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Archives
note on issue names
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| TECH BRIEFS | | | Sensors Keep Stored Assets Operational | | | | Hybrid Approach Stretches the Miles | | | | A Note from the Editor | | | | Miniaturizing Circuit Boards
to Mitigate Shock | | | | Gazing Into the Crystal Market | | | | The Cool New Thing in Cooling Systems | | | | Eliminating the Tin Whiskers Threat | | | | A Clear Picture | | | | The Intellectual Approach to Commercialization | | | | A Smooth Approach to Improving Optics | | | | The Soft Side of Ceramics | | | | PDF | | | Download PDF | | |
Sensors Keep Stored Assets Operational
Tool detects environmental changes that can cause system failure.
Intuitive Research and Technology Corporation (Huntsville, AL) has designed a wireless health-monitoring system to notify users of system failures that can occur when transporting or storing potentially toxic items.  |
Hybrid Approach Stretches the Miles
Fuel cell/battery combo promises greater range for electric vehicles.
Building on a research project done under MDA, Swift Enterprises (West Lafayette IN) has designed a fuel cell now being considered as a range extender for use in fully electric vehicles.
The solution’s design includes a Stratum Technologies, Inc., lithium-ion polymer battery.
Dubbed the eVia system, the combination of Swift’s fuel cell with Stratum’s thermally stable lithium polymer battery aims to use the battery as a power source for good acceleration, and the fuel cell as a source for energy during steadier driving conditions. Swift’s fuel cell confers more energy density to the fuel cell than more mainstream hydrogen gas-based fuel cells. |
A Note from the Editor
Information, Innovation, and Impact: A new approach to delivering news on MDA-funded technologies
Information today comes at us faster than we can process it.
On one hand, anyone with a pulse can create or forward content—be it updates on social networks, blog posts, thoughtfully written e-mails, white papers, or slide presentations. So the amount of content continues to increase. |
Miniaturizing Circuit Boards
to Mitigate Shock
Packaging technology could find a home in automotive and mining applications.
A patented circuit board assembly technology designed for use in high-shock environments could soon improve the reliability of automotive and mining electronics.
STI Electronics, Inc. (Madison, AL), manufactures electronics to its Imbedded Component/Die Technology (IC/DT®) packaging technology as a part of a process to miniaturize electronic circuit card assemblies (CCAs). The IC/DT® technology was developed in part through a 2007 MDA SBIR Phase II contract. |
Gazing Into the Crystal Market
Agency funding aided development of laser material.
Cleveland Crystals (Cleveland, OH) has developed a domestic source of material for tunable lasers and high-average-power Pockels cells—now used in a variety of applications, such as medicine, spectroscopy, LIDAR, and materials processing. |
The Cool New Thing in Cooling Systems
‘Fanless’ cooling design finds a home on asphalt.
Mezzo Technologies (Baton Rouge, LA; formerly International Mezzo Technologies) has found a home for its cooling technology in Indy race cars. The technology—an extremely efficient, light-weight, low-cost microchannel heat exchanger—has been parlayed into radiators for the vehicles. |
Eliminating the Tin Whiskers Threat
Ceramic coating prevents shards from causing short circuits.
Tin whiskers are metallic shards—shaped like short hairs—that often grow through circuit-board film coatings and compromise electronics by shorting circuits, potentially paralyzing entire systems.
Researchers at Sundew Technologies, LLC (Broomfield, CO), with funding through a 2009 MDA SBIR Phase II contract, developed a strong hermetic film to coat circuit boards and act as a continuous, conformal barrier for repelling the metallic hairs. The new technology could replace a variety of commonly used coatings now used to protect electronics. |
A Clear Picture
Sensor system builds on polarization technology to enhance surveillance, medical imaging, and other applications.
Sensors that use polarizing technology similar to sunglasses could enhance imaging systems for port security, cancer treatment, and environmental monitoring.
Polaris Sensor Technologies, Inc. (Huntsville, AL), has developed a polarization sensor technology that improves on infrared (IR) optical sensing technologies. MDA funded Polaris through SBIR Phase II contracts in 2005 and 2006. |
The Intellectual Approach to Commercialization
Encouraging invention helps build successful organizations.
Any organization needs to appreciate that virtually all of its technologies and business methods can be commercialized—through licensing, sale, joint ventures, etc. The only qualifier is how this commercialization fits with the company’s policies and strategies. |
A Smooth Approach to Improving Optics
Patented machining technique offers cost-effective alternative to beryllium and silicon carbide.
McCarter Machine, Inc. (Deer Park, TX), has developed a patented process to make smooth, precise, defect-free mirrors using conventional machining tools. The idea behind the technology is to enable silicon to be easily machined into parts that are near-net-shaped with minimal subsurface damage remaining and to cut the cost and schedule of optical finishing. |
The Soft Side of Ceramics
Project could lead to more injection-moldable materials.
American Technical Coatings, Inc. (ATC; Cleveland, OH), is perfecting an approach for converting dense ceramic material into a more liquid form that can be injected easily into molds—offering time and cost savings, as well as the potential for new ceramic applications. |
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Prior to 2011 the MDA TechUpdate used a seasonal naming format (Spring 2004, Summer 2009, etc.)
For 2010 and all previous years,
“Issue 1” corresponds to “Winter”
“Issue 2” corresponds to “Spring”
“Issue 3” corresponds to “Summer”
“Issue 4” corresponds to “Fall”
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