SBIR-STTR Award

In this research effort, AMT will investigate a replacement for the braking system located on test sleds at the Supersonic Naval Ordnance Research Track (SNORT) at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake. The current water braking system is based on last-century technology that is characterized by unnecessary complexity and high cost, especially regarding the labor hours spent on repair, calibration and regular maintenance of the system. Regulatory compliance and safety are ongoing concerns of the current setup. The goal of this research is to design a passive eddy current braking system that accomplishes the same results of the current system and fits in the existing allocated spaces, while offering higher reliability, shorter setup time, lower maintenance and lifecycle costs, and minimal calibration setup. The proposed eddy brake uses a magnetic field to induce current within a conducting secondary. The process is completely passive. There is no water, electricity, fuel or coolant required. The eddy currents are induced because of relative motion between the magnets and the conducting secondary. The design is also inherently self-centering. Technical objectives of this Phase I project include computing the braking force resulting from the induced eddy currents for speeds ranging from 1 3, 000 ft/s; simulating the kinematics of a braking event on a sample mass from several thousand ft/s down to zero; and verifying compliance of the system design to the provided Navy requirements.

Benefit:
The completely passive eddy current brake will eliminate the need for almost all the auxiliary systems in place to support the current system, especially the diesel-powered pump. The system proposed using wayside magnets will increase the cost of the track, but the gain is a simplification of the brake operation with the elimination of the underground vault. Regulatory burdens will be lightened, and safety will increase with the reduced likelihood of a hazardous event while in operation or during maintenance. ???????The development, testing and commissioning of such technology would be of extreme benefit to SNORT and the DoDs other high-speed test tracks, including Holloman Air Force Base, Hurricane Mesa and Eglin AFB, where ground testing has proven to be an order of magnitude less costly than flight testing, especially when it comes to testing missiles, ejection seats and other mission-critical aerospace systems. The technology would also be synergistic with AMTs ongoing development of sustainable mass-transportation magnetic levitation technology for passengers and cargo.

Keywords:
Test Track, Test Track, Eddy current, magnet, high-speed, SNORT, Brake

American Maglev Technology of Florida (AMT), in conjunction with subcontractors American Electromechanics (AE), HTS International Corporation (HTS), the Georgia Institute of Technology (GT), and Vectorworks Marine (VM, or collectively, the Project Team), have designed and simulated a passive eddy-current braking system for integration onto test sleds at the Supersonic Naval Ordinance Research Track (SNORT). The system was designed to accomplish the same results of the facilitys current water-braking system and fit in the existing allocated spaces, while offering higher reliability, shorter setup time, lower maintenance and lifecycle costs, and minimal calibration setup. Using common neodymium magnets, the solution is completely passive and capable of producing braking force over a large range of speeds. In Phase II, the Project Team will construct an integrated eddy current brake model to enable a more comprehensive analysis of the candidate solution and allow for parametric studies and brake optimization. A complete engineering of the braking solution will be completed, with aerodynamic analysis, vibration analysis, and materials optimization analysis to maximize performance. A MATLAB or spreadsheet-based, executable program will also be furnished to assist Navy staff in predicting and anticipating stopping distances, velocities and other key variables during everyday sled operations. We will construct a full-scale prototype of the solution and undergo a low-speed testing program to prove out the concept. The prototype will be delivered to China Lake for inspection and low-speed testing with rocket motors up to 100 ft/s. Higher-speed testing (up to 650 ft/s and above) will be a part of the Phase II Option program, to determine if the concept is capable of replacing the Navy's current water-brake setup. We expect to demonstrate system performance through prototype evaluation and testing over the required range of parameters including numerous deployment cycles to verify test results and inform the next steps in the development of this technology.

Benefit:
The goal of the Phase II program is to investigate the ability to eliminate the need for many of the present auxiliary systems, especially the diesel-powered pump and underground vault, thus lightening regulatory burdens and increasing the level of safety with a reduced likelihood of hazardous braking events, creating additional value for the Navy. It will further commercial development and enable implementation of braking and launch systems for DoD missile test ranges and potential private commercial and space ventures. Compared to the current approach, it is anticipated that much lower life cycle costs for missile test sled braking will result in significant operations and maintenance cost savings will be realized over the useful life of the new braking system. The fully implemented and tested solution can be expanded in a sequential Phase II or Phase III program to reach much higher hypersonic speeds with very little or perhaps no change to the core design of this passive and elegant solution. In addition to SNORT at China Lake, our relationships with Holloman AFB and Eglin AFB, which operate world-class test facilities for high speed sled track testing, navigation and guidance system testing, among many other activities. AMTs ongoing relationship with Collins Aerospace is also expected to leverage the ability to integrate this technology at the Hurricane Mesa facility. This program also supports ongoing DoD development programs for the resupply of solid rocket motors (JESTR) as well as cold launch opportunities that will employ linear synchronous motors in lieu of rocket motors for more safe and cost effective missile sled testing. The work product developed under this SBIR program will support further advances in missile testing as DoD accelerates development and widescale implementation of hypersonic missile technology across all DoD platforms.

Keywords:
hypersonic test, magnetic , Eddy current, Eddy current brake, SNORT, Magnetic Braking, passive braking