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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 613 records · Page 34

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NASA NTRS2012

In-Situ Wire Damage Detection System

An In-Situ Wire Damage Detection System (ISWDDS) has been developed that is capable of detecting damage to a wire insulation, or a wire conductor, or to both. The system will allow for realtime, continuous monitoring of wiring health/integrity and reduce the number of false negatives and false positives while being smaller, lighter in weight, and more robust than current systems. The technology allows for improved safety and significant reduction in maintenance hours for aircraft, space vehicles, satellites, and other critical high-performance wiring systems for industries such as energy production and mining. The integrated ISWDDS is comprised of two main components: (1) a wire with an innermost core conductor, an inner insulation film, a conductive layer or inherently conductive polymer (ICP) covering the inner insulation film, an outermost insulation jacket; and (2) smart connectors and electronics capable of producing and detecting electronic signals, and a central processing unit (CPU) for data collection and analysis. The wire is constructed by applying the inner insulation films to the conductor, followed by the outer insulation jacket. The conductive layer or ICP is on the outer surface of the inner insulation film. One or more wires are connected to the CPU using the smart connectors, and up to 64 wires can be monitored in real-time. The ISWDDS uses time domain reflectometry for damage detection. A fast-risetime pulse is injected into either the core conductor or conductive layer and referenced against the other conductor, producing transmission line behavior. If either conductor is damaged, then the signal is reflected. By knowing the speed of propagation of the pulse, and the time it takes to reflect, one can calculate the distance to and location of the damage.

Williams, Martha↗

NASA NTRS2013

Detectors Ensure Function, Safety of Aircraft Wiring

Pedro Medelius waited patiently in his lab at Kennedy Space Center. He had just received word that a colleague was bringing over a cable from a Space Shuttle solid rocket booster to test Medelius new invention. Medelius was calm until his colleague arrived, with about 30 other people. "Talk about testing under pressure," says Medelius. "There were people there from the Navy, the Air Force, and the Federal Aviation Administration." After the group s arrival, Medelius took a deep breath and connected his Standing Wave Reflectometer (SWR) to the cable. He wiggled the cable around, and the display showed a fault (a short or open circuit in wire) about an inch and a half inside the connector on the cable. His colleague questioned the results, because he had already checked that area on the cable. Medelius used the SWR to check again but got the same result. "That is when we took the cable apart and looked inside," Medelius says. "Lo and behold, that was exactly where the fault was." The impetus for Medelius new wire inspection technology came about in 1999 when one of the space shuttles lost power due to a fault somewhere in its more than 200 miles of electrical wiring. "The backup circuit was activated and prevented a major dysfunction, but nevertheless, there was a problem with the wiring," Medelius describes. Even though technicians used a device called a multimeter to measure the electrical current to find which wire had a fault, it could not pinpoint exactly where on the wire the fault was located. For that, technicians had to visually inspect the wire. "Sometimes they would have to remove the whole wire assembly and visually inspect every single wire. It was a very tedious operation because the wires are behind cabinets. They go all over the place in the shuttle," says Medelius. "NASA needed an instrument capable of telling them exactly where the faults were occurring." To meet NASA s needs for a highly precise device to inspect electrical power bundles, wires, and connectors, Medelius devised the SWR. "It came down to what was affected when a wire is short circuited or opened," he says. "We worked out a few equations based on physical principles." The SWR proved very sensitive, and the technology was patented.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS2007

Automated Ground Umbilical Systems (AGUS) Project

All space vehicles require ground umbilical systems for servicing. Servicing requirements can include, but are not limited to, electrical power and control, propellant loading and venting, pneumatic system supply, hazard gas detection and purging as well as systems checkout capabilities. Of the various types of umbilicals, all require several common subsystems. These typically include an alignment system, mating and locking system, fluid connectors, electrical connectors and control !checkout systems. These systems have been designed to various levels of detail based on the needs for manual and/or automation requirements. The Automated Ground Umbilical Systems (AGUS) project is a multi-phase initiative to develop design performance requirements and concepts for launch system umbilicals. The automation aspect minimizes operational time and labor in ground umbilical processing while maintaining reliability. This current phase of the project reviews the design, development, testing and operations of ground umbilicals built for the Saturn, Shuttle, X-33 and Atlas V programs. Based on the design and operations lessons learned from these systems, umbilicals can be optimized for specific applications. The product of this study is a document containing details of existing systems and requirements for future automated umbilical systems with emphasis on design-for-operations (DFO).

