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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 181 records · Page 10
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2013

Inductive Pulsed Plasma Thruster Development and Testing at NASA-MSFC

THE inductive pulsed plasma thruster (IPPT) is an electrodeless space propulsion device where a capacitor is charged to an initial voltage and then discharged producing a high current pulse through a coil. The field produced by this pulse ionizes propellant, inductively driving current in a plasma located near the face of the coil. Once the plasma is formed it can be accelerated and expelled at a high exhaust velocity by the electromagnetic Lorentz body force arising from the interaction of the induced plasma current and the magnetic field produced by the current in the coil. In the present work, we present a summary of the IPPT research and development conducted at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC). As a higher-power, still relatively low readiness level system, there are many issues associated with the eventual deployment and use of the IPPT as a primary propulsion system on spacecraft that remain to be addressed. The present program aimed to fabricate and test hardware to explore how these issues could be addressed. The following specific areas were addressed within the program and will be discussed within this paper. a) Conical theta-pinch IPPT geometry thruster configuration. b) Repetition-rate multi-kW thruster pulsing. c) Long-lifetime pulsed gas valve. d) Fast pulsed gas valve driver and controller. e) High-voltage, repetitive capacitor charging power processing unit. During the course of testing, a number of specific tests were conducted, including several that, to our knowledge, have either never been previously conducted (such as multi-KW repetition-rate operation) or have not been performed since the early 1990s (direct IPPT thrust measurements).2 Conical theta-pinch IPPT thrust stand measurements are presented in Fig. 1 while various time-integrated and time

Polzin, Kurt A.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Induction Heating Model of Cermet Fuel Element Environmental Test (CFEET)

Deep space missions with large payloads require high specific impulse and relatively high thrust to achieve mission goals in reasonable time frames. Nuclear Thermal Rockets (NTR) are capable of producing a high specific impulse by employing heat produced by a fission reactor to heat and therefore accelerate hydrogen through a rocket nozzle providing thrust. Fuel element temperatures are very high (up to 3000 K) and hydrogen is highly reactive with most materials at high temperatures. Data covering the effects of high‐temperature hydrogen exposure on fuel elements are limited. The primary concern is the mechanical failure of fuel elements due to large thermal gradients; therefore, high‐melting‐point ceramics‐metallic matrix composites (cermets) are one of the fuels under consideration as part of the Nuclear Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (NCPS) Advance Exploration System (AES) technology project at the Marshall Space Flight Center. The purpose of testing and analytical modeling is to determine their ability to survive and maintain thermal performance in a prototypical NTR reactor environment of exposure to hydrogen at very high temperatures and obtain data to assess the properties of the non‐nuclear support materials. The fission process and the resulting heating performance are well known and do not require that active fissile material to be integrated in this testing. A small‐scale test bed; Compact Fuel Element Environmental Tester (CFEET), designed to heat fuel element samples via induction heating and expose samples to hydrogen is being developed at MSFC to assist in optimal material and manufacturing process selection without utilizing fissile material. This paper details the analytical approach to help design and optimize the test bed using COMSOL Multiphysics for predicting thermal gradients induced by electromagnetic heating (Induction heating) and Thermal Desktop for radiation calculations.

Gomez, C. F.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Induction Heating Model of Cermet Fuel Element Environmental Test (CFEET)

Deep space missions with large payloads require high specific impulse and relatively high thrust to achieve mission goals in reasonable time frames. Nuclear Thermal Rockets (NTR) are capable of producing a high specific impulse by employing heat produced by a fission reactor to heat and therefore accelerate hydrogen through a rocket nozzle providing thrust. Fuel element temperatures are very high (up to 3000 K) and hydrogen is highly reactive with most materials at high temperatures. Data covering the effects of high‐temperature hydrogen exposure on fuel elements are limited. The primary concern is the mechanical failure of fuel elements due to large thermal gradients; therefore, high‐melting‐point ceramics‐metallic matrix composites (cermets) are one of the fuels under consideration as part of the Nuclear Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (NCPS) Advance Exploration System (AES) technology project at the Marshall Space Flight Center. The purpose of testing and analytical modeling is to determine their ability to survive and maintain thermal performance in a prototypical NTR reactor environment of exposure to hydrogen at very high temperatures and obtain data to assess the properties of the non‐nuclear support materials. The fission process and the resulting heating performance are well known and do not require that active fissile material to be integrated in this testing. A small‐scale test bed; Compact Fuel Element Environmental Tester (CFEET), designed to heat fuel element samples via induction heating and expose samples to hydrogen is being developed at MSFC to assist in optimal material and manufacturing process selection without utilizing fissile material. This paper details the analytical approach to help design and optimize the test bed using COMSOL Multiphysics for predicting thermal gradients induced by electromagnetic heating (Induction heating) and Thermal Desktop for radiation calculations.

