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At least 955 records · Page 53

Loose Belt Fault Detection and Virtual Flow Meter Development Using Identified Data-driven Energy Model for Fan Systems

An energy model that correlates fan airflow, head, speed, and system power input is essential to detect device faults and optimize control strategies in fan systems. Since the application of variable-frequency drives (VFDs) makes the motor-efficiency data published by manufacturers inapplicable for VFD–motor–fan systems, the fan efficiency and drive (belt–motor–VFD) efficiency must be identified for each individual system to obtain accurate energy models. The objectives of this paper are to identify an energy model of existing VFD–motor–fan systems using available experimental data and demonstrate its applications in loose belt fault detection and virtual airflow meter development for optimal control. First, an approach is developed to identify the fan head, fan efficiency, and drive-efficiency curves using available fan head, speed, and system power input as well as temporarily measured airflow rate without measuring shaft power. Then, the energy model is identified for an existing VFD–motor–fan system. Finally, the identified model is applied to detect the slipped belt faults and develop the virtual airflow meter. The experiment results reveal that the developed approach can effectively obtain the energy model of VFD–motor–fan systems and the model can be applied to effectively detect slipped belt faults and accurately calculate the fan airflow rate.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Evaluation of feasibility of mapping seismically active faults in Alaska

The author has identified the following significant results. ERTS-1 imagery is proving to be exceptionally useful in delineating structural features in Alaska which have never been recognized on the ground. Previously unmapped features such as seismically active faults and major structural lineaments are especially evident. Among the more significant results of this investigation is the discovery of an active strand of the Denali fault. The new fault has a history of scattered activity and was the scene of a magnitude 4.8 earthquake on October 1, 1972. Of greater significance is the disclosure of a large scale conjugate fracture system north of the Alaska Range. This fracture system appears to result from compressive stress radiating outward from around Mt. McKinley. One member of the system was the scene of a magnitude 6.5 earthquake in 1968. The potential value of ERTS-1 imagery to land use planning is reflected in the fact that this earthquake occurred within 10 km of the site which was proposed for the Rampart Dam, and the fault on which it occurred passes very near the proposed site for the bridge and oil pipeline crossing of the Yukon River.

Gedney, L. D.↗

Regional Tectonic Control of Tertiary Mineralization and Recent Faulting in the Southern Basin-Range Province, an Application of ERTS-1 Data

Research based on ERTS-1 MSS imagery and field work in the southern Basin-Range Province of California, Nevada and Arizona has shown regional tectonic control of volcanism, plutonism, mineralization and faulting. This paper covers an area centered on the Colorado River between 34 15' N and 36 45' N. During the mid-Tertiary, the area was the site of plutonism and genetically related volcanism fed by fissure systems now exposed as dike swarms. Dikes, elongate plutons, and coeval normal faults trend generally northward and are believed to have resulted from east-west crustal extension. In the extensional province, gold silver mineralization is closely related to Tertiary igneous activity. Similarities in ore, structural setting, and rock types define a metallogenic district of high potential for exploration. The ERTS imagery also provides a basis for regional inventory of small faults which cut alluvium. This capability for efficient regional surveys of Recent faulting should be considered in land use planning, geologic hazards study, civil engineering and hydrology.

Bechtold, I. C.↗

Active and inactive faults in southern California viewed from Skylab

The application is discussed of Skylab imagery along with larger scale photography and field investigations in preparing fault maps of California for use in land use planning. The images were used to assist in distinguishing active from inactive faults (by recognizing indications of recent displacement), determining the length of potentially active faults, identifying previously unmapped faults, and gaining additional information on regional tectonic history.

Merifield, P. M.↗

Shared memory for a fault-tolerant computer

A system is described for sharing a memory in a fault-tolerant computer. The memory is under the direct control and monitoring of error detecting and error diagnostic units in the fault-tolerant computer. This computer verifies that data to and from the memory is legally encoded and verifies that words read from the memory at a desired address are, in fact, actually delivered from that desired address. The means are provided for a second processor, which is independent of the direct control and monitoring of the error checking and diagnostic units of the fault-tolerant computer, and to share the memory of the fault-tolerant computer. Circuitry is included to verify that: (1) the processor has properly accessed a desired memory location in the memory; (2) a data word read-out from the memory is properly coded; and (3) no inactive memory was erroneously outputting data onto the shared memory bus.

