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An Automated Analytical Electrophoresis Apparatus (AAEA) was designed, developed, assembled, and preliminarily tested. The AAEA was demonstrated to be a feasible apparatus for automatically acquiring, displaying, and storing (and eventually analyzing) electrophoresis mobility data from living blood cells. The apparatus and the operation of its major assemblies are described in detail.
Analytical test apparatus and method for determining oxygen content in alkali liquid metal
An apparatus that includes highly miniaturized thin-film electrochemical sensor array has been demonstrated as a prototype of instruments for simultaneous detection of multiple substances of interest (analytes) and measurement of acidity or alkalinity in bioprocess streams. Measurements of pH and of concentrations of nutrients and wastes in cell-culture media, made by use of these instruments, are to be used as feedback for optimizing the growth of cells or the production of desired substances by the cultured cells. The apparatus is designed to utilize samples of minimal volume so as to minimize any perturbation of monitored processes. The apparatus can function in a potentiometric mode (for measuring pH), an amperometric mode (detecting analytes via oxidation/reduction reactions), or both. The sensor array is planar and includes multiple thin-film microelectrodes covered with hydrous iridium oxide. The oxide layer on each electrode serves as both a protective and electrochemical transducing layer. In its transducing role, the oxide provides electrical conductivity for amperometric measurement or pH response for potentiometric measurement. The oxide on an electrode can also serve as a matrix for one or more enzymes that render the electrode sensitive to a specific analyte. In addition to transducing electrodes, the array includes electrodes for potential control. The array can be fabricated by techniques familiar to the microelectronics industry. The sensor array is housed in a thin-film liquid-flow cell that has a total volume of about 100 mL. The flow cell is connected to a computer-controlled subsystem that periodically draws samples from the bioprocess stream to be monitored. Before entering the cell, each 100-mL sample is subjected to tangential-flow filtration to remove particles. In the present version of the apparatus, the electrodes are operated under control by a potentiostat and are used to simultaneously measure the pH and the concentration of glucose. It is anticipated that development of procedures for trapping more enzymes into hydrous iridium oxide (and possibly into other electroactive metal oxides) and of means for imparting long-term stability to the transducer layers should make it possible to monitor concentrations of products of many enzyme reactions for example, such key bioprocess analytes as amino acids, vitamins, lactose, and acetate.
An analyte, viscosity, or temperature sensing apparatus for operative arrangement within a time-varying magnetic field, including a sensor with an outer surface that is chemically, frictionally, or thermally responsive and adhered to a base magnetostrictive element, and a receiver to measure a first and second value for magneto-elastic emission intensity of the sensor taken at, respectively, a first and second interrogation frequency. A change in mass or a change in material stiffness of the sensor due to the responsiveness, the viscosity and mass density of a fluid therearound, or the temperature, can be identified. The receiver, alternatively, measures a plurality of successive values for magneto-elastic emission intensity of the sensor taken over an operating range of successive interrogation frequencies to identify a value for the sensor's magneto-elastic resonant frequency (a fundamental frequency or harmonic thereof). Several sensors in an ordered array will provide a package of information.
Description of experimental apparatus for analytically determining surface processes affecting performance of thermionic energy converters
The photochemical effects of the interstellar radiation field on the ice mantles of molecular-cloud dust grains are investigated by means of laboratory simulations. The apparatus and analytical methods described by Hagen et al. (1979) and Hagen (1982) are employed, and the results are presented as spectra and discussed in detail. Consideration is given to the strong IR absorption bands of OCN(-) and NH4(+) which appear after photolysis and heating of H2O/NH3/CO/O2 ices, the detection of similar bands toward W33A, the critical role of NH3 in the photochemical production of ions, and the use of calculated integrated absorption-band strengths to estimate astrophysical column densities.
Effects of flow turning, flow acceleration, and supersonic flow on film cooling were determined experimentally and correlated in terms of an entrainment film cooling model. Experiments were conducted using thin walled metal test sections, hot nitrogen mainstream gas, and ambient hydrogen or nitrogen as film coolants. The entrainment film cooling model relates film cooling effectiveness to the amount of mainstream gases entrained with the film coolant in a mixing layer. The experimental apparatus and the analytical model used are described in detail and correlations for the entrainment fraction and film coolant-to-wall heat transfer coefficient are presented.
