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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 1,117 records · Page 62
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1974

Adjustment technique without explicit formation of normal equations /conjugate gradient method/

For a simultaneous adjustment of a large geodetic triangulation system, a semiiterative technique is modified and used successfully. In this semiiterative technique, known as the conjugate gradient (CG) method, original observation equations are used, and thus the explicit formation of normal equations is avoided, 'huge' computer storage space being saved in the case of triangulation systems. This method is suitable even for very poorly conditioned systems where solution is obtained only after more iterations. A detailed study of the CG method for its application to large geodetic triangulation systems was done that also considered constraint equations with observation equations. It was programmed and tested on systems as small as two unknowns and three equations up to those as large as 804 unknowns and 1397 equations. When real data (573 unknowns, 965 equations) from a 1858-km-long triangulation system were used, a solution vector accurate to four decimal places was obtained in 2.96 min after 1171 iterations (i.e., 2.0 times the number of unknowns).

Saxena, N. K.↗
NASA NTRS1989

VLSI Universal Noiseless Coder

Proposed universal noiseless coder (UNC) compresses stream of data signals for efficient transmission in channel of limited bandwidth. Noiseless in sense original data completely recoverable from output code. System built as very-large-scale integrated (VLSI) circuit, compressing data in real time at input rates as high as 24 Mb/s, and possibly faster, depending on specific design. Approach yields small, lightweight system operating reliably and consuming little power. Constructed as single, compact, low-power VLSI circuit chip. Design of VLSI circuit chip made specific to code algorithms. Entire UNC fabricated in single chip, worst-case power dissipation less than 1 W.

Rice, Robert F.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Ames Culture Chamber System: Enabling Model Organism Research Aboard the international Space Station

Understanding the genetic, physiological, and behavioral effects of spaceflight on living organisms and elucidating the molecular mechanisms that underlie these effects are high priorities for NASA. Certain organisms, known as model organisms, are widely studied to help researchers better understand how all biological systems function. Small model organisms such as nem-atodes, slime mold, bacteria, green algae, yeast, and moss can be used to study the effects of micro- and reduced gravity at both the cellular and systems level over multiple generations. Many model organisms have sequenced genomes and published data sets on their transcriptomes and proteomes that enable scientific investigations of the molecular mechanisms underlying the adaptations of these organisms to space flight.

culture chamber system↗
DOE OSTI2014

Chemodynamical deuterium fractionation in the early solar nebula: The origin of water on earth and in asteroids and comets

Formation and evolution of water in the solar system and the origin of water on Earth constitute one of the most interesting questions in astronomy. The prevailing hypothesis for the origin of water on Earth is by delivery through water-rich small solar system bodies. In this paper, the isotopic and chemical evolution of water during the early history of the solar nebula, before the onset of planetesimal formation, is studied. A gas-grain chemical model that includes multiply deuterated species and nuclear spin-states is combined with a steady-state solar nebula model. To calculate initial abundances, we simulated 1 Myr of evolution of a cold and dark TMC-1-like prestellar core. Two time-dependent chemical models of the solar nebula are calculated over 1 Myr: (1) a laminar model and (2) a model with two-dimensional (2D) turbulent mixing. We find that the radial outward increase of the H{sub 2}O D/H ratio is shallower in the chemodynamical nebular model than in the laminar model. This is related to more efficient defractionation of HDO via rapid gas-phase processes because the 2D mixing model allows the water ice to be transported either inward and thermally evaporated or upward and photodesorbed. The laminar model shows the Earth water D/H ratio at r ≲ 2.5 AU, whereas for the 2D chemodynamical model this zone is larger, r ≲ 9 AU. Similarly, the water D/H ratios representative of the Oort-family comets, ∼2.5-10 × 10{sup –4}, are achieved within ∼2-6 AU and ∼2-20 AU in the laminar and the 2D model, respectively. We find that with regards to the water isotopic composition and the origin of the comets, the mixing model seems to be favored over the laminar model.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

