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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 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1982

Self Righting Life Raft

The Givens Buoy Raft was designed and manufactured for inventor Jim Givens of Givens Marine Survival Co. Inc., by RPR Industries, Inc. The Raft consists of a canopied topside and an underwater hemispheric ballast chamber. It has a heavy ballast stabilization system, adopted from NASA technology, which negates the capsizing problem. A "flapper valve" admits large amounts of water to the hemisphere chamber providing ballast to keep the center of gravity constant; stabilization system compensates for changes in wave angle and weight shifting of raft occupants. Mr. Givens has an exclusive patent license for use of the NASA technology. Produced in various sizes, capacities range from six to 20 persons. Raft is housed in a canister, available in several configurations. A pull on a line triggers the automatic inflation process, which takes 12 seconds. The raft has been credited with saving 230 lives in the last five years. It has found wide acceptance with operators of fishing boats, pleasure craft and other vessels. The Coast Guard is purchasing the rafts for use on its rescue helicopters and the Navy has a development program to adapt the system. The Coast Guard last year announced a proposed amendment of its regulations that would require large ballast chambers on inflatable life rafts.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1973

Life raft stabilizer

An improved life raft stabilizer for reducing rocking and substantially precluding capsizing is discussed. The stabilizer may be removably attached to the raft and is defined by flexible side walls which extend a considerable depth downwardly to one another in the water. The side walls, in conjunction with the floor of the raft, form a ballast enclosure. A weight is placed in the bottom of the enclosure and water port means are provided in the walls. Placement of the stabilizer in the water allows the weighted bottom to sink, producing submerged deployment thereof and permitting water to enter the enclosure through the port means, thus forming a ballast for the raft.

Radnofsky, M. I.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Apollo-Era Life Rafts Save Hundreds of Sailors

The space shuttle is unique among spacecraft in that it glides back to Earth and lands like an airplane, usually touching ground near where it launched at Kennedy Space Center, but sometimes, in poor weather, gliding into the back-up landing site at Dryden Flight Research Center and then catching a ride back to the Cape on the back of a modified Boeing 747. Before NASA began flying the shuttle, though, astronauts had a longer, more involved trip back to base after a mission. Their capsule, called the command module, would plunge through the atmosphere before releasing a series of parachutes that would slow the craft enough for it to land on the water without too significant of an impact. Called a splashdown, this type of landing put the astronauts out in the ocean, where a specially designated U.S. Navy ship would then deploy a helicopter to retrieve the space travelers. Waiting for the rescue, the astronauts would release a highly visible marker dye into the water, then leave the command module and climb aboard a life raft. These early space pioneers had traveled thousands of miles and then landed safely back on Earth. The journey s end was in sight, but they had one more obstacle. The rotor downdraft from the helicopter coming to retrieve them, reaching sometimes as much as 100 knots per hour, was enough to flip a typical flat-bottomed life raft. Not willing to be thwarted after coming so far, NASA engineers began devising a solution. They knew they needed a highly stable inflatable raft capable of riding out the rough winds, and the solution was to make use of the most abundant resource available: water. Engineers at NASA s Johnson Space Center went to work designing and patenting a hydrodynamically stabilized ballast system that would prevent a life raft from tipping in choppy seas and fierce winds.

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NASA NTRS1974

Modification of one man life raft

A one man inflatable life raft is described. The raft has an inflatable tube perimetrically bounding the occupant receiving space with a flexible floor member. A zippered opening in the floor allows entry and facilitates the use of a constant diameter tube. An airtight fabric bulkhead divides the peripheral tube longitudinally into inflatable tube sections, where if either tube section were punctured, the bulkhead would move into the punctured section to substitute for the punctured wall portion and maintain the inflatable volume of the tube. The floor member is attached to the central portion of the tube wall so that either side of the raft can be the up side.

Soter, E. J.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Is Ice-Rafted Sediment in a North Pole Marine Record Evidence for Perennial Sea-ice Cover?

