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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 199 records · Page 11

Operational characteristics of a 200 C LC parallel resonant circuit

Research efforts are currently underway at the NASA Lewis Research Center to design and demonstrate an inverter capable of operating with a baseplate temperature of 200 C. In support of this project, various electrical components including capacitors, inductors, transformers, cables, and semiconductor switches are being developed or evaluated for integration into the inverter. In this work, a parallel LC resonant circuit was constructed and evaluated under simultaneous electrical and thermal stressing. The tests were performed in the temperature range of 25 to 200 C with an applied voltage of up to 90 V, 20 kHz. The individual components were comprised of high temperature film capacitors and powder core inductors developed in-house. The circuit was characterized in terms of the component currents and case temperatures as well as frequency of resonance as a function of applied bias and temperature. The results obtained, which have indicated good functional stability up to 200 C, are presented and discussed.

Baumann, Eric D.↗

Execution environment for intelligent real-time control systems

Modern telerobot control technology requires the integration of symbolic and non-symbolic programming techniques, different models of parallel computations, and various programming paradigms. The Multigraph Architecture, which has been developed for the implementation of intelligent real-time control systems is described. The layered architecture includes specific computational models, integrated execution environment and various high-level tools. A special feature of the architecture is the tight coupling between the symbolic and non-symbolic computations. It supports not only a data interface, but also the integration of the control structures in a parallel computing environment.

Sztipanovits, Janos↗

Modelling parallel programs and multiprocessor architectures with AXE

AXE, An Experimental Environment for Parallel Systems, was designed to model and simulate for parallel systems at the process level. It provides an integrated environment for specifying computation models, multiprocessor architectures, data collection, and performance visualization. AXE is being used at NASA-Ames for developing resource management strategies, parallel problem formulation, multiprocessor architectures, and operating system issues related to the High Performance Computing and Communications Program. AXE's simple, structured user-interface enables the user to model parallel programs and machines precisely and efficiently. Its quick turn-around time keeps the user interested and productive. AXE models multicomputers. The user may easily modify various architectural parameters including the number of sites, connection topologies, and overhead for operating system activities. Parallel computations in AXE are represented as collections of autonomous computing objects known as players. Their use and behavior is described. Performance data of the multiprocessor model can be observed on a color screen. These include CPU and message routing bottlenecks, and the dynamic status of the software.

Yan, Jerry C.↗

Integrated Space Transportation Plan: Defining Technology Requirements and Next Generation Launch Systems to Meet Commercial and Government Needs

NASA continues to focus on improving safety and reliability while reducing the annual cost of meeting human space flight and unique ISS and exploration needs. NASA's Space Transportation Architecture Study (STAS) Phase 2 in early 1998 focused on space transportation options. Subsequently, NASA directed parallel industry and government teams to conduct the Integrated Space Transportation Plan effort (STAS Phase 3). The objective of ISTP was to develop technology requirements, roadmaps, and risk reduction portfolio that considered expanded definition of "clean-sheet" and Shuttle-derived second generation ETO transportation systems in support of a 2005 RLV competition for NASA missions beginning 2010. NASA provided top-level requirements for improvements in safety, reliability, and cost and a set of design reference missions representing NASA ISS, human exploration, commercial, and other civil and government needs. This paper addresses the challenges of meeting NASA's objectives while servicing the varied market segments represented in the ISTP design reference missions and provides a summary of technology development needs and candidate system concepts. A comparison of driving requirements, architectures and technology needs is discussed and descriptions of viable Shuttle-derived and next generation systems to meet the market needs are presented.

Davidoff, Larry D.↗

The key to successful management of STS operations: An integrated production planning system

Space Transportation System operations managers are being confronted with a unique set of challenges as a result of increasing flight rates, the demand for flight manifest/production schedule flexibility and an emphasis on continued cost reduction. These challenges have created the need for an integrated production planning system that provides managers with the capability to plan, schedule, status and account for an orderly flow of products and services across a large, multi-discipline organization. With increased visibility into the end-to-end production flow for individual and parallel missions in process, managers can assess the integrated impact of changes, identify and measure the interrelationships of resource, schedule, and technical performance requirements and prioritize productivity enhancements.

