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972 records · Page 33

32nd Aerospace Mechanisms Symposium

The proceedings of the 32nd Aerospace Mechanism Symposium are reported. NASA John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) hosted the symposium that was held at the Hilton Oceanfront Hotel in Cocoa Beach, Florida on May 13-15, 1998. The symposium was cosponsored by Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space and the Aerospace Mechanisms Symposium Committee. During these days, 28 papers were presented. Topics included robotics, deployment mechanisms, bearing, actuators, scanners, boom and antenna release, and test equipment.

S W Walker

Low Temperature Environment Operations of Turboengines (Design and User's Problems)

The author summarizes and links together a number of papers that were presented at the Propulsion and Energetics (PEP) symposium on low temperature environment operation of turbojet engines that was held October 8 to 12, 1990. Topics covered include operational experience of ice ingestion in the turboprop engine in the 2,000 hp class, icing on helicopter turbo engines, icing test facilities, ice relevant cloud physical parameters, and low temperature and fuel problems.

R Jacques

Accelerating SNP Development with Radiation Source Approximations for Far-Field Environment Modeling

The successful development and deployment of space nuclear power and propulsion technology requires a high-fidelity, efficient means of modeling ex-core radiation fields. Monte Carlo particle transport codes provide enable the highest level of fidelity in radiation field modeling but are inefficient for modeling ex-core radiation without modification. This paper details the development of an approach to ex-core radiation field modeling that maintains the fidelity of a Monte Carlo transport approach without sacrificing computational efficiency. This approach is based on recent improvements to an existing Monte Carlo transport acceleration technique known as surface source banking. As the transport of many particles is required to ensure adequate uncertainty in far field transport, analytical reconstruction techniques are employed to represent surface source banks as sampleable series of distributions in particle phase from which an arbitrarily large number of particles can be generated and simulated. All steps of this approach are incorporated into an AMA model to test both the underlying mathematics of the analytical source reconstruction process, as well as the relevance of the technique as a whole towards SNP applications. These tests demonstrated that this approach is capable of accelerating far-field radiation modeling in SNP-relevant scenarios by factors of at least nine over purely eigenvalue-based scenarios without significantly sacrificing simulation accuracy.

Surface Source Banking

Bipolar nickel-hydrogen battery development

A comparison of the bipolar Ni-H2 battery with other energy systems to be used in future high-power space systems is presented. The initial design for the battery under the NASA-sponsored program is described and the candidate stack components are evaluated, including electrodes, separator, electrolyte reservoir plate, and recombination sites. The compressibility of the cell elements, electrolyte activation, and thermal design are discussed. Manufacturing and prototype test results are summarized.

Koehler, C. W.

Thermal Analysis on Large Format Lithium-Ion Batteries in Thermal Runaway

Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries can deliver electrical power across a large range of applications, and large format versions of these batteries are common in aerospace for their low mass and energy dense properties. Li-ion cells usage has increased as they are more power dense than fuel cells and have overall higher performance over lead-acid/NiCd batteries. However, Li-ion cells can experience Thermal Runaway (TR) via electro-chemical, mechanical, or thermal abuse. TR is a phenomenon where the stored energy in a cell is rapidly released along with vented gases and other effluents. A cell is generally determined to be in TR if its internal heat generation has surpassed its ability to dissipate that heat. If a Li-ion cell enters TR, propagation within the battery may occur. Propagation is the chain reaction that can occur to nearby cells due to a cell that has entered TR initially. Understanding a battery’s susceptiveness to propagation is necessary to evaluate risks associated with TR phenomenon. To determine if a battery is designed in a sufficient manner to prevent battery propagation if single cell TR occurs, testing and thermal analysis of the battery must be conducted. The presentation for TFAWS 2026 will cover considerations for battery TR thermal analysis, such as: testing methods, influences on the cells, failure mechanisms, and TR parameters. This presentation will include a walkthrough of an example battery TR thermal analysis, and the results thereof.

Lithium Ion Batteries

Chapter 3: Thermal Exchanges and Temperature Stress

Thermal comfort during space flight is discussed. Heat production of man during space flight and wear loss as a mean of dissipating heat are described. Water cooled garments are also considered, along with tolerance for extreme heat and body heat storage. Models of human temperature regulation are presented in the form of documented FORTRAN programs.

Paul Webb

EMU Battery/module Service Tool Characterization Study

The power tool which will be used to replace the attitude control system in the SMM spacecraft is being modified to operate from a self contained battery. The extravehicular mobility unit (EMU) battery, a silver zinc battery, was tested for the power tool application. The results obtained during show the EMU battery is capable of operating the power tool within the pulse current range of 2.0 to 15.0 amperes and battery temperature range of -10 to 40 degrees Celsius.

Palandati, C. F.

Geosynchronous Performance of a Lithium-titanium Disulfide Battery

An ambient temperature rechargeable Lithium-Titanium disulfide (Li-TiS2) five cell battery has completed the first orbital year of accelerated synchronous orbit testing. A novel charge/discharge, state of charge (SOC) control scheme is utilized, together with taper current charge backup to overcome deleterious effects associated with high end of charge and low end of discharge voltages. It is indicated that 10 orbital years of simulated synchronous operation may be achieved. Preliminary findings associated with cell matching and battery performance are identified.

