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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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Mirror structure in solar concentrator reduces heat loss by reflection and reradiation. Baffle reflects entering rays back and forth in solar-concentrator receiver until they reach heat exchanger. Similarly, infrared energy reradiated by heat exchanger is prevented from leaving receiver. Surfaces of baffle and inside wall of receiver are polished and highly reflective at solar and infrared wavelengths.
Solar thermal energy can be effectively collected, transported, stored, and utilized by means of a chemical storage and transport system employing the reversible SO2 oxidation reaction. A solar chemical receiver for SO3 thermal decomposition to SO2 and oxygen was analyzed. Bench tests of a ten foot section of a receiver module were conducted with dissociated sulfuric acid (SO3 and H2O) in an electrical furnace. Measured percent conversion of SO3 was 85% of the equilibrium value. Methods were developed to fabricate and assemble a complete receiver module. These methods included applying an aluminide coating to certain exposed surfaces, assembling concentric tubes with a wire spacer, applying a platinum catalyst to the tubing wall, and coiling the entire assembly into the desired configuration.
A 12-channel synchronous phase lock video receiver consisting of an outdoor downconverter unit and an indoor demodulator unit was developed to provide both low noise performance and low cost in production quantities of 1000 units. The prototype receiver can be mass produced at a cost under $1540 without sacrificing system performance. The receiver also has the capability of selecting any of the twelve assigned satellite broadcast channels in the frequency range 11.7 to 12.2 GHz.
A satellite time receiver was tested in various environmental conditions during the past year. The commercial receiver designed to work with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES). The test program included operation at low elevation during flight in a military cargo aircraft and long term comparison with laboratory standards. The GOES satellite time receiver offers an opportunity to provide easy wide area coverage synchronization at low cost.
Time transfer equipment and techniques used with the Navigation Technology Satellites were modified and extended for use with the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites. A prototype receiver was built and field tested. The receiver uses the GPS L1 link at 1575 MHz with C/A code only to resolve a measured range to the satellite. A theoretical range is computed from the satellite ephemeris transmitted in the data message and the user's coordinates. Results of user offset from GPS time are obtained by differencing the measured and theoretical ranges and applying calibration corrections. Results of the first field test evaluation of the receiver are presented.
The U.S. Navy Navigation Satellite System, NNSS, offers a unique worldwide facility for precise time synchronization. Space Applications Centre (SAC) developed a simple timing receiver. Using this timing receiver first the internal time consistency of NNSS was studied and then its performance to synchronize time was compared with that of National Time Standard. The methodology of data analysis, results, and various sources of error which affect the time transfer accuracy were studied and described. The main source of error was found to be the receiver delay which varies with signal strength. It is possible to apply that this delay correction empirically provided signal strength is recorded.
An air Brayton solar receiver (ABSR) is discussed. The ABSR consists of a cylindrical, insulated, offset plate fin heat exchanger which is mounted at the focal plane of a fully tracking parabolic solar collector. The receiver transfer heat from the concentrated solar radiation (which impinges on the inside walls of the heat exchanger) to the working fluid i.e., air. The hot air would then e used to drive a small Brayton cycle heat engine. The engine in turn drives a generator which produces electrical energy. Symmetrical and asymmetrical solar power input into the ABSR are analyzed. The symmetrical cases involve the baseline incident flux and the axially shifted incident fluxes. The asymmetrical cases correspond to the solar fluxes that are obtained by reduced solar input from one half of the concentrator or by receiver offset of plus or minus 1 inch from the concentrator optical axis.
A description of the general design of both the block 3 and block 4 receiver-exciter controllers for the Deep Space Network (DSN) Mark IV-A System is presented along with the design approach. The controllers are designed to enable the receiver-exciter subsystem (RCV) to be configured, calibrated, initialized and operated from a central location via high level instructions. The RECs are designed to be operated under the control of the DMC subsystem. The instructions are in the form of standard subsystem blocks (SSBs) received via the local area network (LAN). The centralized control provided by RECs and other DSCC controllers in Mark IV-A is intended to reduce DSN operations costs from the Mark III era.
A prototype power conversion assembly (PCA) developed by an American aerospace company is considered. The PCA will be mounted at the focal point of a 12 meter parabolic dish and will produce approximately 20 kW of 3 kHz ac power to a ground-mounted rectifier. The PCA includes a cavity receiver coupled to an organic Rankine cycle engine. The engine working fluid is toluene. The performance goals of the receiver design are to maximize both the thermal efficiency and the heat capacity of the core. The latter goal is desired for stabilizing the PCA operation during intermittent cloud cover. The receiver design is based upon the utilization of a direct-heated copper shell. It was necessary to develop a feasible manufacturing process for assuring a good braze joint between the stainless steel, containing the toluene, and the copper shell.
