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Featured Technologies
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Innovators at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) have developed a concept for a small, compact, multi-purpose avionics control and communications module with standard communication interfaces for RS485, wireless, RS232, Ethernet, and others. The Standardized Multi-Purpose Avionics with Reconfigurable Technology Drive (SMART-D) module is ideal for controlling avionics flight components, and it also can be reconfigured using software for new tasks in a mission timeline without the need to change the hardware. The module acts as a fundamental component in a distributed (versus centralized) control system.
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Innovators at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) have developed a unique apparatus ideal for use in nondestructive testing (NDT) of hermetic seals of containers or instrumentation. The device is capable of detecting both large and small leaks and can be calibrated to characterize the relative leak rate. Its simple design does not require specialized gases for pressurization and detection and eliminates the need for expensive instrumentation such as a mass spectrometer to analyze leaks and achieve high sensitivity. Low in cost and simple to manufacture, the patent-pending technology is ideal for use in many industries, from aerospace applications to food packaging and commercial goods.
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Researchers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center have developed a compact, lightweight, integrated gas sensor capable of monitoring and detecting leaks in real time. The fiber-optic, laser-based leak detector uses an array of interferometric and spectroscopic techniques to measure gas density, temperature, species determination, and species concentrations. It is constructed from solid optics, compact enough to be used in the smallest of recesses, and consumes very little power. This technology can be used in space-based applications as well as numerous commercial industries, including automotive manufacturing, aerospace, natural gas, semiconductors, electronics, refrigeration, fuel cells, and distributed power.
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Innovators at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center have developed a
unique prototype for measuring the liquid level in a tank, employing a novel process.
The technology can operate in a wide range of environments, including high and low
temperatures and pressures, and is simpler and less expensive than other optical
sensing techniques. The instrument also provides far greater accuracy and faster
results in cryogenic conditions than typical cryogenic liquid metering methods. It
is ideal for cryogenic and non-cryogenic ground tank metering applications, and
zero-gravity systems that include stratification or set tling techniques.
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NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center offers for license a set of unique magnetostrictive (MS) technologies. By combining MS-based sensors with a newly designed MS-based valve, Marshall has developed an advanced MS regulator. This innovative approach provides both a regulator and a valve with rapid response times. In addition, the components are lightweight, compact, highly precise, and can operate over a wide range of temperatures and pressures.
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Innovators at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center have designed a gas sensor
that utilizes optical properties to monitor and detect leaks in pressurized systems, such as
cryogenic tanks and distribution systems, and in vacuum conditions such as in space. The sensor
optically measures even low-level gas leaks in a vacuum using principles of optical refraction. It
is straightforward to implement, with minimal power requirements, and offers lowered project
risk and the ability to operate in hazardous conditions. The innovation is an enabling technology
for leak detection in space-based applications and also can be used for gas systems health
monitoring (cryogenic or otherwise) in industrial manufacturing and storage facilities.
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This technology suite, developed
by NASA’s Marshall Space
Flight Center, includes a Single Coil
Absolute Position Sensor (SCAPS) with
Inductive Gap Sensor (GapSyn) and three
associated technologies that can be
incorporated into the primary technology
to perform additional sensor functions
and serve as a short-range antenna and
close proximity transmitter and receiver.
Applications for these technologies span
a broad range of industries and they
can be combined to perform a variety of
functions.
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NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) has developed an advanced video guidance sensor system (AVGS) that is suited for automated spacecraft docking. This technology is an improvement over NASA’s video guidance sensor (VGS). The improved AVGS system incorporates a custom-built laser range finder. With extended range-finding ability and accuracy, the range finder provides initial range-estimations and verifies data obtained by the AVGS sensors. Essentially, AVGS is the “eye” of the rendezvous operation. Because of the accuracy and richness of the information it provides, the system allows completely autonomous docking of any craft with a cooperative target.
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NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center has developed and patented a novel system for sensing changes in electric capacitance. This system is being used by NASA to detect the levels of liquid rocket propellants in storage tanks. It provides improved performance over existing technologies due to its ability to eliminate the effects of stray cable capacitance.
