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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 NTRS1977

Surface temperatures and temperature gradient features of the US Gulf Coast waters

Satellite thermal infrared data on the Gulf of Mexico show that a seasonal cycle exists in the horizontal surface temperature structure. In the fall, the surface temperatures of both coastal and deep waters are nearly uniform. With the onset of winter, atmospheric cold fronts, which are accompanied by dry, low temperature air and strong winds, draw heat from the sea. A band of cooler water forming on the inner shelf expands, until a thermal front develops seaward along the shelf break between the cold shelf waters and the warmer deep waters of the Gulf. Digital analysis of the satellite data was carried out in an interactive mode using a minicomputer and software. A time series of temperature profiles illustrates the temporal and spatial changes in the sea-surface temperature field.

Huh, O. K.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Development of a radiation-hard CMOS process

It is recommended that various techniques be investigated which appear to have the potential for improving the radiation hardness of CMOS devices for prolonged space flight mission. The three key recommended processing techniques are: (1) making the gate oxide thin. It has been shown that radiation degradation is proportional to the cube of oxide thickness so that a relatively small reduction in thickness can greatly improve radiation resistance; (2) cleanliness and contamination control; and (3) to investigate different oxide growth (low temperature dry, TCE and HCL). All three produce high quality clean oxides, which are more radiation tolerant. Technique 2 addresses the reduction of metallic contamination. Technique 3 will produce a higher quality oxide by using slow growth rate conditions, and will minimize the effects of any residual sodium contamination through the introduction of hydrogen and chlorine into the oxide during growth.

Power, W. L.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Space Chambers for Crop Treatment

Vacuum chambers, operated by McDonnell Douglas Corporation to test spacecraft, can also be used to dry water-soaked records. The drying temperature is low enough to allow paper to dry without curling or charging. Agricultural crops may also be dried using a spinoff system called MIVAC, which has proven effective in drying rice, wheat, soybeans, corn, etc. The system is energy efficient and can incorporate a sanitation process for destroying insects without contamination.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2003

A Dry-Etch Process for Low Temperature Superconducting Transition Edge Sensors for Far Infrared Bolometer Arrays

The next generation of ultra-low power bolometer arrays, with applications in far infrared imaging, spectroscopy and polarimetry, utilizes a superconducting bilayer as the sensing element to enable SQUID multiplexed readout. Superconducting transition edge sensors (TES s) are being produced with dual metal systems of superconductinghormal bilayers. The transition temperature (Tc) is tuned by altering the relative thickness of the superconductor with respect to the normal layer. We are currently investigating MoAu and MoCu bilayers. We have developed a dry-etching process for MoAu TES s with integrated molybdenum leads, and are working on adapting the process to MoCu. Dry etching has the advantage over wet etching in the MoAu system in that one can achieve a high degree of selectivity, greater than 10, using argon ME, or argon ion milling, for patterning gold on molybdenum. Molybdenum leads are subsequently patterned using fluorine plasma.. The dry-etch technique results in a smooth, featureless TES with sharp sidewalls, no undercutting of the Mo beneath the normal metal, and Mo leads with high critical current. The effects of individual processing parameters on the characteristics of the transition will be reported.

Allen, Christine A.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Modeling Thermal Contact Resistance

One difficulty in using cryocoolers is making good thermal contact between the cooler and the instrument being cooled. The connection is often made through a bolted joint. The temperature drop associated with this joint has been the subject of many experimental and theoretical studies. The low temperature behavior of dry joints have shown some anomalous dependence on the surface condition of the mating parts. There is also some doubts on how well one can extrapolate from the test samples to predicting the performance of a real system. Both finite element and analytic models of a simple contact system have been developed. The model assumes (a) the contact is dry (contact limited to a small portion of the total available area and the spaces in-between the actual contact patches are perfect insulators), (b) contacts are clean (conductivity of the actual contact is the same as the bulk), (c) small temperature gradients (the bulk conductance may be assumed to be temperature independent), (d) the absolute temperature is low (thermal radiation effects are ignored), and (e) the dimensions of the nominal contact area are small compared to the thickness of the bulk material (the contact effects are localized near the contact). The models show that in the limit of actual contact area much less than the nominal area (a much less than A), that the excess temperature drop due to a single point of contact scales as a(exp -1/2). This disturbance only extends a distance approx. A(exp 1/2) into the bulk material. A group of identical contacts will result in an excess temperature drop that scales as n(exp -1/2), where n is the number of contacts and n dot a is constant. This implies that flat rough surfaces will have a lower excess temperature drop than flat polished surfaces.

