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Introduction: Designing a planetary suit is very complex and often requires difficult trade‐offs between performance, cost, mass, and system complexity. To verify that new suit designs meet requirements, full prototypes must be built and tested with human subjects. However, numerous design iterations will occur before the hardware meets those requirements. Traditional draw‐prototype‐test paradigms for research and development are prohibitively expensive with today's shrinking Government budgets. Personnel at NASA are developing modern simulation techniques that focus on a human‐centric design paradigm. These new techniques make use of virtual prototype simulations and fully adjustable physical prototypes of suit hardware. This is extremely advantageous and enables comprehensive design down‐selections to be made early in the design process. Objectives: The primary objective was to test modern simulation techniques for evaluating the human performance component of two EMU suit concepts, pivoted and planar style hard upper torso (HUT). Methods: This project simulated variations in EVA suit shoulder joint design and subject anthropometry and then measured the differences in shoulder mobility caused by the modifications. These estimations were compared to human‐in‐the‐loop test data gathered during past suited testing using four subjects (two large males, two small females). Results: Results demonstrated that EVA suit modeling and simulation are feasible design tools for evaluating and optimizing suit design based on simulated performance. The suit simulation model was found to be advantageous in its ability to visually represent complex motions and volumetric reach zones in three dimensions, giving designers a faster and deeper comprehension of suit component performance vs. human performance. Suit models were able to discern differing movement capabilities between EMU HUT configurations, generic suit fit concerns, and specific suit fit concerns for crewmembers based on individual anthropometry
In controller design for flexible structures, certain system modes are extremely important for the overall performance of the structure. A reduced-order model (ROM) based control focuses on these modes, providing a viable, active control algorithm for large systems. Unfortunately, unmodeled structure dynamics can interact with the ROM controller (CSI) and cause crippling deterioration of system performance, possibly to the point that system stability is lost. A residual model filter (RMF) eliminates one channel of control structure interaction (CSI), while adding only a simple, second-order filter to the control loop. Thus, the ROM controller can be designed independently, based strictly on performance criteria, and residual mode filters can then be selected to compensate for CSI. A flexible robot manipulator is used for preliminary experimentation with the ROM/RMF design methodology. Since the controller was to be implemented both with, and without compensation for CSI, the ROM control gains are carefully chosen such that closed loop stability is never compromised. In this way, RMF effectiveness is easily evaluated in terms of the improvement in system performance resulting from CSI compensation.
This paper explores techniques to apply model-based reasoning to equipment and systems which exhibit dynamic behavior (that which changes as a function of time). The model-based system of interest is KATE-C (Knowledge based Autonomous Test Engineer) which is a C++ based system designed to perform monitoring and diagnosis of Space Shuttle electro-mechanical systems. Methods of model-based monitoring and diagnosis are well known and have been thoroughly explored by others. A short example is given which illustrates the principle of model-based reasoning and reveals some limitations of static, non-time-dependent simulation. This example is then extended to demonstrate representation of time-dependent behavior and testing of fault hypotheses in that environment.
