January 2020 - Physical Sciences Inc.

Press Release

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) has been awarded a research program from the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), to develop a biocarbon-based supercapacitor from plant cellulose feedstock.

MDA requires a high performance, cost-effective and environmentally friendly alternative solution to the currently employed metal based supercapacitors. PSI’s high performance biocarbon material for supercapacitor applications will use an environmentally friendly process and reagents technology to provide a supercapacitor with similar performance properties as the current state-of-the-art supercapacitors (e.g., toxic metals, expensive chemicals) using nontoxic biocarbon derived materials from cellulose feedstock. This approach will address shortcomings associated with the current state-of-the-art processes including high cost, scalability, and toxicity. The program goal is to provide the MDA with biocarbon materials with a low carbon footprint and production cost. PSI previously demonstrated the feasibility of this approach.

PSI’s Successful development of a high performance supercapacitor will have applications in both commercial and military technologies ranging from consumer electronics, transportation, renewable energy, and infrastructures.

For more information, contact:

Dr. Dorin Preda
Group Leader, Material Technologies
dpreda@psicorp.com
Physical Sciences Inc.
Telephone: (978) 689-0003

Press Release

Physical Sciences Inc (PSI) has been awarded a research program from the US Air Force Research Laboratory, to optimize and scale-up a paintable cathode coating for the prevention of electrostatic discharge (ESD) from spacecraft operating in the low earth orbit (LEO) and geosynchronous orbit (GEO) plasma environments.

PSI has developed a paintable coating that can be applied directly to spacecraft and spacecraft components or pre-applied to laminar materials for latter application to spacecraft. The paintable coating will afford spacecraft in LEO and GEO an added layer of protection against catastrophic electrostatic discharge events, which represents a potential total loss scenario that can easily and affordably be guarded against. No electrical wiring connection to or power from the spacecraft is required. The coating developed under this program has negligible impact on the size, weight, power and cost (SWaP-C) of spacecraft, decreasing risk to assets at a low premium investment.

The commercial applications of the coating are the same as the military and scientific applications – protection of expensive, mission critical, difficult to replace space assets with minimal cost, effort and impact on the mission. Additional benefits of this research (and the solid-state cathode devices generated in addition to the coatings) include potential applications to electrodynamic tether propulsion and terrestrial spinoff applications in the realm of powered cathode devices.

For more information, contact:

Dr. Dorin Preda
Group Leader, Material Technologies
dpreda@psicorp.com
Physical Sciences Inc.
Telephone: (978) 689-0003

Press Release

Physical Sciences Inc, in collaboration with the University of Massachusetts Lowell, has been awarded a research program by the National Center for Complementary & Integrative Health to develop a novel two-photon excitation (TPE) fluorescence redox sensor for on-line, real-time measurement of cell metabolism in bioreactors for natural products fermentation.

Natural products including polyketides, fatty acids, amino acids, terpenoids and steroids are playing an increasingly important role in the pharmaceutical industry. Though many of the natural products are discovered in plants, mass production of these molecules relies on culturing microorganisms in bioreactors. However, it is often a challenge to develop and maintain high biomanufacturing productivity and yield to enable low-cost and high-quality production at large scales. PSI is addressing the need to rapidly and accurately measure the physiological status of microbes at the cellular level within bioreactors. Measuring the cellular metabolic state, especially energetic and redox parameters, is key to guiding decisions on feeding strategies and other operation actions.

PSI’s is developing a robust TPE fiber probe that can be sterilized and inserted into bioreactor cultures for continuous measurement of dynamic changes of important intracellular metabolites. The intracellular redox ratio will be monitored using the autofluorescence of endogenous fluorophores, eliminating the need for exogenous fluorescence labeling. Development of this versatile, fiber-based redox probe draws on innovative techniques including high-throughput delivery of femtosecond laser pulses through a specialty fiber cord and efficient signal collection using a unique fiber bundle design. This addresses a key limitation in biomanufacturing, accurately monitoring the cells within bioreactors.

For more information, contact:

Mr. William Kessler
Vice President, Applied Optics
kessler@psicorp.com
Physical Sciences Inc.
Telephone: (978) 689-0003

Press Release

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) has been awarded a research program from the U.S. Navy, Naval Air Warfare Center, to develop an emergency man-portable device capable of cutting a suspended 1-inch or greater steel cable at cargo transfer stations during Connected Underway Replenishment (CONREP).

If an emergency breakaway is initiated, the ship’s crew needs a safe, reliable, and ergonomic device to cut highline cables. PSI’s novel Hydraulic Pneumatic Hybrid Emergency (HyPHE) Cutter device is capable of reliably and safely cut a 1 to 1.5-inch steel cable in under one second. The HyPHE Cutter is a completely self-contained system that does not rely on the ship’s utilities to operate, eliminating the risk of failure due to outages. The system also has the added benefit of being capable of cutting up to three 1-inch steel cables before needing to be reloaded, eliminating the risk of failure due to misfire. The system is designed to be light-weight and simple to use.

The HyPHE cable cutter will have direct application to underway replenishment (UNREP) operations for the U.S. Navy and eventually across the armed forces and civilian markets. Specifically the oil, gas, towing, and rigging industries can use this technology to improve safety and reduce training and logistics overhead.

For more information, contact:

Dr. Sean Torrez
Group Leader, Deployable Technologies
storrez@psicorp.com
Physical Sciences Inc.
Telephone: (978) 689-0003