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Strong, lightweight shaft formed without awkward bolted flanges. Composite and metal portions of shaft joined by winding composite portion onto outer surface and into spiral groove of metal portion. Groove and composite material constitute structural bond. If opposing spiral grooves used, then two shafts locked together against torques in both directions.
Noncontact fiber-optic sensor and associated electronic equipment measure twist and speed of rotation of shaft. Measurements determine torque and power. Response of sensor remains linear even at cryogenic temperatures. Reflective strips on rotating shaft reflect two series of light pulses back into optical system. Bidirectional coupler in each of two optical fiber paths separates reflected light from incident light, sending it to photodiode for output to analog-to-digital converter and computer. Sensor requires no slip rings or telemetry to transfer signals from shaft. Well suited for providing data on performances of turbopumps for such cryogenic fluids as liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen.
Optoelectronic system to monitor motions of turbopump shaft developed. Optical sensors detect passage of reflective triangles on shaft. Optical measurements processed in real time into indications of speed of rotation and of axial and lateral displacements of shaft.
This paper presents viewgraphs of The Influence of Rocket Engine Characteristics on Shaft Sealing Technology Needs. The topics include: 1) Rocket Turbomachinery Shaft Seals (Inter-Propellant-Seal (IPS) Systems, Lift-off Seal Systems, and Technology Development Needs); 2) Rocket Engine Characteristics (Engine cycles, propellants, missions, etc., Influence on shaft sealing requirements); and 3) Conclusions.
The present invention is an optical sensor that senses the movement of a shaft. Detection of radial movement is made when a portion of light incident on the shaft sensor-target is blocked. For detection of axial movement, a disk with flat surface is mounted and used to block a portion of light. The variation in the amount of light allowed to pass through is a measure of the position of the shaft. As proposed by this invention, significant improvement is made with respect to sensitivity and linearity of the system when the light is permanently partially blocked. To accomplish this goal this invention adds a boss to the system. To eliminate possible drift of system performance due to LED degradation or temperature variation, a feedback feature is added to the system.
Various disturbances that are synchronous with the shaft speed can complicate radial magnetic bearing control. These include position sensor target irregularities (runout) and shaft imbalance. The method presented here allows the controller to ignore all synchronous harmonics of the shaft position input (within the closed-loop bandwidth) and to respond only to asynchronous motions. The result is reduced control effort.
Tests were made in the 20-foot propeller-research tunnel to investigate the possibility of obtaining increased net efficiencies of propeller-nacelle units by enclosing the engines in the wings and by using extension shafts. A wing of 5-foot chord was fitted with a propeller drive assembly providing for several axial locations of tractor propellers and pusher propellers. A three-blade 4-foot propeller and a three-blade 3 1/2-foot propeller of special design were tested in this wing with spinners and fairings ranging in diameter from 6 to 16 inches. A 16-inch NACA cowling was tested for comparative purposes. Two types of cuffs were also employed. It was found that the net efficiency of a conventional round-shank propeller mounted on an extension shaft in front of or behind a wing increased with an increase in the diameter of the spinner and the shaft housing within the scope of the tests. The largest spinner used had a diameter that might favorably compare with that of a radial engine cowling. The efficiencies for the pusher position appeared to be more critically affected by spinner size than those for the tractor position. The spinners with large diameters for the pusher position resulted in a higher efficiency than those for the corresponding tractor arrangements; the reverse was true for the small spinners. The use of propeller cuffs in combination with a spinner of small diameter generally resulted in net efficiencies that were comparable with those found for the large-spinner combinations.
