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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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NASA NTRS2001

Highlights of NASA's Role in Developing State-of-the-Art Nondestructive Evaluation for Composites

Since the 1970's, when the promise of composites was being pursued for aeronautics applications, NASA has had programs that addressed the development of NDE methods for composites. These efforts included both microscopic and macroscopic NDE. At the microscopic level, NDE investigations interrogated composites at the submicron to micron level to understand a composite's microstructure. A novel microfocus CT system was developed as well as the science underlying applications of acoustic microscopy to a composite's component material properties. On the macroscopic scale NDE techniques were developed that advanced the capabilities to be faster and more quantitative. Techniques such as stiffness imaging, ultrasonic arrays, laser based ultrasound, advanced acoustic emission, thermography, and novel health monitoring systems were researched. Underlying these methods has been a strong modeling capability that has aided in method development.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS2000

From Livingstone to SMV: Formal Verification for Autonomous Spacecrafts

To fulfill the needs of its deep space exploration program, NASA is actively supporting research and development in autonomy software. However, the reliable and cost-effective development and validation of autonomy systems poses a tough challenge. Traditional scenario-based testing methods fall short because of the combinatorial explosion of possible situations to be analyzed, and formal verification techniques typically require a tedious, manual modelling by formal method experts. This paper presents the application of formal verification techniques in the development of autonomous controllers based on Livingstone, a model-based health-monitoring system that can detect and diagnose anomalies and suggest possible recovery actions. We present a translator that converts the models used by Livingstone into specifications that can be verified with the SMV model checker. The translation frees the Livingstone developer from the tedious conversion of his design to SMV, and isolates him from the technical details of the SMV program. We describe different aspects of the translation and briefly discuss its application to several NASA domains.

Pecheur, Charles↗

NASA NTRS2005

Intelligent, Self-Diagnostic Thermal Protection System for Future Spacecraft

The goal of this project is to provide self-diagnostic capabilities to the thermal protection systems (TPS) of future spacecraft. Self-diagnosis is especially important in thermal protection systems (TPS), where large numbers of parts must survive extreme conditions after weeks or years in space. In-service inspections of these systems are difficult or impossible, yet their reliability must be ensured before atmospheric entry. In fact, TPS represents the greatest risk factor after propulsion for any transatmospheric mission. The concepts and much of the technology would be applicable not only to the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), but also to ablative thermal protection for aerocapture and planetary exploration. Monitoring a thermal protection system on a Shuttle-sized vehicle is a daunting task: there are more than 26,000 components whose integrity must be verified with very low rates of both missed faults and false positives. The large number of monitored components precludes conventional approaches based on centralized data collection over separate wires; a distributed approach is necessary to limit the power, mass, and volume of the health monitoring system. Distributed intelligence with self-diagnosis further improves capability, scalability, robustness, and reliability of the monitoring subsystem. A distributed system of intelligent sensors can provide an assurance of the integrity of the system, diagnosis of faults, and condition-based maintenance, all with provable bounds on errors.

Hyers, Robert W.↗

NASA NTRS2006

Integrated Thermal Protection Systems and Heat Resistant Structures

In the early stages of NASA's Exploration Initiative, Snecma Propulsion Solide was funded under the Exploration Systems Research & Technology program to develop integrated thermal protection systems and heat resistant structures for reentry vehicles. Due to changes within NASA's Exploration Initiative, this task was cancelled early. This presentation provides an overview of the work that was accomplished prior to cancellation. The Snecma team chose an Apollo-type capsule as the reference vehicle for the work. They began with the design of a ceramic aft heatshield (CAS) utilizing C/SiC panels as the capsule heatshield, a C/SiC deployable decelerator and several ablators. They additionally developed a health monitoring system, high temperature structures testing, and the insulation characterization. Though the task was pre-maturely cancelled, a significant quantity of work was accomplished.

Pichon, Thierry↗

NASA NTRS2005

Current Signature Sensor

A solenoid health monitoring system uses a signal conditioner and controller assembly in one embodiment that includes analog circuitry and a DSP controller. The analog circuitry provides signal conditioning to the low-level raw signal coming from a signal acquisition assembly. Software running in a DSP analyzes the incoming data (recorded current signature) and determines the state of the solenoid whether it is energized, de-energized, or in a transitioning state. In one embodiment, the software identifies key features in the current signature during the transition phase and is able to determine the health of the solenoid.

