Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “PINS”

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 1,621 records · Page 90

Water-vapor effects on friction of magnetic tape in contact with nickel-zinc ferrite

The effects of humidity of moist nitrogen on the friction and deformation behavior of magnetic tape in contact with a nickel-zinc ferrite spherical pin were studied. The results indicate that the coefficient of friction is markedly dependent on the ambient relative humidity. Although the coefficient of friction remains low below 40-percent relative humidity, it increases rapidly with increasing relative humidity above 40 percent. The general ambient environment of the tape does not have any effect on the friction behavior if the area where the tape is in sliding contact with the ferrite pin is flooded with controlled nitrogen. The response time for the friction of the tape to humidity changes is about 10 sec. The effect of friction as a function of relative humidity on dehumidifying is very similar to that on humidifying. A surface softening of the tape due to water vapor increases the friction of the tape.

Miyoshi, K.↗

Space probe/satellite ejection apparatus for spacecraft

An ejection apparatus for spinning and propelling objects for ejection from a spacecraft at a desired velocity and rotational speed is discussed. The apparatus includes a launch cradle on which the space object to be ejected rests. The cradle is rotatably supported by a central hub secured to the upper end of the pneumatic cylinder piston shaft. Release mechanisms consisting of a retractable pin and locking lug is utilized to hold the cradle and object to be ejected. The release mechanism has a fixed barrier member which holds the retractable pin in engagement with the locking lug until release by upward movement of the launch cradle beyond the barrier height.

Smyly, H. M.↗

The study of microstrip antenna arrays and related problems

The work on rectangular microstrip antennas for dual frequency operation is reported on. The principle of this approach is based on the excitation of a patch for two or more different modes which correspond to different frequencies. However, for a given geometry, the modal frequencies have a fixed relationship; therefore, the usefulness of such a design is greatly limited. In this study three different methods have been contrived to control the frequency ratio over a wide range. First, as found prevously, if shorting pins are inserted at certain locations in the patch, the low frequency can be raised substantially. Second, if slots are cut in the patch, the high frequency can be lowered considerably. By using both techniques, the two frequency ratio can be varied approximately from 3 to 1.3. After that, the addition of more pins or slots becomes ineffective.

Lo, R. Q.↗

Ground test article for deployable space structure systems

The ground test article fabrication and assembly plan was completed by Santek Engineering, Inc. The plan was reviewed and accepted by Rockwell during an on-site visit to the Santek facility. Raw material and hardware orders were placed by Santek in July. Approximately 98% of the raw materials and 10% of the hardware deliveries have been completed. Several material and hardware substitutions were requested by Santek due to no-bid responses from suppliers or excessive costs for limited quantity items. These substitutions were evaluated and approved by Rockwell Engineering and Material and Process and are being incorporated into the drawing package. Santek started fabrication of detail parts in mid-August. Their current resource utilization is at approximately 50% of the planned eventual commitment and is increasing at a rate commensurate with the fabrication and assembly plan. At this writing, Santek's estimate of completion is 03%. During verification testing of the diagonal member joint, in a program funded by Rockwell discretionary funds, the axial load to unlock the joint was found to increase significantly after a few cycles of operation. This was attributed to galling, poor lubrication, and locking pin geometry. A change of materials, lubricant, and modification of the pin geometry reduced the unlocking load and provided repeatability after 50 cycles of operation. This new design is being implemented into the ground test article.

Malloy, G. D.↗

The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy depth profiling and tribological characterization of ion-plated gold on various metals

For the case of ion-plated gold, the graded interface between gold and a nickel substrate and a nickel substrate, such tribological properties as friction and microhardness are examined by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis and depth profiling. Sliding was conducted against SiC pins in both the adhesive process, where friction arises from adhesion between sliding surfaces, and abrasion, in which friction is due to pin indentation and groove-plowing. Both types of friction are influenced by coating depth, but with opposite trends: the graded interface exhibited the highest adhesion, but the lowest abrasion. The coefficient of friction due to abrasion is inversely related to hardness. Graded interface microhardness values are found to be the highest, due to an alloying effect. There is almost no interface gradation between the vapor-deposited gold film and the substrate.

