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Development of lithium diffused radiation resistant solar cells, part 2

The work performed to investigate the effect of various process parameters on the performance of lithium doped P/N solar cells is described. Effort was concentrated in four main areas: (1) the starting material, (2) the boron diffusion, (3) the lithium diffusion, and (4) the contact system. Investigation of starting material primarily involved comparison of crucible grown silicon (high oxygen content) and Lopex silicon (low oxygen content). In addition, the effect of varying growing parameters of crucible grown silicon on lithium cell output was also examined. The objective of the boron diffusion studies was to obtain a diffusion process which produced high efficiency cells with minimal silicon stressing and could be scaled up to process 100 or more cells per diffusion. Contact studies included investigating sintering of the TiAg contacts and evaluation of the contact integrity.

Payne, P. R.

Effect of forest canopy closure on incoming solar radiance

In order to better understand the physical processes involved in defoliation assessment from remotely sensed data, a field study was designed to investigate the effect of forest canopy closure and other environmental variables on incoming solar radiation. Diffuse radiation measurements were recorded in red, infrared, and middle infrared wavelengths using the Mark 2 three band field radiometer. Results to date indicate that the percent canopy closure is the single most important variable affecting incoming solar radiation. In the visible and near infrared regions, interaction between time of day and date (defined later as solar zenith angle) also affect radiometric response. Aspect has only limited influence on radiance response. These same variables do not influence middle infrared response, however. Uniformity of the forest canopy appears to be more important. These results are compared to LANDSAT MSS classification results of gypsy moth defoliation.

Dottavio, C. L.

SAS-2 observations of the diffuse gamma radiation in the galactic latitude interval 10 deg absolute b or equal to 90 deg

An analysis of all of the second small astronomy satellite gamma-ray data for galactic latitudes with the absolute value of b 10 deg has shown that the intensity varies with galactic latitude, being larger near 10 deg than 90 deg. For energies above 100 MeV the gamma-ray data are consistent with a latitude distribution of the form I(b) = C sub 1 + C sub 2/sin b, with the second term being dominant. This result suggests that the radiation above 100 MeV is coming largely from local regions of the galactic disk. Between 35 and 100 MeV, a similar equation is also a good representation of the data, but here the two terms are comparable. These results indicate that the diffuse radiation above 35 MeV consists of two parts, one with a relatively hard galactic component and the other an isotropic, steep spectral component which extrapolates back well to the low energy diffuse radiation. The steepness of the diffuse isotropic component places significant constraints on possible theoretical models of this radiation.

Fichtel, C. E.

SAS-2 observations of the diffuse gamma radiation in the galactic latitude interval from 10 to 90 deg in both hemispheres

An analysis of all the second Small Astronomy Satellite (SAS-2) gamma-ray data for galactic latitudes higher than 10 deg in both hemispheres has shown that the intensity varies with galactic latitude, being larger near 10 deg than 90 deg. For energies above 100 MeV the gamma-ray data are consistent with a latitude distribution of the form I(b) = C1 + C2/sin b, with the second term being dominant. This result suggests that the radiation above 100 MeV is coming largely from local regions of the galactic disk. Between 35 and 100 MeV, a similar equation is also a good representation of the data, but here the two terms are comparable. These results indicate that the diffuse radiation above 35 MeV consists of two parts, one with a relatively hard galactic component and the other an isotropic steep spectral component which extrapolates back well to the low-energy (less than 10 MeV) diffuse radiation. The steepness of the diffuse isotropic component places significant constraints on possible theoretical models of this radiation.

Fichtel, C. E.