Otzinger, B.

Transient Studies of G-Induced Capillary Dryout and Rewet

A transient, one-dimensional numerical code is developed to model the liquid motion in an axial groove with square cross section. Axial variation in liquid level, shear stress and heat transfer between the groove wall and the liquid, evaporation and transient body forces are accounted for in the model. Dryout and rewet of the groove are allowed; the front location is determined numerically using conservation of mass and linear extrapolation. Several numerical test results are presented and discussed.

M K Reagan

A Cryogenic Seven-Element HEMT Front End for DSS 13

A cryogenically cooled Ka-band (33.6-GHz), seven-element front-end array for the DSN was built and tested. This system uses seven high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) low-noise amplifiers cooled by a two-stage closed-cycle refrigerator. All system components from the polarizers to the output isolators are cooled to a physical temperature between 18 and 35 K. The noise temperatures of the individual elements range from 64 to 84 K over a 2.75-GHz bandwidth.

J Bowen

1998 NASA Seal/Secondary Air System Workshop

The 1998 NASA Seal/Secondary Air System Workshop was divided into three major areas with limited materials presented in Volume II: (1) overviews of the (NASAs high speed research (HSR) and DOE's advanced turbine engine systems (ATS)) gas turbine programs and the general aviation program (GAP) with emphasis on sealing methods and results; (2) sealing concepts and methods and results including experimental facilities and numerical predictions; and (3) reviews of the numerical engine simulation and aerospace vehicles and concepts (Trailblazer, Bantam, and X-38).

Bruce Steinetz

Proceedings of the Third Space Processing Symposium Skylab Results: Volume 1

This publication contains the presentations from the Third Space Processing Symposium. These papers cover the results of Materials Processing Experiments conducted on NASA's SKYLAB flights and several related research activities for Materials Processing in Space beyond SKYLAB. Contents consist of the Welcoming Address by Dr. Rocco Petrone, Director, Marshall Space Flight Center; Introduction to Space Processing by Dr. Mathias P. Siebel, Director, Process Engineering Laboratory, Marshall Space Flight Center; thirty-eight papers; and the closing presentation titled Projected Future Space Processing Activities by Dr. James H. Bredt, Office of Applications, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Keynote Address was presented by Mr. Charles W. Mathews, Office of Applications, National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

W K Vardaman

Radiation-Resistant Ti/BN Coatings: Insights From 171 Days Exposure to Space Radiation and Atomic Oxygen in Low Orbit

Atmospheric Plasma Spray (APS) and Vacuum Plasma Spray (VPS) techniques were used to develop Ti/2 vol.% hBN coatings, for extreme space environments and tested aboard the International Space Station as part of the MISSE-17 (Materials International Space Station Experiments) program. The coatings were exposed to atomic oxygen, space radiation, and low-orbit thermal cycling. VPS coatings showed a 56% increase in microhardness, a 26% rise in elastic modulus, minimal porosity and crack density changes compared to APS coatings. The change in mechanical properties is attributed to the formation of TiO, TiO₂ and TiN from nitrogen retention, alongside radiation-induced dislocations, which enhanced surface hardening. The oxidation of titanium led to the formation of TiO and TiO₂, while boron nitride was retained and underwent transmutation in VPS coatings. XPS and EDS analyses confirmed the enhanced space-environment resistance of VPS coatings, making them ideal for long-term spacecraft protection in lunar and Martian conditions.

Abhijith Kunneparambil Sukumaran

Data Mining for ISHM of Liquid Rocket Propulsion Status Update

This document consists of presentation slides that review the current status of data mining to support the work with the Integrated Systems Health Management (ISHM) for the systems associated with Liquid Rocket Propulsion. The aim of this project is to have test stand data from Rocketdyne to design algorithms that will aid in the early detection of impending failures during operation. These methods will be extended and improved for future platforms (i.e., CEV/CLV).

