Award Data

The performance of a composite material is heavily influenced by the strength and toughness of the interlaminar region, which is the resin rich area between the plies of a fiber reinforced composite. The interlaminar region generally provides a direct path for crack propagation since no continuous reinforcement is present and is often the cause of failure in materials subjected to cyclic loading s ...

The objective of this proposed effort is to increase the power and torque density of rotating electric machinery for Naval applications by up to 50%. This aggressive goal will be achieved by developing the novel homopolar AC machine (HAM) topology. This relatively un-studied topology relies on solenoidal field and armature coils, making manufacturing simpler than traditional machines. The HAM elim ...

Wireless charging of unmanned aerial system (UAS) platforms from the environment has the potential to greatly increase flight and mission times. A promising option is to use electromagnetic fields from the power transmission infrastructure as an energy source. EH Group and the University of Alabama propose a design for UAS wireless charging in the near-field environment of the commercial power tra ...

Accurate prediction heat transfer in gas turbine components subject to cooling requires high fidelity modeling of heat transfer in the presence of high Reynolds number turbulent flow. The cooling internal to the blades results in sustained temperature gradients within the structural parts, from low temperature in the interior of the structure to increasingly higher temperature closer to the surfac ...

Current mission planning systems allow strike planners and operations centers to perform time-sensitive strike planning, execution monitoring, and validate mission effects using XML-based tools that visualize time critical attack plan and track plan status vs. execution. In this proposed STTR Phase I design for the Next Generation Navy Mission Planning (NGNMPS) system, we will identify expanded op ...

Large aerospace composite structures currently require autoclaves and ovens to achieve desired performance which are expensive to purchase, costly to operate, and often limit part size and production rate. Ovens and autoclaves rely on convective heating which is inefficient, consumes large amounts of energy, and can be difficult to predict. Alternative cure processes using external heaters or hot ...

For this research program, Mainstream will collaborate with Colorado State University (CSU) to develop a nanostructured heater capable of curing aerospace grade composites out-of-autoclave (OOA). The use of autoclaves is the primary cost driver in composite manufacturing due to size limitations, long processing times, and inefficient energy usage. Therefore, the Navy is looking to develop a nanost ...

The STTR topic N19A-T013 seeks innovative technology to improve the power density and efficiency of propulsion and power generation devices. To address this challenge, Spectral Energies in collaboration with its academic partner Dr. Rory Roberts at Wright State University proposes to develop a compact heat recovery system based on a supercritical CO2 based Rankin Cycle. At the end of the STTR prog ...

Energy to Power Solutions (e2P) has teamed with quench detection (QD) expert Dr. Yuri Lvovsky (retired GE), Dr. Sastry Pamidi of the Center for Advanced Power Systems (FSU-CAPS), and American Superconductor Corporation (AMSC) to design, fabricate, and test a robust, reliable, and low cost QD system. e2P’s proposed system is a vastly different quench avoidance system that will provide multiple le ...

The primary objective is to develop electric machine/drive topologies and power architectures that achieve the power densities required for 50% more power without the increase in weight or space requirements. In addition to PMSM-based designs, two new machine topologies will be considered. The first is a trapped flux coreless (TFC) machine that utilizes superconducting pucks made of YBCO to produc ...