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Results for “CIRCUIT RELIABILITY”

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 343 records · Page 19
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1975

Failure analysis of electronic parts: Laboratory methods

Failure analysis test methods are presented for use in analyzing candidate electronic parts and in improving future design reliability. Each test is classified as nondestructive, semidestructive, or destructive. The effects upon applicable part types (i.e. integrated circuit, transitor) are discussed. Methodology is given for performing the following: immersion tests, radio graphic tests, dewpoint tests, gas ambient analysis, cross sectioning, and ultraviolet examination.

Anstead, R. J.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Simplified power supplies for ion thrusters

A program addressing less complex and potentially lower cost ion thruster systems has been started at the NASA Lewis Research Center. This paper discusses the initial development and demonstration of power supplies with an order of magnitude reduction in parts count, leading to increased reliability at lower weight, while still maintaining thrust system performance. Two new self-regulating keeper power supply circuits were developed and tested. One supply comprises 14 parts and uses an input voltage range of 18 to 36 volts, the other operates from 200 to 400 volts and requires 22 components. A new technique for controlling heater power is also demonstrated.

Gruber, R. P.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Integrated control system concept for high-speed aircraft

The synthesis and evaluation of flight control system architectures for future aircraft are discussed in terms of design features and the requirements for fighter aircraft. Advanced fighter configurations may feature canards, flaperons, two-dimensional vectoring nozzles, a mixing compression inlet, and an advanced turbojet engine. Survey and evaluation technology will also progress to include distributed microprocessors, VLSI and VHSIC microcircuitry, optical circuits, analytic redundancy, etc. Bottom-p and top-down architectures have been investigated to fulfill the reliability, maintainability, cost, and performance goals. A centralized architecture has been devised with line-removable units to facilitate maintainability and reduce weight. Descriptions are provided of the performance parameters and applications of optical elements, photoelastic pressure sensors, rare earth sensors, computing elements, and information transfer system.

Carlin, C. M.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Carbon granule probe microphone for leak detection

A microphone which is not subject to corrosion is provided by employing carbon granules to sense sound waves. The granules are packed into a ceramic tube and no diaphragm is used. A pair of electrodes is located in the tube adjacent the carbon granules and are coupled to a sensing circuit. Sound waves cause pressure changes on the carbon granules which results in a change in resistance in the electrical path between the electrodes. This change in resistance is detected by the sensing circuit. The microphone is suitable for use as a leak detection probe in recovery boilers, where it provides reliable operation without corrosion problems associated with conventional microphones.

Parthasarathy, S. P.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Four-terminal connector for measuring resistance of a pyrotechnic initiator

A four-terminal electrical connector device (40) for testing and measuring unknown resistances of initiators (11) used for starting pyrotechnic events aboard a Space Transportation System. The testing device minimizes contact resistance degradation effects and so improves the reliability of resistance measurement taken with the device. Separate and independent voltage sensing (19) and current supply (20) circuits each includes a pair of socket contacts (13-16) for mating engagement with the pins (17,18) of the initiator. The unknown resistance that is measured by the device is the resistance of the bridgewire (23) of the initiator which is required to be between 0.95 and 1.15 ohms.

Robinson, Robert L.↗
NASA NTRS2011

NASA-DoD Lead-Free Electronics Project

Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). depots. and support contractors have to be prepared to deal with an electronics supply chain thaI increasingly provides parts with lead-free finishes. some labeled no differently and intenningled with their SnPb counterparts. Allowance oflead-free components presents one of the greatest risks to the reliability of military and aerospace electronics. The introduction of components with lead-free lenninations, tennination finishes, or circuit boards presents a host of concerns to customers. suppliers, and maintainers of aerospace and military electronic systems such as: 1. Electrical shorting due to tin whiskers; 2. Incompatibility oflead-free processes and parameters (including higher melting points of lead-free alloys) with other materials in the system; and 3. Unknown material properties and incompatibilities that could reduce solder joint re liability.

