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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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Hydraulic power controlled through multiple feedback loops. In hydraulic drive unit, power closely matched to demand, thereby saving energy. Hydraulic flow to and from motor adjusted by motor-control valve connected to wobbler. Wobbler angle determines motor-control-valve position, which in turn determines motor displacement. Concept applicable to machine tools, aircraft controls, and marine controls.
New nozzle-extension design overcomes problems and incorporates original commercial nozzle, retaining intrinsic safety features. Components include extension tube, length of which made to suit application; adaptor fitting, and nozzle adaptor repinned to maintain original safety features. Design moves conical airstream to end of extension to blow machine chips away from operator. Nozzle-extension modification allows safe and efficient operation of machine tools while maintaining integrity of orginial safety-air-gun design.
The availability and quality of computer resources during the software development process was speculated to have measurable, significant impact on the efficiency of the development process and the quality of the resulting product. Environment components such as the types of tools, machine responsiveness, and quantity of direct access storage may play a major role in the effort to produce the product and in its subsequent quality as measured by factors such as reliability and ease of maintenance. During the past six years, the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has conducted experiments with software projects in an attempt to better understand the impact of software development methodologies, environments, and general technologies on the software process and product. Data was extracted and examined from nearly 50 software development projects. All were related to support of satellite flight dynamics ground-based computations. The relationship between computer resources and the software development process and product as exemplified by the subject NASA data was examined. Based upon the results, a number of computer resource-related implications are provided.
Heat exchanger transfers heat from one structure to another while accommodating rotary motion of structures. Flat-panel heat exchanger passes heat from fluid in middle panel to fluid in outer panels. Diaphragm-like outer panels swell to conform to surfaces of middle panel, ensuring thermal contact. Rotary fluid coupling provides connection for both supply fluid and return fluid. Flexible hoses carrying fluid to and from coupling accommodate tilt of one structure with respect to other. Adapted to transfer of fluids and heat across joints of machine tools and robot arms and to flow of coolant through portable electronic equipment.
The design of kinematic supports using elastic elements is reviewed. The two standard methods (cone, Vee and flat and three Vees) are presented and a design example involving a machine tool metrology bench is given. Design goals included thousandfold strain attenuation in the bench relative to the base when the base strains due to temperature variations and shifting loads. Space applications are also considered.
The fabrication, evaluation, and performance of machined grazing incidence metal optics for applications ranging from telescopes with imaging of minutes of arc to those with imaging in the less-than-10-arcsec range are reviewed. Issues considered in the fabrication process include the choice of machining substrate, the choice of machine tool, the choice of method for removing tool marks, and the choice of a reflective surface. Means of evaluating the mirror performance include the FWHM and determination of noncircularity and surface roughness. Characteristics of previous and current grazing incidence metal mirrors are presented, with emphasis on the Einstein and Rosat optics.
The paper presents the results of an ICCS analysis focusing on discrete-time control systems subject to time-varying delays. The present analytical technique is applicable to integrated dynamic systems such as those encountered in advanced aircraft, spacecraft, and the real-time control of robots and machine tools via a high-speed network within an autonomous manufacturing environment. The significance of data latency and missynchronization between individual system components in ICCS networks is discussed in view of the time-varying delays.
Tedious measurements and calculations performed quickly and accurately. Optical/mechanical/electronic system acts as shape gauge by taking measurements of machine-tool motions or complicated contours of objects, then processing measurement data into maps or profiles indicative of shapes. Transducers of shape gauge mechanical/electronic or optomechanical/electronic components that move along path on surface and measure roundness, perpendicular deviation, or slope of surface. Because of ease and speed, many intersecting profiles measured on surface.
Computer system detects and displays actual and potential errors in programs for computer-controlled electron-beam welder. Uses personal computer, separate from welding computer. Programmed specifically to highlight errors in welding program. Eliminates need for preweld full-power test run reducing checkout time to about half hour. Assures much higher quality, damage-free welding. Used to create and edit new programs for welder. Control computer thereby free for production. Useful for checking programs for such other computer-controlled equipment as inertia welders, robots, machine tools, and heat treaters.
A new approach for determination of machine-tool settings for spiral bevel gears is proposed. The proposed settings provide a predesigned parabolic function of transmission errors and the desired location and orientation of the bearing contact. The predesigned parabolic function of transmission errors is able to absorb piece-wise linear functions of transmission errors that are caused by the gear misalignment and reduce gear noise. The gears are face-milled by head cutters with conical surfaces or surfaces of revolution. A computer program for simulation of meshing, bearing contact and determination of transmission errors for misaligned gear has been developed.