The turbo-shaft engine is an important propulsion system used to power vehicles on land, sea, and in the air. As the power plant for many high performance helicopters, the characteristics of the engine and control are critical to proper vehicle operation as well as being the main determinant to overall vehicle performance. When applied to vertical flight, important distinctions exist in the turbo-shaft engine control system due to the high degree of dynamic coupling between the engine and airframe and the affect on vehicle handling characteristics. In this study, the impact of engine control system architecture is explored relative to engine performance, weight, reliability, safety, and overall cost. Comparison of the impact of architecture on these metrics is investigated as the control system is modified from a legacy centralized structure to a more distributed configuration. A composite strawman system which is typical of turbo-shaft engines in the 1000 to 2000 hp class is described and used for comparison. The overall benefits of these changes to control system architecture are assessed. The availability of supporting technologies to achieve this evolution is also discussed.
Transducer for measuring the output torque of a rotating shaft uses a magnetically permeable sleeve fitted over a section of the shaft which deflects axially in direct proportion to the output torque. A corresponding change in reluctance occurs in pickup coils mounted in close proximity to the sleeve. This change is measured by attached conventional circuitry.
Shear pin coupling with plugged hollow shaft provides required load capacity for shaft protection and has no groove to induce fatigue failure.
Rotating shaft seals used in space power systems have spiral grooves in one or both of the opposing seal faces. These grooves induce a pumping action which displaces the intervening fluid radially inward toward the shaft and counters the centrifugal forces which tend to displace the fluid outward.
Placing the shaft seals, in an oxidizer pump, between the pump bearings, reduces the shaft overhang length and overall turbopump length. This arrangement of the components in the pump removes the seals from the hot turbine region.
Computerized method of analysis predicts bearing loads, shaft deflections, and critical speeds for shafts coupled by rolling contact bearings to the machine housing. The bearing nonlinearities, casing as well as rotor dynamics, and rotor-imbalance forcing functions are all included in the system dynamics analysis.
Shaft misalignment effect on accuracy of precision digital shaft angle encoders, using test fixture and optical methods
The completion of the High Advance Ratio Research Program is reported. The primary objectives of the program were to experimentally determine the rotor frequency response to shaft pitching and rolling oscillations and to acquire steady response and frequency response data at high advance ratios for hingeless rotors with typical, full-scale, first flap mode natural frequencies. Secondary objectives of the program included the further evaluation of both the hub moment feedback control system and the simplified rigid blade flapping theory with respect to shaft oscillations. The bulk of the text is devoted to the presentation and examination of representative experimental results. All the analyzed test data are documented in tabular and/or graphical formats.
Actuators for control and articulation aboard Mariner spacecraft have employed output shaft seals to maintain an internal gaseous atmosphere. On future missions, considerably greater expected lifetimes, temperature ranges, and radiation exposures have led to a need to determine the limitations of the present O-ring output shaft seal and to examine other candidate seals. Seals suited both to dynamic and static sealing were examined for potential use in three specific actuator applications and the following candidate seals were selected: (a) O-ring seal, (b) chevron seal, (c) bellows seal (linear actuator only), (d) magnetic fluid seal (rotary actuators only) and as a backup seal to any of the foregoing, (e) the labyrinth seal.
The effect of the gyroscopic moment on the appearance of a first imaginary critical velocity (minimum negative value of lambda) is investigated and shown to have an important effect on the computation of the first critical velocity. A numerical procedure is developed which can be used for overcoming the difficulties arising when the first real and the first imaginary roots are similar in modulus. As an example, a real shaft with two supports was analyzed. For the computation the real shaft was subdivided into ten sections, and for two of them (representing compressor and turbine) the gyroscopic moment was taken into account. The present method is especially useful when high speed computational facilities are not available.
Operation under simulated aircraft transmission conditions of speeds to 2850 m/min (9350 ft/min), lubricant temperatures to 394 K (250 F), shaft radial runouts to 0.254 mm (0.010 in.) F.I.R. (full indicator reading), and pressure differentials to 1.03 N/cm2 (1.5 psi) revealed that conventional circumferential seals leaked excessively. Modifying the conventional seal by adding helical grooves to the seal bore reduced leakage rates to within the acceptable level of 10 cm3/hr. The leakage rate of this modified seal was not significantly affected by lubricant flooding or by shaft radial runout.