Analytical and experimental investigation of internal resistance shock tube driver gas heating systems.
Internal resistance shock tube driver gas heating system to heat helium driver gas to 1000 degrees F at 15,000 psia
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Internal resistance shock tube driver gas heating system to heat helium driver gas to 1000 degrees F at 15,000 psia
Internal resistance shock tube driver gas heating system for use with 3-foot shock tunnel
External source supplies power to electrochemical cells containing internal resistive heater element. Each cell plate is individually contained in its own Pellon bag, enabling the heater element to be arranged in a continuous, parallel circuit.
Internal resistance shock tube driver gas heating system design, fabrication, and testing
An experimental investigation of the heating characteristics of an internal resistance heating element was conducted in the driver of the Langley 6-inch expansion tube to obtain actual operating conditions, to compare these results to theory, and to determine whether any modification need be made to the heater element. The heater was operated in pressurized helium from 138. MN/sq m to 62.1 MN/sq m. This investigation revealed large temperature variations within the heater element caused primarily by area reductions at insulator locations. These large temperature variations were reduced by welding small tabs over all grooves. Previous predictions of heater element and driver gas temperature were unacceptable so new equations were derived. These equations predict element and gas temperature within 10 percent of the test data when either the constant power cycle or the interrupted power cycle is used. Visual observation of the heater element, when exposed to the atmosphere with power on, resulted in a decision to limit the heater element to 815 K. Experimental shock Mach numbers are in good agreement with theory.
Evaluation tests are reported for 20 cells to be put into the life cycle program. Leak, capacity, internal resistance, internal short, and overcharge tests are described.
The optimum range of concentration in space for III-V cascade cells has been calculated using a realistic solar cell diode equation. Temperature was varied with concentration using several models and ranged from 55 deg at one sun to between 80 deg and 200 deg C at 100 suns. A variety of series resistance and internal resistances were used. Coefficients of the diffusion and recombination terms are strongly temperature dependent. The study indicates that the maximum efficiency of 30 percent occurs in the 50 to 100 X sun concentration range provided series resistance is below 0.015 ohm sq cm and cell temperature is about 80 C at 100 suns.
Current-voltage curves were calculated for each cell in a cascade structure using a solar cell diode equation and superposition. Terms for the light generated current, diffusion current, space charge recombination current and series and shunt resistance are included. Individual current voltage curves are added in series with ohmic resistance losses for the cell interconnects to obtain the cascade cell performance. Temperature was varied with concentration, using several models, and ranged from 55 C at one Sun to between 80 and 200 C at 100 Suns. A variety of series resistance and internal resistances were used. Coefficients of the diffusion and recombination terms are strongly temperature dependent. The study indicates that maximum efficiency (30%) occurs in the 50 to 100X Sun concentration range, provided series resistance is below 0.015 ohm-sq cm and cell temperature is 80 C at 100 Suns.
The optimum range of concentration levels in space for III-V cascade cells was calculated using a realistic solar cell diode equation. Temperature was varied with concentration using several models and ranged from 55 C at 1 sun to between 80 and 200 C at 100 suns. A variety of series resistance and internal resistances were used. Coefficients of the diffusion and recombination terms are strongly temperature dependent. The study indicates that the maximum efficiency of 30 percent occurs in the 50 to 100 sun concentration range provided series resistance is below 0.015 ohm-sq cm and cell temperature is about 80 C at 100 suns.
Study of the solid electrolyte ZnCl2-2NH3 rechargeable silver zinc electrochemical cell by X-ray diffraction analysis of the reaction products led to the conclusion that some water is consumed when the cell is discharged. Replacement of ZnCl2-2NH3 by ZnCl2-4Zn(OH)2 gave cells with high internal resistance and limited capacity. The salt formed by exposing a fibrous membrane saturated with ZnCl2 solution to fumes from ammonium carbonate in a dry desiccator comprised ZnCl2-4Zn(OH)2, ZnCl2,3NH4Cl and a third unidentified component. The temperature coefficient of open circuit EMF was nearly zero over the range from -25 C to 50 C. The internal resistance and polarization increased substantially below -25 C. There is some indication that exposure to 50 C for 29 hours causes some deterioration.
Contents include the following: Introduction. Physical and electrochemical characteristics. Performance evaluation. Rate performance. Internal resistance. Performance at different temperatures. Safety evaluation. Overcharge. Overdischarge. External short. Simulated internal short. Heat-to-vent. Vibration. Drop rest. Vent and burst pressure.
