NASA SBIR 00-1 SOLICITATION

FORM 9B - PROJECT SUMMARY

PROPOSAL NUMBER 00-1 01.04-8226 (Chron: 001775 )
PROJECT TITLE
Micro Stress Analysis and Forecasted Endurance - MicroSAFE

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
MicroSAFE (Micro Stress Analysis and Forecasted Endurance) is a wireless miniature autonomous stress analysis device that utilizes the ASTM Rainflow Cycle Counting Fatigue Analysis to determine expected life of critical structures. The device is based on an Invocon Internal R&D project where a similar miniature autonomous device was able to acquire data from a single strain gage and compute a Rainflow analysis on the data in real-time. The original communication scheme was a wired serial port to a PC through which the device could be programmed to schedule acquisitions or set to detect events for acquisition. This device was designed for a wide temperature range and low power for battery operation, and is already highly capable of stress analysis and lifetime prediction. Through this Phase 1 project we propose to add an RF transceiver, increase the sampling rate, and implement a dynamic frequency response analysis in the design. The wireless addition allows ease in programming and data downloading. Programming modes in the enhanced device will still include the scheduled and detection modes, but will allow simultaneous Rainflow and frequency analyses for each channel.

POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS
MicroSAFE has an array of industrial and commercial applications. Any machine or structure that experiences periodic stress can benefit from fatigue analysis. Currently many structures such as bridges are designed with a certain expected stress and for a certain lifetime. Materials and design methods are chosen to give the expected life of the part. Often the stresses on a particular element are not the expected values. If for instance from increased traffic on a bridge or poor installation of machine parts the stresses are higher than expected, the material may fatigue beyond safe limits before the scheduled replacement. Frequently the opposite is true; designers either boost the material requirements or decrease the expected life to decrease probability of failure. Fatigue analysis can measure and better forecast the life of the structural member decreasing money and time spent prematurely replacing parts or repairing the results of unexpected failure. The size, cost, and portability of MicroSAFE make it versatile, unique, and necessary for many commercial applications.

NAME AND ADDRESS OF PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR (Name, Organization Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Alan Haigood
Invocon, Inc.
19221 IH-45 South; Ste. 530
Conroe , TX 77385 - 8746

NAME AND ADDRESS OF OFFEROR (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip)
Invocon, Inc.
19221 IH-45 S., Ste. 530
Conroe , TX 77385 - 8746