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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 109 records · Page 6
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2008

Tool for Inspecting Alignment of Twinaxial Connectors

A proposed tool would be used to inspect alignments of mating twinaxial-connector assemblies on interconnecting wiring harnesses. More specifically, the tool would be used to inspect the alignment of each contact pin of each connector on one assembly with the corresponding socket in the corresponding connector on the other assembly. It is necessary to inspect the alignment because if mating of the assemblies is attempted when any pin/socket pair is misaligned beyond tolerance, the connection will not be completed and the dielectric material in the socket will be damaged (see Figure 1). Although the basic principle of the tool is applicable to almost any type of mating connector assemblies, the specific geometry of the tool must match the pin-and-socket geometry of the specific mating assemblies to be inspected. In the original application for which the tool was conceived, each of the mating assemblies contains eight twinaxial connectors; the pin diameter is 0.014 in. (.0.35 mm), and the maximum allowable pin/socket misalignment is 0.007 in. (.0.18 mm). Incomplete connections can result in loss of flight data within the functional path to the space shuttle crew cockpit displays. The tool (see Figure 2) would consist mainly of a transparent disk with alignment clocking tabs that can be fitted onto either connector assembly. Sets of circles or equivalent reference markings are affixed to the face of the tool, located at the desired positions of the mating contact pairs. An inspector would simply fit the tool onto a connector assembly, engaging the clocking tabs until the tool fits tightly. The inspector would then align one set of circles positioning a line of sight perpendicular to one contact within the connector assembly. Mis alignments would be evidenced by the tip of a pin contact straying past the inner edge of the circle. Socket contact misalignments would be evidenced by a crescent-shaped portion of the white dielectric appearing within the circle. The tool could include a variable magnifier plus an illuminator that could be configured so as not to cast shadows.

Smith, Christopher R.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Cryogenic Pupil Alignment Test Architecture for Aberrated Pupil Images

A document describes cryogenic test architecture for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) integrated science instrument module (ISIM). The ISIM element primarily consists of a mechanical metering structure, three science instruments, and a fine guidance sensor. One of the critical optomechanical alignments is the co-registration of the optical telescope element (OTE) exit pupil with the entrance pupils of the ISIM instruments. The test architecture has been developed to verify that the ISIM element will be properly aligned with the nominal OTE exit pupil when the two elements come together. The architecture measures three of the most critical pupil degrees-of-freedom during optical testing of the ISIM element. The pupil measurement scheme makes use of specularly reflective pupil alignment references located inside the JWST instruments, ground support equipment that contains a pupil imaging module, an OTE simulator, and pupil viewing channels in two of the JWST flight instruments. Pupil alignment references (PARs) are introduced into the instrument, and their reflections are checked using the instrument's mirrors. After the pupil imaging module (PIM) captures a reflected PAR image, the image will be analyzed to determine the relative alignment offset. The instrument pupil alignment preferences are specularly reflective mirrors with non-reflective fiducials, which makes the test architecture feasible. The instrument channels have fairly large fields of view, allowing PAR tip/tilt tolerances on the order of 0.5deg.

Bos, Brent↗
NASA NTRS2012

Precise Alignment and Permanent Mounting of Thin and Lightweight X-ray Segments

To provide observations to support current research efforts in high energy astrophysics. future X-ray telescope designs must provide matching or better angular resolution while significantly increasing the total collecting area. In such a design the permanent mounting of thin and lightweight segments is critical to the overall performance of the complete X-ray optic assembly. The thin and lightweight segments used in the assemhly of the modules are desigued to maintain and/or exceed the resolution of existing X-ray telescopes while providing a substantial increase in collecting area. Such thin and delicate X-ray segments are easily distorted and yet must be aligned to the arcsecond level and retain accurate alignment for many years. The Next Generation X-ray Optic (NGXO) group at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has designed, assembled. and implemented new hardware and procedures mth the short term goal of aligning three pairs of X-ray segments in a technology demonstration module while maintaining 10 arcsec alignment through environmental testing as part of the eventual design and construction of a full sized module capable of housing hundreds of X-ray segments. The recent attempts at multiple segment pair alignment and permanent mounting is described along with an overview of the procedure used. A look into what the next year mll bring for the alignment and permanent segment mounting effort illustrates some of the challenges left to overcome before an attempt to populate a full sized module can begin.

