Research Terms
Researchers at the University of Central Florida have invented a novel additive manufacturing system and methods for thin film fabrication specifically useful in fabricating higher performance solar photovoltaic (PV) cells at a fraction of the cost of traditional PV cell manufacturing methods. Today's commercial solar cells are expensive to produce ($100-$400 per m2) and typically have low conversion efficiency (15-20 percent). With the new Laser-Assisted Manufacturing Process Using Microfluidic Suspensions and Dry Powders, companies can make next-generation PVs, such as Intermediate Band Solar Cells (IBSCs), for far less (approximately $30 per m2). More importantly, IBSCs have high conversion efficiency (~50 percent).
The invention comprises a system and methods of fabricating additively manufactured structures using a roll-to-roll process technology and a unique and novel laser electrospray printhead. The inventive concept accommodates scalable large structures, wherein cylinders (feed and take-up spools) move or roll a substrate through an electrospray module. The module deposits microdroplets of nanoparticles onto the substrate through both hydrodynamic and electrodynamic shear. The electrospray module can operate in a steady cone-jet spray mode and a micro-dripping mode, depending on the manufacturing requirements. As the substrate moves, an annular laser beam dries and sinters the wet nanoparticles, fusing them onto the substrate one layer at a time. To focus the laser beam, the system uses either a hollow parabolic mirror or a hollow flat mirror and an annular lens, as required. The same concept can produce regular arrays of microdots and nanodots.
Researchers from the University of Central Florida and the United States Navy have invented an optical detection system designed to identify and quantify the chemicals in a gas mixture from a distance and in real time. The new system can provide a 3D mapping/readout of the mixture's different chemical concentrations, volume and location. Able to detect chemicals over a broad spectral range, the system is also tunable and does not require cooling. Thus, it can be used under various conditions, such as high temperatures and pressures. For example, the system could be used to identify chemical gas leaks in submarines, spacecrafts, or the breathing system of a pilot's air supply. The innovation is a less costly, simpler solution to achieving such capabilities compared to current technologies, which require customized instrumentation to detect specific chemicals.
The invention is a detection system for identifying and quantifying chemicals in a gas sample and methods for making and operating the system. It comprises a new hyperdoped semiconductor optical sensor with a laser for photoexcitation of the gas mixture, a reference laser source, and a processor. Other configurations may include a multi-core optical fiber that is coupled with the photodetectors.
In one example application of the invention, a distant chemical cloud is irradiated with a modulated pump laser beam of a specific wavelength. A doped crystalline silicon carbide (SiC) photodetector receives photons emitted from the photoexcited chemicals in the cloud. Then a probe laser beam sends a modulated optical signal to the photodetector, which then provides an output signal to a second photodetector. A variety of information about the chemical compounds is extracted from the measured data of the second detector and sent to a processor, which identifies the chemicals, their volume and concentrations. The processor also provides a 3D model of the gas sample.
