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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 1,333 records · Page 74
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1987

Access flight hardware design and development

Several items were found to be of immense value in the design and development of the Assembly Concept for Construction of Erectable Space Structures (ACCESS) hardware. The early availability of mock-up and engineering test hardware helped to develop the concept and prove the feasibility of the experiment. The extensive neutral buoyancy testing was invaluable in developing the procedures and timelines, proving that the hardware functioned as intended, and effectively trained the astronauts. The early involvement of the crew systems/astronaut personnel was extremely beneficial in shaping the design to meet the EVA compatibility requirements. Also, the early definition of coupled loads and on-orbit dynamic responses can not be overemphasized due to the relative uncertainty in the magnitude of these loads and their impact on the design.

Rogers, John F.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Propulsion estimation techniques

A brief overview of statistical tools needed to perform post flight/test reconstruction of state variables is given. Linear regression, recursive linear regression, and the exact connection between the Kalman filter and linear regression are discussed. The regression connection is expected to serve as an aid in the application of a recently developed analytical method of flight reconstruction to single engine test firing data.

Temple, Enoch C.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Fiber optics for controls

The challenge of those involved in control-system hardware development is to accommodate an ever-increasing complexity in aircraft control, while limiting the size and weight of the components and improving system reliability. A technology that displays promise towards this end is the area of fiber optics for controls. The primary advantages of employing optical fibers, passive optical sensors, and optically controlled actuators are weight and volume reduction, immunity from electromagnetic effects, superior bandwidth capabilities, and freedom from short circuits and sparking contacts. Since 1975, NASA Lewis has performed in-house, contract, and grant research in fiber optic sensors, high-temperature electro-optic switches, and fly-by-light control-system architecture. Passive optical sensor development is an essential yet challenging area of work and has therefore received much attention during this period. A major effort to develop fly-by-light control-system technology, known as the Fiber-Optic Control System Integration (FOCSI) program, was initiated in 1985 as a cooperative effort between NASA and DOD. Phase 1 of FOCSI, completed in 1986, was aimed at the design of a fiber-optic integrated propulsion/flight control system. Phase 2, yet to be initiated, will provide subcomponent and system development, and a system engine test. In addition to a summary of the benefits of fiber optics, the FOCSI program, sensor advances, and future directions in the NASA Lewis program will be discussed.

Seng, Gary T.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Servicer system demonstration plan and capability development

An orbital maneuvering vehicle (OMV) front end kit is defined which is capable of performing in-situ fluid resupply and modular maintenance of free flying spacecraft based on the integrated orbital servicing system (IOSS) concept. The compatibility of the IOSS to perform gas and fluid umbilical connect and disconnect functions utilizing connect systems currently available or in development is addressed. A series of tasks involving on-orbit servicing and the engineering test unit (ETU) of the on-orbit service were studied. The objective is the advancement of orbital servicing by expanding the Spacecraft Servicing Demonstration Plan (SSDP) to include detail demonstration planning using the Multimission Modular Spacecraft (MMS) and upgrading the ETU control.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1988

Rocketdyne automated dynamics data analysis and management system

An automated dynamics data analysis and management systems implemented on a DEC VAX minicomputer cluster is described. Multichannel acquisition, Fast Fourier Transformation analysis, and an online database have significantly improved the analysis of wideband transducer responses from Space Shuttle Main Engine testing. Leakage error correction to recover sinusoid amplitudes and correct for frequency slewing is described. The phase errors caused by FM recorder/playback head misalignment are automatically measured and used to correct the data. Data compression methods are described and compared. The system hardware is described. Applications using the data base are introduced, including software for power spectral density, instantaneous time history, amplitude histogram, fatigue analysis, and rotordynamics expert system analysis.

Tarn, Robert B.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Advanced Gas Turbine (AGT) Technology Development Project, ceramic component developments

The ceramic component technology development activity conducted by Standard Oil Engineered Materials Company while performing as a principal subcontractor to the Garrett Auxiliary Power Division for the Advanced Gas Turbine (AGT) Technology Development Project (NASA Contract DEN3-167) is summarized. The report covers the period October 1979 through July 1987, and includes information concerning ceramic technology work categorized as common and unique. The former pertains to ceramic development applicable to two parallel AGT projects established by NASA contracts DEN3-168 (AGT100) and DEN3-167 (AGT101), whereas the unique work solely pertains to Garrett directed activity under the latter contract. The AGT101 Technology Development Project is sponsored by DOE and administered by NASA-Lewis. Standard Oil directed its efforts toward the development of ceramic materials in the silicon-carbide family. Various shape forming and fabrication methods, and nondestructive evaluation techniques were explored to produce the static structural components for the ceramic engine. This permitted engine testing to proceed without program slippage.

