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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 145 records · Page 8

Radio Frequency Plasma Discharge Lamps for Use as Stable Calibration Light Sources

Stable high radiance in visible and near-ultraviolet wavelengths is desirable for radiometric calibration sources. In this work, newly available electrodeless radio-frequency (RF) driven plasma light sources were combined with research grade, low-noise power supplies and coupled to an integrating sphere to produce a uniform radiance source. The stock light sources consist of a 28 VDC power supply, RF driver, and a resonant RF cavity. The RF cavity includes a small bulb with a fill gas that is ionized by the electric field and emits light. This assembly is known as the emitter. The RF driver supplies a source of RF energy to the emitter. In commercial form, embedded electronics within the RF driver perform a continual optimization routine to maximize energy transfer to the emitter. This optimization routine continually varies the light output sinusoidally by approximately 2% over a several-second period. Modifying to eliminate this optimization eliminates the sinusoidal variation but allows the output to slowly drift over time. This drift can be minimized by allowing sufficient warm-up time to achieve thermal equilibrium. It was also found that supplying the RF driver with a low-noise source of DC electrical power improves the stability of the lamp output. Finally, coupling the light into an integrating sphere reduces the effect of spatial fluctuations, and decreases noise at the output port of the sphere.

McAndrew, Brendan↗

Dimmable Electronic Ballast for a Gas Discharge Lamp

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is the most efficient photocatalyst for organic oxidative degradation. TiO2 is effective not only in aqueous solution, but also in nonaqueous solvents and in the gas phase. It is photostable, biologically and chemically inert, and non-toxic. Low-energy UV light (approximately 375 nm, UV-A) can be used to photoactivate TiO2. TiO2 photocatalysis has been used to mineralize most types of organic compounds. Also, TiO2 photocatalysis has been effectively used in sterilization. This effectiveness has been demonstrated by its aggressive destruction of microorganisms, and aggressive oxidation effects of toxins. It also has been used for the oxidation of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide, and ammonia to nitrogen. Despite having many attractive features, advanced photocatalytic oxidation processes have not been effectively used for air cleaning. One of the limitations of the traditional photocatalytic systems is the ballast that powers (lights) the bulbs. Almost all commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) ballasts are not dimmable and do not contain safety features. COTS ballasts light the UV lamp as bright as the bulb can be lit, and this results in shorter bulb lifetime and maximal power consumption. COTS magnetic ballasts are bulky, heavy, and inefficient. Several iterations of dimmable electronic ballasts have been developed. Some manifestations have safety features such as broken-bulb or over-temperature warnings, replace-bulb alert, logbulb operational hours, etc. Several electronic ballast boards capable of independently lighting and controlling (dimming) four fluorescent (UV light) bulbs were designed, fabricated, and tested. Because of the variation in the market bulb parameters, the ballast boards were designed with a very broad range output. The ballast boards can measure and control the current (power) for each channel.

Raducanu, Marius↗

Comparative Study of Lettuce and Radish Grown Under Red and Blue LEDs and White Fluorescent Lamps

Growing vegetable crops in space will be an essential part of sustaining astronauts during long-range missions. To drive photosynthesis, red and blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have attracted attention because of their efficiency, longevity, small size, and safety. In efforts to optimize crop yield, there is also recent interest in analyzing the subtle effects of additional wavelengths on plant growth. For instance, since plants often look purplish gray under red and blue LEDs, the addition of green light allows easy recognition of disease and the assessment of plant health status. However, it is important to know if wavelengths outside the traditional red and blue wavebands have a direct effect on enhancing or hindering the mechanisms involved in plant growth. In this experiment, a comparative study was performed on two short cycle crops of red romaine lettuce (Lactuca sativa cv. "Outredgeous") and radish (Raphanus sativa cv. 'Cherry Bomb'), which were grown under two light treatments. The first treatment being red (630 nm) and blue (450 nm) LEDs alone, while the second treatment consisted of daylight tri-phosphor fluorescent lamps (CCT approximately 5000 K) at equal photosynthetic photon flux (PPF). The treatment effects were evaluated by measuring the fresh biomass produced, plant morphology and leaf dimensions, leaf chlorophyll content, and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) within plant leaf/storage root tissues.

