Water-Wet Pelletized Nitrocellulose Dehydration

The rapid development of wireless technology is creating new opportunities and challenges for instrumentation users and suppliers. Wireless sensor systems can significantly decrease instrumentation set-up time and cost, while simultaneously improvingsensor signal-to-noise ratios and instrumentation system flexibility. Further, the arduous task of manually collecting accelerometer samples for purposes of machinery health assessment has created a situation where a wireless data conditioning andcollection approach would have many benefits; primarily a reduction in man-hours devoted to data collection and reduced instrumentation installation and maintenance costs. Unfortunately, no wireless accelerometer systems are currently available that meetthe needs of the Navy's Assessment of Equipment Condition Program and similar harsh environment applications.Luna Innovations proposes to develop a miniature, robust, low power, wireless system for measuring vibration utilizing the emerging RF and MEMS technologies with the primary objective being a target cost and performance equivalent to standard cabledaccelerometers. This system will encompass both the sensor and the mobile unit used to collect data from multiple sensors in high-temperature, high-acceleration shipboard environments. Luna and its commercial partners will leverage previous wirelesssensor development efforts and commercial production capabilities to satisfy the immediate Navy requirements and bring the developed technology to near-term market.Luna Innovations anticipates large non-defense related markets in industrial preventive maintenance systems and diagnostic instrumentation coupled with wireless transmission capability. Specific applications include shipboard, spacecraft, aircraft, andnuclear/conventional power plant health monitoring, transportation vehicle design and testing, and industrial rotating machine monitoring. The previous success in this area resulted in a spin-off company, dedicated to the production of wirelessinstrumentation systems for industrial rotating machine health monitoring utilizing off-the-shelf RF technology, and has over $1 million/year in revenue. Products resulting from this research will undergo immediate transition for introduction to themarket.