X-Wave Innovations, Inc. — Department of Energy SBIR Phase I: 33a

Description

Nuclear system plays an important part in today’s technology advances. Nuclear systems are used in power generation, defense and national security. With such, there is demand of sensor which can help in reliably running the nuclear system and prevent catastrophe. In high radiation field, most of the sensor systems show degradation and under failure, therefore reliability of sensor performance is always in question. In this regard, Department of Energy (DOE) has shown interest and grown support in the improvements and advancement of advanced sensors and instrumentations which can directly support existing power reactors, material test reactors and other similar systems. The desired technology should demonstrate greater accuracy, reliability, resilience and ease of replacement and upgrades for applications in nuclear environments. X-wave Innovations, Inc. (XII), along with TechOpp Consulting Inc. (TOC), proposes to develop a Radiation Endurance Ultrasonic Transducer (REUT) for nuclear applications. The proposed REUT development is based on selecting radiation resilient materials, material engineering and harnessing knowledge of acoustic propagation in materials. The key innovation of the proposed REUT approach lays in the development of metal backing for ultrasonic transducers whose electrical and acoustic characteristics will be comparable to the conventional ultrasonic transducers. Our approach combines the concepts of material engineering and acoustic propagation in materials, are exploited to its best in REUT design, delivering a ultrasonic transducer which is resilient to radiation and can operate in other harsh conditions such as high temperatures. In Phase I, XII will revive the REUT development and perform detail design studies using simulations and precision machining task to develop REUT system with performance characteristics matching the conventional ultrasonic transducers. The primary consideration will be given to the development of backing material which is the heart of the REUT. The performance testing will involve evaluation of REUT working and comparison studies with the available commercial ultrasonic transducers. Improvement in the REUT design will be made based on the performance tests and comparison studies. XII counts with the necessary technical and scientific expertise to carry on a detail analytical and simulation-based design as well as implementing the design in development of a sensor prototype meeting all specification and requirements. We envision the success of the end product and a strong intellectual property portfolio.XII has a clear transitioning plan for the proposed technology. The outcome of the proposed work is an ultrasonic transducer which will have a high tolerance and extended life in high temperatures, and other harsh conditions including extreme radiation. The specially designed ultrasonic transducer can be replacing with the conventional ultrasonic transducers which usually have short performance life span in harsh conditions. The potential application of the proposed technology is in nuclear industry, such as, nuclear reactors (both domestic and military), nuclear waste management, nuclear war heard, handling radioactive materials used national security, medicine and research. The proposed technology can find application in non-nuclear field as well, such as, chemical processing, metal industry, refinery, oil & petroleum industry, charge particle accelerators etc. We anticipate the social and economic benefits of the proposed system are enormous.