Gomez, Carlos F.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Pulsed Inductive Plasma Acceleration: Performance Optimization Criteria

Optimization criteria for pulsed inductive plasma acceleration are developed using an acceleration model consisting of a set of coupled circuit equations describing the time-varying current in the thruster and a one-dimensional momentum equation. The model is nondimensionalized, resulting in the identification of several scaling parameters that are varied to optimize the performance of the thruster. The analysis reveals the benefits of underdamped current waveforms and leads to a performance optimization criterion that requires the matching of the natural period of the discharge and the acceleration timescale imposed by the inertia of the working gas. In addition, the performance increases when a greater fraction of the propellant is initially located nearer to the inductive acceleration coil. While the dimensionless model uses a constant temperature formulation in calculating performance, the scaling parameters that yield the optimum performance are shown to be relatively invariant if a self-consistent description of energy in the plasma is instead used.

Polzin, Kurt A.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Induction Heating of Hypervelocity Impact Samples to 2500 Degrees Centigrade

The Remote Hypervelocity Test Laboratory (RHTL) at White Sands Test Facility (WSTF) was asked to heat samples up to 2500 degrees Centigrade (4532 degrees Fahrenheit) to simulate reentry scenarios of crafts where heated shields are impacted with single small particles ranging from 0.2 to 1.0 millimeters (.008 to.039 inches) of various materials. The team decided an electromagnetic induction (induction heater) was the best method to achieve and control the temperatures in a rapid manner. The samples consisted of three-dimensional carbon-carbon and two-dimensional carbon-phenolic, which are both electrically conductive. After several attempts the team was able to achieve over 2500 degrees Centigrade (4532 degrees Fahrenheit) in ambient atmosphere. When the system was moved to the target chamber and the vacuum system evacuated down to 250 millitorr, arcing occurred between the bus bars and tank, the feedthrough fittings that carried the coolant and current, and between the target sample and coil. To overcome this arcing, conformal coatings, room temperature vulcanization (RTV) silicone, and other non-conductive materials were used to isolate the electromagnetic fields.

Simmons, Joshua↗
NASA NTRS2014

Dispersion-Engineered Traveling Wave Kinetic Inductance Parametric Amplifier

A traveling wave kinetic inductance parametric amplifier comprises a superconducting transmission line and a dispersion control element. The transmission line can include periodic variations of its dimension along its length. The superconducting material can include a high normal state resistivity material. In some instances the high normal state resistivity material includes nitrogen and a metal selected from the group consisting of titanium, niobium and vanadium. The traveling wave kinetic inductance parametric amplifier is expected to exhibit a noise temperature below 100 mK/GHz.

Zmuidzinas, Jonas↗
NASA NTRS2015

Inductive Position Sensor

An inductive position sensor uses three independent inductors inductively coupled by a common medium such as air. First and second inductors are separated by a fixed distance with the first inductor's axial core and second inductor's axial core maintained parallel to one another. A third inductor is disposed between the first and second inductors with the third inductor's axial core being maintained parallel to those of the first and second inductors. The combination of the first and second inductors are configured for relative movement with the third inductor's axial core remaining parallel to those of the first and second inductors as distance changes from the third inductor to each of the first inductor and second inductor. An oscillating current can be supplied to at least one of the three inductors, while voltage induced in at least one of the three inductors not supplied with the oscillating current is measured.

Youngquist, Robert C.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Magnetic Calorimeter Arrays with High Sensor Inductance and Dense Wiring

We describe prototype arrays of magnetically coupled microcalorimeters fabricated with an approach scalable to very large format arrays. The superconducting interconnections and sensor coils have sufficiently low inductance in the wiring and sufficiently high inductance in the coils in each pixel, to enable arrays containing greater than 4000 sensors and 100,000 X-ray absorbers to be used in future astrophysics missions such as Lynx. We have used projection lithography to create submicron patterns (e.g., 400-nanometer-lines and spaces) in our niobium sensor coils and wiring, integrated with gold-erbium sensor films and gold X-ray absorbers. Our prototype devices will explore the device physics of metallic magnetic calorimeters as feature sizes are reduced to nanoscale.