Ashok Srivastava

Material Properties and Modeling of Room Temperature Vulcanizing Silicone

Room Temperature Vulcanizing silicone (RTV) is a high-temperature adhesive that has successfully been used as a gap-filler between Thermal Protection System (TPS) tiles for heatshields on numerous missions. It is also used to bond instrumentation plugs such as temperature and pressure sensors into the heatshields. While RTV has been traditionally assumed to be a non-porous and non-ablating material, numerous experiments have shown that RTV pyrolyzes and becomes highly porous as it is heated. Heating RTV has also shown swelling, or intumescence, which can pose unique problems that lead to roughness induced boundary-layer transition, surface oxide formation and contamination of heat shield sensors. Therefore, it is crucial to understand and model the intumescence phenomenon of RTV. As data for RTV material properties is limited, the first step in modeling RTV is to collect material properties such as pyrolysis mass-loss, microstructure change, virgin and char porosity, etc. which was performed in our initial study. Additionally, thermomechanical properties such as Young’s modulus and Poisson ratio are required for modeling the intumescence of RTV, which were taken from literature and the coefficient of thermal expansion was collected using in-situ heating and Micro Computed Tomography (µ-CT) in previous studies. Finally, numerous other properties such as pyrolysis gas properties, virgin and char thermal conductivity and specific heat were compiled from previous experiments and literature into a material database that can be used for simulations. In Porous Material Analysis Toolbox based on OpenFOAM (PATO) [4], structural mechanics coupled with material response was used for simulating the intumescence of RTV as it is heated. However, since the permeability of the material is very low, the pyrolysis gas creates an internal pressure build-up as the material is being heated, significantly contributing to the deformation of the material. To correctly characterize this phenomenon, additional physics models were implemented into PATO's stress analysis solver, and results were compared with RTV dilatometry test data as a preliminary verification case. Future work will include experiments of RTV at the Plasmatron X facility and the in-situ heating cell with µ-CT, and improvement of simulation tools to more accurately model RTV intumescence.

PATO

3D Woven Mid-Density Carbon Phenolic (3MDCP) Full-Scale Heatshield Development for Mars Sample Return (MSR) Earth Entry System (EES)

The Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission will be returning samples of Martian soil to Earth. The samples will be returned in the Earth Entry System (EES). The EES capsule is protected by a new thermal protection system; the 3-Dimensionally Woven, Mid-Density, Carbon Phenolic (3MDCP) material which is derived from the Heatshield for Extreme Entry Environment Technology (HEEET). The baseline 3MDCP design is a single piece thermal protection system that avoids the manufacturing and certification challenges associated with a tiled configuration. A 3MDCP heatshield begins as a flat woven preform that is formed to the final heatshield shape and then infused with phenolic resin. A NASA Ames lead team, in collaboration with Spirit Textiles (formerly TEAM Inc.), Fiber Materials Inc. (FMI, a Spirit AeroSystems Company), and Kratos SRE, has been developing and demonstrating the processes to fabricate the 3MDCP heatshield and characterize the resulting properties. The process of forming the flat woven preform into the final heatshield shape, a sphere-cone geometry with a 52.5° cone angle, involves local but substantial movement of the yarns in the weave. This results in continuous fibers across the single piece heatshield, albeit with property variations between different regions of the heatshield. This presentation will provide a high-level status of 3MDCP development for the MSR EES heatshield. This will include an overview of the manufacturing processes with an emphasis on the impact of forming on fiber orientation, material properties, and performance. Results comparing preliminary formed and flat materials will be shown. Additionally, the presentation will layout the broader plan for property testing and tie-in to aerothermal performance.

Peter Edward Marshall

Battery Failure Databank

The Battery Failure Databank contains thermal runaway results gathered from nearly 300 small format fractional thermal runaway calorimetry (S-FTRC) experiments. A majority of these experiments were conducted at synchrotron facilities where high-speed x-ray videography was conducted of the cell while tested inside of the S-FTRC. The databank is a two-component system which consists of a Microsoft ExcelTM spreadsheet which provides S-FTRC results in tabular format and a radiographic video library containing the high-speed x-ray videos. Overall, the databank provides thermal results from S-FTRC experiments conducted on a mixture of commercially available lithium-ion (Li-ion) cells and specialized Li-ion test cells with varying cell format (18650, 21700, and D-cell) and trigger mechanism (heaters, heaters plus internal short circuiting device, and nail penetration). The radiography video component provides insight into the initiation and propagation of TR in the cells, in addition to consequences of TR measured by the FTRC. Fractions of mass ejected for the cell types are separated into regimes based on the different failure modes of the cells, such as purely venting, partial ejection, and total ejection. With knowledge of the rate and characterization of the internal degradation of the cells during TR, and the amounts of mass ejected and unrecovered, the extent of TR, and therefore the mitigation of TR, is revealed relative to cell types and failure modes.

Lithium-ion battery

Influential Factors for Liquid Acquisition Device Screen Selection for Cryogenic Propulsion Systems

This paper presents the influential factors which govern screen selection for liquid acquisition devices (LADs) operating in microgravity conditions for future in-space cryogenic propulsion engines and cryogenic propellant depots. Space flight requirements, which include mass flow rate, acceleration level and direction, and thermal environment, dictate screen selection for a particular mission. The five influential factors include bubble point pressure, flow-through-screen pressure drop, wicking rate, screen compliance, and material compatibility. Governing equations and analytical models for these parameters are developed from first principles. A comprehensive survey of the historical data on coarser LAD meshes over four decades of work is conducted, and liquid hydrogen data for finer Dutch Twill meshes (325 x 2300, 450 x 2750, 510 x 3600) from recently concluded experiments is also presented to validate analytical models. Each of these parameters is measurable from ground based tests, making it facile to predict flight system performance. Therefore analytical models in this paper will be valuable for future LAD designs for both cryogenic and storable propulsion systems. Additionally, analysis will be given on the impact of the factors on liquid hydrogen systems.

Fuel Depot