Kittel, Peter↗
NASA NTRS1978

Degradation of Biochemical Activity in Soil Sterilized by Dry Heat and Gamma Radiation

The effect of soil sterilization by dry heat (0.08% relative humidity), gamma radiation, or both on soil phosphatase, urease, and decarboxylase activity was studied. Soil sterilized by a long exposure to dry heat at relatively low temperatures (eight weeks at 100.5 C) retained higher activities than did soil exposed to a higher temperature (two weeks at 124.5 C), while all activity was destroyed by four days at 148.5 C. Sterilization with 7.5 Mrads destroyed less activity than did heat sterilization. The effect of several individually nonsterizing doses of heat radiation is described.

Shih, K. L.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Analysis of Volatile Organic Compounds in a Controlled Environment: Ethylene Gas Measurement Studies on Radish

Volatile organic compound(VOC), ethylene gas, was characterized and quantified by GC/FID. 20-50 ppb levels were detected during the growth stages of radish. SPME could be a good analytical tool for the purpose. Low temperature trapping method using dry ice/diethyl ether and liquid nitrogen bath was recommended for the sampling process for GC/PID and GC/MS analysis.

Kong, Suk Bin↗
NASA NTRS2006

Vapor Hydrogen Peroxide as Alternative to Dry Heat Microbial Reduction

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in conjunction with the NASA Planetary Protection Officer, has selected vapor phase hydrogen peroxide (VHP) sterilization process for continued development as a NASA approved sterilization technique for spacecraft subsystems and systems. The goal is to include this technique, with appropriate specification, in NPG8020.12C as a low temperature complementary technique to the dry heat sterilization process. A series of experiments were conducted in vacuum to determine VHP process parameters that provided significant reductions in spore viability while allowing survival of sufficient spores for statistically significant enumeration. With this knowledge of D values, sensible margins can be applied in a planetary protection specification. The outcome of this study provided an optimization of test sterilizer process conditions: VHP concentration, process duration, a process temperature range for which the worst case D value may be imposed, a process humidity range for which the worst case D value may be imposed, and robustness to selected spacecraft material substrates.

vapor hydrogen peroxide↗
NASA NTRS2015

Stratospheric Temperatures and Water Loss From Moist Greenhouse Atmospheres of Earth-Like Planets

A radiative-convective climate model is used to calculate stratospheric temperatures and water vapor concentrations for ozone-free atmospheres warmer than that of modern Earth. Cold, dry stratospheres are predicted at low surface temperatures, in agreement with recent 3D calculations. However, at surface temperatures above 350 K, the stratosphere warms and water vapor becomes a major upper atmospheric constituent, allowing water to be lost by photodissociation and hydrogen escape. Hence, a moist greenhouse explanation for loss of water from Venus, or some exoplanet receiving a comparable amount of stellar radiation, remains a viable hypothesis. Temperatures in the upper parts of such atmospheres are well below those estimated for a gray atmosphere, and this factor should be taken into account when performing inverse climate calculations to determine habitable zone boundaries using 1D models.

Astrobiology↗
NASA NTRS2006

The Validation of Vapor Phase Hydrogen Peroxide Microbial Reduction for Planetary Protection and a Proposed Vacuum Process Specification

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in conjunction with the NASA Planetary Protection Officer, has selected the vapor phase hydrogen peroxide sterilization process for continued development as a NASA approved sterilization technique for spacecraft subsystems and systems. The goal is to include this technique, with an appropriate specification, in NPR 8020.12C as a low temperature complementary technique to the dry heat sterilization process.To meet microbial reduction requirements for all Mars in-situ life detection and sample return missions, various planetary spacecraft subsystems will have to be exposed to a qualified sterilization process. This process could be the elevated temperature dry heat sterilization process (~115 C for 40 hours) which was used to sterilize the Viking lander spacecraft. However, with utilization of such elements as highly sophisticated electronics and sensors in modern spacecraft, this process presents significant materials challenges and is thus an undesirable bioburden reduction method to design engineers. The objective of this work is to introduce vapor hydrogen peroxide (VHP) as an alternative to dry heat microbial reduction to meet planetary protection requirements.The VHP process is widely used by the medical industry to sterilize surgical instruments and biomedical devices, but high doses of VHP may degrade the performance of flight hardware, or compromise material properties. Our goal for this study was to determine the minimum VHP process conditions to achieve microbial reduction levels acceptable for planetary protection.