The purpose of this program was to find a fire- and rot-retardant polymer/fungicide reaction product for coating mine timbers. Fire-retardant polymers were screened as films and coatings on fir wood. Curable polyimide appeared to be flame retardant and evolved a minimum of fumes when exposed to a flame. Several organic and metal, low toxicity, fungicides were reacted with the polyimide in-situ on the wood. These coated samples were screened for fungus resistance. All formulations rated well - even the polyimide film without additives was fungicidal. The fir wood control itself resisted internal damage during the ten weeks of fungus exposure. A more severe test for fungus resistance will be required.
The protocol for charging a lithium-ion battery would be modified, according to a proposal, to compensate for the internal voltage drop (charging current internal resistance of the battery). The essence of the modification is to provide for measurement of the internal voltage drop and to increase the terminal-voltage setting by the amount of the internal voltage drop. Ordinarily, a lithium-ion battery is charged at constant current until its terminal voltage attains a set value equal to the nominal full-charge potential. The set value is chosen carefully so as not to exceed the lithium-plating potential, because plated lithium in metallic form constitutes a hazard. When the battery is charged at low temperature, the internal voltage drop is considerable because the electrical conductivity of the battery electrolyte is low at low temperature. Charging the battery at high current at any temperature also gives rise to a high internal voltage drop. In some cases, the internal voltage drop can be as high as 1 volt per cell. Because the voltage available for charging is less than the terminal voltage by the amount of the internal voltage drop, the battery is not fully charged (see figure), even when the terminal voltage reaches the set value. In the modified protocol, the charging current would be periodically interrupted so that the zero-current battery-terminal voltage indicative of the state of charge could be measured. The terminal voltage would also be measured at full charging current. The difference between the full-current and zero-current voltages would equal the internal voltage drop. The set value of terminal voltage would then be increased beyond the nominal full-charge potential by the amount of the internal voltage drop. This adjustment would be performed repeatedly, in real time, so that the voltage setting would track variations in the internal voltage drop to afford full charge without risk of lithium plating. If the charging current and voltage settings were controlled by a computer, then this method of charge control could readily be implemented in software.
An experimental investigation was made to study the impact damage tolerance of thin wall composite struts made of both brittle epoxy and toughened epoxy based composite materials. Damage parameters such as barely visible surface damage and internal damage represented by the ultrasonic C-scan, and residual compressive strengths were evaluated against impact energy for two impactor sizes. From both a damage resistance (internal damage vs. impact energy) and a damage tolerance (residual compressive strength vs. internal damage) point of view, the toughened IM7/977-2 struts exhibited better performance than the brittle epoxy based T50/934 struts. This is attributed to the toughening mechanism in 977-2 which impedes delamination initiation from impact, and delamination growth and subsequent buckling under a compression loading. At barely visible damage thresholds, regardless of the impactor sizes, a maximum strength reduction of 45-55 percent was observed for the T50/934 struts, and approximately 10 percent for IM7/977-2 struts. This is of great interest for developing a damage tolerance design approach and risk assessment methodology in which the design allowable would be defined by the residual strength at the threshold of barely visible damage.
Dual density, plasma sprayed ceramic coating systems were investigated for possible application as abradable turbine tip seal systems in small gas turbine engines. Abradability, erosion resistance, internal leakage, and microstructural characterization were investigated for polyester and cenosphere filled zirconium oxide composites. Results indicate the polyester system is more abradable but displays significantly less erosion resistance than the cenosphere system. It is also stated that the absence of significant blade tip damage during abradability testing of both systems suggests additional effort may result in a more nearly optimum balance of abradability and erosion resistance.
Results of tests performed on a SNAP 19 thermoelectric generator, SN-20. The SN-20 generator was tested for approximately 37,000 hours using electrical heating to simulate the heat released by isotope decay. After 27,000 hours of operation the output power from the generator decreased to approximately 1/3 of the beginning of life value while the internal resistance increased by a factor of 5. Analysis of the test results, confirmed by preliminary metallographic examination, indicated that the output power degradation was the result of excessive sublimation of the thermoelectric material and loss of the hot junction bond due to the depletion of the internal cover gas. This also resulted in excessive junction temperatures. Comparison is made with the behavior observed from the two flight generators and a tentative conclusion is advanced as to the reason for their failure.
Phenolphthalein leakage, capacity, cell short, immersion seal, overcharge, and internal resistance tests on nickel-cadmium battery
Leak, capacity, overcharge, and internal resistance tests of ceramic sealed nickel cadmium secondary spacecraft cells