Horizontal Compact High Temperature Gas Reactor (HC-HTGR) is being designed by a multi-disciplinary team of nuclear, mechanical, and structural engineers under the support of a DOE-NE Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program’s Advanced Reactor Concepts-20 (ARC-20) award. The objective of this ARC-20 project is to deliver a conceptual design for the proposed HC-HTGR in 3 years and support its commercialization as a safe, low-cost HTGR. Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne) is responsible for the design and analysis of the reactor cavity cooling system (RCCS) as a safety system for passive decay heat removal of the reactor concept. This report documents the design study to derive a conceptual design study of the RCCS for the HC-HTGR. It includes the identification of the functions and requirements of the HC-HTGR RCCS, design analyses including high-level design consideration and the calculations for optimizing design space of the system with supporting component-level analysis to inform the material selection and performance of the water panel, the description of the conceptual design of the HC-HTGR RCCS derived based on the analyses results, and performance evaluation of the conceptual RCCS for the HC-HTGR. A detailed concept of the RCCS has been identified and high-level system requirements has been developed for the HC-HTGR. Design space focusing on the natural circulation loop portion of the RCCS has been investigated to optimize the system performance. The initial baseline dimensions were firstly derived based on the scoping calculations. A component level design analysis was conducted for the water panel to inform the material selection and to assess its conduction performance. A preliminary system-level performance analysis was performed for the 1/8th of the compartment of the initial baseline design of the RCCS using RELAP5-3D. To improve the system thermal performance, the RCCS design has been updated by exploring various design options by design parametric analyses. Based on the results, the conceptual design of the RCCS for the HC-HTGR has been derived, which satisfies the target performance of ~1 MWt at the elevated vessel wall temperature conditions. Transient simulations were conducted for the conceptual RCCS design for the HC-HTGR under various operation modes and heat load conditions using RELAP5-3D. The system dynamics in different operating states was investigated and the system performance under transients of interest was evaluated. The results demonstrated the overall system feasibility that the RCCS design maintains structures temperatures lower than maximum allowable temperature with sufficient system inventory without any active heat removal in the design process with certain transients addressed. The HC-HTGR RCCS will have additional design updates of subsystems or optimization of the system components during the preliminary and final design phases. Since the entire plant has not been integrated yet, this delivered conceptual design is subject to changes for integration, that require additional conceptual design activities and Quality and Assurance implementation (Q&A). The performance assessment of the RCCS for the HC-HTGR will be then revisited and optimized to finalize the system design, and the RCCS integrated primary system analysis will be utilized to simulate selective accident scenarios of interest where efforts are currently undergoing in the project.
In this paper, the stress rupture reliability of Carbon/Epoxy Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessels (COPVs) is examined utilizing the classic Phoenix model and accounting for the differences between the design and the actual burst pressure, and the liner contribution effects. Stress rupture life primarily depends upon the fiber stress ratio which is defined as the ratio of stress in fibers at the maximum expected operating pressure to actual delivered fiber strength. The actual delivered fiber strength is calculated using the actual burst pressures of vessels established through burst tests. However, during the design phase the actual burst pressure is generally not known and to estimate the reliability of the vessels calculations are usually performed based upon the design burst pressure only. Since the design burst is lower than the actual burst, this process yields a much higher value for the stress ratio and consequently a conservative estimate for the reliability. Other complications arise due to the fact that the actual burst pressure and the liner contributions have inherent variability and therefore must be treated as random variables in order to compute the stress rupture reliability. Furthermore, the model parameters, which have to be established based on stress rupture tests of subscale vessels or coupons, have significant variability as well due to limited available data and hence must be properly accounted for. In this work an assessment of reliability of COPVs including both parameter uncertainties and physical variability inherent in liner and overwrap material behavior is made and estimates are provided in terms of degree of uncertainty in the actual burst pressure and the liner load sharing.
Software repository that contains models used for a paper about Platform-Based Design with limit of performance analysis for an industrial pilot study. This repository contains process and control models in Modelica and IDAES and scripts to develop an ML based controller that computes the control function that maximizes the techno-economic performance of cost and energy computed by the model. This software is meant to be released to reproduce the work described in a Journal publication that is now drafted with the working title "Energy System Limit of Performance Analysis using an Online Machine Learning Multi-Resolution Optimization Framework".
The Rapid Cycle Amine (RCA) system is a low power assembly capable of simultaneously removing carbon dioxide (CO2) and humidity from an influent air steam and subsequent regeneration when exposed to a vacuum source. Two solid amine sorbent beds are alternated between an uptake mode and a regeneration mode. During the uptake mode, the sorbent is exposed to an air steam (ventilation loop) to adsorb CO2 and water vapor, while during the regeneration mode, the sorbent rejects the adsorbed CO2 and water vapor to a vacuum source. The two beds operate such that while one bed is in the uptake mode, the other is in the regeneration mode, thus continuously providing an on-service sorbent bed by which CO2 and humidity may be removed. A novel valve assembly provides a simple means of diverting the process air flow through the uptake bed while simultaneously directing the vacuum source to the regeneration bed. Additionally, the valve assembly is designed to allow for switching between uptake and regeneration modes with only one moving part while minimizing gas volume losses to the vacuum source by means of an internal pressure equalization step during actuation. The process can be controlled by a compact, low power controller design with several modes of operation available to the user. Together with NASA, United Technologies Corporation Aerospace Systems has been developing RCA 2.0 based on performance and design feedback on several sorbent bed test articles and valve design concepts. A final design was selected in November 2011 and fabricated and assembled between March and August 2012, with delivery to NASA-JSC in September 2012. This paper will provide an overview on the RCA system design and results of pre-delivery testing.
