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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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The tabular display report generator (TABDIS) program is described. The program functions as a document generation tool that provides tabular displays of data stored on a data file which has been generated by a user program. The main features of the program are outlined and all necessary inputs are detailed.
Thermionic-thermoelectric power generators, composed of a thin layer of porous, low work function material separating a heated emitter electrode and a cooler collector electrode, have extremely large Seebeck coefficients of over 2 mV/K and can provide significant output power. Preliminary experiments with 20-micron thick (Ba Sr Ca)O coatings, limited by evaporative loss to temperatures below 1400 K, have yielded short circuit current densities of 500 mA/sq cm and power densities of 60 mW/ sq cm. Substantially more output is expected with cesium-coated refractory oxide particle coatings operating at higher temperatures. Practical generators will have thermal-to-electrical efficiencies of 10 to 20%. Further increases can be gained by cascading these high-temperature devices with lower temperature conventional thermoelectric generators.
Accurate and efficient numerical simulation of flows through turbomachinery blade rows depends on the topology of the computational grids. These grids must reflect the periodic nature of turbomachinery blade row geometries and conform to the blade shapes. Three types of grids can be generated that meet these minimal requirements: through-flow grids, O-type grids, and C-type grids. A procedure which can be used to generate all three types of grids is presented. The resulting grids are orthogonal and can be stretched to capture the essential physics of the flow. A discussion is also presented detailing the extension of the generation procedure to three dimensional geometries.
The design, analysis, and initial performance of the MOD-OA 200 kW wind turbine generator at Clayton, NM is documented. The MOD-OA was designed and built to obtain operation and performance data and experience in utility environments. The project requirements, approach, system description, design requirements, design, analysis, system tests, installation, safety considerations, failure modes and effects analysis, data acquisition, and initial performance for the wind turbine are discussed. The design and analysis of the rotor, drive train, nacelle equipment, yaw drive mechanism and brake, tower, foundation, electricl system, and control systems are presented. The rotor includes the blades, hub, and pitch change mechanism. The drive train includes the low speed shaft, speed increaser, high speed shaft, and rotor brake. The electrical system includes the generator, switchgear, transformer, and utility connection. The control systems are the blade pitch, yaw, and generator control, and the safety system. Manual, automatic, and remote control are discussed. Systems analyses on dynamic loads and fatigue are presented.
New forms of generation based on renewable resources must be managed as part of existing power systems in order to be utilized with maximum effectiveness. Many of these generators are by their very nature dispersed or small, so that they will be connected to the distribution part of the power system. This situation poses new questions of control and protection, and the intermittent nature of some of the energy sources poses problems of scheduling and dispatch. Under the assumption that the general objectives of energy management will remain unchanged, the impact of dispersed storage and generation on some of the specific functions of power system control and its hardware are discussed.
Testing of large scale integrated logic circuits is considered from the point-of-view of automatic test pattern generation. A logic simulator based approach for automatic test pattern generation is taken and is described. The logic model and the timing model used in the simulator are also described. Two methods are presented for generating test patterns from the output of the simulator. Recommendations for future study are also presented.
A fast computer program, GRID3C, was developed for accurately generating periodic, boundary conforming, three dimensional, consecutively refined computational grids applicable to realistic axial turbomachinery geometries. The method is based on using two functions to generate two dimensional grids on a number of coaxial axisymmetric surfaces positioned between the centerbody and the outer radial boundary. These boundary fitted grids are of the C type and are characterized by quasi-orthogonality and geometric periodicity. The built in nonorthogonal coordinate stretchings and shearings cause the grid clustering in the regions of interest. The stretching parameters are part of the input to GRID3C. In its present version GRID3C can generate and store a maximum of four consecutively refined three dimensional grids. The output grid coordinates can be calculated either in the Cartesian or in the cylindrical coordinate system.
