Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “current control”

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.

At least 1,333 records · Page 74
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1982

Algorithms for software development version control and change detection

Simple computer algorithms for processing source program and text data files in order to extract change detection, version control, version history, and current status information are described. These algorithms presuppose that it is possible to attach to each record of the source files a 6-character code, placed within delimiters that will cause the compiler, or other using program, to ignore this code field. The code contains a 2-character code for a character-by-character position-sensitive checksum of the record, another for the record number in the file, and a third for the data on which the encoding took place. Once the source file has been thus encoded, it is possible to detect the following transactions on the file since the most recent version coding; (1) addition of new records (having no version code), (2) modification of existing records, (3) deletion of a number of records, (4) movement and/or duplication of existing records, and (5) modification and duplication of records. In addition, it is possible to extract a version history of the number of records created or modified by date. A special file listing program is described which prints the file records without showing the version codes, but places a "change bar" at the right margin whenever a change is detected. The program also provides a list of changed pages and a version history.

Tausworthe, R. C.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Remote orbital servicing system concept

Increased applications of automation technology identified as necessary for NASA to carry out its missions within the constraints of future funding and available physical resources are described. A concept for a Remote Orbital Servicing System (ROSS) based on present teleoperator and robotics technology is presented. A single servicer design compatible with three specified spacecraft, capable of performing service to the same extent as manned extravehicular activity, controlled from a ground control station, and using currently available technology is conceptualized.

Meintel, A. J.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Diode Structure for Microwave and Infrared Applications

Microwave signals switched or modulated optically. Planar diode with transparent cathode made in BaAs, Si, and InSb versions. Depending on specific configuration and material, such diode used for optical modulation of microwave signal or as infrared detector. Transparent cathode fabricated on GaAs diode so diode illuminates to generate and control short-circuit current.

Alcorn, George↗
NASA NTRS1986

Mission Adaptive Wing test program

With the completion of the F-111 test-bed Mission Adaptive Wing (MAW) test program's manual flight control system, emphasis has been shifted to flight testing of MAW automatic control modes. These encompass (1) cruise camber control, (2) maneuver camber control, (3) maneuver load control, and (4) maneuver enhancement and load alleviation control. The aircraft is currently cleared to a 2.5-g maneuvering limit due to generally higher variable-incidence wing pivot loads than had been anticipated, especially at the higher wing-camber settings. Buffet is noted to be somewhat higher than expected at the higher camber settings.

Birk, Frank T.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Arc-Jet Power Supply And Starting Circuit

Power efficiency high, current regulated, and starting automatic. New circuit for starting arc jets and controlling them in steady operation capable of high power efficiency and constructed in lightweight form. Feedback control system keeps arc-jet current nearly constant, once arc struck by starting pulse. Circuit made of commercially available components. Design capable of high power efficiency.

Gruber, Robert P.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Laminar flow integration: Flight tests status and plans

Under the Aircraft Energy Efficiency - Laminar Flow Control Program, there are currently three flight test programs under way to address critical issues concerning laminar flow technology application to commercial transports. The Leading-Edge Flight Test (LEFT) with a JetStar aircraft is a cooperative effort with the Ames/Dryden Flight Research Facility to provide operational experience with candidate leading-edge systems representative of those that might be used on a future transport. In the Variable Sweep Transition Flight Experiment (VSTFE), also a cooperative effort between Langley and Ames/Dryden, basic transition data on an F-14 wing with variable sweep will be obtained to provide a data base for laminar flow wing design. Finally, under contract to the Boeing Company, the acoustic environment on the wing of a 757 aircraft will be measured and the influence of engine noise on laminar flow determined with a natural laminar flow glove on the wing. The status and plans for these programs are reported.

Wagner, R. D.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Field oriented control of an induction machine in a high frequency link power system

A field-oriented controlled induction machine drive operating with a high-frequency single-phase sinusoidal voltage link is presented. System performance is investigated by computer simulation and is verified by a test on a prototype system. A novel control loop to minimize the link voltage fluctuation is proposed. The capability of rapid demagnetization of the induction machine by current regulation is investigated. A current-modulation technique termed mode control is proposed, and its performance is compared with that of the conventional delta-modulation technique.

