NASA’s Technology Transfer Program solicits inquiries from companies interested in obtaining license rights to commercialize, manufacture and market the following technology. License rights may be issued on an exclusive or nonexclusive basis and may include specific fields of use. NASA provides no funding in conjunction with these potential licenses.

THE TECHNOLOGY:

NASAs Langley Research Center has developed a technology that is projected to extend the laminar flow area over supersonic flight configurations by delaying the transition of boundary layer flow from laminar to turbulent state. This controls laminar flow over airframe components including wings, empennage, engine nacelles, and the nose region of an aircraft fuselage. It can be used in combination with many of the existing techniques for passive and active laminar flow control, but is particularly well-suited for a supersonic natural laminar flow design by virtue of avoiding the space, weight, system complexity, and maintenance penalties associated with suction based laminar flow control.

This technique injects precisely defined stationary transient growth disturbances into the free air slipstream over a wing that develop into streamwise elongated "streaks." These streaks are created with an alternating pattern of low and high streamwise velocity in the boundary layer flow adjacent to the aerodynamic surface of interest. Judicious selection of streak wavelength, amplitude, and profile allows the first-mode instability waves responsible for transition via oblique mode breakdown to be damped while the remaining, uncontrolled waves are kept below an amplification threshold. A similar control concept is also applicable to second mode transition at hypersonic Mach numbers.

To express interest in this opportunity, please submit a license application through NASA’s Automated Technology Licensing Application System (ATLAS) by visiting https://technology.nasa.gov/patent/LAR-TOPS-311

If you have any questions, please e-mail NASA’s Technology Transfer Program at Agency-Patent-Licensing@mail.nasa.gov with the title of this Technology Transfer Opportunity as listed in this SAM.gov notice and your preferred contact information. For more information about licensing other NASA-developed technologies, please visit the NASA Technology Transfer Portal at https://technology.nasa.gov/

These responses are provided to members of NASA’s Technology Transfer Program for the purpose of promoting public awareness of NASA-developed technology products, and conducting preliminary market research to determine public interest in and potential for future licensing opportunities. No follow-on procurement is expected to result from responses to this Notice.

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