Company
Portfolio Data
Back to Company SearchUNITED PROTECTIVE TECHNOLOGIES LLC
UEI: MBJQM9EQS4Q6
Number of Employees: 61
HUBZone Owned: No
Woman Owned: No
Socially and Economically Disadvantaged: No
SBIR/STTR Involvement
Year of first award: 2004
10
Phase I Awards
3
Phase II Awards
30%
Conversion Rate
$1,189,872
Phase I Dollars
$2,343,497
Phase II Dollars
$3,533,369
Total Awarded
Awards
RAPID SPLINE SCANNING SYSTEM (RS3)
Amount: $799,498 Topic: N202-093
Corrosion, fretting, and wear poses a serious threat to Navy aircraft safety and functionality. Splines on the proprotor masts of the V-22 Osprey are plagued with these issues and the process for their inspection and repair is difficult and time consuming, taking hours and requiring removal of the proprotors. United Protective Technologies (UPT) will develop the Rapid Spline Scanning System (RS3) to solve this problem and provide an easy to use, accurate inspection system that will reduce inspection and repair time by 50%, and provide data tracking capability. The inspection system will have no moving parts, and it will scan a full set of spline teeth within 3 minutes. A computer will provide viewing and analysis of the 3D results with a precision of at least 0.0005”, thus providing confidence that inspections and repairs are done correctly to ensure flight worthiness of the aircraft. To develop the RS3, UPT will draw upon its experience developing the EVIAC high-speed vision system for Black Hawk rotor blade analysis, and the R-BAT hand-held measurement device for measuring rotor blade Nickel strip wear. In addition, the core team for this project has many years of combined experience in this field. The Principle Investigator has industrial vision system experience, along with experience in statistical analysis, and reducing gage variation. Our Senior Scientist has developed image processing and analysis algorithms, and our Technical Advisor has 25 years of experience in the inspection metrology space.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2022
DOD
NAVY
RAPID SPLINE SCANNING SYSTEM (RS3) FOR ACCURATE SPLINE INSPECTION
Amount: $239,817 Topic: N202-093
Corrosion, fretting, and wear poses a serious threat to Navy aircraft safety and functionality. Splines on the proprotor masts of the V-22 Osprey are plagued with these issues and the process for their inspection and repair is difficult and time consuming, taking hours and requiring removal of the proprotors. United Protective Technologies (UPT) will develop the Rapid Spline Scanning System (RS3) to solve this problem and provide an easy to use, accurate inspection system that will reduce inspection and repair time by 50%, and provide data tracking capability. The inspection system will have no moving parts, and it will scan a full set of spline teeth within 3 minutes. A laptop will provide viewing and analysis of the 3D results with a precision of at least 0.0005”, thus providing confidence that inspections and repairs are done correctly to ensure flight worthiness of the aircraft. To develop the RS3, UPT will draw upon its experience developing the EVIAC high-speed vision system for Black Hawk rotor blade analysis, and the R-BAT hand-held measurement device for measuring rotor blade Nickel strip wear. In addition, the core team for this project has many years of combined experience in this field. The Principle Investigator has industrial vision system experience, along with experience in statistical analysis, and reducing gage variation. Our Senior Scientist has developed image processing and analysis algorithms, and our Technical Advisor has 25 years of experience in the inspection metrology space.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2021
DOD
NAVY
Super Hydrophobic Anti-Fouling Technology (SHAFT)
Amount: $139,982 Topic: N202-132
Heat exchangers are required for thermal management in the Navy fleet. These systems use seawater to remove heat generated by the ship. These seawater heat exchangers have been plagued by fouling in the form of biological film formation and particulate aggregation, which results in decreased mission endurance and operational reach through increased fuel consumption, decreased power available to electronic weapons and sensors, and increased logistic burden through increased fuel consumption. To remove the need for frequent heat exchanger maintenance, a durable, anti-biofouling coating needs to be applied. United Protective Technologies (UPT) will modify its proven coatings to create the Super Hydrophobic Anti-Fouling Technology (SHAFT) coating, a superior biofouling and wear resistant coating for protecting sea water heat exchangers. The SHAFT coating is designed to combine anti-microbial properties, high wear resistance, and super hydrophobicity to release fouling before it becomes a problem. During this effort, UPT will demonstrate the efficacy of the SHAFT coating on representative pipes used in shell and tube heat exchangers.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2021
