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At least 253 records · Page 14

Linear magnetic spring and spring/motor combination

A magnetic spring, or a spring and motor combination, providing a linear spring force characteristic in each direction from a neutral position, in which the spring action may occur for any desired coordinate of a typical orthogonal coordinate system. A set of magnets are disposed, preferably symmetrically about a coordinate axis, poled orthogonally to the desired force direction. A second set of magnets, respectively poled opposite the first set, are arranged on the sprung article. The magnets of one of the sets are spaced a greater distance apart than those of the other, such that an end magnet from each set forms a pair having preferably planar faces parallel to the direction of spring force, the faces being offset so that in a neutral position the outer edge of the closer spaced magnet set is aligned with the inner edge of the greater spaced magnet set. For use as a motor, a coil can be arranged with conductors orthogonal to both the magnet pole directions and the direction of desired spring force, located across from the magnets of one set and fixed with respect to the magnets of the other set. In a cylindrical coordinate system having axial spring force, the magnets are radially poled and motor coils are concentric with the cylinder axis.

Patt, Paul J.↗

Magnetic spin reduction system for free spinning objects

A spinning Earth satellite is shown in which it is desired to reduce the rotation or spin to a level that the satellite may be secured or handled remotely from a spacecraft. This is accomplished by the spacecraft having a mast carrying an electrical current coil which encircles the satellite. The magnetic field of the coil is normal to the spin axis of the satellite which causes circular eddy current flow in the housing of the satellite. This generates magnetic force opposing the rotation. In another embodiment the magnetic field is generated by the use of an electromagnet on a remote manipulation arm.

Vontiesenhausen, G. F.↗

Design and prototype fabrication of a 30 tesla cryogenic magnet

A liquid-neon-cooled magnet has been designed to produce 30 teslas in steady operation. Its feasibility was established by a previously reported parametric study. To ensure the correctness of the heat transfer relationships used, supercritical neon heat transfer tests were made. Other tests made before the final design included tests on the effect of the magnetic field on pump motors; tensile-shear tests on the cryogenic adhesives; and simulated flow studies for the coolant. The magnet will be made of two pairs of coils, cooled by forced convection of supercritical neon. Heat from the supercritical neon will be rejected through heat exchangers which are made of roll-bonded copper panels and are submerged in a pool of saturated liquid neon. A partial mock-up coil was wound to identify the tooling required to wind the magnet. This was followed by winding a prototype pair of coils. The prototype winding established procedures for fabricating the final magnet and revealed slight changes needed in the final design.

Prok, G. M.↗

Development of a 32 Inch Diameter Levitated Ducted Fan Conceptual Design

The NASA John H. Glenn Research Center has developed a revolutionary 32 in. diameter Levitated Ducted Fan (LDF) conceptual design. The objective of this work is to develop a viable non-contact propulsion system utilizing Halbach arrays for all-electric flight, and many other applications. This concept will help to reduce harmful emissions, reduce the Nation s dependence on fossil fuels, and mitigate many of the concerns and limitations encountered in conventional aircraft propulsors. The physical layout consists of a ducted fan drum rotor with blades attached at the outer diameter and supported by a stress tuner ring at the inner diameter. The rotor is contained within a stator. This concept exploits the unique physical dimensions and large available surface area to optimize a custom, integrated, electromagnetic system that provides both the levitation and propulsion functions. The rotor is driven by modulated electromagnetic fields between the rotor and the stator. When set in motion, the time varying magnetic fields interact with passive coils in the stator assembly to produce repulsive forces between the stator and the rotor providing magnetic suspension. LDF can provide significant improvements in aviation efficiency, reliability, and safety, and has potential application in ultra-efficient motors, computers, and space power systems.

Eichenberg, Dennis J.↗

Comparison Between MAD-IPA Thrust Stand Measurements and Performance Modeling

The high specific impulse values associated with electric propulsion (EP) that allow for higher payload fractions than conventional, chemical propulsion are achieved by the acceleration of ionized propellant (plasma) by electromagnetic body forces. The lifetime of many EP devices is limited by electrode erosion caused by direct plasma-electrode interaction, while the efficiency is often limited by, among other thruster-specific factors, the available power in space. The efficiency can be increased during higher power operation since the amount of power required to ionize the propellant is fixed and decreases as a percentage of the increased input power. Pulsed inductive plasma accelerators [1-3] are a potentially elegant solution to the problems of high power demands and electrode erosion. The former is addressed in the pulsed nature of these devices, which allows for instantaneous operation on the order of megawatts while requiring a continuous supply on the order of only kilowatts, while the latter is addressed by inductive coupling of the thruster to ionized propellant. These devices operate by rapidly (on the order of microseconds) discharging stored energy at a given pulse repetition rate through a coil creating time-varying magnetic and electric fields that cause ionization, current formation and acceleration of propellant away from the coil. While the inductive (contact-less) nature of the energy transfer from the thruster to the propellant alleviates the problem of erosion and enables the use of in-situ and storable propellants incompatible with metallic electrodes, it places high voltage demands (on the order of tens of kilovolts) on the energy storage system to achieve propellant ionization.

