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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 1,261 records · Page 70
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1977

Ride quality research techniques: Section on general techniques

Information is gathered about the methods currently used for the study of ride quality in a variety of transportation modes by a variety of research organizations, including universities, Federal agencies, contracting firms, and private industries. Detailed descriptions of these techniques and their strengths and weaknesses, and identifying the organizations using such methods are presented. The specific efforts of the Group's participants, as well as a variety of feasible approaches not currently in use, are presented as methodological alternatives under the three basic factors which must be considered in ride quality studies: research techniques, research environments, and choice of subjects.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1980

Cogeneration Technology Alternatives Study (CTAS). Volume 3: Energy conversion system characteristics

Six current and thirty-six advanced energy conversion systems were defined and combined with appropriate balance of plant equipment. Twenty-six industrial processes were selected from among the high energy consuming industries to serve as a frame work for the study. Each conversion system was analyzed as a cogenerator with each industrial plant. Fuel consumption, costs, and environmental intrusion were evaluated and compared to corresponding traditional values. The advanced energy conversion technologies indicated reduced fuel consumption, costs, and emissions. Fuel energy savings of 10 to 25 percent were predicted compared to traditional on site furnaces and utility electricity. With the variety of industrial requirements, each advanced technology had attractive applications. Fuel cells indicated the greatest fuel energy savings and emission reductions. Gas turbines and combined cycles indicated high overall annual savings. Steam turbines and gas turbines produced high estimated returns. In some applications, diesels were most efficient. The advanced technologies used coal derived fuels, or coal with advanced fluid bed combustion or on site gasifications. Data and information for both current and advanced energy conversion technology are presented. Schematic and physical descriptions, performance data, equipment cost estimates, and predicted emissions are included. Technical developments which are needed to achieve commercialization in the 1985-2000 period are identified.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1981

Comment on 'Azimuthal magnetic field at Jupiter' by J. L. Parish, C. K. Goertz, and M. F. Thomsen

In the first paper, an alternative to one of the models of current flow giving rise to the azimuthal component of the Jupiter magnetic field considered by Parish et al. (1980) is proposed which takes into account the magnetic fields due to return currents and is consistent with Pioneer 10 observations. In the present model, currents enter the equatorial sheet at both poles and then flow radially outward, with a total current flowing into the polar regions of about 1.4 x 10 to the 8th A. In the reply, it is contended that, although the return currents must be present, their net effects almost exactly cancel and their contributions to the near-equatorial field may be neglected for regions sufficiently far from the field lines on which the return current flows. Furthermore, the difference in the total currents estimated by Parish et al. and in the first paper is attributed to the uncertainties and inadequacy of the fit of either model to the observations and to a difference in mathematic expressions used for the field rather than a significant difference between models.

Connerney, J. E. P.↗
NASA NTRS1982

A modern approach to pilot/vehicle analysis and the Neal-Smith criteria

The present investigation is concerned with the development of a better pilot modelling technique via optimal control theory, taking into account concepts concerning 'pilot rating' considered by Neal and Smith (1970). The investigation conducted by Neal and Smith had the objective to provide data on the effects of Flight Control System dynamics and to develop a design criterion capable of pinpointing pilot problem areas encountered in performing a given task. Neal and Smith devised a 'pilot-in-the-loop' analysis capable of showing problem areas in pitch attitude tracking. Unfortunately the employed method has some drawbacks. The current investigation attempts, therefore, to provide an alternate approach which makes use of an optimal-control pilot model. An optimal control model (OCM) had been discussed by Kleinman et al. (1970). It is shown that the alternate approach, based on the OCM, offers some distinct advantages.

Bacon, B. J.↗
NASA NTRS1984

The B2 aluminides as alternative materials

The potential of the B2 aluminides as structural material alternatives for the strategic element containing superalloys currently used in gas turbine engines is being explored with emphasis on the equiatomic Fe and Ni aluminides. Although Co is a strategic material, the equiatomic Co aluminide is also being studied to gain a more complete understanding of these fourth period intermetallics. Research focuses on initial processing techniques such as ingot melting, power metallurgy, and rapid solidification with and without additional thermomechanical processing; high temperature deformation - primarily compressive creep; compositional effects within the binary B2 aluminides; third-element alloying addition effects on high temperature strength and oxidation resistance, and near room temperature ductility as influenced by processing, alloying, and grain size. Various programs now underway are reviewed and some highlights of research results are presented.

