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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 73 records · Page 4

Formation mechanism of a silicon carbide coating for a reinforced carbon-carbon composite

Results are presented for a study to determine the mechanisms involved in a high-temperature pack cementation process which provides a silicon carbide coating on a carbon-carbon composite. The process and materials used are physically and chemically analyzed. Possible reactions are evaluated using the results of these analytical data. The coating is believed to develop in two stages. The first is a liquid controlled phase process in which silicon carbide is formed due to reactions between molten silicon metal and the carbon. The second stage is a vapor transport controlled reaction in which silicon vapors react with the carbon. There is very little volume change associated with the coating process. The original thickness changes by less than 0.7%. This indicates that the coating process is one of reactive penetration. The coating thickness can be increased or decreased by varying the furnace cycle process time and/or temperature to provide a wide range of coating thicknesses.

Rogers, D. C.↗

Metal-thin film insulator-semiconductor solar cells

The characteristics of a specific M-I-S structure are analyzed for various assumed roles of the thin-film insulating layer. It is shown that the behavior of an ideal Schottky barrier is obtained in the case where the insulating layer does not hinder transport and no localized states are present (or, if present, their population is dictated by the metal Fermi level). The cell is a majority carrier device; by using the insulating layer to control transport, it becomes a minority carrier cell.

Fonash, S. J.↗

Performance Analysis of TCP Enhancements in Satellite Data Networks

This research examines two proposed enhancements to the well-known Transport Control Protocol (TCP) in the presence of noisy communication links. The Multiple Pipes protocol is an application-level adaptation of the standard TCP protocol, where several TCP links cooperate to transfer data. The Space Communication Protocol Standard - Transport Protocol (SCPS-TP) modifies TCP to optimize performance in a satellite environment. While SCPS-TP has inherent advantages that allow it to deliver data more rapidly than Multiple Pipes, the protocol, when optimized for operation in a high-error environment, is not compatible with legacy TCP systems, and requires changes to the TCP specification. This investigation determines the level of improvement offered by SCPS-TP's Corruption Mode, which will help determine if migration to the protocol is appropriate in different environments. As the percentage of corrupted packets approaches 5 %, Multiple Pipes can take over five times longer than SCPS-TP to deliver data. At high error rates, SCPS-TP's advantage is primarily caused by Multiple Pipes' use of congestion control algorithms. The lack of congestion control, however, limits the systems in which SCPS-TP can be effectively used.

Broyles, Ren H.↗

Supersonic laminar flow control on commercial transports

This paper provides an overview of the status of supersonic laminar flow control. Existing research into the aerodynamic problems of subsonic and supersonic laminar flow control is first reviewed to provide a prospective for subsequent discussions of recent studies to evaluate the potential performance benefits of the application of laminar flow control to supersonic transports. A flight research program to provide a realistic assessment of the technical feasibility is then described.

Wagner, R. D.↗

Adaptive Control of a Transport Aircraft Using Differential Thrust

The paper presents an adaptive control technique for a damaged large transport aircraft subject to unknown atmospheric disturbances such as wind gust or turbulence. It is assumed that the damage results in vertical tail loss with no rudder authority, which is replaced with a differential thrust input. The proposed technique uses the adaptive prediction based control design in conjunction with the time scale separation principle, based on the singular perturbation theory. The application of later is necessitated by the fact that the engine response to a throttle command is substantially slow that the angular rate dynamics of the aircraft. It is shown that this control technique guarantees the stability of the closed-loop system and the tracking of a given reference model. The simulation example shows the benefits of the approach.

Stepanyan, Vahram↗

Convection and mass-transport in laser-induced chemical vapor deposition

Gas flow and energy and species transport in laser-induced chemical vapor deposition (LICVD) of amorphous silicon films by silane pyrolysis are analyzed by finite element analysis of a two-dimensional model for the process. Spatial nonuniformity of the deposited film is shown to result from diffusion controlled transport of products between the beam and substrate. Deposition profiles are affected by buoyancy-driven convection only at increased gas pressures. Horizontal orientation of the reactor with respect to gravity is optimal because the stagnation-like flow, that results adjacent to the substrate, enhances mixing, and smoothes the film profile.

Patnaik, S.↗

Study of the oxygen transport through Ag (110), Ag (poly), and Ag 2.0 Zr

The transport of oxygen through high-purity membranes of Ag (110), Ag (poly), Ag (nano), and Ag 2.0 Zr has been studied by an ultrahigh vacuum permeation method over the temperature range of 400-800 C. The data show that there are substantial deviations from ordinary diffusion-controlled transport. A surface limitation has been confirmed by glow-discharge studies where the upstream O2 supply has been partially converted to atoms, which, for the same temperature and pressure, gave rise to over an order of magnitude increase in transport flux. Further, the addition of 2.0 wt percent Zr to the Ag has provided increased dissociative adsorption rates, which, in turn, increased the transport flux by a factor of 2. It was also observed that below a temperature of 630 C, the diffusivity exhibits an increase in activation energy of over 4 kcal/mol, which has been attributed to trapping of the atomic oxygen and/or kinetic barriers at the surface and subsurface of the vacuum interface. Above 630 C, the activation barrier decreases to the accepted value of about 11 kcal/mol for Ag (poly), consistent with zero concentration at the vacuum interface.

Outlaw, R. A.↗

An example of requirements for Advanced Subsonic Civil Transport (ASCT) flight control system using structured techniques

The requirements are presented for an Advanced Subsonic Civil Transport (ASCT) flight control system generated using structured techniques. The requirements definition starts from initially performing a mission analysis to identify the high level control system requirements and functions necessary to satisfy the mission flight. The result of the study is an example set of control system requirements partially represented using a derivative of Yourdon's structured techniques. Also provided is a research focus for studying structured design methodologies and in particular design-for-validation philosophies.

