|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
| Overview Laboratories Modeling and Simulation |
 |
PSI's laboratories are fully-equipped, state-of-the-art facilities representing millions of dollars of capital investment. In addition to specialized test and evaluation equipment detailed in the individual laboratory description, PSI maintains networked data acquisition computers for efficient evaluation of experimental results. As the centerpiece of PSI's technical capabilities, these laboratories represent a source of continuous re-investment and growth.
PSI maintains a small-scale, subsonic wind tunnel with an expandable length test section cross-section of 1 x 1 ft. The tunnel is an open-loop, Eiffel-type facility with a maximum continuous air velocity of 50 m/s. The tunnel is presently used to support pulsed fluidic jet research for static and dynamic separation control on airfoils. The test instrumentation includes pitot probe rakes, a high-speed scanivalve for distributed surface pressure measurements, and fast-acting, stepper-motor controlled angle-of-attack mount. Optical flow visualization is also available.
Our experimental facilities for electrochemistry include a wet chemistry/electrochemistry laboratory equipped with a pilot-scale copper plating cell with ventilation system, three fuel cell test stand facilities, and one pre-pilot electrochemical synthesis test facility. Laboratory equipment supporting these facilities include the following: Princeton Applied Research (PAR) Model 273 Computer Controllable Potentiostat/Galvanostat, PAR Model 362 Scanning Potentiostat, PAR Model 371 Potentiostat/Galvanostat, Pine Instruments Analytical Rotator and Bipotentiostat, Orion pH meter, Micromeritics Mercury Intrusion Porosimeter, Micromeritics Flowsorb II Surface Area Analyzer, three Kraft Dynatronix Rectifiers (one 50 Amp DC Rectifier and two Pulse Reverse Current Rectifiers (30 Amp and 100 Amp)), two Power-Ten DC Rectifiers (100 Amp and 500 Amp), numerous plating cells, an EMK Model HD-550 Hot Rupture Biaxial Tensile Tester with automated data acquisition, as well as ample bench-top space and ventilation hood facilities. Data from the test stands, rotating electrode equipment, and potentiostats are acquired through the use of several IBM-compatible 486 DX2-66 personal computers utilizing in-house developed software for data acquisition and reduction.
Full capability is present for the design, component fabrication, and assembly of optical high temperature measurement equipment such as radiometers and pyrometers, as well as heat flux gages and calorimeters for specialty applications. High and low temperature blackbody sources are employed to calibrate these instruments.
PSI maintains several laboratories devoted to the development of electro-optic sensor and flow diagnostic systems and techniques. Extensive laser, photodetector, and test equipment are available for this work. Laser sources include cw Ar-ion, ring-dye, pulsed dye, pulsed and cw Nd:YAG, a number of single-mode diode laser sources between 630 nm and 2.0 microns, and a tunable external cavity diode laser. Photodetectors range from PMTs to proprietary balanced dual beam detector systems to intensified CCD-array cameras for PLIF measurements. Electro-Optic test equipment includes Fabry-Perot etalons, spectrum analyzers, optical multi-pass cells, and a cw wavemeter.
Sensors and diagnostic techniques are developed using a number of flow and environmental simulation facilities including a premixed flat flame burner, a shrouded jet-diffusion flame burner, and vacuum facilities and pressure chambers capable of static conditions from 200 K to 1100 K and pressures from vacuum to 5 atm. Several laminar flow furnaces are available for the combustion of solids and liquids and for materials synthesis. Standard gas analyzers, aerosol sampling probes, particle impactors for size-segregation of aerosols down to 0.03 µm, thermochemical equilibrium codes, and proprietary codes for calculation of mineral matter transformations and air toxic formation during coal combustion.
Apparatus include two discharge flow reactors, an ultrahigh vacuum chamber (10-7 Torr) incorporating an Auger spectrometer, differentially pumped mass spectrometer, and low energy electron energy analyzer, and a crossed molecular beam system employing PSI's FAST hypervelocity atom beam technology. Associated monochromators, high speed data acquisition, and fluorescence diagnostics are available. Two pulsed Nd:YAG dye lasers pumping two independent dye laser systems are used in monitoring of transient species in a variety of applications. A CW ring dye laser compliments these sources in the UV and visible wavelengths for state-to-state energy transfer measurements. A multigas exciter laser is available for photochemical generation of transient species or may be used with a dye laser for improved diagnostics capabilities.
