Patent — available for licensing
Assembly for Simplified Hi-Res Flow Visualization
A NASA invention available to explore as a licensing opportunity.
About this technology
Overview
Researchers at NASA’s Langley Research Center have developed a simple, compact, easy-to-use projection focusing schlieren imaging system optical assembly that leverages a light source, a single physical grid element, and polarization optics to enable hi-res flow visualization. The assembly can simply be mounted in front of a camera to enable focusing schlieren imaging capability. The assembly was designed to drastically reduce the complexity and time required to align a focusing schlieren imaging experiment. Conventional focusing schlieren imaging systems and projection-based analogs require cumbersome grid alignment and peripheral resources to function (e.g., separate source and cutoff grids, projectors, specialized software). NASA’s system leverages a single physical grid as both the source and cutoff grid, so the system is self-aligned, compact, does not require specialized software, and costs less than other projection-based alternatives.