The adjoint-based design capability in FUN3D is extended to allow efficient gradient-based optimization and design of concepts with highly integrated and distributed aero-propulsive systems. Previous work by the authors demonstrated the derivation and application of design sensitivities of flow power and vehicle forces with respect to design variables associated with actuator disk size, loading, and installation on the aircraft. In this work, calculations of propulsive power, shaft power, and propeller efficiency using blade element-based disk loading, along with sensitivity derivatives needed to perform adjoint-based design, have been implemented. This includes the derivation of additional design sensitivities for actuator disk variables with respect to the radial distributions of blade pitch angle and chord length. The blade element-based loading implementation allows us to tailor the actuator disk loading to provide greater design authority and calculate the torque imparted on the flow for the modeling of swirl effects. The design capability is demonstrated by the optimization of NASA's parallel hybrid electric PEGASUS aircraft concept. The optimization objective is the minimization of shaft power at the aerodynamic interface planes for the wing-mounted and tail-cone boundary layer ingestion propulsors, subject to vehicle performance and propulsive constraints.
Modularity options have been limited for traditional nuclear energy deployment due to the conventional light water reactor (LWR) safety requirements, such as high pressure retaining heavy and robust containment structures. However, a relatively new regulatory approach called ‘Functional Containment’ has potential to allow less expensive and more flexible designs for non-LWRs. Functional containment provides flexibility in design and deployment based on risk-informed and performance-based criteria, so that reactors are not over-designed. Non-nuclear industry has successfully used modular design approaches in automotive, aerospace, chemical processing, building construction, and ship building. These industries have shown that modular construction reduces construction time by around 30% - 50% compared to the conventional stick-built approach. The nuclear industry can use similar approaches to reduce construction time and costs, balanced with safety requirements, using the functional containment approach. This paper discussing the background of modularity in nuclear energy, examples of less learned, modularity approaches in non-nuclear industries and the potential of cost and schedule savings through the emerging regulatory design flexibilities potentially enabling combination of modular deployment at different scales.
The Rapid Cycle Amine (RCA) system is a low-power assembly capable of simultaneously removing carbon dioxide (CO2) and humidity from an influent air steam and subsequent regeneration when exposed to a vacuum source. Two solid amine sorbent beds are alternated between an uptake mode and a regeneration mode. During the uptake mode, the sorbent is exposed to an air steam (ventilation loop) to adsorb CO2 and water (H2O) vapor, whereas during the regeneration mode, the sorbent rejects the adsorbed CO2 and H2O vapor to a vacuum source. The two beds operate such that while one bed is in the uptake mode, the other is in the regeneration mode, thus continuously providing an on-service sorbent bed by which CO2 and humidity may be removed. A novel valve assembly provides a simple means of diverting the process air flow through the uptake bed while simultaneously directing the vacuum source to the regeneration bed. Additionally, the valve assembly is designed to allow for switching between uptake and regeneration modes with only one moving part while minimizing gas volume losses to the vacuum source by means of an internal pressure equalization step during actuation. The process can be controlled by a compact, low-power controller design with several modes of operation available to the user. Together with NASA Johnson Space Center, Hamilton Sundstrand Space Systems International, Inc. has been developing RCA 2.0 based on performance and design feedback on several sorbent bed test articles and valve design concepts. A final design of RCA 2.0 was selected in November 2011 and fabricated and assembled between March and August 2012, with delivery to NASA Johnson Space Center in September 2012. This paper provides an overview of the RCA system design and results of pre-delivery testing.
