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At least 109 records · Page 6

Discovering Digital Engineering Needs Through Human-Centered Approaches

Digital engineering has the power to transform organizations in profound ways, but digitizing legacy workflows and infusing new technologies into existing practices may not yield the intended results or address the underlying problems or bottlenecks. This paper describes the human-centered approaches used to understand stakeholder challenges and identify digital engineering needs during the design-build-test portion of the systems development lifecycle. Through a series of interactive stakeholder workshops and need-finding activities, key stakeholder needs were identified to help guide the integration of digital engineering technologies. The overarching need was for downstream system development steps to be considered further upstream in the project lifecycle in a manner that allows for proactive and interactive co-constructive idea exploration, problem resolution, and requirements considerations in a collective engagement with engineers and technicians from multiple disciplines to increase efficiency and reduce risks while offering opportunities to improve the final engineered system. Supporting this need was a wide-ranging desire from stakeholders for digital and non-digital support structures for efficient rapid iteration during system development. This work yielded several improvements for system development processes and for digital engineering infusion.

Design Science↗

High voltage-high power components for large space power distribution systems

Space power components including a family of bipolar power switching transistors, fast switching power diodes, heat pipe cooled high frequency transformers and inductors, high frequency conduction cooled transformers, high power-high frequency capacitors, remote power controllers and rotary power transfer devices were developed. Many of these components such as the power switching transistors, power diodes and the high frequency capacitor are commercially available. All the other components were developed to the prototype level. The dc/dc series resonant converters were built to the 25 kW level.

Renz, D. D.↗

High voltage-high power components for large space power distribution systems

Space power components including a family of bipolar power switching transistors, fast switching power diodes, heat pipe cooled high frequency transformers and inductors, high frequency conduction cooled transformers, high power-high frequency capacitors, remote power controllers and rotary power transfer devices were developed. Many of these components such as the power switching transistors, power diodes and the high frequency capacitor are commercially available. All the other components were developed to the prototype level. The dc/dc series resonant converters were built to the 25 kW level.

Renz, D. D.↗

Power law behavior of RR-interval variability in healthy middle-aged persons, patients with recent acute myocardial infarction, and patients with heart transplants

BACKGROUND. The purposes of the present study were (1) to establish normal values for the regression of log(power) on log(frequency) for, RR-interval fluctuations in healthy middle-aged persons, (2) to determine the effects of myocardial infarction on the regression of log(power) on log(frequency), (3) to determine the effect of cardiac denervation on the regression of log(power) on log(frequency), and (4) to assess the ability of power law regression parameters to predict death after myocardial infarction. METHODS AND RESULTS. We studied three groups: (1) 715 patients with recent myocardial infarction; (2) 274 healthy persons age and sex matched to the infarct sample; and (3) 19 patients with heart transplants. Twenty-four-hour RR-interval power spectra were computed using fast Fourier transforms and log(power) was regressed on log(frequency) between 10(-4) and 10(-2) Hz. There was a power law relation between log(power) and log(frequency). That is, the function described a descending straight line that had a slope of approximately -1 in healthy subjects. For the myocardial infarction group, the regression line for log(power) on log(frequency) was shifted downward and had a steeper negative slope (-1.15). The transplant (denervated) group showed a larger downward shift in the regression line and a much steeper negative slope (-2.08). The correlation between traditional power spectral bands and slope was weak, and that with log(power) at 10(-4) Hz was only moderate. Slope and log(power) at 10(-4) Hz were used to predict mortality and were compared with the predictive value of traditional power spectral bands. Slope and log(power) at 10(-4) Hz were excellent predictors of all-cause mortality or arrhythmic death. To optimize the prediction of death, we calculated a log(power) intercept that was uncorrelated with the slope of the power law regression line. We found that the combination of slope and zero-correlation log(power) was an outstanding predictor, with a relative risk of > 10, and was better than any combination of the traditional power spectral bands. The combination of slope and log(power) at 10(-4) Hz also was an excellent predictor of death after myocardial infarction. CONCLUSIONS. Myocardial infarction or denervation of the heart causes a steeper slope and decreased height of the power law regression relation between log(power) and log(frequency) of RR-interval fluctuations. Individually and, especially, combined, the power law regression parameters are excellent predictors of death of any cause or arrhythmic death and predict these outcomes better than the traditional power spectral bands.