Gosselin, Armand M.↗

NASA NTRS2013

Compact Radar Transceiver with Included Calibration

The Digital Beamforming Synthetic Aperture Radar (DBSAR) is an eight-channel phased array radar system that employs solid-state radar transceivers, a microstrip patch antenna, and a reconfigurable waveform generator and processor unit. The original DBSAR transceiver design utilizes connectorized electronic components that tend to be physically large and heavy. To achieve increased functionality in a smaller volume, PCB (printed circuit board) transceivers were designed to replace the large connectorized transceivers. One of the most challenging problems designing the transceivers in a PCB format was achieving proper performance in the calibration path. For a radar loop-back calibration path, a portion of the transmit signal is coupled out of the antenna feed and fed back into the receiver. This is achieved using passive components for stability and repeatability. Some signal also leaks through the receive path. As these two signal paths are correlated via an unpredictable phase, the leakage through the receive path during transmit must be 30 dB below the calibration path. For DBSAR s design, this requirement called for a 100-dB isolation in the receiver path during transmit. A total of 16 solid-state L-band transceivers on a PCB format were designed. The transceivers include frequency conversion stages, T/R switching, and a calibration path capable of measuring the transmit power-receiver gain product during transmit for pulse-by-pulse calibration or matched filtering. In particular, this calibration path achieves 100-dB isolation between the transmitted signal and the low-noise amplifier through the use of a switching network and a section of physical walls achieving attenuation of radiated leakage. The transceivers were designed in microstrip PCBs with lumped elements and individually packaged components for compactness. Each transceiver was designed on a single PCB with a custom enclosure providing interior walls and compartments to isolate transceiver subsystems from radiated interference. The enclosure also acts as a heat sink for the voltage regulators and power amplifiers inside the system. The PCB transceiver design produces transmit pulses of 2 W with an arbitrary duty cycle. Each transceiver is fed by an external 120-MHz signal transmit and two 1,140-MHz local oscillator signals. The received signal is amplified and down-converted to 120 MHz and is fed to the data processor. The transceiver dimensions are approximately 3.5 11.5 0.6 in. (9 29 1.5 cm). The PCB transceiver design reduces the volume and weight of the DBSAR instrument while maintaining the functionality found in the original design. Both volume and weight are critical for airborne and flight remote sensing instrumentation.

McLinden, Matthew↗

NASA NTRS2014

Deployable Fresnel Rings

Deployable Fresnel rings (DFRs) significantly enhance the realizable gain of an antenna. This innovation is intended to be used in combination with another antenna element, as the DFR itself acts as a focusing or microwave lens element for a primary antenna. This method is completely passive, and is also completely wireless in that it requires neither a cable, nor a connector from the antenna port of the primary antenna to the DFR. The technology improves upon the previous NASA technology called a Tri-Sector Deployable Array Antenna in at least three critical aspects. In contrast to the previous technology, this innovation requires no connector, cable, or other physical interface to the primary communication radio or sensor device. The achievable improvement in terms of antenna gain is significantly higher than has been achieved with the previous technology. Also, where previous embodiments of the Tri-Sector antenna have been constructed with combinations of conventional (e.g., printed circuit board) and conductive fabric materials, this innovation is realized using only conductive and non-conductive fabric (i.e., "e-textile") materials, with the possible exception of a spring-like deployment ring. Conceptually, a DFR operates by canceling the out-of-phase radiation at a plane by insertion of a conducting ring or rings of a specific size and distance from the source antenna, defined by Fresnel zones. Design of DFRs follow similar procedures to those outlined for conventional Fresnel zone rings. Gain enhancement using a single ring is verified experimentally and through computational simulation. The experimental test setup involves a microstrip patch antenna that is directly behind a single-ring DFR and is radiating towards a second microstrip patch antenna. The first patch antenna and DFR are shown. At 2.42 GHz, the DFR improves the transmit antenna gain by 8.6 dB, as shown in Figure 2, relative to the wireless link without the DFR. A figure illustrates the relative strength of power coupling between the first and second microstrip antennas with and without the DFR. Typically, a DFR is designed for use at a particular frequency; however, testing of a DFR indicated a relatively wide operational bandwidth of approximately 8.2%. Wider bandwidth operation and multi-band operation are anticipated by extending the known art of conventional Fresnel rings to the DFRs. Increasing the number of rings used to construct a DFR antenna increases the gain, with the upper bound limited often by the largest practical dimensions that can be tolerated for a given application. The maximum theoretical improvement in gain for a single ring is 9.5 dB. Experimental results are within 0.9 dB of this theoretical value. Adding rings increases gain, and theoretically, improvements of 10 to 13 dB above that of the primary antenna gain can be achieved with two- and three-ring versions.