Food Production↗

Use of an Internal Mercury-Argon Lamp for the Calibration of Raman Frequency in Large Raman Images of Astromaterials

Raman imaging is an emerging tool for the analysis of meteorites, as it is capable of describing mineralogy, carbon composition/speciation, and crystal orientation all within a petrographic context. Adequately examining the heterogeneous composition of a meteorite, while maintaining low laser powers needed to prevent damage to meteorite mineralogy and organics, often requires the collection of large Raman images with long collection times on the timescale of days. However, the frequency calibration of the Raman instrument/spectrometer drifts on long timescales resulting in low frequency precision for the Raman spectra comprising a large Raman image. This decrease in frequency precision can compromise the analysis of geological markers that can provide important information on a meteorite sample. We examine, in detail, the change in bandwidth and frequency of the Raman bands and Hg-Ar emission lines in our Raman images as a function of time and laboratory temperature. To overcome the drift in calibration, we utilize a commercial WITec Raman instrument with an internal Hg-Ar calibration lamp to individually calibrate each spectrum in the Raman image. Our instrument, known as “Ratatoskr”, uses a beam splitter in place of the customary mirror to facilitate collection of Hg-Ar calibration lines concurrent with Raman spectra. We show that using the internal calibration we can improve the frequency precision for the spectra in our Raman images from ~±0.15 cm(exp -1) to ~±0.05 cm(exp -1) for Raman spectra collected over multiple days. This is important as it improves measurements of mineral chemistry, latent strain, and other features that are dependent upon accurate peak position determination. We also examine the spectral signal-to-noise ratio needed to minimize the frequency error when fitting bands to Gaussian/Lorentzian profiles. We then use our results to suggest a general method for calibrating the frequency of Raman spectra in large Raman images.

Jakubek, Ryan S.↗

Use of an Internal Mercury-Argon Lamp for the Calibration of Raman Frequency in Large Raman Images of Astromaterials

Raman imaging is an emerging tool for the analysis of meteorites, as it is capable of describing the mineralogy and organics within a petrographic context. Adequately examining the heterogeneous composition of a meteorite often requires the collection of large Raman images with long collection times on the time-scale of days. However, the frequency calibration of the Raman instrument/spectrometer drifts on long timescales resulting in low frequency precision for the Raman spectra comprising a large Raman image. Here we utilize a Hg-Ar calibration lamp integrated into our Raman microscope to calibrate the Raman spectra within a Raman image. We characterize this method of calibration in detail.

Ryan S. Jakubek↗

Specific Heat of Epoxies and Mixtures Containing Silica, Carbon Lamp Black, and Graphite

We present specific heat measurements in the 2 – 20 K range of several commercially available epoxies (Stycast 1266, Stycast 2850FT, EPO-TEK 377, and EPO-TEK 377H) and mixtures of one of these epoxy binders and fillers such as silica, carbon lamp black, and graphite. The results are briefly described in the context of the Debye model.

Thermosetting polymers↗

Small, efficient power supply for xenon lamps

Device, which operates from 28 V dc, has four sections, a preregulator, a dc-to-dc converter, a current regulator, and a high voltage starter. The unique characteristics of the individual sections are described.

Goodwin, J. E.↗

Casting copper to tungsten for high-power arc lamp cathodes

Voids forming at interface when copper is cast onto tungsten can be eliminated by adding wetting agent during casting process. Small amount of copper and nickel are cast onto thoriated tungsten insert, insert is recast with more copper to form electrode. Good thermal conductance results in long-lived cathode.

Will, H. A.↗

Fluorescent-lamp power supply

High-efficiency, cost-effective power source employs resonant circuit to change modes when passing from starting to running condition.

