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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 127 records · Page 7

Effect of Variable Emittance Coatings on the Operation of a Miniature Loop Heat Pipe

Abstract. As the size of spacecraft shrink to accommodate small and more efficient instruments, smaller launch vehicles, and constellation missions, all subsystems must also be made smaller. Under NASA NFL4 03-OSS-02, Space Technology-8 (ST 8), NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and Jet Propulsion Laboratory jointly conducted a Concept Definition study to develop a miniature loop heat pipe (MLHP) thermal management system design suitable for future small spacecraft. The proposed MLHP thermal management system consists of a miniature loop heat pipe (LHP) and deployable radiators that are coated with variable emittance coatings (VECs). As part of the Phase A study and proof of the design concept, variable emittance coatings were integrated with a breadboard miniature loop heat pipe. The miniature loop heat pipe was supplied by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (PL), while the variable emittance technology were supplied by Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and Sensortex, Inc. The entire system was tested under vacuum at various temperature extremes and power loads. This paper summarizes the results of this testing and shows the effect of the VEC on the operation of a miniature loop heat pipe.

Douglas, Donya M.↗

Summary of Resources for the International Space Station Environmental Control and Life Support System For Core Complete Modules

The Core Complete Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) System for the International Space Station (ISS) will consist of components and subsystems in both the United States (U.S.) and International Partner elements which together will perform the functions of Temperature and Humidity Control (THC), Atmosphere Control and Supply (ACS), Atmosphere Revitalization (AR), Water Recovery and Management (WRM), Fire Detection and Suppression (FDS), and Vacuum System (VS) for the station. Due to limited resources available on ISS, detailed attention is given to minimizing and tracking all resources associated with all systems, beginning with estimates during the hardware development phase through measured actuals when flight hardware is built and delivered. A summary of resources consumed by the addition of future U.S. ECLS system hardware to get to Core Complete is presented, including launch weight, average continuous and peak power loads, on-orbit volume and resupply logistics.

Williams, David E.↗

Summary of Resources for the International Space Station Environmental Control and Life Support System

The assembly complete Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) s ystem for the International Space Station (ISS) will consist of compo nents and subsystems in both the U.S. and International partner eleme nts which together will perform the functions of Temperature and Hum idity Control (THC), Atmosphere Control and Supply (ACS), Atmosphere Revitalization (AR), Water Recovery and Management (WRM), Fire Detect ion and Suppression (FDS), and Vacuum System (VS) for the station. D ue to limited resources available on ISS, detailed attention is given to minimizing and tracking all resources associated with all systems , beginning with estimates during the hardware development phase thr ough measured actuals when flight hardware is built and delivered. A summary of resources consumed by the current on-orbit U.S. ECLS syste m hardware is presented, including launch weight, average continuous and peak power loads, on-orbit volume and resupply logistics. ..

Williams, David E.↗

An Exploration of the Performance and Acoustic Characteristics of UAV-Scale Stacked Rotor Configurations

As interest grows in rotor- and propeller-driven electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft for the Urban Air Mobility market, there is a potential for previously studied concepts to reemerge due to the opportunities afforded by novel technologies and operating modes. One such concept is the “stacked” rotor, which consists of multiple co-rotating rotors positioned co-axially with a small axial offset. The goal of the work presented in this paper is to determine whether stacked rotors offer a compelling advantage for eVTOL aircraft in terms of both performance and acoustic characteristics. Results are presented for new experimental tests and computational modeling of multiple stacked rotor configurations, and comparisons are made with conventional rotor configurations. Testing of thirteen separate configurations— each using the same blade shape—revealed a configuration that resulted in an increase in the rotor power loading efficiency by more than 7% and reduced noise by more than 3 dBA when compared with a conventional rotor with all blades located in the same rotational plane.

Whiteside, Siena K. S.↗

Microsphere Plutonium-238 Oxide Fuel to Revolutionize New Radioisotope Power Systems and Heat Sources for Planetary Exploration

Microsphere 238PuO2 fuels have potential to provide performance and safety enhancements for future radioisotope heat and power systems (RPS) as well as enable more flexible and compact RPS designs. Improvements in RPS specific power and more flexible geometries were recently investigated by JPL and PNNL as part of a study on cryobot devices for exploring Ocean Worlds. Missions to penetrate ice and explore oceans, such as on Europa, will require RPS with high specific power within the vehicle to provide both heat and power. Such missions will be mass-constrained, and the energy required to penetrate the ice is highly dependent on cryobot size. Therefore, compact RPS geometries are needed to maximize heat and power while minimizing 238Pu inventory. Microsphere-based heat sources are an attractive way to obtain flexible geometries and high volumetric power loadings because they can fill a region of any size and shape provided fuel temperatures are kept below a threshold and launch/re-entry safety are not compromised. The sol-gel technique to produce 238PuO2 microsphere particles for heat sources has the benefit of preventing dust generation, as opposed to the current 238PuO2 powder/pellet processing method, reducing hazards in the fuel fabrication line. Microspheres can also be individually coated to enhance thermal conductivity, and/or reduce the likelihood of 238PuO2 fuel dispersal in an accident. Although PNNL has produced 238PuO2 microspheres using the sol-gel method, the application of coatings and their integrity over time has yet to be investigated. Continued R&D could demonstrate the feasibility of advanced, microspherebased heat sources and provide baseline data for planning future missions requiring new RPS with different heat source configurations.