Teneyck, M. O.↗
NASA NTRS1988

EnviroNET: An interactive space-environment information resource

EnviroNET is an interactive menu-driven system set up as an information resource for experimenters, program managers, and design and test engineers involved in space missions. Its basic use is as a fundamental single source of data for the environment encountered by Shuttle and Space Station payloads, but it also has wider applicability in that it includes information on environments encountered by other satellites in both low altitude and high altitude (including geosynchronous) orbits. It incorporates both a text-retrieval mode and an interactive modeling code mode. The system is maintained on the ENVET MicroVAX computer at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. Its services are available at no cost to any user who has access to a terminal and modem. It is a tail-node on SPAN, and so it is accessible either directly or through BITNET, ARPANET, and GTE/TELENET via NPSS.

Vampola, Alfred L.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Alloy chemistry and microstructural control to meet the demands of the automotive Stirling engine

The automotive Stirling engine now under development by DOE/NASA as an alternative to the internal combustion engine, imposes severe materials requirements for the hot portion of the engine. Materials selected must be low cost and contain a minimum of strategic elements so that availability is not a problem. Heater head tubes contain high pressure hydrogen on the inside and are exposed to hot combustion gases on the outside surface. The cylinders and regenerator housings must be readily castable into complex shapes having varying wall thicknesses and be amenable to brazing and welding operations. Also, high strength, oxidation resistance, resistance to hydrogen permeation, cyclic operation, and long-life are required. A research program conducted by NASA Lewis focused on alloy chemistry and microstructural control to achieve the desired properties over the life of the engine. Results of alloy selection, characterization, evaluation, and actual engine testing of selected materials are presented.

Stephens, Joseph R.↗
NASA NTRS1988

ETS-V propagation experiments in Japan

Propagation experiments on ship, aircraft, and land mobile earth stations were carried out using the Engineering Test Satellite-V (ETS-V), which was launched in August 1987. The propagation experiments are one of the missions of the Experimental Mobile Satellite System (EMSS). Initial experimental results of ETS-V/EMSS on propagation using ship, aircraft, and land mobiles with ETS-V are given.

Ohmori, Shingo↗
NASA NTRS1988

Plan of propagation and communication experiments using ETS-VI

In 1992, an Engineering Test Satellite VI is scheduled to be launched by an H-II rocket. The missions of ETS-VI are to establish basic technologies of inter-satellite communications using millimeter waves and optical beams and fix satellite communications using multibeam antenna on board the satellite. Several kinds of frequency bands will be used for the communications missions. However, these frequencies can be used for propagation experiments.

Ohmori, Shingo↗
NASA NTRS1988

Plan of advanced satellite communications experiment using ETS-VI

Communications Research Laboratory (CRL, Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, Japan) has been engaged in development of three advanced satellite communication payloads aiming at experiments by Japan's 2-ton class Engineering Test Satellite VI (ETS-VI) which is to be launched in H-II rocket by NASDA in August 1992. CRL's three experimental systems are: (1) S-band inter-satellite communications; (2) millimeter-wave inter-satellite and personal-satellite communications; and (3) optical inter-satellite communications. CRL develops experimental optical communication system with telescope of 75 mm diameter which has gimbal mirror beam pointing/tracking mechanism. The onboard system has fundamental optical communication functions with laser diode transmitter of wavelength 0.83 micron, laser beam point-ahead mechanism, receiver of wavelength 0.51 micron, modulation/demodulation subsystem, and so on.

Shiomi, Tadashi↗
NASA NTRS1988

Automated knowledge generation

The general objectives of the NASA/UCF Automated Knowledge Generation Project were the development of an intelligent software system that could access CAD design data bases, interpret them, and generate a diagnostic knowledge base in the form of a system model. The initial area of concentration is in the diagnosis of the process control system using the Knowledge-based Autonomous Test Engineer (KATE) diagnostic system. A secondary objective was the study of general problems of automated knowledge generation. A prototype was developed, based on object-oriented language (Flavors).

