Plasma Induced Micro Flame Ionization Detector for Environmental Monitoring

The development of a very compact, portable, low cost, and accurate chemical analysis device has many benefits outside of spacecraft and spacesuit life support systems. A realized PIMFID can be used for general environmental monitoring (i.e., early warning system for chemical leaks) and sensors for controlling industrial chemical processes. Since the PIMFID concept lends itself to a portable system, it can serve as an accurate, point-of-use chemical analysis device to aid emergency first responders and environmental agencies that are tasked to deal with local environmental pollution and potential terrorist acts.

EDA has experience transferring technology from the University of Michigan through its technology transfer office. We currently have a license agreement in place for the NanoFET technology, a thruster design with applications for terrestrial materials processing, and are working on others. In addition to providing agreements for use of co-generated IP, the UM's tech transfer office provides assistance in bringing these technologies to market, as the resulting royalty stream benefits the university as well. The Silane program is also working towards market realization via investments and business agreements from potential customers Thus, as the PIMFID sensor comes to maturity, we will have assistance in marketing, sales, and other areas to help us expand to match the needs required for a full production program. EDA's business model is to remain a technology incubator while technologies such as this are spun off to associated corporations to focus on production. In the long run EDA will step back to providing research and design assistance, as the spin-off company focuses on production, marketing, sales, etc., thus optimizing commercialization efficiency for each product while retaining the core research and development capability. More »