Magnetism↗
NASA NTRS2020

Control Demonstration of Multiple Doubly Fed Induction Motors for Hybrid Electric Propulsion

The Convergent Aeronautics Solutions (CAS) High Voltage Hybrid Electric Propulsion (HVHEP) activity was formulated to support the move into future hybrid-electric aircraft. The goal of this high-voltage activity is to develop a new alternating current (AC) power architecture to support the needs of higher efficiency and lower emissions aircraft. This proposed architecture will adopt the use of the doubly fed induction machine (DFIM) for propulsor drive motor application. The DFIMs are attractive for several reasons, including but not limited to, the ability to self-start, the ability to operate subsynchronously and supersynchronously, and the requirement for power converters rated at a fraction of those required in a corresponding direct current system, dependent on the range of operation. The focus of this report is based specifically on the presentation and analysis of a novel strategy, which allows for independent operation of multiple doubly fed induction motors from a common AC bus

David J Sadey↗
NASA NTRS2005

Frequency-dependent hydrodynamic inductance and the determination of the thermal and quantum noise of a superfluid gyroscope

We reexamine mass flow in a superfluid gyroscope containing a superfluid Josephson weak link. We introduce a frequency-dependent hydrodynamic inductance to account for an oscillatory flow of the normal fluid component in the sensing loop. With this hydrodynamic inductance, we derive the thermal phase noise, and hence the thermal rotational noise of the gyroscope. We examine the thermodynamic stability of the system based on an analysis of the free energy. We derive a quantum phase noise, which is analogous to the zero-point motion of a simple harmonic oscillator. The configuration of the studied gyroscope is analogous to a conventional superconducting RF SQUID. We show that the gyroscope has very low intrinsic noise (1.9x10(-13) rad s(-1)/root Hz), and it can potentially be applied to study general relativity, Earth science, and to improve global positioning systems (GPS).

Penanen, Konstantin↗
NASA NTRS2021

Induction Heating of Trash Reactor (OSCAR)

Induction heating is one of the standard processes used in the manufacturing industry to heat conductive materials using induced currents. Due to its efficiency, this heating method has reached other industries such as common household appliances. Currently, the majority of the heating methods used in the KSC laboratory rely on resistive heating for its heating operations. This project aims to study the benefits of the induction heating method being applied to heating processes in current laboratory projects. Potential benefits of this study include increase in heating efficiency, reduced power consumption, and speed of operations.

Jaime Toro↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Nightside Time Domain Electromagnetic Sounding with ARTEMIS: Challenges of Isolating Induction from the Lunar Interior

Electromagnetic sounding analyses THEMIS-ARTEMIS magnetic field data to isolate and identify induced magnetic fields to determine the electrical conductivity of the lunar interior. The transfer function method uses two observations one near the Moon and one far from lunar effects. We focus on induction within the nightside wake cavity performing a visual inspection in the time domain. Large transients are naturally occurring and can excite telluric currents within conducting layers within the lunar interior according to the skin depth of the signal. Time windows within wake passes with one probe close and the other far have been identified within 10 years of ARTEMIS data. We discuss initial conclusions and challenges of isolating interior induction within the lunar plasma environment.

Moons↗
NASA NTRS2024

Dual-Resonator Kinetic-Inductance Detector for Distinction between Signal and 1/ƒ Frequency Noise

Astronomical kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs), similar to quantum information devices, experience performance-limiting noise from materials. In particular, 1/ƒ (frequency) noise arises from two-level system defects (TLSs) in the circuit dielectrics and material interfaces and can be a dominant noise mechanism. Here, we present a dual-resonator KID (DuRKID), which is designed for improved noise-equivalent power relative to standard 1/ƒ -noise-limited KIDs. In this study we present the DuRKID schematic, a fabricated example, our first measurement results, a theoretical model including 1/ƒ noise, and a system-noise model containing additional noise sources. The circuit consists of two superconducting resonators sharing an electrical capacitance bridge of four capacitors, each of which hosts TLSs. The device is intended to operate using hybridization of the modes, which causes TLSs to either couple to one mode or the other, depending upon which capacitor they reside in. In contrast, the signal will affect a resonator inductance and, due to mode hybridization, this causes correlated frequency changes in both modes. Therefore, one can better distinguish the photon signal from the TLS frequency noise. To achieve hybridization, a TiN inductor is current biased to allow tuning of one bare-resonator mode into degeneracy with the other. Measurements show that the resonator modes hybridize as expected. The inter-resonator coupling and unintentional coupling of the two resonators to transmission lines are also characterized in measurements. A quantum information-science model allows device-parameter extraction from experimental data and a 1/ƒ noise analysis with uncorrelated noise. A system-noise analysis of the DuRKID, with comparisons to standard KIDs, is performed with generation-recombination noise and amplifier noise. The study reveals that the DuRKID can exhibit a large performance advantage over TLS-limited KID detectors.

N Forouzani↗