Mclees, Robert E.↗

Electrostatic Screen for Transport of Martian and Lunar Regolith

The Martian and Lunar Regolith contain fine particulate including those in the size range from 0.5 to 200 micron [1-2]. Martian dust can be transported and deposited by Aeolian processes, including "Dust Devils". Due to the ultra high vacuum (10e-12 Torr), transport of dust on the Moon is solely a result of collision/ballistic motion. Dust obscuration of solar cells is one of the primary factors limiting the duration of Martian missions, including the Mars Exploration Rovers. Dust contamination in vacuum seals is one of the primarily factors that limited lunar excursions during the Apollo missions. Controlled transportation of dust on Mars and the Moon is important for many reasons, including both contamination mitigation and in situ resource utilization (ISRU). Since both the monopole and dipole electrostatic moments result in non-trivial forces on particles in an electrostatic field, dust particles, whether charged or not, can be transported by electrostatic fields. In the electrostatic screen, alternating waveforms of voltage applied to patterned grids of electrodes will transport dust. The authors will show that the canonical methods for transporting dust via electrostatic screen can be readily applied to transport of Martian and Lunar regolith. Experiments have been performed in ambient, low humidity, Martian, and Lunar conditions. Screen parameters have been examined for application to each regolith, such as grid spacing, trace width, grid voltage, pulse pattern, pulse frequency, and coating type. The authors have also developed an electrostatic screen based on optically transparent conductors that can be placed over solar arrays, windows, visors, lenses, etc.

Immer, C.↗

Numerical and Analytical Model of an Electrodynamic Dust Shield for Solar Panels on Mars

Masuda and collaborators at the University of Tokyo developed a method to confine and transport particles called the electric curtain in which a series of parallel electrodes connected to an AC source generates a traveling wave that acts as a contactless conveyor. The curtain electrodes can be excited by a single-phase or a multi-phase AC voltage. A multi-phase curtain produces a non-uniform traveling wave that provides controlled transport of those particles [1-6]. Multi-phase electric curtains from two to six phases have been developed and studied by several research groups [7-9]. We have developed an Electrodynamic Dust Shield prototype using threephase AC voltage electrodes to remove dust from surfaces. The purpose of the modeling work presented here is to research and to better understand the physics governing the electrodynamic shield, as well as to advance and to support the experimental dust shield research.

Calle, C. I.↗

Decoupling control technology for medium STOL transports

The advanced control technology is considered that is necessary to cope with the medium STOL transport landing problem and, in particular, the necessity to decouple with active control techniques. It is shown that the need to decouple is independent of the powered lift concept but that the provisioning for decoupling is most greatly dependent on the preassumed piloting technique. The implications of decoupling and active control techniques with respect to pilot technique options, handling quality criteria, flight control mechanization, and the use of piloted simulation as a design tool, are also discussed.

Bird, D. K.↗

Simulator Evaluation of Simplified Propulsion-Only Emergency Flight Control Systems on Transport Aircraft

With the advent of digital engine control systems, considering the use of engine thrust for emergency flight control has become feasible. Many incidents have occurred in which engine thrust supplemented or replaced normal aircraft flight controls. In most of these cases, a crash has resulted, and more than 1100 lives have been lost. The NASA Dryden Flight Research Center has developed a propulsion-controlled aircraft (PCA) system in which computer-controlled engine thrust provides emergency flight control capability. Using this PCA system, an F-15 and an MD-11 airplane have been landed without using any flight controls. In simulations, C-17, B-757, and B-747 PCA systems have also been evaluated successfully. These tests used full-authority digital electronic control systems on the engines. Developing simpler PCA systems that can operate without full-authority engine control, thus allowing PCA technology to be installed on less capable airplanes or at lower cost, is also a desire. Studies have examined simplified ?PCA Ultralite? concepts in which thrust control is provided using an autothrottle system supplemented by manual differential throttle control. Some of these concepts have worked well. The PCA Ultralite study results are presented for simulation tests of MD-11, B-757, C-17, and B-747 aircraft.

Burcham, Frank W., Jr.↗

Experimental investigation of the excess charge and time constant of minority carriers in the thin diffused layer of 0.1 Ohm-cm silicon solar cells

The observed low open-circuit voltage in 0.1 Ohm-cm solar cells is probably related to an excessively high diode saturation current. Theoretical studies conducted by Lindholm et al. (1975) and by Godlewski et al. (1975) have shown that a high saturation current could be produced by either high recombination rates or bandgap narrowing effects. A description is given of an investigation which shows that bandgap narrowing effects have a first order significance in determining the charge carrier transport controlling the open-circuit voltage of 0.1 Ohm-cm silicon solar cells.

Godlewski, M. P.↗

Space-based solar power conversion and delivery systems study. Volume 2: Engineering analysis of orbital systems

Program plans, schedules, and costs are determined for a synchronous orbit-based power generation and relay system. Requirements for the satellite solar power station (SSPS) and the power relay satellite (PRS) are explored. Engineering analysis of large solar arrays, flight mechanics and control, transportation, assembly and maintenance, and microwave transmission are included.

Source record↗

Prototype solar heating and cooling systems, including potable hot water

Progress made in the development, delivery, and support of two prototype solar heating and cooling systems including potable hot water is reported. The system consists of the following subsystems: collector, auxiliary heating, potable hot water, storage, control, transport, and government-furnished site data acquisition. A comparison of the proposed Solaron Heat Pump and Solar Desiccant Heating and Cooling Systems, installation drawings, data on the Akron House at Akron, Ohio, and other program activities are included.

Bloomquist, D.↗