Johnson, W. A.↗

Integrating Thermal Tools Into the Mechanical Design Process

The intent of mechanical design is to deliver a hardware product that meets or exceeds customer expectations, while reducing cycle time and cost. To this end, an integrated mechanical design process enables the idea of parallel development (concurrent engineering). This represents a shift from the traditional mechanical design process. With such a concurrent process, there are significant issues that have to be identified and addressed before re-engineering the mechanical design process to facilitate concurrent engineering. These issues also assist in the integration and re-engineering of the thermal design sub-process since it resides within the entire mechanical design process. With these issues in mind, a thermal design sub-process can be re-defined in a manner that has a higher probability of acceptance, thus enabling an integrated mechanical design process. However, the actual implementation is not always problem-free. Experience in applying the thermal design sub-process to actual situations provides the evidence for improvement, but more importantly, for judging the viability and feasibility of the sub-process.

Tsuyuki, Glenn T.↗

Mutual impedance of nonplanar-skew sinusoidal dipoles

The mutual impedance expressions for parallel dipoles in terms of sine-integrals and cosine-integrals have been published by King (1957). The investigation reported provides analogous expressions for nonparallel dipoles. The expressions presented are most useful when the monopoles are close together. The theory of moment methods shows an approach for employing the mutual impedance of filamentary sinusoidal dipoles to calculate the impedance and scattering properties of straight and bent wires with small but finite diameter.

Richmond, J. H.↗

Structural stability augmentation system design using BODEDIRECT: A quick and accurate approach

A methodology is presented for a modal suppression control law design using flight test data instead of mathematical models to obtain the required gain and phase information about the flexible airplane. This approach is referred to as BODEDIRECT. The purpose of the BODEDIRECT program is to provide a method of analyzing the modal phase relationships measured directly from the airplane. These measurements can be achieved with a frequency sweep at the control surface input while measuring the outputs of interest. The measured Bode-models can be used directly for analysis in the frequency domain, and for control law design. Besides providing a more accurate representation for the system inputs and outputs of interest, this method is quick and relatively inexpensive. To date, the BODEDIRECT program has been tested and verified for computational integrity. Its capabilities include calculation of series, parallel and loop closure connections between Bode-model representations. System PSD, together with gain and phase margins of stability may be calculated for successive loop closures of multi-input/multi-output systems. Current plans include extensive flight testing to obtain a Bode-model representation of a commercial aircraft for design of a structural stability augmentation system.

Goslin, T. J.↗

Tailorable advanced blanket insulation using aluminoborosilicate and alumina batting

Two types of Tailorable Advanced Blanket Insulation (TABI) flat panels for Advanced Space Transportation Systems were produced. Both types consisted of integrally woven, 3-D fluted core having parallel faces and connecting ribs of Nicalon yarns. The triangular cross section flutes of one type was filled with mandrels of processed Ultrafiber (aluminoborosilicate) stitchbonded Nextel 440 fibrous felt, and the second type wall filled with Saffil alumina fibrous felt insulation. Weaving problems were minimal. Insertion of the fragile insulation mandrels into the fabric flutes was improved by using a special insertion tool. An attempt was made to weave fluted core fabrics from Nextel 440 yarns but was unsuccessful because of the yarn's fragility. A small sample was eventually produced by an unorthodox weaving process and then filled with Saffil insulation. The procedures for setting up and weaving the fabrics and preparing and inserting insulation mandrels are discussed. Characterizations of the panels produced are also presented.

Calamito, Dominic P.↗

Implementation of the Lanczos eigen-solver for the CSI code on high performance computers

The focus of this research is to implement a Lanczos algorithm for the Control-Structure Integration (CSI) code which can exploit both parallel and vector capabilities provided by modern, high performance computers. A partial restoring orthogonality scheme is also developed and incorporated into the basic Lanczos algorithm. The numerical performance of the proposed parallel-vector Lanczos algorithm is demonstrated by solving for the frequencies and mode shapes of the Phase Zero CSI model. The superior performance of the Lanczos algorithm is illustrated in tabular form.

