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Harmonic distortion analyzer effects rapid and accurate setup and calibration of magnetic tape instrumentation recorders. The analyzer is portable, requires no warmup period and need not be calibrated for normal usage. Average setup time with this analyzer is approximately 30 seconds per track.
Higher Harmonic Control reduces helicopter airframe vibration through the exercise of rotor blade pitch control at frequencies that are higher harmonics of rotor rotation. Analysis wind tunnel tests and flight tests of this technology with an OH-6A helicopter have led to vibration reduction levels of the order of more than 80 percent. Blade feathering capability at rotor speed harmonics other than the first also promises the improvement of such rotor characteristics as acoustics, aerodynamic efficiency and ground resonance.
The Microgravity Emissions Laboratory (MEL) was developed at the NASA Glenn Research Center for the characterization, simulation, and verification of the International Space Station (ISS) microgravity environment. This Glenn lab was developed in support of the Fluids and Combustion Facility (FCF). The MEL is a six-degrees-of-freedom inertial measurement system that can characterize the inertial response forces (emissions) of components, subrack payloads, or rack-level payloads down to 10 7g. The inertial force output data generated from the steady-state or transient operations of the test article are used with finite element analysis, statistical energy analysis, and other analysis tools to predict the on-orbit environment at specific science or rack interface locations. Customers of the MEL have used benefits in isolation performance testing in defining available attenuation during the engineering hardware design phase of their experiment s development. The Light Microscopy Module (LMM) Control Box (LCB) fan was tested in the MEL in June and July of 2002. The LMM is planned as a remotely controllable on-orbit microscope subrack facility that will be accommodated in an FCF Fluids Integrated Rack on the ISS. The disturbances measured in the MEL test resulted from operation of the air-circulation fan within the LCB. The objectives of the testing were (1) to identify an isolator to be added to the LCB fan assembly to reduce fan-speed harmonics and (2) to identify the fan-disturbance forcing functions for use in rack-response analysis of the LMM and Fluids Integrated Rack facility. This report describes the MEL, the testing process, and the results from ground-based MEL LCB fan testing.
A Light Microscopy Module (LMM) is being engineered, designed, and developed at the NASA Glenn Research Center. The LMM is planned as a remotely controllable on-orbit microscope subrack facility, allowing flexible scheduling and control of physical science and biological science experiments within Glenn s Fluids Integrated Rack on the International Space Station. The LMM concept is a modified commercial research imaging light microscope with powerful laser-diagnostic hardware and interfaces, creating a one-of-a-kind, state-of-the-art microscopic research facility. The microscope will house several different objectives, corresponding to magnifications of 10, 40, 50, 63, and 100. Features of the LMM include high-resolution color video microscopy, brightfield, darkfield, phase contrast, differential interference contrast, spectrophotometry, and confocal microscopy combined in a single configuration. Also, laser tweezers are integrated with the diagnostics as a sample manipulation technique. As part of the development phase of the LMM, it was necessary to quantify the microgravity disturbances generated by the control box fan. Isolating the fan was deemed necessary to reduce the fan speed harmonic amplitudes and to eliminate any broadband disturbances across the 60- to 70-Hz and 160- to 170-Hz frequency ranges. The accelerations generated by a control box fan component of the LMM were measured in the Microgravity Emissions Laboratory (MEL). The MEL is a low-frequency measurement system developed to simulate and verify the on-orbit International Space Station (ISS) microgravity environment. The accelerations generated by various operating components of the ISS, if too large, could hinder the science performed onboard by disturbing the microgravity environment. The MEL facility gives customers a test-verified way of measuring their compliance with ISS limitations on vibratory disturbance levels. The facility is unique in that inertial forces in 6 degrees of freedom can be characterized simultaneously for an operating test article. Vibratory disturbance levels are measured for engineering or flight-level hardware following development from component to subassembly through the rack-level configuration. The MEL can measure accelerations as small as 10-7g, the accuracy needed to confirm compliance with ISS requirements.