2022 Component Innovation Awardee: Pecos Wind Power

Distributed wind energy systems supply electricity for nearby homes and businesses, often in remote and rural regions. Systems capable of capturing energy in areas with low wind speeds make it possible to deploy these clean energy systems in many geographic locations. Pecos Wind Power's 85-kilowatt (kW) horizontal-axis PW85 wind turbine shows potential to reduce the levelized cost of energy by approximately 55% when compared to typical small wind systems while achieving utility-scale capacity factors of more than 40% in areas with lower wind speeds. To maximize cost competitiveness, the Pecos Wind Power turbine needs a blade optimized for low wind speeds. Through its 2022 Competitiveness Improvement Project (CIP) award, Pecos Wind Power and partner Wetzel Wind Energy Services will model, optimize, fabricate, and validate a 14.5-meter wind turbine blade made specifically for these applications. Three prior CIP awards supported Pecos Wind Power's initial development of the PW85 turbine.

CIP↗
NASA NTRS1982

Development of a rotary instrumentation system, phase 2

A rotary instrumentation system which consists of ruggedized miniature telemetry transmitters installed on the rotating shaft of a gas turbine engine to telemeter the outputs of sensors (strain gages, thermocouples, etc.) on rotating engine components was designed. A small prototype system, which demonstrates the capabilities of performing in the intended environment and demonstrates that the system is expandable to handle about 100 data channels was developed.

Adler, A.↗
DOE OSTI2015

Development of III-Sb Quantum Dot Systems for High Efficiency Intermediate Band Solar Cells

This project aimed to develop solar cells that can help reduce cost per watt. This work focused on developing solar cells that utilize quantum dot (QD) nanomaterials to provide multijunction solar cell efficiency at the cost of single junction solar cell. We focused on a novel concept known as intermediate band solar cells (IBSC) where an additional energy band is inserted in a single solar cell to accommodate sub-bandgap photons absorption which otherwise are lost through transmission. The additional energy band can be achieved by growing QDs within a solar cell p-n junction. Though numerous studies have been conducted to develop such QD systems, very small improvements in solar energy conversion efficiency have been reported. This is mainly due to non-optimal material parameters such as band gap, band offset etc. In this work, we identified and developed a novel QD material system that meets the requirements of IBSC more closely than the current state-of-the-art technology. To achieve these goals, we focused on three important areas of solar cell design: band structure calculations of new materials, efficient device design for high efficiency, and development of new semiconductor materials. In this project, we focused on III-Sb materials as they possess a wide range of energy bandgaps from 0.2 eV to 2eV. Despite the difficulty involved in realizing these materials, we were successfully developed these materials through a systematic approach. Materials studied in this work are AlAsSb (Aluminum Arsenide Antimonide), InAlAs (Indium Aluminum Arsenide) and InAs (Indium Arsenide). InAs was used to develop QD layers within AlAsSb and InAlAs p-n junctions. As the QDs have very small volume, up to 30 QD layers been inserted into the p-n junction to enhance light absorption. These QD multi-stack devices helped in understanding the challenges associated with the development of quantum dot solar cells. The results from this work show that the quantum dot solar cells indeed improve the efficiency via sub-bandgap photon absorption but much lower than the expected theoretical efficiencies. Yet, these devices serve as a proof of concept and the results provide vital information for future IBSC work. With further understanding of the operation of intermediate band solar cells and the identification of less expensive materials can substantially improve the solar cell efficiency and drastically cut the cell cost thereby reducing the dollar/watt cost.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS1974

The movement of small particulate matter in the early solar system and the formation of satellites

The motions of the abundant small particulate matter in the early solar system are discussed. The effects of gas drag and resonance effects of perturbing forces could have led to accretion and differentiation of the matter. The composition of the moon and the existence of the rings of Saturn can be explained on the basis of the assembly of small particulate matter in satellite orbits around the planets.

Gold, T.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Small vs. Large Convective Cloud Objects from CERES Aqua Observations: Where are the Intraseasonal Variation Signals?

