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Results for “process performance”

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 541 records · Page 30

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS1979

Automated Array Assembly Task In-depth Study of Silicon Wafer Surface Texturizing

Several aspects of silicon wafer surface texturizing were studied. A low cost cleaning method that utilizes recycled Freon in an ultrasonic vapor degreaser to remove organic and inorganic contaminants from the surface of silicon wafers as received from silicon suppliers was investigated. The use of clean dry air and high throughout wafer batch drying techniques was shown to lower the cost of wafer drying. A two stage texturizing process was examined for suitability in large scale production. Also, an in-depth gettering study with the two stage texturizing process was performed for the enhancement of solar cell efficiency, minimization of current versus voltage curve dispersion, and improvement in process reproducibility. The 10% efficiency improvement goal was exceeded for the near term implementation of flat plate photovoltaic cost reduction.

Jones, G. T.↗

NASA NTRS1990

NSTS operations utilization directorate

A basic understanding is provided of the National Space Transportation System payload processing operations performed at NASA-Kennedy. The payload facilities, support services, and ground support equipment used to support that process are described.

Morian, John↗

NASA NTRS1992

A tough high performance composite matrix

This invention is a semi-interpenetrating polymer network which includes a high performance thermosetting polyimide having a nadic end group acting as a crosslinking site and a high performance linear thermoplastic polyimide. An improved high temperature matrix resin is provided which is capable of performing in the 200 to 300 C range. This resin has significantly improved toughness and microcracking resistance, excellent processability, mechanical performance and moisture and solvent resistances.

Pater, Ruth H.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Tough high performance composite matrix

This invention is a semi-interpentrating polymer network which includes a high performance thermosetting polyimide having a nadic end group acting as a crosslinking site and a high performance linear thermoplastic polyimide. Provided is an improved high temperature matrix resin which is capable of performing in the 200 to 300 C range. This resin has significantly improved toughness and microcracking resistance, excellent processability, mechanical performance, and moisture and solvent resistances.

Pater, Ruth H.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Stereo Processing of Magellan Sar Imagery Performed on Transputer Architecture

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Magellan SAR imagerystereo processing digital elva↗

NASA NTRS2023

Creating a Fully-Electronic GFE Work Authorization Document Process for JSC

JSC’s Electronic Document System (EDS) was published in 2013 by SMA to store and process Task Performance Sheets (TPS), Discrepancy Reports (DR), Hardware Movement Documents (EZT), etc. The 2013 transition turned a fully paper process into an electronic routing one with document level electronic approvals but maintained an in-line paper process . - Today, all work and buy-offs continue to be captured on paper, walked between buildings, and is susceptible to approval errors, a rapidly slowing processing time, and led to projects requesting waivers to use alternate WAD systems, damaging JSC’s QMS. - NT Data Systems team collaborated with multiple platform providers, test user groups, and stakeholders, to find a solution for this growing need in a way that exceeds JSC’s current process, is adaptable to future innovation, and within our limited resource constraints

Nicholas Holaday↗

DOE OSTI2020

Highly efficient non-fullerene organic solar cells enabled by a delayed processing method using a non-halogenated solvent

The use of non-halogenated solvents is one of the important requirements for large-scale industry production of polymer solar cells (PSCs). However, the current high-performance PSCs are mostly obtained using halogenated solvents to ensure good solubility and morphology. In this work, we report high-performance PSCs processed using a halogen-free solvent (toluene), reaching an efficiency of 17.33%, which, to the best of our knowledge, is the highest value reported for PSCs processed from non-halogenated solvents. Importantly, we show a novel aggregation or “aging” process of the non-fullerene acceptor in the toluene solvent, which can be used to fine-tune the crystal size of the non-fullerene acceptor. As a result, we achieve an optimized nano-fibril like morphology of PM6:BTP-BO-4Cl by delaying the processing time. Furthermore ,this is conducive to charge dissociation and transport, and thus greatly improved device performance. This method is expected to be investigated further and applied to other PSC systems toward precise morphology optimization and performance improvements in the future.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

NASA NTRS2007

WMAP C&DH Software

The command-and-data-handling (C&DH) software of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) spacecraft functions as the sole interface between (1) the spacecraft and its instrument subsystem and (2) ground operations equipment. This software includes a command-decoding and -distribution system, a telemetry/data-handling system, and a data-storage-and-playback system. This software performs onboard processing of attitude sensor data and generates commands for attitude-control actuators in a closed-loop fashion. It also processes stored commands and monitors health and safety functions for the spacecraft and its instrument subsystems. The basic functionality of this software is the same of that of the older C&DH software of the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) spacecraft, the main difference being the addition of the attitude-control functionality. Previously, the C&DH and attitude-control computations were performed by different processors because a single RXTE processor did not have enough processing power. The WMAP spacecraft includes a more-powerful processor capable of performing both computations.

