Figure Engineering has received a 2-year, $2.1M Rapid Innovation Fund (RIF) contract award from the United States Air Force to further develop its Advanced Continuous-Time Adaptive Ventilation (ACTAV™) technology.
The RIF award provides Figure Engineering the opportunity to build on work successfully performed under previous Air Force SBIR projects with the primary goal of demonstrating a production-ready full-scale system in the Ogden Air Logistics Complex (OO-ALC) at Hill AFB, Utah.
ACTAV is an innovative and cost-effective approach to reducing airborne toxin exposure caused by abrasive blasting systems with insufficient airflow. Studies have shown that occupational exposure to hexavalent chromium (Cr6+) is 8 times more likely to result in cancer than asbestos. Through instrumentation, including Figure Engineering’s Continuous Hazardous Environment Monitor (CHEM™) sensor, ACTAV™ quantifies and differentiates airborne toxins and continuously compares sensed conditions to known hazardous limits. ACTAV™ automatically controls the ventilation system to correctly respond to sensed hazardous conditions. Combined with Figure’s Dust Migration Mapping™ technology – which is robust, reliable, and economical – diagnostic validation is employed to support routine monitoring and safety compliance.
RIF is extremely competitive – evaluating the best technologies developed across the entire Department of Defense (DoD) – with a historic award rate of only 3.5% of applicants. The program rapidly transitions highly innovative technologies into acquisition programs that meet specific DoD needs.
“Blast booth environments are highly dynamic and brutal. It makes them the ideal insertion targets for our ACTAV™ and CHEM™ technologies because we’re collecting data quickly and we’re ruggedizing from the start” said Leonard McCreary, CEO, of Figure Engineering. “We’ve gotten a lot of interest from other folks in the defense, homeland security, manufacturing, and energy industries, most of whom also have harsh environment applications in mind.”
The project team, led by Figure Engineering, includes Pauli Systems, an industry leader in abrasive blasting equipment design, and Dr. Vincent Castranova, a leading cardiopulmonary toxicologist at the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
About Figure Engineering
We are an advanced sustainment technology company developing Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) solutions for the Aerospace and Defense industries. Figure Engineering is aligned with the Department of Defense’s mission to provide war-winning capabilities to the warfighter by developing world-class Industry 4.0 depot maintenance technologies.
Founded in 2005, Figure Engineering builds next-generation technology that improves fleet readiness, increases worker safety, and enables ordinary people to achieve extraordinary results.
Figure Engineering develops advanced manufacturing and sustainment technologies for aerospace, defense, and several other industries. Our products are used by the US Military, maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) depots, and Commercial Industry leaders across the globe.