Award Data

There is a growing demand for power electronics that can operate under the high temperature and high power conditions that will be encountered in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV). As the coolant temperature used to dissipate heat from electronics increases, the operation of power semiconductor devices such as Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs) becomes severely limited in order that the safe ...

There is significant opportunity for energy efficiency improvements in the industrial and manufacturing sectors in the U.S., both from the production and consumption perspective. Higher energy density battery materials will play a role in both, through improved storage of electricity from renewable sources, the enabling of electric vehicles, and through the development of longer lasting, higher po ...

New solid-state photomultipliers (SSPMs) need compact integrated circuitry for readout if such photodetectors are going to be implemented in high-energy physics, nuclear physics, or nuclear medical imaging applications. The aim of this work is to significantly improve the bandwidth in reading out arrays of SSPMs by developing a custom ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). This ASIC will ...

Ice crystals can form spontaneously from the freezing of water droplets at temperatures colder than -38

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR/STTR) project targets the development of a novel technology for CO2 capture and separation from combustion-derived flue gas. In the US, coal-fired power plants represent about 50% of the electricity generated but contribute about 80% of the CO2 emissions. CO2 emissions are responsible for climate change. The Department of Energy is supporting developme ...

This SBIR/STTR project delivers an ultra-low power structural health monitoring (SHM) system that uses autonomous, wirelessly embedded sensors to monitor and assess structural integrity in wind turbine blades. EASE features impedance-based active SHM, which is highly sensitive to damage like cracks, delimitations, mass variations, fastener failures and stiffness changes. Blades are the only wind t ...

The cost of dewatering particles is inversely proportional to particle size. Costs dramatically increase as particle size approaches 10

This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I project is proposed to address high temperature superconductor insulation to help improve stability and quench protection. Most importantly stability will be increased so that the power level at which quench occurs is greatly increased. Quench is the rapid, unintended transition from superconducting to normal conducting. It is a consequence of a faul ...

Accurate measurement of consumption profiles for utility services like electricity, water, and gas consumed in their buildings is essential to understand and optimize energy consumption, detect and solve equipment failures and problems, and facilitate predictive maintenance of various utility loads. Currently, multiple sensors and wiring and extensive tracking and monitoring is required to obtain ...

Coal is an abundant source of energy in the USA, but is not currently utilized effectively. Recently, the DOE has begun a carbon sequestration program is to develop advanced CO2 capture and compression technology for existing coal-fired plants with increased efficiency with no more than a 35% increase in the cost of electricity. This will require new approaches and technologies to be successful. N ...