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At least 217 records · Page 12

Attaching strain transducers to fragile materials

A-shaped clamp prevents damage to thin, brittle specimens and supports displacement transducer away from heated zone. Also it defines reference points for strain measurement on specimen surface thus preventing specimen cracking due to unequal thermal expansion between clamp and holder.

Duggan, M. F.↗

Fixture for limited-access welding

Fixture consisting of screw-on expansion clamps and backup bar aligns edges of plates for precision butt welding. Tool holds plates securely, without offset, and allows welding and clamp disassembly to be completed when there is access from only one side of structure.

Tryon, J. R.↗

Adjusting an electron beam for drilling

Reticle contains two concentric circles: inner circle insures beam circularity and outer circle is guide to prevent beam from cutting workpiece clamp. Precise measurement of beam and clamp are required with old reticle. New reticle speeds up electron-beam drilling process by eliminating need to rotate eyepiece to make measurements against reticle scale.

Childress, C. L.↗

Summary of the two year NASA program for active control of ATS-5/6 environmental charging

Experiments conducted on the ATS 5 and ATS 6 which have demonstrated the feasibility of modifying or clamping the environmentally induced potential of these spacecraft are described. The results of these experiments indicate that a thermionic electron source is capable of replacing photo-emitted electrons during eclipse. However, the utility of this type of device is limited if its emission is suppressed by local electric fields. On the other hand, it is shown that a plasma source will not only serve as a substitute for photo-emitted electrons but will also suppress differential charging of isolated elements of the spacecraft which would tend to suppress electron emission. This later device is therefore capable of clamping the potential of a spacecraft without special considerations of its coupling to the ambient plasma.

Bartlett, R. O.↗

Vise holds specimens for microscope

Convenient, miniature, spring-loaded clamp holds specimens for scanning electron microscope. Clamp is made out of nesting sections of studded angle-aluminum. Specimens are easier to mount and dismount with vise than with conductive adhesive or paint.

Greule, W. N.↗

Drill-motor holding fixture

Guide improves accuracy and reduces likelihood of bit breakage in drilling large work pieces. Drill motor is mounted on pipe that slides on furniture clamp. Drill is driven into work piece by turning furniture-clamp handle.

Chartier, E. N.↗

Knife-edge seal for vacuum bagging

Cam actuated clamps pinch bagging material between long knife edge (mounted to clamps) and high temperature rubber cushion bonded to baseplate. No adhesive, tape, or sealing groove is needed to seal edge of bagging sheet against base plate.

Rauschl, J. A.↗

Cooling/grounding mount for hybrid circuits

Extremely short input and output connections, adequate grounding, and efficient heat removal for hybrid integrated circuits are possible with mounting. Rectangular clamp holds hybrid on printed-circuit board, in contact with heat-conductive ground plate. Clamp is attached to ground plane by bolts.

Bagstad, B.↗

Soft container for explosive nuts

Flexible fabric fits over variety of assembly shapes to contain debris produced by detonations or safety tests. Bag material is woven multifilament polyamide or aramid. Belt loops hold bag to clamp. Ring supports explosive nut structure and detonator wires, and after nut is mounted, bag and clamp are slipped over ring and fastened.

Glenn, D. C.↗

Buckling of rotating beams

The stability of a beam subjected to compressive centrifugal forces arising from steady rotation about an axis which does not pass through the clamped end of the beam is analyzed to determine the critical rotational speeds for buckling in the inplane and out-of-plane directions. The differential equations of motion are solved numerically using an integrating matrix method in combination with an eigenanalysis to determine the eigenvalues from which stability is assessed. The results clarify several differences which have been identified in the literature relating to the proper behavior of the critical rotational speed for buckling as the radius of rotation of the clamped end of the beam is reduced.

White, W. F., Jr.↗

CCD correlated quadruple sampling processor

A correlated quadruple sampling processor for improved signal-to-noise ratio in the output of a charge-coupled device (CCD) is comprised of: switching means for momentarily clamping a CCD signal line at a first reference level A before a CCD data pulse and then obtaining a first data sample B with respect to the reference A during a CCD data pulse, and storing the positive sample B-A; switching means for momentarily clamping the CCD signal line a second time at the level C during the presence of the CCD data pulse and then obtaining a second data sample D with respect to the reference level C after the CCD data pulse, and storing the negative sample D-C; and means for obtaining the difference between the stored samples +(B-A) and -(D-C), thus increasing the net signal amplitude by a factor of about 2 while the noise would be increased by only a factor of square root of 2 since there will be no correlation in the noise between the double samples +(B-A) and -(D-C) effectively added.

