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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 757 records · Page 42
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1994

Conceptual Design of the Space Station Fluids Module

The purpose of this paper is to describe the conceptual design of the Fluids Module for the International Space Station Alpha (ISSA). This module is part of the Space Station Fluids/Combustion Facility (SS FCF) under development at the NASA Lewis Research Center. The Fluids/Combustion Facility is one of several science facilities which are being developed to support microgravity science investigations in the US Laboratory Module of the ISSA. The SS FCF will support a multitude of fluids and combustion science investigations over the lifetime of the ISSA and return state-of-the-art science data in a timely and efficient manner to the scientific communities. This will be accomplished through modularization of hardware, with planned, periodic upgrades; modularization of like scientific investigations that make use of common facility functions; and use of orbital replacement units (ORU's) for incorporation of new technology and new functionality. Portions of the SS FCF are scheduled to become operational on-orbit in 1999. The Fluids Module is presently scheduled for launch to orbit and integration with the Fluids/Combustion Facility in 2001. The objectives of this paper are to describe the history of the Fluids Module concept, the types of fluids science investigations which will be accommodated by the module, the hardware design heritage, the hardware concept, and the hardware breadboarding efforts currently underway.

Rohn, Dennis W.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Conceptual design of the Space Station combustion module

The purpose of this paper is to describe the conceptual design of the Combustion Module for the International Space Station Alpha (ISSA). This module is part of the Space Station Fluids/Combustion Facility (SS FCF) under development at the NASA Lewis Research Center. The Fluids/Combustion Facility is one of several science facilities which are being developed to support microgravity science investigations in the US Laboratory Module of the ISSA. The SS FCF will support a multitude of fluids and combustion science investigations over the lifetime of the ISSA and return state-of-the-art science data in a timely and efficient manner to the scientific communities. This will be accomplished through modularization of hardware, with planned, periodic upgrades; modularization of like scientific investigations that make use of common facility functions; and through the use of orbital replacement units (ORU's) for incorporation of new technology and new functionality. The SS FCF is scheduled to become operational on-orbit in 1999. The Combustion Module is presently scheduled for launch to orbit and integration with the Fluids/Combustion Facility in 1999. The objectives of this paper are to describe the history of the Combustion Module concept, the types of combustion science investigations which will be accommodated by the module, the hardware design heritage, the hardware concept, and the hardware breadboarding efforts currently underway.

Morilak, Daniel P.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Power spectra of multi-h phase codes

A procedure is presented for calculating the power spectrum of the class of digital continuous-phase signals known as multi-h phase codes. These signals have been shown to have attractive power advantages over other uncoded digital schemes such as QPSK, and represent a bandwidth-efficient alternative to other coding techniques. The method is general, handling M-ary signaling, various frequency pulse shapes, and arbitrary sets of modulation indices. Numerical results are shown for several specific codes. In addition, the issue of spectral lines is resolved, and simple spectral approximations are developed.

Wilson, S. G.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Applications of electro-optic gratings in integrated optical signal processing devices

A variety of applications of electro-optically induced Bragg gratings in integrated optical signal processing and computation devices are shown. The gratings are easy to fabricate, operate efficiently on relatively low voltages and have design principles which are well known and reliable. The component allows a rapid and efficient interaction with an optical wave in a planar electro-optic waveguide. The operation of such gratings and their use as intensity modulators, spatial light modulators, and components in correlators and in a variety of computational units is described.

Verber, C. M.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Activity and accomplishments of dish/Stirling electric power system development

The development of the solar parabolic-dish/Stirling-engine electricity generating plant known as the dish/Stirling electric power system is described. The dish/Stirling electric power system converts sunlight to electricity more efficiently than any known existing solar electric power system. The fabrication and characterization of the test bed concentrators that were used for Stirling module testing and of the development of parabolic dish concentrator No. 2, an advanced solar concentrator unit considered for use with the Stirling power conversion unit is discussed.

Livingston, F. R.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Lateral modes of broad area semiconductor lasers - Theory and experiment

Calculations of the lateral modes of an ideal broad area laser, including the nonlinear interaction between the carriers and the optical field, are made. The results include periodically modulated near fields and single- and double-lobed far fields similar to those previously measured. The unsaturable losses are higher and quantum efficiencies are lower than those determined from plane-wave approximations. Broad area InGaAs-GaAlAs-GaAs quantum-well lasers were fabricated and measured and found to closely agree with the theory in near, far, and spectrally resolved near fields. An occultation experiment on the far field confirms previously predicted unstable resonatorlike modes with V-shaped fronts.

