to develop a new flaw inspection technology and design a laboratory prototype of an Activation Station (AS) system with follow-up industrial testing with the goal of re ...

During the Phase I SBIR Effort, Mainstream demonstrated a unique vehicle monitoring system (VMS) for tractor trailer applications. The development was driven by the need to easily store, retrieve, and transfer key trailer parameters to the tractor and the need to electronically transfer key driver, tractor, and trailer information to roadside inspectors and maintenance personnel. In Phase I, we ...