Fleurial, Jean-Pierre↗

Electronic load for testing power generating devices

Instrument tests various electric power generating devices by connecting the devices to the input of the load and comparing their outputs with a reference voltage. The load automatically adjusts until voltage output of the power generating device matches the reference.

Friedman, E. B.↗

Control circuit maintains unity power factor of reactive load

Circuit including feedback control elements automatically corrects the power factor of a reactive load. It maintains power supply efficiency where negative load reactance changes and varies by providing corrective error signals to the control windings of a power supply transformer.

Kramer, M.↗

The Influence of Wing Loading on Turbofan Powered STOL Transports with and Without Externally Blown Flaps

The effects of wing loading on the design of short takeoff and landing (STOL) transports using (1) mechanical flap systems, and (2) externally blown flap systems are determined. Aircraft incorporating each high-lift method are sized for field lengths of 2,000 feet, 2,500 feet, and 3,500 feet, and for payloads of 40, 150, and 300 passengers, for a total of 18 point-design aircraft. An assumed 1975 level of technology is applied to both concepts in terms of propulsion, weights, active controls, supercritical wing methodology, and acoustics. Low-wing-loading STOL configurations with mechanical flaps are found to be competitive with externally blown flap STOL configurations over wide ranges of payload and field length for the airworthiness rules and technology improvements assumed. Because the results of design studies like this one are sensitive to the ground rules assumed, careful attention is paid to describing the assumptions. These assumptions must be understood before the results are compared with other STOL airplane studies.

Morris, R. L.↗

Numerical Predictions of Wind Turbine Power and Aerodynamic Loads for the NREL Phase II and IV Combined Experiment Rotor

Accurate, reliable and robust numerical predictions of wind turbine rotor power remain a challenge to the wind energy industry. The literature reports various methods that compare predictions to experiments. The methods vary from Blade Element Momentum Theory (BEM), Vortex Lattice (VL), to variants of Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RaNS). The BEM and VL methods consistently show discrepancies in predicting rotor power at higher wind speeds mainly due to inadequacies with inboard stall and stall delay models. The RaNS methodologies show promise in predicting blade stall. However, inaccurate rotor vortex wake convection, boundary layer turbulence modeling and grid resolution has limited their accuracy. In addition, the inherently unsteady stalled flow conditions become computationally expensive for even the best endowed research labs. Although numerical power predictions have been compared to experiment. The availability of good wind turbine data sufficient for code validation experimental data that has been extracted from the IEA Annex XIV download site for the NREL Combined Experiment phase II and phase IV rotor. In addition, the comparisons will show data that has been further reduced into steady wind and zero yaw conditions suitable for comparisons to "steady wind" rotor power predictions. In summary, the paper will present and discuss the capabilities and limitations of the three numerical methods and make available a database of experimental data suitable to help other numerical methods practitioners validate their own work.

Duque, Earl P. N.↗

Reliability Constrained Priority Load Shedding for Aerospace Power System Automation

The need for improving load shedding on board the space station is one of the goals of aerospace power system automation. To accelerate the optimum load-shedding functions, several constraints must be involved. These constraints include congestion margin determined by weighted probability contingency, component/system reliability index, generation rescheduling. The impact of different faults and indices for computing reliability were defined before optimization. The optimum load schedule is done based on priority, value and location of loads. An optimization strategy capable of handling discrete decision making, such as Everett optimization, is proposed. We extended Everett method to handle expected congestion margin and reliability index as constraints. To make it effective for real time load dispatch process, a rule-based scheme is presented in the optimization method. It assists in selecting which feeder load to be shed, the location of the load, the value, priority of the load and cost benefit analysis of the load profile is included in the scheme. The scheme is tested using a benchmark NASA system consisting of generators, loads and network.

Momoh, James A.↗

Miniaturized Wilkinson Power Dividers Utilizing Capacitive Loading

This letter reports the miniaturization of a planar Wilkinson power divider by capacitive loading of the quarter wave transmission lines employed in conventional Wilkinson power dividers. Reduction of the transmission line segments from lambda/4 to between lambda/5 and lambda/12 are reported here. The input and output lines at the three ports and the lines comprising the divider itself are coplanar waveguide (CPW) and asymmetric coplanar stripline (ACPS), respectively. The 10 GHZ power dividers are fabricated on high resistivity silicon (HRS) and alumina wafers. These miniaturized dividers are 74% smaller than conventional Wilkinson power dividers, and have a return loss better than +30 dB and an insertion loss less than 0.55 dB. Design equations and a discussion about the effect of parasitic reactance on the isolation are presented for the first time.

Scardelletti, Maximilian C.↗

A CLIPS prototype for autonomous power system control

The model of the system assumes a constant power source and loads (experiments) whose power demands exceed the supply. Experiments are described by their name, power consumption, time for a complete run, present status and the state of the load. The power consumption of each load is set at a constant level but can be dynamically modified by the operator. The status specifies if the experiment is running, paused, completed or failed. The state compensates for the lack of actual feedback sensor data, by signifying the stability of the load. Experiments are scheduled to keep as many running as possible with the current system limitations. A graphics oriented user interface is embedded into the rule-based system to enable an operator to easily experiment with the system.

Vezina, James M.↗

Space station power management and distribution

The power system architecture is presented by a series of schematics which illustrate the power management and distribution (PMAD) system at the component level, including converters, controllers, switchgear, rotary power transfer devices, power and data cables, remote power controllers, and load converters. Power distribution options, reference power management, and control strategy are also outlined. A summary of advanced development status and plans and an overview of system test plans are presented.

Teren, F.↗