Gaalema, S. D.↗

Power transistor switching characterization

The switching properties of power transistors are investigated. The devices studied were housed in IO-3 cases and were of an n(+)-p-n(-)-n(+) vertical dopant structure. The effects of the magnitude of the reverse-base current and temperature on the reverse-bias second breakdown characteristics are discussed. Brief discussions of device degradation due to second breakdown and of a constant voltage turn-off circuit are included. A description of a vacuum tube voltage clamp circuit which reduces clamped collector voltage overshoot is given.

Blackburn, D. L.↗

Buckling of prismatic structures under biaxial loading

A one term analysis is presented for the elastic buckling of prismatic structures with either classical simple support or completely clamped boundary conditions on the transverse ends. Results suggest that a one term solution based on an appropriate choice of coordinate functions may lead to satisfactory buckling loads for other prismatic structures with completely clamped and other end conditions.

Ashour, H. A.↗

Secondary mirror subassembly in the 2.4 m NASA optical telescope

The secondary mirror is a circular disc provided with a shoulder. Three clamps located 120 deg apart support the mirror shoulder. On one side of the mirror shoulder, a coated graphite-epoxy ring connects the three clamps. Three axial flexures with a low radial compliance extend out from a support platform constructed of coated graphite-epoxy box structs and invar corners, and provide a nominal in-plane zero coefficient of thermal expansion. In each invar corner piece, a ball joint provides a connection to a expansion. In each invar corner piece, a ball joint provides a connection to a six-degree-of-freedom adjustment system that can move the secondary mirror with a high degree of precision in defocus, decenter, and tilt. Thermal controls that maintain structural-element temperature variations within specified limits insure that the assembly exceeds stability and figure control requirements on the secondary mirror.

Ahmed, N.↗

Analytical performance prediction for large antennas

The coupled free-free modes of the 55M LMSS antenna configuration are shown. They were determined using modal synthesis. Reflector modes clamped at the hub were calculated adopting the efficient cyclic symmetry technique. Similarly, clamped hub modes of the offset boom structure were calculated. The modes of the two substructures were then combined through the process of modal synthesis on the assumption that the interface at the hub structure is rigid thus satisfying statically determinate matching conditions. For attitude control purposes, only modes associated with symmetric components zero and one involve net motions of the center of gravity of the reflector. This condition restricts the set of admissible eigenfunctions for modal synthesis. Modes with symmetric components higher than one are excited only by forces acting on the ribs. These modes are totally uncoupled from the boom dynamics.

El-Raheb, M.↗

Precision heat forming of tetrafluoroethylene tubing

An invention that provides a method of altering the size of tetrafluoroethylene tubing which is only available in limited combination of wall thicknesses and diameter are discussed. The method includes the steps of sliding the tetrafluoroethylene tubing onto an aluminum mandrel and clamping the ends of the tubing to the mandrel by means of clamps. The tetrafluorethylene tubing and mandrel are then placed in a supporting coil which with the mandrel and tetrafluorethylene tubing are then positioned in a insulated steel pipe which is normally covered with a fiber glass insulator to smooth out temperature distribution therein. The entire structure is then placed in an event which heats the tetrafluorethylene tubing which is then shrunk by the heat to the outer dimension of the aluminum mandrel. After cooling the aluminum mandrel is removed from the newly sized tetrafluorethylene tubing by a conventional chemical milling process.

Ruiz, W. V.↗

An equation for bolt clampup relaxation in transient environments

An equation for bolt clampup relaxation for transient temperature-moisture (T-M) conditions was derived starting with a relaxation equation for steady-state conditions, and then using an incremental time approach that exploits the superposition principle for linear viscoelasticity. The resulting equation uses the initial T-M condition (at the time of clamping), the T-M history after clamping, and elastic clampup coefficients for temperature and moisture changes. For a given material and joint configuration, the clampup coefficients are constants that can be calculated by elastic analyses. The clampup equation was used to calculate the changes in clampup occurring in a T300/5208 graphite/epoxy joint exposed to a one-year history of temperature and moisture. Two cases were considered: one was a dry joint exposed to a relatively humid environment and the other was a nearly saturated joint exposed to an arid environment.

Shivakumar, K. N.↗