planetary protection↗
NASA NTRS2019

An Automated Detection Methodology for Dry Well-Mixed Layers

The intense surface heating over arid land surfaces produces dry well-mixed layers (WML) via dry convection. These layers are characterized by nearly constant potential temperature and low, nearly constant water vapor mixing ratio. To further the study of dry WMLs, we created a detection methodology and supporting software to automate the identification and characterization of dry WMLs from multiple data sources including rawinsondes, remote sensing platforms, and model products. The software is a modular code written in Python, an open source language. Radiosondes from a network of synoptic stations in North Africa were used to develop and test the WML detection process. The detection involves an iterative decision tree that ingests a vertical profile from an input data file, performs a quality check for sufficient data density, and then searches upward through the column for successive points where the simultaneous changes in water vapor mixing ratio and potential temperature are less than the specified maxima. If points in the vertical profile meet the dry WML identification criteria, statistics are generated detailing the characteristics of each layer in the profile. At the end of the vertical profile analysis, there is an option to plot analyzed profiles in a variety of file formats. Initial results show that the detection methodology can be successfully applied across a wide variety of input data and North African environments and for all seasons. It is sensitive enough to identify dry WMLs from other types of isentropic phenomena such as subsidence layers and distinguish the current day’s dry WML from previous days.

Stephen D. Nicholls↗
NASA NTRS1993

Stratospheric dryness - Antiphased desiccation over Micronesia and Antarctica

HALOE observations of water vapor and methane during the period 21 September - 15 October 1992 are used to examine the role of Antarctic drying in the lower stratosphere. Zonal mean cross-sections of 2 CH4 + H2O show the probability of transport of Antarctic type dryness to latitudes as distant as 20 deg N, with major water vapor deficits evident between 10 and 100 mb to 10 deg S. Examination of monthly mean tropical 100 mb temperatures and of Antarctic temperatures suggests that the observations are consistent with stratospheric dryness being achieved by the combined effects of tropopause freeze-drying over the Micronesia region during northern winter and drying through the influence of the very low temperatures over Antarctica during southern winter. This paper presents these intriguing new results, and offers a possible explanation.

Tuck, A. F.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Evaluation of Low Temperature CO Removal Catalysts

CO removal from spacecraft gas streams was evaluated for three commercial, low temperature oxidation catalysts: Carulite 300, Sofnocat 423, and Hamilton Sundstrand Pt1. The catalysts were challenged with CO concentrations (1-100 ppm) under dry and wet (50% humidity) conditions using 2-3 % O2. CO removal and CO2 concentration were measured at constant feed composition using a FTIR. Water vapor affected the CO conversion of each catalyst differently. An initial screening found that Caulite 300 could not operate in humid conditions. The presence of water vapor affected CO conversion of Sofnocat 423 for challenge concentrations below 40 ppm. The conversion of CO by Sofnocat 423 was 80% at CO concentrations greater than 40 ppm under both dry and moist conditions. The HS Pt1 catalyst exhibited CO conversion levels of 100% under both dry and moist conditions.

Low Temperature↗
NASA NTRS2010

Mineralogy of Antarctica Dry Valley Soils: Implications for Pedogenic Processes on Mars

The Antarctic Dry Valleys (ADVs) located in the Transantarctic Mountains are the coldest and driest locations on Earth. The mean annual air temperature is -20 C or less and the ADVs receive 100mm or less of precipitation annually in the form of snow. The cold and dry climate in the ADVs is one of the best terrestrial analogs for the climatic conditions on Mars [2]. The soils in the ADVs have been categorized into three soil moisture zones: subxerous, xerous and ultraxerous. The subxerous zone is a coastal region in which soils have ice-cemented permafrost relatively close to the surface. Moisture is available in relatively large amounts and soil temperatures are above freezing throughout the soil profile (above ice permafrost) in summer months. The xerous zone, the most widespread of the three zones, is an inland region with a climate midway between the subxerous and ultraxerous. The soils from this zone have dry permafrost at moderate depths (30-75cm) but have sufficient water in the upper soil horizons to allow leaching of soluble materials. The ultraxerous zone is a high elevation zone, where both temperature and precipitation amounts are very low resulting in dry permafrost throughout the soil profile. The three moisture regime regions are similar to the three microclimatic zones (coastal thaw, inland mixed, stable upland) defined by Marchant and Head.

