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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 325 records · Page 18

Junction connectors permit strategic placement of television cameras

Cable run circuit with switching junction connectors at strategic locations enables television cameras to be plugged in with minimum effort wherever needed. Crimp-type contacts for mating connections reduce installation time and require a lesser level of technician skill than do soldered and potted connections.

Kempson, A., Jr.↗

Alignment tool facilitates pin placement on irregular horizontal surfaces

Alignment tool facilitates spotting and cementing plastic pins on the true vertical to irregular concave and convex surfaces. The tool consists of a wood tripod with individually adjustable legs, a wood block with a hole for placing the pins and two spirit levels at a 90 degree angle for easy alignment.

Boyle, J. V.↗

Control jet placement on spacecraft

For efficient operation and configuration design of multijet spacecraft control systems methods of linear programming are used to select combinations of individual jet-burn times which produce the desired impulses. Minimum-fuel and fuel-time solutions are found.

Crawford, B. S.↗

Pole placement with constant gain output feedback

Given a linear time invariant multivariable system with m inputs and p outputs, it was shown that p closed loop poles of the system can be preassigned arbitrarily using constant gain output feedback provided (A circumflex, B circumflex) is controllable. These data show that if (A circumflex, B circumflex, C circumflex) is controllable and observable, and Rank B circumflex = m, Rank C circumflex = p, then max (m,p) poles of the system can be assigned arbitarily using constant gain output feedback. Further, it is shown that in some cases more than max (m,p) poles can be arbitrarily assigned. A least square design technique is outlined to approximate the desired pole locations when it is not possible to place all the poles.

Sridhar, B.↗

Remote sensing impact on corridor selection and placement

Computer-aided corridor selection techniques, utilizing digitized data bases of socio-economic, census, and cadastral data, and developed for highway corridor routing are considered. Land resource data generated from various remote sensing data sources were successfully merged with the ancillary data files of a corridor selection model and prototype highway corridors were designed using the combined data set. Remote sensing derived information considered useful for highway corridor location, special considerations in geometric correction of remote sensing data to facilitate merging it with ancillary data files, and special interface requirements are briefly discussed.

Thomson, F. J.↗

A technique for pole-zero placement for dual-input control systems

A technique is presented for determining state variable feedback gains that will place both the poles and zeros of a selected transfer function of a dual-input control system at pre-determined locations in the s-plane. Leverrier's algorithm is used to determine the numerator and denominator coefficients of the closed-loop transfer function as functions of the feedback gains. The values of gain that match these coefficients to those of a pre-selected model are found by solving two systems of linear simultaneous equations. The algorithm has been used in a computer simulation of the CH-47 helicopter to control longitudinal dynamics.

Reid, G. F.↗

Changes in the terrestrial atmosphere-ionosphere-magnetosphere system due to ion propulsion for solar power satellite placement

Preliminary estimates of the effects massive Ar(+) injections on the ionosphere-plasmasphere system with specific emphasis on potential communications disruptions are given. The effects stem from direct Ar(+) precipitation into the atmosphere and from Ar(+) beam induced precipitation of MeV radiation belt protons. These injections result from the construction of Solar Power Satellites using earth-based materials in which sections of a satellite must be lifted from low earth to geosynchronous orbit by means of ion propulsion based on the relatively abundant terrestrial atmospheric component, Ar. The total amount of Ar(+) injected in transporting the components for each Solar Power Satellite is comparable to the total ion content of the ionosphere-plasmasphere system while the total energy injected is larger than that of this system. It is suggested that such effects may be largely eliminated by using lunar-based rather than earth-based satellite construction materials.

Curtis, S. A.↗

A definition of the degree of controllability - A criterion for actuator placement

The unsolved problem of how to control the attitude and shape of future very large flexible satellite structures represents a challenging problem for modern control theory. One aspect of this problem is the question of how to choose the number and locations throughout the spacecraft of the control system actuators. Starting from basic physical considerations, this paper develops a concept of the degree of controllability of a control system, and then develops numerical methods to generate approximate values of the degree of controllability for any spacecraft. These results offer the control system designer a tool which allows him to rank the effectiveness of alternative actuator distributions, and hence to choose the actuator locations on a rational basis. The degree of controllability is shown to take a particularly simple form when the satellite dynamics equations are in modal form. Examples are provided to illustrate the use of the concept on a simple flexible spacecraft.

