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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 523 records · Page 29
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1980

Project Orion: A Design Study of a System for Detecting Extrasolar Planets

A design concept for a ground based astrometric telescope that could significantly increase the potential accuracy of astrometric observations is considered. The state of current techniques and instrumentation is examined in the context of detecting extrasolar planets. Emphasis is placed on the direct detection of extrasolar planets at either visual or infrared wavelengths. The design concept of the imaging stellar interferometer (ISI), developed under Project Orion, is described. The Orion ISI employs the state-of-the-art technology and is theoretically capable of attaining 0.00010 arc sec/yr accuracy in relative astrometric observations.

Black, D. C.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Development of Aluminum/Air Battery as High-Capacity Primary Battery Energy Source for SUSAN Electrofan Project

High-capacity, high-performance, and safe battery technologies are demanded by the Subsonic Single Aft eNgine (SUSAN) Electrofan concept design project under National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) electrified aircraft development program. These battery technologies, including both secondary (i.e., rechargeable) batteries for hybrid/electric propulsion and primary batteries (i.e. non-rechargeable or single-use) for backup/emergency use in case of turbine engine failure, are important and vital components in SUSAN concept design. This paper is focused on aluminum (Al)-air battery, which is considered to be the most promising candidate to meet the energy goal of primary batteries for SUSAN project. However, there are challenges for Al-air batteries, including aluminum self-corrosion with hydrogen (H2) gassing and sluggish kinetics of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in air-cathode. In this paper, the preliminary results on investigation of electrolytes and additives on controlling aluminum self-corrosion/H2 gassing suppression and the study of air-cathode design for ORR improvement are presented and discussed.

James Wu↗
NASA NTRS1988

A space crane concept: Preliminary design and static analysis

Future in-space construction and assembly facilities will require the use of space cranes capable of supporting and manipulating large and massive loads. The large size of the space components being considered for construction will require that these cranes have a reach on the order of 100 meters. A space crane constructed from an erectable four-longeron truss beam with 19 5-sq-m truss bays is considered. This concept was selected to be compatible with the Space Station truss. This truss is hinged at three locations along its bottom edge and attached at one end to a rotary joint cantilevered to the assembly depot's main truss structure. The crane's boom sections are rotated by extensible longeron actuators located along the top edge of the beam. To achieve maximum position maneuvering capability for the crane requires that the individual sections be capable of rotating 180 degrees about the hinge point. This can only be accomplished by offsetting the hinges from the longeron axes. Since offset hinges introduce bending moments in the truss members, an analysis of the effect of hinge offsets on the load-carrying capacity of the structure is required. The objective of the static finite element analysis described is to determine the effect of various offset lengths on the overall bending stiffness of the crane and on the maximum stresses.

Mikulas, Martin M., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Panoramic, large-screen, 3-D flight display system design

The report documents and summarizes the results of the required evaluations specified in the SOW and the design specifications for the selected display system hardware. Also included are the proposed development plan and schedule as well as the estimated rough order of magnitude (ROM) cost to design, fabricate, and demonstrate a flyable prototype research flight display system. The thrust of the effort was development of a complete understanding of the user/system requirements for a panoramic, collimated, 3-D flyable avionic display system and the translation of the requirements into an acceptable system design for fabrication and demonstration of a prototype display in the early 1997 time frame. Eleven display system design concepts were presented to NASA LaRC during the program, one of which was down-selected to a preferred display system concept. A set of preliminary display requirements was formulated. The state of the art in image source technology, 3-D methods, collimation methods, and interaction methods for a panoramic, 3-D flight display system were reviewed in depth and evaluated. Display technology improvements and risk reductions associated with maturity of the technologies for the preferred display system design concept were identified.

Franklin, Henry↗
NASA NTRS2007

Lunar Surface-to-Surface Power Transfer

A human lunar outpost, under NASA study for construction in the 2020's, has potential requirements to transfer electric power up to 50-kW across the lunar surface from 0.1 to 10-km distances. This power would be used to operate surface payloads located remotely from the outpost and/or outpost primary power grid. This paper describes concept designs for state-of-the-art technology power transfer subsystems including AC or DC power via cables, beamed radio frequency power and beamed laser power. Power transfer subsystem mass and performance are calculated and compared for each option. A simplified qualitative assessment of option operations, hazards, costs and technology needs is also described. Based on these concept designs and performance analyses, a DC power cabling subsystem is recommended to minimize subsystem mass and to minimize mission and programmatic costs and risks. Avenues for additional power transfer subsystem studies are recommended.