Stephens, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Determination of cosmogenic Ca-41 in a meteorite with tandem accelerator mass spectrometry

The first use of tandem accelerator mass spectrometry (TAMS) to measure the content of Ca-41 in a natural sample, the iron Bogou meteorite, is reported. Ca in the samples was extracted by hydroxide precipitation and purified by means of a caution exchange resin (AG 50W-X8). After adding 4 percent ammonium oxide, the precipitate was ignited to CaO in a quartz vial at about 1100 C. The Ca-41/Ca ratios were determined following acceleration by alternate measurements of the Ca-40 beam current in an image Faraday cup. Ca-41 particles were also measured using a gas counter. The measured Ca-41/Ca ratio was 3.8 + or -0.6 x 10 to the 12th, which corresponds to a Ca-41 activity of 6.9 + or -1.1 d.p.m. per kg. Calculation of the half-life of Ca-41 in the Bogou meteorite yielded an age of 103,000 years.

Kubik, P. W.↗
NASA NTRS1985

The B2 aluminides as alternative materials

The potential of the B2 aluminides as structural material alternatives for the strategic element containing superalloys currently used in gas turbine engines is being explored with emphasis on the equiatomic Fe and Ni aluminides. Although Co is a strategic material, the equiatomic Co aluminide is also being studied to gain a more complete understanding of these fourth period intermetallics. Research focuses on initial processing techniques such as ingot melting, power metallurgy, and rapid solidification with and without additional thermomechanical processing; high temperature deformation primarily compressive creep; compositional effects within the binary B2 aluminides; third-element alloying addition effects on high temperature strength and oxidation resistance, and near room temperature ductility as influenced by processing, alloying, and grain size. Various programs now underway are reviewed and some highlights of research results are presented.

Stephens, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Gravity Compensation Technique Uses Small dc Motor

Small dc servomotor powered by simple constant-current source and with suitable gearing used to cancel effect of gravity upon load. Lead-screw positioning system has load counterbalanced by small supplementary motor powered by constant current source. Motor lighter and more compact alternative to counterbalance. Used in variety of mechanical systems where load positioned or accelerated in vertical plane.

Hollow, Richard↗
NASA NTRS1990

Design knowledge capture for a corporate memory facility

Currently, much of the information regarding decision alternatives and trade-offs made in the course of a major program development effort is not represented or retained in a way that permits computer-based reasoning over the life cycle of the program. The loss of this information results in problems in tracing design alternatives to requirements, in assessing the impact of change in requirements, and in configuration management. To address these problems, the problem was studied of building an intelligent, active corporate memory facility which would provide for the capture of the requirements and standards of a program, analyze the design alternatives and trade-offs made over the program's lifetime, and examine relationships between requirements and design trade-offs. Early phases of the work have concentrated on design knowledge capture for the Space Station Freedom. Tools are demonstrated and extended which helps automate and document engineering trade studies, and another tool is being developed to help designers interactively explore design alternatives and constraints.

Boose, John H.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Optimum-AIV: A planning and scheduling system for spacecraft AIV

A project undertaken for the European Space Agency (ESA) is presented. The project is developing a knowledge based software system for planning and scheduling of activities for spacecraft assembly, integration, and verification (AIV). The system extends into the monitoring of plan execution and the plan repair phase. The objectives are to develop an operational kernel of a planning, scheduling, and plan repair tool, called OPTIMUM-AIV, and to provide facilities which will allow individual projects to customize the kernel to suit its specific needs. The kernel shall consist of a set of software functionalities for assistance in initial specification of the AIV plan, in verification and generation of valid plans and schedules for the AIV activities, and in interactive monitoring and execution problem recovery for the detailed AIV plans. Embedded in OPTIMUM-AIV are external interfaces which allow integration with alternative scheduling systems and project databases. The current status of the OPTIMUM-AIV project, as of Jan. 1991, is that a further analysis of the AIV domain has taken place through interviews with satellite AIV experts, a software requirement document (SRD) for the full operational tool was approved, and an architectural design document (ADD) for the kernel excluding external interfaces is ready for review.

