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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 505 records · Page 28
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NASA NTRS1986

Advanced life support control/monitor instrumentation concepts for flight application

Development of regenerative Environmental Control/Life Support Systems requires instrumentation characteristics which evolve with successive development phases. As the development phase moves toward flight hardware, the system availability becomes an important design aspect which requires high reliability and maintainability. This program was directed toward instrumentation designs which incorporate features compatible with anticipated flight requirements. The first task consisted of the design, fabrication and test of a Performance Diagnostic Unit. In interfacing with a subsystem's instrumentation, the Performance Diagnostic Unit is capable of determining faulty operation and components within a subsystem, perform on-line diagnostics of what maintenance is needed and accept historical status on subsystem performance as such information is retained in the memory of a subsystem's computerized controller. The second focus was development and demonstration of analog signal conditioning concepts which reduce the weight, power, volume, cost and maintenance and improve the reliability of this key assembly of advanced life support instrumentation. The approach was to develop a generic set of signal conditioning elements or cards which can be configured to fit various subsystems. Four generic sensor signal conditioning cards were identified as being required to handle more than 90 percent of the sensors encountered in life support systems. Under company funding, these were detail designed, built and successfully tested.

Heppner, D. B.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Keyboard Emulation For Computerized Instrumentation

Keyboard emulator has interface at same level as manual keyboard entry. Since communication and control take place at high intelligence level in instrument, all instrument circuitry fully utilized. Little knowledge of instrument circuitry necessary, since only task interface performs is key closure. All existing logic and error checking still performed by instrument, minimizing workload of laboratory microcomputer. Timing constraints for interface operation minimal at keyboard entry level.

Wiegand, P. M.↗
NASA NTRS1986

HOST instrumentation R and D program overview

The HOST Instrumentation R and D program is focused on two categories of instrumentation. One category is that required to characterize the environment imposed on the hot section components of turbine engines. This category includes instruments for measuring gas flow, gas temperature, and heat flux. The second category is that for measuring the effect of the environment on the hot section components. This category includes strain measuring instruments and an optical system for viewing the interior of an operating combustor to detect cracks, buckling, carbon buildup, etc.

Englund, D. R.↗
NASA NTRS1988

A cosmic and solar X-ray and gamma-ray instrument for a scout launch

An overview is presented for a set of simple and robust X-ray and gamma ray instruments which have both cosmic and solar objectives. The primary solar scientific objective is the study of the beaming of energetic electrons and ions in solar flares. The instrument will measure spectra and polarization of flare emissions up to 10 MeV. At X-ray energies both the directly emitted flux and the reflected albedo flux will be measured with a complement of six X-ray sensors. Each of these detectors will have a different high Z filter selected to optimize both the energy resolution and high rate capabilities in the energy band 10 to 300 keV. At energies greater than 100 keV seven 7.6 x 7.6 cm NaI and a set of 30 concentric plastic scattering detectors will record the spectra and polarization of electron bremsstrahlung and nuclear gamma rays. All of the components of the instrument are in existence and have passed flight tests for earlier space missions. The instrument will use a spinning solar oriented Scout spacecraft. The NaI detectors will act as a self-modulating gamma ray detector for cosmic sources in a broad angular band which lies at 90 degrees to the Sun-Earth vector and hence will scan the entire sky in 6 months.

Forrest, D. J.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Instrumentation advances for transonic testing

New and improved instrumentation, like new and improved wind tunnels, provide capabilities which stimulate innovative research and discovery. During the past few years there have been a number of instrumentation developments which have aided and abetted the acquisition of more accurate aerodynamic data and have led to new physical insights as well. Some of these advances are reviewed, particularly in the area of thin film gages, hot wire anemometry, and laser instrumentation. A description is given of the instruments and/or techniques and some sample results are shown.

Bobbitt, Percy J.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Flight set 360L003 instrumentation final test report, volume 9

Post-flight instrumentation hardware and data evaluation for 360L003 is summarized. The 360L003 motors were equipped with Developmental Flight Instrumentation (DFI), Operational Flight Instrumentation (OFI), and Ground Environmental Instrumentation (GEI). The DFI was designed to measure strain, temperature, pressure, and vibration at various locations on the motor during flight. The DFI is used to validate engineering models in a flight environment. The OFI consists of six Operational Pressure Tranducers which monitor chamber pressure during flight. These pressure transducers are used in the SRB separation cue. GEI measures the motor case, igniter flange, and nozzle temperature prior to launch.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1989

