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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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Small-signal diodes are placed in series with light-emitting diodes (LED's) to stabilize LED output against temperature fluctuations. Simple inexpensive method compensates for thermal fluctuations over a broad temperature range. Requiring few components, technique is particularly useful where circuit-board space is limited.
Conventional pressure switch, fabricated by printed-circuit manufacturing techniques, can indicate when charge on battery departs from preset level. Membrane on switch is exposed to internal pressure of battery, which varies according to stored charge. When pressure varies from preset level, switch can turn on a light-emitting diode or similar indicator to warn user that battery is low.
Monitoring circuit responds to changes in resistance as little as 0.1 ohm. Has been used to detect defective wire-wrap connections during thermal and vibration tests. Defect is indicated to operator by light-emitting diode and by increase in count on a two-digit display.
Circuit identified malfunctioning photovoltaic array. Cell-failure detection circuit compares output of photovoltaic array to control cell. If any module fails, activates light-emitting diode. Circuit could also sound alarm.
Central array of light-emitting diodes displays status of 30 video cassette recorders (VCR's) monitoring integrated testing of Space Shuttle. Remote status panel linked to VCR's by one 37-conductor cable. Transistor/ transistor logic chips in interface circuit allow LED array to function without drawing power from VCR control circuits.
An illuminated push-button switch is described. It is characterized by the fact that is consists of a switch group, an operator button opening and closing the switch group, and a light-emitting element which illuminates the face of the operator button.
Surface polaritons guided by symmetric double metal film structures are analyzed, with particular attention given to the attenuation of the two long-range modes that occur. It is found that long-range surface plasmon polariton modes do exist for double electrode structures over a limited range of material parameters. Guided by thin metal electrodes, surface plasmon polaritons can achieve millimeter plus propagation distances in the near infrared. It is pointed out that if the slab is electrooptic, then very low voltages will be needed to manipulate the waves. The fact that long-range modes exist simultaneously with junction tunnel plasmons may be of use in providing directional radiation from light-emitting junctions or the inverse process of light to electrical energy conversion.
The minority carrier diffusion length Ln in the base or substrate region is an important parameter which governs a solar cell's performance. The present investigation is concerned with the development of a multiwavelength analyzer (MWA) technique for the nondestructive spatial testing of polycrystalline solar cells. The MWA method is based on the utilization of the short-circuit current generated by two or more light-emitting diodes (LEDs) operating at different wavelengths and modulated 180 deg out-of-phase. For a determination of Ln by the MWA technique, it is necessary to know the value of the absorption coefficient.
Images of retinas examined for characteristic patterns. Color photographs of retinas taken. Proper alinement of eye obtained by asking subject to gaze at light-emitting diode. "Red-eye" patterns in resulting color photographs examined by trained observers for signs of ocular defects. System used to check power of contact lenses and eyeglasses by taking photographs with these items in place.
Position sensor and mirror guides manipulator toward object. Grasping becomes automatic when sensor begins to receive signal from reflector on object to be manipulated. Light-emitting diodes on manipulator produce light signals for reflector, which is composite of plane and corner reflectors. Proposed scheme especially useful when manipulator arm tends to flex or when object is moving. Sensor and microprocessor designed to compensate for manipulatorarm oscillation.
Gallium arsenide high-temperature devices were fabricated and assembled into an optically activated pulse-width-modulated power control for a torque motor typical of the kinds used in jet engine actuators. A bipolar heterojunction phototransistor with gallium aluminum arsenide emitter/window, a gallium arsenide junction field-effect power transistor and a gallium arsenide transient protection diode were designed and fabricated. A high-temperature fiber optic/phototransistor coupling scheme was implemented. The devices assembled into the demonstrator were successfully tested at 250 C, proving the feasibility of actuator-located switching of control power using optical signals transmitted by fibers. Assessments of the efficiency and technical merits were made for extension of this high-temperature technology to local conversion of optical power to electrical power and its control at levels useful for driving actuators. Optical power sources included in the comparisons were an infrared light-emitting diode, an injection laser diode, tungsten-halogen lamps and arc lamps. Optical-to-electrical power conversion was limited to photovoltaics located at the actuator. Impedance matching of the photovoltaic array to the load was considered over the full temperature range, -55 C to 260 C. Loss of photovoltaic efficiency at higher temperatures was taken into account. Serious losses in efficiency are: (1) in the optical source and the cooling which they may require in the assumed 125 C ambient, (2) in the decreased conversion efficiency of the gallium arsenide photovoltaic at 260 C, and (3) in impedance matching. Practical systems require improvements in these areas.
