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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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At least 433 records · Page 24

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS1990

Information theoretical assessment of digital imaging systems

The end-to-end performance of image gathering, coding, and restoration as a whole is considered. This approach is based on the pivotal relationship that exists between the spectral information density of the transmitted signal and the restorability of images from this signal. The information-theoretical assessment accounts for (1) the information density and efficiency of the acquired signal as a function of the image-gathering system design and the radiance-field statistics, and (2) the improvement in information efficiency and data compression that can be gained by combining image gathering with coding to reduce the signal redundancy and irrelevancy. It is concluded that images can be restored with better quality and from fewer data as the information efficiency of the data is increased. The restoration correctly explains the image gathering and coding processes and effectively suppresses the image-display degradations.

John, Sarah↗

NASA NTRS1992

Latches For Equipment Drawers

Mechanism makes rack hardware interchangeable, regardless of drawer height. Provides quick connection and disconnection of equipment drawer. Pivoting lever is heart of mechanism. At insertion, lever rotated slightly counterclockwise so bottom hook slips over pin; then rotated clockwise to engage pin and lever lock. Rotation of lever to full counterclockwise position disengages panel from rack.

Martin, T. C.↗

NASA NTRS1992

External Squeeze-Film Damper For Hydrostatic Bearing

External squeeze-film damping device suppresses vibrations of rapidly turning shaft supported by pivoted-pad hydrostatic bearing in high-pressure/high-power-density turbomachine. Stacked disks provide damping and clearance for alignment.

Buckmann, Paul S.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Helicopter Rotor Blade With Free Tip

Free-tip rotor blades improve fuel efficiency and performance characteristics of helicopters. Outermost portion of blade pivots independently with respect to inboard portion about pitch axis parallel to blade axis, located forward of aerodynamic center. Centrifugal force acts on tension/torsion strap and biases tip nose-up. Airstream turns tip nose-down, other torques cause tip to "weathervane" to intermediate angular position resulting in net lift. Reduces fluctuations in lift, with two effects: flapwise vibratory loads on blade and vibratory loads on pitch-control mechanism reduced; negative lift produced by advancing fixed tip eliminated, reducing power required to achieve same overall lift. Applies to tilt rotors and tail rotors as well.

Stroub, Robert H.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Fixed Or Controlled-Movement Foot Restraint

Foot restraint gives user three options: holds user's feet in fixed position, allows them to slide sideways, or allows them to pivot independently about axis through ball of foot, as user chooses. Selects degree of restraint to suit task at hand. Movements to enter and leave foot restraint simple and direct. Simply forces each cleat lightly into space between rails until spring force of movable rail secures it. Body movements for sliding and rotation equally straightforward. Designed for use in absence of gravitation, restraint useful on Earth, underwater or in some hazardous locations where movements restricted.

Reilly, Gloria B.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Helmet of a laminate construction of polycarbonate and polysulfone polymeric material

An article of laminate construction is disclosed which is comprised of an underlayer of polycarbonate polymer material to which is applied a chemically resistant outer layer of polysulfone. The layers which are joined by compression-heat molding, are molded to form the shape of a body protective shell such as a space helmet comprising a shell of polycarbonate, polysulfone laminate construction attached at its open end to a sealing ring adapted for connection to a space suit. The front portion of the shell provides a transparent visor for the helmet. An outer visor of polycarbonate polysulfone laminate construction is pivotally mounted to the sealing ring for covering the transparent visor portion of the shell during extravehicular activities. The polycarbonate under layer of the outer visor is coated on its inner surface with a vacuum deposit of gold to provide additional thermal radiation resistance.

Kosmo, Joseph J.↗

NASA NTRS1991

End effector with astronaut foot restraint

The combination of a foot restraint platform designed primarily for use by an astronaut being rigidly and permanently attached to an end effector which is suitable for attachment to the manipulator arm of a remote manipulating system is described. The foot restraint platform is attached by a brace to the end effector at a location away from the grappling interface of the end effector. The platform comprises a support plate provided with a pair of stirrups for receiving the toe portion of an astronaut's boots when standing on the platform and a pair of heel retainers in the form of raised members which are fixed to the surface of the platform and located to provide abutment surfaces for abutting engagement with the heels of the astronaut's boots when his toes are in the stirrups. The heel retainers preclude a backward sliding movement of the feet on the platform and instead require a lifting of the heels in order to extract the feet. The brace for attaching the foot restraint platform to the end effector may include a pivot or swivel joint to permit various orientations of the platform with respect to the end effector.