Milberger, W. E.↗

Active lamp pulse driver circuit

A flashlamp drive circuit is described which uses an unsaturated transistor as a current mode switch to periodically subject a partially ionized gaseous laser excitation flashlamp to a stable, rectangular pulse of current from an incomplete discharge of an energy storage capacitor. A monostable multivibrator sets the pulse interval, initiating the pulse in response to a flash command by providing a reference voltage to a non-inverting terminal of a base drive amplifier; a tap on an emitter resistor provides a feedback signal sensitive to the current amplitude to an inverting terminal of amplifier, thereby controlling the pulse amplitude. The circuit drives the flashlamp to provide a squarewave current flashlamp discharge.

Logan, K. E.↗

Power Supply For 25-Watt Arc Lamp

Dual-voltage circuitry both strikes and maintains arc. New power supply designed (and several units already in use) that replaces relay/choke combination with solid-state starter. New power supply consists of two main sections. First section (low voltage power supply section) is 84-volt directcurrent supply. Second section (high-voltage starter circuit) is CockroftWalton voltage multiplier. Used as light sources for schlieren, shadowgraph, and other flow-visualization techniques.

Leighty, B. D.↗

Application of sunlight and lamps for plant irradiation in space bases

The radiation sources used for plant growth on a space base must meet the biological requirements for photosynthesis and photomorphogenesis. In addition, the sources must be energy and volume efficient, while maintaining the required irradiance levels, spectral, spatial and temporal distribution. These requirements are not easily met, but as the biological and mission requirements are better defined, then specific facility designs can begin to accommodate both the biological requirements and the physical limitations of a space-based plant growth system.

Sager, J. C.↗

Alpha LAMP Integration Facility

This paper describes the activity recently completed to meet the simulated space environment requirements for the ground-based testing of an integrated Space Based Laser (SBL) system experiment. The need to maintain optical alignment in the challenging dynamic environment of the pressure recovery system required to simulate space dominated the design requirements. A robust system design was established which minimized the total program costs, most notably by reducing the cost of integrating the components of the experiment. The components of the experiment are integrated on an optical bench in a clean area adjacent to the vacuum chamber and moved on air bearings into the chamber for testing.

Oshiro, Richard↗

Optimization of lamp spectrum for vegetable growth

An increase in the demand for and production of vegetables in the winter, mainly in northern and Siberian regions, inevitably leads to mass building of structures for growing plants under completely artificial conditions. An industrial lighting technology is required whose main parameters (spectrum, irradiance, photoperiod) should be assigned carefully and should uniquely determine, along with other important characteristics of the artificial climate, the productivity of the plant-production facility. The most widespread crops grown in our country under indoor conditions are cucumber and tomato plants, which account for more than 98% of the area in greenhouses. These plants are good prospects for growing completely under intense artificial lighting conditions (photocultures). Optimization of the main parameters of optical radiation when growing these plants is the most important task of achieving their profitable production. At present, considerable experience has been gained in studying the dependence of productivity of cucumber and tomato communities on irradiation conditions. Fundamental studies of the Agrophysical Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Timiryazev Institute of Plant Physiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Timiryazev Agricultural Academy, and other institutes create a good basis for a detailed study of the given problem. Commercial sources of radiation substantially differing in spectral characteristics in the region of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) were used in the studies.

Prikupets, L. B.↗

Oscillating lamp fixture for growing areas

The Oscillating Parabolic Mirror of 'Beamflicker' was designed by Dr. Richard W. Tinus, Supervisory Plant Physiologist, USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experimental Station, Flagstaff, Arizona. With his idea, an economic greenhouse lighting system was developed and patented, U.S. Patent #5095414. The Beamflicker uses a stationary 400 watt high pressure sodium arc bulb. The parabolic mirror rotates 180 degrees around the bulb to produce intermittent lighting every minute throughout the night. This one bulb can replace up to 88 incandescent bulbs in a 40 x 100 foot greenhouse over different sections of a growing area. The lighting intensity of the Beamflicker varies greatly depending on the distance from the bulb. The light intensity varies from 1.3 (mu)mol m(exp 2)/s feet from the bulb to 52.5 (mu)mol m(exp 2)/s directly beneath the bulb. A year long study involving light intensity and many species will be concluded in July 1994. These research results should be published within the next year.

Hiatt, Harvey↗