Computerized simulation of meshing and bearing contact for spiral bevel gears and hypoid gears is a significant achievement that could substantially improve the technology and the quality of the gears. An approach to the synthesis of face-milled spiral bevel gears and their tooth contact analysis is presented. The proposed approach is based on the following ideas: application of the principle of local synthesis that provides optimal conditions of meshing and contact at the mean contact point, M, and in the neighborhood of M; and application of relations between principle directions and curvatures for surfaces being in line contact or in point contact. The developed local synthesis of gears provides the following: (1) the required gear ratio at M; (2) a localized bearing contact with the desired direction of the tangent to the contact path on gear tooth surface and the desired length of the major axis of contact ellipse at M; (3) a predesigned parabolic function of a controlled level for transmission errors which enables absorption of linear functions of transmission errors caused by misalignment and reduces the level of vibrations. The proposed approach does not require either the tilt of the head-cutter for the process of generation or modified roll for the pinion generation. Improved conditions of meshing and contact of the gears can be achieved without the above mentioned parameters. A computer program for determination of basic machine-tool settings and tooth contact analysis for the designed gears is presented. The approach is illustrated with a numerical example.
A method is developed for the minimization of gear tooth surface deviations between theoretical and real surfaces for the improvement of precision of surface manufacture. Coordinate measurement machinery is used to determine a grid of surface coordinates. Theoretical calculations are made for the grid points. A least-square method is used to minimize the deviations between real and theoretical surfaces by altering the manufacturing machine-tool settings. An example is given for a hypoid gear.
When a machine tool is mounted at the tip of a robotic manipulator, the manipulator becomes more flexible (the natural frequencies are lowered). Moreover, for a given flexible manipulator, its compliance will be different depending on feedback gains, configurations, and direction of interest. Here, the compliance of a manipulator is derived analytically, and its magnitude is represented as a compliance ellipsoid. Then, using a two-link flexible manipulator with an abrasive cut off saw, the experimental investigation shows that the chattering varies with the saw cutting angle due to different compliance. The main work is devoted to finding a desirable cutting angle which reduces the chattering.
Improved Exploratory Search Technique for Pure Integer Linear Programming Problems (IESIP) program optimizes objective function of variables subject to confining functions or constraints, using discrete optimization or integer programming. Enables rapid solution of problems up to 10 variables in size. Integer programming required for accuracy in modeling systems containing small number of components, distribution of goods, scheduling operations on machine tools, and scheduling production in general. Written in Borland's TURBO Pascal.
The deviations of a gear's real tooth surface from the theoretical surface are determined by coordinate measurements at the grid of the surface. A method was developed to transform the deviations from Cartesian coordinates to those along the normal at the measurement locations. Equations are derived that relate the first order deviations with the adjustment to the manufacturing machine-tool settings. The deviations of the entire surface are minimized. The minimization is achieved by application of the least-square method for an overdetermined system of linear equations. The proposed method is illustrated with a numerical example for hypoid gear and pinion.
Triple-ganged-lead-screw positioning mechanism drives movable plate toward or away from fixed plate and keeps plates parallel to each other. Designed for use in tuning microwave resonant cavity. Other potential applications include adjustable bed plates and cantilever tail stocks in machine tools, adjustable platforms for optical equipment, and lifting platforms.
Eddy current impedance measuring methods have been applied to study the effect that magnetically treated materials have on service life extension. Eddy current impedance measurements have been performed on Nickel 200 specimens that have been subjected to many mechanical and magnetic engineering processes: annealing, applied strain, magnetic field, shot peening, and magnetic field after peening. Experimental results have demonstrated a functional relationship between coil impedance, resistance and reactance, and specimens subjected to various engineering processes. It has shown that magnetic treatment does induce changes in a material's electromagnetic properties and does exhibit evidence of stress relief. However, further fundamental studies are necessary for a thorough understanding of the exact mechanism of the magnetic-field processing effect on machine tool service life.
Living and working on the lunar surface will be difficult. Design of habitats, machines, tools, and operational scenarios in order to allow maximum flexibility in human activity will require paying attention to certain constraints imposed by conditions at the surface and the characteristics of lunar material. Primary design drivers for habitat, crew health and safety, and crew equipment are: ionizing radiation, the meteoroid flux, and the thermal environment. Secondary constraints for engineering derive from: the physical and chemical properties of lunar surface materials, rock distributions and regolith thicknesses, topography, electromagnetic properties, and seismicity. Protection from ionizing radiation is essential for crew health and safety. The total dose acquired by a crew member will be the sum of the dose acquired during EVA time (when shielding will be least) plus the dose acquired during time spent in the habitat (when shielding will be maximum). Minimizing the dose acquired in the habitat extends the time allowable for EVA's before a dose limit is reached. Habitat shielding is enabling, and higher precision in predicting secondary fluxes produced in shielding material would be desirable. Means for minimizing dose during a solar flare event while on extended EVA will be essential. Early warning of the onset of flare activity (at least a half-hour is feasible) will dictate the time available to take mitigating steps. Warning capability affects design of rovers (or rover tools) and site layout. Uncertainty in solar flare timing is a design constraint that points to the need for quickly accessible or constructible safe havens.