DOD
NAVY
High Performance Hybrid Nano-composite Gun Lubricant
Amount: $799,033 Topic: N192-057
corrosion, corrosion, low wear, weapon coatings, Diamond, self lubricating, weapon coating, Low friction, DLC
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2021
DOD
NAVY
Dust Tolerant Mechanisms Alpha Particle Emitter Coating System (APECS)
Amount: $122,492 Topic: Z13
Lunar dust contamination poses one of the most difficult challenges to long-term lunar colonization. The dust is highly charged and highly insulating in a low gravity, vacuum environment that makes terrestrial dust mitigation methods inoperable. Passive coatings that can mitigate lunar dust have been based on friction reduction and do not address the electrostatic charges associated with the lunar environment. To remove static charge from the dust particles, the Alpha Particle Emitter Coating System proposes to apply a thin coating of Americium-241 to the surfaces of interested. Am-241 is a long-lived alpha emitter (432-year half-life) used for ionization in smoke detectors. This coating will supply positively charged alpha particles that can neutralize negative charges on the surfaces of the dust particles that attach to the surface. Furthermore, the coating would provide ionization to air used to blow dust off of surfaces in the lunar environment. These coatings would provide the long-lasting protection from lunar dust accumulation needed for repeat landings and habitation.nbsp;
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2021
NASA
Personal Expeditionary Generator (PEG)
Amount: $111,478 Topic: A20-147
Improving battlefield situational awareness is critical to ensuring dominance in asymmetric warfare for dismounted soldiers. While new digital systems such as NETT Warrior and IVAS greatly improve the quality of information on the ground, their increasing power demands has led to the requirement of carrying multiple batteries into the fight which can amount to over 24 pounds per soldier for a 72-hour mission. Therefore, it is critical to identify more energy dense portable power generation alternatives. Since JP-8 is a logistic fuel that has nearly 80 times the energy density of current military lithium-ion batteries and is widely available on the battlefield, UPT plans to implement a lightweight JP-8 fueled Personal Expeditionary Generator (PEG) solution which will virtually eliminate battery loads. The less than 60 cubic inch, 2.5 pound design will be capable of providing over 50 Watts of continuous power with 50% lower emissions and 40% better efficiency than a 4-stroke without emitting smoke or odor. This is possible thanks to the mating of a power dense variable compression engine design operating in a lean, low temperature combustion regime and the application of UPT’s proven coating technology that provides lubrication free engine operation with JP-8. The PEG’s innovative flex fuel engine design will be mated to high efficiency, military proven power electronics and controls to provide over 2000-hour durability in a compact thermally and acoustically optimized package. Once implemented, PEG will reduce battery weight by over 60% and allow for future power intensive portable military systems.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2021
DOD
ARMY
Alternate Corrosion Resistant Coating to be Applied to Magnesium Components
Amount: $744,966 Topic: AF183-018
Overall, corrosion costs the U.S. over $300 billion annually which represents more than 3% of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product. Currently, the DoD spends over $10 billion a year on a never-ending battle against corrosion each year to remain airworthy. In some cases, aircraft maintenance hours can far outstrip flight hours leading to loss of asset readiness. The primary reason for this is that aluminum and magnesium have been the materials of choice for military aviation due to their lightweight yet strong material properties. Unfortunately, due to their galvanic potential, these materials suffer from accelerated corrosion in the harsh environments where these vehicles operate. This challenge is especially critical for military aircraft that typically operate older aircraft which use corrosion sensitive materials such as aluminum and magnesium that may lack effective corrosion resistive coatings. Currently the Air Force applies a corrosion resistant conversion coating in conjunction with primer and epoxy paint to provide corrosion protection on these materials, but this system is often considered marginally better than no coating at all. In Phase II, UPT will build from Phase I success using a combination of deposition technologies to develop a production ready