Planning Grant: Engineering Research Center for Soft Energy and Power

工程研究中心规划奖助金竞赛是作为ERC计划的试点征集活动进行的。计划拨款并不是整个ERC竞赛的一部分，而是为了在团队之间建立能力，以规划汇聚的、中心规模的工程研究。随着柔性和/或可穿戴电子产品的兴起，目前还没有令人满意地匹配被供电对象的“软”机械特性的电源。设想的应用可能包括传感器、医疗设备(例如人工耳蜗)、智能包装，以及将体热转化为电能的服装，以驱动手机等设备。电力、电子和热管理技术的进一步机械集成将对数百万工人和个人的生活质量产生重大的有针对性的社会影响，并极大地改善安全和福祉。这一挑战的一个障碍是，研究人员往往专注于单个组件，而不是整体地解决集成系统本身。因此，工程研究中心规划拨款的主要目标是确定并建立一支由学术界、产业界和国家实验室利益相关者组成的充满活力的团队，专注于软能源和实力的共同目标，其中每个利益相关者的专业知识都是有影响力和协同性的。德克萨斯农工大学团队计划战略性地利用这些规划资金，让合作伙伴参与开发一个以软能源和电力(SEP)为主题的工程研究中心(ERC)提案。机械集成的“软”能源和电力(SEP)目前面临着许多挑战，这些挑战只能通过使用融合的方法整合来自不同团队的专业知识和技术来应对。目前感觉到的挑战包括：1)平衡机械特性与能量产生和/或存储特性，2)人类形态和要被供电的设备之间的集成，3)长期耐用性和4)成本、经济和环境(生命周期)考虑。最初提出的ERC SEP推力包括可穿戴设备、结构能源和电力、智能包装以及系统和设计。这些推力依赖于运输、动力学、驱动、热管理、系统设计、电池安全、相变材料和集成复合材料的力学方面的知识。为此，规划赠款将使ERC团队得以组建，该团队将包括大学教师、主要工业合作伙伴和国家实验室。该团队将共同参与确定和完善ERC提案中要重点关注的目标和相关的工程障碍。具体地说，这一规划赠款的结果将是：(1)将审查和选择ERC SEP，(2)团队成员将形成、发展和扩大，(3)将确定新技术和知识库，(4)将视情况提交ERC提案。这将通过将于2018年秋季和2019年春季在德克萨斯农工大学举行的研讨会和系统的团队(学术界、业界、政府)会议来实现，以推动共同议程并制定强大而有影响力的NSF ERC提案。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Planning Grants for Engineering Research Centers competition was run as a pilot solicitation within the ERC program. Planning grants are not required as part of the full ERC competition, but intended to build capacity among teams to plan for convergent, center-scale engineering research.With the rise of flexible, and/or wearable electronics, there is currently no power source that satisfactorily matches the "soft" mechanical properties of the object to be powered. Envisioned applications potentially include sensors, medical devices (e.g. cochlear implants), intelligent packaging, and clothing that converts body heat into electricity to power devices like a mobile phone. Further mechanical integration of power, electronic and thermal management technologies will have major targeted societal impact on the quality of life of millions of workers and individuals; as well as to dramatically improve safety and well-being. A barrier to this challenge is that researchers often focus on an individual component, without holistically addressing the integrated system itself. Therefore, the main goal of this engineering research center planning grant is to identify and build a dynamic team of academic, industry, and national lab stakeholders that will focus on the common goal of soft energy and power, in which each stakeholder's expertise is impactful and synergetic. The Texas A&M University team plans to strategically utilize these planning funds for the engagement of partners for development of an engineering research center (ERC) proposal on the topic of Soft Energy and Power (SEP). Mechanically integrated, "soft" energy and power (SEP) currently faces many challenges, which can only be met by integrating expertise and know-how from a diverse team using a convergent approach. The currently perceived challenges include: 1) balancing mechanical properties with energy generation and/or storage properties, 2) integration between the human form and the device to be powered, 3) long-term durability and 4) cost, economics, and environmental (life cycle) considerations. Initially proposed ERC SEP thrusts include wearables, structural energy and power, intelligent packaging, and systems and design. These thrusts rest upon the knowledge of transport, kinetics, actuation, thermal management, systems design, battery safety, phase change materials, and mechanics of integrated composite materials. To this end, the planning grant will enable the formation of the ERC team, which will include university faculty, key industrial partners, and national laboratories. Together, the team will be involved in the identification and refinement of the goals and the associated engineering barriers upon which to focus in the ERC proposal. Specifically, the outcomes of this planning grant will be that ERC SEP (1) thrusts will be vetted and selected, (2) the team membership will form, evolve, and expand, (3) new technologies and knowledge bases will be identified, and (4) an ERC proposal will be submitted, as appropriate. This will be achieved through workshops to be held at Texas A&M University in Fall 2018 and Spring 2019, and systematic team (academe, industry, government) meetings to drive the common agenda and formulate a powerful and impactful NSF ERC proposal.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.