A fast computer program, GRID3C, was developed to generate multilevel three dimensional, C type, periodic, boundary conforming grids for the calculation of realistic turbomachinery and propeller flow fields. The technique is based on two analytic functions that conformally map a cascade of semi-infinite slits to a cascade of doubly infinite strips on different Riemann sheets. Up to four consecutively refined three dimensional grids are automatically generated and permanently stored on four different computer tapes. Grid nonorthogonality is introduced by a separate coordinate shearing and stretching performed in each of three coordinate directions. The grids are easily clustered closer to the blade surface, the trailing and leading edges and the hub or shroud regions by changing appropriate input parameters. Hub and duct (or outer free boundary) have different axisymmetric shapes. A vortex sheet of arbitrary thickness emanating smoothly from the blade trailing edge is generated automatically by GRID3C. Blade cross sectional shape, chord length, twist angle, sweep angle, and dihedral angle can vary in an arbitrary smooth fashion in the spanwise direction.
Energy saving concepts relating to induction generators are presented. The first describes a regenerative scheme using an induction generator as a variable load for prime movers under test is described. A method for reducing losses in induction machines used specifically as wind driven generators is also described.
The computer program AFTBDY generates a body fitted curvilinear coordinate system for a wedge curved after body. This wedge curved after body is being used in an experimental program. The coordinate system generated by AFTBDY is used to solve 3D compressible N.S. equations. The coordinate system in the physical plane is a cartesian x,y,z system, whereas, in the transformed plane a rectangular xi, eta, zeta system is used. The coordinate system generated is such that in the transformed plane coordinate spacing in the xi, eta, zeta direction is constant and equal to unity. The physical plane coordinate lines in the different regions are clustered heavily or sparsely depending on the regions where physical quantities to be solved for by the N.S. equations have high or low gradients. The coordinate distribution in the physical plane is such that x stays constant in eta and zeta direction, whereas, z stays constant in xi and eta direction. The desired distribution in x and z is input to the program. Consequently, only the y-coordinate is solved for by the program AFTBDY.
Techniques to generate picosecond optical pulses from semiconductor lasers are reviewed. Experimental methods and results of theoretical analysis of active modelocking are presented. It is shown that modelocking will achieve the shortest pulses; but the use of a cumbersome external cavity will probably limit its practical use. Short pulses produced by direct modulation such as gain switching are considerably broader than those obtained by passive modelocking. However, no external cavity is needed; and the simplicity of this method makes it important to be explored further. Recent experimental results are discussed where picosecond pulses from a buried heterostructure laser diode with ultrashort current pulses obtained from a comb generator are generated. Also, 28 ps pulses were obtained at 2.5 GHz repetition frequency, using the gain switching method. An analytical analysis based on the rate equations shows qualitative agreement with our experimental results.
A technique which controls the spacing of grid points in algebraically defined coordinate transformations is described. The technique is based on the generation of control functions which map a uniformly distributed computational grid onto parametric variables defining the physical grid. The control functions are smoothed cubic splines. Sets of control points are input for each coordinate directions to outline the control functions. Smoothed cubic spline functions are then generated to approximate the input data. The technique works best in an interactive graphics environment where control inputs and grid displays are nearly instantaneous. The technique is illustrated with the two-boundary grid generation algorithm.
Results of a computer simulation of the performance of a solar flat plate collector powered electrical generation system are presented. The simulation was configured to include locations in New Mexico, North Dakota, Tennessee, and Massachusetts, and considered a water-based heat-transfer fluid collector system with storage. The collectors also powered a Rankine-cycle boiler filled with a low temperature working fluid. The generator was considered to be run only when excess solar heat and full storage would otherwise require heat purging through the collectors. All power was directed into the utility grid. The solar powered generator unit addition was found to be dependent on site location and collector area, and reduced the effective solar cost with collector areas greater than 400-670 sq m. The sites were economically ranked, best to worst: New Mexico, North Dakota, Massachusetts, and Tennessee.
