Sound Solutions that Resonate

Projects

Our nation’s military utilizes the most cutting-edge technology to outfit our troops in protecting our country, energy-efficiency (DOE) and structural analysis software development (NSF). QRDC has received government contracts to solve noise & vibration problems in our nations military systems since 1991. Our team has worked on marine vehicles (submarines and surface ships), ground vehicles (HUMVEES), and airborne vehicles (helicopters and aircraft). We have designed gun mounts to make helicopters chain guns more accurate, vibrating air filters to keep attack HUMVEES more robust, enclosures to keep ship-board electronics safe from blasts, quieted critical command and control rooms, to name a few of the projects we have worked on.

Military research requires advanced techniques and technology to be implemented into its defense mechanisms. For this reason QRDc is always on top of the game with the latest and most powerful noise, vibration, acoustical, and shock control techniques. This allows us to service our commercial customers with unmatchable results. Please contact us to learn how our technology and consulting services can benefit you and your company.

RECENT

Representative samples of recent projects

Title: Performance Analysis System Software (PASS)

Agency: OSD

Abstract: The main objective of this work is to develop Performance Analysis System Software (PASS) suitable for lead-free electronic packages subjected to harsh mechanical shock and vibration environments. We will develop hardware tests and software packages for assessing failure modes and performance of lead-free solder alloys when subjected to harsh mechanical environments. In particular, this work will focus on a range lead-free electronic packages when subjected to mechanical shock and vibration disturbances. The generation, growth, and failure of tin whiskers in tin-plated leads under dynamic loads will be investigated. In addition, the occurrence of localized vibration energy in circuit boards will be explored. This is very important because the occurrence of localized energy could significantly shorten component lifetime. One of the important and innovative aspects of our work is a detailed investigation of the mode shapes of Printed Circuit Boards when subjected to shock and vibration loads. In this SBIR work, we will use the test data and build a mathematical model to explore the conditions under which localized vibration response occurs. Furthermore, we will study the influence of localized dynamic response on the performance, useful life, and failure of electrical elements, and tin whiskers. A preliminary version of PASS will be the outcome of our Phase I project.

Title: Intelligently Vibrating Dewatering Machinery

Agency: DOE

Abstract: Physical separation technologies use a tremendous amount of energy in the processing industries. In particular, vibrating machines are used for dewatering, screening, sizing, mixing, compacting, and conveying. Although vibrating machines are not the single most energy intensive step in a processing plant, they are often a major bottleneck in the process, and improvements would offer tremendous potential for both energy savings and production enhancements. Additionally, in processing plants, vibrating machines are among the most costly in maintenance and worker health and safety. This project will develop technology to significantly reduce energy usage and maintenance costs in vibration-based physical separation systems, while noticeably improving efficiency, effectiveness, capacity, and worker health and safety. The approach is based on the use of miniaturized intelligent engines, which use an advanced sensory system to continuously monitor the process and make appropriate adjustments to improve production. Phase I developed a full scale, single-panel laboratory prototype with one-fourth of the full load capacity. The total power consumption for the manually-controlled prototype was measured to be less than 40 W for operation above idle – 82% less power consumption than conventional systems. Phase II will design and fabricate a full-scale multiple panel prototype with 100% load capacity. In order to provide full automation, self monitoring, and self adjustment, an advanced controller software will be developed and integrated into the system. The prototype will be tested and evaluated under both dry and wet conditions in the field.

PAST

Representative samples of past projects

Title: Intelligently Vibrating Air Filters

Agency: U.S. Army

Abstract: Currently, makers of advanced air filter media claim that the air filters provide improved performance when evaluated in vehicles where vibration effects through vehicle operation are on-going. This claim was validated through simple experiments in the Phase I work. The goal of this project is threefold. First, we will develop an effective methodology for evaluating air cleaner vibration levels experienced in vehicles to verify performance of advanced filter media. Second, we will optimize the required vibration/shock profiles that maximize air filter performance, dust capacity, and service life when placed in a vibrating environment. Third, we will develop high performance air filter media, housings, and/or assemblies with built-in miniaturized vibrating elements. To maintain high performance under all operating and environmental conditions, the proposed Intelligently Vibrating Air Filters will operate under its intentionally generated vibrations. In Phase II, we will conduct simultaneous full-scale air cleaner performance/vibration evaluations between current production and the best performing advanced air cleaner filter media. We will also explore whether repeated vehicle shock loads have an influence on the performance of air filters. Ultimately, we will develop the innovative Intelligently Vibrating Air Filters applicable to the Army ground vehicles, such as HMMWV.