Experience with advanced instrumentation in a hot section cascade

The Lewis Research Center gas turbine Hot Section Test Facility was developed to provide a real engine environment with known boundary conditions for the aerothermal performance evaluation and verification of computer design codes. This verification process requires experimental measurements in a hostile environment. The research instruments used in this facility are presented, and their characteristics and how they perform in this environment are discussed. The research instrumentation consisted of conventional pressure and temperature sensors, as well as thin-film thermocouples and heat flux gages. The hot gas temperature was measured by an aspirated temperature probe and by a dual-element, fast-response temperature probe. The data acquisition mode was both steady state and time dependent. These experiments were conducted over a wide range of gas Reynolds numbers, exit gas Mach numbers, and heat flux levels. This facility was capable of testing at temperatures up to 1600 K, and at pressures up to 18 atm. These corresponded to an airfoil exit Reynolds number range of 0.5 x 10(6) to 2.5 x 10(6) based on the airfoil chord of 5.55 cm. The results characterize the performance capability and the durability of the instrumentation. The challenge of making measurements in hostile environments is also discussed. The instruments exhibited more than adequate durability to achieve the measurement profile. About 70 percent of the thin-film thermocouples and the dual-element temperature probe survived several hundred thermal cycles and more than 35 hr at gas temperatures up to 1600 K. Within the experimental uncertainty, the steady-state and transient heat flux measurements were comparable and consistent over the range of Reynolds numbers tested.

Yeh, Frederick C.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Three-dimensional trajectory analyses of two drop sizing instruments - PMS OAP and PMS FSSP

Flow induced distortions of water drop fluxes and speeds seen by the instruments were predicted by use of three dimensional flow and trajectory calculation methods. Sensitivities were determined for the instruments, in isolation and mounted under the wing of an airplane, to: water drop diameter (2 to 1000 microns), angle of attack and free stream air speed. For the optical array probe in isolation and on the airplane at 0 deg angle of attack, flux distortions of practical consequence are not found. At 4 deg airplane angle of attack, partial flow stagnation under the uptilted wing causes significant decreases in both flux and speed for cloud size droplets. For the forward scattering spectrometer probe in isolation, only marginally significant sensitivities to free stream air speed are found, and no sensitivity is found to angle of attack. Both speed and flux of cloud size droplets are predicted to be undermeasured by from 12 to 24 percent depending on airplane angle of attack. For the wing-mounted instruments, effects of flow about the instruments themselves are found to be equal in importance to effects of flow about the airplane. Preferred orientation (canting) angles of distorted water drops are found to be functions of drop size, angle of attack and air speed.

Norment, Hillyer G.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Independent Orbiter Assessment (IOA): Analysis of the instrumentation subsystem

The results of the Independent Orbiter Assessment (IOA) of the Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and Critical Items List (CIL) are presented. The IOA approach features a top-down analysis of the hardware to determine failure modes, criticality, and potential critical items. To preserve independence, this analysis was accomplished without reliance upon the results contained within the NASA FMEA/CIL documentation. The independent analysis results for the Instrumentation Subsystem are documented. The Instrumentation Subsystem (SS) consists of transducers, signal conditioning equipment, pulse code modulation (PCM) encoding equipment, tape recorders, frequency division multiplexers, and timing equipment. For this analysis, the SS is broken into two major groupings: Operational Instrumentation (OI) equipment and Modular Auxiliary Data System (MADS) equipment. The OI equipment is required to acquire, condition, scale, digitize, interleave/multiplex, format, and distribute operational Orbiter and payload data and voice for display, recording, telemetry, and checkout. It also must provide accurate timing for time critical functions for crew and payload specialist use. The MADS provides additional instrumentation to measure and record selected pressure, temperature, strain, vibration, and event data for post-flight playback and analysis. MADS data is used to assess vehicle responses to the flight environment and to permit correlation of such data from flight to flight. The IOA analysis utilized available SS hardware drawings and schematics for identifying hardware assemblies and components and their interfaces. Criticality for each item was assigned on the basis of the worst-case effect of the failure modes identified.

Howard, B. S.↗
NASA NTRS1989

An update of commercial infrared sensing and imaging instruments

A classification of infrared sensing instruments by type and application, listing commercially available instruments, from single point thermal probes to on-line control sensors, to high speed, high resolution imaging systems is given. A review of performance specifications follows, along with a discussion of typical thermographic display approaches utilized by various imager manufacturers. An update report on new instruments, new display techniques and newly introduced features of existing instruments is given.

Kaplan, Herbert↗
NASA NTRS1990

Failure of the ERBE scanner instrument aboard NOAA 10 spacecraft and results of failure analysis

The Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) scanner instrument on the NOAA 10 spacecraft malfunctioned on May 22, 1989, after more than 4 years of in-flight operation. After the failure, all instrument operational mode commands were tested and the resulting data analyzed. Details of the tests and analysis of output data are discussed therein. The radiometric and housekeeping data appear to be valid. However, the instrument will not correctly execute operational scan mode commands or the preprogrammed calibration sequences. The data indicate the problem is the result of a failure in the internal address decoding circuity in one of the ROM (read only memory) chips of the instrument computer.

Miller, J. B.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Head-mounted spatial instruments II: Synthetic reality or impossible dream

A spatial instrument is defined as a spatial display which has been either geometrically or symbolically enhanced to enable a user to accomplish a particular task. Research conducted over the past several years on 3-D spatial instruments has shown that perspective displays, even when viewed from the correct viewpoint, are subject to systematic viewer biases. These biases interfere with correct spatial judgements of the presented pictorial information. The design of spatial instruments may not only require the introduction of compensatory distortions to remove the naturally occurring biases but also may significantly benefit from the introduction of artificial distortions which enhance performance. However, these image manipulations can cause a loss of visual-vestibular coordination and induce motion sickness. Consequently, the design of head-mounted spatial instruments will require an understanding of the tolerable limits of visual-vestibular discord.

