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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 163 records · Page 9
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2002

The New Realm of 3-D Vision

Dimension Technologies Inc., developed a line of 2-D/3-D Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screens, including a 15-inch model priced at consumer levels. DTI's family of flat panel LCD displays, called the Virtual Window(TM), provide real-time 3-D images without the use of glasses, head trackers, helmets, or other viewing aids. Most of the company initial 3-D display research was funded through NASA's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The images on DTI's displays appear to leap off the screen and hang in space. The display accepts input from computers or stereo video sources, and can be switched from 3-D to full-resolution 2-D viewing with the push of a button. The Virtual Window displays have applications in data visualization, medicine, architecture, business, real estate, entertainment, and other research, design, military, and consumer applications. Displays are currently used for computer games, protein analysis, and surgical imaging. The technology greatly benefits the medical field, as surgical simulators are helping to increase the skills of surgical residents. Virtual Window(TM) is a trademark of Dimension Technologies Inc.

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NASA NTRS1993

Motion Simulator

MOOG, Inc. supplies hydraulic actuators for the Space Shuttle. When MOOG learned NASA was interested in electric actuators for possible future use, the company designed them with assistance from Marshall Space Flight Center. They also decided to pursue the system's commercial potential. This led to partnership with InterActive Simulation, Inc. for production of cabin flight simulators for museums, expositions, etc. The resulting products, the Magic Motion Simulator 30 Series, are the first electric powered simulators. Movements are computer-guided, including free fall to heighten the sense of moving through space. A projection system provides visual effects, and the 11 speakers of a digital laser based sound system add to the realism. The electric actuators are easier to install, have lower operating costs, noise, heat and staff requirements. The U.S. Space & Rocket Center and several other organizations have purchased the simulators.

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NASA NTRS1993

Scheduling Software

Advanced Scheduling Environment is a software product designed and marketed by AVYX, Inc. to provide scheduling solutions for complex manufacturing environments. It can be adapted to specific scheduling and manufacturing processes and has led to substantial cost savings. The system was originally developed for NASA use in scheduling Space Shuttle flights and satellite activities. AVYX, Inc. is an offshoot of a company formed to provide computer-related services to NASA. TREES-plus, the company's initial product became the programming language for the advanced scheduling environment system.

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NASA NTRS1993

Small Business Innovations

Under an Army Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant, Symbiotics, Inc. developed a software system that permits users to upgrade products from standalone applications so they can communicate in a distributed computing environment. Under a subsequent NASA SBIR grant, Symbiotics added additional tools to the SOCIAL product to enable NASA to coordinate conventional systems for planning Shuttle launch support operations. Using SOCIAL, data may be shared among applications in a computer network even when the applications are written in different programming languages. The product was introduced to the commercial market in 1993 and is used to monitor and control equipment for operation support and to integrate financial networks. The SBIR program was established to increase small business participation in federal R&D activities and to transfer government research to industry. InQuisiX is a reuse library providing high performance classification, cataloging, searching, browsing, retrieval and synthesis capabilities. These form the foundation for software reuse, producing higher quality software at lower cost and in less time. Software Productivity Solutions, Inc. developed the technology under Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) projects funded by NASA and the Army and is marketing InQuisiX in conjunction with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). The SBIR program was established to increase small business participation in federal R&D activities and to transfer government research to industry.

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NASA NTRS1993

Image Processing

Electronic Imagery, Inc.'s ImageScale Plus software, developed through a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract with Kennedy Space Flight Center for use on space shuttle Orbiter in 1991, enables astronauts to conduct image processing, prepare electronic still camera images in orbit, display them and downlink images to ground based scientists for evaluation. Electronic Imagery, Inc.'s ImageCount, a spin-off product of ImageScale Plus, is used to count trees in Florida orange groves. Other applications include x-ray and MRI imagery, textile designs and special effects for movies. As of 1/28/98, company could not be located, therefore contact/product information is no longer valid.

