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NASA MSFC&#8217s Fluid-Filled Frequency-Tunable Mass Damper (FTMD) technology implements a fluid-based mitigation system where the working mass is all or a portion of the fluid mass that is contained within the geometric configuration of either a channel, pipe, tube, duct and/or similar type structure. A compressible mechanism attached at one end of the geometric configuration structure enables minor adjustments that can produce large effects on the frequency and/or response attributes of the mitigation system. Existing fluid-based technologies like Tuned Liquid Dampers (TLD) and Tuned Liquid Column Dampers (TLCD) rely upon the geometry of a container to establish mitigation frequency and internal fluid loss mechanisms to set the fundamental mitigation attributes. The FTMD offers an innovative replacement since the frequency of mitigation and mitigation attributes are established by the compressible mechanism at the end of the container. This allows for simple alterations of the compressible mechanism to make frequency adjustments with relative ease and quickness. FTMDs were recently successfully installed on a building in Brooklyn, NYC as a replacement for a metallic TMD, and on a semi-submersible marine-based wind turbine in Maine. The FTMD technology is available for non-exclusive licensing and partially-exclusive licensing (outside of building construction over 300 feet).

Additive manufacturing methods (e.g. Laser Metal Sintering) are used to integrally fabricate a tuned-mass vibration absorber inside a turbine blade. The design approach uses an internal column manufactured as part of the blade that is optimized such that the dynamics of the blade damper system are rearranged and reduced according to the well-known science of tuned mass-absorption (TMA). The TMA concept has been implemented successfully in applications ranging from skyscrapers to liquid oxygen tanks for space vehicles. Indeed, this theory has been conceptually applied to bladed-disk vibration, but a practical design has not previously been reported. The NASA innovation addresses another important challenge for turbine blade vibration damper designs. All existing blade damper solutions are essentially incapable of being reliably predicted, so an expensive post-design test program must be performed to validate the expected response. Even then, the actual magnitude of the response reduction under actual hot fire conditions may never be known. The dynamic response of this tuned-mass-absorber design is both substantial and can be analytically predicted with high confidence, and thus the response can be incorporated fully into the up-front design process.

The broadband metamaterial termination for use in planar superconducting transmission lines has been successfully demonstrated in CLASS circuit structures as an effective termination. This metamaterial implementation is fully compatible with microfabrication techniques commonly used for microwave circuitry, and its response is insensitive to geometric tolerances, material properties, and interface details of conductive elements in device fabrication. In the context of far-infrared imaging, polarimetric, and superconducting integral field unit (IFU) spectrometer arrays for astrophysics, this strategy leads to higher performance, increased device yield, and greater overall circuit density. The metamaterial termination achieves a broadband absorption response with lower reflectance in a smaller physical footprint compared to existing adiabatic structures. This absorption response demonstrates significantly lower sensitivity to fabrication tolerances, material properties, and modeling assumptions than previous designs. These characteristics are critical for cryogenic applications, but the termination can also enhance the performance of room-temperature planar transmission line structures used in microwave engineering. The termination is realized as a lossy stepped impedance transition between Nb and PdAu, which reduces the total meander length, device footprint, and sensitivity to detailed implementation. This broadband metamaterial termination is applicable in superconducting technologies, including quantum communications, computing, and sensors. It has reached Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 7 (technology demonstrated in an operational environment) and is now available for patent licensing.