Diffuse gamma radiation

Results are reported for an investigation of the intensity, energy spectrum, and spatial distribution of the diffuse gamma radiation detected by SAS 2 away from the galactic plane in the energy range above 35 MeV. The gamma-ray data are compared with relevant data obtained at other wavelengths, including 21-cm emission, radio continuum radiation, and the limited UV and radio information on local molecular hydrogen. It is found that there are two quite distinct components to the diffuse radiation, one of which shows a good correlation with the galactic matter distribution and continuum radiation, while the other has a much steeper energy spectrum and appears to be isotropic at least on a coarse scale. The galactic component is interpreted in terms of its implications for both local and more distant regions of the Galaxy. The apparently isotropic radiation is discussed partly with regard to the constraints placed on possible models by the steep energy spectrum, the observed intensity, and an upper limit on the anisotropy.

Fichtel, C. E.

Diffusive and radiative effects on vaporization times of drops in film boiling

Diffusive and radiative effects are incorporated into an analysis for the vaporization time of drops in film boiling. The momentum, energy, and continuity equations are solved with some appropriate simplifications so as to obtain a simple closed form solution for the overall film boiling heat transfer coefficient. Next, a theoretical expression for the droplet vaporization time is developed and compared to the measured vaporization times of water droplets vaporizing into air, argon, nitrogen, and helium. The agreement between experiment and theory is good. Under the helium blanket, the diffusive evaporative component is significant in comparison to the film boiling component.

Baumeister, K. J.

A Case Study of View-Factor Rectification Procedures for Diffuse-Gray Radiation Enclosure Computations

The view factors which are used in diffuse-gray radiation enclosure calculations are often computed by approximate numerical integrations. These approximately calculated view factors will usually not satisfy the important physical constraints of reciprocity and closure. In this paper several view-factor rectification algorithms are reviewed and a rectification algorithm based on a least-squares numerical filtering scheme is proposed with both weighted and unweighted classes. A Monte-Carlo investigation is undertaken to study the propagation of view-factor and surface-area uncertainties into the heat transfer results of the diffuse-gray enclosure calculations. It is found that the weighted least-squares algorithm is vastly superior to the other rectification schemes for the reduction of the heat-flux sensitivities to view-factor uncertainties. In a sample problem, which has proven to be very sensitive to uncertainties in view factor, the heat transfer calculations with weighted least-squares rectified view factors are very good with an original view-factor matrix computed to only one-digit accuracy. All of the algorithms had roughly equivalent effects on the reduction in sensitivity to area uncertainty in this case study.

Robert P Taylor

Pitch-angle diffusion of radiation belt electrons within the plasmasphere.

Study of the formation of the quiet-time electron slot, which divides the radiation belt electrons into an inner and an outer zone. The pitch-angle diffusion of radiation belt electrons resulting from resonant interactions with the observed plasmaspheric whistler-mode wave band is quantitatively investigated. The effects of wave propagation obliquely to the geomagnetic field direction with the resulting diffusion at all cyclotron-harmonic resonances and the Landau resonance are evaluated along with the effects of interactions occuring at all geomagnetic latitudes. The results obtained account for the long-term stability of the inner radiation zone, the location of its outer edge as a function of electron energy, and the removal of electrons to levels near zero throughout the slot. Computed pitch-angle distributions and precipitation decay rates are in good agreement with slot-region observations.

Lyons, L. R.

Diffuse gamma radiation

An examination of the intensity, energy spectrum, and spatial distribution of the diffuse gamma-radiation observed by SAS-2 satellite away from the galactic plane in the energy range above 35 MeV has shown that it consists of two components. One component is generally correlated with galactic latitudes, the atomic hydrogen column density was deduced from 21 cm measurements, and the continuum radio emission, believed to be synchrotron emission. It has an energy spectrum similar to that in the plane and joins smoothly to the intense radiation from the plane. It is therefore presumed to be of galactic origin. The other component is apparently isotropic, at least on a coarse scale, and has a steep energy spectrum. No evidence is found for a cosmic ray halo surrounding the galaxy in the shape of a sphere or oblate spheroid with galactic dimensions. Constraints for a halo model with significantly larger dimensions are set on the basis of an upper limit to the gamma-ray anisotropy.

Fichtel, C. E.