During inactive phases of Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO), there are plenty of deep but small convective systems and far fewer deep and large ones. During active phases of MJO, a manifestation of an increase in the occurrence of large and deep cloud clusters results from an amplification of large-scale motions by stronger convective heating. This study is designed to quantitatively examine the roles of small and large cloud clusters during the MJO life cycle. We analyze the cloud object data from Aqua CERES observations for tropical deep convective (DC) and cirrostratus (CS) cloud object types according to the real-time multivariate MJO index. The cloud object is a contiguous region of the earth with a single dominant cloud-system type. The size distributions, defined as the footprint numbers as a function of cloud object diameters, for particular MJO phases depart greatly from the combined (8-phase) distribution at large cloud-object diameters due to the reduced/increased numbers of cloud objects related to changes in the large-scale environments. The medium diameter corresponding to the combined distribution is determined and used to partition all cloud objects into "small" and "large" groups of a particular phase. The two groups corresponding to the combined distribution have nearly equal numbers of footprints. The medium diameters are 502 km for DC and 310 km for cirrostratus. The range of the variation between two extreme phases (typically, the most active and depressed phases) for the small group is 6-11% in terms of the numbers of cloud objects and the total footprint numbers. The corresponding range for the large group is 19-44%. In terms of the probability density functions of radiative and cloud physical properties, there are virtually no differences between the MJO phases for the small group, but there are significant differences for the large groups for both DC and CS types. These results suggest that the intreseasonal variation signals reside at the large cloud clusters while the small cloud clusters represent the background noises resulting from various types of the tropical waves with different wavenumbers and propagation directions/speeds.

Xu, Kuan-Man↗
DOE OSTI2019

Interacting kinks and meson mixing

A Rayleigh–Schrödinger type of perturbation scheme is employed to study weakly interacting kinks and domain walls formed from two different real scalar fields χ and φ. An interaction potential V{sub 1}(χ,φ) is chosen which vanishes in a vacuum state of either field. Approximate first order corrections for the fields are found, which are associated with scalar field condensates inhabiting the zeroth order topological solitons. The model considered here presents several new and interesting features. These include (1) a condensate of each kink field inhabits the other kink, (2) the condensates contribute an associated mass to the system which vanishes when the kinks overlap, (3) a resulting mass defect of the system for small interkink distances allows the existence of a loosely bound state when the interkink force is repulsive. An identification of the interaction potential energy and forces allows a qualitative description of the classical motion of the system, with bound states, along with scattering states, possible when the interkink force is attractive. (4) Finally, the interaction potential introduces a mixing and oscillation of the perturbative χ and φ meson flavor states, which has effects upon meson–kink interactions.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
NASA NTRS1995

A class of stabilizing controllers for flexible multibody systems

The problem of controlling a class of nonlinear multibody flexible space systems consisting of a flexible central body to which a number of articulated appendages are attached is considered. Collocated actuators and sensors are assumed, and global asymptotic stability of such systems is established under a nonlinear dissipative control law. The stability is shown to be robust to unmodeled dynamics and parametric uncertainties. For a special case in which the attitude motion of the central body is small, the system, although still nonlinear, is shown to be stabilized by linear dissipative control laws. Two types of linear controllers are considered: static dissipative (constant gain) and dynamic dissipative. The static dissipative control law is also shown to provide robust stability in the presence of certain classes of actuator and sensor nonlinearities and actuator dynamics. The results obtained for this special case can also be readily applied for controlling single-body linear flexible space structures. For this case, a synthesis technique for the design of a suboptimal dynamic dissipative controller is also presented. The results obtained in this paper are applicable to a broad class of multibody and single-body systems such as flexible multilink manipulators, multipayload space platforms, and space antennas. The stability proofs use the Lyapunov approach and exploit the inherent passivity of such systems.

Joshi, Suresh M.↗
NASA NTRS1995

High-performance passive microwave survey on Josephson Junctions

The quasi-optical generations of images of objects with their internal structure in millimeter (MM) and submillimeter (SMM) bands is one of prime problems of modern radioelectronics. The main advantage of passive MM imaging systems in comparison with visible and infrared (IR) systems is small attenuation of signals in fog, cloud, smoke, dust and other obscurants. However, at a panoramic scanning of space the observation time lengthens and thereby the information processing rate becomes restricted so that single-channel system cannot image in real time. Therefore we must use many radiometers in parallel to reduce the observation time. Such system must contain receiving sensors as pixels in multibeam antenna. The use of Josephson Junctions (JJ) for this purpose together with the cryoelectronic devices like GaAs FET (field effect transistors) or SQUIDS for signal amplifications after JJ is of particular interest in this case.

