THE COMPOUND SPECIFIC ANALYZER - COMBUSTION PRODUCTS IS USED ON THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION AS A WARNIN…

Public award description

THE COMPOUND SPECIFIC ANALYZER - COMBUSTION PRODUCTS IS USED ON THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION AS A WARNING MONITOR OF SMOLDERING OR COMBUSTION EVENTS AND, AFTER ANY FIRE EVENT, TO INDICATE THAT TOXIC GAS LEVELS HAVE SUBSIDED FOR SAFE RE-ENTRY OF THE CREW TO THE AFFECTED AREA. THIS MONITOR IS BEING PHASED OUT OF SERVICE. SOUTHWEST SCIENCES INC. PROPOSES TO DEVELOP A REPLACEMENT LASER-BASED SENSOR USING WAVELENGTH MODULATION SPECTROSCOPIC ABSORPTION. THIS DEVICE WOULD BE CAPABLE OF REAL-TIME MEASUREMENTS OF THE FOUR MOST IMPORTANT GASES OF INTEREST AT CONCENTRATION LEVELS RELEVANT TO PRE-COMBUSTION EVENTS AND WITH A ONE SECOND RESPONSE TIME. THIS BATTERY-OPERATED DEVICE WOULD BE HAND-HELD, USE VERY LITTLE ELECTRICAL POWER, AND HAVE A MULTI-YEAR LIFETIME WITHOUT THE NEED FOR CONSUMABLES, RE-CALIBRATION, OR MAINTENANCE, IN CONTRAST TO THE CURRENTLY-USED SENSOR. THE PHASE I RESEARCH WOULD PERFORM A TRADE STUDY AND THEN TEST THE MOST PROMISING OPTO-MECHANICAL DESIGNS FOR MAKING SIMULTANEOUS MEASUREMENTS OF THE FOUR GASES IN A SINGLE OPTICAL CELL WITH A MINIMAL NUMBER OF LASERS. IT WOULD ALSO DEMONSTRATE THE ABILITY TO MAKE MULTIPLE GAS MEASUREMENTS OVER A WIDE RANGE OF CONCENTRATIONS USING A SINGLE SPECTRAL SCAN. THIS WORK WILL ALLOW US TO DESIGN, TEST AND BUILD A PROTOTYPE SENSOR IN PHASE II.