ROCKLEDGE, FL — October 20th,2017 — Mainstream Engineering Corporation, a 31-year-old Brevard County manufacturer with a history of leading-edge research and development that has resulted in advanced, lean-manufacturing, cost-competitive products, which are all Made in the USA, has been awarded a contract from the U.S Air Force for Online Spectroscopic Chemical Diagnostics for Thermally Stressed Fuel Flows.
The limits of high-performance aircraft continue to be pushed, requiring more capacity from thermal management systems as hydraulic, mechanical, and pneumatic power systems are replaced with electrical components. Rejecting this heat to the fuel can lead to composition changes and the production of insolubles and surface deposits via pyrolysis and oxidation at elevated fuel temperatures, especially at walls and hot spots. As such, it is important to understand and monitor online the thermal degradation processes. A few trace compounds have been identified as critical in the thermal oxidative chemical process including hydroperoxides, reactive sulfur compounds, polar organic compounds, trace metals, and dissolved oxygen. Currently, there is no way to measure these compounds in real-time at aircraft-relevant conditions or determine the onset of thermal instability. Mainstream Engineering proposes a spectroscopic approach using solid-state, fiber-coupled components to determine bulk properties and trace indicators of thermal oxidation through chemometric analysis. Phase I will result in a high-fidelity integration of components in the laboratory. Phase II will include testing a prototype demonstrator on the Advanced Reduced Scale Fuel System Simulator as well as development and execution of technology transition strategy.
About Mainstream Engineering Corporation
Mainstream Engineering Corporation is a solutions-oriented research, development and manufacturing small business with a history of leading-edge R&D that has resulted in advanced, American-made, cost-competitive products. Founded in 1986, Mainstream’s mission is to transition thermal control, energy storage and energy conversion technology into high-quality, cost-effective, environmentally safe green, commercial products. Products include lightweight diesel engines, thermal control units, biomass conversion technologies, refrigerators/freezers for shipping containers and the QwikProductTM line of heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVAC/R) products. Areas of research include thermal control, energy conversion, power electronics, turbomachinery, chemical technology and materials science.