C N Viswanathan↗

Computer analysis of flow perturbations generated by placement of choke bumps in a wind tunnel

An inviscid analytical study was conducted to determine the upstream flow perturbations caused by placing choke bumps in a wind tunnel. A computer program based on the stream-tube curvature method was used to calculate the resulting flow fields for a nominal free-stream Mach number range of 0.6 to 0.9. The choke bump geometry was also varied to investigate the effect of bump shape on the disturbance produced. Results from the study indicate that a region of significant variation from the free-stream conditions exists upstream of the throat of the tunnel. The extent of the disturbance region was, as a rule, dependent on Mach number and the geometry of the choke bump. In general, the upstream disturbance distance decreased for increasing nominal free-stream Mach number and for decreasing length-to-height ratio of the bump. A polynomial-curve choke bump usually produced less of a disturbance than did a circular-arc bump and going to an axisymmetric configuration (modeling choke bumps on all the tunnel walls) generally resulted in a lower disturbance than with the corresponding two dimensional case.

Campbell, R. L.↗

Changes in the terrestrial atmosphere-ionosphere-magnetosphere system due to ion propulsion for solar power satellite placement

In order to construct solar power satellites using earth-based materials, sections of a satellite must be lifted from low earth to geosynchronous orbit. The most plausible method of accomplishing this task is by means of ion propulsion based on the relatively abundant terrestrial atmospheric component, Ar. The proposed propulsion system will release a dense beam of about 5 keV Ar(+). The total amount of Ar(+) injected in transporting the components for each solar power satellite is comparable to the total ion content of the ionosphere-plasmasphere system while the total energy injected is larger than that of this system. Preliminary estimates are given of the effects massive Ar(+) injections have on the ionosphere-plasmasphere system with specific emphasis on potential communications disruptions. The effects stem from direct Ar(+) precipitation into the atmosphere and from Ar(+) beam induced precipitation of MeV radiation belt protons.

Curtis, S. A.↗

A dynamic measure of controllability and observability for the placement of actuators and sensors on large space structures

The degree of controllability of a large space structure is found by a four step procedure: (1) finding the minimum control energy for driving the system from a given initial state to the origin in the prescribed time; (2) finding the region of initial state which can be driven to the origin with constrained control energy and time using optimal control strategy; (3) scaling the axes so that a unit displacement in every direction is equally important to control; and (4) finding the linear measurement of the weighted "volume" of the ellipsoid in the equicontrol space. For observability, the error covariance must be reduced toward zero using measurements optimally, and the criterion must be standardized by the magnitude of tolerable errors. The results obtained using these methods are applied to the vibration modes of a free-free beam.

Vandervelde, W. E.↗

Number and placement of control system components considering possible failures

A decision making methodology is presented which is intended to be useful in the early stages of system design, before a control system is designed in detail. The methodology accounts for the likelihood of failure among the sensors and actuators in a control system. A method to compute the degree of controllability and degree of observability of a system for a given set of actuators and sensors is also presented.

Carignan, C. R.↗

Control pole placement relationships

Using a simplified Large Space Structure (LSS) model, a technique was developed which gives algebraic relationships for the unconstrained poles. The relationships, which were obtained by this technique, are functions of the structural characteristics and the control gains. Extremely interesting relationships evolve for the case when the structural damping is zero. If the damping is zero, the constrained poles are uncoupled from the structural mode shapes. These relationships, which are derived for structural damping and without structural damping, provide new insight into the migration of the unconstrained poles for the CFPPS.

Ainsworth, O. R.↗

Component number and placement in large space structure control

Studies are carried out to assist the designer of the control system for a large flexible space structure in his choice of how many actuators and sensors to incorporate in the system, and where to locate them on the structure. The degree of controllability and minimum control energy strategy for driving the system are described.

Vandervelde, W. E.↗

Optimum actuator placement, gain, and number for a two-dimensional grillage

A technique for determining the best actuator locations, actuator gains, and number of actuators is presented with results obtained for a two-dimensional grillage model. The technique minimizes the sum of the actuator gains and it is shown for the example studied that this minimum is constant for a large variation in the number of actuators. Comparisons are made between force and torque actuators, and system stability is guaranteed throughout the design process.

Horner, G. C.↗

Number and placement of control system components considering possible failures

One of the first questions facing the designer of the control system for a large space structure is how many components actuators and sensors - to specify and where to place them on the structure. This paper presents a methodology which is intended to assist the designer in making these choices. A measure of controllability is defined which is a quantitative indication of how well the system can be controlled with a given set of actuators. Similarly, a measure of observability is defined which is a quantitative indication of how well the system can be observed with a given set of sensors. Then the effect of component unreliability is introduced by computing the average expected degree of controllability (observability) over the operating lifetime of the system accounting for the likelihood of various combinations of component failures. The problem of component location is resolved by optimizing this performance measure over the admissible set of locations. The variation of this optimized performance measure with number of actuators (sensors) is helpful in deciding how many components to use.

Vander Velde, W. E.↗