ICorps (TM): Enterprise for autonomous sensing of energetic material composites
Abstract
TL: Vikas Tomar, Ph.D. (tomar@purdue.edu) TL Qualifications: Dr. TomarÕs Interfacial Multiphysics Lab has worked with ONR, DOE, and AFoSR on multimillion dollars research projects with emphasis on Nanomechanical Raman Spectroscopy (NMRS) that will be used to deploy sensors in the proposed work. EL: Ayotomi Olokun, M.Eng. (aolokun@purdue.edu) EL Qualifications: PhD student in Aeronautics and Astronautics Engineering studying finite element analysis and energetic materials. IM: Michael Dodd, (mike.dodd@3dgs.net) IM Qualifications: Mike Dodd serves as the Director of Business Development for the Indiana Innovation Institute (IN3), a premier applied research institute launched by the Govt of Indiana. he is on advisory board of 3DGs Inc., a global firm of professionals with both military and corporate experience, dedicated to providing a broad array of human capital, professional program management and advisory services to design, integrate and implement unique solutions to governments, global corporations and organizations. Brief Description of Technology (Intellectual Merit) The teamÕs I-Corps participation is under consideration for award by the Proof of Concept Commercialization Pilot Program Innovation Corps @ Department of Defense (Program Announcement W911NF-18-S-0004). Despite significant advances made in sensing, a significant bottleneck remains: sensors need power and a mechanism to externally communicate. Incorporating sensors in composite material structures involves a challenging demand on power and communication protocols. The research supported by AFoSR has led to development of new NMRS setup principles and the development of innovative sensing protocols for sensors embedded in, or affixed to, composite geometries that do not require power or network connections to deliver the state of stress and temperature in the composite material. These passive sensors can remain embedded in, or attached to, structures for their structural life-times and can supply material and structure health information on demand and require zero or minimal energy and communication costs. Brief Description of Commercial Applications (Broader Impacts) In both defense and commercial applications, the value propositions are based on safety and risk mitigation through early detection of critical stress events and dynamic failure in containers of toxic, volatile, radioactive, pyrotechnic, and explosive materials, which may result in loss of life, property damage, power and service disruption, and environmental contamination. There are a significant number of defense applications require sensing capabilities with embedded sensors that cannot be supplied with power and there are no means for external communication (e.g. network connections). Such applications include, energetic materials, lithium-ion batteries, and close packed munitions. In I-Corps, we propose to investigate commercial applications in the case of energetic materials such as close packed munitions and rocket propellant production, transportation and storage. Brief Description of Current Commercialization Plan Following validation of a commercially viable market opportunity in the I-Corps program, we plan to apply for an SBIR award for commercial applications and establish a partnership with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) for defense industry applications. With the SBIR support and the AFRL partnership we will establish a for-profit start-up focused on marketing and delivering technology solutions for embedded sensors in critically sensitive materials such as energetic materials to deliver maintenance and structural health solutions where such materials are in use. Further product applications that we will continue to pursue will not only focus on energetic materials but also on other nuclear materials, buildings, and niche industries such as smart fabrics.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 06, 2019
- Source ID
- W911NF1910445
Entities
People
- Vikas Tomar
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- Office of the Secretary of Defense
- University of Virginia