The Collier Report of U.S. Government Contracting

Sampling of Federal Government Funding Actions/Set Asides

In order by amount of set aside monies.

• $749,948 - Friday the 3rd of April 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  IGF::OT::IGF OTHER FUNCTION - HYDROGEN IS AN ESSENTIAL RESOURCE FOR SPACE MISSIONS. NASA HAS A NEED FOR EQUIPMENT TO GENERATE, HANDLE AND STORE HYDROGEN. IN TERMS OF HANDLING HYDROGEN, CONVENTIONAL ROTATING MECHANICAL PUMPS AND COMPRESSORS REQUIRE EXTENSIVE MODIFICATION AND HAVE LIMITED RELIABILITY. ELECTROCHEMICAL PUMPING AND COMPRESSION OF HYDROGEN OCCURS WITHOUT ANY MOVING PARTS AND IS HIGHLY RELIABLE AND EFFICIENT. SUSTAINABLE INNOVATIONS HAS DEMONSTRATED UP TO 6,000 PSI OF COMPRESSION USING ELECTROCHEMICAL CELL HARDWARE. HOWEVER, FOR HIGH FLOW APPLICATIONS, SUCH AS A 6 CFM HYDROGEN PUMP FOR NASA, A DEPARTURE FROM TRADITIONAL ELECTROCHEMICAL CELL HARDWARE DESIGNS IS NEEDED. OUR WORK IN PHASE I DEMONSTRATED AN EXPANDABLE MODULAR ARCHITECTURE CELL DESIGN, THAT ALLOWS A LARGE FOOTPRINT FOR THE ELECTROCHEMICAL STACK. THIS IS ACHIEVED USING MODULAR CELL PARTS TO CREATE LARGE ACTIVE AREA CELLS. THE MODULAR PARTS ARE INEXPENSIVE TO MANUFACTURE AND CAN ACHIEVE THE HIGH TOLERANCES NEED FOR LARGE ACTIVE AREA CELLS. THE PROPOSED PHASE II ACTIVITY WILL LEVERAGE THE KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN PHASE I AND DEMONSTATE THE SCALABILITY OF THIS DEVICE FOR CRITICAL NASA AND COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS. THIS WILL INCLUDE INCREASING THE ACTIVE AREA/CAPACITY OF THE ELECTROCHEMICAL CELL STACK BY A FACTOR OF 5, AND TO INCREASE PRESSURE CAPABILITY FROM 200 PSI TO 750 PSI. THE RESULTANT UNIT WILL BE UTILIZED TO ACTUATE PNEUMATIC TOOLS THAT COULD BE USED IN SPACE.

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• $746,684 - Tuesday the 25th of March 2014
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  IGF::OT::IGF OTHER FUNCTION - PROTON EXCHANGE MEMBRANE (PEM) WATER ELECTROLYZERS HAVE UNDERGONE CONTINUOUS DEVELOPMENT FOR THE GENERATION OF OXYGEN AND HYDROGEN FOR COMMERCIAL, MILITARY AND SPACE APPLICATIONS SINCE THE 1970'S. UNFORTUNATELY, CONVENTIONAL TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPED OVER THIS TIME PERIOD HAS REQUIRED A COMPLEX BALANCE OF PLANT THAT ADDS TO THE OVERALL WEIGHT OF THE SYSTEM PACKAGE. RESEARCH IN THE PAST TWO DECADES RESULTED IN THE CREATION OF SYSTEMS THAT MINIMIZED BALANCE OF PLANT COMPONENTS, BUT HAD SIGNIFICANT CURRENT DENSITY AND EFFICIENCY LIMITATIONS, LIMITING THEIR USE. THIS SBIR PROGRAM BUILDS UPON RECENT SUCCESS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A HIGH-PRESSURE ELECTROCHEMICAL CELL ARCHITECTURE AND INSERTS NOVEL WATER MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY TO GENERATE A PASSIVE LIQUID FEED ELECTROLYZER CAPABLE OF OPERATING AT 2,000 PSI - AND SCALABLE TO HIGHER PRESSURES. IF SUCCESSFUL, IMPLEMENTATION OF THIS NEW TECHNOLOGY CAN SAVE SUBSTANTIALLY ON SYSTEM WEIGHT WITH A HIGH SYSTEM OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY AND ENHANCED CURRENT DENSITY CAPABILITY.