Kerslake, Thomas W.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Improved Aerogel Vacuum Thermal Insulation

An improved design concept for aerogel vacuum thermal-insulation panels calls for multiple layers of aerogel sandwiched between layers of aluminized Mylar (or equivalent) poly(ethylene terephthalate), as depicted in the figure. This concept is applicable to both the rigid (brick) form and the flexible (blanket) form of aerogel vacuum thermal-insulation panels. Heretofore, the fabrication of a typical aerogel vacuum insulating panel has involved encapsulation of a single layer of aerogel in poly(ethylene terephthalate) and pumping of gases out of the aerogel-filled volume. A multilayer panel according to the improved design concept is fabricated in basically the same way: Multiple alternating layers of aerogel and aluminized poly(ethylene terephthalate) are assembled, then encapsulated in an outer layer of poly(ethylene terephthalate), and then the volume containing the multilayer structure is evacuated as in the single-layer case. The multilayer concept makes it possible to reduce effective thermal conductivity of a panel below that of a comparable single-layer panel, without adding weight or incurring other performance penalties. Implementation of the multilayer concept is simple and relatively inexpensive, involving only a few additional fabrication steps to assemble the multiple layers prior to evacuation. For a panel of the blanket type, the multilayer concept, affords the additional advantage of reduced stiffness.

Ruemmele, Warren P.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Proof-of-Concept Trajectory Designs for a Multi-Spacecraft, Low-Thrust Heliocentric Solar Weather Buoy Mission

A new solar weather mission has been proposed, involving a dozen or more small spacecraft spaced at regular, constant intervals in a mutual heliocentric circular orbit between the orbits of Earth and Venus. These solar weather buoys (SWBs) would carry instrumentation to detect and measure the material in solar flares, solar energetic particle events, and coronal mass ejections as they flowed past the buoys, serving both as science probes and as a radiation early warning system for the Earth and interplanetary travelers to Mars. The baseline concept involves placing a mothercraft carrying the SWBs into a staging orbit at the Sun-Earth L1 libration point. The mothercraft departs the L1 orbit at the proper time to execute a trailing-edge lunar flyby near New Moon, injecting it into a heliocentric orbit with its perihelion interior to Earth s orbit. An alternative approach would involve the use of a Double Lunar Swingby (DLS) orbit, rather than the L1 orbit, for staging prior to this flyby. After injection into heliocentric orbit, the mothercraft releases the SWBs-all equipped with low-thrust pulsed plasma thrusters (PPTs)-whereupon each SWB executes a multi-day low-thrust finite bum around perihelion, lowering aphelion such that each achieves an elliptical phasing orbit of different orbital period from its companions. The resulting differences in angular rates of motion cause the spacecraft to separate. While the lead SWB achieves the mission orbit following an insertion burn at its second perihelion passage, the remaining SWBs must complete several revolutions in their respective phasing orbits to establish them in the mission orbit with the desired longitudinal spacing. The complete configuration for a 14 SWB scenario using a single mothercraft is achieved in about 8 years, and the spacing remains stable for at least a further 6 years. Flight operations can be simplified, and mission risk reduced, by employing two mothercraft instead of one. In this scenario: the second mothercraft stays in a libration-point or DLS staging orbit until the first mothercraft has achieved nearly 180 separation from the Earth. The timing of the second mothercraft's subsequent lunar flyby is planned such that this spacecraft will be located 180 from the first mothercraft upon completion of its heliocentric circularization maneuvers. Both groups of satellites then only have to spread out over 180 to obtain full 360 coverage around the Sun.

Muller, Ronald↗
NASA NTRS2017

Evaluation of Early Ground Control Station Configurations for Interacting with a UAS Traffic Management (UTM) System

The purpose of this paper is to report on a human factors evaluation of ground control station design concepts for interacting with an unmanned traffic management system. The data collected for this paper comes from recent field tests for NASA's Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) project, and covers the following topics; workload, situation awareness, as well as flight crew communication, coordination, and procedures. The goal of this evaluation was to determine if the various software implementations for interacting with the UTM system can be described and classified into design concepts to provide guidance for the development of future UTM interfaces. We begin with a brief description of NASA's UTM project, followed by a description of the test range configuration related to a second development phase. We identified (post hoc) two classes in which the ground control stations could be grouped. This grouping was based on level of display integration. The analysis was exploratory and informal. It was conducted to compare ground stations across those two classes and against the aforementioned topics. Herein, we discuss the results.