Kennedy, Timothy F.↗

NASA NTRS2013

Development of the Orion Crew-Service Module Umbilical Retention and Release Mechanism

The Orion Crew-Service Module umbilical retention and release mechanism supports, protects and disconnects all of the cross-module commodities between the spacecraft's crew and service modules. These commodities include explosive transfer lines, wiring for power and data, and flexible hoses for ground purge and life support systems. Initial development testing of the mechanism's separation interface resulted in binding failures due to connector misalignments. The separation interface was redesigned with a robust linear guide system, and the connector separation and boom deployment were separated into two discretely sequenced events. Subsequent analysis and testing verified that the design changes corrected the binding. This umbilical separation design will be used on Exploration Flight Test 1 (EFT-1) as well as all future Orion flights. The design is highly modular and can easily be adapted to other vehicles/modules and alternate commodity sets.

Separation↗

NASA NTRS2013

Development of the Orion Crew-Service Module Umbilical Retention and Release Mechanism

Delap, Damon↗

NASA NTRS2016

Commercial Application of In-Space Assembly

In-Space assembly (ISA) expands the opportunities for cost effective emplacement of systems in space. Currently, spacecraft are launched into space and deploy into their operational configuration through a carefully choreographed sequence of operations. The deployment operation dictates the arrangement of the primary systems on the spacecraft, limiting the ability to take full advantage of launch vehicles volume and mass capability. ISA enables vastly different spacecraft architectures and emplacement scenarios to be achieved, including optimal launch configurations ranging from single launch and assembly to on-orbit aggregation of multiple launches at different orbital locations and times. The spacecraft can be visited at different orbital locations and times to effect expansion and maintenance of an operational capability. To date, the primary application of ISA has been in large programs funded by government organizations, such as the International Space Station. Recently, Space Systems Loral (SSL) led a study funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), called Dragonfly, to investigate the commercial applicability and economic advantages of ISA. In the study, it was shown that ISA enables SSL to double the capability of a commercial satellite system by taking advantage of alternate packaging approaches for the reflectors. The study included an ultra-light-weight robotic system, derived from Mars manipulator designs, to complete assembly of portions of the antenna system using a tool derived from DARPA orbital express and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) automated structural assembly experience. The mechanical connector that enables robotic ISA takes advantage of decades of development by NASA from the 1970's to 1980's during the Space Station Freedom program, the precursor to the ISS. The mechanical connector was originally designed for rapid astronaut assembly while also providing a high quality structural connection with linear load deflection response. The paper will discuss the business case for ISA, the general approach taken to exploit on-orbit assembly in the GEO communication satellite market, and the concept of operations associated with the ISA approach, thus laying the foundation for ISA to become an accepted operational approach for commercial in-space operations.

Lymer, John↗

NASA NTRS2019

TriTruss: A New and Novel Structural Concept Enabling Modular Space Telescopes and Space Platforms

Modular structures that can be assembled on-orbit will be the backbone for all future persistent missions, including in-space assembled telescopes and platforms for science and communications. The TriTruss is a new and innovative structural module that has been conceived by researchers at the NASA Langley Research Center for platform and telescope applications. Some of the innovative features of the TriTruss include: very compact packaging for launch, the possibility of staged packaging, simple robotic deployment, ease of embedding payload components, an innovative structural connector that has linear structural performance, ease of module-to-module robotic assembly, design versatility, and ease of customizing its design for specific applications. This paper will introduce the TriTruss concept and describe how it can serve as the foundation for many different mission applications, in particular, a 20-meter diameter large space telescope and a beam-type platform that can host a variety of payloads and instruments. The geometry of the TriTruss will be described and the various truss design variables (such as truss depth, member diameter, material modulus, etc.) and each of their impacts on the truss performance will be illustrated. The TriTruss can be mapped to a variety of structural forms, such as beams, two-dimensional platforms and filled curved apertures (for antennas and telescopes), and examples will be illustrated. The TriTruss lends itself to a large variety of packaging schemes; the structural concepts associated with packaging and deployment will be described, as well as the means for robotically deploying TriTruss modules and locking them into their final configuration. TriTruss module-to-TriTruss module robotic assembly operations will also be described. Equations will be presented to structurally size TriTruss modules, such that when assembled into the final persistent platform, the platform achieves a desired level of global structural performance. A status of the TriTruss development will also be presented. This material will cover design and fabrication of TriTruss hardware for platform and telescope applications as well as structural testing of that hardware (the struts, connectors and platforms). Robotic assembly of TriTruss modules is also being performed, and the results of those tests will be summarized.