The fractionation of fine-grained aggregates into their major components is a problem in many scientific areas including earth and planetary science. Electrophoresis, the transport of electrically charged particles, immersed in a suspension medium, by a direct current field (Bier, 1959), was employed in this study as a means of separating simulated lunar soil into its constituent minerals. In these tests, conducted in a static analytical cylindrical microelectrophoresis apparatus, samples of simulated lunar soil and samples of pure mineral constituents were placed in the chamber; the electrophoretic mobilities of the lunar soil and the individual mineral constituents were measured. In most of the suspension buffers employed separability was indicated, on the basis of differences in mobility, for all the constituent mineral species except ilmenite and pyroxene, which were not efficiently separable in any of the buffers. Although only a few suspension media were employed, the success of this initial study suggests that electrophoresis may be an important mineral fractionation option in fine-grained aggregate processing.
An AEM apparatus equipped with digital beam control has obtained quantitative point-count analyses of thin sections taken from eight anhydrous chondritic interplanetary dust particles (IDPs); between 200 and 500 X-ray analyses were collected from each thin section and analyzed for Mg, Al, Si, S, Ca, Cr, Mn, Fe, and Ni. Two types of anhydrous chondritic aggregates were observed in the eight IDPs: one highly porous, the other less so. The eight anhydrous IDPs are characterizable as mixtures of fine- and coarse-grained aggregates, large mineral grains, glass, and carbonaceous materials. Their elemental concentrations follow those of solar abundances, suggesting that they are unperturbed by aqueous alteration.
The large deflection random response of flat and blade-stiffened carbon-carbon panels is studied both experimentally and analytically. The experimental data was obtained from tests performed in the Thermal Acoustic Fatigue Apparatus at NASA Langley. The analytical results were generated using a numerical simulation program that used the measured acoustic pressure as input. Comparisons of the measured and simulated power spectral densities are presented for several locations on each panel. A comparison of the rms strains at various locations on each panel is also discussed. The measured rms strains were generally a factor of two larger than the predicted. The effect of the nonlinearity was overpredicted at higher sound spectrum levels.
Surface tension driven flow has been investigated analytically and experimentally using an apparatus where a free column of molten glass or model fluids was supported at its top and bottom faces by solid surfaces. The glass used in the experiments was sodium diborate, and the model fluids were silicone oils. In both the model fluid and glass melt experiments, conclusive evidence was obtained to prove that the observed flow was driven primarily by surface tension forces. The experimental observations are in qualitative agreement with predictions from the theoretical model.
The apparatus, materials, and procedures used in an analysis of thermal, convective, and rotational fluid flow for a second series of rocket experiments of dendrite growth are described. A constitutive supercooling criterion was calculated from the thermal data. A convection analysis was made of the various cases to ensure that convective velocities will not exceed about .01 cm/sec in the low-g tests. Damping times for fluid flow generated by rocket spin-up and spin-down were also determined, so that the conditions for this experiment are generally the same as those for the SPAR experiment 74-21 study of ammonium chloride low-g crystallizations.
The rate of cure and viscosity were measured for Hercules HBRF-55 resin. The rate of cure was measured by differential scanning calorimetry, while the viscosity was measured by a parallel disk and plate type apparatus. The data were fitted to analytic expressions to make them suitable for use in numerical calculations.
An apparatus denoted a swab device has been developed as a convenient means of acquiring samples of contaminants from surfaces and suspending the samples in liquids. (Thereafter, the liquids can be dispensed, in controlled volumes, into scientific instruments for analysis of the contaminants.) The swab device is designed so as not to introduce additional contamination and to facilitate, simplify, and systematize the dispensing of controlled volumes of liquid into analytical instruments. The swab device is a single apparatus into which are combined all the equipment and materials needed for sampling surface contamination. The swab device contains disposable components stacked together on a nondisposable dispensing head. One of the disposable components is a supply cartridge holding a sufficient volume of liquid for one complete set of samples. (The liquid could be clean water or another suitable solvent, depending on the application.) This supply of liquid is sealed by Luer valves. At the beginning of a sampling process, the user tears open a sealed bag containing the supply cartridge. A tip on the nondisposable dispensing head is engaged with a Luer valve on one end of the supply cartridge and rotated, locking the supply cartridge on the dispensing head and opening the valve. The swab tip includes a fabric swab that is wiped across the surface of interest to acquire a sample. A sealed bag containing a disposable dispensing tip is then opened, and the swab tip is pushed into the dispensing tip until seated. The dispensing head contains a piston that passes through a spring-loaded lip seal. The air volume displaced by this piston forces the liquid out of the supply cartridge, over the swab, and into the dispensing tip. The piston is manually cycled to enforce oscillation of the air volume and thereby to cause water to flow to wash contaminants from the swab and cause the resulting liquid suspension of contaminants to flow into the dispensing tip. After several cycles to ensure adequate mixing, liquid containing the suspended contaminant sample is dispensed. The disposable components are then removed from the dispensing head, which may then be reused with a fresh set of disposable components.