Biskach, Michael P.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Ducted fuel injection system alignment device

An alignment device for a ducted fuel injection system comprising a mounting block removably attachable to a duct of the ducted fuel injection system. The mounting block can include a passageway extending therethrough. The passageway can align with the duct when the mounting block is attached to the duct. The alignment device further comprises an imaging device configured to capture an image viewing through the duct toward an outlet of a fuel injector. A portion of the imaging device can extend in the passageway. The alignment device additionally comprises a centering structure configured to align a portion of the imaging device with a central axis of the duct. The image captured by the imaging device can be configured for use aligning a position of an outlet of a fuel injector with respect to a position of the duct.

Nilsen, Christopher William↗
DOE OSTI2023

Stereolithography additive manufacturing of magnetically aligned liquid crystal elastomers

A method of forming a three-dimensional structure includes forming a layer of resin comprising liquid crystal oligomers and a photoinitiator, applying a magnetic field to the formed layer in a predefined alignment direction for substantially aligning the liquid crystal oligomers in a first orientation; and exposing the formed layer to radiation for curing a first portion of the layer during application of the magnetic field thereby resulting in the first portion having liquid crystal elastomers substantially aligned in the first orientation. The method includes applying a second magnetic field to the formed layer in a predefined second alignment direction for substantially aligning uncured liquid crystal oligomers in a second orientation, and exposing the layer to radiation for curing a second portion of the layer during application of the second magnetic field thereby resulting in the second portion having liquid crystal elastomers substantially aligned in the second orientation.

Arriaga, Rodrigo Telles↗
DOE OSTI2024

Digital Light Process 3D Printing of Magnetically Aligned Liquid Crystalline Elastomer Free–forms

Liquid crystalline elastomers (LCEs) are anisotropic soft materials capable of large dimensional changes when subjected to a stimulus. The magnitude and directionality of the stimuli-induced thermomechanical response is associated with the alignment of the LCE. Recent reports detail the preparation of LCEs by additive manufacturing (AM) techniques, predominately using direct ink write printing. Another AM technique, digital light process (DLP) 3D printing, has generated significant interest as it affords LCE free-forms with high fidelity and resolution. However, one challenge of printing LCEs using vat polymerization methods such as DLP is enforcing alignment. Here, we document the preparation of aligned, main-chain LCEs via DLP 3D printing using a 100 mT magnetic field. Systematic examination isolates the contribution of magnetic field strength, alignment time, and build layer thickness on the degree of orientation in 3D printed LCEs. Informed by this fundamental understanding, DLP is used to print complex LCE free-forms with through-thickness variation in both spatial orientations. Further, the hierarchical variation in spatial orientation within LCE free-forms is used to produce objects that exhibit mechanical instabilities upon heating. DLP printing of aligned LCEs opens new opportunities to fabricate stimuli-responsive materials in form factors optimized for functional use in soft robotics and energy absorption.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Growth of Crystallographically Aligned PbSe Films of Controlled Thickness on Amorphous Substrates

Lead selenide (PbSe) has extensively been investigated due to its thermoelectric and photoconductive properties. More recently, predictions of emergent properties have focused synthetic efforts on preparing ultra-smooth layers of crystallographically aligned PbSe layers with a thickness equal to an integer number of monolayers. While rough films are typically formed through Volmer-Weber growth on heated substrates, we report the data presented herein indicates that a crystallographically aligned, ultrathin layer with a defined number of PbSe layers forms on mostly amorphous Mo-Se and V-Se coated Si substrates during nominally room temperature deposition. Since the films are uniform in thickness, the number of PbSe bilayers formed depends on the amount of Pb (or Se) deposited. If the amount of Pb deposited is close to that required for an integral number of unit cells and there is sufficient Se, Laue oscillations are present in the as-deposited samples. The Laue oscillations reflect the quality and uniformity of the crystalline PbSe domains. This study demonstrates that the substrate does not need to be crystalline to form uniform, crystallographically aligned, integer monolayer thick PbSe films. These results suggest that tuning the strength of interactions be-tween substrate and growing film is necessary to form smooth, crystallographically aligned layers. The substrate does not need to be crystalline for these interactions to be strong enough to enable growth of crystallographically aligned films.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