Nguyen, Duc T.↗

A robust low-rate coding scheme for packet video

Due to the rapidly evolving field of image processing and networking, video information promises to be an important part of telecommunication systems. Although up to now video transmission has been transported mainly over circuit-switched networks, it is likely that packet-switched networks will dominate the communication world in the near future. Asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) techniques in broadband-ISDN can provide a flexible, independent and high performance environment for video communication. For this paper, the network simulator was used only as a channel in this simulation. Mixture blocking coding with progressive transmission (MBCPT) has been investigated for use over packet networks and has been found to provide high compression rate with good visual performance, robustness to packet loss, tractable integration with network mechanics and simplicity in parallel implementation.

Chen, Y. C.↗

The photosphere as a radiative boundary

The present characterization of the solar photosphere as a radiative boundary for the solar interior gives attention to both semiempirical and a priori models for the structure of emergent radiation, and emphasizes that any discussion of photospheric structures smaller than 300 km is easily compromised by the radiant integration over such scale lengths. Plane-parallel modes have indicated that Boltzmann-Saha statistics are largely valid over the photosphere save within 100 km of the temperature minimum. An evaluation is made of observational evidence for horizontal inhomogeneities and such characteristics as granular and temperature minimum region fluctuations, as well as the recent demonstration of relatively cold CO-absorbing regions.

Anderson, Lawrence S.↗

Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Spacecraft Lithium Ion Battery Micro-Cycling Investigation

The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) spacecraft was jointly developed by NASA and JAXA. It is a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) spacecraft launched on February 27, 2014. The power system is a Direct Energy Transfer (DET) system designed to support 1950 watts orbit average power. The batteries use SONY 18650HC cells and consist of three 8s by 84p batteries operated in parallel as a single battery. During instrument integration with the spacecraft, large current transients were observed in the battery. Investigation into the matter traced the cause to the Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) phased array radar which generates cyclical high rate current transients on the spacecraft power bus. The power system electronics interaction with these transients resulted in the current transients in the battery. An accelerated test program was developed to bound the effect, and to assess the impact to the mission.

Lithium Ion Battery Performance↗

IXPE Mission System Concept and Development Status

The Goal of the Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) Mi SMEX), is to expand understanding of high-energy astrophysical processes and sources, in support of NASA’s first science objective in Astrophysics: “Discover how the universe works.” IXPE, an international collaboration, will conduct X-ray imaging polarimetry for multiple categories of cosmic X-ray sources such as neutron stars, stellar-mass black holes, supernova remnants and active galactic nuclei. The Observatory uses a single science operational mode capturing the X-ray data from the targets. The IXPE Observatory consists of spacecraft and payload modules built up in parallel to form the Observatory during system integration and test. The payload includes three X-ray telescopes each consisting of a polarization-sensitive, gas pixel X-ray detector, paired with its corresponding grazing incidence mirror module assembly (MMA). A deployable boom provides the correct separation (focal length) between the detector units (DU) and MMAs. These payload elements are supported by the IXPE spacecraft which is derived from the BCP-small spacecraft architecture. This paper summarizes the IXPE mission science objectives, updates the Observatory implementation concept including the payload and spacecraft ts and summarizes the mission status since last year’s conference.

Deininger, William D.↗

System for Long-Duration Electrical Testing of SiC IC Generation 12 Chips at 500 °C

The system described in this report is an improved testing rig designed to enhance measurement flexibility, provide a compact oven footprint, and reduce costs for parallel oven-testing silicon carbide (SiC) integrated circuit devices at 500 °C for long durations (greater than 100 h). The testing rig design was characterized in terms of the ovens’ internal and external temperatures, system noise, and the leakage properties of their substrate/inner boards, where the devices under test (DUTs) reside. The test rig employs a National Instruments (NI) Peripheral Component Interconnect eXtensions for Instrumentation (PXI) measurement system, room-temperature pin-switching/customizing boards, and high-temperature compact ovens.