ATA-002 Technical Team has successfully designed, developed, tested and assessed the SLS Pathfinder propulsion systems for the Main Base Heating Test Program. Major Outcomes of the Pathfinder Test Program: Reach 90% of full-scale chamber pressure Achieved all engine/motor design parameter requirements Reach steady plume flow behavior in less than 35 msec Steady chamber pressure for 60 to 100 msec during engine/motor operation Similar model engine/motor performance to full-scale SLS system Mitigated nozzle throat and combustor thermal erosion Test data shows good agreement with numerical prediction codes Next phase of the ATA-002 Test Program Design & development of the SLS OML for the Main Base Heating Test Tweak BSRM design to optimize performance Tweak CS-REM design to increase robustness MSFC Aerosciences and CUBRC have the capability to develop sub-scale propulsion systems to meet desired performance requirements for short-duration testing.
The High Temperature Superconductor Infrared Imaging Satellite (HTSCIRIS) is designed to perform the space based infrared imaging and surveillance mission. The design of the satellite follows the black box approach. The payload is a stand alone unit, with the spacecraft bus designed to meet the requirements of the payload as listed in the statement of work. Specifications influencing the design of the spacecraft bus were originated by the Naval Research Lab. A description of the following systems is included: spacecraft configuration, orbital dynamics, radio frequency communication subsystem, electrical power system, propulsion, attitude control system, thermal control, and structural design. The issues of testing and cost analysis are also addressed. This design project was part of the course Advanced Spacecraft Design taught at the Naval Postgraduate School.
The Modbus communication protocol is a widely adopted communication standard in industrial control systems. This communication protocol is known for being reliable and straightforward to implement while being versatile in terms of its operating parameters while supporting multiple formats over various hardware infrastructures and architectures. Many intelligent devices such as Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs), Internet-of-Things (IoT), and various Operational Technologies (OT) utilize Modbus for their communication systems. These types of systems must communicate with each other through a standardized and central communication process. To support the integration of these modular systems, a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) can act as an embedded central routing fabric for this communication to take place. Embedded systems are versatile enough to interface with various devices and systems to accomplish various goals. Additionally, embedded systems require relatively small physical designs to minimize the required resources to facilitate the intended application by providing low-level system access. This minimization of system resources goes hand in hand with reducing the financial cost of a proposed solution or system. As remotely collaborating researchers often use FPGAs to prototype designs that are required to have a method for data transmission among systems, it is imperative to provide a baseline standard for communications among devices and systems. A typical method of implementing the Modbus RTU communication protocol in an embedded environment is using integrated logic architectures within the FPGA called “Intellectual Property (IP) cores.” IP cores can be designed using integrated logic or circuit designs to function as an embedded processor. These IP cores can then perform the required computational actions to support the Modbus RTU communication protocol by utilizing high-level programming languages such as the C programming language. The hardware description language of Very High-Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL) allows for the control of real hardware at the logic gate and signal level. These logic gates and signals can be designed and controlled to perform desired actions based on the system design. Programming an FPGA using VHDL allows an individual to access the lowest abstraction level of the system during FPGA development. This level of abstraction is referred to as the register-transfer level (RTL), which gives access to manipulating values and variables at the register level. This register-level manipulation provides precision over creating the logical circuit within the FPGA, thus minimizing the required code to perform desired operations. The Modbus RTU communication protocol can be implemented within an FPGA using VHDL programming to establish a standardized and embedded serial communication pathway. This implementation provides a standardized communication protocol to streamline research efforts among researchers, thus increasing the efficiency of research efforts. Additionally, this Modbus RTU implementation requires fewer resources when compared to typical communication protocol implementations that utilize an IP core, reducing the hardware requirement for effective research efforts.