Quinn, J. E.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Near-ambient solid polymer fuel cell

Fuel cells are extremely attractive for extraterrestrial and terrestrial applications because of their high energy conversion efficiency without noise or environmental pollution. Among the various fuel cell systems the advanced polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells based on sulfonated fluoropolymers (e.g., Nafion) are particularly attractive because they are fairly rugged, solid state, quite conductive, of good chemical and thermal stability and show good oxygen reduction kinetics due to the low specific adsorption of the electrolyte on the platinum catalyst. The objective of this program is to develop a solid polymer fuel cell which can efficiently operate at near ambient temperatures without ancillary components for humidification and/or pressurization of the fuel or oxidant gases. During the Phase 1 effort we fabricated novel integral electrode-membrane structures where the dispersed platinum catalyst is precipitated within the Nafion ionomer. This resulted in electrode-membrane units without interfacial barriers permitting unhindered water diffusion from cathode to anode. The integral electrode-membrane structures were tested as fuel cells operating on H2 and O2 or air at 1 to 2 atm and 10 to 50 C without gas humidification. We demonstrated that cells with completely dry membranes could be self started at room temperature and subsequently operated on dry gas for extended time. Typical room temperature low pressure operation with unoptimized electrodes yielded 100 mA/cm(exp 2) at 0.5V and maximum currents over 300 mA/cm(exp 2) with low platinum loadings. Our results clearly demonstrate that operation of proton exchange membrane fuel cells at ambient conditions is feasible. Optimization of the electrode-membrane structure is necessary to assess the full performance potential but we expect significant gains in weight and volume power density for the system. The reduced complexity will make fuel cells also attractive for smaller and portable power supplies and as replacement for batteries.

Holleck, G. L.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Easy Meal

The woman pictured below is sitting down to a nutritious, easily-prepared meal similar to those consumed by Apollo astronauts. The appetizing dishes shown were created simply by adding water to the contents of a Mountain House* Easy Meal package of freeze dried food. The Easy Meal line is produced by Oregon Freeze Dry Foods, Inc., Albany, Oreaon, a pioneer in freeze drying technology and a company long associated with NASA in developing suitable preparations for use on manned spacecraft. Designed to provide nutritionally balanced, attractive hot meals for senior adults, Easy Meal is an offshoot of a 1975-77 demonstration project managed by Johnson Space Center and called Meal System for the Elderly. The project sought ways to help the estimated 3.5 million elderly Americans who are unable to take advantage of existing meal programs. Such services are provided by federal, state and local agencies, but they are not available to many who live in rural areas, or others who are handicapped, temporarily ill or homebound for other reasons. Oregon Freeze Dry Foods was a participant in that multi-agency cooperative project. With its Easy Meal assortment of convenience foods pictured above left, the company is making commercially available meal packages similar to those distributed in the Meal System for the Elderly program. In the freeze drying process, water is extracted from freshly-cooked foods by dehydration at very low temperatures, as low as 50 I degrees below zero. Flavor is locked in by packaging the dried food in pouches which block out moisture and oxygen, the principal causes of food deterioration; thus the food can be stored for long periods without refrigeration. Meals are reconstituted by adding hot or cold water, depending on the type of food, and they are table ready in five to 10 minutes. Oregon Freeze Dry Foods offers five different meal packages and plans to expand the line.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2000

Dry Ribbon for Heated Head Automated Fiber Placement

Ply-by-ply in situ processes involving automated heated head deposition are being developed for fabrication of high performance, high temperature composite structures from low volatile content polymer matrices. This technology requires (1) dry carbon fiber towpreg, (2) consolidation of towpreg to quality, placement-grade unidirectional ribbon or tape, and (3) rapid, in situ, accurate, ply-by-ply robotic placement and consolidation of this material to fabricate a composite structure. In this study, the physical properties of a candidate thermoplastic ribbon, PIXA/IM7, were evaluated and screened for suitability in robotic placement. Specifically, towpreg was prepared from PIXA powder. Various conditions (temperatures) were used to convert the powder-coated towpreg to ribbons with varying degrees of processability. Ribbon within preset specifications was fabricated at 3 temperatures: 390, 400 and 410 C. Ribbon was also produced out-of-spec by purposely overheating the material to a processing temperature of 450 C. Automated placement equipment at Cincinnati Milacron and NASA Langley was used to fabricate laminates from these experimental ribbons. Ribbons were placed at 405 and 450 C by both sets of equipment. Double cantilever beam and wedge peel tests were used to determine the quality of the laminates and, especially, the interlaminar bond formed during the placement process. Ribbon made under conditions expected to be non-optimal (overheated) resulted in poor placeability and composites with weak interlaminar bond strengths, regardless of placement conditions. Ribbon made under conditions expected to be ideal showed good processability and produced well-consolidated laminates. Results were consistent from machine to machine and demonstrated the importance of ribbon quality in heated-head placement of dry material forms. Preliminary screening criteria for the development and evaluation of ribbon from new matrix materials were validated.

Hulcher, A. Bruce↗