Miyoshi, K.↗

Vortex creep and the internal temperature of neutron stars. I - General theory

The theory of a neutron star superfluid coupled to normal matter via thermal creep against pinning forces is developed in some detail. General equations of motion for a pinned rotating superfluid and their form for vortex creep are given. Steady state creep and the way in which the system approaches the steady state are discussed. The developed formalism is applied to the postglitch relaxation of a pulsar, and detailed models are developed which permit explicit calculation of the postglitch response. The energy dissipation associated with creep and glitches is considered.

Alpar, M. A.↗

Dugdale plastic zone size and CTOD equations for the compact specimen

With the aim of applying the Dugdale model to the compact specimen, the equations for stress intensity factor and crack surface displacement are obtained for a pair of pin loads and a uniform stress acting on a segment of the crack surface. The plastic zone size is calculated from the 'finiteness' condition of Dugdale, and the results agree well with collocation results from Terada (1983). The load that causes incipient yielding at the compression point of the compact specimen is calculated from a finite element strip yield analysis for an elastic-perfectly plastic material. The crack tip opening displacement for the compact specimen is calculated by adding the displacement at the tip of the physical crack length due to the pin load and due to the uniform stress. The results are within 1.5 percent of current collocation results.

Newman, J. C., Jr.↗

Aircraft Canopy Lock

Mechanism easy to open intentionally but resists accidental opening. Locking or Unlocking occurs when pull pin enters or leaves conical base. Pushing ejection pin or pulling knob unlocks mechanism. Unintentional release unlikely since accidental pilot motions push on knob in most cases. This safety feature, coupled with simplicity and reliability of mechanism, useful for emergency exits for land vehicles or even buildings.

Nichols, G. H.↗

Touch Sensor for Robots

Touch sensor for robot hands provides information about shape of grasped object and force exerted by gripper on object. Pins projecting from sensor create electrical signals when pressed. When grasped object depresses pin, it contacts electrode under it, connecting electrode to common electrode. Sensor indicates where, and how firmly, gripper has touched object.

Primus, H. C.↗

Braille Reading Systems

Two proposed electromechanical systems for making braille characters produced relatively inexpensively. Similar in operating principle to dotmatrix printers, two methods use electronically actuated pins to reproduce characters from information stored on magnetic tape. First, one or more pins scanned over blank page and energized at intervals to emboss text on paper, one or more dots at time. Second, handheld device containing one or more character-generator cells used by reader to scan lines of text manually.

Garner, H. D.↗

Connection system

A mechanical connection system comprises a first body defining a receptable and a second body defining a pin matingly receivable in the receptacle by relative movement in a first directional mode. A primary latch is engagable between the two bodies to retain the pin in the receptacle. The primary latch is reciprocable in a second directional mode transverse to the first directional mode. A lock member carried by one of the bodies is operatively associated with the primary latch and movable, transverse to the second directional mode, between a locking position maintaining engagement of the primary latch and a releasing position permitting release of the primary latch. The lock includes an operator portion engagable to move the lock member from its locking position to its releasing position. The operator is located internally of the first body. An actuator is selectivity insertable into and disengagable from the first body. The actuator is movable relative to the first body when it is inserted for engagement with and operation of the operator.

Mccandless, B., II↗

A Concept for a Mobile Remote Manipulator System

A conceptual design for a Mobile Remote Manipulator System (MRMS) is presented. This concept does not require continuous rails for mobility (only guide pins at truss hardpoints) and is very compact, being only one bay square. The MRMS proposed is highly maneuverable and is able to move in any direction along the orthogonal guide pin array under complete control at all times. The proposed concept would greatly enhance the safety and operational capabilities of astronauts performing EVA functions such as structural assembly, payload transport and attachment, space station maintenance, repair or modification, and future spacecraft construction or servicing. The MRMS drive system conceptual design presented is a reasonably simple mechanical device which can be designed to exhibit high reliability. Developmentally, all components of the proposed MRMS either exist or are considered to be completely state of the art designs requiring minimal development, features which should enhance reliability and minimize costs.

Mikulus, M. M., Jr.↗

Effect of counterface material type and its topography on the tribological properties of polyimide composites

Graphite fiber reinforced polyimide composite pins were slid against seven different counterfaces to determine the effect of material type on the tribological properties of polymer composites. In addition, the effect of sliding a new pin on a pre-established transfer film was investigated. The results indicated that almost a five order of magnitude difference in composite wear rate can occur just by varying the counterface material. An attempt to make all surfaces as smooth as possible was made, but due to differences in material composition this was not possible and a range of surface roughnesses were obtained. The results indicate that the smoother the surface, the lower the composite wear rate; but that small protrusions (not discernible with arithmetic surface roughness measurements) can markedly increase wear rates. A pre-established transfer film improved both run in and steady state wear rates.