Kessel, Kurt↗
NASA NTRS2011

Properties and Performance Attributes of Novel Co-Extruded Polyolefin Battery Separator Materials: Mechanical Properties - Part 1

As NASA prepares for its next era of manned spaceflight missions, advanced energy storage technologies are being developed and evaluated to address future mission needs and technical requirements and to provide new mission-enabling technologies. Cell-level components for advanced lithium-ion batteries possessing higher energy, more reliable performance and enhanced, inherent safety characteristics are actively under development within the NASA infrastructure. A key component for safe and reliable cell performance is the cell separator, which separates the two energetic electrodes and functions to prevent the occurrence of an internal short-circuit while enabling ionic transport. Recently, a new generation of co-extruded separator films has been developed by ExxonMobil Chemical and introduced into their battery separator product portfolio. Several grades of this new separator material have been evaluated with respect to dynamic mechanical properties and safety-related performance attributes. This paper presents the results of these evaluations in comparison to a current state-ofthe-practice separator material. The results are discussed with respect to potential opportunities to enhance the inherent safety characteristics and reliability of future, advanced lithium-ion cell chemistries.

Baldwin, Richard S.↗
NASA NTRS1986

The 20 GHz spacecraft IMPATT solid state transmitter

The engineering development of a solid-state transmitter amplifier operating in the 20-GHz frequency range is described. This effort involved a multitude of disciplines including IMPATT device development, circulator design, multiple-diode circuit design, and amplifier integration and test. The objective was to develop a transmitter amplifier demonstrating the feasibility of providing an efficient, reliable, lightweight solid-state transmitter to be flown on a 30 to 20 GHz communication demonstration satellite. The work was done under contract from NASA/Lewis Research Center for a period of three years. The result was the development of a GaAs IMPACT diode amplifier capable of an 11-W CW output power and a 2-dB bandwidth of 300 MHz. GaAs IMPATT diodes incorporating diamond heatsink and double-Read doping profile capable of 5.3-W CW oscillator output power and 15.5% efficiency were developed. Up to 19% efficiency was also observed for an output power level of 4.4 W. High performance circulators with a 0.2 dB inserting loss and bandwidth of 5 GHz have also been developed. These represent a significant advance in both device and power combiner circuit technologies in K-band frequencies.

Best, T.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Four-Channel PC/104 MIL-STD-1553 Circuit Board

The mini bus interface card (miniBIC) is the first four-channel electronic circuit board that conforms to MIL-STD-1553 and to the electrical-footprint portion of PC/104. [MIL-STD-1553 is a military standard that encompasses a method of communication and electrical- interface requirements for digital electronic subsystems connected to a data bus. PC/104 is an industry standard for compact, stackable modules that are fully compatible (in architecture, hardware, and software) with personal-computer data- and power-bus circuitry.] Prior to the development of the miniBIC, only one- and two-channel PC/104 MIL-STD-1553 boards were available. To obtain four channels, it was necessary to include at least two boards in a PC/104 stack. In comparison with such a two-board stack, the miniBIC takes up less space, consumes less power, and is more reliable. In addition, the miniBIC includes 32 digital input/output channels. The miniBIC (see figure) contains four MIL-STD-1553B hybrid integrated circuits (ICs), four transformers, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), and an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) interface. Each hybrid IC includes a MILSTD-1553 dual transceiver, memory-management circuitry, processor interface logic circuitry, and 64Kx16 bits of shared static random access memory. The memory is used to configure message and data blocks. In addition, 23 16-bit registers are available for (1) configuring the hybrid IC for, and starting it in, various modes of operation; (2) reading the status of the functionality of the hybrid IC; and (3) resetting the hybrid IC to a known state. The miniBIC can operate as a remote terminal, bus controller, or bus monitor. The FPGA provides the chip-select and data-strobe signals needed for operation of the hybrid ICs. The FPGA also receives interruption signals and forwards them to the ISA bus. The ISA interface connects the address, data, and control interfaces of the hybrid ICs to the ISA backplane. Each channel is, in effect, a MIL-STD-1553 interface that can operate either independently of the others or else as a redundant version of one of the others. The transformer in each channel provides electrical isolation between the rest of the miniBIC circuitry and the bus to which that channel is connected.