Investigations have been conducted regarding the techniques required for Loran-C navigation with application to the general-aviation pilot. The goal has been to produce prototype equipment for flight evaluation which will provide enroute navigation in both latitude-longitude and rho-theta coordinates and to evaluate the nonprecision approach capabilities of such equipment. In connection with the considered project, a prototype Loran-C receiver has been flight-tested using a variety of flight paths, with and without simultaneous ground radar position data collection. Attention is given to a receiver overview, an antenna preamplifier/coupler, the Loran-C receiver RF processor, the tracking loop hardware, tracking loop programming, video output, the laboratory and flight evaluation, and work currently in progress.
A method for aligning the transmitter and receiver telescopes of a lidar is proposed which involves the use of a small high-quality corner tube reflector placed immediately in front of the transmitter in such a way that a small fraction of the transmitted radiation is reflected to the receiver. The reflected radiation is brought to a focus in a focal plane where it appears as a small red dot and is superimposed on the image of the distant scene. The dot and the target appear in the same plane and may be brought to coincidence by moving the transmitter-receiver pair together until the image of the target falls on the red dot. The alignment is concluded by imaging the red dot onto an IR detector.
A low noise, broadband, balanced mixer has been developed for use as a 225-GHz receiver. It utilizes a local oscillator (LO), whose frequency is nearly 1/4 the signal frequency, to mix the signal power to a low IF, which is then amplified. This same LO drives a similar mixer that is used to phase lock a 225-GHz transmitter. The use of a subharmonic mixer lowers LO cost, noise, and complexity, increases LO availability and reliability, and is compact and portable. Typical applications for this type of mixer include coherent receivers, passive imaging, multiple receiver systems, and broadband detection systems
Sideband-aided receiver arrays (SARA's) offer way of extracting greater energy per bit in radio data signals. "Slave" receivers obtain modulation information from "master" receiver. Developed for reception of telemetry from vehicles in deep space, SARA concept applicable to commercial data-signal reception whenever two or more antennas are combined.
Full hardware documentation is provided for the circuit card implementing the Loran-C timing loop, and the receiver event-mark and re-track functions. This documentation is to be combined with overall receiver drawings to form the as-built record for this device. Computer software to support this module is integrated with the remainder of the receiver software, in the LORPROM program.
The tracking mechanism for a point-focusing concentrator may be subject to failure. If this should occur, the solar image will travel across the aperture plate, and it may also impinge on the adjacent support structure. Such an event is called 'sun walk-off'. The present investigation is concerned with the transient response of different aperture plate materials to the intense heating produced in a typical walk-off situation for parabolic dish concentrators. Receivers for two solar module systems are considered, including a high-temperature receiver that utilizes a 2-milliradian (mrad) concentrator, and a lower-temperature receiver which is coupled with a 4-mrad concentrator. It is found that during a walk-off situation the solar image travels in a straight line in the radial direction. The results obtained for a copper aperture plate were disappointing. It appears that passive metallic plates without cooling or other protective support cannot withstand the intense heating.
A compact low-noise V-band integrated circuit receiver has been developed for space communication systems. The receiver accepts an RF input of 60-63 GHz and generates an IF output of 3-6 GHz. A Gunn oscillator at 57 GHz is phaselocked to a low-frequency reference source to achieve high stability and low FM noise. The receiver has an overall single sideband noise figure of less than 10.5 dB and an RF to IF gain of 40 dB over a 3-GHz RF bandwidth. All RF circuits are fabricated in integrated circuits on a Duroid substrate.
In quantum optical receiver, both amplitude and phase of received optical signal measured to extract as much information as possible, thereby reducing error probability. Phase-modulated received signal mixed with equal amplitude replica of optical carrier generated in phase locked loop. Two signals interfere with each other at photomultiplier cathode. Probability of error with this scheme close to theoretical minimum and implemented with current technology.
A Ka-band low noise front end in proof of concept (POC) model form for ultimate spaceborne communications receiver deployment was developed. The low noise receiver consists of a 27.5 to 30.0 GHz image enhanced mixer integrated with a 3.7 to 6.2 GHz FET low noise IF amplifier and driven by a self contained 23.8 GHz phase locked local oscillator source. The measured level of receiver performance over the 27.3 to 30.0 GHz RF/3.7 to 6.2 GHz IF band includes 5.5 to 6.5 dB (typ) SSB noise figure, 20.5 + or - 1.5 dB conversion gain and +23 dBm minimum third order two tone intermodulation output intercept point.