Award Data

Sodium beta-alumina batteries are one of the most promising large-scale electrical energy storage technologies due to their high energy density and excellent cycling capability. Despite many advantages, the sodium batteries have several barriers for successful commercialization, mainly related to safety issues and high capital investment for installation. The current battery cells typically oper ...

This small business innovation research is intended to develop a long-life, highly efficient O2-CO cogeneration system to support NASA's endeavors to pursue extraterrestrial exploration (Moon, Mars, and Asteroids/Phobos). The cogeneration system will be built using a Tubular, Negative Electrode-supported Solid-Oxide Electrolysis Cell (Tune-SOEC) employing MSRI's most promising degradation-resista ...

ABSTRACT: During Phase I, SES modeled the fuel consumption of a baseline shelter and then modeled the interactive effects of using fuel efficient technologies (lighting, climate control, etc.) instead of the baseline technologies. This work demonstrated the feasibility of improving the fuel efficiency of shelters by more than 50%, by combining several innovative commercial off the shelf (COTS) t ...

ABSTRACT: Select Engineering Services (SES) has developed a composite Instrument Landing System (ILS) tower that improves sustainability (by eliminating costly maintenance) and increases airfield safety through a frangible design. Current ILS towers are made from steel components and require costly Mobile Depot Maintenance (MDM) to mitigate corrosion. The development of frangible structures has p ...

SOFC technology promises to provide an efficient method by which electricity can be generated from coal-derived syngas, biofuels, and natural gas, while increasing energy security and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The large capital costs attributed to the cathode low performance and long-term stability issues are a current limitation of SOFC technologies that must be addressed before commerci ...

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project is to develop a planar, highly compact, sodium-beta rechargeable battery using sodium-ion conducting beta?- alumina solid electrolyte (Na-BASE) sandwiched between liquid sodium and nickel chloride-based salt, (a p-ZEBRA battery). The commercially available sodium-beta batteries are all constructed with BASE tubes having wall thickness of ove ...

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to further develop ATX-Red, an in vivo imaging agent that becomes fluorescent in the presence of the enzyme autotaxin. Autotaxin and its product LPA are involved in numerous biological functions that generally involve cell movement, and their dysregulation is associated with many diseases including cancer, fibroses, cardiovascula ...

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project will develop micromachined antenna tuning module products for cell phone and portable computing applications. The proposed technology can reduce the mismatch between the device's RF frontend and its operating environment (user's head, user's hand, metallic objects, etc.). Compared to competing approaches, the proposed te ...

Sodium beta-alumina batteries are one of the most promising large-scale electrical energy storage technologies due to their high energy density and excellent cycling capability. Despite many advantages, the sodium batteries have several barriers for successful commercialization, mainly related to safety issues and high capital investment for installation. The current battery cells typically oper ...

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop RF MEMS (Radio Frequency Microelectromechanical Systems) relays for automated test equipment (ATE), wireless frontends, and other commercial applications. As the advancement of microchip technology continues, the testing and qualification of microchips become more challenging and costly. RF MEMS may enable lower cost, high ...