SEARCH · Search NASA
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.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Circuit breaker with no moving parts protects direct-current (dc) loads. Current which circuit breaker opens (trip current) is adjustable and so is time delay before breaker trips. Forward voltage drop rises from 0.6 to 1.2 V as current rises to trip point. Breaker has two terminals, like fuse, therefore replaces fuse in dc circuit. Powered by circuit it protects and reset by either turning off power source or disconnecting load.
Hot wire sensor combined with voltage-comparator circuit monitors liquid level in cryogenic-fluid storage tanks. Sensor circuit adaptable to different liquids and sensors. Constant-current source drives current through sensing probe and fixed resistor. Voltage comparator circuits interpret voltage drops to tell whether probe is immersed in liquid and is current in probe.
Development and analysis of schemes for suppression of the startup overvoltage transient in the AEDC High Performance Demonstration Experiment (HPDE), analysis of performance enhancement due to electrode voltage drop reduction by use of pyrolytic graphites in the HPDE, prediction of optimal loading schemes for the HPDE, prediction of PHDE performance with a diagonal electrical connection, and predictions of the likelihood and effects of axial current leakage between adjacent electrodes in the HPDE are reviewed. Simulations of tests at the AEDC/HPDE with STD Research Corporation multidimensional and time dependent computer codes provided additional validation for the computer codes and shed light on physical mechanisms which govern performance and durability of MHD power generators. The magnetoaerothermal effect was predicted by STD Research Corporation to have a significant effect on the HPDE/MHD generator performance at high interaction.
The efficiency of thermionic energy converters is improved by internal distribution of tiny sorted cesium diodes driven by the thermal gradient between the primary emitter and the collector. The tiny, sorted diode distribution comprises protrusions of the emitter material from the main emitter face which contact the main collector face thermally but not electrically. The main collector ends of the protrusions are separated from the main collector by a thin layer of insulation, such as aluminum oxide. The shorted tiny diode distribution augments cesium ionization through internal thermal effects only within the main diode. No electrical inputs are required. This ionization enhancement by the distribution of the tiny shorted diodes not only reduces the plasma voltage drop but also increases the power output and efficiency of the overall thermionic energy converter.
Capacitor increases efficiency of high-frequency circuits. High-powercapacitor design uses split foil and floating foil plus multiple coils to reduce voltage drop across film and increases lifetime (10 years). Capacitor reliably operates at high frequency in environments normally not hospitable to electronic components.
This experiment is involved in determining bulk resistivity values for different past concentrations. Experiments were performed on silicon Cz and non-Cz wafers. To determine bulk resistivity more accurately, pastes were printed on ceramic substrates. Contact resistance was determined by measuring the voltage drop at constant current. Because of irregularity of grid profiles, accurate determination of cross sections of grid lines is difficult. The bulk resistivity is accurate when the resistivity of the metallization is much less than that of the layer beneath it. When the resistivity of the metal approaches that of the substrate, the actual resistivity will be larger than the measured value.
The Plasma Motor Generator (PMG) concept is explained in detail. The PMG tether systems being used to calculate the estimated performance data is described. The voltage drops and current contact geometries involved in the operation of an electrodynamic tether are displayed illustrating the comparative behavior of hollow cathodes, electron guns, and passive collectors for current coupling into the ionosphere. The basic PMG design involving the massive tether cable with little or no satellite mass at the far end(s) are also described. The Jupiter mission and its use of electrodynamic tethers are given. The need for demonstration experiments is stressed.
A series of tests was performed to characterize battery performance relating to certain operating parameters which included charge current, discharge current, temperature and pressure. The parameters were varied to confirm battery design concepts and to determine optimal operating conditions. Spacecraft power requirements are constantly increasing. Special spacecraft such as the Space Station and platforms will require energy storage systems of 130 and 25 kWh, respectively. The complexity of these high power systems will demand high reliability, and reduced mass and volume. A system that uses batteries for storage will require a cell count in excess of 400 units. These cell units must then be assembled into several batteries with over 100 cells in a series connected string. In an attempt to simplify the construction of conventional cells and batteries, the NASA Lewis Research Center battery systems group initiated work on a nickel-hydrogen battery in a bipolar configuration in early 1981. Features of the battery with this bipolar construction show promise in improving both volumetric and gravimetric energy densities as well as thermal management. Bipolar construction allows cooling in closer proximity to the cell components, thus heat removal can be accomplished at a higher rejection temperature than conventional cell designs. Also, higher current densities are achievable because of low cell impedance. Lower cell impedance is achieved via current flow perpendicular to the electrode face, thus reducing voltage drops in the electrode grid and electrode terminals tabs.
