Award Data

75336-A broad category of experiments in astro-particle and high energy physics requires the construction of ultra-high-purity and ultra-low-radioactive-background, cubic-meter-scale vessels to be used as containers for ionization and scintillation media. Double-beta decay experiments, solar neutrino experiments, and dark matter searches would all benefit from this technology. Plastics are among ...

75336S A broad category of experiments in astro-particle and high energy physics requires the construction of ultra-high-purity and ultra-low-radioactive-background, cubic-meter-scale vessels to be used as containers for ionization and scintillation media. Double-beta decay experiments, solar neutrino experiments, and dark matter searches would all benefit from this technology. Plastics are amo ...

72255S03-I In the materials processing industry, melting raw materials and forming them into products involve high-temperature operations in which large amounts of energy are consumed. Sensors that work in these high-temperature industrial processing environments (which also have harsh chemicals, physical restrictions, and electromagnetic interference) will contribute significantly to minimizing ...

Inefficient use of energy wastes capital that could be more productively invested in other segments of the U.S. economy. At the same time, the reinsurance industry is eager to reduce property losses arising from increasingly severe weather. But existing reinsurance loss models do not take into consideration the resiliency benefits of energy efficiency measures. The objective of the Phase I SBIR re ...

Nitric acid (HNO3) is used to produce fertilizers, explosives, nylons, polyurethanes, and a variety of other industrial chemicals. The state-of-the-art manufacturing method uses methane (CH4) as a feedstock for hydrogen and an energy intensive thermal process that emits a large amount of carbon dioxide. A new low-temperature plasma system, which can be driven electrically by a renewable or nuclear ...

The conventional nitric acid manufacturing method uses natural gas as a feedstock for hydrogen and an energy intensive thermal process that emits a large amount of carbon dioxide. A new low-temperature plasma system, which can be driven electrically by a renewable or nuclear energy source, could reduce the energy consumed by the synthesis of nitric acid while eliminating the emission of greenhouse ...

Lightning strikes and near-strikes on wind turbine blades cost wind farm operators millions of dollars every year, representing one of their largest O&M risks and expenses, as well as a primary cause of turbine downtime (resulting in lost power production). These negative effects increase the levelized cost of wind energy. With the incidence of lightning strikes increasing as turbines get larger, ...

Every year, the global wind industry loses an estimated $100M or more to damage caused by lightning.A new blade coating will reduce the damage to wind turbine blades caused by lightning by promoting the formation of ionization channels over the surface of the turbine blades, providing a safe external path for lightning energy to reach ground and preventing damaging blade punctures.The coating cons ...

Every year, the global wind industry loses an estimated $100M or more to damage caused by lightning. A new proprietary blade coating will reduce the damage to wind turbine blades caused by lightning by promoting the formation of ionization channels over the surface of the turbine blades. These channels promote surface flashovers, providing a safe external path for lightning energy to connect to th ...

We will develop an acoustically-telemetered, frequency-multiplexed, gamma-heated thermoacoustic sensors that can simultaneously monitor local gamma flux and coolant temperature at multiple locations in the core of an operating commercial nuclear reactor. These sensors will require no external power source and will telemeter temperature encoded as the frequency of the sound radiated by the sensor a ...