Cox, Gary L.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Guidelines for the selection and application of tantalum electrolytic capacitors in highly reliable equipment

Guidelines are given for the selection and application of three types of tantalum electrolytic capacitors in current use in the design of electrical and electronic circuits for space flight missions. In addition, the guidelines supplement requirements of existing military specifications used in the procurement of capacitors. A need exists for these guidelines to assist designers in preventing some of the recurring, serious problems experienced with tantalum electrolytic capacitors in the recent past. The three types of capacitors covered by these guidelines are; solid, wet foil, and tantalum cased wet slug.

Holladay, A. M.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Synchronous transfer circuits for redundant systems

Circuit arrangements for flip-flops, counters, and clock drivers in redundant systems ensure that control is synchronously transferred to surviving components when failure occurs. In addition to original application to spacecraft systems, redundant circuits have terrestrial uses in power generators, solar-energy converters, computers, vehicle controllers, and other systems demanding high reliability.

Nagano, S.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Learning high-quality soldering

Soldering techniques for high-reliability electronic equipment are taught in 5 day course at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Topic covered include new circuit assembly, printed-wiring board reworking, circuit changes, wire routing, and component installation.

Read, W. S.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Fault-Tolerant Coding for State Machines

Two reliable fault-tolerant coding schemes have been proposed for state machines that are used in field-programmable gate arrays and application-specific integrated circuits to implement sequential logic functions. The schemes apply to strings of bits in state registers, which are typically implemented in practice as assemblies of flip-flop circuits. If a single-event upset (SEU, a radiation-induced change in the bit in one flip-flop) occurs in a state register, the state machine that contains the register could go into an erroneous state or could hang, by which is meant that the machine could remain in undefined states indefinitely. The proposed fault-tolerant coding schemes are intended to prevent the state machine from going into an erroneous or hang state when an SEU occurs. To ensure reliability of the state machine, the coding scheme for bits in the state register must satisfy the following criteria: 1. All possible states are defined. 2. An SEU brings the state machine to a known state. 3. There is no possibility of a hang state. 4. No false state is entered. 5. An SEU exerts no effect on the state machine. Fault-tolerant coding schemes that have been commonly used include binary encoding and "one-hot" encoding. Binary encoding is the simplest state machine encoding and satisfies criteria 1 through 3 if all possible states are defined. Binary encoding is a binary count of the state machine number in sequence; the table represents an eight-state example. In one-hot encoding, N bits are used to represent N states: All except one of the bits in a string are 0, and the position of the 1 in the string represents the state. With proper circuit design, one-hot encoding can satisfy criteria 1 through 4. Unfortunately, the requirement to use N bits to represent N states makes one-hot coding inefficient.

Naegle, Stephanie Taft↗
NASA NTRS1971

Development of a highly reliable composite board for printed circuitry for use in space environment

Materials, processes and fabrication techniques have been investigated for the development of a high-temperature circuit-board laminate. High quality, void-free copper-clad laminates have been made using 7628/HS-1 style fiberglas reinforcements with filled polyimide matrices. The fabricating characteristics of P13N resin appear suitable for use as a filled matrix in this circuit board development. High-fired, ball-milled alumina appears to be necessary to obtain the desired effects in the circuit board system. Nickel-clad copper foil bonding surfaces appear to be another requirement for retention of good bond strengths after art work and plating sequences. The fabrication cycle for this circuit board system is very dependent on the heating profile. Very rapid heating with quick loading is recommended. A stack approach to lamination was successfully used.

Bradbury, E. J.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Extended life testing evaluation of complementary MOS integrated circuits

The purpose of the extended life testing evaluation of complementary MOS integrated circuits was twofold: (1) To ascertain the long life capability of complementary MOS devices. (2) To assess the objectivity and reliability of various accelerated life test methods as an indication or prediction tool. In addition, the determination of a suitable life test sequence for these devices was of importance. Conclusions reached based on the parts tested and the test results obtained was that the devices were not acceptable.

Brosnan, T. E.↗
NASA NTRS1976

DC-to-DC conversion with voltage multipliers

Compact device uses transformerless capacitor/diode voltage multiplier. Advantages include efficiency at high power levels, increased reliability due to elimination of magnetics and associated electrical transients, no magnetic shielding requirement, and adaptability to modular or integrated circuit systems.

Harrigill, W. T., Jr.↗