Denisov, A. G.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Electrodynamic Tether Propulsion for Spacecraft and Upper Stages

Relatively short electrodynamic tethers can use solar power to 'push' against a planetary magnetic field to achieve propulsion without the expenditure of propellant. The groundwork has been laid for this type of propulsion. Important recent milestones include retrieval of a tether in space (TSS-1, 1992), successful deployment of a 20-km-long tether in space (SEDS-1, 1993), and operation of an electrodynamic tether with tether current driven in both directions (PMG, 1993). The planned Propulsive Small Expendable Deployer System (ProSEDS) experiment will use the flight-proven Small Expendable Deployer System (SEDS) to deploy a 5 km bare copper tether from a Delta II upper stage to achieve approximately 0.4 N drag thrust, thus deorbiting the stage. The experiment will use a predominantly 'bare' tether for current collection in lieu of the endmass collector and insulated tether approach used on previous missions. The flight experiment is a precursor to utilization of the technology on the International Space Station for reboost and the electrodynamic tether upper stage demonstration mission which will be capable of orbit raising, lowering and inclination changes, all using electrodynamic thrust. In addition, the use of this type of propulsion may be attractive for future missions at Jupiter.

Johnson, Les↗
NASA NTRS2013

MISL SDK Public Release

The Modular Integrated Stackable Layers (MISL) is a compact space-related computer system that is modular, scalable and reconfigurable. The original goal was to design a space environment capable instrumentation system with a flexible design so that as subsets of requirements changed, it minimized the need for new designs and maximized the reusability of the hardware and software modules. The result is a flexible, economical and small computer system that can be adapted to uses in space environment instrumentation and control. Current applications include habitat system instruments and control, dynamic flight instrumentation in rugged environments, in vehicle communication protocol converters and remote control unit for thruster jets. Future applications are limited only by the imagination!

Delaune, Paul↗
DOE OSTI2021

A propagation-based fault detection and discrimination method and the optimization of sensor deployment

Industrial processes can be affected by faults having a serious impact on operation when not promptly detected and diagnosed. Here in this paper, a propagation-based fault detection and discrimination(PFDD) method is proposed to develop a strategy for fault diagnosis while in the design phase of a system. The PFDD method constructs the system model using the Integrated System Fault Analysis(ISFA) technique. Based on the system model, the propagation of hardware and software faults are simulated qualitatively. Given the results of the simulation, the process by which a fault propagates can be characterized using the qualitative features of system variables including the deviation of the system variables from their expected values, the variation of the system variables over time, and the order in which each variable is influenced during the propagation of the fault. The strategy by which a fault can be detected and discriminated is defined using those features. The PFDD method supports the detection and discrimination of faults in both steady states and transient states. Based on the PFDD method, the optimization of sensor deployment in a system is discussed. A brute force algorithm is developed to examine the system’s capability at diagnosing faults and the cost of sensor deployment for all possible configurations of sensors. The optimal sensor deployment strategy can be derived accordingly. However, the brute force method is only applicable to small-scale systems due to its high computational cost. A genetic algorithm is used to optimize sensor deployment in large-scale systems. The PFDD and sensor deployment optimization methods are applied to the Experimental Breeder Reactor II (EBR-II) for verification.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
NASA NTRS2023