Jose M Perotti↗

NASA NTRS2005

Current signature sensor

Perotti, Jose M.↗

NASA NTRS2018

Pyroelectric Sandwich Thermal Energy Harvesters

Systems, methods, and devices of the various embodiments provide pyroelectric sandwich thermal energy harvesters. In the various embodiment pyroelectric sandwich thermal energy harvesters, generated electrical energy may be stored in a super-capacitor/battery as soon as it is generated. The various embodiment pyroelectric sandwich thermal energy harvesters may harvest electrical energy from any environment where temperature variations occur. The various embodiment pyroelectric sandwich thermal energy harvesters may be power sources for space equipment and vehicles in space and/or on earth, as well as the for wireless sensor networks, such as health monitoring systems of oil pipes, aircraft, bridges, and buildings.

Xu, Tian-Bing↗

NASA NTRS2017

Evaluation of Strain Measurement Devices for Inflatable Structures

Inflatable structures provide a significant volume savings for future NASA deep space missions. The complexity of these structures, however, provides difficulty for engineers in designing, analyzing, and testing. Common strain measurement systems for metallic parts cannot be used directly on fabrics. New technologies must be developed and tested to accuractly measure the strain of inflatable structures. This paper documents the testing of six candidate strain measurement devices for use on fabrics. The resistance devices tested showed significant hysteresis during creep and cyclic testing. The capacitive device, however, showed excellent results and little-to-no hysteresis. Because of this issue, only two out of the six proposed devices will continue in development. The resulting data and lessons learned from this effort provides direction for continued work to produce a structural health monitoring system for inflatable habitats.

Litteken, Douglas A.↗

NASA NTRS2017

Evaluation of Strain Measurement Devices for Inflatable Structures

Inflatable structures provide a significant volume savings for future NASA deep space missions. The complexity of these structures, however, provides difficulty for engineers in designing, analyzing, and testing. Common strain measurement systems for metallic parts cannot be used directly on fabrics. New technologies must be developed and tested to accurately measure the strain of inflatable structures. This paper documents the testing of six candidate strain measurement devices for use on fabrics. The resistance devices tested showed significant hysteresis during creep and cyclic testing. The capacitive device, however, showed excellent results and little-to-no hysteresis. Because of this issue, only two out of the six proposed devices will continue in development. The resulting data and lessons learned from this effort provides direction for continued work to produce a structural health monitoring system for inflatable habitats.

Litteken, Doug↗

NASA NTRS1988

X-ray spectroscopy of the SSME plume

In order to examine the potential of using SSME exhaust plume radiation in the soft X-ray spectrum as an early warning system of imminent engine failure, a low cost, low risk experiment was devised. An approach was established, equipment was leased, the system was installed and checked out, and data were successfully acquired demonstrating the proof-of-concept. One spectrum measurement of the SSME plume was acquired during a 300 second burn on the A-1 Test Stand. This spectrum showed a prominent, line emission feature at about 34.5 KeV, a result which was not expected, nor can it be explained at this time. If X-ray spectra are to be useful as a means of monitoring nominal engine operation, it will be necessary to explore this region of the EM spectrum in greater detail. The presence of structure in the spectrum indicates that this technology may prove to be useful as an engine health monitoring system.

Olive, Dan F.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Advanced Earth-to-orbit propulsion technology program overview: Impact of civil space technology initiative

The NASA Earth-to-Orbit (ETO) Propulsion Technology Program is dedicated to advancing rocket engine technologies for the development of fully reusable engine systems that will enable space transportation systems to achieve low cost, routine access to space. The program addresses technology advancements in the areas of engine life extension/prediction, performance enhancements, reduced ground operations costs, and in-flight fault tolerant engine operations. The primary objective is to acquire increased knowledge and understanding of rocket engine chemical and physical processes in order to evolve more realistic analytical simulations of engine internal environments, to derive more accurate predictions of steady and unsteady loads, and using improved structural analyses, to more accurately predict component life and performance, and finally to identify and verify more durable advanced design concepts. In addition, efforts were focused on engine diagnostic needs and advances that would allow integrated health monitoring systems to be developed for enhanced maintainability, automated servicing, inspection, and checkout, and ultimately, in-flight fault tolerant engine operations.

