Fuel CONTAMINATION detection and cleaning

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Aviation fuel can contain a variety of contaminants that can enter the fuel from a number of sources throughout the lifetime of the fuel. When monitoring the pollution of the aircraft fuel systems, it has been found that a variety of problems appear that are directly related to the accumulation of contaminants.  

For better than five decades, maintenance has been reactive, i.e. replacement of worn parts that have exceeded predicted service life. What is needed is a preemptive fuel maintenance system, a new approach to fuel evaluation that insures acceptable serviceable fuel quality, that meets or exceeds established fuel testing and performance standards and ensuring the combat readiness of equipment and safety of personnel.  

To meet these obligations, an effective, inexpensive, and expeditious alternative process is required.  Disposable molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP)-coated microbeam MEMS sensors for chemical detection, activated with bio-chemical polymer coatings with affinities for contaminants would meet these guidelines and provide real-time data on fuel abnormalities at both the “point-of-receipt” and “point-of-use” levels. 

 NUB4U has designed a viable more efficient system providing simplicity in analytical performance and robustness in a quantifiable environment. Using MEMS technology as a baseline, NUB4U cantilever arrays, fabricated using patented NUB4U developed polymer coatings have been designed to satisfy the need for multi-biomarker target detection necessary in fuel diagnostics with high sensitivity and selectivity using very small fluid specimens delivering test results in parts per billion (PPB) and not requiring repeated fluid specimens providing for substantial savings in diagnostic workup schedules

A portable plug-and-play (Wi-fi/Bluetooth) multiplexing sensing system that will provide a go/no-go evaluation within a 10 to 15-second window identifying and quantifying all detrimental substances.    

Using our patented custom polymer coatings developed especially for fuel analyzing we can provide very detailed information on its composition by exposing the contaminants to the coatings formulated with the incorporation of polymers and antibodies that have an affinity for the contaminants. Upon contact with the coatings, the contaminants are absorbed creating a mechanical distortion that can be measured (See Detail 1D) and provide a comprehensive fuel analysis. 

NUB4U, using a modified MEMS platform, is cutting-edge technology that will become one of the most promising inventions for the 21st century. Utilizing the characteristics, modes of operation, and transduction principle the micro-cantilever provides for the application in a sensors platform for identifying various chemical and biological analytes. It is an emerging technology, having demonstrated its sensitivity for advanced and complex biological problems that will provide the methodology for providing cleaner fuel, address flight safety and maintenance issues and reduce the overall operating costs for affected equipment.