The effect of gas composition and ambient pressure on arcjet operation was determined. Arcjet operation in different facilities was also compared to determine the validity of tests in small facilities. Volt-ampere characteristics were determined for an arcjet using hydrogen/nitrogen mixtures (simulating both ammonia and hydrazine), hydrogen/nitrogen/ammonia mixtures, and pure ammonia as propellants at various flow rates. The arcjet had a typical performance of 450 sec specific impulse at 1 kW with hydrogen/nitrogen mixures. It was determined that the amount of ammonia present in the gas stream had a significant effect on the arcjet volt-ampere characteristics. Also, hydrogen/nitrogen mixtures simulating ammonia gave arc characteristics approximately the same as those of pure ammonia. Finally, no differences in arc volt-ampere characteristics were seen between low and high ambient pressure operation in the same facility. A 3 to 5 V difference was seen when different facilities were compared, but this difference was probably due to differences in the voltage drops across the current connections, and not due to arcjet operational differences in the two facilities.
The properties of ion phase-space vortices are reviewed with particular attention to their role in the formation of small amplitude double layers in current-carrying plasmas. In a one-dimensional analysis, many such double layers simply add up to produce a large voltage drop. A laboratory experiment is carried out in order to investigate the properties of ion phase-space vortices in three dimensions. Their lifetime is significantly reduced as compared with similar results from one-dimensional numerical simulations of the problem.
The effect of gas composition and ambient pressure on arcjet operation was determined. Arcjet operation in different facilities was also compared to determine the validity of tests in small facilities. Volt-ampere characteristics were determined for an arcjet using hydrogen/nitrogen mixtures (simulating both ammonia and hydrazine), hydrogen/nitrogen/ammonia mixtures, and pure ammonia as propellants at various flow rates. The arcjet had a typical performance of 450 sec specific impulse at 1 kW with hydrogen/nitrogen mixtures. It was determined that the amount of ammonia present in the gas stream had a significant effect on the arcjet volt-ampere characteristics. Also, hydrogen/nitrogen mixtures simulating ammonia gave arc characteristics approximately the same as those of pure ammonia. Finally, no differences in arc volt-ampere characteristics were seen between low and high ambient pressure operation in the same facility. A 3 to 5 V difference was seen when different facilities were compared, but this difference was probably due to differences in the voltage drops across the current connections, and not due to arcjet operational differences in the two facilities.
The 3.5 inch, 50 ampere-hour nickel-hydrogen cell was on a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) test regime and was being cycled at 10 C and 60 percent depth of discharge. At cycle number 511 the Automatic Control and Data Acquisition System (ACDAS) terminated the test when the end of discharge voltage dropped below the 1.00 volt cutoff. Upon removal of the stack assembly from the pressure vessel, portions of the zircar separator were found to be completely missing. Upon further examination portions of both the positive and negative plates were found to be missing from its substrate and several gas screens were damaged due to excessive heat which caused fusing. The postulated cause of failure is free electrolyte in the cell which caused oxygen channelization resulting in localized recombination which degraded the stack components.
