Products: Green Design & Manufacturing
LED Edge-Lighting Solution
Global Lighting Technologies (GLT), Inc. (Brecksville, OH) now offers LED edge-lighting solutions that focus light into a high-performance backlight, or light guide. Because the LEDs are located on the edge of the...
News: Green Design & Manufacturing
Princeton's Plastics Hold Potential for Lowering Cost of Solar Panels
Princeton University engineers have developed translucent, malleable, and electricity-conducting plastics, which could represent a low-cost alternative to indium tin...
Berkeley Lab researchers have found a new mechanism by which the photovoltaic effect can take place in semiconductor thin-films. This new route to energy production overcomes the bandgap...
Features: Photonics/Optics
Using Aspheres To Increase Optical System Performance
In a perfect imaging system, light exists as a spherical wave that converges to form a point image. However, in practice wavefront aberrations act to perturb the wavefront from its ideal...
Application Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Monitoring Carbon Composite Structures With Optical Fiber Sensors
Fiber reinforced polymer composites are revolutionizing the design of large, high-performance structures in the aerospace, marine and power generation industries due to their...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Focusing Light Beams To Improve Atomic-Vapor Optical Buffers
Specially designed focusing of light beams has been proposed as a means of improving the performances of optical buffers based on cells containing hot atomic vapors (e.g., rubidium...
Products: Electronics & Computers
TRIO-UPS
Phoenix Contact, Middletown, PA, has introduced the TRIO-UPS uninterruptible power supply for use with industrial PCs. The UPS automatically restarts a PC in the event of an extended power outage. The UPS features an adjustable...
Articles: Communications
Meeting the Demand for Complex Communications Design
Communications engineers today must design to accommodate changing missions, shorter product lifecycles, and increasing computer power. As a result, they create hybrid systems that include...
Application Briefs: Imaging
Deformable Mirrors Key to Advancement of Space Imaging Research
Boston Micromachines Corp.
Cambridge, MA
617-868-4178
www.bostonmicromachines.com
Boston Micromachines has been selected...
Application Briefs: Software
Simulation Software Helps Phoenix Mission Interpret Data From Mars
ANSYS
Canonsburg, PA
724-746-3304
www.ansys.com
ANSYS fluid dynamics software has helped researchers at the...
NASA Tech Needs
Active Wing Shape Control Technology for Aircraft
NASA has long been recognized as a leader in aeronautics research and development that has greatly contributed to aircraft technology for safe and efficient air travel. A new focus is emerging in “green” aviation technologies that could potentially revolutionize aviation systems. One...
Products
2009 Product of the Year Winners
The DEWE-43 is an ultraportable data acquisition system that includes eight 24-bit dynamic analog input channels with >100 dB dynamic range; eight synchronous counters for...
Products
2009 Product of the Year Winners
The 2010 2D and 3D design and engineering software for manufacturers includes Autodesk Inventor, AutoCAD Mechanical, and AutoCAD Electrical. Autodesk Inventor 2010 features...
Products
2009 Product of the Year Winners
CFdesign 2010 computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software provides a CAD-driven design study environment to let engineers achieve pass-fail and what-if...
Eye on Innovation: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Reducing Risk With Model-Driven Development
Stories abound of cost overruns, schedule delays, low reliability, and product failures related to development of large-scale systems and platforms. Despite focused efforts to reduce development...
Tech Needs
Polymer/Carbon or Other Materials with Conductivity Approaching Copper and Aluminum
A company seeks a weight-saving alternative to sheets and wires of copper and aluminum that can operate at specific frequencies. The goal is to replace conductive casings, conductors, wires, grounding plates, and similar electronics structures with other...
Tech Needs
Accurate Measurement Techniques for Deep-Bone Density and Structure
A company seeks a clinically useful technology with enough sensitivity to assess the microstructure of “spongy” bone that is found in the marrow cavities of whole bones. However, this technology must be for skeletal sites surrounded by layers of soft tissues, such as the...
Techs for License
Fast, Quantitative Diagnostic Reader for Medical Tests
Kimberly-Clark Corporation
This medical reader can perform diagnostic tests on any bodily fluid that attenuates light, such as blood, urine, sputum, or other fluid. Thousands of potential tests are possible, including immunoassay, colorimetric/chromogenic tests, cholesterol, and...