Ellis, Stephen R.↗
NASA NTRS1990

An airborne compatible photofragmentation two-photon laser-induced fluorescence instrument for measuring background tropospheric levels of NO, NO(x), and NO2

The operating principle, design, and performance of a two-photon LIF (TP-LIF) sensor for simultaneous measurements of NO, NO(x) (NO + NO2), and NO2 are described. In this instrument, NO is first measured by direct spectroscopic TP-LIF detection; NO2 is converted to NO by photofragmentation using an XeF excimer laser operating at 353 nm; and the resulting NO is then detected quantitatively by TP-LIF. The detection limits of the instrument are found to be 3.5 parts per trillion by volume (pptv) of NO and 10 pptv for NO2, with integration times of 2 and 6 min, respectively. The in-flight performance of the instrument was evaluated during the NASA Global Tropospheric Experiment Chemical Instrumentation Test and Evaluation 2 program in summer 1986, as reported by Gregory et al. (1990).

Sandholm, S. T.↗
NASA NTRS1990

AVHRR and VISSR satellite instrument calibration results for both Cirrus and marine stratocumulus IFO periods

Accurate characterizations of some cloud parameters are dependent upon the absolute accuracy of satellite radiance measurements. Visible wavelength measurements from both the AVHRR and VISSR instruments are often used to study cloud characteristics. Both of these instruments were radiometrically calibrated prior to launch, but neither has an onboard device to monitor degradation after launch. During the FIRE/SRB cirrus Intensive Field Operation (IFO), a special effort was made to monitor calibration of these two instruments onboard the NOAA-9 and GOES-6 spacecraft. In addition, several research groups have combined their efforts to assess the long-term performance of both instruments. These results are presented, and a limited comparison is made with the ERBE calibration standard.

Whitlock, C. H.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Modal analysis of UH-60A instrumented rotor blades

The dynamic characteristics of instrumented and production UH-60A Black Hawk main rotor blades were measured, and the results were validated with NASTRAN finite element models. The blades tested included pressure and strain-gage instrumented blades, which are part of the NASA Airloads Flight Research Phase of the Modern Technology Rotor Program. The dynamic similarity of the blades was required for accurate data collection in this program. Therefore, a nonrotating blade modal analysis was performed on the first 10 free-free modes to measure blade similarities. The results showed small differences between the modal frequencies of instrumented and production blades and a close correlation with the NASTRAN models. This type of modal testing and analysis is recommended as a standard procedure for future instrumented blade flight testing.

Hamade, Karen S.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Instrumentation for optical ocean remote sensing

Instruments used in ocean color remote sensing algorithm development, validation, and data acquisition which have the potential for further commercial development and marketing are discussed. The Ocean Data Acquisition System (ODAS) is an aircraft-borne radiometer system suitable for light aircraft, which has applications for rapid measurement of chlorophyll pigment concentrations along the flight line. The instrument package includes a three channel radiometer system for upwelling radiance, an infrared temperature sensor, a three-channel downwelling irradiance sensor, and Loran-C navigation. Data are stored on a PC and processed to transects or interpolated 'images' on the ground. The instrument has been in operational use for two and one half years. The accuracy of pigment concentrations from the instrument is quite good, even in complex Chesapeake Bay waters. To help meet the requirement for validation of future satellite missions, a prototype air-deployable drifting buoy for measurement of near-surface upwelled radiance in multiple channnels is undergoing test deployment. The optical drifter burst samples radiance, stores and processes the data, and uses the Argos system as a data link. Studies are underway to explore the limits to useful lifetime with respect to power and fouling.

Esaias, W. E.↗
NASA NTRS1990

The SPICE concept - An approach to providing geometric and other ancillary information needed for interpretation of data returned from space science instruments

The Navigation Ancillary Information Facility (NAIF), acting under the direction of NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications, and with substantial participation of the planetary science community, is designing and implementing an ancillary data system - called SPICE - to assist scientists in planning and interpreting scientific observations taken from spaceborne instruments. The principal objective of the implemented SPICE system is that it will hold the essential geometric and related ancillary information needed to recover the full value of science instrument data, and that it will facilitate correlations of individual instrument datasets with data obtained from other instruments on the same or other spacecraft.

Acton, Charles H., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1991

A preview of a microgravity laser light scattering instrument

The development of a versatile, miniature, modular light scattering instrument to be used in microgravity is described. The instrument will measure microscopic particles in the size range of thirty angstroms to above three microns. This modular instrument permits several configurations, each optimized for a particular experiment. In particular, a multiangle instrument will probably be mounted in a rack in the Space Shuttle and on the Space Station. It is possible that a Space Shuttle glove-box and a lap-top computer containing a correlator card can be used to perform a number of experiments and to demonstrate the technology needed for more elaborate investigations.

Meyer, W. V.↗