unmanned traffic management↗
NASA NTRS1980

Structural concept trends for commercial supersonic cruise aircraft design

Structural concept trends for future commercial supersonic transport aircraft are considered. Highlights, including the more important design conditions and requirements, of two studies are discussed. Knowledge of these design parameters, as determined through studies involving the application of flexible mathematical models, enabled inclusion of aeroelastic considerations in the structural-material concepts evaluation. The design trends and weight data of the previous contractual study of Mach 2.7 cruise aircraft were used as the basis for incorporating advanced materials and manufacturing approaches to the airframe for reduced weight and cost. Structural studies of design concepts employing advanced aluminum alloys, advanced composites, and advanced titanium alloy and manufacturing techniques are compared for a Mach 2.0 arrow-wing configuration concept. Appraisals of the impact of these new materials and manufacturing concepts to the airframe design are shown and compared. The research and development to validate the potential sources of weight and cost reduction identified as necessary to attain a viable advanced commercial supersonic transport are discussed.

Sakat, I. F.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Reinventing the Solar Power Satellite

Economy of scale is inherent in the microwave power transmission aperture/spot-size trade-off, resulting in a requirement for large space systems in the existing design concepts. Unfortunately, this large size means that the initial investment required before the first return, and the price of amortization of this initial investment, is a daunting (and perhaps insurmountable) barrier to economic viability. As the growth of ground-based solar power applications will fund the development of the PV technology required for space solar power and will also create the demand for space solar power by manufacturing a ready-made market, space power systems must be designed with an understanding that ground-based solar technologies will be implemented as a precursor to space-based solar. for low initial cost, (3) operation in synergy with ground solar systems, and (4) power production profile tailored to peak rates. A key to simplicity of design is to maximize the integration of the system components. Microwave, millimeter-wave, and laser systems are analyzed. A new solar power satellite design concept with no sun-tracking and no moving parts is proposed to reduce the required cost to initial operational capability.

Landis, Geoffrey A.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Analysis and design of a ceramic nozzle insert for the Langley 8-foot high temperature structures tunnel

An analysis is presented of various ceramic design concepts intended to improve nozzle throat life and tunnel performance in the hypersonic Langley 8-Foot High-Temperature Structures Tunnel, which uses methane-air combustion products as the wind-tunnel test medium. Calculations of the axial pressure distribution and heating rates in the air-cooled nozzle throat are presented, and desirable characteristics of a ceramic material to be used in the nozzle throat are outlined, including high-temperature strength, thermal shock and erosion resistance, low conductivity and low thermal expansion. Ceramic nozzle throat design concepts are then examined, with attention given to monolithic and layered constructions of cast ceramics, reaction-bonded materials and a fiber-reinforced silica-silica ceramic. Results of a finite element analysis of the temperatures and stresses characteristic of the various concepts are then presented which indicate the monolithic silica-silica and the layered silica-silica/reaction bonded silicon nitride concepts to be the most promising of those investigated.

Robinson, J. C.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Deflection-Compensating Beam for use inside a Cylinder

A design concept for a beam for a specific application permits variations and options for satisfying competing requirements to minimize certain deflections under load and to minimize the weight of the beam. In the specific application, the beam is required to serve as a motion-controlled structure for supporting a mirror for optical testing in the lower third portion of a horizontal, cylindrical vacuum chamber. The cylindrical shape of the chamber is fortuitous in that it can be (and is) utilized as an essential element of the deflection-minimizing design concept. The beam is, more precisely, a table-like structure comprising a nominally flat, horizontal portion with vertical legs at its ends. The weights of the beam and whatever components it supports are reacted by the contact forces between the lower ends of the legs and the inner cylindrical chamber wall. Whereas the bending moments arising from the weights contribute to a beam deflection that is concave with its lowest point at midlength, the bending moments generated by the contact forces acting on the legs contribute to a beam deflection that is convex with its highest point at midlength. In addition, the bending of the legs in response to the weights causes the lower ends of the legs to slide downward on the cylindrical wall. By taking the standard beam-deflection equations, combining them with the geometric relationships among the legs and the horizontal portion of the beam, and treating the sliding as a component of deflection, it is possible to write an equation for the net vertical deflection as a function of the load and of position along the beam. A summary of major conclusions drawn from the equation characterization is included.