Arentoft, M. M.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Technology transfer within the government

The report of a workshop panel concerned with technology transfer within the government is presented. The suggested subtopics for the panel were as follows: (1) transfer from non-NASA U.S. government technology developers to NASA space missions/programs; and (2) transfer from NASA to other U.S. government civil space mission programs. Two presentations were made to the panel: Roles/Value of Early Strategic Planning Within the Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) to Facilitate Later Technology Transfer To and From Industry; and NOAA Satellite Programs and Technology Requirements. The panel discussion addresses the following major issues: DOD/NASA cooperation; alternative mechanisms for interagency communication and interactions; current technology transfer relationships among federal research agencies, and strategies for improving this transfer; technology transfer mechanisms appropriate to intragovernment transfer; the importance of industry as a technology transfer conduit; and measures of merit.

Christensen, Carissa Bryce↗
NASA NTRS1990

TMIS-design knowledge capture

The Boeing Advanced Technology Center is conducting research towards the goal of building a corporate memory facility that will provide techniques for capturing and using decision history and rationale throughout the lifecycle of a major NASA program. Currently, much of the information regarding decision alternatives and trade-offs made in the course of a major program development effort is not represented or retained in a way that permits computer-based reasoning over the lifecycle of the program. The loss of this information results in problems in tracing design alternatives to requirements, in assessing the impact of change in requirements, and in configuration management. To address these problems, we are studying the problem of building an intelligent active corporate memory facility which would provide for the capture of the requirements and standards of a program, analyze the design alternatives and trade-offs made over the program's lifetime, and examine relationships between requirements and design trade-offs.

Boose, John H.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Improved hybrid rocket fuel

McDonnell Douglas Aerospace, as part of its Independent R&D, has initiated development of a clean burning, high performance hybrid fuel for consideration as an alternative to the solid rocket thrust augmentation currently utilized by American space launch systems including Atlas, Delta, Pegasus, Space Shuttle, and Titan. It could also be used in single stage to orbit or as the only propulsion system in a new launch vehicle. Compared to solid propellants based on aluminum and ammonium perchlorate, this fuel is more environmentally benign in that it totally eliminates hydrogen chloride and aluminum oxide by products, producing only water, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon oxides, and trace amounts of nitrogen oxides. Compared to other hybrid fuel formulations under development, this fuel is cheaper, denser, and faster burning. The specific impulse of this fuel is comparable to other hybrid fuels and is between that of solids and liquids. The fuel also requires less oxygen than similar hybrid fuels to produce maximum specific impulse, thus reducing oxygen delivery system requirements.

Dean, David L.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Accuracy of wet troposphere radio path delay estimated from infrared emission

Several radio science applications require determination of the excess radio-propagation path delay caused by the Earth's atmosphere. These include very long baseline interferometry, spacecraft tracking, and potentially, detection of gravitational waves utilizing a link to a distant interplanetary spacecraft. At Ka band, the major source of variability of path delay is the fluctuations in the moisture content of the troposphere. The path delay characterization requirements for a planned gravitational wave experiment are novel and challenging. the error contribution to the phase observations due to path delay variation must be reduced by nearly two orders of magnitude over that occurring naturally on time scales of 100 to 10,000 seconds. Current approaches relying on microwave water vapor radiometry with ancillary data can deliver one order of magnitude calibration of these fluctuations, and more advanced systems are under development within the 2001-2002 time frame of the Cassini Mission to Saturn. The current work evaluates the potential for an alternative observational approach, using a ground-based Fourier transform spectrometer.

Parker, J. W.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Analysis of uncertainty in force balance calibration

In order to reduce errors encountered in the measurement and identification of loads using force balances, a third-order forward polynomial relation between loads and output voltages is proposed. This full third-order model represents an alternative to the second-order model currently in use at NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) and many other installations worldwide. The new model requires the identification of 84 coefficients (including the 28 used presently) for each of the six outputs. The existing LaRC calibration loading sequence is insufficient for identification of many of these 504 coefficients because critical three-load combinations are absent. Accordingly, a new loading sequence that permits the identification of all 504 coefficients has been developed and is described fully. It is apparent from numerical tests that the new third-order model is clearly superior to second-order models in the presence of small amounts of random measurement noise, assuming that there are indeed higher-order interactions between loads. As the amount of noise increases, however, a third-order model becomes less attractive due to its ability to match the noise itself more faithfully than a second-order model. Numerical results suggest that the transition occurs when the magnitude of random noise becomes of the same order as that of the physical higher-order interactions.

