Passive Wireless Temperature Sensor for Harsh Environments

Wireless Sensor Technologies has for several years been developing a passive Wireless Temperature Sensor (WTS) for gas turbine engine and other harsh environment applications under the under sponsorship of the Air Force (Non-destructive Test Program) and the Navy (SBIR Topic N08-004). Once productized, the functional and operational goals for the sensor as they relate to the gas turbine engine are to: ? Measure the surface temperature of the Yttria Stabilized Zirconia Thermal Barrier Coatings (YSZ TBC's) typically applied to turbine blades in the hot section of the gas turbine engines ? Measure temperature at specific locations on the surface of the combustor liner to determine both radial and circumferential temperature variations (pattern factor) o Thin film passive wireless sensors will be arrayed in an annular ring around the combustor to determine pattern factor in an effort to sense the uniformity of combustion downstream from the fuel injectors. ? Measure the surface temperature of any area of interest using a weldable coupon version of the wireless temperature sensor ? Measure heat flux across the section thickness of thermal barrier coatings by pairing several of the proposed wireless temperature sensors (for the surface temperature measurement of TBC's. This program will characterize the longterm drift and reliability of the WTS and in Phase 2 result in a sensor with a TRL level of 6 to 7.

The Wireless Temperature Sensor is directly applicable to NASA commercial applications including in situ instrumentation that can be used to characterized unsteady flow in three-dimensional flow fields as found in the combustors of gas turbine engines. The sensor is also extremely robust, allowing it to be used in other areas including transition ducts and engine rotors and stators.

The wireless temperature sensor technology is directly applicable to the following application areas: 1. Jet Engine Development Instrumentation – a. Jet Engine Manufacturers (Pratt Whitney, GE, Rolls Royce, Honeywell), b. Military Test Labs 2. Gas Turbine Engine Powered Aircraft, Condition-based Maintenance Instrumentation – a. Jet Engine Manufacturers (Pratt Whitney, GE, Rolls Royce, Honeywell), b. Commercial Jet Airplane Manufacturers – Boeing, Airbus, c. Military Jet Manufacturers, c. Helicopter Manufacturers 3. Other gas turbine engine development and continuous health monitoring – a. Jet aircraft APU, b. Public utility power generation. 4. Public Infrastructure Health Monitoring – Homeland Security and regional public agencies

This is a mature technology (TRL 7) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.