Synopsis: NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA solicits inquiries from companies interested in obtaining license rights to commercialize, manufacture and market the following technology. License rights may be issued on an exclusive or nonexclusive basis and may include specific fields of use. NASA provides no funding in conjunction with these potential licenses. THE TECHNOLOGY: Scientists at NASA Langley Research Center have developed two new implementations of acoustic liners for aircraft noise reduction whereby curved channels within tight spaces can be outfitted to provide noise reduction. The two implementations are flap side edge liners and landing gear door liners for airframe noise reduction. In these applications, the acoustic liner is designed primarily to reduce aircraft noise that occurs during landing, which will help aircraft comply with increasingly stringent airport noise restrictions. With the Flap Side Edge Liners for Airframe Noise Reduction implementation, the flap side edge surface is perforated and several internal channels of different lengths are created within the flap side edge volume. The channels act as organ pipe resonators, capturing sound at different frequencies. Channels could be filled with a material such as foam to tune the frequencies at which noise is absorbed. The configuration not only absorbs noise from the flap edge, but it also inhibits the process of noise generation by altering the boundary layer conditions at the flap edge surface. This concept can also be applied for the reduction of tip noise from rotating blades, or from any surface that produces significant lift with associated self-noise due to a tip vortex. The Landing Gear Door Liners for Airframe Noise Reduction implementation is similar to the flap side edge design in that one surface of the landing gear door is porous. Interior to the door are chambers designed at different lengths to capture a broad spectrum of noise frequencies. These chambers can have bends of 30 to 90 degrees to optimize use of limited space within the door panel yet still provide long chambers to capture and dispel sound. This configuration, as the flap side edge surface liners above, also provides noise abatement in two ways: (1) direct absorption through the perforated holes into the chambers, and (2) changes to the boundary layer conditions. NASA is seeking to license these technologies commercially. US Patents 8,695,915 and 8,708,272. To express interest in this opportunity, please respond to
[email protected] with the title of this Technology Transfer Opportunity as listed in this FBO notice and your preferred contact information. Please also provide the nature of your interest in the technology along with a brief background of your company. For more information about licensing other NASA-developed technologies, please visit the NASA Technology Transfer Portal at http://technology.nasa.gov/ . These responses are provided to members of NASA Langley’s Office of Strategic Analysis and Business Development “OSACB” for the purpose of promoting public awareness of NASA-developed technology products, and conducting preliminary market research to determine public interest in and potential for future licensing opportunities. If direct licensing interest results from this posting, OSACB will follow the required formal licensing process of posting in the Federal Register. No follow-on procurement is expected to result from responses to this Notice.