NASA 1996 STTR Phase I
-
Proposal Number:
-
960053
-
Project Title:
-
COMPACT LOW COST HAZARDOUS GAS DETECTION SYSTEM
-
Small Business Concern:
-
Makel Engineering, Inc.
910 Florin Road, Suite 208
Sacramento, CA 95831
-
Research Institution:
-
Case Western Reserve University
Edison Sensor Technology Center
Bingham Building Cleveland, OH 44106
-
Principal Investigator/Project Manager:
-
Dr. Darby B. Makel
-
Technical Abstract:
-
Makel Engineering Inc. (MEI) and Case Western Reserve
University (CWRU) propose to develop a compact, rugged,
lightweight. low cost, hazardous gas detection system (HGDS)
incorporating advanced solid-state hydrogen and oxygen
sensors. This system is intended to fulfill NASA's need for
hydrogen and oxygen sensing on new systems such as Reusable
Launch Vehicle (RLV) and at ground test facilities. The HGDS
will consist of small, highly integrated sensor heads which
combine hydrogen and oxygen sensor elements, signal
conditioning electronics, and a digital communications
interface. These integrated sensor heads can be formed into a
modular, distributed, sensor network with a central processing
unit. The proposed HGDS will provide; (1) simultaneous,
real-time measurement of hydrogen and oxygen concentrations,
(2) advanced, high reliability, solid-state, silicon
micromachined Pd alloy and ZrO2 gas sensors, (3) digital
communications immune to EMI and RFI, (4) built-in-test (BIT)
and health monitoring capability and (5) small, lightweight,
easily deployed sensors heads with low power consumption. This
system will be a major advance over existing gas sensing
technologies enabling NASA to simultaneously improve teststand
and vehicle safety and reduce down time and costs associated
with isolating hydrogen leaks.
-
Potential Commercial Applications:
-
The proposed HGDS is directly applicable to the industrial gas
production, transportation, and end users. The system can be
used for hydrogen applications using the Pd alloy sensors or
for natural gas applications using SnO2 sensors. Rapid
commercialization of this system is expected because of the
interest already expressed by an established, well know,
defense contractor/commercial equipment manufacturer who has
worked with MEI and CWRU on previous gas sensor
commercialization efforts.