An optical proximity sensor for optically detecting an object within a predetermined detection volume is described. More specifically, an optical proximity sensor is disclosed having an illuminator assembly including lens and a plurality of light-emitting diodes located at first predetermined positions along the focal plane of the illuminator lens. A detector assembly including a detector lens and a plurality of photodiodes located at second predetermined positions along the focal plane of the detector lens is also provided. The two lenses are spaced apart a predetermined distance in order to define a predetermined detection volume. Additionally, a combination of optical proximity sensors, according to the invention, is disclosed wherein the sensors can be used in conjunction with a vehicle to provide a safety system for warning an operator when an object is within a volume defined by the proximity sensor combination.
Remote displacement measurement is demonstrated using a Fabry-Perot cavity with a multimode optical fiber link. The sensing cavity modulates, as a function of its length, the spectrum of a light-emitting diode (LED). The light returns via the fiber and is analyzed by a tunable reference cavity. A closed-loop control causes the reference cavity to track the sensing cavity length within 2 x 10 to the -12th m. Displacement range is 2 x 10 to the -6th m. The reference cavity length is measured interferometrically, using a laser, to obtain the sensing cavity length. Advantages of this sensing technique include compatibility with multimode fiber-optic components, high immunity to optical losses, and large dynamic range.
Instrument includes gallium arsenide light-emitting diode (LED) and silicon phototransistor with infrared filter, all cast in single plastic housing. Housing attached to subject's face with transparent doublesided adhesive tape. LED directs pulses of infrared light to skin, which reflects them to phototransistor. Phototransistor produces signal that is processed by external circuits to yield plot of infrared reflectance with time. External circuits temperature-compensated and respond only to pulsed component of detector output, rejecting those components caused by stray light. Circuits also extract blood-volume pulse amplitude and heart rate.
GaAsP on GaP top solar cells as an attachment to silicon bottom solar cells are being developed. The GaAsP on GaP system offers several advantages for this top solar cell. The most important is that the gallium phosphide substrate provides a rugged, transparent mechanical substrate which does not have to be removed or thinned during processing. Additional advantages are that: (1) gallium phosphide is more oxidation resistant than the III-V aluminum compounds, (2) a range of energy band gaps higher than 1.75 eV is readily available for system efficiency optimization, (3) reliable ohmic contact technology is available from the light-emitting diode industry, and (4) the system readily lends itself to graded band gap structures for additional increases in efficiency.
Six display technologies that might be of future value in a spacelab workstation are discussed. Some have been developed to the point where they could be used as a computer display while others have not. The display technologies studied are electroluminescents, light-emitting didodes, gas plasma, liquid crystal, electrochromic, and electrophoretic. An explanation of each mechanism is provided along with the state-of-the-art development.
Full-color, matrix-addressed electroluminescent display uses three different color phosphors located in two separate, superimposed layers to provide higher brightness, better contrast ratio, and higher resolution. Design used for such transparent, flat-panel display media as thin-film electroluminescent phosphors, liquid crystals, or light-emitting diodes.
A laboratory simulation experiment to study the interaction between a cometary plasma and the solar wind has been performed using the UCR-T1 space simulation facility (dia. 1.3 m, length 11 m). Intense plasma flow simulating the solar wind interacts with another light-emitting plasma composed of Ba, Sr, and/or C by a plasma emitter which simulates a cometary coma. The purposes of this experiment are to investigate how the solar wind parameters contribute to the formation of the cometary ion tail and to determine the magnetic field structure of a comet. In order to estimate the solar wind parameters by ground-based observations of actual comets, knowledges of such relationships are essential. The experimental results show that the interplanetary magnetic field of the solar wind is very important in forming the cometary tail.