Non-NASA Center↗

Development of high frequency low weight power magnetics for aerospace power systems

A dominant design consideration in the development of space type power mangetic devices is the application of reliable thermal control methods to prevent device failure which is due to excessive temperature rises and hot temperatures in critical areas. The resultant design must also yield low weight, high efficiency, high reliability and maintainability, and long life. The weight savings and high efficiency that results by going to high frequency and unique thermal control techniques is demonstrated by the development of a 25 kVA, 20 kHz space type transformer under the power magnetics technology program. Work in the area of power rotary transformer is also discussed.

Schwarze, G. E.↗

Development of high frequency low weight power magnetics for aerospace power systems

A dominant design consideration in the development of space type power magnetic devices is the application of reliable thermal control methods to prevent device failure which is due to excessive temperature rises and hot temperatures in critical areas. The resultant design must also yield low weight, high efficiency, high reliability and maintainability, and long life. The weight savings and high efficiency that results by going to high frequency and unique thermal control techniques is demonstrated by the development of a 25 kVA, 20 kHz space type transformer under the power magnetics technology program. Work in the area of power rotary transformer is also discussed.

Schwarze, G. E.↗

High temperature co-axial winding transformers

The analysis and design of co-axial winding transformers is presented. The design equations are derived and the different design approaches are discussed. One of the most important features of co-axial winding transformers is the fact that the leakage inductance is well controlled and can be made low. This is not the case in conventional winding transformers. In addition, the power density of co-axial winding transformers is higher than conventional ones. Hence, using co-axial winding transformers in a certain converter topology improves the power density of the converter. The design methodology used in meeting the proposed specifications of the co-axial winding transformer specifications are presented and discussed. The final transformer design was constructed in the lab. Co-axial winding transformers proved to be a good choice for high power density and high frequency applications. They have a more predictable performance compared with conventional transformers. In addition, the leakage inductance of the transformer can be controlled easily to suit a specific application. For space applications, one major concern is the extraction of heat from power apparatus to prevent excessive heating and hence damaging of these units. Because of the vacuum environment, the only way to extract heat is by using a cold plate. One advantage of co-axial winding transformers is that the surface area available to extract heat from is very large compared to conventional transformers. This stems from the unique structure of the co-axial transformer where the whole core surface area is exposed and can be utilized for cooling effectively. This is a crucial issue here since most of the losses are core losses.

Divan, Deepakraj M.↗

Modeling NASA’s Procedural Requirement Processes - Implications for Digital Future

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has an ongoing Digital Transformation effort and to leverage and showcase the power of Digital Transformation, an effort is underway to develop an integrated, datacentric, model representing NASA’s key process requirements. The task was divided into three phases: As Is modeling, Analysis, and To Be Planning. As part of this effort, a team has completed the first Phase I of the modeling task and is nearing completion of the second phase. This effort will capture the key elements as requirements, responsibilities, allocations, roles, products, and associated lifecycle elements. The scope of modeling included NASA’s NPR 7120.5 (Project and Program Management), NPR 7123.1 (Systems Engineering) and NPRs 8705.2 (Risk classification for Robotic Missions) and 8705.4 (Human-Rating Requirements for Space Missions). This paper will summarize the approach, scope, parsing patterns applied, metamodel, and associated workflows for the As-Is modeling. It will also summarize the results and insights gleaned during that phase, including the review process. These insights have informed the analysis and will be discussed. The analysis modeling phase will also be summarized including how the stakeholders were engaged, how the common elements were handled and dispositioned, and will also describe some of the plans for the future of NASA NPDs and NPRs.

Systems Engineering↗

Modeling NASA’s Procedural Requirement Processes – Implications for a Digital Future

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has an ongoing Digital Transformation effort and to leverage and showcase the power of Digital Transformation, an effort is underway to develop an integrated, datacentric, model representing NASA’s key process requirements. The task was divided into three phases: As Is modeling, Analysis, and To Be Planning. As part of this effort, a team has completed the first Phase I of the modeling task and is nearing completion of the second phase. This effort will capture the key elements as requirements, responsibilities, allocations, roles, products, and associated lifecycle elements. The scope of modeling included NASA’s NPR 7120.5 (Project and Program Management), NPR 7123.1 (Systems Engineering) and NPRs 8705.2 (Risk classification for Robotic Missions) and 8705.4 (Human-Rating Requirements for Space Missions).