Goodman, Dwight↗
NASA NTRS2010

Simple Check Valves for Microfluidic Devices

A simple design concept for check valves has been adopted for microfluidic devices that consist mostly of (1) deformable fluorocarbon polymer membranes sandwiched between (2) borosilicate float glass wafers into which channels, valve seats, and holes have been etched. The first microfluidic devices in which these check valves are intended to be used are micro-capillary electrophoresis (microCE) devices undergoing development for use on Mars in detecting compounds indicative of life. In this application, it will be necessary to store some liquid samples in reservoirs in the devices for subsequent laboratory analysis, and check valves are needed to prevent cross-contamination of the samples. The simple check-valve design concept is also applicable to other microfluidic devices and to fluidic devices in general. These check valves are simplified microscopic versions of conventional rubber- flap check valves that are parts of numerous industrial and consumer products. These check valves are fabricated, not as separate components, but as integral parts of microfluidic devices. A check valve according to this concept consists of suitably shaped portions of a deformable membrane and the two glass wafers between which the membrane is sandwiched (see figure). The valve flap is formed by making an approximately semicircular cut in the membrane. The flap is centered over a hole in the lower glass wafer, through which hole the liquid in question is intended to flow upward into a wider hole, channel, or reservoir in the upper glass wafer. The radius of the cut exceeds the radius of the hole by an amount large enough to prevent settling of the flap into the hole. As in a conventional rubber-flap check valve, back pressure in the liquid pushes the flap against the valve seat (in this case, the valve seat is the adjacent surface of the lower glass wafer), thereby forming a seal that prevents backflow.

Willis, Peter A.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Integrated Modeling Approach for the Terrestrial Planet Finder Mission

Because of the complexity of the Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) design concepts, the project will rely heavily on the use of engineering and science simulations to predict on-orbit performance. Furthermore, current understanding of these missions indicates that the 3m to 8m class optical systems need to be as stable as picometers in wavefront and sub-milli arcsec in pointing. These extremely small requirements impose on the models a level of predictive accuracy heretofore never achieved, especially in the area of microgravity effects, material property accuracy, thermal solution convergence, and all other second order modeling effects typically ignored. New modeling tools and analysis paradigms are developed which emphasize computational accuracy and fully integrated analytical simulations. The process is demonstrated on sample problems using the TPF Coronagraph design concept. The TPF project is also planning a suite of testbeds through which various aspects of the models and simulations will be verified.

terrestrial planet finder↗
NASA NTRS2009

Economical Implementation of a Filter Engine in an FPGA

A logic design has been conceived for a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) that would implement a complex system of multiple digital state-space filters. The main innovative aspect of this design lies in providing for reuse of parts of the FPGA hardware to perform different parts of the filter computations at different times, in such a manner as to enable the timely performance of all required computations in the face of limitations on available FPGA hardware resources. The implementation of the digital state-space filter involves matrix vector multiplications, which, in the absence of the present innovation, would ordinarily necessitate some multiplexing of vector elements and/or routing of data flows along multiple paths. The design concept calls for implementing vector registers as shift registers to simplify operand access to multipliers and accumulators, obviating both multiplexing and routing of data along multiple paths. Each vector register would be reused for different parts of a calculation. Outputs would always be drawn from the same register, and inputs would always be loaded into the same register. A simple state machine would control each filter. The output of a given filter would be passed to the next filter, accompanied by a "valid" signal, which would start the state machine of the next filter. Multiple filter modules would share a multiplication/accumulation arithmetic unit. The filter computations would be timed by use of a clock having a frequency high enough, relative to the input and output data rate, to provide enough cycles for matrix and vector arithmetic operations. This design concept could prove beneficial in numerous applications in which digital filters are used and/or vectors are multiplied by coefficient matrices. Examples of such applications include general signal processing, filtering of signals in control systems, processing of geophysical measurements, and medical imaging. For these and other applications, it could be advantageous to combine compact FPGA digital filter implementations with other application-specific logic implementations on single integrated-circuit chips. An FPGA could readily be tailored to implement a variety of filters because the filter coefficients would be loaded into memory at startup.