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This invention relates to an end effector device for grasping and maneuvering objects such as berthing handles of a space telescope. The device includes a V-shaped capture window defined as inclined surfaces in parallel face plates which converge toward a retainer recess in which the handle is retained. A pivotal finger (30) meshes with a pair of pivoted fingers which rotate in counterrotation. The fingers rotate to pull a handle within the capture window into recess where latches lock handle in the recess. To align the capture window, plates may be cocked plus or minus five degrees on base. Drive means is included in the form of a motor coupled with a harmonic drive speed reducer, which provides for slow movement of the fingers at a high torque so that large articles may be handled. Novelty of the invention is believed to reside in the combined intermeshing finger structure, drive means and the harmonic drive speed reducer, which features provide the required maneuverability and strength.
Methods are constructed for rapidly computing correlation functions using the theory of abstract harmonic analysis. The theory developed includes as a particular case the familiar Fourier transform method for a correlation function which makes it possible to find images which are independent of their translation in the plane. Two examples of the application of the general theory described are the search for images, independent of their rotation and scale, and the search for images which are independent of their translations and rotations in the plane.
Aft fan noise reduction techniques were investigated. The 1/3 octave band sound data were plotted with the following plots included: perceived noise level vs acoustic angle at 2 fan speeds; PWL vs frequency at 2 fan speeds; and sound pressure level vs frequency at 2 aft angles and 2 fan speeds. The source noise plots included: band pass filter sound pressure level vs acoustic angle at 2 fan speeds; and 2nd harmonic SPL acoustic angle at 2 fan speeds.
A theoretical analysis is presented for the harmonic noise of high speed, open rotors. Far field acoustic radiation equations based on the Ffowcs-Williams/Hawkings theory are derived for a static rotor with thin blades and zero lift. Near the plane of rotation, the dominant sources are the volume displacement and the rho U(2) quadrupole, where u is the disturbance velocity component in the direction blade motion. These sources are compared in both the time domain and the frequency domain using two dimensional airfoil theories valid in the subsonic, transonic, and supersonic speed ranges. For nonlifting parabolic arc blades, the two sources are equally important at speeds between the section critical Mach number and a Mach number of one. However, for moderately subsonic or fully supersonic flow over thin blade sections, the quadrupole term is negligible. It is concluded for thin blades that significant quadrupole noise radiation is strictly a transonic phenomenon and that it can be suppressed with blade sweep. Noise calculations are presented for two rotors, one simulating a helicopter main rotor and the other a model propeller. For the latter, agreement with test data was substantially improved by including the quadrupole source term.
A new, advanced type of active control for helicopters and its application to the solution of rotor aerodynamic and aeroelastic problems is described. Each blade is individually controlled in the rotating frame over a wide range of frequencies up to the sixth harmonic of rotor speed. The paper describes the design of a system controlling retreating blade stall, and the testing of the system on a model rotor in the wind tunnel. The control inputs considered are higher harmonic blade pitch changes at 2P and 3P, of amplitude and phase such that rotor loading is increased in the fore and aft portions of the rotor disk while rotor loading is reduced on the lateral portions. In this manner retreating blade stall may be alleviated, with corresponding reduction in rotor power requirements and vibration.
A new, advanced type of active control for helicopters and its application to gust alleviation is described. Each blade is individually controlled in the rotating frame over a wide range of frequencies up to the sixth harmonic of rotor speed. Considerable system simplification is achieved by means of modal decomposition. It is shown both analytically and experimentally that by utilizing a tip-mounted accelerometer as a sensor in the feedback path, significant reductions in blade flapping response to a sinusoidal gust can be achieved at the gust excitation frequency as well as at super- and subharmonics of rotor speed.
The optimal design of helicopter rotor blades is addressed. The forced response of an initial (i.e., non-optimized) blade to those of a final (optimized) blade are compared. Response of starting design and optimal designs for varying forcing frequencies, blade response to harmonics of rotor speed, and derivation of mass and stiffness matrices or functions of natural frequencies are discussed.