Gilley, G. C.↗

Active faults in southeastern Harris County, Texas

Aerial color infrared photography was used to investigate active faults in a complex graben in southeastern Harris County, Tex. The graben extends east-west across an oil field and an interstate highway through Ellington Air Force Base (EAFB), into the Clear Lake oil field and on to LaPorte, Tex. It was shown that the fault pattern at EAFB indicates an appreciable horizontal component associated with the failure of buildings, streets, and runways. Another fault system appears to control the shoreline configuration of Clear Lake, with some of the faults associated with tectonic movements and the production of oil and gas, but many related to extensive ground water withdrawal.

Clanton, U. S.↗

Active and inactive faults in southern California viewed from Skylab

A number of prominent linears in basement terrane of the Peninsular Ranges appeared on Skylab images. In most cases, they were represented by straight or gently curved valleys; however, detailed field investigations have shown that several of these linears mark previously unmapped faults which form two distinct fault sets; one set trends northeast, the other west-northwest. No indications of recent movement were present on these faults which were truncated by seismically active, northwest trending fault zones such as the Elsinore and San Jacinto. Right-lateral separation is demonstrable on the northeast trending set.

Merifield, P. M.↗

Local precision nets for monitoring movements of faults and large engineering structures

Along Bocono Fault were installed local high precision geodetic nets to observe the possible horizontal crustal deformations and movements. In the fault area there are few big structures which are also included in the mentioned investigation. In the near future, measurements shall be extended to other sites of Bocono Fault and also to the El Pilar Fault. In the same way and by similar methods high precision geodetic nets are applied in Venezuela to observe the behavior of big structures, as bridges and large dams and of earth surface deformations due to industrial activities.

Henneberg, H. G.↗

Trends in reliability modeling technology for fault tolerant systems

Reliability modeling for fault tolerant avionic computing systems was developed. The modeling of large systems involving issues of state size and complexity, fault coverage, and practical computation was discussed. A novel technique which provides the tool for studying the reliability of systems with nonconstant failure rates is presented. The fault latency which may provide a method of obtaining vital latent fault data is measured.

Bavuso, S. J.↗

Fault tolerance using self-checking building-block computers

The paper attempts to define and characterize a set of VLSI (very large scale integration) building-block circuits which can be used to combine existing microprocessors and memories into a wide variety of fault-tolerant computing systems. Such VLSI circuits would transform fault-tolerant computing into an off-the-shelf technology and enable its routine use for new applications. The self-checking computer module (SCCM) is the basic component out of which fault-tolerant computer systems are constructed. Several fault-tolerant configurations of SCCM are discussed, including the standby redundant uniprocessor, the voted/hybrid uniprocessor, and the distributed computer network.

Rennels, D. A.↗

SIFT - Design and analysis of a fault-tolerant computer for aircraft control

SIFT (Software Implemented Fault Tolerance) is an ultrareliable computer for critical aircraft control applications that achieves fault tolerance by the replication of tasks among processing units. The main processing units are off-the-shelf minicomputers, with standard microcomputers serving as the interface to the I/O system. Fault isolation is achieved by using a specially designed redundant bus system to interconnect the processing units. Error detection and analysis and system reconfiguration are performed by software. Iterative tasks are redundantly executed, and the results of each iteration are voted upon before being used. Thus, any single failure in a processing unit or bus can be tolerated with triplication of tasks, and subsequent failures can be tolerated after reconfiguration. Independent execution by separate processors means that the processors need only be loosely synchronized, and a novel fault-tolerant synchronization method is described.