Stephenson, Frank W., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS2004

NASA Glenn's Single-Stage Axial Compressor Facility Upgraded

NASA Glenn Research Center's Single-Stage Axial Compressor Facility was upgraded in fiscal year 2003 to expand and improve its research capabilities for testing high-speed fans and compressors. The old 3000-hp drive motor and gearbox were removed and replaced with a refurbished 7000-hp drive motor and gearbox, with a maximum output speed of 21,240 rpm. The higher horsepower rating permits testing of fans and compressors with higher pressure ratio or higher flow. A new inline torquemeter was installed to provide an alternate measurement of fan and compressor efficiency, along with the standard pressure and temperature measurements. A refurbished compressor bearing housing was also installed with bidirectional rotation capability, so that a variety of existing hardware could be tested. Four new lubrication modules with backup capability were installed for the motor, gearbox, torquemeter, and compressor bearing housing, so that in case the primary pump fails, the backup will prevent damage to the rotating hardware. The combustion air supply line for the facility inlet air system was activated to provide dry air for repeatable inlet conditions. New flow conditioning hardware was installed in the facility inlet plenum tank, which greatly reduced the inlet turbulence. The new inlet can also be easily modified to accommodate 20- or 22-in.-diameter fans and compressors, so a variety of existing hardware from other facilities (such as Glenn's 9- by 15-Foot Low-Speed Wind Tunnel) can be tested in the Single-Stage Axial Compressor Facility. An exhaust line was also installed to provide bleed capability to remove the inlet boundary layer. To improve the operation and control of the facility, a new programmable logic controller (PLC) was installed to upgrade from hardwired relay logic to software logic. The PLC also enabled the usage of human-machine interface software to allow for easier operation of the facility and easier reconfiguration of the facility controls when necessary. Finally, a new health-monitoring system was installed to measure shaft speed, shaft movement, and machine vibration on all of the rotating equipment. The system also provides automatic alarms and shutdown of the equipment when required. An integrated systems test for checkout of the facility was completed on June 17, 2003. Research testing resumed on June 30 with data obtained in support of the Ultra-Efficient Engine Technology Project's Compressor Casing Treatment Project.

Brokopp, Richard A.↗

DOE OSTI2024

Infrastructure-Based Cooperative Perception at a Traffic Intersection: Overview and Challenges: Preprint

Recent advancement in autonomous driving vehicles and V2X communication has attracted increasing attention towards Intelligent Transportation Systems to build a safe and reliable traffic intersection. However, most of the systems are still at the initial stages and require significant progress to become a reality. This paper presents an overview of NREL Infrastructure Perception and Control (IPC) framework which is an open-source track-data fusion engine which takes input from infrastructure-based perception sensors and cooperatively shared messages from Connected Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) and Connected Vehicle (CVs) and the challenges associated with deploying such cooperative perception framework at a four-way traffic intersection in the city of Colorado Springs, CO, USA. The sensor data is collected by deploying two radars and two LiDAR sensors on the IPC mobile lab and two radars on diagonally opposite traffic poles at the proposed intersection. The sensor output results imply the need for rapid sensor calibration to bring the collective perception to a common coordinate frame, the importance of time synchronization between the sensors in order to capture accurate spatial and temporal alignment of the objects, and the need for a health monitoring system with fail safe closed-loop detection model for real-time deployment.

camera↗

NASA NTRS2011

High Temperature Monitoring the Height of Condensed Water in Steam Pipes

An in-service health monitoring system is needed for steam pipes to track through their wall the condensation of water. The system is required to measure the height of the condensed water inside the pipe while operating at temperatures that are as high as 250 deg. C. The system needs to be able to make real time measurements while accounting for the effects of cavitation and wavy water surface. For this purpose, ultrasonic wave in pulse-echo configuration was used and reflected signals were acquired and auto-correlated to remove noise from the data and determine the water height. Transmitting and receiving the waves is done by piezoelectric transducers having Curie temperature that is significantly higher than 250 deg. C. Measurements were made at temperatures as high as 250 deg. C and have shown the feasibility of the test method. This manuscript reports the results of this feasibility study.

fluid height monitoring↗

NASA NTRS2014

Wireless Monitoring of the Height of Condensed Water in Steam Pipes

A wireless health monitoring system has been developed for determining the height of water condensation in the steam pipes and the data acquisition is done remotely using a wireless network system. The developed system is designed to operate in the harsh environment encountered at manholes and the pipe high temperature of over 200 °C. The test method is an ultrasonic pulse-echo and the hardware includes a pulser, receiver and wireless modem for communication. Data acquisition and signal processing software were developed to determine the water height using adaptive signal processing and data communication that can be controlled while the hardware is installed in a manhole. A statistical decision-making tool is being developed based on the field test data to determine the height of in the condensed water under high noise conditions and other environmental factors.