PSI's 4000 square foot composites process facilities include several furnaces operating at temperatures up to 1750 C. This pilot scale manufacturing facility has fiber pre-forming, process, and furnace capabilities that enable on-site fabrication of ceramic composites. In addition, on-site PSI analytical resources include Field Emission SEM, FTIR, UV-VIS, spectrometer and viscometer, as well as mechanical testing, analytical chemistry, and polymer synthesis facilities.
Facilities have been established to support activities involved in the development and study of solid state lasers for new applications—whether flashlamp-pumped, laser-pumped, or diode-pumped. Equipment and instrumentation is available to explore emerging technology with respect to new or modified materials, resonator designs, tailored pumped pulses, non-imaging pump reflectors, spectral conversion, and beam delivery systems. Currently, the principal use of this capability is supporting an activity for developing solid state dye lasers using a number of different host materials, and with different pumping configurations. Some of the equipment available in this facility include: pyroelectric and fast diode detectors, energy and power meters, a CCD camera, optical components (attenuator filters, optical mirrors, dichroic mirrors, lens kit, spherical and cylindrical), a hand-held spectrometer, switch-mode power supplies and assorted power PFN/switch equipment, chillers, filters, assortment of liquid flow equipment, laser diodes, HeNe lasers, and dye lasers.
PSI operates FAST-1, the only commercial test facility in the U.S. capable of producing the high flux, large area orbital velocity atomic oxygen flows required for multiple-sample accelerated materials testing. FAST-1 is a stainless steel, high vacuum chamber with an internal length of 24 in. and an internal diameter of 7.75 in. equipped with PSI's patented atomic oxygen source capable of producing 5 eV atomic oxygen fluences > 1016 atoms/cm2-s over areas > 100 cm2. A < 10-5 Torr base vacuum level is maintained by a 1500 LPS closed-cycle helium cryopump. Chamber vacuum is continuously monitored with a Granville-Phillips Model 307 Vacuum Gauge Controller. Test samples are usually exposed at room temperature, however temperature requests from -196°C to +900°C can be accommodated.
PSI maintains in-house optical calibration facilities with NIST traceable
UV and VIS/NIR irradiance standards, a VIS/NIR tungsten radiance standard,
and two blackbody sources: a 300 to 1200 K high temperature blackbody
standard, and a very high temperature 500 to 3000 K blackbody standard.
PSI has a Shimadzu Model 3100-UV UV/VIS/NIR dual beam spectrometer (190
to 3300 nm) with reflectance attachments, a UV/VIS Hitachi Model F-2000
Spectrofluorimeter (300 to 850 nm), and Midac Prospect FTIR (1.5 to 20 µm)
for optical transmission and/or reflectance measurements, and also
several UV/VIS/IR emission spectrometers for optical source quantification.
The PSI nuclear magnetic resonance facility houses a Varian Gemini 300 MHz NMR spectrometer equipped with state-of-the-art control software and a broadband probe for performing 1H, 13C, 19F and 31P resonance studies. The spectrometer is further equipped to run both two-dimensional correlation studies using the COSY and HECTOR techniques, and Nuclear Overhauser Effect (NOE) experiments. In addition, a variable temperature (VT) capability enables detailed analysis of the structure of larger compounds such as polymers and proteins. The NMR facility is available to PSI researchers on a fee-for-use basis.
This laboratory is used for the rapid acquisition of broadband terahertz spectra. The spectra are measured with a Time Domain THz (TD-THz) spectrometer, which utilizes a pulsed femtosecond laser source to measures the time dependent field of a THz pulse in the presence and absence of a sample. Fourier transforms of the time domain data yield both the absorption spectrum and spectral index of refraction of the material under study. The spectrometer provides over 5 octaves of bandwidth (0.1 to 3.5 THz) and is capable of absorption measurements with over 5 decades of dynamic range. We have developed the appropriate techniques and acquired the necessary sample handling apparatus to measure the spectra of a variety of species, including gases, liquids, and various condensed phase materials.
|
|
|||||
green@psicorp.com
Andover
To
efficiently test new optical systems concepts, we have established a general
purpose optics laboratory. It's equipped with optical benches, lasers
and standard optical components which allow the rapid prototyping of a
conceptual system. Once critical issues are resolved via this process,
the components needed for the deliverable system are specified and ordered.