Sul, Seung K.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Inorganic chemical precipitate formation payload design

The Get Away Special payload to investigate the formation of inorganic precipitates (G-405) utilizes six transparent chemical reaction chambers to actively mix a dry powder with a liquid solution. At predetermined intervals the progress of the precipitate formation is photographed and stored as data. The precipitate particles will also be subject to post-flight analysis. The various tasks performed during the 14 hour duration of the experiment are initiated and monitored by a custom-built digital controller. The payload is currently scheduled as a backup payload for STS-29 with a possible launch date of January, 1989.

Friedrich, Craig↗
NASA NTRS1988

Class 100 large spacecraft facility

A new, large spacecraft dedicated clean facility was built and is operating at TRW Space and Defense, Redondo Beach, California. The facility includes typical integration and test and laboratory capabilities. Over 4500 square feet of filtered, air conditioned, hydrocarbon monitored, and personnel controlled working area is currently being used in state-of-the-art aerospace applications.

Ryan, L. E.↗
NASA NTRS1988

NDE detectability of fatigue-type cracks in high-strength alloys: NDI reliability assessments

This program was conducted to generate quantitative flaw detection capability data for the nondestructive evaluation (NDE) techniques typically practiced by aerospace contractors. Inconel 718 and Haynes 188 alloy test specimens containing fatigue flaws with a wide distribution of sizes were used to assess the flaw detection capabilities at a number of contractor and government facilities. During this program 85 inspection sequences were completed presenting a total of 20,994 fatigue cracks to 53 different inspectors. The inspection sequences completed included 78 liquid penetrant, 4 eddy current, and 3 ultrasonic evaluations. The results of the assessment inspections are presented and discussed. In generating the flaw detection capability data base, procedures for data collection, data analysis, and specimen care and maintenance were developed, demonstrated, and validated. The data collection procedures and methods that evolved during this program for the measurement of flaw detection capabilities and the effects of inspection variables on performance are discussed. The Inconel 718 and Haynes 188 test specimens that were used in conducting this program and the NDE assessment procedures that were demonstrated, provide NASA with the capability to accurately assess the flaw detection capabilities of specific inspection procedures being applied or proposed for use on current and future fracture control hardware program.

Christner, Brent K.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Simulation tests of the optimization method of Hopfield and Tank using neural networks

The method proposed by Hopfield and Tank for using the Hopfield neural network with continuous valued neurons to solve the traveling salesman problem is tested by simulation. Several researchers have apparently been unable to successfully repeat the numerical simulation documented by Hopfield and Tank. However, as suggested to the author by Adams, it appears that the reason for those difficulties is that a key parameter value is reported erroneously (by four orders of magnitude) in the original paper. When a reasonable value is used for that parameter, the network performs generally as claimed. Additionally, a new method of using feedback to control the input bias currents to the amplifiers is proposed and successfully tested. This eliminates the need to set the input currents by trial and error.

Paielli, Russell A.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Variable speed induction motor operation from a 20-kHz power bus

Induction motors are recognized for their simple rugged construction. To date, however, their application to variable speed or servo drives was hampered by limitations on their control. Induction motor drives tend to be complex and to display troublesome low speed characteristics due in part to nonsinusoidal driving voltages. A technique was developed which involves direct synthesis of sinusoidal driving voltages from a high frequency power bus and independent control of frequency and voltages. Separation of frequency and voltage allows independent control of rotor and stator flux, full four quadrant operation, and instantaneous torque control. Recent test results, current status of the technology, and proposed aerospace applications will be discussed.

Hansen, Irving G.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Variable speed induction motor operation from a 20-kHz power bus

Induction motors are recognized for their simple rugged construction to date, however, their application to variable speed or servo drives has been hampered by limitations on their control. Induction motor drives tend to be complex and to display troublesome low speed characteristics due in part to nonsinusoidal driving voltages. A technique was developed which involves direct synthesis of sinusoidal driving voltages from a high frequency power bus and independent control of frequency and voltages. Separation offrequency and voltage allows independent control of rotor and stator flux, full four-quadrant operation, and instantaneous torque control. Recent test results, current status of the technology, and proposed aerospace applications will be discussed.

