Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Access our comprehensive library of technical briefs on mechanical and fluid systems, from engineering experts at NASA and government, university, and commercial laboratories.

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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A technique enables manufacturing of minuscule robots by interlocking multiple materials in a complex way.
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
NASA’s Ames Research Center has developed a novel closed-form solution to model wing flutter aerodynamics for any aircraft wing (within a certain thickness regime and without camber). This closed-form solution can be readily extended to wing sections with camber.
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Intrigued to see if many limbs could be helpful for locomotion in this world, a team at the Georgia Institute of Technology is using a centipede's style of movement to its advantage. They developed a new theory of multilegged locomotion and created many-legged robotic models.
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Briefs: Design
The ventilators are simpler and cheaper to make than those currently available.
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
A team at ETH Zurich has developed an ultrasonically actuated glass needle that can be attached to a robotic arm. This lets them pump and mix minuscule amounts of liquid and trap particles.
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Briefs: Energy
NASA engineers have developed a new approach to mitigating unwanted motion in floating structures. Ideally suited to applications including offshore wind energy platforms and barges, the innovation uses water ballast as a motion damping fluid.
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Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs
An ultra-small actuator has nanometer-scale precision.
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The innovation can provide a wide range of damping forces, a linear damping function and/or an extended dynamic range of attenuation, providing broad flexibility in configuration size and functional applicability.
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Integrating sensors into rotational mechanisms could make it possible for engineers to build smart hinges that know when a door has been opened, or gears inside a motor that tell a mechanic how fast they are rotating. Engineers have now developed a way to easily integrate sensors into these types of mechanisms.
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Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
To improve efficiency, it is necessary to characterize and reduce flow separation on curved surfaces.
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Briefs: Materials
Taking inspiration from nature, a team of researchers at Queen Mary’s School of Engineering and Materials Science has successfully created an artificial muscle that seamlessly transitions between soft and hard states while also possessing the remarkable ability to sense forces and deformations.
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Briefs: Motion Control
The tiny motors mimic how rock climbers navigate inclines.
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A catalytic reaction causes a two-dimensional, chemically coated sheet to spontaneously morph into a three-dimensional gear.
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Briefs: Medical
Achievable coils increase the capabilities of the micromotors.
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
NASA Ames Research Center has developed a novel technology that provides an autonomous, miniaturized fluidic system for lipid analysis.
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Briefs: Test & Measurement
To enable key aerospace R&D applications, NASA’s Langley Research Center has developed a single-piece flow-through transducer design capable of measuring all six components adding in the Axial force measurement.
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
The skin could help rehabilitation and enhance virtual reality by instantaneously adapting to a wearer's movements.
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
A team of researchers has designed a new system of fluid-driven actuators that enable soft robots to achieve more complex motions. The researchers accomplished this by taking advantage of the very thing — viscosity — that had previously stymied the movement of such robots.
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The device uses soft robotics, ultra-thin electronics, and microfluidics.
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
To improve efficiency, it is necessary to characterize and reduce flow separation on curved surfaces.
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
This mechanism improves rotordynamic stability in turbomachinery.
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Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Potential uses include MEMS accelerometers, vibration monitoring, and other precision motion control applications.
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Briefs: Design
The technology was developed as an alternative to existing options for in-space aeroponic food production applications.
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Briefs: Aerospace
The tiny device accurately measures acceleration in smaller navigation systems and other devices.
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Briefs: Materials
The tool straightens thin, malleable 4-mm metal tubes like those used for fuel, pneumatic, or hydraulic pressurized lines.
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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Users can download the design files to 3D print and assemble a customizable peristaltic pump.
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
To overcome the limitations of using cleaning agents, sprays, or bulky high-cost sterilizing systems, NASA developed the Ultraviolet Germicidal Door Handle.
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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A prototype version could be demonstrated on a large cargo lunar lander.
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Researchers designed a new type of soft robotic gripper that uses a collection of thin tentacles to entangle and ensnare objects.
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