Lang, Robert J.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Cryogenic Evaluation of an Advanced DC/DC Converter Module for Deep Space Applications

DC/DC converters are widely used in power management, conditioning, and control of space power systems. Deep space applications require electronics that withstand cryogenic temperature and meet a stringent radiation tolerance. In this work, the performance of an advanced, radiation-hardened (rad-hard) commercial DC/DC converter module was investigated at cryogenic temperatures. The converter was investigated in terms of its steady state and dynamic operations. The output voltage regulation, efficiency, terminal current ripple characteristics, and output voltage response to load changes were determined in the temperature range of 20 to -140 C. These parameters were obtained at various load levels and at different input voltages. The experimental procedures along with the results obtained on the investigated converter are presented and discussed.

Elbuluk, Malik E.↗
NASA NTRS2009

NASA Tech Briefs, January 2009

Tech Briefs are short announcements of innovations originating from research and development activities of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. They emphasize information considered likely to be transferable across industrial, regional, or disciplinary lines and are issued to encourage commercial application. Topics covered include: The Radio Frequency Health Node Wireless Sensor System; Effects of Temperature on Polymer/Carbon Chemical Sensors; Small CO2 Sensors Operate at Lower Temperature; Tele-Supervised Adaptive Ocean Sensor Fleet; Synthesis of Submillimeter Radiation for Spectroscopy; 100-GHz Phase Switch/Mixer Containing a Slot-Line Transition; Generating Ka-Band Signals Using an X-Band Vector Modulator; SiC Optically Modulated Field-Effect Transistor; Submillimeter-Wave Amplifier Module with Integrated Waveguide Transitions; Metrology System for a Large, Somewhat Flexible Telescope; Economical Implementation of a Filter Engine in an FPGA; Improved Joining of Metal Components to Composite Structures; Machined Titanium Heat-Pipe Wick Structure; Gadolinia-Doped Ceria Cathodes for Electrolysis of CO2; Utilizing Ocean Thermal Energy in a Submarine Robot; Fuel-Cell Power Systems Incorporating Mg-Based H2 Generators; Alternative OTEC Scheme for a Submarine Robot; Sensitive, Rapid Detection of Bacterial Spores; Adenosine Monophosphate-Based Detection of Bacterial Spores; Silicon Microleaks for Inlets of Mass Spectrometers; CGH Figure Testing of Aspherical Mirrors in Cold Vacuums; Series-Coupled Pairs of Silica Microresonators; Precise Stabilization of the Optical Frequency of WGMRs; Formation Flying of Components of a Large Space Telescope; Laser Metrology Heterodyne Phase-Locked Loop; Spatial Modulation Improves Performance in CTIS; High-Performance Algorithm for Solving the Diagnosis Problem; Truncation Depth Rule-of-Thumb for Convolutional Codes; Efficient Method for Optimizing Placement of Sensors.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1978

JSC space base/power module studies

Users of the Orbiter/Spacelab combination will require both higher electrical power and longer duration than is available with the current baseline system. Present Orbiter/Spacelab mission capability is primarily constrained by the hydrogen and oxygen available to generate power in the Orbiter fuel cells. It is also necessary to assure that considerable attitude or point flexibility is retained to assure efficient operation of the Orbiter radiator cooling system. Beyond these early limitations, it is foreseen that orbital operations will eventually need even greater quantities of the basic space utilities: electrical power; heat rejection; and attitude control. Such operations, forecasted for the mid to late 1980's, will be best accommodated by a module stored in orbit that can furnish these to a docked Orbiter/Spacelab or other vehicles. The Orbital Service Module concept to provide for these services is presented.