Cudmore, Alan↗

DOE OSTI2023

Taming the Pseudoelastic Response of Nitinol Using Ion Implantation

Implantation of Ni 50.5 Ti 49.5 wire with 30 MeV Ni 6+ ions at doses (< 0.1 DPA) typically smaller than employed in the literature is shown to systematically alter the pseudoelastic response, with extrema in Berkovich nanoindentation load (+50%), hysteresis (–60%), and recoverable displacement (–19%) occurring at ~ 3.6 μm below the implantation surface. These extraordinary values are attributed to ~ 10 to 20 nm amorphous clusters that constrain the stress-induced B2-B19' phase transformation. This is substantiated by phase field simulations of crystalline-amorphous composites and molecular dynamics simulations of crystalline-vacancy cluster composites showing the spatial refinement of martensite caused by nm-scale defects. Finally, the results suggest that ion implantation may potentially expand the processing and performance space for NiTi, by creating amorphous defects at smaller length scales than dislocation substructures produced by conventional deformation processing.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

NASA NTRS1992

Heat pipe heat transport system for the Stirling Space Power Converter (SSPC)

Life issues relating to a sodium heat pipe heat transport system are described. The heat pipe system provides heat, at a temperature of 1050 K, to a 50 kWe Stirling engine/linear alternator power converter called the Stirling Space Power Converter (SSPC). The converter is being developed under a National Aeronautics and Space Administration program. Since corrosion of heat pipe materials in contact with sodium can impact the life of the heat pipe, a literature review of sodium corrosion processes was performed. It was found that the impurity reactions, primarily oxygen, and dissolution of alloy elements were the two corrosion process likely to be operative in the heat pipe. Approaches that are being taken to minimize these corrosion processes are discussed.

Alger, Donald L.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Functional relationships among monitoring performance: Subjective report of thought process and compromising states of awareness

A biocybernetic system for use in adaptive automation was evaluated using EEG indices based on the beta, alpha, and theta bandwidths. Subjects performed a compensatory tracking task while their EEG was recorded and one of three engagement indices was derived: beta/(alpha + theta), beta/alpha, or 1/alpha. The task was switched between manual and automatic modes as a function of the subjects' level of engagement and whether they were under a positive or negative feedback condition. It was hypothesized that negative feedback would produce more switches between manual and automatic modes, and that the beta/(alpha + theta) index would produce the strongest effect. The results confirmed these hypotheses. There were no systematic changes in these effects over three 16-minute trials. Tracking performance was found to be better under negative feedback. An analysis of the different EEG bands under positive and negative feedback in manual and automatic modes found more beta power in the positive feedback/manual condition and less in the positive feedback/automatic condition. The opposite effect was observed for alpha and theta power. The implications of biocybernetic systems for adaptive automation are discussed.

Freeman, Frederick↗

DOE OSTI2024

Mechanical and thermal behavior of additively manufactured Invar 36 using a laser hot wire hybrid DED process

Invar 36 alloy is a material of high interest in the composite tooling sector due to its low coefficient of thermal expansion. Current production of Invar 36 tooling using traditional manufacturing such as casting and forging is associated with long lead times due to a multitude of factors such as labor and component shortages, high material costs, foreign competition, and supply chain issues. An attractive alternate process is the use of an integrated 5-axis CNC hybrid Laser Hot Wire Deposition System (LHWD) for manufacturing invar molds. Here, the hybrid process provides a combination of the additive and subtractive technologies resulting in a synergistic platform for producing and repairing structures and molds. The main novelty and goal of this work is to study the properties of Invar deposited by a LHWD and to provide guidelines for the manufacture of parts using this process. In this study, the thermal expansion behavior of the manufactured specimens has been analyzed and related to its printing parameters and direction. Multiple specimens were extracted for mechanical, dilatometry and metallographic testing. A thermal IR recording of the printing process was also carried out to observe the thermal history of the produced parts to establish thermal influence on performance-property-processing relationship. The results of these tests show the advantage of LHWD technology for the manufacture of Invar alloy parts, as it presents similar thermal expansion behavior as those commercially available with minimal presence of precipitates and no macrostructural failures such as pores, cracks and lacks of fusion.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