Myler, Harley R.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Space shuttle propulsion estimation development verification, volume 1

The results of the Propulsion Estimation Development Verification are summarized. A computer program developed under a previous contract (NAS8-35324) was modified to include improved models for the Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) internal ballistics, the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) power coefficient model, the vehicle dynamics using quaternions, and an improved Kalman filter algorithm based on the U-D factorized algorithm. As additional output, the estimated propulsion performances, for each device are computed with the associated 1-sigma bounds. The outputs of the estimation program are provided in graphical plots. An additional effort was expended to examine the use of the estimation approach to evaluate single engine test data. In addition to the propulsion estimation program PFILTER, a program was developed to produce a best estimate of trajectory (BET). The program LFILTER, also uses the U-D factorized algorithm form of the Kalman filter as in the propulsion estimation program PFILTER. The necessary definitions and equations explaining the Kalman filtering approach for the PFILTER program, the models used for this application for dynamics and measurements, program description, and program operation are presented.

Rogers, Robert M.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Failure analysis of a Stirling engine heat pipe

Failure analysis was conducted on a heat pipe from a Stirling Engine test rig which was designed to operate at 1073 K. Premature failure had occurred due to localized overheating at the leading edge of the evaporator fin. It was found that a crack had allowed air to enter the fin and react with the sodium coolant. The origin of the crack was found to be located at the inner surface of the Inconel 600 fin where severe intergranular corrosion had taken place.

Moore, Thomas J.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Detailed design of a Ride Quality Augmentation System for commuter aircraft

The design of a Ride Quality Augmentation System (RQAS) for commuter aircraft is documented. The RQAS is designed for a Cessna 402B, an 8 passenger prop twin representative to this class of aircraft. The purpose of the RQAS is the reduction of vertical and lateral accelerations of the aircraft due to atmospheric turbulence by the application of active control. The detailed design of the hardware (the aircraft modifications, the Ride Quality Instrumentation System (RQIS), and the required computer software) is examined. The aircraft modifications, consisting of the dedicated control surfaces and the hydraulic actuation system, were designed at Cessna Aircraft by Kansas University-Flight Research Laboratory. The instrumentation system, which consist of the sensor package, the flight computer, a Data Acquisition System, and the pilot and test engineer control panels, was designed by NASA-Langley. The overall system design and the design of the software, both for flight control algorithms and ground system checkout are detailed. The system performance is predicted from linear simulation results and from power spectral densities of the aircraft response to a Dryden gust. The results indicate that both accelerations are possible.

Suikat, Reiner↗
NASA NTRS1987

Automation of Shuttle Tile Inspection - Engineering methodology for Space Station

The Space Systems Integration and Operations Research Applications (SIORA) Program was initiated in late 1986 as a cooperative applications research effort between Stanford University, NASA Kennedy Space Center, and Lockheed Space Operations Company. One of the major initial SIORA tasks was the application of automation and robotics technology to all aspects of the Shuttle tile processing and inspection system. This effort has adopted a systems engineering approach consisting of an integrated set of rapid prototyping testbeds in which a government/university/industry team of users, technologists, and engineers test and evaluate new concepts and technologies within the operational world of Shuttle. These integrated testbeds include speech recognition and synthesis, laser imaging inspection systems, distributed Ada programming environments, distributed relational database architectures, distributed computer network architectures, multimedia workbenches, and human factors considerations.

Wiskerchen, M. J.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Observations of directional gamma prime coarsening during engine operation

Two alloys, NASAIR 100 and a modified NASAIR 100 called Alloy 3, were run as turbine blades in an experimental ground-based Garrett TFE731 engine for up to 200 hours. The stress induced directional coarsening of gamma-prime (rafting) that developed during engine testing was analyzed and compared to previous research from laboratory tests. The blades were found to have formed a lamellar structure, the lamellae being normal to the centrifugal stress axis over much of the span. However, near the surfaces, the blades were found to have formed lamellae parallel to the centrifugal stress axis for certain cycles. Representative photomicrographs of the blades and the effects of stress and temperature on lamellae formation are shown.

Draper, S.↗
NASA NTRS1989

A combined Eulerian-Lagrangian two-phase flow analysis of SSME HPOTP nozzle plug trajectories. II - Results

An analysis of Space Shuttle Main Engine high-pressure oxygen turbopump nozzle plug trajectories has been performed, using a Lagrangian method to track nozzle plug particles expelled from a turbine through a high Reynolds number flow in a turnaround duct with turning vanes. Axisymmetric and parametric analyses reveal that if nozzle plugs exited the turbine they would probably impact the LOX heat exchanger with impact velocities which are significantly less than the penetration velocity. The finding that only slight to moderate damage will result from nozzle plug failure in flight is supported by the results of a hot-fire engine test with induced nozzle plug failures.

Mcconnaughey, P. K.↗