Ice-rafted sediments of Eurasian and North American origin are found consistently in the upper part (13 Ma BP to present) of the Arctic Coring Expedition (ACEX) ocean core from the Lomonosov Ridge, near the North Pole (approximately 88 degrees N). Based on modern sea-ice drift trajectories and speeds, this has been taken as evidence of the presence of a perennial sea-ice cover in the Arctic Ocean from the middle Miocene onwards. However, other high latitude land and marine records indicate a long-term trend towards cooling broken by periods of extensive warming suggestive of a seasonally ice-free Arctic between the Miocene and the present. We use a coupled sea-ice slab-ocean model including sediment transport tracers to map the spatial distribution of ice-rafted deposits in the Arctic Ocean. We use 6 hourly wind forcing and surface heat fluxes for two different climates: one with a perennial sea-ice cover similar to that of the present day and one with seasonally ice-free conditions, similar to that simulated in future projections. Model results confirm that in the present-day climate, sea ice takes more than 1 year to transport sediment from all its peripheral seas to the North Pole. However, in a warmer climate, sea-ice speeds are significantly faster (for the same wind forcing) and can deposit sediments of Laptev, East Siberian and perhaps also Beaufort Sea origin at the North Pole. This is primarily because of the fact that sea-ice interactions are much weaker with a thinner ice cover and there is less resistance to drift. We conclude that the presence of ice-rafted sediment of Eurasian and North American origin at the North Pole does not imply a perennial sea-ice cover in the Arctic Ocean, reconciling the ACEX ocean core data with other land and marine records.

Palaeoclimate↗
NASA NTRS1971

Stable, inflatable life raft for high seas rescue operations

Raft is easily deployed and highly maneuverable in water. It has false bottom of water ballast containers attached to underside, making it exceptionally stable platform from which swimmers can operate. Raft is attachable to external moorings.

Barnett, J. H., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1964

Life raft Patent

Design of inflatable life raft for aircrafts and boats

Radnofsky, M. I.↗
NASA NTRS1989

A Monte Carlo-finite element model for strain energy controlled microstructural evolution - 'Rafting' in superalloys

This paper presents a specialized microstructural lattice model, MCFET (Monte Carlo finite element technique), which simulates microstructural evolution in materials in which strain energy has an important role in determining morphology. The model is capable of accounting for externally applied stress, surface tension, misfit, elastic inhomogeneity, elastic anisotropy, and arbitrary temperatures. The MCFET analysis was found to compare well with the results of analytical calculations of the equilibrium morphologies of isolated particles in an infinite matrix.

Gayda, J.↗
NASA NTRS2011

D-RATS 2011: RAFT Protocol Overview

A brief overview presentation on the protocol used during the D-RATS2011 field test for file transfer from the field-test robots at Black Point Lava Flow AZ to Johnson Space Center, Houston TX over a simulated time-delay. The file transfer actually uses a commercial implementation of an open communications standard. The focus of the work lies on how to make the state of the distributed system observable.

Utz, Hans↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

TPSAS-NF1676L-13210-DND

Pumice rafts are an occasional byproduct of explosive volcanic eruptions that occur near bodies of water. Rafts can be tens of kilometers across and are a hazard to shipping, as the pumice can block the seawater intake valves for ships’ engine cooling systems. In particular, this research focuses on pumice rafts that emanated from the eruptions near Tonga in 2006, Yemen in 2007, and the Chile-Argentina border in 2011 using data from Landsat 5 & 7, MODIS onboard the Aqua and Terra satellites, and ALI aboard the EO-1 satellite. False color composites were created to facilitate visual identification of pumice rafts in high resolution images. Additionally, a material of interest subpixel classification was implemented to automatically demarcate the extent of the pumice rafts. MODIS was found to be the most useful sensor for tracking larger rafts in the open ocean, while Landsat 5 & 7 and ALI were more effective in tracking smaller rafts in lakes and rivers. The pumice rafts generally took on a temperature between that of the ambient air and water temperature. The data collected for this study has been compiled to provide an effective tool for further investigation of pumice rafts.