A natural mechanism for approximate Higgs alignment in the 2HDM

The 2HDM possesses a neutral scalar interaction eigenstate whose tree-level properties coincide with the Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson. In light of the LHC Higgs data which suggests that the observed Higgs boson is SM-like, it follows that the mixing of the SM Higgs interaction eigenstate with the other neutral scalar interaction eigenstates of the 2HDM should be suppressed, corresponding to the so-called Higgs alignment limit. The exact Higgs alignment limit can arise naturally due to a global symmetry of the scalar potential. If this symmetry is softly broken, then the Higgs alignment limit becomes approximate (although still potentially consistent with the current LHC Higgs data). In this paper, we obtain the approximate Higgs alignment suggested by the LHC Higgs data as a consequence of a softly broken global symmetry of the Higgs Lagrangian. However, this can only be accomplished if the Yukawa sector of the theory is extended. We propose an extended 2HDM with vector-like top quark partners, where explicit mass terms in the top sector provide the source of the soft symmetry breaking of a generalized CP symmetry. In this way, we can realize approximate Higgs alignment without a significant fine-tuning of the model parameters. We then explore the implications of the current LHC bounds on vector-like top quark partners for the success of our proposed scenario.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2023

First measurement of prompt and non-prompt D* + vector meson spin alignment in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV

This letter reports the first measurement of spin alignment, with respect to the helicity axis, for D* + vector mesons and their charge conjugates from charm-quark hadronisation (prompt) and from beauty meson decays (non-prompt) in hadron collisions. The measurements were performed at midrapidity (|y| < 0.8) as a function of transverse momentum (p T ) in proton–proton (pp) collisions collected by ALICE at the centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}$ = 13 TeV. The diagonal spin density matrix element $ρ$00 of D* + mesons was measured from the angular distribution of the D* + → D 0 (→ K - π + )π + decay products, in the D* + rest frame, with respect to the D* + momentum direction in the pp centre of mass frame. The $ρ$00 value for prompt D* + mesons is consistent with 1/3, which implies no spin alignment. However, for non prompt D* + mesons an evidence of $ρ$00 larger than 1/3 is found. The measured value of the spin density element is $ρ$00 = 0.455±0.022(stat.)±0.035(syst.) in the 5 < p T < 20 GeV/c interval, which is consistent with a Pythia 8 Monte Carlo simulation coupled with the EvtGen package, which implements the helicity conservation in the decay of D* + meson from beauty mesons. In non-central heavy-ion collisions, the spin of the D* + mesons may be globally aligned with the direction of the initial angular momentum and magnetic field. Based on the results for pp collisions reported in this letter it is shown that alignment of non-prompt D* + mesons due to the helicity conservation coupled to the collective anisotropic expansion may mimic the signal of global spin alignment in heavy-ion collisions.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Long-Range Lamellar Alignment in Diblock Bottlebrush Copolymers via Controlled Oscillatory Shear

A simple strategy is presented to achieve well-ordered nanostructures in microphase-separated diblock bottlebrush copolymers (dbBB) for potential opportunities in nanotechnology that require large grain sizes and directed orientation. The unique architecture and relaxation processes of dbBBs offer a pathway to enhanced dynamic ordering and reorientation over macroscopic scales. Here, controlled shear is used to align lamellar domains. The high molecular mobility of dbBBs in the melt state, as shown by linear and nonlinear viscoelastic characterization, supports this alignment process. When subjected to large-amplitude oscillatory shear at controlled frequency (ω), strain amplitude (γ), and temperature (T shear ), microphase-separated lamellae transition into highly aligned states as determined by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). High throughput synchrotron SAXS is used to rapidly characterize microphase separation and lamellar alignment across the entire bulk sample. Lamellae align parallel to shear planes with an orientation order parameter (S) approaching S = 0.8 over a large cubic volume (V ~ mm 3 ).