Craig, J. W.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Project LOCOST: Laser or Chemical Hybrid Orbital Space Transport

A potential mission in the late 1990s is the servicing of spacecraft assets located in GEO. The Geosynchronous Operations Support Center (GeoShack) will be supported by a space transfer vehicle based at the Space Station (SS). The vehicle will transport cargo between the SS and the GeoShack. A proposed unmanned, laser or chemical hybrid orbital space transfer vehicle (LOCOST) can be used to efficiently transfer cargo between the two orbits. A preliminary design shows that an unmanned, laser/chemical hybrid vehicle results in the fuel savings needed while still providing fast trip times. The LOCOST vehicle receives a 12 MW laser beam from one Earth orbiting, solar pumped, iodide Laser Power Station (LPS). Two Energy Relay Units (ERU) provide laser beam support during periods of line-of-sight blockage by the Earth. The baseline mission specifies a 13 day round trip transfer time. The ship's configuration consist of an optical train, one hydrogen laser engine, two chemical engines, a 18 m by 29 m box truss, a mission-flexible payload module, and propellant tanks. Overall vehicle dry mass is 8,000 kg. Outbound cargo mass is 20,000 kg, and inbound cargo mass is 6,000 kg. The baseline mission needs 93,000 kg of propellants to complete the scenario. Fully fueled, outbound mission mass is 121,000 kg. A regeneratively cooled, single plasma, laser engine design producing a maximum of 768 N of thrust is utilized along with two traditional chemical engines. The payload module is designed to hold 40,000 kg of cargo, though the baseline mission specifies less. A proposed design of a laser/chemical hybrid vehicle provides a trip time and propellant efficient means to transport cargo from the SS to a GeoShack. Its unique, hybrid propulsion system provides safety through redundancy, allows baseline missions to be efficiently executed, while still allowing for the possibility of larger cargo transfers.

Dixon, Alan↗
NASA NTRS2013

Distributed Prognostics and Health Management with a Wireless Network Architecture

A heterogeneous set of system components monitored by a varied suite of sensors and a particle-filtering (PF) framework, with the power and the flexibility to adapt to the different diagnostic and prognostic needs, has been developed. Both the diagnostic and prognostic tasks are formulated as a particle-filtering problem in order to explicitly represent and manage uncertainties in state estimation and remaining life estimation. Current state-of-the-art prognostic health management (PHM) systems are mostly centralized in nature, where all the processing is reliant on a single processor. This can lead to a loss in functionality in case of a crash of the central processor or monitor. Furthermore, with increases in the volume of sensor data as well as the complexity of algorithms, traditional centralized systems become for a number of reasons somewhat ungainly for successful deployment, and efficient distributed architectures can be more beneficial. The distributed health management architecture is comprised of a network of smart sensor devices. These devices monitor the health of various subsystems or modules. They perform diagnostics operations and trigger prognostics operations based on user-defined thresholds and rules. The sensor devices, called computing elements (CEs), consist of a sensor, or set of sensors, and a communication device (i.e., a wireless transceiver beside an embedded processing element). The CE runs in either a diagnostic or prognostic operating mode. The diagnostic mode is the default mode where a CE monitors a given subsystem or component through a low-weight diagnostic algorithm. If a CE detects a critical condition during monitoring, it raises a flag. Depending on availability of resources, a networked local cluster of CEs is formed that then carries out prognostics and fault mitigation by efficient distribution of the tasks. It should be noted that the CEs are expected not to suspend their previous tasks in the prognostic mode. When the prognostics task is over, and after appropriate actions have been taken, all CEs return to their original default configuration. Wireless technology-based implementation would ensure more flexibility in terms of sensor placement. It would also allow more sensors to be deployed because the overhead related to weights of wired systems is not present. Distributed architectures are furthermore generally robust with regard to recovery from node failures.

Goebel, Kai↗
NASA NTRS1986

Electrochemical carbon dioxide concentrator subsystem development

The most promising concept for a regenerative CO2 removal system for long duration manned space flight is the Electrochemical CO2 Concentrator (EDC), which allows for the continuous, efficient removal of CO2 from the spacecraft cabin. This study addresses the advancement of the EDC system by generating subsystem and ancillary component reliability data through extensive endurance testing and developing related hardware components such as electrochemical module lightweight end plates, electrochemical module improved isolation valves, an improved air/liquid heat exchanger and a triple redundant relative humidity sensor. Efforts included fabrication and testing the EDC with a Sabatier CO2 Reduction Reactor and generation of data necessary for integration of the EDC into a space station air revitalization system. The results verified the high level of performance, reliability and durability of the EDC subsystem and ancillary hardware, verified the high efficiency of the Sabatier CO2 Reduction Reactor, and increased the overall EDC technology engineering data base. The study concluded that the EDC system is approaching the hardware maturity levels required for space station deployment.

