SEARCH · Engineering Papers
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.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
This system is designed as a replacement for the Mark III. Two major changes in the DSCC portion of the DSN Telemetry System are discussed: the addition of two 34 meter antennas to each DSCC; and the configuration of the telemetry system. The telemetry system is configured to support either two deep space missions and one highly elliptical orbit, or two highly elliptical orbits and one deep space mission.
A mathematical model of a high performance airplane capable of vertical attitude takeoff and landing (VATOL) was developed. An off line digital simulation program incorporating this model was developed to provide trim conditions and dynamic check runs for the piloted simulation studies and support dynamic analyses of proposed VATOL configuration and flight control concepts. Development details for the various simulation component models and the application of the off line simulation program, Vertical Attitude Take-Off and Landing Simulation (VATLAS), to develop a baseline control system for the Vought SF-121 VATOL airplane concept are described.
A stand alone photovoltaic (PV) power system for the village of Schuchuli (Gunsight), Arizona, on the Papago Indian Reservation is a limited energy, all 120 V (d.c.) system to which loads cannot be arbitrarily added and consists of a 3.5 kW (peak) PV array, 2380 ampere-hours of battery storage, an electrical equipment building, a 120 V (d.c.) electrical distribution network, and equipment and automatic controls to provide control power for pumping water into an existing water system; operating 15 refrigerators, a clothes washing machine, a sewing machine, and lights for each of the homes and communal buildings. A solar hot water heater supplies hot water for the washing machine and communal laundry. Automatic control systems provide voltage control by limiting the number of PV strings supplying power during system operation and battery charging, and load management for operating high priority at the expense of low priority loads as the main battery becomes depleted.
A soil water computer model that uses the IBM Continuous System Modeling Program III to solve the dynamic equations representing the soil, plant, and atmospheric physical or physiological processes considered is presented and discussed. Using values describing the soil-plant-atmosphere characteristics, the model predicts evaporation, transpiration, drainage, and soil water profile changes from an initial soil water profile and daily meteorological data. The model characteristics and simulations that were performed to determine the nature of the response to controlled variations in the input are described the results of the simulations are included and a change that makes the response of the model more closely represent the observed characteristics of evapotranspiration and profile changes for dry soil conditions is examined.
In the development of the business system for the SRB automated production control system, special attention had to be paid to the unique environment posed by the space shuttle. The issues posed by this environment, and the means by which they were addressed, are reviewed. The change in management philosphy which will be required as NASA switches from one-of-a-kind launches to multiple launches is discussed. The implications of the assembly process on the business system are described. These issues include multiple missions, multiple locations and facilities, maintenance and refurbishment, multiple sources, and multiple contractors. The implications of these aspects on the automated production control system are reviewed including an assessment of the six major subsystems, as well as four other subsystem. Some general system requirements which flow through the entire business system are described.
Attention is given to a redundant strapdown inertial measurement unit for integrated avionics. The system consists of four two-degree-of-freedom turned rotor gyros and four two-degree-of-freedom accelerometers in a skewed and separable semi-octahedral array. The unit is coupled through instrument electronics to two flight computers which compensate sensor errors. The flight computers are interfaced to the microprocessors and process failure detection, isolation, redundancy management and flight control/navigation algorithms. The unit provides dual fail-operational performance and has data processing frequencies consistent with integrated avionics concepts presently planned.
The two new facilities have been installed and operated at their design or rated conditions. The important feature of both of these facilities is that the ratio of turbine inlet temperature to coolant temperature encountered in high temperature engines can be duplicated at moderate turbine inlet temperature. Included in the discussion are the limits of the facilities with regard to maximum temperature, maximum pressure, maximum mass flow rate, turbine size, and dynamometer torque-speed characteristics.
The Emergency Local Transmitter (ELT) is a radio transmitter with a self-contained power source designed to provide notification of and homing to aircraft accident sites. The Crash Research Institute has monitored general aviation fixed-wing accidents in the United States and in Canada and has found that: (1) the ELT was destroyed in approximately 25% of all fatal accidents; (2) the ELT activated in about 62% of the fatal accidents, 69% of the fatal with survivors accidents, almost 80% of the serious accidents and about 57% of the minor accidents; (3) in fatal accidents the aircraft sections least likely to be destroyed are the vertical and horizontal tail surfaces; (4) antenna cable disconnection and antenna breakage caused failure to transmit usable signals; and (5) initial alerting control occurred in nearly half of the situations where the ELT aided in search.