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Protein remote homology detection and structural alignment using deep learning

Exploiting sequence–structure–function relationships in biotechnology requires improved methods for aligning proteins that have low sequence similarity to previously annotated proteins. We develop two deep learning methods to address this gap, TM-Vec and DeepBLAST. TM-Vec allows searching for structure–structure similarities in large sequence databases. It is trained to accurately predict TM-scores as a metric of structural similarity directly from sequence pairs without the need for intermediate computation or solution of structures. Once structurally similar proteins have been identified, DeepBLAST can structurally align proteins using only sequence information by identifying structurally homologous regions between proteins. It outperforms traditional sequence alignment methods and performs similarly to structure-based alignment methods. We show the merits of TM-Vec and DeepBLAST on a variety of datasets, including better identification of remotely homologous proteins compared with state-of-the-art sequence alignment and structure prediction methods.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Influence of strain and dislocations on GaSb/GaAs quantum dots: From nested to staggered band alignment

We investigate the influence of strain and dislocations on band alignment in GaSb/GaAs quantum dot systems. Composition profiles from cross-sectional scanning tunneling microscopy images are interpolated onto a finite element mesh in order to calculate the distribution of local elastic strain, which is converted to a spatially varying band alignment using deformation potential theory. Our calculations predict that dislocation-induced strain relaxation and charging lead to significant local variations in band alignment. Furthermore, misfit strain induces a transition from a nested (type I) to a staggered (type II) band alignment. Although dislocation-induced strain relaxation prevents the type I to type II transition, electrostatic charging at dislocations induces the staggered band alignment once again.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2025

Spatially programmed alignment and actuation in printed liquid crystal elastomers

Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) exhibit reversible shape morphing behavior when cycled above their nematic-to-isotropic transition temperature. During extrusion-based 3D printing, LCE inks are subjected to coupled shear and extensional flows that can be harnessed to spatially control the alignment of their nematic director along prescribed print paths. Here, we combine experiment and modeling to elucidate the effects of ink composition, nozzle geometry, and printing parameters on director alignment. From rheological measurements, we quantify the dimensionless Weissenberg number ( Wi ) for the flow field each ink experiences as a function of printing conditions and demonstrate that Wi is a strong predictor of LCE alignment. We find that director alignment in LCE filaments printed through a tapered nozzle varies radially when Wi < 1, while it is uniform when Wi ≫ 1. Based on COMSOL simulations and in operando X-ray measurements, we show that LCE inks printed through nozzles with an internal hyperbolic geometry exhibit a more uniform director alignment for a given Wi compared to those through tapered nozzles. Concomitantly, the stiffness along the print direction and actuation strain of printed LCEs increases substantially under such conditions. By varying Wi during printing through adjusting the flow rate “on the fly”, LCE architectures with uniform composition, yet locally encoded shape morphing transitions can be realized.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Alignment and dissociation of electronically excited molecular hydrogen with intense laser fields

The dissociation of aligned, electronically excited H 2 (E,F 1 Σ g + ), followed by ionization of the produced H atom, is analyzed via the velocity mapped imaging technique. The dissociation and ionization processes are accomplished, respectively, by a two- and a onephoton absorption from a single 532-nm laser pulse, while the alignment is induced by a separate 1064-nm laser pulse. The velocity of the produced H + photofragments shows a weak perpendicular alignment at low alignment laser field values, evolving to strongly parallel for larger fields. We modeled this alignment behavior with a simple two-state model involving the Stark mixing of the initially-prepared J = 0 with the J = 2 rotational state. This model is able to reproduce all of the observed angular distribution, and permits us to extract from the fit the polarizability anisotropy of H 2 (E,F) electronic state. We determine this value to be (3.7 ± 1.2) x 10 3 a.u. As this value is extremely large in comparison to what one would expect from the pure H 2 (E,F) electronic state, we hypothesize that this value comes from the 1064-nm laser beam mixing nearby electronic states with the initially laser prepared (E,F) state generating a mixed state (EF**) with an extremely large polarizability anisotropy.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Alignment of the ATLAS Inner Detector in Run 2