Title: Energy-Based Vibration Control System for Load-Bearing Skin Structures

Agency: MDA

Abstract: The goal of this Phase II SBIR project is to design, fabricate, and evaluate a fully functional prototype of EBS3 with embedded energy steering capability suitable for load-bearing skin structure applications. The proposed smart skin will have noise and vibration control strategy that relies on the vibrational energy management concept. The vibration control system will be comprised of both passive and active elements each of which will have two functions. The passive elements will be utilized for energy dissipation at high frequencies and energy absorption at resonance frequencies of a skin structure. Constrained layer damping and tuned-mass dampers will be the initial candidate for passive elements during the feasibility study. The active elements will dissipate energy at low frequencies and steer vibrational energy to specified regions at which excess energy can be most effectively absorbed or dissipated by passive or active elements. PZT-based actuators will be the initial candidates for active elements. The proposed smart skin structures will have the capability of steering their excited vibration energy in the most efficient and effective manner in order to minimize the damaging effects and/or radiated noise of propagating vibrations. A skin structure with embedded vibrational energy steering capability is the novel part of our work. Energy Based Smart Skin Structures have applications in commercial watercraft, aircraft, space vehicles, automobiles, marine systems, machinery, machine tools, and home appliances. A modified version of the proposed smart skin may be used in buildings, bridges, and off-shore oil platforms. An important and large commercial application for the proposed smart skin may be found in manufacturing and processing plants.

Title: Smart Screening Systems in Taconite Processing

Agency: DOE

Summary: This proposal addresses the significant need for improvements in the efficiency and effectiveness of physical separation technologies used in processing industries. The mining industry alone uses approximately 33 billion kW-hr per year (costing $1.65 billion at $0.05 per kW-hr) of electrical energy for physical separations. Although vibrating machines are not the single most energy intensive step in a processing plant, they are often a major bottleneck in the process. Improvements to this area offer tremendous potential in both energy savings and production enhancements. Additionally, in processing plants, the vibrating machines are among the most costly in maintenance and worker health and safety. The goal is to significantly reduce energy usage and maintenance costs while noticeably improving efficiency, effectiveness, capacity, and worker health and safety in vibration-based physical separation systems. Our innovative approach is based on our recently developed vibrating machine using miniaturized intelligent engines with PZT-based actuators and award winning energy managing techniques. The vibrating machine uses an advanced sensory system to continuously monitor the process and make appropriate adjustments to improve production.

In Phase I, we developed a full scale single-panel laboratory prototype with one-fourth of the full load capacity. The system was fully tested for its function and energy consumption under controlled and dry conditions. Two miniaturized PZT-based engines were used. The total power consumption for the manually controlled prototype was measured to be less than 40 W for operation above idle, this result is an impressive 82% less power consumption than conventional systems.

In Phase II, we will design and fabricate a full-scale multiple panel prototype with 100% load capacity. It will be tested and evaluated under both dry and wet conditions in the field. The full system will have two main components, hardware and software. The hardware will be similar to the Phase I prototype but with four times more load capacity. For full automation of the system, self monitoring, and self adjustment, an advanced controller software will be developed and integrated into the system. The proposed machines will have significant energy savings (50 to 75%) as compared to conventional machines. In addition, considerable performance improvement, enhanced throughput (10%), reduction in maintenance cost (50%), and immeasurable improvement in worker health and safety.

Title: Smart Isolation Mounts for Army Guns with Energy Flow Controlling Structural Elements

Agency: U.S. Army

Abstract: The U.S. Army has a critical need for the development of low cost, high performance isolation systems that benefit weapons and mission critical components onboard helicopters and aircraft. Such developments will result in a significant reduction in the transmission of excess vibration and shock loads to helicopter and aircraft airframe. An effective isolation technology will have applications for isolating vibrations from guns, engines, and main rotor head transmission mounts in Army helicopters with emphasis on reducing the vibration to the airframe and onboard mission equipment package LRUs. The goal is to increase the LRU MTBF and lower overall logistics cost. Vibration and shock attenuation is the focus of this project. We offer to demonstrate the effectiveness and performance of the Smart Isolation Mounts for Army Guns (SIMAG) with Energy Flow-Controlling Structural Elements designs suitable for use in military airborne vehicles such as helicopters, aircraft, and UAVs. Excess vibration energies will be channeled and attenuated inside the proposed Smart Isolation Mounts whose continuous and connected elements will have energy flow-controlling and energy-managing capabilities. It is the energy-managing and energy-controlling features of the SIMAG that makes our design unique and effective. This innovative Smart isolation Mount will be designed to be effective and failsafe. The proposed mount creates a barrier between vibration energy generated by guns, engines, and sensitive optical and electrical components onboard helicopters or aircraft. Vibration and shock disturbances injected into the mounts will be confined, diverted, converted, absorbed, steered, and dissipated using embedded passive, semi-active, and hybrid elements. The semi-active feature of the proposed isolation mount will have the capability of changing it stiffness and/or damping rates in an on-off manner to accommodate operational changes. Effective isolation mounts have applications in the current commercial piston and turboprop aircraft as well as helicopters. The combination of improved vibration isolation while maintaining static alignment conditions under shock loads will also be applicable to better isolating a variety of military and commercial power trains from the rest of the vehicle. In addition to airborne types, these vehicles include passenger automobiles, commercial trucks, marine vehicles such as submarines and surface ships.