Hallock, Ashley K.↗

Method and apparatus for sensing a target characteristic by measuring both impedance and resonant frequency of a tank circuit

An apparatus for sensing a target characteristic, such as relative distance between the apparatus and target, target thickness, target material, or lateral position between the apparatus and the target, includes a coil for directing an electro-magnetic field at the target. A voltage controlled oscillator energizes the coil at a resonant frequency which is functionally related to the target characteristic. The coil has an effective impedance value at resonance functionally related to the target characteristic. A frequency monitor measures the resonant frequency. An impedance monitor determines the impedance value when the drive frequency is at the resonant value. A PROM or controller determines the target characteristic in response to the measured resonant frequency and the determined impedance value. The PROM or controller provides a signal responsive to the determined target characteristic.

Laskowski, Edward L.↗

Coarse-fine residual gravity cancellation system with magnetic levitation

Aircraft flight along parabolic trajectories have been proposed and executed in order to achieve low cost, near free fall conditions of moderate duration. This paper describes a six degree of freedom experiment isolation system designed to cancel out residual accelerations due to mechanical vibrations and errors in aircraft trajectory. The isolation system consists of a fine motion magnetic levitator whose stator is transported by a conventional coarse motion stage. The levitator uses wide gap voice coil actuators and has the dual purpose of isolating the experiment platform from aircraft vibrations and actively cancelling residual accelerations through feedback control. The course motion stage tracks the levitated platform in order to keep the levitator's coils centered within their matching magnetic gaps. Aspects of system design, an analysis of the proposed control strategy and simulation results are presented. Feasibility experiments are also discussed.

Salcudean, S. E.↗

Magnetic power piston fluid compressor

A compressor with no moving parts in the traditional sense having a housing having an inlet end allowing a low pressure fluid to enter and an outlet end allowing a high pressure fluid to exit is described. Within the compressor housing is at least one compression stage to increase the pressure of the fluid within the housing. The compression stage has a quantity of magnetic powder within the housing, is supported by a screen that allows passage of the fluid, and a coil for selectively providing a magnetic field across the magnetic powder such that when the magnetic field is not present the individual particles of the powder are separated allowing the fluid to flow through the powder and when the magnetic field is present the individual particles of the powder pack together causing the powder mass to expand preventing the fluid from flowing through the powder and causing a pressure pulse to compress the fluid.

Gasser, Max G.↗

Progress on the Plasmoid Thruster Experiment (PTX)

A plasmoid, also called a compact toroid, is a compact plasma structure with an integral magnetic field, that may be categorized according to the relative strength of the poloidal and toroidal magnetic field (Bp and Bt, respectively). An object with Bp/Bt much greater than 1 is called a Field Reverse Configuration (FRC); if Bp = Bt, it is called a Spheromak. The plasmoid thruster is a pulsed inductive device which operates by repetitively producing plasmoids that are accelerated and ejected at high velocity. As the process is inductive, this thruster avoids the problem of electrode erosion. Also, the magnetic structure of the plasmoid should suppress thermal and mass losses to the wall, and improve detachment of the plasma exhaust from the thruster. This concept should be capable of producing an Isp of 5,000 seconds and greater, with thrust densities of order 10(exp 5) N/sq m. The plasmoid thruster consists chiefly of a conical theta-pinch coil. Propellant is introduced onto a bias magnetic field, produced by an auxiliary coil, and is then pre-ionized, freezing in the magnetic field. The theta-pinch coil is then energized producing a field aligned anti- parallel to the bias field. The reversed field reconnects with the bias field to form the plasmoid. The magnetic pressure of the reversed field accelerates the plasmoid out of the thruster . A series of experiments have been conducted on the PTX device, which consisted of a single turn conical theta-pinch coil, driven by a 560 nF, 35 kV capacitor bank, which rang at a frequency of 500 kHz, and served all three functions required for formation: pre-ionization, bias field loading, and field reversal. Initial ionization was found to occur in an annular region at the exit plane of the coil, and was found to be reproducible with a variety of gases, including H2, D2, Ar, and an H2/N2 mixture (75% / 25%). A fast gas valve for injecting propellant has been tested, as well as a ringing pre-ionization circuit (operating at 5 Mhz) to better control the plasmoid formation. Velocities as high as 20 km/s have been measured for a plasmoid propagating into a static back-fill of neutral gas. Magnetic field and density measurements indicate that the plasmoid retains its structure well into the down-stream exhaust region, and that it is capable of pushing a dense cloud of neutral gas in front of it. Further experiments will focus on the effects of coil geometry and bias-field strength on the performance of the device. A high-power solid-state switching system is being developed in order to replace the spark-gap switch.