Monford, Leo G., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Interaction of disturbances with an oblique detonation wave attached to a wedge

The linear response of an oblique overdriven detonation to impose free stream disturbances or to periodic movements of the wedge is examined. The free stream disturbances are assumed to be steady vorticity waves and the wedge motions are considered to be time periodic oscillations either about a fixed pivot point or along the plane of symmetry of the wedge aligned with the incoming stream. The detonation is considered to be a region of infinitesmal thickness in which a finite amount of heat is released. The response to the imposed disturbances is a function of the Mach number of the incoming flow, the wedge angle, and the exothermocity of the reaction within the detonation. It is shown that as the degree of overdrive increases, the amplitude of the response increases significantly; furthermore, a fundamental difference in the dependence of the response on the parameters of the problem is found between the response to a free stream disturbance and to a disturbance emanating from the wedge surface.

Lasseigne, D. G.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Dynamics of a split torque helicopter transmission

A high reduction ratio split torque gear train has been proposed as an alternative to a planetary configuration for the final stage of a helicopter transmission. A split torque design allows a high ratio of power-to-weight for the transmission. The design studied in this work includes a pivoting beam that acts to balance thrust loads produced by the helical gear meshes in each of two parallel power paths. When the thrust loads are balanced, the torque is split evenly. A mathematical model was developed to study the dynamics of the system. The effects of time varying gear mesh stiffness, static transmission errors, and flexible bearing supports are included in the model. The model was demonstrated with a test case. Results show that although the gearbox has a symmetric configuration, the simulated dynamic behavior of the first and second compound gears are not the same. Also, results show that shaft location and mesh stiffness tuning are significant design parameters that influence the motions of the system.

Rashidi, Majid↗

NASA NTRS1992

Hazardous materials emergency response mobile robot

A simple or unsophisticated robot incapable of effecting straight-line motion at the end of its arm inserts a key held in its end effector or hand into a door lock with nearly straight-line motion by gently thrusting its back heels downwardly so that it pivots forwardly on its front toes while holding its arm stationary. The relatively slight arc traveled by the robot's hand is compensated by a complaint tool with which the robot hand grips the door key. A visible beam is projected through the axis of the hand or gripper on the robot arm end at an angle to the general direction in which the robot thrusts the gripper forward. As the robot hand approaches a target surface, a video camera on the robot wrist watches the beam spot on the target surface fall from a height proportional to the distance between the robot hand and the target surface until the beam spot is nearly aligned with the top of the robot hand. Holes in the front face of the hand are connected through internal passages inside the arm to an on-board chemical sensor. Full rotation of the hand or gripper about the robot arm's wrist is made possible by slip rings in the wrist which permit passage of the gases taken in through the nose holes in the front of the hand through the wrist regardless of the rotational orientation of the wrist.

Stone, Henry W.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Energy dependence of normal branch quasi-periodic intensity oscillations in low-mass X-ray binaries

The properties of the approximately 6 Hz quasi-periodic X-ray intensity oscillations observed in the low-mass X-ray binary Cyg X-2 when it is on the normal spectral branch are shown to be consistent with a model in which photons from a central source with a fixed spectrum are Comptonized by an oscillating radial inflow. As the electron scattering optical depth of the flow varies, the spectrum of the escaping X-rays appears to rotate about a pivot energy that depends mainly on the electron temperature in the flow. The temperature derived from the observed energy dependence of the Cyg X-2 normal branch oscillations is approximately 1 keV, in good agreement with the estimated Compton temperature of its X-ray spectrum. The mean optical depth tau of the Comptonizing flow is inferred to be about 10, while the change in tau over an oscillation is estimated to be about 1; both values are in good agreement with radiation hydrodcode simulations of the radial flow.

