2006 NOVA AWARD WINNERS

• Site Characterization/Analysis

• 3D GPS Based Earthmoving

• Field Welding Polyethylene Pipe

• Wireless Electric Switch

• Pavement Composition Analysis

Site Characterization/Analysis Penetrometer System (SCAPS)
SCAPS is a multi-faceted innovation developed in response to a critical need of the U.S. government to characterize soil and groundwater conditions on military installations. The innovation consists of developing a suite of cone penetrometer based sensor and hybrid sensor/sampler probe technologies for in situ evaluation of subsurface soil and groundwater for contamination (petroleum products; volatile organic compounds; explosive constituents such as TNT, RDX, HMX; heavy metals; and gamma emitting radionuclides). SCAPS technologies radically minimize the number of soil and water samples that must be collected using conventional sampling techniques and sent offsite for laboratory analysis. 
     SCAPS uses a specially designed mobile truck unit consisting of the computer/instrumentation room where data is collected and the hydraulic control room where the penetrometer thrust system is located.
     Pushes are made at the rate of 1.2 m/min = 4 ft/min. Push rods can be automatically decontaminated by a high pressure, high temperature cleaner below the truck as they are withdrawn from the push hole. The SCAPS platform has survey and site-mapping equipment, as well as equipment for backfilling each penetrometer push cavity with grout. Grouting the hole upon retraction of the penetrometer prevents cross-contamination.

Primarily responsible:
Beth C. Fleming, PhD
Jeffrey Marqusee, PhD
George Robitaille
Stafford Cooper
Philip Malone, PhD
Dan Eng
Bobby Reed
James Brannon, PhD
Dan Leavell
William Davis, PhD
Ernesto Cespedes, PhD
Jeff Powell
Brian Miles, PhD
Stephen Lieberman, PhD
John Ballard
John "Cliff" Morgan
Jerome Hahloch, PhD
M. John Cullinane, Jr, PhD
Bradley Smith

Contact:
Beth C. Fleming, PhD
U.S.Army Corps of Engineers
Engineer R&D Center
3909 Halls Ferry Rd
Vicksburg, MS 39180-6199
601-634-3943, Fax 601-634-3842
Beth.Fleming@erdc.usacd.army.mil
el.erdc.usace.army.mil/scaps.html

(click figures to enlarge)
 

Mobile Truck

Components in Place

Soil Desorption Sampler

In Situ Sparge Sensor

3D GPS Based Earthmoving
The innovation is a 3-dimentional grade control system that eliminates conventional survey staking requirements though application of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology and sophisticated control systems. On-board GPS receivers allow scrapers, dozers, and graders to plot accurate courses with little or no reference to in-ground markers. Light bars mounted in the operator’s field of vision signal proper blade angle as the machine moves, while a video display shows the proper cut or fill on the job site. Equipment operators work with a computer screen inside their cabin and know where their blades are within a fraction of an inch. The immediate benefits are speed and extreme accuracy. Productivity is improved by at least 30% with higher quality results grade tolerances are between 0.1 and 0.01 feet.

Primarily responsible:
McAninch Construction
   Dewayne McAninch
   Tim Tometich
   PatRuelle
   Don Taylor
   Tom Holtz
Caterpillar Inc.
Trimble Navigation Ltd.

Contact:
McAninch Corporation
   Tom Holtz
   6800 Lake Drive, Suite 125
   West Des Moines, IA 50266
   515-267-2500
   tholtz@mcaninchcorp.com
Your Caterpillar Dealer
Trimble
   935 Stewart Drive
   Sunnyvale, CA 94085
   Phone: 408-481-8000
   www.trimble.com

 
Dozer Working

Controls

Wrote Book on It
Grade Direct from Plan
(click figures to enlarge)

Field Welding Polyethylene Pipe
Fast Fusion (FF) is a self-propelled polyethylene pipe fusing machine that allows an operator, within a specially designed cab, to control the machine’s travel, operate the handling of the poly pipe sections (through a patented hydraulic and air driven work station platform), and complete the fusion weld process concurrently. Most important, Fast Fusion machines incorporate a patented enhanced cooling system that has dramatically increased the number of fusion welds per hour and, correspondingly, the production capacity of the operator over any other machine offered in the industry. Fast Fusion equipment is designed to operate in all conditions world wide to fuse pipe from 2" OD up to 48" OD. It has low impact on the environment and a safe work environment. This innovative equipment has dramatically increased the welding production per day by 50% to 80% over existing conventional equipment available in the industry and also reduced the cost per foot of the welding of plastic pipe by 47% to 67%.