novel hybrid nanocomposite environmental barrier coating which will provide order of magnitude improvements to corrosion resistance as well as friction and wear to existing components. During this effort, UPT will perform research and development to optimize coating corrosion and wear properties for aluminum and magnesium substrates as well as conduct MIL-STD testing to ensure air worthiness. The anticipated benefits of the project are reduced or eliminated corrosion-based maintenance on AGB and AMAD aircraft components and a significant improvement in overall asset reliability. In addition, the benefits of this corrosion resistant solution will be extended to other critical military and commercial applications to reduce the overall burden of corrosion related maintenance.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase II
2020
DOD
USAF
High Performance Hybrid Nano-composite Gun Lubricant Coating
Amount: $139,940 Topic: N192-057
The M197 Gatling gun is a useful and highly effective battlefield weapon used on a variety of rotary wing aircraft. Unfortunately, the heat and wear caused by its high rate of fire requires preventative maintenance procedures to ensure combat readiness. Lubricants have been implemented to reduce wear and inhibit corrosion on its steel components, but their application requires more frequent maintenance cycles to remove sand, dust and salt water contamination common in naval operational environments. United Protective Technologies (UPT) has developed a hybrid nano-composite coating (NCC) and manufacturing process which has achieved order of magnitude improvements for wear, friction and corrosion without the need of additional lubrication in several applications. UPT’s in-house designed, production level hybrid plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) reactors can apply the thin yet highly durable coating to a variety of different substrates without needing design changes for additional clearances. The coating also provides increased substrate corrosion protection without environmentally hazardous chemicals.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2019
DOD
NAVY
An Alternate Corrosion Resistant Coating to be Applied to Magnesium Components
Amount: $149,031 Topic: AF183-018
The Air Force needs to identify and qualify a corrosion resistant coating applicable to magnesium gearboxes, covers and other secondary power system parts. Current coatings, considered corrosion resistant, are often barely better than no coating at all. According to the web sources for FY 2008 – 2009, the cost of corrosion to the Air Force was $4.5 billion, with 24% of maintenance cost contributed to corrosion. Several other reports indicate that the current cost to the overall U.S. economy related to corrosion is greater that $1 trillion annually. With this being said the problem must be addressed and materials and/or coating solutions developed and utilized. United Protective Technologies (UPT) has extensive experience in the development and application of nanocomposite thin film (NCTF) surface treatments onto a wide range of substrates including Aluminum, Magnesium and other structural materials. These coatings offer a viable solution for Air Force applications in which corrosion and wear are prevalent.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2019
DOD
USAF
Advanced Nano Composite Coating for Gear Applications
Amount: $49,569 Topic: AF182-005
The Air Force desires technologies demonstrating value and commercial success in non-defense applications which will solve current Air Force problems. Gears are central functioning parts to most mechanical systems such as engine transmissions. Fuel consumption and maintenance costs are significantly increased due to efficiency losses resulting from friction and wear of gears. The development of chemical vibratory polishing substantially improved gear efficiency, but no equivalent progress has been made in more than a decade. United Protective Technologies has engineered nanocomposite coatings (NCCs) which have demonstrated considerable improvement in dynamic load-bearing applications such as gears and needle bearings. NCCs applied to automotive race engine ring and pinion gears resulted in a 3.5 horsepower average increase in engine dynamometer testing leading to considerable commercial success of these coatings in that industry. Experimental simulations of UAV engine needle bearings created remarkable increases of 3,000X in stable, low-friction bearing operation and 2,000,000X decrease in material wear. UPT will identify Air Force air and ground vehicle transmissions and other gear applications where the gear tooth loads and gear sizes are similar to the automotive race engines and are therefore expected to realize efficiency and service life gains from NCC application.
Tagged as:
SBIR
Phase I
2018
DOD
USAF