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NASA NTRS1993

Ocean Observation Instrument

The Airborne Ocean Color Imager (AOCI) was developed by Daedalus Enterprises, Inc. for Ames Research Center under a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract as a simulator for an advanced oceanographic satellite instrument. The instrument measures water temperature and detects water color in nine wavelengths. Water color indicates chlorophyll content or phytoplankton. After EOCAP assistance and technical improvements, the AOCI was successfully commercialized by Daedalus Enterprises, Inc. One version provides commercial fishing fleets with information about fish locations, and the other is used for oceanographic research.

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NASA NTRS1992

Water Sensors

Mike Morris, former Associate Director of STAC, formed pHish Doctor, Inc. to develop and sell a pH monitor for home aquariums. The monitor, or pHish Doctor, consists of a sensor strip and color chart that continually measures pH levels in an aquarium. This is important because when the level gets too high, ammonia excreted by fish is highly toxic; at low pH, bacteria that normally break down waste products stop functioning. Sales have run into the tens of thousands of dollars. A NASA Tech Brief Technical Support Package later led to a salt water version of the system and a DoE Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant for development of a sensor for sea buoys. The company, now known as Ocean Optics, Inc., is currently studying the effects of carbon dioxide buildup as well as exploring other commercial applications for the fiber optic sensor.

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NASA NTRS1991

Ultrasonic Maintenance

The Ultraprobe 2000, manufactured by UE Systems, Inc., Elmsford, NY, is a hand-held ultrasonic system that detects indications of bearing failure by analyzing changes in amplitude. It employs the technology of a prototype ultrasonic bearing-failure monitoring system developed by Mechanical Technology, Inc., Latham, New York and Marshall Space Flight Center (which was based on research into Skylab's gyroscope bearings). Bearings on the verge of failure send ultrasonic signals indicating their deterioration; the Ultraprobe changes these to audible signals. The operator hears the signals and gages their intensity with a meter in the unit.

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NASA NTRS1991

Safe Lock

The Model 1150 electronic spring latch, which provides controlled and timed access to a safe, was developed by Burnett Electronics Lab, Inc., San Diego, CA, and is marketed by KeyOne, Inc. also of San Diego. The Model 1150 is a spinoff from a spinoff. The original spinoff, the acoustic pinger, is an underwater transmitting device developed by Langley Research Center and the Navy for location and recovery of sounding rocket research payloads from the ocean. Long functioning life is a vital requirement for both the acoustic pinger and the Model 1150. The electronic spring latch employs the pinger power management technology to get long life out of the battery power source.

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NASA NTRS1990

Diamond Coatings

Advances in materials technology have demonstrated that it is possible to get the advantages of diamond in a number of applications without the cost penalty, by coating and chemically bonding an inexpensive substrate with a thin film of diamond-like carbon (DLC). Diamond films offer tremendous technical and economic potential in such advances as chemically inert protective coatings; machine tools and parts capable of resisting wear 10 times longer; ball bearings and metal cutting tools; a broad variety of optical instruments and systems; and consumer products. Among the American companies engaged in DLC commercialization is Diamonex, Inc., a diamond coating spinoff of Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. Along with its own proprietary technology for both polycrystalline diamond and DLC coatings, Diamonex is using, under an exclusive license, NASA technology for depositing DLC on a substrate. Diamonex is developing, and offering commercially, under the trade name Diamond Aegis, a line of polycrystalline diamond-coated products that can be custom tailored for optical, electronic and engineering applications. Diamonex's initial focus is on optical products and the first commercial product is expected in late 1990. Other target applications include electronic heat sink substrates, x-ray lithography masks, metal cutting tools and bearings.

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NASA NTRS1985

Subsurface Mapping

Target areas for sinking base holes, underground pipelines, etc., can be identified with the assistance of NASA Ames developed technology, by Airborne Pipeline Services, Inc. Subsurface features are computer processed; the system can cover 250 miles a day and was first developed by Applied Science, Inc.

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NASA NTRS1986

X-Ray Imaging System

The FluoroScan Imaging System is a high resolution, low radiation device for viewing stationary or moving objects. It resulted from NASA technology developed for x-ray astronomy and Goddard application to a low intensity x-ray imaging scope. FlouroScan Imaging Systems, Inc, (formerly HealthMate, Inc.), a NASA licensee, further refined the FluoroScan System. It is used for examining fractures, placement of catheters, and in veterinary medicine. Its major components include an x-ray generator, scintillator, visible light image intensifier and video display. It is small, light and maneuverable.

