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A MEMS Pulsed Injection Electrostatic Atomizer for Small Engines

Award Information
Agency: Department of Defense
Branch: Army
Contract: W911NF-08-C-0081
Agency Tracking Number: A08A-012-0338
Amount: $100,000.00
Phase: Phase I
Program: STTR
Solicitation Topic Code: A08-T012
Solicitation Number: 2008.A
Timeline
Solicitation Year: 2008
Award Year: 2008
Award Start Date (Proposal Award Date): 2008-07-25
Award End Date (Contract End Date): 2009-01-21
Small Business Information
12345 W. 52nd Ave.
Wheat Ridge, CO 80033
United States
DUNS: 181947730
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
Principal Investigator
 James Nabity
 Senior Engineer
 (303) 940-2313
 nabity@tda.com
Business Contact
 John Wright
Title: Vice President
Phone: (303) 940-2300
Email: jdwright@tda.com
Research Institution
 UNIV. OF COLORADO AT BOULDER
 John W Daily
 
Dept. of Mech. Engineering 427 UCB
Boulder, CO 80309
United States

 (303) 492-7110
 Nonprofit College or University
Abstract

The Army needs energy dense, portable power generation and propulsion units. In order to reduce the consumables and simplify logistics, very small engines (defined as a power rating of less than 5 hP) need to be fueled with readily available logistic fuels, such as JP-8 and diesel. Unfortunately, these fuels are extremely difficult to vaporize and burn, which has hindered their use in spark ignition engines and especially Direct Injection Spark Ignition (DISI) engines. Hence, new atomization technologies are needed to directly inject micron sized JP-8 liquid droplets into the chamber so that they can burn within the short time available for combustion. Therefore, TDA Research proposes a MEMS pulsed injection electrostatic fuel atomizer to produce micron-sized droplets. In Phase I the atomizer will be designed to charge inject JP-8 into a spark ignition engine. The University of Colorado will predict the secondary droplet breakup behavior upon electrostatic excitation. TDA will construct prototypes for liquid spray experiments. In Phase II we will develop the capability to use the MEMS atomizers to pulse inject the fuel. After development, MEMS pulsed injection electrostatic fuel atomizers will be built and tested. One system will be delivered to the Army.

* Information listed above is at the time of submission. *

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