I-Corps: Commercialization Plan for a High Performance Piezoelectric Pneumatic Valve

这个I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力在于气动阀领域，该领域控制压缩气体通过工业设备和医疗设备中的管道或通道的流动。 结合气动阀的设备的示例包括质量流量控制器，其用于计量进入制造电子集成电路的腔室的气体流量，以及医疗设备，例如呼吸机和便携式氧气系统。 作为该项目的成果开发的阀门有可能在很大程度上取代当前的气动阀门技术，因为它们需要更少的电力来操作它们，它们响应更快，它们产生更少的热量，并且它们可能具有成本竞争力。 通过新阀实现的质量流量控制器的改进性能可能会提高计算机处理器和存储器的生产率，这些处理器和存储器现在在消费产品中无处不在。 新阀的低功耗扩展了在便携式和无线设备（例如人类辅助机器人设备）中利用气动学的范围。 新阀门可能适用于不断发展的聚变反应堆发电，其中强大的磁场干扰传统阀门的使用。 这个I-Corps项目是基于一种新的气动阀架构。 气动阀通常通过移动板靠近孔口以减少流量或远离孔口以增加流量来计量流量。 用于移动传统阀中的板的致动器通常由电磁线圈和柱塞组成。 新的架构取代了电磁致动器与压电致动器。 先前利用压电致动器的尝试受到以下事实的限制：具有良好位移能力的致动器产生非常低的力，这限制了阀的压力能力，并且具有良好力能力的致动器产生非常低的位移，这限制了阀的流动能力。 这项研究是基于发现，在先前的NSF项目中，结合了低位移致动器的阀的流动能力可以通过用微孔阵列代替单个孔而显著增加。本项目将进行市场研究，以在质量流量控制器的目标市场中开发新技术的价值主张。 该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project lies in the field of pneumatic valves, which control the flow of compressed gases through tubes or channels in industrial equipment and medical devices. Examples of equipment which incorporate pneumatic valves include mass flow controllers, which are used to meter the flow of gases into chambers where electronic integrated circuits are fabricated, and medical devices, such as ventilators and portable oxygen systems. Valves developed as an outcome of this project have the potential to largely displace current pneumatic valve technology, as they require less electric power to operate them, they respond faster, they generate less heat, and they may be cost-competitive. Improved performance in mass flow controllers, enabled by the new valves, may make it possible to increase the production rate of computer processors and memory which are now ubiquitous in consumer products. The low power consumption of the new valves expand the horizons for utilizing pneumatics in portable and wireless devices, such as human assist robotic devices. The new valves are potentially suitable for usage in evolving fusion reactors for power generation, where powerful magnetic fields interfere with the utilization of conventional valves. This I-Corps project is based on a new architecture for pneumatic valves. Pneumatic valves typically meter flow by moving a plate closer to an orifice to reduce flow or away from the orifice to increase flow. The actuator used to move the plate in a conventional valve typically consists of an electromagnetic coil and plunger. The new architecture replaces the electromagnetic actuator with a piezoelectric actuator. Previous attempts at utilizing piezoelectric actuators have been limited by the fact that actuators with good displacement capacity produce very low force, which limits the pressure capacity of the valve, and actuators with good force capacity produce very low displacement, which limits the flow capacity of the valve. This research is based on the discovery, in a prior NSF project, that the flow capacity of a valve which incorporates a low displacement actuator can be increased dramatically by replacing a single orifice with an array of micro-orifices. Market research will be performed in this project to develop a value proposition of the new technology in a target market of mass flow controllers. The outcomes will be enlisted to guide future development of the new technology.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.