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• $150,000 - Tuesday the 23rd of December 2014
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  ROCKET TEST OPERATIONS AT NASA STENNIS SPACE CENTER (SSC) RESULT IN SUBSTANTIAL QUANTITIES OF HYDROGEN GAS THAT IS FLARED FROM THE FACILITY AND HELIUM GAS THAT IS VENTED. ONE WAY TO SAVE ON THE COST OF TEST OPERATIONS IS TO RECOVER THESE GASES USING AN ELECTROCHEMICAL SYSTEM. THIS HYDROGEN RECOVERY SYSTEM (HRS) SELECTIVELY REMOVES HYDROGEN FROM THE MIXED STREAM, LEAVING BEHIND HIGH-VALUE HELIUM. THE SYSTEM THEN REMOVES RESIDUAL WATER VAPOR FROM THIS HELIUM AND COMPRESSES IT TO COMMERCIAL STORAGE PRESSURE. THE HEART OF THE HRS IS A SYSTEM PLATFORM UNDER COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT BY SUSTAINABLE INNOVATIONS, TERMED H2RENEWTM, AN ELECTROCHEMICAL SYSTEM PACKAGE THAT SEPARATES AND COMPRESSES HYDROGEN USING PROTON EXCHANGE MEMBRANE (PEM) TECHNOLOGY. THE SYSTEM BEING DEVELOPED IN THIS PHASE II STTR PROGRAM TARGETS A HYDROGEN REMOVAL RATE OF 1.77 SCFM, AN OUTLET HYDROGEN PRESSURE OF 200 PSI, AND A PRODUCT HELIUM PRESSURE OF 2,000 - 2,500 PSI. THIS SYSTEM LEVERAGES A ROBUST NOVEL EXPANDABLE MODULAR ARCHITECTURE (EMA) ELECTROCHEMICAL CELL STACK THAT IS CAPABLE OF BEING CONSTRUCTED WITH A VERY LARGE PRODUCTION CAPACITY AND HIGH OPERATING PRESSURE.

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• $124,942 - Thursday the 15th of January 2015
  National Aeronautics And Space Administration
  NASA SHARED SERVICES CENTER
  NASA AND MANY OTHERS OFTEN RELY ON DELIVERY OF CRYOGENIC HYDROGEN TO MEET THEIR FACILITY NEEDS. NASA'S STENNIS SPACE CENTER IS ONE OF THE LARGEST USERS OF HYDROGEN, WITH THE LH2 USED AS A FUEL FOR CRYOGENIC ROCKET ENGINE TESTING. OTHER NASA CENTERS INCLUDING KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, WHICH UTILIZES HYDROGEN TO SUPPORT SPACE SHUTTLE LAUNCHES, AND MANY INDUSTRIAL LOCATIONS ALSO USE SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF HYDROGEN. UNFORTUNATELY EXTREMELY LARGE AMOUNTS OF HYDROGEN ARE LOST DURING TRANSFERS AND TEST OPERATIONS DUE TO BOIL-OFF RESULTING FROM HEAT TRANSFERRED INTO THE EQUIPMENT, OR BY OTHER MEANS. ADDITIONALLY, THROUGH TEST OPERATIONS, HYDROGEN AND HELIUM BECOME MIXED AND REQUIRE SEPARATION TO REGAIN THEIR VALUE. THIS GASEOUS HYDROGEN IS TYPICALLY FLARED AS A SAFETY MEASURE WITH LITTLE TO NO ECONOMIC VALUE OR ENERGY EFFICIENCY REALIZED FROM THE PROCESS. NO ECONOMICAL MEANS EXISTS TO SAFELY CAPTURE, PROCESS AND STORE, AND SIMULTANEOUSLY EXTRACT VALUABLE ENERGY, THE LARGE AMOUNTS OF GASEOUS HYDROGEN RELEASED DURING NASA TEST OPERATIONS, OR IN INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS WHERE CRYOGENIC HYDROGEN IS USED. THE TECHNOLOGIES DEVELOPED TO CAPTURE AND CLEAN THE HYDROGEN MUST BE COST EFFECTIVE AND ABLE TO PERFORM THE RECYCLING PROCESS IN AN IN-SITU ROCKET ENGINE TEST AREA ENVIRONMENT, AND MUST COMPLY WITH ALL SAFETY AND QUALITY STANDARDS FOR THIS ENVIRONMENT. BECAUSE CRYOGENIC HYDROGEN IS VERY PURE, ITS RECYCLE AND RECOVERY AS A COMPRESSED GAS CAN RESULT IN A VALUABLE COMMODITY AND CAN PROVIDE THE BASIS OF A POWER GENERATION SYSTEM THAT CONSERVES FACILITY ENERGY. THIS STTR PROJECT DEVELOPS A HYDROGEN-BASED ENERGY CONSERVATION SYSTEM (HECS) THAT BRINGS IN GASEOUS HYDROGEN RELEASED FROM CRYOGENIC STORAGE OR TRANSFER OR MIXED HYDROGEN, HELIUM STREAM FROM TEST OPERATIONS, PURIFIES THE HYDROGEN AND ALTERNATELY ELECTROCHEMICALLY COMPRESSES IT TO COMMERCIAL STORAGE PRESSURES (UP TO 6,000 PSI) AND REUSES THE HYDROGEN IN A REACTION WITH AIR TO EFFICIENTLY PRODUCE ELECTRICITY.

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