Martin, Adam↗

Loudspeaker Performance Aid

Many manufacturers of loudspeakers are now using a magnetic liquid cooling agent known as ferrofluid. Commercialized by Ferrofluids Corporation, ferrofluid is a liquid material in which sub-microscopic particles of iron oxide are permanently suspended. Injected into the voice coil segment of speaker system, magnetic liquid serves as superior heat transfer medium for cooling the voice coil, thus substantially increasing the system's ability to handle higher power levels and decreasing chance of speaker failure. Ferrofluid offers several additional advantages which add up to improved speaker performance, lower manufacturing costs and fewer rejects.

Source record↗

Conceptual design of a noncontacting power transfer device for the ASPS Vernier system

The conceptual of electrical power transfer across a magnetically controlled gap as discussed for several years. The design represents the culmination of the first serious attempt to design a very low force, noncontracting power transfer mechanism. The electromagnetic device advanced herein is an ironless, translatable secondary transformer in which one of the two coils is fixed to the entire magnetic core. The second coil is free to move within the core over the full range of motions required. The specific application considered for this design was the Vernier subsystem of the Annular Suspension and Pointing System (ASPS). The development of and rationale for the electromagnetics design is presented. Similar documentation is provided for the Electronics Design. The Appendices detail the results of small scale model tests, disturbance force calculations, the baseline transformer fabrication drawings, the AVS Converter Parts List, and model schematic diagrams.

Kroeger, J.↗

Proceedings of the Magnetics Workshop

Conference on measurement and reduction of spacecraft magnetic fields - materials and design criteria - magnetic decontamination of components - testing facilities and human tests

CONFERENCE↗

Braze joint quality tested electromagnetically

Nondestructive electromagnetic method detects the extent of gold/nickel braze alloy flow in an engine injector sleeve-to-post joint. Voltage is induced in an inductor coil, along with a magnetically permeable material. The effects of altering the quantity of braze alloy present can then be measured.

Graves, D. B.↗

Shaft transducer having dc output proportional to angular velocity

A brushless dc tachometer is disclosed that includes a high strength toroidal permanent magnet for providing a uniform magnetic field in an air gap, an annular pole piece opposite the magnet, and a pickup coil wound around the pole piece and adapted to rotate about the axis of the pole piece. The pickup coil is rotated by an input shaft to which the coil is coupled with the friction clip. The output of the coil is conducted to circuitry by a twisted wire pair. The input shaft also activates a position transducing potentiometer.

Handlykken, M. B.↗

On the glitches in the force transmitted by an electrodynamic exciter to a structure

Around resonance, the force transmitted by an exciter into a structure will be smaller or greater than a reference force generated by its coils due to electromechanical interaction. A simple analysis is presented which reveals how this phenomenon of force drop-off is controlled by three factors. The first factor, called Armature Mass Factor, describes a purely mechanical interaction between the structure and the exciter. The electromechanical energy conversion and its interaction with the structure yields two additional factors, called Electrical Resistance and Electrical Inductance Factors. They describe the effects of coil resistance, inductance and magnetic field strength relative to structural damping and stiffness. Present analysis indicates that, under proper circumstances, more than 90 percent of the force drop-off can be eliminated if armature-to-structure mass ratio is smaller or equal to half of modal loss factor.

Rao, Dantam K.↗

Method of fabricating composite structures

A method of fabricating structures formed from composite materials by positioning the structure about a high coefficient of thermal expansion material, wrapping a graphite fiber overwrap about the structure, and thereafter heating the assembly to expand the high coefficient of thermal expansion material to forcibly compress the composite structure against the restraint provided by the graphite overwrap. The high coefficient of thermal expansion material is disposed about a mandrel with a release system therebetween, and with a release system between the material having the high coefficient of thermal expansion and the composite material, and between the graphite fibers and the composite structure. The heating may occur by inducing heat into the assembly by a magnetic field created by coils disposed about the assembly through which alternating current flows. The method permits structures to be formed without the use of an autoclave.

Sigur, W. A.↗