NASA Invention of the Year

2004 Competition

February, 2005

Gen. Michael Wholley NASA General Counsel

LARC RP46: High-Temperature Polyimide Resin System

Ruth Pater, LaRC• NASA Commercial Invention of the Year for 2004• LARC RP46 is a thermosetting high-temperature polyimide resin system that was developed as a

more environmentally-friendly alternative to a widely used high temperature matrix resin (PMR-15) since it is prepared with less toxic 3,4'-oxyldianiline (3,4'-ODA)

• can be used as a high performance high temperature resistant composite matrix resin, adhesive, molding, coating, foam, or film, pushing service temperature to the limits of organic materials (600°F)

• offers a competitive edge where high temperature, lightweight, high strength materials are needed

• Boeing and LaRC are developing controlled and repeatable prepreg processing, standardized, laminate bagging and curing procedures, and mechanical property characterization, including fabricating large sandwich structures and joints that make up aircraft spars, ribs, and wing skins; aka the "wingbox"

• excellent strength retention at 600°F and versatility offers other potential applications in automotive transportation, defense, sporting goods, and civil engineering

• Exclusive licensee: Unitech, LLC. • ISTP program is validating this wingbox for the 600°F-service warm wing concept, saving 25% in

weight for the thermal protection system• Boeing is also designing an RP-46 composite body flap for the Space Shuttle

LAR-14639-1

Rocket Motor Joint Construction Including Thermal Barrier

Dr. Bruce Steinetz, GRC; Patrick H. Dunlap, Modern Technologies Corp.• NASA Government Invention of the Year for 2004• braided carbon-fiber thermal barrier is designed to withstand the extreme temperature environments in current and

future solid rocket motors and other industrial equipment• developed for several critical nozzle joints on the Space Shuttle solid rocket motor• protects temperature sensitive O-rings required to seal 900 psi, 5500+°F combustion gases• new thermal barrier represents a significant improvement over the current joint-fill approach used which, on

occasion, allows hot combustion gases to penetrate through to nozzle joint O-rings • 1 out of 15 Space Shuttle solid rocket motors experiences hot gas effects on the Joint 6 wiper (sacrificial) O-rings --

joints have experienced heat effects on materials between the RTV and the O-rings, and in two cases O-rings have experienced heat effects

• improved condition of the joint after a full-scale motor test with the addition of two NASA Glenn thermal barriers installed between the combustion area

• enables solid rocket motor joint assembly in one-sixth the time of previous approaches with much higher degrees of reproducibility

• Lockheed-Martin contracted Aerojet to build the solid rocket motors for the Atlas V Enhanced Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV)

• in the spring of 2002, Aerojet experienced a major failure of their solid rocket motor during a qualification test wherein hot combustion gas reached the nozzle-to-case O-rings (prior to the addition of the thermal barriers) causing a major structural failure that resulted in the loss of the nozzle and aft dome sections of the motor

• Aerojet performed two successful qualification tests in which three Glenn thermal barriers blocked the 5500 F pressurized gases from reaching the temperature sensitive O-rings and solved their critical design flaw: Lockheed-Martin/Aerojet team back on schedule

• GRC thermal barriers have since enabled successful flights on two Atlas V commercial launches• thermal barrier and nozzle joint construction approach presented is mission-critical to the Atlas V Launch Vehicle

LEW-16684-1

Perilog: Contextual Search and Retrieval Software Tools

Michael Wallace McGreevy, ARC• Runner-Up for NASA Government Invention of the Year for 2004• a collection of patented text mining methods and software that exploit latent linguistic

structure in seemingly unstructured text• linguistic theory of iconicity is the basis of NASA's Perilog text mining methods and

software: Perilog is the first software implementation of this centuries-old theory• software includes keyword-in-context search, flexible phrase search, search by example,

phrase generation, and phrase extraction• high-level tools are based on a hierarchical toolkit of Perilog programs in several hundred

executable units of varying complexity• developers can access all of the Perilog software via the Unix command line, invoking

commands ranging from high level ones (e.g., "keyword.search") to low level ones • end users, such as managers, pilots, human factors researchers, and database operators,

can access an integrated suite of Perilog's tools via a user-friendly Perilog software package that has a browser-based graphical user interface (GUI)

• end-user version of Perilog has been in operational use at the NASA/FAA Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) and at Southwest Airlines since early 2002, where it is used to search databases of incident reports

• Perilog methods and software has been distributed under government agreements and licenses to private companies, universities, and also within NASA and other Agencies

ARC-14512, 3, 4, 5-1

Micro Pulse Laser Radar

J.D. Spinherne, GSFC• An eye safe, compact, solid state lidar for

profiling atmospheric cloud and aerosol scattering transmitter of the micro pulse lidar is a diode pumped µJ pulse energy, high repetition rate Nd:YLF laser

• eye safety is obtained through beam expansion• receiver employs a photon counting solid state

Geiger mode avalanche photodiode detector• data acquisition is by a single card multichannel

scaler• daytime background induced quantum noise is

controlled by a narrow receiver field-of-view and a narrow bandwidth temperature controlled interference filter

• dynamic range of the signal is limited by optical geometric signal compression

• signal simulations and initial atmospheric measurements indicate that micro pulse lidar systems are capable of detecting and profiling all significant cloud and aerosol scattering through the troposphere and into the stratosphere

• intended applications are scientific studies and environmental monitoring which require full time, unattended measurements of the cloud and aerosol height structure

• used in Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere program, and is being deployed in Atmospheric Radiation Measurement program

• licensed to Science & Engineering Services, Inc. in 1994: $1.4 million sales to date, royalties of under $12,000 in FY'97, about 20 units (ground-based) are in operation worldwide

GSC-13,493-1

Gear Bearings

John Vranish, GSFC• Gear Bearings use gear teeth which both transfer mechanical power and perform anti-

friction motion control functions typically provided by separate bearings, thus eliminating the use of the bearings and simplifying and strengthening the design

• Gear Bearing technology is especially suited to differential planetary transmissions• linearly scalable from micro miniature (nanotechnology) to huge devices and systems• prototype holds the "record" for the greatest gear reduction ever achieved in a single

stage of gearing: 325:1• significant to the NASA and DoD aeronautics programs; e.g., F-35 Joint Strike Fighter

management team identified a specific F-35 actuator which may use Gear Bearings due to estimates of more than 25% mass and volume savings with a similar cost reduction

• developed for the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) for precisely positioning mirror segments to 10 nanometers over 6 mm range of stroke

GSC-14207-1

Composite Tank; Method of Making a Composite Tank

Thomas K. DeLay, MSFC• very lightweight and robust pressure vessels and cryogenic tanks that are ideal for space and

non-aerospace applications• uses an electroplated metallic permeation barrier that is supported by an over-wrap of composite

material• structural layer of composite material is covered in a layer of impact resistant insulating foam,

which is protected by a secondary layer of composite materials• adaptable to nonstandard tank sizes and configurations and it has tremendous weight savings

when compared to a traditional tank• tank design produces a vessel that contains cryogenic fluids and is very impact damage tolerant• ability to insulate the cryogenic fuels to reduce boil-off• plated metallic permeation barrier contains small molecules, such as hydrogen, and it relies on

the composite over-wrap structure to contain high pressure fluids• scalable and very adaptable to many applications• can be produced by several different materials depending on the requirements of the operational

environment• licensed to two companies, it has yet to be used in any NASA or commercial programs

MFS-31379-1, -2DIV