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| Title |
Description/Abstract |
| Measuring Liquid Metal Flow Rates with an Optical Hotspot Conductive Sensor |
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Scientists at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center have patented an improved version of the Hotspot Conductive Fluid Flow Sensor to measure the flow rate of electrically conductive liquid. The original technology, developed for use in a solid fuel bismuth hall thruster, uses a heat pulse technique in which a thermal spike, or “hotspot,” is introduced into the liquid flow. The improved technology uses an optical sensor to detect the thermal spike and is less intrusive, less potentially contaminating, and less susceptible to electromagnetic interference than the previous approach. The invention is especially well suited for measuring very low flow rates of approximately 1 to 30 milligrams/second and provides a measurement accuracy of 1 percent.
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| Aligning a Segmented Telescope with an Achromatic Shearing Phase Sensor |
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Researchers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center have patented a phase sensor for aligning segmented telescope mirrors that increases precision measurements while maintaining alignment, even in the presence of atmospheric turbulence. Marshall’s design is based on an achromatic shearing interferometer, is compatible with many mature interferometry techniques, and can be used with a broadband or extended source. Sensor optics include a ruled diffraction grating and an imaging lens. The capture range is system dependent but can measure on the order of 100 microns of relative piston shift. The sensor is an improvement over similar technologies because it can measure and compensate for segment aberrations with tilt and piston adjustments.
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| A Smart Volume Instrument for Measuring Gas Volume Contents within a Container |
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Researchers from NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center have patented a method and instrument for measuring the quantity of material within a container. The material may be in a multi-phase state comprised of liquid, solid, and/or gas. Marshall developed the system to determine the amount of fuel on board a spacecraft. The method uses dynamic temperature, pressure, and temperature measurements, independent of the shape of the container or tank, to determine material quantity. Based on testing results from prototypes, the accuracy of the system is within +/- 0.21 percent on a linear basis and +/- 0.08 percent on a polynomial basis.
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| Programmable Thermostat/Power Controller Operates on Single Power Source |
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Researchers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center have patented a self-contained power controller that can operate on a single power source, monitor environmental parameters, and generate electrical power on the occurrence of a triggering event, such as a temperature or humidity sensor reaching a set point. Marshall’s innovation was developed for and used on the maiden voyage of NASA’s Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM), a pressurized module used to transport International Standard Payload Racks (ISPR) and consumable supplies to and from the International Space Station. The invention helped control the internal temperature and pressure of the MPLM. In another application, up to 32 of these devices can be daisy-chained together to produce a distributed controller. Although the original intent was to provide the device with the capability of programmable set points for the control of several distributed heaters, it also can be used as a solid-state power distribution device with the capability to program turn on/turn off thresholds for various sensors.
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| Fabricating Bragg Gratings on Optical Fibers |
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Researchers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center have patented an apparatus and method for forming Bragg gratings on optical fibers. Marshall’s technology combines the stability of a phase mask with the flexibility of a two-beam interferometric method and provides large wavelength tenability using a single phase mask. Precise control of the Bragg wavelength is accomplished by a one-dimension translation of the optical fiber, relative to the lens. Translation of one millimeter of optical fiber corresponds to a 5-10 nanometer change in Bragg wavelength. Chirped gratings may be created by rotating the fiber in two dimensions.
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| Using Stacked, Two-Dimensional Symbols as Multi-Layer Identification Codes |
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Researchers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center have patented a system and method for producing a multiple layer, machine-readable identification label that can be applied to a variety of products. Each layer within the label encodes a respective identification symbol that can be read using a single or multiple sensors, and using techniques that include, but are not limited to, x-ray, radar, capacitance, thermal, magnetic, and ultrasonic. The invention uses additive substances, marked as two-dimensional symbols, in a stacked arrangement to accommodate the various sensing devices. Multiple label layers may be used to store information pertaining to different operational entities. For example, as a package makes its way through the supply chain, a new label may be added to provide new information. The system also allows for parts of the multi-layer label to be optically undetectable.
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Sensors, Instrumentation, and Communications