The novel active control system presented for helicopter rotor aerodynamic and aeroelastic problems involves the individual control of each blade in the rotating frame over a wide range of frequencies (up to the sixth harmonic of rotor speed). This Individual Blade Control (IBC) system controls blade pitch by means of broadband electrohydraulic actuators attached to the swash plate (in the case of three blades) or individually to each blade, using acceleratometer signals to furnish control commands to the actuators. Attention is given to IBC's application to blade lag, flapping, and bending dynamics. It is shown that gust alleviation, attitude stabilization, vibration alleviation, and air/ground resonance suppression, are all achievable with a conventional helicopter swash plate.
Grasping mechanism captures and locks onto rodlike handle without being precisely aligned with it initially. Mechanism includes two faceplates and three rotatable fingers meshing odd finger between two members of opposite finger pair. Power for fingers supplied by motor powered via harmonic drive reduces speed and increases torque by factor of 160.
The prototype expert system ADDAMX identifies selected sinusoid frequencies from spectral data graphs as speed frequencies and harmonics from each turbopump, frequency feed through from one turbopump to another, frequencies generated by turbopump bearings, pseudo 3N for the phase 2 high pressure fuel turbopump, and electrical noise. ADDAMX does the analysis in an interactive or batch mode and the results can be displayed on the screen or hardcopy.
The Space Transportation System (STS) consists of three primary components; an Orbiter Vehicle, an External Fuel Tank, and two Solid Rocket Boosters. The Orbiter Vehicle and Solid Rocket Boosters are reusable components, and as such, they are susceptible to durability issues. Recently, the fatigue load spectra for these components have been updated to include load histories acquired during the rollout phase of the STS processing for flight. Using traditional program life assessment techniques, the incorporation of these "rollout" loads produced unacceptable life estimates for certain Orbiter structural members. As a result, the Space Shuttle System Engineering and Integration Office has initiated a program to re-assess the method used for developing the "rollout" loads and performing the life assessments. In the fall of 2003 a set of tests were preformed to provide information to either validate existing load spectra estimation techniques or generate new load spectra estimation methods. Acceleration and strain data were collected from two rollouts of a partial-stack configuration of the Space Shuttle. The partial stack configuration consists of two Solid Rocket Boosters tied together at the upper External Tank attachment locations mounted on the Mobile Launch Platform carried by a Crawler Transporter (CT). In the current analysis, the data collected from this test is examined for consistency in speed, surface condition effects, and the characterization of the forcing function. It is observed that the speed of the CT is relatively stable. The dynamic response acceleration of the partial-stack is slightly sensitive to the surface condition of the road used for transport, and the dynamic response acceleration of the partial-stack generally increases as the transport speed increases. However, the speed sensitivity is dependent on the measurement location. Finally, the character of the forcing function is narrow-banded with the primary drivers being harmonics of two CT speed dependent excitations. One source is an excitation due to the CT treads striking the road surface, and the second is unknown.
In November of 2003 a rollout test was performed to gain a better understanding of the dynamic environment for the Space Shuttle during transportation from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pad. This was part of a study evaluating the methodology for including the rollout dynamic loads in the Space Shuttle fatigue life predictions. The rollout test was conducted with a partial stack consisting of the Crawler Transporter, Mobile Launch Platform, and the Solid Rocket Boosters with an interconnecting crossbeam. Instrumentation included over 100 accelerometers. Data was recorded for steady state speeds, start-ups and stops, and ambient wind excitations with the vehicle at idle. This paper will describe the operating deflection shape analysis performed using the measured acceleration response data. The response data for the steady state speed runs were dominated by harmonics of the forcing frequencies, which were proportional to the vehicle speed. Assuming a broadband excitation for the wind, analyses of the data sets with the vehicle at idle were used to estimate the natural frequencies and corresponding mode shapes. Comparisons of the measured modal properties with numerical predictions are presented.