Stephanie Booth↗

Computational Investigation of Oxidative Etch Pitting in FiberForm and Its Impact on Material Properties

Oxidation-driven carbon erosion does not occur uniformly but rather through the development of localized etch pits at active surface sites. These active sites form due to atomic defects on the carbon surface, making them significantly more reactive than the surrounding, non-defective areas. As a result, these sites are the first to react during ablation, leading to their removal. This process creates new defects in neighboring atoms, increasing their reactivity and causing localized carbon removal around these active sites. In this way, the highly reactive defective areas serve as nucleation points for the formation and growth of etch pits, which can have adverse effects on structural integrity of FiberForm. To better understand how these etch pits impact the material properties of carbon fiber microstructures, we have developed a new capability within the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) framework to capture the etch pit formation process. This capability, integrated into the DSMC code SPARTA (Stochastic Parallel Rarefied-gas Time-accurate Analyzer), models material removal in the presence of active sites, leading to the formation of etch pits. The current work focuses on studying the effects of these etch pits on the material properties of FiberForm, a widely used base material in thermal protection systems (TPS). The microstructure of virgin FiberForm, obtained via X-ray microtomography, is imported into SPARTA to generate the ablated geometries with etch pits. These modified microstructures are then analyzed using the Porous Microstructure Analysis (PuMA) software to compute various material properties, including elasticity, thermal conductivity, and permeability. We investigate the variation of these properties due to the complex surface topology changes caused by etch pit formation. Additionally, we compare the effects of pitting with the conventional model of shrinking fibers, traditionally used to simulate the ablation of carbon structures. Significant differences emerge between the two approaches. Consequently, this physically realistic model of material removal through etch pit formation offers improved accuracy in predicting the degradation of carbon-based TPS during oxidation. It also provides insights into other mechanisms, such as spallation, where chunks of material are removed into the flow due to etch pit growth. Ultimately, this model enhances our understanding of failure modes in these materials during ablation.

PuMA↗

Software Engineering Support of the Third Round of Scientific Grand Challenge Investigations: Earth System Modeling Software Framework Survey

One of the most significant challenges in large-scale climate modeling, as well as in high-performance computing in other scientific fields, is that of effectively integrating many software models from multiple contributors. A software framework facilitates the integration task, both in the development and runtime stages of the simulation. Effective software frameworks reduce the programming burden for the investigators, freeing them to focus more on the science and less on the parallel communication implementation. while maintaining high performance across numerous supercomputer and workstation architectures. This document surveys numerous software frameworks for potential use in Earth science modeling. Several frameworks are evaluated in depth, including Parallel Object-Oriented Methods and Applications (POOMA), Cactus (from (he relativistic physics community), Overture, Goddard Earth Modeling System (GEMS), the National Center for Atmospheric Research Flux Coupler, and UCLA/UCB Distributed Data Broker (DDB). Frameworks evaluated in less detail include ROOT, Parallel Application Workspace (PAWS), and Advanced Large-Scale Integrated Computational Environment (ALICE). A host of other frameworks and related tools are referenced in this context. The frameworks are evaluated individually and also compared with each other.

Talbot, Bryan↗

Peak holding circuit for extremely narrow pulses

An improved pulse stretching circuit comprising: a high speed wide-band amplifier connected in a fast charge integrator configuration; a holding circuit including a capacitor connected in parallel with a discharging network which employs a resistor and an FET; and an output buffer amplifier. Input pulses of very short duration are applied to the integrator charging the capacitor to a value proportional to the input pulse amplitude. After a predetermined period of time, conventional circuitry generates a dump pulse which is applied to the gate of the FET making a low resistance path to ground which discharges the capacitor. When the dump pulse terminates, the circuit is ready to accept another pulse to be stretched. The very short input pulses are thus stretched in width so that they may be analyzed by conventional pulse height analyzers.

Oneill, R. W.↗