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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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Ionization gage with improved signal-to-noise ratio has a helical coil electrode which separates the solid cathode ion collector from the volume where ionization of gas molecules takes place. Helical coil increases lifetime of electrons and reduces secondary emission from the collector.
Torsional shear strength and stiffness of filament wound, glass epoxy tubes, with helical or alternating helical and circumferential windings
The principle of using bimetal helical coils to cause solar arrays to track the sun in space is presently under consideration for array orientation on several spacecraft. Adaptation of this thermal heliotrope to terrestrial applications introduces additional design considerations. The dominance of solar-radiation energy input to the helical coil over convective energy losses has to be ensured, and wind effects must be minimized. As long as the cost of solar cells remains high, orientation will always result in a significant cost saving for the converter.
A lightweight small high gain antenna which is capable of being packaged in a collapsed form and automatically expanded when in use is described. The antenna includes a cylindrical housing having a rod with a piston adjacent to one end extending through it. Attached to the outer end of the rod in a normally collapsed state is a helical wire coil. When the gas producing means is activated the piston and rod are shifted outwardly to expand the wire coil. A latch is provided for holding the helical coil in the expanded position.
A cavity for a hydrogen maser is described consisting of three parts which provide highly stable mechanical and thermal expansion characteristics for the cavity and ease of tuning. The three parts which are made of a glass ceramic material having a very small thermal expansion coefficient (1) a top plate, (2) a cylinder with three interrupted helical ramps at its bottom, and (3) a base which includes a bottom plate and three ramp lugs on which the helical ramps of the cylinder rest when the cylinder is placed on the base with the bottom plate in the cylinder. Cavity tuning is achieved by rotating the cylinder and thereby raising or lowering it on the base, which results in changing the cylinder volume by changing the distance between the bottom and top plates.
The wave-normal emissivity and the ray emissivity formulas for an electron moving along a helical path in a magnetoactive medium are presented. Simplified formulas for the case of an isotropic plasma are also given. Because of the helical motion of the electron, a difference exists between the radiated power per unit solid angle and the received power per unit solid angle. The relation between these two quantities in a magnetoactive medium is shown. Results are compared with those obtained by others, and the sources of discrepancies are pointed out.
A dirt separator and excluder for removing entrained debris from gas turbine shaft seals is described. A helical groove pattern is constructed on the rotating shaft with the pumping pattern such that it tends to pump seal pressurizing gas toward the gas turbine seal. A second helical groove pattern is provided on the stationary housing or counter rotating member coaxial with the shaft, and this pattern is designed to provide pumping in the direction opposite from that of the groove pattern on the shaft. Gas with entrained debris entering this grooved area will be subjected to high centrifugal forces due to the swirl motion induced by the groove pattern and the rotation of the shaft. This debris is centrifuged outwardly into the outer groove pattern on the housing or counter rotating member. Because the outer groove pattern has a pumping direction opposite from that of the seal, dirt is pumped away from the seal and can be collected in a suitable debris trap remote from the seal location.
A new approach of alleviating high angle-of-attack side force on slender, pointed forebodies comprising a symmetrical pair of helical separation trips to disrupt the lee-side vortices, has been demonstrated. Subsonic wind tunnel measurements on two axi-symmetric pointed bodies, a fuselage of non-circular cross-section and a wing-fuselage combination, at angles of attack up to 56 degrees are presented. Also included are water-tunnel flow visualization results portraying the action of helical trips in rapidly diffusing the leeward vortices and preventing vortex-wake asymmetry.
A pitch-change apparatus for a ducted thrust fan having a plurality of variable pitch blades employs a camming ring mounted coaxially at the hub at an axially fixed station along the hub axis for rotation about the hub axis both with the blades and relative to the blades. The ring has a generally spherical outer periphery and a plurality of helical camming grooves extending in a generally spherical plane on the periphery. Each of the variable pitch blades is connected to a pitch-change horn having a cam follower mounted on its outer end, and the camming ring and the horns are so arranged about the hub axis that the plurality of followers on the horns engage respectively the plurality of helical camming grooves. Rotary drive means rotates the camming ring relative to the blades to cause blade pitch to be changed through the cooperative operation of the camming grooves on the ring and the cam followers on the pitch-change horns.
The results of a test program to retrofit a high performance fixed ratio Nasvytis Multiroller Traction Drive in place of a helical gear set to a gas turbine engine are presented. Parametric tests up to a maximum engine power turbine speed of 45,500 rpm and to a power level of 11 kW were conducted. Comparisons were made to similar drives that were parametrically tested on a back-to-back test stand. The drive showed good compatibility with the gas turbine engine. Specific fuel consumption of the engine with the traction drive speed reducer installed was comparable to the original helical gearset equipped engine.
The noise of three supersonic helical tip speed propellers was compared with the noise predicted by an existing noise theory. Comparisons of the peak blade passage tones showed fairly good agreement beween theory and experiment at the lowest helical tip Mach numbers tested, 0.86 and 1.00, while at higher numbers, the theory predicted higher noise levels than measured. When the differences among the propellers were considered the theory and measurement showed fairly good agreement. Directivity measurements in general showed that the measured blade passage tone data peaked further downstream than the theory predicted. At the cruise design condition the harmonics appeared to fall off faster in the data than the theory indicated.
