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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
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A simulation program that investigates the relationship between manpower requirements and equipment availability in the presence of scheduled and unscheduled maintenance is presented. A method for optimization of metallization patterns is presented.
Cost effective, safe, and technologically sound applications of automation technology to underground coal mining were identified. The longwall analysis commenced with a general search for government and industry experience of mining automation technology. A brief industry survey was conducted to identify longwall operational, safety, and design problems. The prime automation candidates resulting from the industry experience and survey were: (1) the shearer operation, (2) shield and conveyor pan line advance, (3) a management information system to allow improved mine logistics support, and (4) component fault isolation and diagnostics to reduce untimely maintenance delays. A system network analysis indicated that a 40% improvement in productivity was feasible if system delays associated with all of the above four areas were removed. A technology assessment and conceptual system design of each of the four automation candidate areas showed that state of the art digital computer, servomechanism, and actuator technologies could be applied to automate the longwall system.
Improved Price Estimation Guidelines, IPEG4, program provides comparatively simple, yet relatively accurate estimate of price of manufactured product. IPEG4 processes user supplied input data to determine estimate of price per unit of production. Input data include equipment cost, space required, labor cost, materials and supplies cost, utility expenses, and production volume on industry wide or process wide basis.
The primary goals of this study are to estimate the value of R&D to photovoltaic (PV) metallization systems cost, and to provide a method for selecting an optimal metallization method for any given PV system. The value-added cost and relative electrical performance of 25 state-of-the-art (SOA) and advanced metallization system techniques are compared.
The Five Year Research Plan energy cost methodology and in depth analyses based on the extensive data that are relevant to PV systems are used to facilitate the accomplishment of the $0.15/kWh energy cost goal. An equation is given for the five year energy cost methodology. The allocation guidelines are designed to be consistent with flat solar array (FSA) milestones for module cost, module efficiency, and the programmatic goal for energy cost. They are research targets that appear to be achievable, given prior accomplishments and planned activities in the areas of low cost silicon purification, low cost sheet material, high efficiency cell processing, low cost, long life encapsulants, and automated fabrication method. Extensive sensitivity analysis work has been performed that shows that these guidelines represent an efficient way to meet the intent of the DOE program.
Company-wide or process-wide production simulated. Price Estimation Guidelines (IPEG) program provides simple, accurate estimates of prices of manufactured products. Simplification of SAMIS allows analyst with limited time and computing resources to perform greater number of sensitivity studies. Although developed for photovoltaic industry, readily adaptable to standard assembly-line type of manufacturing industry. IPEG program estimates annual production price per unit. IPEG/PC program written in TURBO PASCAL.
Economic evaluation methods and analyses of emerging photovoltaic (PV) technology since 1976 was prepared. This type of analysis was applied to the silicon research portion of the PV Program in order to determine the importance of this research effort in relationship to the successful development of commercial PV systems. All four generic types of PV that use silicon were addressed: crystal ingots grown either by the Czochralski method or an ingot casting method; ribbons pulled directly from molten silicon; an amorphous silicon thin film; and use of high concentration lenses. Three technologies were analyzed: the Union Carbide fluidized bed reactor process, the Hemlock process, and the Union Carbide Komatsu process. The major components of each process were assessed in terms of the costs of capital equipment, labor, materials, and utilities. These assessments were encoded as the probabilities assigned by experts for achieving various cost values or production rates.
Freedom Operations Simulation Test (FROST) computer program simulates operation of SSF information system, tracking every packet of data from generation to destination, for both uplinks and downlinks. Collects various statistics concerning operation of system and provides reports of statistics at intervals specified by user. FROST also incorporates graphical-display capability to enhance interpretation of these statistics. Written in SIMSCRIPT 11.5.
This handbook is intended to provide information on systems engineering that will be useful to NASA system engineers, especially new ones. Its primary objective is to provide a generic description of systems engineering as it should be applied throughout NASA. Field Center Handbooks are encouraged to provide center-specific details of implementation. For NASA system engineers to choose to keep a copy of this handbook at their elbows, it must provide answers that cannot be easily found elsewhere. Consequently, it provides NASA-relevant perspectives and NASA-particular data. NASA management instructions (NMI's) are referenced when applicable. This handbook's secondary objective is to serve as a useful companion to all of the various courses in systems engineering that are being offered under NASA's auspices. The coverage of systems engineering is general to techniques, concepts, and generic descriptions of processes, tools, and techniques. It provides good systems engineering practices, and pitfalls to avoid. This handbook describes systems engineering as it should be applied to the development of major NASA product and producing systems.
When applied to a system, the doctrine of successive refinement is a divide-and-conquer strategy. Complex systems are sucessively divided into pieces that are less complex, until they are simple enough to be conquered. This decomposition results in several structures for describing the product system and the producing system. These structures play important roles in systems engineering and project management. Many of the remaining sections in this chapter are devoted to describing some of these key structures. Structures that describe the product system include, but are not limited to, the requirements tree, system architecture and certain symbolic information such as system drawings, schematics, and data bases. The structures that describe the producing system include the project's work breakdown, schedules, cost accounts and organization.
This handbook brings the fundamental concepts and techniques of systems engineering to NASA personnel in a way that recognizes the nature of NASA systems and environment. It is intended to accompany formal NASA training courses on systems engineering and project management when appropriate, and is designed to be a top-level overview. The concepts were drawn from NASA field center handbooks, NMI's/NHB's, the work of the NASA-wide Systems Engineering Working Group and the Systems Engineering Process Improvement Task team, several non-NASA textbooks and guides, and material from independent systems engineering courses taught to NASA personnel. Five core chapters cover systems engineering fundamentals, the NASA Project Cycle, management issues in systems engineering, systems analysis and modeling, and specialty engineering integration. It is not intended as a directive. Superseded by: NASA/SP-2007-6105 Rev 1 (20080008301).
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The decorrelation stretch is a process that is used to enhance (stretch) the color differences found in a color image.
In 1998 NASA's first Earth Observation System platform will be launched into earth orbit.
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