This paper describes the generation of instability waves downstream of a leading edge by an imposed upstream disturbance. Two cases are considered. The first is concerned with mean flows of the Blasius type wherein the instabilities are represented by Tollmien-Schlichting waves. It is shown that the latter are generated fairly far downstream of the edge and are the result of a wave length reduction process that tunes the free stream disturbances to the Tollmien-Schlichting wave length. The other case is concerned with inflectional, uni-directional, transversely sheared mean flows. Such idealized flows provide a fairly good local representation to the nearly parallel flows in jets. They can support inviscid instabilities of the Kelvin-Helmholtz type. The various mathematically permissible mechanisms that can couple these instabilities to the upstream disturbances are discussed. The results are compared to some acoustic measurements and conclusions are drawn about the generation of the instabilities in these flows.
Control signals for phase-delay rectifiers, which require a variable firing angle that ranges from 0 deg to 180 deg, are derived from line-to-line 3-phase signals and both positive and negative firing angle control signals which are generated by comparing current command and actual current. Line-to-line phases are transformed into line-to-neutral phases and integrated to produce 90 deg phase delayed signals that are inverted to produce three cosine signals, such that for each its maximum occurs at the intersection of positive half cycles of the other two phases which are inputs to other inverters. At the same time, both positive and negative (inverted) phase sync signals are generated for each phase by comparing each with the next and producing a square wave when it is greater. Ramp, sync and firing angle controls signals are than used in combinational logic to generate the gate firing control signals SCR gate drives which fire SCR devices in a bridge circuit.
A program for the wind tunnel development of underwing leading-edge vortex generators on an NASA supercritical-wing research airplane model was conducted in the Langley 8-foot transonic pressure tunnel at Mach numbers from 0.25 to 0.99. The effects on the longitudinal aerodynamic characteristics of vortex-generator wing semispan location, distance from wing leading edge, leading-edge sweep angle, toe-in angle, and span are presented. The effects of the vortex generators on the lateral-directional aerodynamic characteristics of the model for a sideslip angle of 5 deg are included.
Fan noise including its generation, radiation characteristics, and suppression by acoustic treatment is studied. In fan noise generation, results from engine and fan experiments, using inflow control measures to suppress noise sources related to inflow distortion and turbulence, are described. The suppression of sources related to inflow allows the experiments to focus on the fan or engine internal sources. Some of the experiments incorporated pressure sensors on the fan blades to sample the flow disturbances encountered by the blades. From these data some inferences can be drawn about the origins of the disturbances. Also, hot wire measurements of a fan rotor wake field are presented and related to the fan's noise signature. The radiation and the suppression of fan noise are dependent on the acoustic modes generated by the fan. Fan noise suppression and radiation is described by relating these phenomena to the mode cutoff ratio parameter. In addition to its utility in acoustic treatment design and performance prediction, cutoff ratio was useful in developing a simple description of the radiation pattern for broadband fan noise. Some of the findings using the cutoff ratio parameter are presented.
A charged particle generator for use in fog dispersal applications was built and preliminary tests were carried out. The parameter used as a measure of performance was the current measured with a needle probe positioned in the charged jet connected to ground through an ammeter. The needle was movable and allowed the current profile throughout the jet to be determined. The measured current is referred to as the current output. The major independent parameters were liquid water injection rate, plenum pressure, and corona voltage. Optimum current output was achieved at the approximate pressure of 30 psig, corona voltage of 5600 volts, and liquid water injection rate of 6 cc/min. The results of the test with the prototype charged particle generator clearly demonstrate that a current on the order of 20 microamperes can be routinely achieved with the system. This measurement of current does not necessarily represent the total issuing from the nozzle current which is expected to be larger. From these results, confidence was established that a charged particle generator which will operate continuously and consistently can be designed, constructed, and operated. Further work is required, however, to better understand the physical mechanisms involved and to optimize the system for fog dispersal application.