Miller, Guy S.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Apparatus Splits Glass Tubes Longitudinally

Tubes split into half cylinders by hot-wire/thermal-shock method. Tube to be cut placed on notched jig in apparatus. Nichrome wire stretched between arms of pivoted carriage and oriented parallel to notch. Wire heated by electrical current while resting on tube. After heating for about 1 minute for each millimeter of thickness of glass, tube quenched in water and split by resulting thermal shock. Apparatus used to split tubes in sizes ranging from 3/8 in. in diameter by 1 in. long to 1 1/2 in. in diameter by 4 in. long.

Shaw, Ernest↗

NASA NTRS1993

Experimental Semiautonomous Vehicle

Semiautonomous rover vehicle serves as testbed for evaluation of navigation and obstacle-avoidance techniques. Designed to traverse variety of terrains. Concepts developed applicable to robots for service in dangerous environments as well as to robots for exploration of remote planets. Called Robby, vehicle 4 m long and 2 m wide, with six 1-m-diameter wheels. Mass of 1,200 kg and surmounts obstacles as large as 1 1/2 m. Optimized for development of machine-vision-based strategies and equipped with complement of vision and direction sensors and image-processing computers. Front and rear cabs steer and roll with respect to centerline of vehicle. Vehicle also pivots about central axle, so wheels comply with almost any terrain.

Wilcox, Brian H.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Sensor Monitors Force On Filler Wire During Welding

Sensor measures lateral contact force between filler wire and weldment. Output of sensor fed as input to motorized wire-position controller, which strives to maintain desired contact force. Sensor built into wire-feed assembly. Pivoting arm transmits lateral force on tip of wire to load cell. Setscrews prevent underload and overload on load cell.

Morris, Tim↗

NASA NTRS1993

Eddy-Current Measurement Of Turning Or Curvature

Rotatable conductive plate covers sensing coil to varying degree. Curvature of pipe at remote or otherwise inaccessible location inside pipe measured using relatively simple angular-displacement eddy-current probe. Crawler and sensor assemblies move along inside of pipe on wheels. Conductive plate pivots to follow curvature of pipe, partly covering one of eddy-current coils to degree depending on local curvature on pipe.

Chern, Engmin J.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Testing Machine Exerts Longitudinal And Transverse Loads

Hydraulic load frame for testing materials applies both longitudinal uniaxial tension and transverse bending force simultaneously. Includes axial and transverse hydraulic actuators mounted on pivots to eliminate coupling effects between two loading modules.

Gardner, Mickey R.↗

NASA NTRS1992

X-ray monochromator

An x-ray monochromator is described, wherin a housing supports a plurality of mirrors forming a plurality of opposed mirror faces in parallel with each other and having thereon multilayer coatings, with each of said pairs of mirror faces being provided with identical coatings which are different from the coatings on the other pairs of mirror faces such that each pair of mirror faces has a peak x-ray reflection at a different wavelength regime. The housing is moveable to bring into a polychromatic x-ray beam that pair of mirror faces having the best x-ray reflection for the desired wavelength, with the mirrors being pivotable to move the mirror faces to that angle of incidence at which the peak reflectivity of the desired wavelength x-rays occurs.

Hoover, Richard B.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Data management in NOAA

NOAA has 11 terabytes of digital data stored on 240,000 computer tapes. There are an additional 100 terabytes (TB) of geostationary satellite data stored in digital form on specially configured SONY U-Matic video tapes at the University of Wisconsin. There are over 90,000,000 non-digital form records in manuscript, film, printed, and chart form which are not easily accessible. The three NOAA Data Centers service 6,000 requests per year and publish 5,000 bulletins which are distributed to 40,000 subscribers. Seventeen CD-ROM's have been produced. Thirty thousand computer tapes containing polar satellite data are being copied to 12 inch WORM optical disks for research applications. The present annual data accumulation rate of 10 TB will grow to 30 TB in 1994 and to 100 TB by the year 2000. The present storage and distribution technologies with their attendant support systems will be overwhelmed by these increases if not improved. Increased user sophistication coupled with more precise measurement technologies will demand better quality control mechanisms, especially for those data maintained in an indefinite archive. There is optimism that the future will offer improved media technologies to accommodate the volumes of data. With the advanced technologies, storage and performance monitoring tools will be pivotal to the successful long-term management of data and information.

Callicott, William M.↗