Bursal, Faruk H.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Robustness via Run-Time Adaptation of Contingent Plans

In this paper, we discuss our approach to making the behavior of planetary rovers more robust for the purpose of increased productivity. Due to the inherent uncertainty in rover exploration, the traditional approach to rover control is conservative, limiting the autonomous operation of the rover and sacrificing performance for safety. Our objective is to increase the science productivity possible within a single uplink by allowing the rover's behavior to be specified with flexible, contingent plans and by employing dynamic plan adaptation during execution. We have deployed a system exhibiting flexible, contingent execution; this paper concentrates on our ongoing efforts on plan adaptation, Plans can be revised in two ways: plan steps may be deleted, with execution continuing with the plan suffix; and the current plan may be merged with an "alternate plan" from an on-board library. The plan revision action is chosen to maximize the expected utility of the plan. Plan merging and action deletion constitute a more conservative general-purpose planning system; in return, our approach is more efficient and more easily verified, two important criteria for deployed rovers.

Bresina, John L.↗
NASA NTRS2001

A High-Speed, Event-Driven, Active Pixel Sensor Readout for Photon-Counting Microchannel Plate Detectors

Silicon array readouts for microchannel plate intensifiers offer several attractive features. In this class of detector, the electron cloud output of the MCP intensifier is converted to visible light by a phosphor; that light is then fiber-optically coupled to the silicon array. In photon-counting mode, the resulting light splashes on the silicon array are recognized and centroided to fractional pixel accuracy by off-chip electronics. This process can result in very high (MCP-limited) spatial resolution for the readout while operating at a modest MCP gain (desirable for dynamic range and long term stability). The principal limitation of intensified CCD systems of this type is their severely limited local dynamic range, as accurate photon counting is achieved only if there are not overlapping event splashes within the frame time of the device. This problem can be ameliorated somewhat by processing events only in pre-selected windows of interest or by using an addressable charge injection device (CID) for the readout array. We are currently pursuing the development of an intriguing alternative readout concept based on using an event-driven CMOS Active Pixel Sensor. APS technology permits the incorporation of discriminator circuitry within each pixel. When coupled with suitable CMOS logic outside the array area, the discriminator circuitry can be used to trigger the readout of small sub-array windows only when and where an event splash has been detected, completely eliminating the local dynamic range problem, while achieving a high global count rate capability and maintaining high spatial resolution. We elaborate on this concept and present our progress toward implementing an event-driven APS readout.

Kimble, Randy A.↗
NASA NTRS2002

A High-Speed, Event-Driven, Active Pixel Sensor Readout for Photon-Counting Microchannel Plate Detectors

Silicon array readouts for microchannel plate intensifiers offer several attractive features. In this class of detector, the electron cloud output of the MCP intensifier is converted to visible light by a phosphor; that light is then fiber-optically coupled to the silicon array. In photon-counting mode, the resulting light splashes on the silicon array are recognized and centroided to fractional pixel accuracy by off-chip electronics. This process can result in very high (MCP-limited) spatial resolution while operating at a modest MCP gain (desirable for dynamic range and long term stability). The principal limitation of intensified CCD systems of this type is their severely limited local dynamic range, as accurate photon counting is achieved only if there are not overlapping event splashes within the frame time of the device. This problem can be ameliorated somewhat by processing events only in pre-selected windows of interest of by using an addressable charge injection device (CID) for the readout array. We are currently pursuing the development of an intriguing alternative readout concept based on using an event-driven CMOS Active Pixel Sensor. APS technology permits the incorporation of discriminator circuitry within each pixel. When coupled with suitable CMOS logic outside the array area, the discriminator circuitry can be used to trigger the readout of small sub-array windows only when and where an event splash has been detected, completely eliminating the local dynamic range problem, while achieving a high global count rate capability and maintaining high spatial resolution. We elaborate on this concept and present our progress toward implementing an event-driven APS readout.

Kimble, Randy A.↗