Award Data

ORBITEC proposes to develop the Advanced Reversible Cryogenic Thermal Energy Storage (ARCTES) system, which will provide temporary backup cooling for circulating helium gas coolant in high-temperature superconducting (HTS) systems for naval applications. The ARCTES will rely on an initially-frozen cryogen to absorb heat from the passing helium gas through a heat exchanger device. As the working cr ...

Blood-based point-of-care (POC) diagnostics or remote diagnostics that require specialized equipment only available in centralized, commercial laboratories are currently limited by major logistical and technical barriers. Blood collection can be a traumatic, inconvenient, and inconsistent process that is based on decades-old technologies, such as the lancet-puncture, that are not amenable to new P ...

A major factor impacting development of Liion batteries for vehicles is the effect of elevated temperature ( & gt;50C) on battery life. Calendar and cycle life degrade at elevated temperatures due to degradation processes involving the interaction of the salt, solvents, and electrodes. Safety is undermined by use of high vapor pressure and low flash point volatile carbonate solvents. Ov ...

Existing high current negative ion sources have unacceptably short lifetimes. In this Phase II project, a long lifetime, high reliability H- ion source capable of delivering current greater than 10 mA will be constructed, built, and tested. Feasibility was proven and preliminary designs were completed during Phase I. The immediate DoE need for this technology is a H- ion source to serve as an i ...

Many detectors - including solid-state particle detectors, microchannel plates, and photodiodes - output small current signals that require amplification and conversion to a voltage. Transimpedance amplifiers (TIA) are widely utilized in experimental and commercial applications for this task. Numerous detection systems require wide bandwidth, ultra-low noise, high gain, and linear amplification. C ...

Using a solvent free electrode manufacturing process, several different electrochemical couples will be tested using the C123 sized cell as the test bed. Both rechargeable and primary chemistries will be processed using the solventless electrode process that was successfully developed under a previous proof of concept BATTNET program effort. This effort will demonstrate the application of the pr ...

Purpose: Instruction in English Language Arts (ELA) for students with severe intellectual disabilities and autism can be challenging, as these students often do not have the skills to engage with text. In recent years, special education experts have proposed a comprehensive approach to supporting students with intellectual disabilities and autism in ELA, centered on strategies including word ident ...

The Zero Gravity Mass Measurement Device (ZGMMD) provides the ability to measure the mass of samples in a microgravity environment, like that found on the International Space Station (ISS). One of the primary measurements often taken during science experiments is mass. This is even more relevant in biology, where mass is often one of the key measurements taken for analysis. During the Phase I effo ...

ORBITEC proposes to develop the Miniature Nontoxic Nitrous Oxide-Propane (MINNOP) propulsion system, a small bipropellant propulsion system which we offer as an alternative to miniature hydrazine monopropellant thrusters for CubeSat-class spacecraft. As compared to state-of-the-art hydrazine systems, MINNOP propulsion will provide significant increases in specific impulse (in bipropellant mode) a ...

The innovation is a high-frequency single-stage pulse tube cryocooler (PTC) that operates at a heat rejection temperature of 150 K. It employs a flexure-bearing cold compressor operating at that same heat rejection temperature. High frequency, low temperature pulse-tube cryocoolers are a promising technology for future NASA missions. Such missions will require cryocoolers providing cooling capacit ...