The operational designs and performance capabilities of ground-based and airborne lightning detection systems are reviewed. The airborne Stormscope system is described and compared with onboard radar and the lightning detection and ranging system (LDAR). Two examples of difference-in-time-of-arrival systems for detecting spherics from discharges in electrified clouds are described: (1) The LDAR system and (2) Taylor's lightning mapping system. Next, an interferometric system adapted to lightning location is discussed. Finally, systems that are based upon crossed-loop magnetic direction finding principles but which have been refined and improved to accurately locate lightning discharges to ground are reviewed.
This paper presents the design, performance, and results of the radiation tests of an active base for Hamamatsu R4125 photomultiplier tube. The active base was designed at Jefferson Lab and comprises of a high voltage divider and an on-board amplifier. The photomultiplier with the active base is used to detect light from lead tungstate scintillating crystals of the forward electromagnetic calorimeter of the GlueX detector. The active base amplifier allows to operate the tube at lower high voltage and thus to limit the photomultiplier anode current to a few micro ampereres at the maximum counter rate of 1 MHz counter, while retaining the dynamic range of output signals. The performance of calorimeter modules instrumented with the active base was studied using detector prototypes positioned into the beam of photons. The key performance parameters such as the linearity, high-rate capability, and the energy resolution verified that the active base design meets the detector specifications
Our group was assigned the responsibility of designing the wheel and wheel drive system for a proof-of-concept model of the lunar-based ENABLER. ENABLER is a multi-purpose, six wheeled vehicle designed to lift and transport heavy objects associated with the construction of a lunar base. The resulting design was based on the performance criteria of the ENABLER. The drive system was designed to enable the vehicle to achieve a speed of 7 mph on a level surface, climb a 30 percent grade, and surpass a one meter high object and one meter wide crevice. The wheel assemblies were designed to support the entire weight of the vehicle on two wheels. The wheels were designed to serve as the main component of the vehicle's suspension and will provide suitable traction for lunar-type surfaces. The expected performance of the drive system for the ENABLER was influenced by many mechanical factors. The expected top speed on a level sandy surface is 4 mph instead of the desired 7 mph. This is due to a lack of necessary power at the wheels. The lack of power resulted from dimension considerations that allowed only an eight horsepower engine and also from mechanical inefficiencies of the hydraulic system. However, the vehicle will be able to climb a 30 percent grade, surpass a one meter high object and one meter wide crevice. The wheel assemblies will be able to support the entire weight of the vehicle on two wheels. The wheels will also provide adequate suspension for the vehicle and sufficient traction for lunar-type surfaces.
A multi-disciplinary design/analysis tool for combustion systems is critical for optimizing the low-emission, high-performance combustor design process. Based on discussions between then NASA Lewis Research Center and the jet engine companies, an industry-government team was formed in early 1995 to develop the National Combustion Code (NCC), which is an integrated system of computer codes for the design and analysis of combustion systems. NCC has advanced features that address the need to meet designer's requirements such as "assured accuracy", "fast turnaround", and "acceptable cost". The NCC development team is comprised of Allison Engine Company (Allison), CFD Research Corporation (CFDRC), GE Aircraft Engines (GEAE), NASA Glenn Research Center (LeRC), and Pratt & Whitney (P&W). The "unstructured mesh" capability and "parallel computing" are fundamental features of NCC from its inception. The NCC system is composed of a set of "elements" which includes grid generator, main flow solver, turbulence module, turbulence and chemistry interaction module, chemistry module, spray module, radiation heat transfer module, data visualization module, and a post-processor for evaluating engine performance parameters. Each element may have contributions from several team members. Such a multi-source multi-element system needs to be integrated in a way that facilitates inter-module data communication, flexibility in module selection, and ease of integration. The development of the NCC beta version was essentially completed in June 1998. Technical details of the NCC elements are given in the Reference List. Elements such as the baseline flow solver, turbulence module, and the chemistry module, have been extensively validated; and their parallel performance on large-scale parallel systems has been evaluated and optimized. However the scalar PDF module and the Spray module, as well as their coupling with the baseline flow solver, were developed in a small-scale distributed computing environment. As a result, the validation of the NCC beta version as a whole was quite limited. Current effort has been focused on the validation of the integrated code and the evaluation/optimization of its overall performance on large-scale parallel systems.