A simple model describing the process of electron collection from a low pressure ambient plasma in the absence of magnetic field and contactor velocity effects is presented. Experimental measurments of the plasma surrounding the contactor are used to demonstrate that a double-sheath generally develops and separates the ambient plasma from a higher density, anode plasma located adjacent to the contactor. Agreement between the predictions of the model and experimental measurements obtained at the electron collection current levels ranging to 1 A suggests the surface area at the ambient plasma boundary of the double-sheath is equal to the electron current being collected divided by the ambient plasma random electron current density; the surface area of the higher density anode plasma boundary of the double-sheath is equal to the ion current being emitted across this boundary divided by the ion current density required to sustain a stable sheath; and the voltage drop across the sheath is determined by the requirement that the ion and electron currents counterflowing across the boundaries be at space-charge limited levels. The efficiency of contactor operation is shown to improve when significant ionization and excitation is induced by electrons that stream from the ambient plasma through the double-sheath and collide with neutral atoms being supplied through the hollow cathode.
Six-terminal-contact test structures are introduced for characterizing ohmic contacts between a metal and a heavily doped semiconductor layer. Specifically, the six-terminal test structure supplies the additional information needed in order to calculate the transmission length and eventual corrections to the characteristic resistance per unit width due to finite contact length. The essential feature of this test structure is a square contact with four taps in the lower (semiconductor) layer. Every other one of these taps is used for current injection ('front'). From the voltage drop at the opposite tap and the side taps, the 'end' resistance and the 'side' resistances are calculated. The test structures are shown to give valuable information complementary to the common front resistance measurements. The interfacial resistivity is obtained directly after proper correction for flange effects.
The efficiency with which heat may be converted into resonance radiation in a cesium thermionic diode is investigated theoretically. An analytical model of a thermionic converter is used which combines the coupled effects of line radiation transport, excited-state kinetics, and plasma diffusion. Operating regimes are established for various degrees of optical density in the plasma. The results indicate that monochromatic radiation can be produced with efficiencies on the order of 30 percent, provided that there is an adequate voltage drop across the plasma. A drop of 1 V was used since it can be maintained without any electrical power input to the device. It is found that high efficiencies are ude to the higher interelectrode distances which the solutions accommodate, and that radiation can be generated efficiently, even with optically dense gases.
A far infrared (FIR) range responsive photodetector is disclosed. There is a substrate of degenerate germanium. A plurality of alternating impurity-band and high resistivity layers of germanium are disposed on the substrate. The impurity-band layers have a doping concentration therein sufficiently high to include donor bands which can release electrons upon impingement by FIR photons of energy hv greater than an energy gap epsilon. The high resistivity layers have a doping concentration therein sufficiently low as to not include conducting donor bands and are depleted of electrons. Metal contacts are provided for applying an electrical field across the substrate and the plurality of layers. In the preferred embodiment as shown, the substrate is degenerate n-type (N++) germanium; the impurity-band layers are n+ layers of germanium doped to approximately the low 10(exp 16)/cu cm range; and, the high resistivity layers are n-layers of germanium doped to a maximum of approximately 10(exp)/cu cm. Additionally, the impurity-band layers have a thickness less than a conduction-electron diffusion length in germanium and likely to be in the range of 0.1 to 1.0 micron, the plurality of impurity-bands is of a number such that the flux of FIR photons passing therethrough will be substantially totally absorbed therein, the thickness of the high resistivity layers is such compared to the voltage applied that the voltage drop in each the high resistivity layers controls the occurence of impact ionization in the impurity-band layers to a desired level.
The present consideration of the extraction of the rotational energy stored in a Kerr black hole by a large-scale MHD wind as a possible source for AGN jet energy proceeds by viewing both the ingoing and outgoing winds as propagating toward asymptotic infinities and transporting the conserved mass, angular momentum, and energy fluxes established by the source region. It is judged that the field-line rotation rate or total voltage drop across the system must also be determined by the dissipative process that injects plasma onto the magnetospheric field lines.
Power transmission cable is presently being evaluated under a NASA Lewis Research Center advanced development contract for application in the Space Station Freedom (SSF) electrical power system (EPS). Evaluation testing has been performed by TRW and NASA Lewis Research Center. The results of this development contract are presented. The primary cable design goals are to provide (1) a low characteristic inductance to minimize line voltage drop at 20 kHz, (2) electromagnetic compatibility control of the 20-kHz ac power current, (3) a physical configuration that minimizes ac resistance and (4) release of trapped air for corona-free operation.