Midé Technology (United States)

High-performance engineering polymers are potential candidate materials for mechanical seals, especially in corrosive environments and environments where substantial shock and vibration loads are present. This study addresses the friction and wear performances of polyamide-imide (PAI) sliding against tungsten carbide (WC) in seawater for seal applications. The experimental setup consists of two nominally flat rings rotating against each other to simulate the contact in mechanical seals. Three types of experiments were performed, i.e., measurement of friction and wear in a series of 8-h tests, measurement of the friction coefficient as a function of speed and load and measurement of PV (pressure times velocity) limit. Test results show that at lightly loaded conditions WC/PAI seal rings in seawater can reach hydrodynamic lubrication with ultra-low friction coefficient and wear rate.

Railroad freight car safety and maintenance cost is directly related to knowledge of the actual braking force provided by a brake shoe. If the brake force is too low, safety is at risk. If the brake shoe is replaced before the end of it's lifetime to ensure safety, maintenance and thus operating costs are increased. Through Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) funding under the Department of Transportation (DoT) small business innovative research (SBIR) program, Mide Technology Corporation is developing a self-powered brake force measurement system applicable to freight trains. The system provides its own power using Mide's proprietary piezoelectric energy harvester that harnesses energy from structural vibrations inherent on all trains. The brake force is measured using specialty high temperature strain gauges installed directly on the brake beam.

Railroad freight car safety and maintenance cost is directly related to knowledge of the actual braking force provided by a brake shoe. If the brake force is too low, safety is at risk. If the brake shoe is replaced before the end of it's lifetime to ensure safety, maintenance and thus operating costs are increased. Through Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) funding under the Department of Transportation (DoT) small business innovative research (SBIR) program, Mide Technology Corporation is developing a self-powered brake force measurement system applicable to freight trains. The system provides its own power using Mide's proprietary piezoelectric energy harvester that harnesses energy from structural vibrations inherent on all trains. The brake force is measured using specialty high temperature strain gauges installed directly on the brake beam.

The MIT Adaptive Reconnaissance Golay-3 Optical Satellite (ARGOS) is a wide-angle Fizeau interferometer spacecraft testbed. Designing a space-based interferometer, which requires such high tolerances on pointing and alignment for its apertures, presents unique multidisciplinary challenges in the areas of structural dynamics, controls and multi-aperture phasing active optics. In meeting these challenges, emphasis is placed on modularity in spacecraft subsystems and optics as a means of allowing expandability and upgradeability. For the interferometer to function properly, unique methods of coherent wave front sensing are developed and used for error detection in control of the Fast Steering Mirrors (FSMs). The space environment is simulated by floating ARGOS on a frictionless air-bearing that allows it to track fast moving satellites such as the International Space Station (ISS), planets or point stars. A System Identification is performed on ARGOS to determine its dynamic properties and to design optimal controllers for the Attitude Control System (ACS). ACS sensors include an electronic compass with a 2-axis tip-tilt sensor, a viewfinder camera with centroiding algorithm, and a 3-axis rate gyroscope. Nonlinear, quaternion-based control is employed using reaction wheels as the spacecraft's actuators.