This paper describes the Resource Analysis Program, an applied geographic information system. Several applications are presented which utilized soil, and other natural resource data, to develop integrated maps and data analyses. These applications demonstrate the methods of analysis and the philosophy of approach used in the mapping system. The applications are evaluated in reference to four major needs of a functional mapping system: data capture, data libraries, data analysis, and mapping and data display. These four criteria are then used to describe an effort to develop the next generation of applied mapping systems. This approach uses inexpensive microcomputers for field applications and should prove to be a viable entry point for users heretofore unable or unwilling to venture into applied computer mapping.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
An Earth scanning six channel (detector) radiometer using a classical Cassegrain telescope and a Wadsworth type grating spectrometer was launched aboard Nimbus 7 in order to determine the abundance or density of chlorophyll at or near the sea surface in coastal waters. The instrument also measures the sediment or gelbstroffe (yellow stuff) in coastal waters, detects surface vegetation, and measures sea surface temperature. Block diagrams and schematics are presented, design features are discussed and each subsystem of the instrument is described. A mission overview is included.
A modular system composed of two sets of tasks which interprets the flaw data and allows compensation of the data due to transducer characteristics is described. The hardware configuration consists of two main units. A DEC LSI-11 processor running under the RT-11 sngle job, version 2C-02 operating system, controls the scanner hardware and the ultrasonic unit. A DEC PDP-11/45 processor also running under the RT-11, version 2C-02, operating system, stores, processes and displays the flaw data. The software developed the Ultrasonics Evaluation System, is divided into two catagories; transducer characterization and flaw classification. Each category is divided further into two functional tasks: a data acquisition and a postprocessor ask. The flaw characterization collects data, compresses its, and writes it to a disk file. The data is then processed by the flaw classification postprocessing task. The use and operation of a flaw data postprocessor is described.
A 40 kilowatt Stirling engine, its test support facilities, and the experimental procedures used for these tests are described. Operating experience with the engine is discussed, and some initial test results are presented
An experimental redundant strapdown inertial measurement unit (RSDIMU) is developed as a link to satisfy safety and reliability considerations in the integrated avionics concept. The unit includes four two degree-of-freedom tuned rotor gyros, and four accelerometers in a skewed and separable semioctahedral array. These sensors are coupled to four microprocessors which compensate sensor errors. These microprocessors are interfaced with two flight computers which process failure detection, isolation, redundancy management, and general flight control/navigation algorithms. Since the RSDIMU is a developmental unit, it is imperative that the flight computers provide special visibility and facility in algorithm modification.
The NRL thermal gradient diffusion cloud chamber (TGDCC) consists of two plates 7.5 cm in diameter separated by 1.25 cm and covered with saturated filter paper. The cylindrical wall separating the plates is glass. The top plate is at room temperature and the bottom plate is cooled with a thermoelectric cooler. The temperature difference is measured with several sets of thermocouples. The CCN concentration was determined from the video recording. This procedure of averaging the maximum count obtained on several successive recordings at the same supersaturation results in concentrations which are somewhat higher than concentrations calculated from an average across the plateau.
The chamber is a thermal gradient diffusion type with the upper plate at room temperature and the lower plate thermoelectrically cooled. The light from a 25W projector bulb is focused in a beam of approximations 1x3 mm in the central part of the chamber. The light scattered by drops is viewed in the forward direction (40 deg) by a microscope and a sensitive photodetector. Experiments were performed to relate the peak output from the photocell with the maximum number of drops in the beam recorded photographically. The microscope is used to check the calibration at low concentrations of CCN. The results of the experiments and the performance of the counter are reported.
In the IHC the critical supersaturation is inferred from the measurement of the size of particles which have grown to their equilibrium size at exactly 100 percent RH. The largest size channel corresponds to a critical supersaturation of 0.014 percent. The growth time required for particles of this size to reach their equilibrium size exceeds the 110 second residence time in the IHC. Since the supersaturation spectrum is always very steep in this region, the contribution of these larger particles which have not yet attained their equilibrium size to smaller size channels is negligible. However, failure of these particles to reach their equilibrium size could result in a significant lowering of the count in the size channel corresponding to the smaller critical supersaturation.
Development of software for avionic and aerospace applications (flight software) is influenced by a unique combination of factors which includes: (1) length of the life cycle of each project; (2) necessity for cooperation between the aerospace industry and NASA; (3) the need for flight software that is highly reliable; (4) the increasing complexity and size of flight software; and (5) the high quality of the programmers and the tightening of project budgets. The interactive software invocation system (ISIS) which is described is designed to overcome the problems created by this combination of factors.