Paula Chojnacki↗
NASA NTRS1978

Spinoff For Survival

The Givens Buoy Raft cannot be overturned, its manufacturer claims and others concur. An independent test group conducted a series of demonstrations and found that every type of raft :I except the Givens could be capsized either by one man boarding or several shifting weight within the raft. Termed by the group "a remarkable stability achievement," the Givens Buoy raft offers the first major advance in inflatable survival equipment in many years. It is a spinoff product resulting in part from NASA technology and in part from years of research by Jim Givens, president of Res-Q-Raft, Inc., of Lake Worth, Florida and Seattle, Washington. NASA used inflatable rafts to transfer astronauts returning from space between their ocean-landed spacecraft and a recovery ship. NASA found a problem in the use of conventional flat-bottom inflatables; they tended to overturn when exposed to the downdraft from helicopters of the recovery fleet. So Johnson Space Center developed a new and highly-effective method of raft stabilization for which NASA secured a patent. Working separately, Jim Givens came up with a very similar system. He subsequently patented his own invention and secured an exclusive patent license to use the NASA technology

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NASA NTRS2016

Heart Rate Responses to Unaided Orion Side Hatch Egress in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory

NASA is developing the Orion capsule as a vehicle for transporting crewmembers to and from the International Space Station (ISS) and for future human space exploration missions. Orion and other commercial vehicles are designed to splash down in the ocean where nominally support personnel will assist crewmembers in egressing the vehicle. However, off-nominal scenarios will require crewmembers to egress the vehicle unaided, deploy survival equipment, and ingress a life raft. PURPOSE: To determine the heart rate (HR) responses to unaided Orion side hatch egress and raft ingress as a part of the NASA Crew Survival Engineering Team's evaluation of the PORT Orion mockup in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL). METHODS: Nineteen test subjects, including four astronauts (N=19, 14 males/5 females, 38.6+/-8.4 y, 174.4+/-9.6 cm, 75.7+/-13.1 kg), completed a graded maximal test on a cycle ergometer to determine VO2peak and HRpeak and were divided into five crews of four members each; one subject served on two crews. Each crew was required to deploy a life raft, egress the Orion vehicle from the side hatch, and ingress the life raft with two 8 kg emergency packs per crew. Each crew performed this activity one to three times; a total of ten full egresses were completed. Subjects wore a suit that was similar in form, mass, and function to the Modified Advanced Crew Escape Suit (MACES) including helmet, gloves, boots, supplemental O2 bottles, and a CO2-inflated life preserver (approx.18 kg); subjects began each trial seated supine in the PORT Orion mockup with seat belts and mockup O2 and communication connections and ended each trial with all four crewmembers inside the life raft. RESULTS: VO2peak was 40.8+/-6.8 mL/kg/min (3.1+/-0.7 L/min); HRpeak was 181+/-10 bpm. Total egress time across trials was 5.0+/-1.6 min (range: 2.8-8.0 min); all subjects were able to successfully complete all trials. Average maximum HR at activity start, at the hatch opening, in the water, and in the raft, was 108, 137, 147, and 153 bpm, respectively; these values corresponded to 59+/-10%, 73+/-8%, 82+/-3%, and 84+/-6% of HRpeak, respectively. The highest HRs were seen after raft ingress and ranged from 72-99% HRpeak. Across all trials, cumulative averages of 5.4, 3.0, 1.1, and 0.2 min were spent at HRs >60%, >70%, >80%, and >90% HRpeak, respectively. CONCLUSION: Unaided Orion side hatch egress in the NBL is a relatively short-duration activity that elicits a high HR response for several min. Although all crewmembers successfully completed this activity, additional factors such as high seas, poor visibility, an incapacitated crewmember, neurovestibular perturbation, and neuromuscular deconditioning characteristic of a true operational environment may increase the physiologic demand (or decrease crewmembers' physiologic capacity) of unaided Orion side hatch egress. Additionally, landing conditions may require the crewmembers to egress from the top hatch, which is expected to be even more physiologically demanding; this condition will be evaluated in subsequent collaborative testing with the NASA Crew Survival Engineering Team.