Doggett, William↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Advancing Dust Tolerant Mechanisms for a Sustained Exploration of the Moon

Introduction: “I think dust is probably one of our greatest inhibitors to a nominal operation on the Moon. I think we can overcome other physio-logical or physical or mechanical problems except dust.”– Gene Cernan, Apollo 17 Technical Debrief The Apollo missions revealed the impact of lu-nar dust on mechanisms. Lunar dust particles are jagged and electrostatically charged, giving them the ability to bind or damage mechanisms and alter thermal properties. Reports documented clogged equipment and jammed mechanisms in every mission, regardless of surface duration, as well as clogged mechanisms in the Extravehicular Mobility Suit (EMS), including zippers, wrist and hose locks, faceplates, and sunshades [1-2]. Several astronauts remarked they could not have sustained surface activity much longer because clogged joints would have frozen up completely [2]. Effective dust mitigation strategies are need-ed to support longer duration stays on the lunar surface [3-4]. State of the Art: Technology for mechanisms able to operate in dusty enviroments is advancing rapidly due to the needs of both Mars rovers and the Artemis program. Vacuum-tight connectors are essential for spacesuits and habitats, and their performance can be dependent on cleaning technologies, which have proven difficult on the lunar surface. Several TRL 3-5 technologies are undergoing tests with the expectation to reach TRL 6 within 1-2 years. Some mechanisms will be infused and tested on the VIPER (Volatiles Inves-tigating Polar Exploration Rover) mission planned for mid-2020s. NASA Funded Efforts: NASA has recognized the need for dust tolerant mechanisms, and has partnered with industry to advance the state-of-the-art. At NASA GRC, KSC, and JSC, the Dust Tolerant Mechanisms Project is working to devel-op advanced actuator seals for rotary joints and rotary bearing technologies for long-term sus-tained operation in lunar dust environments. An-other NASA project at NASA GRC, partnered with GSFC, JPL, and KSC is Motors for Dusty & Ex-treme Cold Environments (MDECE). MDECE is developing an unheated magnetically-geared mo-tor that can operate continuously for a long dura-tion at an ambient temperature of -243 ºC (33 K). NASA GRC has the capability to characterize the effects of dust on seals, mechanisms, and other mating surfaces and components under lunar conditions [5]. Through the SBIR/STTR program, NASA has funded several companies to advance dust toler-ant mechanisms via the Dust Tolerant Mecha-nisms sub-topic with applications in surface mobil-ity, spacesuits, connectors, joints, and more. LSIC and Community Efforts: The Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium (LSIC) Dust Miti-gation focus group has fostered collaborations across NASA, industry, and academia to develop solutions that minimizes the impact of lunar dust on robotic and human systems. Community ef-forts have included topical meetings on dust tol-erant mechanisms, featured technology presenta-tions, and feedback to NASA on potential gaps and needs. Testing: In 2021, NASA released NASA-STD-1008 [6]. This NASA Technical Standard estab-lishes minimum requirements and provides guid-ance for testing systems and hardware to be ex-posed to dust in planetary environments. The standard has specific sections dedicated to Mechanisms Testing (e.g. bearings, gears) as well as Seals and Mating Surfaces Testing (e.g. hatches, docking systems). Gaps and Needs: NASA is tracking dust tol-erant mechanisms as a gap in a cross-directorate analysis of capability areas needed to enable fu-ture human space-flight architectures. Two high-priority gap areas include additional facilities for testing mechanisms in lunar-surface conditions, and a better understanding of vulnerabilities to the smallest, nanometer-scale dust particles. Conclusion: Understanding and mitigating lu-nar dust is critical to successful, sustained opera-tions on the lunar surface – whether autonomous or otherwise. This presentation will discuss both the state-of-the-art and open needs in lunar dust tolerant mechanisms, technology impacts, mitiga-tion approaches, testing, LSIC community efforts, and more. References: [1] Gaier, J. R. (2020). The Im-pact of Dust on Lunar Surface Equipment During Apollo. Lunar Dust 2020. [2] GRC, & Gaier, J. R. (2005). The Effects of Lunar Dust on EVA Sys-tems During the Apollo Missions. [3] Johansen, M. R. (2020). An Update on NASA’s Lunar Dust Mitigation Strategy. Lunar Dust 2020. [4] ASI, CSA, ESA, JAXA, & NASA. (2016). Dust Mitiga-tion Gap Assessment Report. [5] Jimenez, N. et al (2022), LPSC Abstract 2572. [6] NASA-STD-1008, 2021.