Techs for License
Low-Cost Nanomaterials Synthesis and Delivery Mechanism
Drayton Weissenfels Inc.
This platform technology produces ultra-small, water-dispersible nanomaterials that are easily incorporated into existing products and processes. The process is done under simple conditions and results in nanoparticles that are ultra-small (
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Active and Passive Hybrid Sensor
A hybrid ocean wind sensor (HOWS) can map ocean vector wind in low to hurricane-level winds, and non-precipitating and precipitating conditions. It can acquire active and passive measurements through a single aperture at two wavelengths, two polarizations, and multiple incidence angles. Its low profile, compact...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Quick-Response Thermal Actuator for Use as a Heat Switch
This work improves the performance of a heat switch, or a thermal actuator, by delivering heat to the actuator in a more efficient manner. The method uses a heat pipe as the plunger or plug instead of just using a solid piece of metal. The heat pipe could be one tailored for fast transient...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
AlGaN Ultraviolet Detectors for Dual-Band UV Detection
This innovation comprises technology that has the ability to measure at least two ultraviolet (UV) bands using one detector without relying on any external optical filters. This allows users to build a miniature UVA and UVB monitor, as well as to develop compact, multicolor imaging...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Method for Detecting Perlite Compaction in Large Cryogenic Tanks
Perlite is the most typical insulating powder used to separate the inner and outer shells of cryogenic tanks. The inner tank holds the low-temperature commodity, while the...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Directional Spherical Cherenkov Detector
A proposed radiation-detecting apparatus would provide information on the kinetic energies, directions, and electric charges of highly energetic incident subatomic particles. The apparatus was...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Using Thin-Film Thermometers as Heaters in Thermal Control Applications
A cryogenic sensor maintains calibration at ≈4.2 K to better than 2 mK (
Briefs: Physical Sciences
System for Hydrogen Sensing
A low-power, wireless gas-sensing system is designed to safeguard the apparatus to which it is attached, as well as associated personnel. It also ensures the efficiency and operational integrity of the hydrogen-powered apparatus. This sensing system can be operated with lower power consumption (less than 30...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
K-Band Traveling-Wave Tube Amplifier
A new space-qualified, high-power, high-efficiency, K-band traveling-wave tube amplifier (TWTA), shown in the figure, will provide high-rate, high-capacity, direct-to-Earth communications for science data...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Sideband-Separating, Millimeter-Wave Heterodyne Receiver
Researchers have demonstrated a sub-millimeter-wave spectrometer that combines extremely broad bandwidth with extremely high sensitivity and spectral resolution to enable future spacecraft to measure the composition of the Earth’s troposphere in three dimensions many times per day at...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Simplified Load-Following Control for a Fuel Cell System
A simplified load-following control scheme has been proposed for a fuel cell power system. The scheme could be used to control devices that are important parts of a fuel cell system...
Top Stories
Blog: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A Spiraling Robotic Gripper 'Twines' Like a Plant
Videos: Power
New Lithium Metal Batteries ‘Build Themselves’
Blog: Unmanned Systems
Experts Weigh In: How Will a Robotic Future Impact Nature?
INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Orbiting Instrument Hints That Stored Magnetic Energy Heats Solar...
Videos: Aerospace
Test System Could Enable Reduced Helicopter Vibration
Blog: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Question of the Week
Will Robotics and Automation Lead to a Greater Appreciation of Nature?
Webcasts
Upcoming Webinars: Automotive
Reducing the Cost of Quality in Automotive BiW
Upcoming Webinars: Automotive
Electric-Vehicle Transmission Development Priorities
Upcoming Webinars: Sensors/Data Acquisition
The Critical Role of Fiber Optic Temperature Sensors in Medical...
Upcoming Webinars: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Zinc Die Casting Concepts to Achieve Precision, Performance, and...
Upcoming Webinars: Test & Measurement
Radar Measurements: Triggering, Analysis, and Generation
Upcoming Webinars: Materials
Trending Stories
NASA Spinoff: Materials
Nanotechnology Repairs Engine Damage in Cars
Application Briefs: Energy
Lithium-Ion Batteries Critical to Mars Spacecraft
Articles: Imaging
Finding the Right Chip-on-Tip Camera Technology
Articles: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Special Section: The Winners of the 2020 'Create the Future' Design Contest
Articles: Energy
Products of Tomorrow: January 2021
NASA Spinoff: Materials
