ALPHAMICRON, INCORPORATED — National Aeronautics and Space Administration SBIR Phase I: H4

Description

<p>The team of AlphaMicron Inc and ILC Dover propose using AMI&#39;s proprietary light control technology to provide electronic tint-on-demand for the next generation NASA Z-2 space suit. The technology is based on a guest - host liquid crystal system providing 1) electronic controlled dimming&nbsp;with&nbsp;millisecond switching speeds, 2) military grade optics, 3) customizable single&nbsp;color or multi-color solutions, 4) fails to clear state in less than one second, and 5) transmission window change of approximately 50%.<br /> For the Phase I program, the team is proposing a multi-pronged research and development&nbsp;approach to&nbsp;provide&nbsp;dimmable light control. &nbsp;The first approach is to thermoform dimmable&nbsp;&nbsp;liquid crystal films that match the curvature and shape of the bubble shaped inner visor of the EVVA. &nbsp;&nbsp;The second approach will be to prepare a custom eyewear with the same dimming functionality. &nbsp;The third path is a hybrid approach, combining the eyewear with thermoformed panels. &nbsp;</p><p><br /> While each utilizes the&nbsp;same core LC technology, the different approaches carry different levels of development&nbsp;risk and performance benefits. The eyewear path&nbsp;is more technological advanced, &nbsp;while the full sized thermoformed film and the panel sized thermoformed films are currently at the early prototype stage of development. &nbsp;Given the current state of the technology. the propsed research can be completed within the six months.</p><p><br /> With the goal of developing a technology that can be integrated into the Z-2 spacesuit preparing variations of the technology provides multiple options for NASA to evaluate and determine which best meets the needs of the astronaut.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>