Hansen, Irving G.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Dynamic and structural control utilizing smart materials and structures

An account is given of several novel 'smart material' structural control concepts that are currently under development. The thrust of these investigations is the evolution of intelligent materials and structures superceding the recently defined variable-geometry trusses and shape memory alloy-reinforced composites; the substances envisioned will be able to autonomously evaluate emergent environmental conditions and adapt to them, and even change their operational objectives. While until now the primary objective of the developmental efforts presently discussed has been materials that mimic biological functions, entirely novel concepts may be formulated in due course.

Rogers, C. A.↗
NASA NTRS1991

A statistical model of carbon/carbon composite failure

A failure model which considers the stochastic nature of the damage accumulation process is essential to assess reliability and to accurately scale the results from standard test specimens to composite structures. A superior filamentary composite for high temperature applications is composed of carbon fibers in a carbon matrix. Carbon-carbon composites are the strongest known material at very high temperatures. Since there appears to be a significant randomness in C-C material strength which cannot be controlled or detected with current technology, a better model of the material failure based upon statistical principles should be used. Simple applications of the model based upon the limited data provide encouraging results that indicate that better design of test specimens would provide a substantially higher prediction for the design strength of C-C composites. An A-basis strength for the C-C tensile rings from a first stage D-5 billets was estimated. A statistical failure model was developed for these rings which indicates that this strength may be very conservative for larger C-C parts. The analysis may be improved by use of a heterogeneous/noncontinuum finite element approach on the minimechanical level.

Slattery, Kerry T.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Advanced techniques in reliability model representation and solution

The current tendency of flight control system designs is towards increased integration of applications and increased distribution of computational elements. The reliability analysis of such systems is difficult because subsystem interactions are increasingly interdependent. Researchers at NASA Langley Research Center have been working for several years to extend the capability of Markov modeling techniques to address these problems. This effort has been focused in the areas of increased model abstraction and increased computational capability. The reliability model generator (RMG) is a software tool that uses as input a graphical object-oriented block diagram of the system. RMG uses a failure-effects algorithm to produce the reliability model from the graphical description. The ASSURE software tool is a parallel processing program that uses the semi-Markov unreliability range evaluator (SURE) solution technique and the abstract semi-Markov specification interface to the SURE tool (ASSIST) modeling language. A failure modes-effects simulation is used by ASSURE. These tools were used to analyze a significant portion of a complex flight control system. The successful combination of the power of graphical representation, automated model generation, and parallel computation leads to the conclusion that distributed fault-tolerant system architectures can now be analyzed.

Palumbo, Daniel L.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Cognitive engineering models in space systems

NASA space systems, including mission operations on the ground and in space, are complex, dynamic, predominantly automated systems in which the human operator is a supervisory controller. Models of cognitive functions in complex systems are needed to describe human performance and form the theoretical basis of operator workstation design, including displays, controls, and decision aids. Currently, there several candidate modeling methodologies. They include the Rasmussen abstraction/aggregation hierarchy and decision ladder, the goal-means network, the problem behavior graph, and the operator function model. The research conducted under the sponsorship of this grant focuses on the extension of the theoretical structure of the operator function model and its application to NASA Johnson mission operations and space station applications. The initial portion of this research consists of two parts. The first is a series of technical exchanges between NASA Johnson and Georgia Tech researchers. The purpose is to identify candidate applications for the current operator function model; prospects include mission operations and the Data Management System Testbed. The second portion will address extensions of the operator function model to tailor it to the specific needs of Johnson applications. At this point, we have accomplished two things. During a series of conversations with JSC researchers, we have defined the technical goal of the research supported by this grant to be the structural definition of the operator function model and its computer implementation, OFMspert. Both the OFM and OFMspert have matured to the point that they require infrastructure to facilitate use by researchers not involved in the evolution of the tools. The second accomplishment this year was the identification of the Payload Deployment and Retrieval System (PDRS) as a candidate system for the case study. In conjunction with government and contractor personnel in the Human-Computer Interaction Lab, the PDRS was identified as the most accessible system for the demonstration. Pursuant to this a PDRS simulation was obtained from the HCIL and an initial knowledge engineering effort was conducted to understand the operator's tasks in the PDRS application. The preliminary results of the knowledge engineering effort and an initial formulation of an operator function model (OFM) are contained in the appendices.

Mitchell, Christine M.↗