Koszenski, E. P.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Optical Sidebands Multiplier

Optical sidebands have been generated with relative frequency tens to hundreds of GHz by using optical sidebands that are generated in a cascade process in high-quality optical resonators with Kerr nonlinearity, such as whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonators. For this purpose, the WGM resonator needs to be optically pumped at two frequencies matching its resonances. These two optical components can be one or several free spectral ranges (FSRs), equal to approximately 12 GHz, in this example, apart from each other, and can be easily derived from a monochromatic pump with an ordinary EOM (electro-optic modulation) operating at half the FSR frequency. With sufficient nonlinearity, an optical cascade process will convert the two pump frequencies into a comb-like structure extending many FSRs around the carrier frequency. This has a demonstratively efficient frequency conversion of this type with only a few milliwatt optical pump power. The concept of using Kerr nonlinearity in a resonator for non-degenerate wave mixing has been discussed before, but it was a common belief that this was a weak process requiring very high peak powers to be observable. It was not thought possible for this approach to compete with electro-optical modulators in CW applications, especially those at lower optical powers. By using the high-Q WGM resonators, the effective Kerr nonlinearity can be made so high that, using even weak seeding bands available from a conventional EOM, one can effectively multiply the optical sidebands, extending them into an otherwise inaccessible frequency range.

Strekalov, Dmitry V.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Standardized multiple output power supply

A comprehensive program to develop a prototype model of a standardized multiple output power supply for use in space flight applications is described. The prototype unit was tested and evaluated to assure that the design would provide near optimum performance for the planned application. The prototype design used a dc-to-dc converter incorporating reqenerative current feedback with a time-ratio controlled duty cycle to achieve high efficiency over a wide variation of input voltage and output loads. The packaging concept uses a mainframe capable of accommodating up to four inverter/regulator modules with one common input filter and housekeeping module. Each inverter/regulator module provides a maximum of 100 watts or 10 amperes. Each module is adaptable to operate at any voltage between 4.0 volts and 108 volts. The prototype unit contains +5, + or - 15 and +28 volt modules.

Ragusa, E. V.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Application of information theory to the design of line-scan imaging systems

Information theory is used to formulate a single figure of merit for assessing the performance of line scan imaging systems as a function of their spatial response (point spread function or modulation transfer function), sensitivity, sampling and quantization intervals, and the statistical properties of a random radiance field. Computational results for the information density and efficiency (i.e., the ratio of information density to data density) are intuitively satisfying and compare well with experimental and theoretical results obtained by earlier investigators concerned with the performance of TV systems.

Huck, F. O.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Electrical performance characteristics of high power converters for space power applications

The first goal of this project was to investigate various converters that would be suitable for processing electric power derived from a nuclear reactor. The implementation is indicated of a 20 kHz system that includes a source converter, a ballast converter, and a fixed frequency converter for generating the 20 kHz output. This system can be converted to dc simply by removing the fixed frequency converter. This present study emphasized the design and testing of the source and ballast converters. A push-pull current-fed (PPCF) design was selected for the source converter, and a 2.7 kW version of this was implemented using three 900 watt modules in parallel. The characteristic equation for two converters in parallel was derived, but this analysis did not yield any experimental methods for measuring relative stability. The three source modules were first tested individually and then in parallel as a 2.7 kW system. All tests proved to be satisfactory; the system was stable; efficiency and regulation were acceptable; and the system was fault tolerant. The design of a ballast-load converter, which was operated as a shunt regulator, was investigated. The proposed power circuit is suitable for use with BJTs because proportional base drive is easily implemented. A control circuit which minimizes switching frequency ripple and automatically bypasses a faulty shunt section was developed. A nonlinear state-space-averaged model of the shunt regulator was developed and shown to produce an accurate incremental (small-signal) dynamic model, even though the usual state-space-averaging assumptions were not met. The nonlinear model was also shown to be useful for large-signal dynamic simulation using PSpice.

Stuart, Thomas A.↗