An energy conversion apparatus is disclosed in which a stator, fixed to a watertight housing, is coupled to a rotor by a helical spring which suspends the rotor from the housing. Natural turbulence of a fluid, such as water or air, causes acceleration of the housing, and hence, acceleration of the stator. Inertia of the rotor, coupled to the stator through the helical spring and the housing, causes relative motion, both longitudinal and rotational, between the stator and the rotor. The rotational motion between the rotor, and the stator is used to generate electrical current.
An apparatus for alleviating high angle of attack side force on slender pointed cylindrical forebodies such as fighter aircraft, missiles and the like is described. A symmetrical pair of helical separation trips was employed to disrupt the leeside vortices normally attained. The symmetrical pair of trips starts at either a common point or at space points on the upper surface of the forebody and extends along separate helical paths along the circumference of the forebody.
By rolling up the surfaces of discontinuity originating from the leading edge of delta wings, free vortex cores are formed above the wing. In case of greater angles of incidence, the flow in these vortex cores shows an instability which abruptly produces strong turbulence. In the present paper an explanation is given of this instability being a "frictionless instability" of the vortex core flow by increasing helical interference vortices. The occurring vortex core flows are calculated and investigated for stability by means of a stability criterion concerning flows with helical streamlines given by H. Ludwieg.
A study on the kinematic relationship of the variables of helicopter motion in steady, coordinated turns involving inherent sideslip is described. A set of exact kinematic equations which govern a steady coordinated helical turn about an Earth referenced vertical axis is developed. A precise definition for the load factor parameter that best characterizes a coordinated turn is proposed. Formulas are developed which relate the aircraft angular rates and pitch and roll attitudes to the turn parameters, angle of attack, and inherent sideslip. A steep, coordinated helical turn at extreme angles of attack with inherent sideslip is of primary interest. The bank angle of the aircraft can differ markedly from the tilt angle of the normal load factor. The normal load factor can also differ substantially from the accelerometer reading along the vertical body axis of the aircraft. Sideslip has a strong influence on the pitch attitude and roll rate of the helicopter. Pitch rate is independent of angle of attack in a coordinated turn and in the absence of sideslip, angular rates about the stability axes are independent of the aerodynamic characteristics of the aircraft.
A steep coordinated helical turn at extreme angles of attack with inherent sideslip is of primary interest in this study. Unlike fixed-wing aircraft, the helicopter in a steady coordinated turn will inherently sideslip. A set of exact kinematic equations describing this motion in steady helical turns has been developed, and a rational definition for the load factor that best characterizes a coordinated turn for a helicopter has been proposed. An analysis has also been completed on the effects of sideslip on the kinematic relationships in a coordinated turn which is based on new closed-form solutions which relate the aircraft angular rates and pitch and roll attitudes to the turn parameters, angle of attack, and sideslip. The results show that the bank angle of the aircraft can differ markedly from the tilt angle of the normal load factor and that the normal load factor can also differ substantially from the accelerometer reading along the vertical body axis of the aircraft. Generally, sideslip has a strong influence on the pitch attitude and roll rate of the helicopter. The study also indicates that pitch rate is independent of angle of attack in a coordinated turn and that in the absence of sideslip, angular rates about the stability axes are independent of the aerodynamic characteristics of the aircraft.
The flow processes in rocket pump inducers are summarized. The experimental investigations were carried out with air as the test medium. The major characteristics features of the rocket pump inducers are low flow coefficient (0.05 to 0.2) large stagger angle (70 deg to 85 deg) and high solidity blades of little or no camber. The investigations are concerned with the effect of viscosity not the effects of cavitation. Flow visualization, conventional and hot wire probe measurement inside and at the exit of the blade passage, were the analytical methods used. The experiment was carried out using four three and two bladed inducers with cambered blades. Both the passage and the exit flow were measured. The basic research and boundary layer investigation was carried out using a helical flat plate (of some dimensions as the inducer blades tested), and flat plate helical inducer (four bladed). Detailed mean and turbulence flow field inside the passage as well as the exit of the rotor were derived from these measurement. The boundary layer, endwall, and other passage data reveal extremely complex nature of the flow, with major effects of viscosity present across the entire passage. Several analyses were carried out to predict the flow field in inducers. These included an approximate analysis, the shear pumping analysis, and a numerical solution of exact viscous equations with approximate modeling for the viscous terms.
A new method for calculating the aerodynamic performance of horizontal axis wind turbines is described. The method, entitled the helical vortex method, directly calculates the local induced velocity due to helical vortices that originate at the rotor blade. Furthermore, the method does not require a specified circulation distribution. Results of the method are compared to similar results obtained from Wilson PROP code methods as well as to existing experimental data taken from a Mod-O wind turbine. It is shown that results of the proposed method agree well with experimental values of the power output both near cut-in and at rated wind speeds. Further, it is found that the method does not experience some of the numerical difficulties encountered by the PROP code when run at low wind velocities.