High Temperatures↗

NASA NTRS2009

NASA Tech Briefs, May 2009

Topics covered include: Valve-"Health"-Monitoring System; Microstrip Antenna for Remote Sensing of Soil Moisture and Sea Surface Salinity; Biomedical Wireless Ambulatory Crew Monitor; Wireless Avionics Packet to Support Fault Tolerance for Flight Applications; Aerobot Autonomy Architecture; Submillimeter Confocal Imaging Active Module; Traveling-Wave Maser for 32 GHz; System Synchronizes Recordings from Separated Video Cameras; Piecewise-Planar Parabolic Reflectarray Antenna; Reducing Interference in ATC Voice Communication; EOS MLS Level 1B Data Processing, Version 2.2; Auto-Generated Semantic Processing Services; Geospatial Authentication; Maneuver Automation Software; Event Driven Messaging with Role-Based Subscriptions; Estimating Relative Positions of Outer-Space Structures; Fabricating PFPE Membranes for Capillary Electrophoresis; Linear Actuator Has Long Stroke and High Resolution; Installing a Test Tap on a Metal Battery Case; Fabricating PFPE Membranes for Microfluidic Valves and Pumps; Room-Temperature-Cured Copolymers for Lithium Battery Gel Electrolytes; Catalysts for Efficient Production of Carbon Nanotubes; Amorphous Silk Fibroin Membranes for Separation of CO2; "Zero-Mass" Noninvasive Pressure Transducers; Radial-Electric-Field Piezoelectric Diaphragm Pumps; Ejector-Enhanced, Pulsed, Pressure-Gain Combustor; Suppressing Ghost Diffraction in E-Beam-Written Gratings; Target-Tracking Camera for a Metrology System; Polarimetric Imaging using Two Photoelastic Modulators; Miniature Wide-Angle Lens for Small-Pixel Electronic Camera; Modal Filters for Infrared Interferometry; Mo(3)Sb(7-x)Te(x) for Thermoelectric Power Generation; Two-Dimensional Quantum Model of a Nanotransistor; Scanning Miniature Microscopes without Lenses; Manipulating Neutral Atoms in Chip-Based Magnetic Traps; Expansion Compression Contacts for Thermoelectric Legs; Processing Electromyographic Signals to Recognize Words; Physical Principle for Generation of Randomness; DSN Beowulf Cluster-Based VLBI Correlator; Hybrid NN/SVM Computational System for Optimizing Designs; Criteria for Modeling in LES of Multicomponent Fuel Flow; Computerized Machine for Cutting Space Shuttle Thermal Tiles; Orbiting Depot and Reusable Lander for Lunar Transportation; FPGA-Based Networked Phasemeter for a Heterodyne Interferometer; Aquarius Digital Processing Unit; Three-Dimensional Optical Coherence Tomography; Benchtop Antigen Detection Technique using Nanofiltration and Fluorescent Dyes; Isolation of Precursor Cells from Waste Solid Fat Tissue; Identification of Bacteria and Determination of Biological Indicators; Further Development of Scaffolds for Regeneration of Nerves; Chemically Assisted Photocatalytic Oxidation System; Use of Atomic Oxygen for Increased Water Contact Angles of Various Polymers for Biomedical Applications; Crashworthy Seats Would Afford Superior Protection; Open-Access, Low-Magnetic-Field MRI System for Lung Research; Microfluidic Mixing Technology for a Universal Health Sensor; Microfluidic Extraction of Biomarkers using Water as Solvent; Microwell Arrays for Studying Many Individual Cells; Droplet-Based Production of Liposomes; and Identifying and Inactivating Bacterial Spores

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NASA NTRS1984

Aerojet advanced engine concept

The future orbit transfer vehicle (OTV) requirements which dictate the need for a highly versatile, highly reliable, reusable propulsion module are discussed. To attain maximum operational economy, space-basing is essential. This requires a reusable, maintenance free engine. The design features of this space based engine are defined. A new engine cycle and its advantages allow all the maintenance goals to be attained. Rubbing contact and interpropellant seals and purges are eliminated when GO2 is used to drive the LO2 pump. The TPA design has only one moving part. The use of both GH2 and GO2 to drive the turbines lowers the turbine temperatures in addition lower GH2 temperatures and pressures improve chamber cooling and longer life. The use of GO2 as a turbine drive fluid is addressed. Space based engines require an integrated control and health monitoring system to improve system reliability and eliminate all scheduled maintenance. It is concluded that all OTV propulsion requirements can be fulfilled with a single engine. The technological developments required to demonstrate that engine are outlined.

Schoenman, L.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Miniature multiple-function probe for OTV turbopump health monitoring

A miniature multifunction rotating machinery shaft displacement sensor designed for a turbopump health monitoring system is described. The sensor probe tip has three independent sensing electrodes running in a groove made in the shaft of the machine. One of these electrodes, situated at the tip of the sensor, measures the radial displacement of the shaft, while the two side electrodes measure the axial displacements of the sides of the groove. The displacement sensor is also used to measure speed, by providing a notch in the side of the groove facing one sensor electrode. Results obtained with experimental sensors demonstrated that multifunction capacitive sensing is practical and reduces instrumentation penetration into rotating machinery housings.

Bickford, R. L.↗