Upgrading Optical Transducer Capabilities for Shear Stress and Pressure Measurements in Harsh Environments
IC2 is pleased to announce two new 2020 NASA SBIR Phase 1 contract wins. One contract focuses on the advancement of DirectShear™ Optical sensor systems. Upgrades to this system will revolve around creating a two-dimensional optical wall shear stress sensor capable of operation in both extremely low- and extremely high-temperature environments. The other contract is for the creation of a surface-mountable, flat-pack optical pressure sensor that possesses superior sensor survivability for aft-engine measurements and immunity to electromagnetic interference (EMI). NASA SBIRs typically last 6 months and may be followed up by a two-year Phase 2 contract upon evaluation of a novel proposal submission.
The NASA Phase 1 contracts are titled:
- Fiber-optic vector skin friction systems for cryogenic shear stress measurements
- High-temperature, flat-pack optical pressure sensors for combustion noise measurement
From NASA’s solicitation regarding skin friction systems:
“Shear stress measurements are needed to validate computational tools that ultimately will be used to support the certification of aerospace vehicles by analysis. Shear stress is an important parameter for characterizing the interaction between a fluid and a surface over which it is moving. Quantitative measurements of shear stress provide information about the surface conditions on a model and help determine the location where features such as flow separation occur.”
From IC2’s technical abstract in response to NASA’s solicitation regarding optical pressure sensors:
“The Interdisciplinary Consulting Corporation (IC2) proposes to develop an instrumentation-grade, robust, high-temperature, low-profile, fiber-optic pressure sensor for model-scale ground test and full-scale static engine and in-flight test applications. This work is aimed at addressing the aerospace industry’s need for technically feasible and economically viable high-temperature, aft-engine measurement capabilities that enable required noise diagnostic capabilities including characterization of fundamental jet noise sources and structures, and robust measurement capability for making combustion noise measurements.”
The current DirectShear™ Optical product line is a one-dimensional sensor and features a temperature range of 0ºC – 400ºC with bandwidths up to 20 kHz. This sensing system is currently available on the open market – please contact IC2 to learn more about our DirectShear™ wall shear stress measurement systems.
0 Comments