Wensley, J. H.↗

Architectures for fault-tolerant spacecraft computers

This paper summarizes the results of a long-term research program in fault-tolerant computing for spacecraft on-board processing. In response to changing device technology this program has progressed from the design of a fault-tolerant uniprocessor to the development of fault-tolerant distributed computer systems. The unusual requirements of spacecraft computing are described along with the resulting real-time computer architectures. The following aspects of these designs are discussed: (1) architectural features to minimize complexity in the distributed computer system, (2) fault-detection and recovery, (3) techniques to enhance reliability and testability, and (4) design approaches for LSI implementation.

Rennels, D. A.↗

Intermittent/transient faults in computer systems: Executive summary

An overview of an approach for diagnosing intermittent/transient (I/T) faults is presented. The development of an interrelated theory and experimental methodology to be used in a laboratory situation to measure the capability of a fault tolerant computing system to diagnose I/T faults, is discussed. To the extent that such diagnosing capability is important to reliability in fault tolerant computing systems, this theory and supporting methodology serves as a foundation for validation efforts.

Masson, G. M.↗

Fault-tolerant system optimization

The paper describes the decisions to be made in the design of fault-tolerant systems and provides details of a comprehensive model developed to cost optimize such systems. Economical use of replication is making fault-tolerant systems possible and more applications for safety crucial systems such as active flight controls can be expected. In turn, the use of massive redundancy, fault-tolerance, and reconfigurable systems in stimulating the development of new analytical tools for establishing the cost and effectiveness of the safety and cost effectiveness of the levels of replication will increase. Closed-form analytical solutions for the reliability and maintainability analysis of fault-tolerant systems are complex, and Monte-Carlo simulation appears to be a more desirable method of establishing the reliability and maintainability of such systems.

Rose, J.↗

The accommodation of relative motion at depth on the San Andreas fault system in California

Plate motion below the seismogenic layer along the San Andreas fault system in California is assumed to form by aseismic slip along a deeper extension of the fault or may result from lateral distribution of deformation below the seismogenic layer. The shallow depth of California earthquakes, the depth of the coseismic slip during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and the presence of widely separated parallel faults indicate that relative motion is distributed below the seismogenic zone, occurring by inelastic flow rather than by aseismic slip on discrete fault planes.

Prescott, W. H.↗

Software fault tolerance for real-time avionics systems

Avionics systems have very high reliability requirements and are therefore prime candidates for the inclusion of fault tolerance techniques. In order to provide tolerance to software faults, some form of state restoration is usually advocated as a means of recovery. State restoration can be very expensive for systems which utilize concurrent processes. The concurrency present in most avionics systems and the further difficulties introduced by timing constraints imply that providing tolerance for software faults may be inordinately expensive or complex. A straightforward pragmatic approach to software fault tolerance which is believed to be applicable to many real-time avionics systems is proposed. A classification system for software errors is presented together with approaches to recovery and continued service for each error type.

Anderson, T.↗

A program plan for the development of fault tolerant large space systems

The need for fault tolerance in Large Space systems is discussed. The unique characteristics of LSS which affect fault tolerance are described. The status of fault tolerant research for LSS is described. A program plan to validate and demonstrate the concept of fault tolerance for LSS is developed.

Motyka, P.↗

Focal depths and fault plane solutions of earthquakes under the Tibetan plateau

Seismic data are used to place constraints on the focal depths and fault plane solutions of 16 crustal earthquakes beneath the highest parts of the Tibetan plateau. Synthetic seismograms were computed for large events from 1962 to 1976, and compared with the observed waveforms. All of the events studied are found to have occurred at depths less than 15 km and probably between 5 and 10 km, suggesting that the crust below 10-15 km is essentially aseismic, as in most of the Western United States. Fault-plane solutions show combinations of normal and strike slip faulting with T axes consistently oriented approximately east-west, supporting the inference that the upper crust of Tibet is actively extending in an east-west direction. In addition, solutions for two intermediate-depth events at depths of 90 and 85 km show primarily normal faulting with east-west T axes. Results show that brittle deformation occurs at shallow depths in the crust and in the uppermost mantle, but the lower crust seems to be aseismic.

Molnar, P.↗