National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Small Business Technology Transfer 1998 Program Solicitation
NASA Installation: Lewis Research Center
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In the Center of Excellence context, turbomachinery refers to turbine driven systems for propulsion, power generation, and energy conversion. These systems include rotating and related components, and associated enabling technologies. Turbomachinery technology is central to propulsion, power, and energy conversion systems for aeronautics, space, and terrestrial applications. The components and technologies associated with the Turbomachinery are broad in scope. For rotating components, it includes fans, compressors, turbines and pumps. Related components are inlets, ducts, combustors, mixers, nozzles, nacelles, actuators, sensors, bearings, gears and seals. The associated enabling technologies are acoustics, combustion, cryogenics, icing, dynamics, tribology, mechanical systems, controls, heat transfer, instrumentation, materials and structures, simulation systems/models, fluid mechanics, turbulence and transition.
A core technology challenge to support this Center of Excellence for this Solicitation includes:
Microfabricated Devices
The development of microfabricated sensors, actuators, and control technologies will be
critical to improved monitoring of spacecraft propulsion systems, as well as subsonic, and
supersonic aircraft. Furthermore, advanced micro sensor systems are necessary to extend
the mission life, reliability, performance, safety, efficiency, affordability, and
environmental capability.
Opportunities include the development of sensors, actuators, and control technologies integrated into micro systems for measurements within propulsion system components. This includes the development of sensor systems for high vibration rotating elements subjected to high temperatures, high shear stresses, and corrosive media in order to improve health monitoring and duty cycle maintenance. This activity aims at the implementation of Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS)technology to turbine engine sensing and controlling. The focus is on the demonstration of the technology in an engineering fashion to propulsion systems.