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Reynolds, R. S.

Publications and source records attributed to Reynolds, R. S..

The Second Generation High Speed Rotor Head Mounted Instrumentation System

NASA Ames Research Center has been investigating the air pressure flow of a rotor blade on a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter in-flight. This paper will address the changes and improvements due to additional restrictions and requirements for the instrumentation system. The second generation instrumentation system was substantially larger and this allowed greatly improved accessibility to the components for ease of maintenance as well as improved gain and offset adjustment capabilities and better filtering.

Lewis, John

Certification of a Modified Research Public Aircraft

NASA Ames Research Center has several aircraft that have been modified to conduct aeronautical and scientific research. NASA's purpose is to provide research to improve safety of flight and support scientific research for Mission to Planet Earth. Our research and platform aircraft have been modified to fit the needs of the scientific and research programs. Because NASA's aircraft have been modified and operated as public aircraft, certification of airworthiness on many are not current. Some of our aircraft are military aircraft and were never certificated. This paper discusses the process of bringing a modified B200 King Air aircraft certification current to meet Federal Aviation Regulations.

Forsyth, T. J.

High Speed Rotor Head Mounted Instrumentation System

NASA Ames Research Center has been investigating the air flow of a rotor blade on a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter in-flight. This paper will address the hardware problems and solutions used to design and fabricate an instrumentation system on top of a UH-60 main rotor head. The instrumentation system consisted of 10 data systems operating in parallel and collected data from 370 sensors that are mounted in four rotor blades and on the rotating rotor head. The data was recorded on board the aircraft and simultaneously down linked to the ground station at 7.5 MHz.

Hee, Leonard

Calibration of a Computer Based Instrumentation for Flight Research

NASA Ames Research Center has been investigating a Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) for future use as a Category II/III landing system. The DGPS navigation system was developed and installed on a B200 King Air aircraft. Instrumentation that is not calibrated and verified as a total operating system can have errors or not work correctly. Systems need to be checked for cross talk and that they work together accurately. It is imperative that the instrumentation and computer do not affect aircraft avionics and instrumentation needed for aircraft operation. This paper discusses calibration and verification principles of a computer based instrumentation airborne system.

Forsyth, T. J.

The 3-D CFD modeling of gas turbine combustor-integral bleed flow interaction

An advanced 3-D Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model was developed to analyze the flow interaction between a gas turbine combustor and an integral bleed plenum. In this model, the elliptic governing equations of continuity, momentum and the k-e turbulence model were solved on a boundary-fitted, curvilinear, orthogonal grid system. The model was first validated against test data from public literature and then applied to a gas turbine combustor with integral bleed. The model predictions agreed well with data from combustor rig testing. The model predictions also indicated strong flow interaction between the combustor and the integral bleed. Integral bleed flow distribution was found to have a great effect on the pressure distribution around the gas turbine combustor.

Chen, D. Y.

An advanced combustor analytical design procedure and its application in the design and development testing of a premix/prevaporized combustion system

Due to the protracted time and relatively high monetary expenditures associated with empirical design procedures, AiResearch has placed considerable emphasis on the development and use of combustor analytical models to augment the existing design techniques. A brief account of the semi-empirical design procedure is given, followed by the description of six analytical computer models. An advanced combustor design logic based upon these models is presented. A brief description of a premix/prevaporized combustion system and correlation with the models is given.

Reynolds, R. S.

Laser tuners using circular piezoelectric benders

The paper presents the results of an experimental evaluation of a new type of piezoelectric ceramic device designed for use as a laser mirror tuner. Thin plates made from various materials were assembled into a circular bimorph configuration and tested for linearity of movement, maximum travel, and resonant frequency for varying conditions of clamping torque and mirror loading values. Most of the devices tested could accept mirror diameters up to approximately 1.3 cm and maintain a resonant frequency above 2 kHz. Typical mirror translation without measurable tilt was plus or minus 20 micrometers or greater for applied voltages of less than plus or minus 300 V.

Mcelroy, J. H.

Circular piezoelectric bender laser tuners

The circular piezoelectric bender laser tuner to replace conventional laser tuners when mirror diameters up to 0.50 inch are sufficient is described. The circular piezoelectric bender laser tuner offers much higher displacements per applied volt and permits laser control circuits to be fabricated using standard operational amplifiers, rather than the expensive high-voltage amplifiers required by conventional tuners. The cost of the device is more than one order of magnitude lower than conventional tuners and the device is very rugged with all mechanical resonances easily designed to be greater than 3kHz. In addition to its use as a laser frequency tuner, the circular bender tuner should find many applications in interferometers and similar devices.

Mcelroy, J. H.

Life testing of metal-ceramic CO2 lasers

The main purpose of this program was to determine the life characteristics of nine space-qualified, metal-ceramic CO2 lasers. Lifetimes ranged between about 400 hours to over 2000 hours (the limit of testing) with a high degree of consistency in like groups. In all cases the tubes which had failed could be restored to near their original power by doubling the cathode current for 30 minutes. Periodic rejuvenation allowed operation for the full 2000 hours on all tubes. The failure mechanism appears to involve formation of NiO and C on the nickel cathode emission surface with subsequent absorption of tube gases.

Fahlen, T. S.

Frequency-Stabilized CO2 Lasers, Phase I

Frequency-stabilized carbon dioxide laser - electronic and mechanical stabilization schemes, control loop techniques, wavelength and mode control, and general laser construction

CARBON DIOXIDE