Fusaro, R. L.↗

Development and evaluation of a Fault-Tolerant Multiprocessor (FTMP) computer. Volume 3: FTMP test and evaluation

The experimental test and evaluation of the Fault-Tolerant Multiprocessor (FTMP) is described. Major objectives of this exercise include expanding validation envelope, building confidence in the system, revealing any weaknesses in the architectural concepts and in their execution in hardware and software, and in general, stressing the hardware and software. To this end, pin-level faults were injected into one LRU of the FTMP and the FTMP response was measured in terms of fault detection, isolation, and recovery times. A total of 21,055 stuck-at-0, stuck-at-1 and invert-signal faults were injected in the CPU, memory, bus interface circuits, Bus Guardian Units, and voters and error latches. Of these, 17,418 were detected. At least 80 percent of undetected faults are estimated to be on unused pins. The multiprocessor identified all detected faults correctly and recovered successfully in each case. Total recovery time for all faults averaged a little over one second. This can be reduced to half a second by including appropriate self-tests.

Lala, J. H.↗

Some methods of estimating a coverage parameter

To demonstrate the high reliability of fault-tolerant computing systems, experimental testing can be performed by injecting faults into their hardware and observing the times needed to detect and isolate failed components and reconfigure the good components. Coverage, a parameter measuring continued system success, is the probability that recovery occurs before other, perhaps catastrophic, component failures occur. Methods of estimating coverage are given for the case of randomly selecting a subset of the pins or chips for testing. Pin-level samples of times to recovery are treated by the Type I censoring model often used in life testing.

Lee, L. D.↗

Friction, wear, transfer, and wear surface morphology of ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene

Tribological studies at 25 C in a 50-percent-relative-humidity air atmosphere were conducted using hemispherically tipped 440 C HT (high temperature) stainless steel pins sliding against ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) disks. The results indicate that sliding speed, sliding distance, contact stress and specimen geometry can markedly affect friction, UHMWPE wear, UHMWPE transfer and the type of wear mechanisms that occur. Adhesion appears to be the predominant wear mechanism; but after long sliding distances at slow speeds, heavy ridges of transfer result which can induce fatigue-like wear on the UHMWPE disk wear track. In one instance, abrasive wear to the metallic pin was observed. This was caused by a hard particle embedded in the UHMWPE disk wear track.

Fusaro, R. L.↗

Vortex creep and the internal temperature of neutron stars The Crab pulsar and PSR 0525 + 21

The behavior of the Crab pulsar following the 1969 and 1975 glitches and the postglich behavior of the old pulsar PSR 0525 + 21 are explained as resulting from internal torques due to the thermal creep of vortex lines in pinned superfluid regions. An overview of vortex creep theory is first given, and the immediate postglitch behavior of the Crab pulsar is calculated and compared with observation. The persistent shift in the spin-down rate observed for the Crab pulsar following the 1975 glitch is considered, and the internal and surface temperatures of this pulsar are deduced. The postglich behavior expected for very old pulsars is examined, showing that PSR 0525 + 21 falls into this category. It is concluded that the behavior of the Crab pulsar following both glitches can be characterized by the same two pinning regions. A comparison of the internal temperature for the Crab and Vela pulsars provides a significant constraint on the cooling of neutron stars.

Alpar, M. A.↗

Microhardness of carbon-doped (111) p-type Czochralski silicon

The effect of carbon on (111) p-type Czochralski silicon is examined. The preparation of the silicon and microhardness test procedures are described, and the equation used to determine microhardness from indentations in the silicon wafers is presented. The results indicate that as the carbon concentration in the silicon increases the microhardness increases. The linear increase in microhardness is the result of carbon hindering dislocation motion, and the effect of temperature on silicon deformation and dislocation mobility is explained. The measured microhardness was compared with an analysis which is based on dislocation pinning by carbon; a good correlation was observed. The Labusch model for the effect of pinning sites on dislocation motion is given.

Danyluk, S.↗