SBIR Phase I: Novel position sensor and controller for free piston engines

SBIR 第一阶段：用于自由活塞发动机的新型位置传感器和控制器

• 批准号: 1913909
• 负责人: Matthew Viele
• 金额: $ 22.47万
• 依托单位: VIELETECH INC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-07-01 至 2020-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1913909&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Novel; position; sensor

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is to assist in the commercialization of a new type of engine. Macro-scale vehicle electrification has opened doors to new types of engines not previously practical. Amongst the most interesting of these is the free-piston engine. Free-piston engines (FPE) and Free-piston linear generators (FPLG) are well-suited to electrification because they directly produce electricity instead of torque and do it in a way that is cleaner, more efficient, and better suited to work with advanced electrified vehicles. These engines are inherently more capable of running on a diversity of fuels to enhance both low-carbon fuel consumption and US energy independence. Key to this technology is advanced controls and development of new sensors. This project focuses on development of a new sensor whose lack is a key roadblock to the commercialization of these advanced engines. This new sensor will be employed immediately in the laboratory and test vehicle development of these engines.This STTR Phase I project proposes to develop the framework of a new integrated circuit (IC) that will enable the mass adoption of clean, efficient free-piston engines. In order to realize practical free-piston engines a position sensor able to measure piston position to 0.1micron (4 millionths of an inch) and up to speed of 30m/s (over 1000 inch/second) is needed. Currently there is no sensor that gives the required speed and precision. The sensors that are close in functionality are large devices that nearly double the length of the engine. The proposed sensor must survive in the harsh thermal and vibration environment of an engine. In phase 1 the company will build a proof of concept from available discrete circuits; to build the actual custom IC in phase II. This sensor will be combined with distributed high-speed computation allowing high-speed piston control at a rate of greater than 10kHz. This IC will serve additional secondary markets for other fast, high power linear machines in robotics and factory automation.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这项小型企业创新研究（SBIR）项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是协助新型引擎的商业化。宏观车辆电气化已向以前不实用的新型发动机打开了大门。其中最有趣的是免费活塞发动机。自由活塞发动机（FPE）和自由活塞线性发电机（FPLG）非常适合电气化，因为它们直接产生电力而不是扭矩，并以更清洁，更高效且更适合使用高级电动车辆的方式进行。这些发动机本质上更有能力在多种燃料上运行，以增强低碳燃料消耗和美国的能源独立性。该技术的关键是高级控制和新传感器的开发。该项目的重点是开发新传感器，其缺乏是这些高级发动机商业化的关键障碍。该新传感器将立即用于实验室和测试这些引擎的车辆开发。该STTR I阶段项目提议开发新的集成电路（IC）的框架，该框架将使能够大量采用干净，高效的自由活塞发动机。为了实现实用的免费活塞发动机，需要将活塞的位置传感器能够测量活塞位置为0.1米（400万分之一英寸），并且需要达到30m/s的速度（超过1000英寸/秒）。当前没有传感器可以给出所需的速度和精度。功能上接近的传感器是发动机长度几乎翻倍的大型设备。所提出的传感器必须在发动机的刺激性和振动环境中生存。在第1阶段，该公司将从可用的离散电路中建立概念证明；在第二阶段构建实际的自定义IC。该传感器将与分布式的高速计算结合使用，以大于10kHz的速率高速活塞控制。该IC将为机器人技术和工厂自动化中的其他快速，高功率线性机器提供其他二级市场。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并且使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的审查标准，被认为值得通过评估来获得支持。