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NASA NTRS1984

Heart Rate Monitor

In the mid 70's, NASA saw a need for a long term electrocardiographic electrode suitable for use on astronauts. Heart Rate Inc.'s insulated capacitive electrode is constructed of thin dielectric film applied to stainless steel surface, originally developed under a grant by Texas Technical University. HRI, Inc. was awarded NASA license and continued development of heart rate monitor for use on exercise machines for physical fitness and medical markets.

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NASA NTRS1984

Robotic System

A complicated design project, successfully carried out by New York manufacturing consultant with help from NERAC, Inc., resulted in new type robotic system being marketed for industrial use. Consultant Robert Price, operating at E.S.I, Inc. in Albany, NY, sought help from NERAC to develop an automated tool for deburring the inside of 8 inch breech ring assemblies for howitzers produced by Watervliet Arsenal. NERAC conducted a search of the NASA data base and six others. From information supplied, Price designed a system consisting of a standard industrial robot arm, with a specially engineered six-axis deburring tool fitted to it. A microcomputer and computer program direct the tool on its path through the breech ring. E.S.I. markets the system to aerospace and metal cutting industries for deburring, drilling, routing and refining machined parts.

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NASA NTRS1984

Insulation Material

Manufactured by Hitco Materials Division of Armco, Inc. a ceramic fiber insulation material known as Refrasil has been used extensively as a heat-absorbing ablative reinforcement for such space systems as rocket motor nozzles, combustion chambers, and re-entry shields. Refrasil fibers are highly porous and do not melt or vaporize until fibers exceed 3,100 degrees Fahrenheit. Due to these and other properties, Refrasil has found utility in a number of industrial high temperature applications where glass, asbestos and other materials fail. Hitco used this insulation to assist Richardson Co., Inc. in the manufacturing of hard rubber and plastic molded battery cases.

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NASA NTRS1983

Flow Calibration

Flow Technology Inc. worked with Lewis Research Center to develop a system for monitoring two different propellants being supplied to a spacecraft rocket thruster. They then commercialized the technology in the Microtrack, an extremely precise low-flow calibration system. Moog Inc., one of the device's primary users, measures the flow rate or the speed at which hydraulic oil flows through pin sized holes in disc shaped sapphires with the Microtrack. Using this data, two orifices with exactly the same flow rate can be matched as a pair and used as masters in servovalve production. The microtrack can also be used to calibrate other equipment.

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NASA NTRS1982

Self Righting Life Raft

The Givens Buoy Raft was designed and manufactured for inventor Jim Givens of Givens Marine Survival Co. Inc., by RPR Industries, Inc. The Raft consists of a canopied topside and an underwater hemispheric ballast chamber. It has a heavy ballast stabilization system, adopted from NASA technology, which negates the capsizing problem. A "flapper valve" admits large amounts of water to the hemisphere chamber providing ballast to keep the center of gravity constant; stabilization system compensates for changes in wave angle and weight shifting of raft occupants. Mr. Givens has an exclusive patent license for use of the NASA technology. Produced in various sizes, capacities range from six to 20 persons. Raft is housed in a canister, available in several configurations. A pull on a line triggers the automatic inflation process, which takes 12 seconds. The raft has been credited with saving 230 lives in the last five years. It has found wide acceptance with operators of fishing boats, pleasure craft and other vessels. The Coast Guard is purchasing the rafts for use on its rescue helicopters and the Navy has a development program to adapt the system. The Coast Guard last year announced a proposed amendment of its regulations that would require large ballast chambers on inflatable life rafts.

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NASA NTRS1980

Streamlined Livestock Trailer

Bull Nose livestock trailer, manufactured by American Trailer, Inc. is one of a line of highway transport vehicles manufactured by American Trailers, Inc. The slant side front end is a streamlining feature based on a NASA Research Program which investigated the aerodynamic characteristics of trailer/tractor combinations and suggested ways of reducing air resistance. Application of NASA's aerodynamic research technology to the bull nose design resulted in a 10 percent reduction in air drag, which translates into annual fuel savings of several hundred dollars.

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