Federal award (DEFINITIVE CONTRACT, fiscal year 2021)
Recipient: ARTIUM TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Awarding agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration / National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Funding agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration / National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Period of performance: 2019-02-27 to 2022-06-30
Current total value of award: $239898
Description: THROUGH THE SPONSORSHIP OF THE ADVANCED AIR TRANSPORT TECHNOLOGIES (AATT) PROJECT OF NASAS ADVANCED AIR VEHICLES PROGRAM (AAVP), RESEARCH IS BEING CONDUCTED TO UNDERSTAND ENGINE ICING DURING ICE CRYSTAL ICING (ICI) CONDITIONS DEFINED IN THE CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS TITLE 14 AERONAUTICS AND SPACE, CHAPTER 1, SUBCHAPTER C, PART 25, APPENDIX D. NASA IS PLANNING TO EXPAND CURRENT UNDERSTANDING OF ENGINE ICING DURING ICI CONDITIONS, WITH THE GOAL TO IMPROVE FLIGHT SAFETY. AMONG OTHER PARAMETERS, ACCURATE MEASUREMENT OF THE PARTICLE SIZE DISTRIBUTION (PSD) WITHIN THE ENGINE IS ESSENTIAL TO THIS RESEARCH. THUS, NASA PROPOSES TO CONTRACT ARTIUM TECHNOLOGIES, INC. TO FUND FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF PARTICLE SIZE MEASUREMENT INSTRUMENTATION. ARTIUM TECHNOLOGIES, INC. DEVELOPED PARTICLE SIZE MEASUREMENT TECHNOLOGIES WITH APPLICATION IN ICI CONDITIONS THROUGH A NASA SBIR PHASE I CONTRACT. SPECIFICALLY, THE ARTIUM TECHNOLOGIES, INC. HIGH SPEED IMAGING (HSI) INSTRUMENT IS CAPABLE OF REMOTELY IMAGING AND SIZING PARTICLES WITHIN ICE CRYSTAL AND MIXED PHASE CLOUDS. TESTING WITH THE HSI HAS BEEN SUCCESSFULLY CONDUCTED PREVIOUSLY DURING SEVERAL NASA ICI RESEARCH TESTS. DURING THESE TESTS, THE HSI DEMONSTRATED CAPABILITY TO NON?INTRUSIVELY MEASURE THE PARTICLE SIZE DISTRIBUTION IN CHALLENGING CONDITIONS, INCLUDING WITHIN THE BYPASS OF AN OPERATING ENGINE IN THE NASA PROPULSION SYSTEMS LABORATORY (PSL). THIS CAPABILITY IS ESSENTIAL TO MEASURING THE PARTICLE SIZE DISTRIBUTION WITHIN ENGINES EXPOSED ICE CRYSTAL AND MIXED PHASED ICING CONDITIONS. THE NASA ICE CRYSTAL ICING TEAM ARE PROPOSING THAT ARTIUM TECHNOLOGIES, INC. CONTINUE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HSI BY MINIATURIZING THE SYSTEM COMPONENTS TO ALLOW INSTALLATION OF THE HSI WITHIN AN ENGINES CORE FLOW PATH. THE PERFORMANCE PERIOD FOR THE WORK SHALL BE 6 MONTHS, AND ARTIUM TECHNOLOGIES, INC. WILL PROVIDE FINAL, WRITTEN REPORT TO NASA AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE PERFORMANCE PERIOD.