This laboratory is used for
the production of nonlinear optical materials such as periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) and periodically
poled stoichiometric lithium tantalate (PPSLT), and for the fabrication of annealed-proton-exchange (APE)
waveguides in those materials. A computer-controlled high-voltage power supply, custom electrode structure,
and high-voltage electronic circuit are used for periodic poling. Various facilities for design, fabrication
and characterization of APE waveguides are also available, including high-temperature baths for proton exchange,
a muffle furnace for annealing, and a prism coupler for the measurement of effective refractive indices.
This laboratory features optically-accessible combustor assemblies permitting
flexible fuel injector testing at pressures up to 50 atm. Heated air is
supplied by a blow-down facility capable of providing up to 1 lb/s at
50 atm and 500 K. Extensive diagnostics, including Planar Laser-Induced
Fluorescence (PLIF), FTIR and IR-emission, exhaust gas sampling, and tunable
diode laser absorption sensors are developed in this facility and available
for use in most tests. Present research includes pulsed fuel injection
for combustion instability and lean blow-off control, PLIF and IR-emission
diagnostics, and laser-induced incandescence for quantitative soot volume
fraction measurements.
Capabilities include two InSb IR (Indium antimonide infrared)
focal plane arrays and associated Adaptive Infrared Imaging System (AIRIS)
multispectral tunable filter systems. A recently developed LWIR (long
wavelength infrared) chemical imaging system employing a HgCdTe FPA
(mercury cadmiun telluride focal plane array) is complimented
by the presence of a modular FTIR (Fourier transform infrared)
system for use in either direct absorption or passive sensing modes. A
number of blackbody sources and monochromator systems are available for
calibration of IR systems.
The Materials Sciences facilities include labs for organic, inorganic, and polymer
synthesis as well as labs for materials processing and characterization.
The synthesis lab is equipped with fume hoods and bench space, analytical balances,
a rotary evaporator, a large drying oven, chemical storage, and a broad array of glassware, stirrers,
and heaters to perform a wide range of chemical reactions. Fine organic and inorganic
chemicals, including monomers and polymers, can be synthesized and characterized
in house on a multi-gram scale. The Materials Technology group has a materials processing
lab including electrospinning, spin coating, ink-jet printing, ultrasonic spraying,
melt and solution processing equipment. Materials characterization equipment
includes a Shimadzu UV3100 UV/Vis/NIR spectrometer, a Hitachi F-2000 Fluorescence
Spectrometer, a Midac M2500-C FTIR with a range of sample stages and detectors,
a Hewlett-Packard 5890A Gas Chromatograph with electron capture, flame ionization
and thermal conductivity detectors, and a temperature-controlled Waters HPLC/GPC
system equipped with a Model 600E programmable multisolvent delivery system,
Waters 486 tunable UV and Waters 410 refractive index detectors, a fraction
collector and the latest version of Waters Millennium data acquisition software.
Mechanical properties testing is performed using an Instron Model 4442 Load Frame
with 500 N load cells, and mini-grips for low force testing are coupled with
a PC running Instron Series IX software.
PSI maintains three facilities to test and qualify electronic packages
and payloads for space missions: TVC-1, a thermal vacuum environmental
test chamber for payload testing in a high vacuum environment; TC-1, a
thermal environmental chamber for developmental testing of electronic
and mechanical packages; and FAST-1, a LEO AO simulation chamber for accelerated
materials degradation studies on aircraft surfaces. PSI also maintains
optical calibration facilities with multiple UV, visible, and IR sources
for radiometric calibration of optical sensors.
This facility features PSI's patented (Patent Nos.
PSI's electron microscope facility features a Hitachi S-4300 Field Emission
Scanning Electron Microscope (FE-SEM). The S-4300 has a maximum spatial
resolution of 1.5 nm at voltages between 15 - 30 kV. A resolution of 5 nm
can be achieved at voltages as low as 1 kV, enabling high resolution
imaging of uncoated, non-conductive materials such as polymers and
ceramics. The FE-SEM is also equipped with a back-scattered electron
detector for obtaining images with atomic mass contrast. The S-4300 is
fully PC-controlled, which allows for rapid startup and alignment of the
FE-SEM, as well as direct capture of digital images. The electron
microscope facility is also fully equipped with sample preparation tools,
including a Denton gold sputtering chamber and variety of sample holders.