NASA NTRS2012

Automated Sequence Processor: Something Old, Something New

High productivity required for operations teams to meet schedules Risk must be minimized. Scripting used to automate processes. Scripts perform essential operations functions. Automated Sequence Processor (ASP) was a grass-roots task built to automate the command uplink process System engineering task for ASP revitalization organized. ASP is a set of approximately 200 scripts written in Perl, C Shell, AWK and other scripting languages.. ASP processes/checks/packages non-interactive commands automatically.. Non-interactive commands are guaranteed to be safe and have been checked by hardware or software simulators.. ASP checks that commands are non-interactive.. ASP processes the commands through a command. simulator and then packages them if there are no errors.. ASP must be active 24 hours/day, 7 days/week..

Automated↗

DOE OSTI2019

Electroless process for depositing refractory metals

The invention provides an inexpensive, scalable process for coating materials with a film of a refractory metal. As an example, the immersion process can comprise the deposition of a sacrificial zinc coating which is galvanically displaced by the ether-mediated reduction of oxophilic WCl6 to form a complex WOxCly film, and subsequently annealed to crystalline, metallic tungsten. The efficacy of this process was demonstrated on a carbon foam electrode, showing a 50% decrease in electrode resistance and significant gains in electrochemical performance. This process enables voltage efficiency gains for electrodes in batteries, redox flow batteries, and industrial processes where high conductivity and chemical stability are paramount.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

NASA NTRS2017

Software Defined Radios - Architectures, Systems and Functions

Software Defined Radio is an industry term describing a method of utilizing a minimum amount of Radio Frequency (RF)/analog electronics before digitization takes place. Upon digitization all other functions are performed in software/firmware. There are as many different types of SDRs as there are data systems. Software Defined Radio (SDR) technology has been proven in the commercial sector since the early 90's. Today's rapid advancement in mobile telephone reliability and power management capabilities exemplifies the effectiveness of the SDR technology for the modern communications market. In contrast the foundations of transponder technology presently qualified for satellite applications were developed during the early space program of the 1960's. SDR technology offers potential to revolutionize satellite transponder technology by increasing science data through-put capability by at least an order of magnitude. While the SDR is adaptive in nature and is "One-size-fits-all" by design, conventional transponders are built to a specific platform and must be redesigned for every new bus. The SDR uses a minimum amount of analog/Radio Frequency components to up/down-convert the RF signal to/from a digital format. Once analog data is digitized, all processing is performed using hardware logic. Typical SDR processes include; filtering, modulation, up/down converting and demodulation. This presentation will show how the emerging SDR market has leveraged the existing commercial sector to provide a path to a radiation tolerant SDR transponder. These innovations will reduce the cost of transceivers, a decrease in power requirements and a commensurate reduction in volume. A second pay-off is the increased flexibility of the SDR by allowing the same hardware to implement multiple transponder types by altering hardware logic - no change of analog hardware is required - all of which can be ultimately accomplished in orbit. This in turn would provide high capability and low cost transponder to programs of all sizes.

Sims, William H.↗

NASA NTRS2017

Software Defined Radios - Architectures, Systems and Functions

Sims, Herb↗

DOE OSTI2023

Summary of SRNL Support to the DOE-ORP Enhanced Waste Glass Program for FY23

In fiscal year 2023 (FY23) Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) continued tasked work for the Office of River Protection (ORP) to expand glass compositional regions accessible for low-activity waste (LAW) and high-activity waste (HLW) vitrification processing. Experimental work continued in four primary technical areas focused on processing and performance of glasses relevant to the Hanford missions. The data and results from this work will be used to expand and validate the glass models being developed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for waste processing and acceptance. This report summarizes the activities and deliverables associated with work performed in FY23.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

DOE OSTI2024

Summary of SRNL Support Activities to the DOE-ORP Enhanced Waste Glass Program for Fiscal Year 2024

In fiscal year 2024 (FY24) Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) continued tasked work for the Office of River Protection (ORP) to expand glass compositional regions accessible for low-activity waste (LAW) and high-activity waste (HLW) vitrification processing. Experimental work continued in four primary technical areas focused on processing and performance of glasses relevant to the Hanford missions. The data and results from this work will be used to expand and validate the glass models being developed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for waste processing and acceptance. This report summarizes the activities and deliverables associated with work performed in FY24.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