Sep 13 2010
An agreement was signed between Lion Precision, a leader in the field of displacement sensors, and NASA’s Stennis Space Center to craft and create an eddy-current displacement sensor, which helps in monitoring valves, accountable for the flow of liquid hydrogen and oxygen into rocket engine test cells, and wear, along with its associated communication protocol tools.
The sensor measurements and health parameters would be passed on using MTConnect communication protocol systems, which would also include XML tags. The President of Lion Precision, Don Martin, is also the chairperson heading the Sensors Working Group for MTConnect.
Conducting rocket engine tests proves to be an expensive operation, where breakdowns at some stage in the testing would need scrapping and repetition of the test process all over again, incurring more expenses. Sensors would monitor the state of the critical valves, and thus help in preventing malfunction. They would also provide the valve’s final seated position measurement, when it is closed, which would indicate valve wear and tear. Such kind of information would notify the operators, as to when a valve needs servicing, rather than a time when a valve malfunctions, leading to costly repair work; it would also eliminate the need for redundant upkeep at specified time intervals. The sensors also observe their own working, and give an account of any repairs needed. This sensing system would help in eliminating superfluous repair work and test failures.
NASA’s principal center for testing potential space vehicles and rocket propulsion systems is located at the Stennis Space Center, where many rocket engine test units, facilitate examination of the rocket engines and their parts, at the same time permitting devices to monitor engine performance parameters.
Lion Precision, conceptualized in 1958, with a wide-spread network of basic sensing systems globally, will benefit from this association with NASA, by fully exploring the latent potential, in the smart digital sensor communication field.
Source: http://www.lionprecision.com