T-11-The parachute with a sleeve. Made in the USA.
Mary Slaughter Asociate Scientist, Advanced Materials Group Have you ever considered skydiving? Army paratroopers routinely jump from aircraft using a T-11 parachute system that is the next generation in non steerable parachute systems in use by the United States Armed Forces. This system is comprised of a 38 pound main chute and harness along with a 15 pound reserve assembly plus full combat equipment, designed…Read More
Luna Innovations ODiSI platform with HD-FOS technology for temperature enables automotive engineers to expand the limits of design
When components are designed for aerospace, automotive or other general industrial applications, design factors are used to account for unknowns in the application or limitations in design validation. These design factors can come at a price in the form of excess material and cost. In cases where knowledge of the application is insufficient to determine the correct design factor, premature component failure may result. It…Read More
Advances in nanomanufacturing scale-up and cost control
Sean Davis, Engineering Technician, Nanomaterials Research Group Nanomanufacturing is the production of nanoscaled materials such as carbon nanotubes, nanosheets like graphene, and carbon cage materials like fullerenes and Luna’s proprietary Trimetaspheres®. As these become more prevalent in everyday applications the biggest challenges will be how to produce them on large scales at low costs. Traditional production involves a batch process arc reactor where a carbon…Read More
Testing for Residual Strains in 3D Printed Components using High Definition Distributed Fiber Optic Sensing (HD-FOS)
In the May 2015 issue of the Harvard Business Review, Richard D’Aveni states that additive manufacturing is on the brink of completely transforming the design and production ecosystems for manufacturers of tangible goods. https://hbr.org/2015/05/the-3-d-printing-revolution Additive manufacturing frees both designers and manufacturers from many of the constraints of the normal product design, prototyping and industrialization process. The cost and lead time for tooling can be…Read More
Rapid and Advanced Sensors for Water Quality
Christopher Tison, PhD, Research Scientist and Biomedical Technologies Team Lead Nathaniel Talley, Research Associate Biomedical Technologies Group Detection of E. coli is Inefficient and Costly Monitoring water quality is critical for municipal water treatment facilities, environmental testing agencies, and related industries in the civilian and military markets. Driven by increasing environmental regulation and industrial demands, the global water industry is a hundreds of billions of…Read More
Design Validation of Wing Morphing Using Fiber Optic Distributed Sensing
Josiah Fee In response to government initiatives such as the FAA’s Continuous Lower Energy Emissions and Noise (CLEEN) program, aircraft manufactures are working on new technologies to increase efficiency and reduce noise. The design of a morphing wing leading edge is one method that can be used to accomplish these goals. Traditionally, slats are used to increase the angle of attack of a wing for…Read More
Detecting Tunnel Excavation Sites Using Rayleigh Scatter Sensing
Jordan Stringfellow Mechanical Engineer llegal underground cross-border tunnels have been a challenging problem over the last few decades, especially in areas such as the Gaza strip and US-Mexico border. Increased smuggling of drugs, weapons, and people, has made it more important than ever to find an advanced solution to detect and locate these tunnels. Tunnels can range in sophistication, diameter, and depth, depending on their…Read More
Synthetic Bandages for Ocular Injury Treatment
Christopher Tison, PhD, Research Scientist Lauren Costella, Associate Scientist Biomedical Technologies Group Ocular Injuries are Widespread and Inefficiently Treated The likelihood of restoring vision to the 1.5 to 2.0 million patients sustaining ocular trauma each year is directly related to immediate management of the injury. Having access to the appropriate ocular repair dressing, cleansing solutions and antibiotics is therefore critical for restoring function and minimizing…Read More
Detecting Cracks In Steel Bridges Using Fiber Sensors
Jordan Stringfellow Mechanical Engineer Lightwave Division According to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in its 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, one in four bridges in the Unites States are “either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete”. It is approximated that $3.6 trillion is needed to improve the United States’ current infrastructure grade of D+ to an average grade of B. Infrastructure management teams…Read More
Come see us at OFC!
Stop by and see us at OFC 2015 As we’ve done in the past, we will be demonstrating our optical technologies, including our Component Analyzers, Reflectometers, and Tunable Lasers. Have you seen our Fiber Optic Testing instruments yet? If not, you’ll be impressed! What you’ll see is that our technology offers substantial cost and time savings in development, production and maintenance; while providing the…Read More