Vibration Anomaly Indicator in UAVs in presence of Wind

One of the critical factors affecting flight safety of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) is the amount of vibration they are exposed during a flight. For UAVs under remote operation, vehicle stabilization and navigation is typically achieved by estimating its attitude and position using onboard miniature sensors such as accelerometers, gyroscopes, and GPS via an onboard autopilot. Since precise control of the UAV relies heavily on the attitude sensing, the vibration levels need to be as low as possible in order to minimize the signal noise. Incorrect sensor data can lead to uncertain state estimation causing the multirotor to drift from its desired position. Moreover, high vibrations can induce faults in the safety-critical components of the UAV such as its on-board sensors, motors and propellers. Hence, it is important to monitor the vibration levels during a UAV flight. This paper specifically looks into effect of wind on the vibrations recorded by the autopilot system in an octocopter. Using data from experimental flights under varying wind conditions, we aim to classify between a nominal and anomalous vibration level and define a safety metric known as the Vibrational Anomaly Indicator (VAI) for small UAV systems. Further, we will study effect of high vibrations on the inertial measurement unit (IMU) of an octocopter under laboratory set-up and compute the VAI from IMU measurements. Results would demonstrate the utility of VAI as an health indicator for unmanned flights either in presence of winds or from degraded on-board IMU sensor.

Vibration↗
NASA NTRS1986

Development of a reaction wheel attitude control system for sounding rocket experiments and small Shuttle-based free flyers

A three-axis reaction wheel control system is currently under development. Initial emphasis is on a magnetic field reference, although the system is easily adaptable to other positional references, e.g., the gyroscopic. The system is housed in a skin section 17.25 inches in diameter and approximately 10 inches long. Current weight estimate is 75 pounds. An orthogonal triad of dc motors forms the basis of the system. Power is provided by silver-zinc cells and controlled by an 8-bit microprocessor. The control law is presented and the dynamical equations derived. Simulation results show that a payload with a roll MOI of 4.1 sl/sq ft and a transverse MOI of 20.3 sl/sq ft can typically be reoriented 90 degrees in 20-35 seconds, depending upon the initial body rates.

Ward, P. R.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Effectiveness of Redundant Communications Systems in Maintaining Operational Control of Small Unmanned Aircraft

NASA has been researching prototype technologies for an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Traffic Management (UTM) system to facilitate enabling of safe and efficient civilian low-altitude airspace and UAS operations, in a series of Technical Capability Levels (TCL) activities that are increasingly complex. In TCL1, completed in 2015, visual line-of-sight operations such as agriculture, firefighting and infrastructure monitoring were addressed with a focus on geofencing and operations scheduling. Technologies and requirements needed for beyond visual line-of-sight (BVLOS) operations in sparsely populated areas were examined in TCL2 in 2016, and those for operations over moderately populated areas in TCL3 in 2017 and 2018. TCL4 will build on the earlier TCLs and focus on technologies and requirements for operations in higher-density urban areas for tasks such as news gathering, package delivery and for managing large-scale contingencies. This paper describes a communications test conducted in TCL3 and discusses insights gained from the test. In the test, operators were directed to equip UAS with redundant Command and Control (C2) communications systems, send a maneuver command to Unmanned Aircraft (UA) via the primary system, then verify execution of the sent command. This exercise was repeated with each redundant system. The test was designed to assess effectiveness of redundant C2 systems in maintaining operational control of UA. Several UAS were configured with varying arrangements to achieve redundancy, including two identical radio modems using the same frequency band, WiFi and Long-Term Evolution (LTE) cellular modems, etc. From the test, digital data such as time maneuver command sent, time maneuver verified, etc., were collected. Descriptions of methods to detect loss of C2 communications and contingency steps for such event were collected and assessed. The final paper will include a detailed analysis of the collected data leading to the following insights. First, effectiveness of redundant C2 systems depends on several factors, such as operational environment and communications service availability. For example, use of two identical point-to-point radio to connect operator and UA on the same frequency band can be effective in mitigating radio malfunction when operating in an environment where possibility of Radio Frequency (RF) interference is low, such as over open plains. However, the same arrangement may not be effective where high level of RF transmissions in broad spectrum ranges can be expected, such as over or near urban areas. For redundant systems that consist of external communications services, such as cellular and satellite communications network, redundancy is maintained only in the areas where more than one services are available. Therefore, UAS operators should have the means to plan for and monitor the performance of external communications services they are relying on to control UA. Second, communications performance needs, such as the minimum data transfer rate and the maximum tolerable latency, should be assessed to reflect the potential hazard that can come from loss of UA control. For example, UA operations over desolate area pose less hazard to people than operations over densely populated area and performance need for the former would be less than the latter.

Jung, Jaewoo↗