The development of transfer films atop steel counterfaces in contact with unfilled and bronze-filled PTFE has been studied using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The sliding apparatus was contained within the vacuum of the analytical system, so the effects of the native oxide, hydrocarbon, and adsorbed gaseous surface layers of the steel upon the PTFE transfer behavior could be studied in situ. For both the filled and the unfilled PTFE, cleaner surfaces promoted greater amounts of transfer. Metal fluorides, which formed at the transfer film/counterface interface, were found solely in cases where the native oxide had been removed to expose the metallic surface prior to sliding. These fluorides also were found at clean metal/PTFE interfaces formed in the absence of frictional contact. A fraction of these fluorides resulted from irradiation damage inherent in XPS analysis. PTFE transfer films were found to build up with repeated sliding passes, by a process in which strands of transfer filled in the remaining counterface area. Under these reported test conditions, the transfer process is not expected to continue atop previously deposited transfer films. The bronze-filled composite generated greater amounts of transfer than the unfilled PTFE. The results are discussed relative to the observed increase in wear resistance imparted to PTFE by a broad range of inorganic fillers.
Superplasticity has been demonstrated in many fine-grained structural ceramics and ceramic composites, including yttria-stabilized tetragonal zirconia polycrystal (YTZP), alumina, and Al2O3-reinforced zirconia (Al2O3/YTZ) duplex composites and SiC-reinforced Si3N4. These superplastic ceramics obviously offer the potential benefit of forming net shape or near net shape parts. This could be particularly useful for forming complicated shapes that are difficult to achieve using conventional forming techniques, or require elaborate, subsequent machining. In the present study, we successfully demonstrated the following: (1) superplastic 3Y-TXP and 20 percent Al2O3/YTZ composite have for the first time been successfully deformed into hemispherical caps via a biaxial gas-pressure forming technique; (2) no experimental difficulty was encountered in applying the required gas pressures and temperatures to achieve the results, thus, it is certain that higher rates of deformation than those presented in this study will be possible by using the current test apparatus at higher temperatures and pressures; and (3) an analytical model incorporating material parameters, such as variations during forming in the strain rate sensitivity exponent and grain growth-induced strain hardening, is needed to model accurately and therefore precisely control the biaxial gas-pressure forming of superplastic ceramics. Based on the results of this study, we propose to fabricate zirconia insulation tubes by superplastic extrusion of zirconia polycrystal. This would not only reduce the cost, but also improve the reliability of the tube products.
The present invention includes an apparatus, system and method for stochastic sensing of an analyte to a protein pore. The protein pore may be an engineer protein pore, such as an ion channel at temperatures above 55.degree. C. and even as high as near 100.degree. C. The analyte may be any reactive analyte, including chemical weapons, environmental toxins and pharmaceuticals. The analyte covalently bonds to the sensor element to produce a detectable electrical current signal. Possible signals include change in electrical current. Detection of the signal allows identification of the analyte and determination of its concentration in a sample solution. Multiple analytes present in the same solution may also be detected.
A new method has been developed for monitoring and control of automated sample processing and preparation especially focusing on desalting of samples before analytical analysis (described in more detail in Automated Desalting Apparatus, (NPO-45428), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 34, No. 8 (August 2010), page 44). The use of non-contact conductivity probes, one at the inlet and one at the outlet of the solid phase sample preparation media, allows monitoring of the process, and acts as a trigger for the start of the next step in the sequence (see figure). At each step of the muti-step process, the system is flushed with low-conductivity water, which sets the system back to an overall low-conductivity state. This measurement then triggers the next stage of sample processing protocols, and greatly minimizes use of consumables. In the case of amino acid sample preparation for desalting, the conductivity measurement will define three key conditions for the sample preparation process. First, when the system is neutralized (low conductivity, by washing with excess de-ionized water); second, when the system is acidified, by washing with a strong acid (high conductivity); and third, when the system is at a basic condition of high pH (high conductivity). Taken together, this non-contact conductivity measurement for monitoring sample preparation will not only facilitate automation of the sample preparation and processing, but will also act as a way to optimize the operational time and use of consumables