A Xerox subsidiary (NYSE: XRX) will work with an Energy Department national laboratory to develop and demonstrate a sensor monitoring platform intended to work in environments that have high temperatures.
PARC and DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory aim for the Harsh Environment Adaptable Thermionic tool to store its own energy and send wireless signals to users with the goal of monitoring conditions in real time, PARC said Tuesday.
The lab will award PARC up to $1.8 million for the contract.
Scott Elrod, vice president of PARC’s hardware systems laboratory, said the subsidiary aims to help DOE transition the sensor into the commercial market for usage in power plants, propulsion engines and aerospace structures.
PARC and DOE intend for the technology to work in temperatures of between 1, 382 and 2, 912 degrees and pressures of up to 1, 000 pounds-per-square inch.
The organizations will also build HEAT to function in environments containing hydrocarbons, oxygen, water vapor, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur oxide and nitrous oxide.
“When looking to gain insight into high temperature, high pressure, and potentially combustible environments, such as gasifiers, it’s very difficult to find the right combination of materials and wiring that won’t perish or compromise the safety and integrity of the system, ” said Robie Lewis, federal project manager at the laboratory’s crosscutting research division.
Lewis added the laboratory selected PARC for its experience in developing grid-less field sensors and the subsidiary’s fabrication facilities.
The laboratory works to develop sensor and control technology for future power generation environments.