The performance of the ATLAS Inner Detector alignment has been studied using pp collision data at s√=13TeV collected by the ATLAS experiment during Run 2 (2015–2018) of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The goal of the detector alignment is to determine the detector geometry as accurately as possible and correct for time-dependent movements. The Inner Detector alignment is based on the minimization of track-hit residuals in a sequence of hierarchical levels, from global mechanical assembly structures to local sensors. Subsequent levels have increasing numbers of degrees of freedom; in total there are almost 750,000. The alignment determines detector geometry on both short and long timescales, where short timescales describe movements within an LHC fill. The performance and possible track parameter biases originating from systematic detector deformations are evaluated. Momentum biases are studied using resonances decaying to muons or to electrons. The residual sagitta bias and momentum scale bias after alignment are reduced to less than ~0.1 TeV -1 and 0.9×10 -3 , respectively. Impact parameter biases are also evaluated using tracks within jets.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Determining tolerance requirements for spray-duct alignment in ducted fuel injection

Several ducted fuel injection (DFI) studies have highlighted the importance of accuracy in aligning the duct axis with that of its corresponding spray for optimal effectiveness, as misalignment adversely impacts the method’s performance. The need for accurate alignment could lead to added manufacturing complexity via tighter tolerances. This study systematically explores cases of horizontal, vertical, and rotational misalignment, analyzing their respective effects on DFI performance. Vertical and horizontal misalignments at the duct inlet plane were varied at magnitudes of 6.25%, 12.5%, and 25.0% of the duct diameter, corresponding to 0.125, 0.25, and 0.5 mm, respectively. Rotational misalignments were set at 1°, 2°, and 4°, corresponding to 3.65%, 7.30%, and 14.6%, respectively, of the duct diameter at its inlet plane. The investigation yields spray-duct alignment tolerance limits and highlights the influence of misalignment direction on emissions due to the interactions with swirl and squish inside the combustion chamber. The results indicate that the tolerance limits for the alignment are within 4° and 0.5 mm relative to the geometrically aligned position. If the misalignment exceeds 4°of rotation or 0.5 mm in the horizontal direction, the beneficial effects on soot reduction using this method are no longer observed. The findings contribute to an understanding that can be used to optimize DFI for cleaner and more efficient combustion in compression-ignition engines.

Şener, Ramazan↗
DOE OSTI2022

Joint iterative reconstruction and 3D rigid alignment for X-ray tomography

X-ray tomography is widely used for three-dimensional structure determination in many areas of science, from the millimeter to the nanometer scale. The resolution and quality of the 3D reconstruction is limited by the availability of alignment parameters that correct for the mechanical shifts of the sample or sample stage for the images that constitute a scan. In this paper we describe an algorithm for marker-free, fully automated and accurately aligned and reconstructed X-ray tomography data. Our approach solves the tomographic reconstruction jointly with projection data alignment based on a rigid-body deformation model. We demonstrate the robustness of our method on both synthetic phantom and experimental data and show that our method is highly efficient in recovering relatively large alignment errors without prior knowledge of a low resolution approximation of the 3D structure or a reasonable estimate of alignment parameters.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

New alignment method for remote protein sequences by the direct use of pairwise sequence correlations and substitutions

Understanding protein sequences and how they relate to the functions of proteins is extremely important. One of the most basic operations in bioinformatics is sequence alignment and usually the first things learned from these are which positions are the most conserved and often these are critical parts of the structure, such as enzyme active site residues. In addition, the contact pairs in a protein usually correspond closely to the correlations between residue positions in the multiple sequence alignment, and these usually change in a systematic and coordinated way, if one position changes then the other member of the pair also changes to compensate. In the present work, these correlated pairs are taken as anchor points for a new type of sequence alignment. The main advantage of the method here is its combining the remote homolog detection from our method PROST with pairwise sequence substitutions in the rigorous method from Kleinjung et al. We show a few examples of some resulting sequence alignments, and how they can lead to improvements in alignments for function, even for a disordered protein.

Jia, Kejue↗