J I Nunez↗

DOE OSTI2013

Photonic-powered cable assembly

A photonic-cable assembly includes a power source cable connector ("PSCC") coupled to a power receive cable connector ("PRCC") via a fiber cable. The PSCC electrically connects to a first electronic device and houses a photonic power source and an optical data transmitter. The fiber cable includes an optical transmit data path coupled to the optical data transmitter, an optical power path coupled to the photonic power source, and an optical feedback path coupled to provide feedback control to the photonic power source. The PRCC electrically connects to a second electronic device and houses an optical data receiver coupled to the optical transmit data path, a feedback controller coupled to the optical feedback path to control the photonic power source, and a photonic power converter coupled to the optical power path to convert photonic energy received over the optical power path to electrical energy to power components of the PRCC.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2014

Aid for electrical contacting of high-temperature fuel cells and method for production thereof

A double-sided adhesive metal-based tape for use as contacting aid for SOFC fuel cells is provided. The double-sided metal-based adhesive tape is suitable for simplifying the construction of cell bundles. The double-sided metal-based adhesive tape is used for electrical contacting of the cell connector with the anode and for electrical contacting of the interconnector of the fuel cells with the cell connector. A method for producing the double-sided adhesive metal-base tape is also provided.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2014

Photonic-powered cable assembly

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2017

Photovoltaic system with improved DC connections and method of making same

A micro-inverter assembly includes a housing having an opening formed in a bottom surface thereof, and a direct current (DC)-to-alternating current (AC) micro-inverter disposed within the housing at a position adjacent to the opening. The micro-inverter assembly further includes a micro-inverter DC connector electrically coupled to the DC-to-AC micro-inverter and positioned within the opening of the housing, the micro-inverter DC connector having a plurality of exposed electrical contacts.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2017

Electronic inverter assembly with an integral snubber capacitor

A coaxial bus connector has a first end and a second end opposite the first end. The first end has a first positive terminal and a first negative terminal coupled to a primary direct current bus of a primary inverter. The second end has a second positive terminal and a second negative terminal coupled to the secondary direct current bus of a secondary inverter, wherein the coaxial bus connector comprises a dielectric material between a center conductor and a coaxial sleeve to form a snubber capacitor to absorb electrical energy or to absorb voltage spikes.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2017

Superconducting cable connections and methods

Superconducting cable connector structures include a terminal body (or other structure) onto which the tapes from the superconducting cable extend. The terminal body (or other structure) has a diameter that is sufficiently larger than the diameter of the former of the superconducting cable, so that the tapes spread out over the outer surface of the terminal body. As a result, gaps are formed between tapes on the terminal body (or other structure). Those gaps are filled with solder (or other suitable flowable conductive material), to provide a current path of relatively high conductivity in the radial direction. Other connector structures omit the terminal body.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2018

Compact SRF based accelerator

An accelerator comprising at least one accelerator cavity, an electron gun, at least one cavity cooler configured to at least partially encircle the accelerator cavity, a cooling connector, an intermediate conduction layer formed between the at least one cavity cooler and the at least one accelerator cavity configured to facilitate thermal conductivity between the cavity cooler and the accelerator cavity, a mechanical support connected to the accelerator cavity via at least one endplate and configured for stabilizing the accelerator cavity, and a refrigeration source for providing refrigerant via the cooling connector to the at least one cavity cooler.

Kephart, Robert↗

DOE OSTI2018

X-ray battery adapter system

An x-ray battery adapter system may include an x-ray battery adapter and a geometry adapter. The x-ray battery adapter may include a circuit board, a baseplate, a heat sink, a cover, and a battery input. The baseplate may include a connector that connects to an x-ray generating device. The geometry adapter may include a cable, a battery receptacle configured to house a battery, and a voltage sensor and battery connector block assembly. The x-ray battery adapter may allow a user of an x-ray generating device to utilize different power sources.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