NPR↗

Multijunction InGaAs thermophotovoltaic power converter

The experimental performance of a multijunction monolithic In(0.53)Ga(0. 47)As power converter under blackbody irradiation is reported. Eight InGaAs PN junctions grown epitaxially on a semi-insulating wafer were monolithically integrated in series to boost the approximately 0.4 V photovoltage per typical InGaAs junction to over 3 volts for the 1 sq cm chip. This chip was originally designed and characterized for free-space 1.3 micron laser power beaming. This is the first report of such a multijunction TPV. This is not a traditional tandem cell in which the junctions are stacked vertically. The junctions are each about 1mm long by 1 cm wide and are laterally connected across the 1 sq cm device area. This multijunction design has the potential for lower I(sup 2)R power loss since the smaller PN junction area limits the current to one-eighth that of the equivalent surface area. In essence, the current is traded for voltage to avoid the I(sup 2)R loss, analogous to the way power utilities avoid I(sup 2)P loss in high-tension power lines, by transforming the high current, low voltage generated at a power plant into a high voltage at a low current before transmitting the power over great distances.

Wojtczuk, Steven↗

Multijunction InGaAs thermophotovoltaic power converter

The experimental performance of a multijunction monolithic lattice-matched 0.74 eV InGaAs thermophotovoltaic (TPV) power converter under 980 C blackbody irradiation is reported. Eight InGaAs PN junctions grown epitaxially on a semi-insulating wafer were monolithically integrated in series to boost the approximately 0.4 V photovoltage per typical InGaAs junction to over 3 volts for the 1 cm(exp 2) chip. This chip was originally designed and characterized for free-space 1.3 micron laser power beaming. The power efficiency of this TPV device is 16% for that part of the blackbody spectrum above the material bandgap. The device is shown to deliver about 1 watt of output power when driven with enough light. This is the first report of such a multijunction TPV device. This is not a traditional tandem cell in which the junctions are stacked vertically. Eight 1 mm long by 1 cm wide junctions are laterally connected across the device area. This multijunction design has the potential for lower I(exp 2)R power loss since the smaller PN junction area limits the current to one eighth that of the equivalent surface area. In essence, the current is traded for voltage to avoid the I(exp 2)R loss, analogous to the way power utilities avoid I(exp 2)R loss in high-tension power lines, by transforming the high current, low voltage generated at a power plant into a high voltage at a low current before transmitting the power over great distances.

Wojtczuk, Steven↗

Architecture for a High-to-Medium-Voltage Power Converter

A power converter now undergoing development is required to operate at a DC input potential ranging between 5.5 and 10 kV and a DC output potential of 400 V at a current up to 25 A. This power converter is also required to be sufficiently compact and reliable to fit and operate within the confines of a high-pressure case to be lowered to several miles (approx.5 km) below the surface of the ocean. The architecture chosen to satisfy these requirements calls for a series/ parallel arrangement of 48 high-frequency, pulse-width-modulation (PWM), transformer-isolation DC-to-DC power converter blocks. The input sides of the converter blocks would be connected in series so that the input potential would be divided among them, each of them being exposed to an input potential of no more than 10 kV/48 . 210 V. The series connection of inputs would also enforce a requirement that all the converter blocks operate at the same input current. The outputs of the converter blocks would be connected in a matrix comprising 6 parallel legs, each leg being a cascade of eight outputs wired in series (see figure). All the converter blocks would be identical within the tolerances of the values of their components. A single voltage feedback loop would regulate the output potential. All the converter blocks would be driven by the same PWM waveform generated by this feedback loop. The power transformer of each converter block would have a unity turns ratio and would be capable of withstanding as much as 10 kVDC between its primary and secondary windings. (Although, in general, the turns ratio could be different from unity, the simplest construction for minimizing leakage and maximizing breakdown voltage is attained at a turns ratio of unity.)

Vorpenian, Vatche↗

Convergence acceleration and shock fitting for transonic aerodynamics computations

Two problems in computational fluid dynamics are studied in the context of transonic small-disturbance theory - namely, (1) how to speed up the convergence for currently available iterative procedures, and (2) how a shock-fitting method may be adapted to existing relaxation procedures with minimal alterations in computer programming and storage requirements. The paper contributes to a clarification of error analyses for sequence transformations based on the power method (including also the nonlinear transforms of Aitken, Shanks, and Wilkinson), and to developing a cyclic iterative procedure applying the transformations. Examples testing the procedure for a model Dirichlet problem and for a transonic airfoil problem show that savings in computer time by a factor of three to five are generally possible, depending on accuracy requirements and the particular iterative procedure used.-

Hafez, M. M.↗

A computer program for estimating the power-density spectrum of advanced continuous simulation language generated time histories

A computer program for performing frequency analysis of time history data is presented. The program uses circular convolution and the fast Fourier transform to calculate power density spectrum (PDS) of time history data. The program interfaces with the advanced continuous simulation language (ACSL) so that a frequency analysis may be performed on ACSL generated simulation variables. An example of the calculation of the PDS of a Van de Pol oscillator is presented.

Dunn, H. J.↗