SBIR-STTR Award

Optical Device for Sorting Particles by Size
Award last edited on: 11/7/2017

Sponsored Program
SBIR
Awarding Agency
DOC : NIST
Total Award Amount
$400,000
Award Phase
2
Solicitation Topic Code
N/A
Principal Investigator
Yudaya R Sivathanu

Company Information

En'Urga Inc

1201 Cumberland Avenue Suite R
West Lafayette, IN 47906
   (765) 497-3269
   info@enurga.com
   www.enurga.com
Location: Single
Congr. District: 04
County: Tippecanoe

Phase I

Contract Number: 70NANB17H222
Start Date: 00/00/00    Completed: 00/00/00
Phase I year
2017
Phase I Amount
$100,000
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase 1 project will evaluate the feasibility of an innovative optical sizer for estimating drop sizes in sprays that have very small drops. The technique is based on the NIST provisional patent (application number 62/358,264). The NIST invention sorts particles by size over the range of 10nm to 10?m. Drop sizing is achieved in these sprays using an intense standing wave optical field created in a laser-pumped resonant optical cavity, and sending the spray in a laminar flow through the optical field. During the Phase I project, EnÂ’Urga Inc. will undertake three tasks. The first task will be to configure a laboratory system to evaluate the technical feasibility of the optical drop sizer. The second task will be to evaluate the laboratory system using spray experiments. The last task will be to design a commercial prototype system for the Phase II work. During the Phase II work, En'Urga Inc. will design and develop a prototype drop sizer. The drop sizer will be rigorously evaluated before commercialization of the system can commence.

Phase II

Contract Number: 70NANB18H182
Start Date: 00/00/00    Completed: 00/00/00
Phase II year
2018
Phase II Amount
$300,000
This Phase II SBIR project will continue the development of an optical sorter that will be used to estimate drop sizes in sprays. The optical sorter will determine the size of drops in the 0.1 to 10 microns range. Drops in this size range are prevalent in the automobile industry, where the fuel injection pressures have increased tremendously over the past two decades. These newer injectors provide higher fuel efficiency and lower pollutant emissions. However, their continued development is hampered by the lack of a drop sizer to validate numerical models of the spray generation.The feasibility of estimating drop sizes using the optical sorter was demonstrated during the Phase I project. The primary objective of the Phase II work is to develop a prototype drop sizer for the automotive industry. The four tasks that are required to achieve this objective are: 1) determine the optimal configuration for the optical sorter, 2) design and fabricate a drop sizing instrument based on the optimal configuration, 3) develop a Graphical User Interface for the prototype instrument, and 4) evaluate the prototype system under laboratory conditions. The prototype system will be provided to NIST after the validation is complete.