Primarily responsible
Dick McKinley
Carolyn McKinley
Ricky Heflin
Pat Weiler
George Rakes

Contact:
Dick McKinley, President and CEO
Fast Fusion, LLC
PO 158, Palisade, CO 81526
(970) 216-1543
dmckinley@fast-fusion.com

In the Snow

Perfect Conditions Inside

Fast Fusion Machine

Wireless Electric Switch
Lightning Switch is the commercial name of a patented, wireless, battery-less, remote-controlled system that sends coded radio signals to a receiver to powers lights, appliances, and several creative applications. It can be installed as a new switch or replace existing wired switches. Lightning Switch is sold by PulseSwitch Systems, and it has regulatory approval in the United States (UL and FCC), Canada (UL and IC), Europe (TUV and CE) and South Africa (SABS/ICASA).
   Lightning Switch grew out of technical and commercial development of a superior form of piezoelectric technology developed by NASA. According to NASA, piezoelectric materials “convert mechanical energy into electrical energy and electrical energy into mechanical energy. They generate electrical charges in response to mechanical stress and generate mechanical displacement and/or force when subjected to electric current.” It holds several licenses and patents on NASA’s piezoelectric technology.
   As described in a patent application, Lightning Switch is a self-powered switching device that uses a prestressed flex-tensional electroactive member to generate a signal for activation of a latching relay. The electroactive member has a piezoelectric element with a convex and concave face that may be compressed to generate an electrical pulse. The flextensional electroactive member and associated signal generation circuitry can be hardwired directly to the latching relay or may be coupled to a transmitter for sending an RF [radio frequency] signal to a receiver which actuates the latching relay

Primarily Responsible:
Brad Face
Samuel A. Face, Jr
Glenn F. (Jeff) Rogers, Jr
Gregg Thomas
Clark Boyd

Contact:
Brad Face, Glenn Rogers, Jr, and Gregg Thomas
PulseSwitch Systems LC
427 West 35th Street
Norfolk, VA 23508
757 624 2121 (Phone)
757 624 2128 (Fax)
Email: feedback@LightningSwitch.com

Switches AreTransmitters

Wireless and Batteryless

Toggle Transmitter

Piezoelectric Element in Transmitter

Energy from Your Push
(click figures to enlarge)

Pavement Composition Analysis
Ground Penetrating Radar for pavement quality assurance is based on electromagnetic wave propagation in a dielectric medium and on composite materials micromechanics. The equipment that collects the data consists of four radar antennas mounted abreast across a pavement lane which acquire an instantaneous radar cross section of the pavement lane every 1.7 feet of travel while traveling at highway speeds. Distance, location, and raw radar data are all recorded on the same file. The 1 Gigahertz central antenna frequency permits a typical depth of signal penetration of 18 to 24 inches for asphalt pavements and 10 to 14 inches for concrete pavements. Software analyzes the radar signals and displays output graphically, some data within ten minutes of completing a run. However, normal quality control and quality assurance properties of a pavement layer require calibration to pavement cores, which requires about 1.5 days for 5 to 10 miles of pavement. The GPR process has been used successfully on asphalt, concrete, base course, and subgrade layers of pavements.

Primarily Responsible:
Robert L. Lytton, PhD, PE
Arvend Devadas
Brent Barron
James A. Poston
Rob Peterson, PhD, PE
Abigail Wells Alford
Cristina Marisa Cuellar Pena
Randall W. Brown, PhD, PE

Contact:
Randall W. Brown, PhD, PE
EPIC, Inc.
P.O. Box 168
Tomball, TX 77377
281-415-4760, Fax 281-351-0884
DrRWBrown@epicpavements.com

Array on Van

Asphalt Content

Total Unit Weight

Percent Air

Pavement Thickness
(click figures to enlarge)

This page written 12/14/2006 by RICarr