English, Kirk L.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Factors which influence directional coarsening of Gamma prime during creep in nickel-base superalloy single crystals

Changes in the morphology of the gamma prime precipitate were examined as a function of time during creep at 982 C in 001 oriented single crystals of a Ni-Al-Mo-Ta superalloy. In this alloy, which has a large negative misfit of -0.80 pct., the gamma prime particles link together during creep to form platelets, or rafts, which are aligned with their broad faces perpendicular to the applied tensile axis. The effects of initial microstructure and alloy composition of raft development and creep properties were investigated. Directional coarsening of gamma prime begins during primary creep and continues well after the onset of second state creep. The thickness of the rafts remains constant up through the onset of tertiary creep a clear indication of the stability of the finely-spaced gamma/gamma prime lamellar structure. The thickness of the rafts which formed was equal to the initial gamma prime size which was present prior to testing. The single crystals with the finest gamma prime size exhibited the longest creep lives, because the resultant rafted structure had a larger number of gamma/gamma prime interfaces per unit volume of material. Reducing the Mo content by only 0.73 wt. pct. increased the creep life by a factor of three, because the precipitation of a third phase was eliminated.

Mackay, R. A.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Morphological changes of gamma prime precipitates in nickel-base superalloy single crystals

Changes in the morphology of the gamma prime precipitate were examined during tensile creep at temperatures between 927 and 1038 C in 001-oriented single crystals of a Ni-Al-Mo-Ta superalloy. In this alloy, which has a large negative misfit of -0.80%, the gamma prime particles link together during creep to form platelets, or rafts, which are aligned with their broad faces perpendicular to the applied tensile axis. The dimensions of the gamma and gamma prime phases were measured as directional coarsening developed in an attempt to trace the changing morphology under various stress levels. In addition, the effects of initial microstructure, as well as slight compositional variations, were related to raft development and creep properties. The results showed that directional coarsening of gamma prime began during primary creep, and under certain conditions, continued to develop after the onset of steady-state creep. The length of the rafts increased linearly with time up to a plateau region. The thickness of the rafts, however, remained equal to the initial gamma prime size at least up through the onset of tertiary creep; this is a clear indication of the stability of the finely-spaced gamma-gamma prime lamellar structure. It was found that the single crystals with the finest gamma prime size exhibited the longest creep lives, because the resultant rafted structure had a larger number of gamma-gamma prime interfaces per unit volume of material.

Mackay, R. A.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Factors which influence directional coarsening of gamma-prime during creep in nickel-base superalloy single crystals

Changes in the morphology of the gamma prime precipitate were examined as a function of the time during creep at 982 C in 001 oriented single crystals of a Ni-Al-Mo-Ta superalloy. In this alloy, which has a large negative misfit of -0.80 pct., the gamma prime particles link together during creep to form platelets, or rafts, which are aligned with their broad faces perpendicular to the applied tensile axis. The effects of initial microstructure and alloy composition of raft development and creep properties were investigated. Directional coarsening of gamma prime begins during primary creep and continues well after the onset of second state creep. The thickness of the rafts remains constant up through the onset of tertiary creep, a clear indication of the stability of the finely-spaced gamma/gamma prime lamellar structure. The thickness of the rafts which formed was equal to the initial gamma prime size which was present prior to testing. The single crystals with the finest gamma prime size exhibited the longest creep lives, because the resultant rafted structure had a larger number of gamma/gamma prime interfaces per unit volume of material. Reducing the Mo content by only 0.73 wt. pct. increased the creep life by a factor of three, because the precipitation of a third phase was eliminated.

Mackay, R. A.↗