Title: Vibration Energy Confinement Analysis Software (VECAS)

Agency: NSF

Abstract: This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will attempt to demonstrate the feasibility of developing computer software that can be used by design engineers and vibration analysts to incorporate the occurrence and effects of the phenomenon of vibration confinement in their design and product development processes. Analytical tools are needed to model, study, and incorporate the potential impacts of vibration confinement in the design stage of systems, structures, and products. The engineering tools must be user friendly, provide rapid response and analysis, and be compatible with other commonly used modeling software/hardware. A user-friendly Vibration Energy Confinement Analysis Software (VECAS) will be developed as a stand-alone program or as part of a post processing toolbox when used with large commercial modeling programs (i.e., finite element programs such as ANSYS, NASTRAN, ABACUS, etc.). The software will also be available in two different compilation platforms, such as C++ and FORTRAN. The VECAS program will provide rapid awareness of the occurrence of the energy confinement and its significance in structures under development, and therefore, reduce the potential for catastrophic failures due to confinement of energy. VECAS can also be used to optimize the performance of the structure based on beneficial effects (i.e., improved buckling capacity, vibration isolation, reduction, and sensor/actuator optimization) of the phenomenon. Finally, VECAS can be used to construct more effective passive or active vibration/noise control systems. The VECAS program to be developed will provide the tools to incorporate the mode localization phenomenon in the design stage of new developments. Due to the broad applications, such as buckling and vibration analysis, and passive active vibration control, of the such software, the commercial market is diverse and huge. It is anticipated that researchers, engineers, and educators in government laboratories, industry, and academic institutions, respectively, will be interested in using VECAS.

Title: Application of Localized Vibration and Smart Materials in Controlling the Dynamic Response of Structures

Agency: DARPA

Abstract: In the treatment of the dynamic problems of struc tures, two alternate testing methods, based on external and embedded sensors, exist in the literature. If the sensors respond to the changes in the dynamic characteristics of the structure, and/or the environment, then they are referred to as “smart” structures. Smart sensors and smart materials have been used for detecting structural damages and/or controlling the vibration characteristics of structures. Recent developments in new materials, and in vibration phenomenons, such as mode localization and transition, have made the researchers to look for ways of combining the two in order to more effectively altering structural response. The objective of this Phase II project is to develop more efficient and precise smart structures based on smart materials, such as shape memory alloys, advanced sensors, such as optical fibers, and vibration phenomenons such as loci crossing and phenomenons will be enforced on the structures so that the undesired vibrations are confined to a smaller region, and therefore, easier to detect and control. Optical fibers and shape memory materials will be used to detect and control the parameters that are more crucial in vibration response of the structure. Such a combination will result in a huge reduction in the number of the sensors, significant gain in computational speed, and improving the accuracy of the control system. Anticipated Benefits: The outcome of this SBIR project will result in significant advancement in the field of smart structures. It will enhance the capabilities of the systems used by DOD, NASA, aerospace, and commercial industries. The commercial applications of such a development include damage control, confinement of structural vibrations, and vibration control which significantly improve the performance and reliability of structures.

Title: Acoustically Intelligent Surfaces for C3 Shelters

Agency: U.S. Army

Abstract: Noisy enclosures present a problem of great importance to the Army’s Command and Control Operations On-the-Move for Future Combat Systems. Examples of these noisy enclosures are Command and Control communications shelters and vehicles. Fully equipped communication shelters are extremely noisy. A unique and effective solution to the noise problem in both fixed and mobile shelters is offered. The solution is based on the development of Acoustically Intelligent Surfaces using our Smart Skin technology. This solution is energy and space efficient. By adapting a state-of the-art, proactive sound and vibration management technology into the walls of the shelters, the sound energy is diverted and otherwise moved to regions where it does not hinder the mission. The focus of this SBIR is to apply the Energy Flow Control technology to the walls and ceiling of an Army Command and Control communications shelter to maintain noise levels below 65dBA. This will be accomplished via our Energy Flow Control design and control methodology in conjunction with sensor/actuator arrays attached to the walls and ceiling that will channel and shovel the noise to regions where it does not interfere with the operations in a shelter. The feasibility of the AIS concept was demonstrated in Phase I. We plan to build and evaluate AIS-based prototypes in this Phase II project.Acoustically Intelligent Surfaces have application in military and commercial segments of the aerospace and automobile industries. Commercially, Acoustically Intelligent Surfaces have applications in existing noise sensitive environments such as aircraft, automobile, truck, farm equipment, rail, space and industrial operations.