Kowalski, James E.↗
NASA NTRS2009

The Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD): Instrument Status and Performance Predictions

The Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD) is an innovative radiometer which offers new and unique remotely sensed observations of both extreme oceanic wind events and strong precipitation. It is based on the airborne Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer (SFMR) [Uhlhorn and Black, 2004]. The HIRAD instrument advances beyond the current nadir viewing SFMR to an equivalent wide-swath SFMR imager using passive microwave synthetic thinned aperture radiometer (STAR) technology [Ruf et al., 1988]. This sensor operates over 4-7 GHz, where the required tropical cyclone remote sensing physics has been validated by both SFMR and WindSat radiometer [Bettenhausen et al., 2006; Brown et al., 2006]. HIRAD incorporates a new and unique array antenna design along with several technologies successfully demonstrated by the Lightweight Rain Radiometer instrument [Ruf et al., 2002; Ruf and Principe, 2003]. HIRAD will be a compact, lightweight, low-power instrument with no moving parts that will produce wide-swath imagery of ocean winds and rain in hurricane conditions. Accurate observations of surface ocean vector winds (OVW) with high spatial and temporal resolution are required for understanding and predicting tropical cyclones. The Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD) is an innovative architecture which offers new and unique remotely sensed observations of both extreme oceanic wind events and strong precipitation. It is based on the airborne Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer (SFMR), which is a proven remote sensing technique for observing tropical cyclone (TC) ocean surface wind speeds and rain rates. The proposed HIRAD instrument advances beyond the current nadir viewing SFMR to an equivalent wide-swath SFMR imager using passive microwave synthetic thinned aperture radiometer (STAR) technology combined with a a unique array antenna design. The overarching design concept of HIRAD is to combine the multi-frequency C-band observing strategy of the SFMR with STAR technology to produce a wide-swath imager. Single frequency STAR technology The Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD) is an innovative radiometer which offers new and unique remotely sensed observations of both extreme oceanic wind events and strong precipitation. It is based on the airborne Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer (SFMR) [Uhlhorn and Black, 2004]. The HIRAD instrument advances beyond the current nadir viewing SFMR to an equivalent wide-swath SFMR imager using passive microwave synthetic thinned aperture radiometer (STAR) technology [Ruf et al., 1988]. This sensor operates over 4-7 GHz, where the required tropical cyclone remote sensing physics has been validated by both SFMR and WindSat radiometer [Bettenhausen et al., 2006; Brown et al., 2006]. HIRAD incorporates a new and unique array antenna design along with several technologies successfully demonstrated by the Lightweight Rain Radiometer instrument [Ruf et al., 2002; Ruf and Principe, 2003]. HIRAD will be a compact, lightweight, low-power instrument with no moving parts that will produce wide-swath imagery of ocean winds and rain in hurricane conditions. Accurate observations of surface ocean vector winds (OVW) with high spatial and temporal resolution are required for understanding and predicting tropical cyclones. The Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD) is an innovative architecture which offers new and unique remotely sensed observations of both extreme oceanic wind events and strong precipitation. It is based on the airborne Stepped Frequency Microwave Radiometer (SFMR), which is a proven remote sensing technique for observing tropical cyclone (TC) ocean surface wind speeds and rain rates. The proposed HIRAD instrument advances beyond the current nadir viewing SFMR to an equivalent wide-swath SFMR imager using passive microwave synthetic thinned aperture radiometer (STAR) technology combined with a a unique array antenna design. The overarching design concept of HIRAD is to combine the multi-frequency C-banbserving strategy of the SFMR with STAR technology to produce a wide-swath imager. Single frequency STAR technology

Ruf, Christopher↗
NASA NTRS1988

Megawatt Class Nuclear Space Power Systems (MCNSPS) conceptual design and evaluation report. Volume 4: Concepts selection, conceptual designs, recommendations

A study was conducted by NASA Lewis Research Center for the Triagency SP-100 program office. The objective was to determine which reactor, conversion and radiator technologies would best fulfill future Megawatt Class Nuclear Space Power System Requirements. The requirement was 10 megawatts for 5 years of full power operation and 10 years system life on orbit. A variety of liquid metal and gas cooled reactors, static and dynamic conversion systems, and passive and dynamic radiators were considered. Four concepts were selected for more detailed study: (1) a gas cooled reactor with closed cycle Brayton turbine-alternator conversion with heatpipe and pumped tube fin rejection, (2) a Lithium cooled reactor with a free piston Stirling engine-linear alternator and a pumped tube-fin radiator,(3) a Lithium cooled reactor with a Potassium Rankine turbine-alternator and heat pipe radiator, and (4) a Lithium cooled incore thermionic static conversion reactor with a heat pipe radiator. The systems recommended for further development to meet a 10 megawatt long life requirement are the Lithium cooled reactor with the K-Rankine conversion and heat pipe radiator, and the Lithium cooled incore thermionic reactor with heat pipe radiator.

Wetch, J. R.↗