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Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
The methods described are used with existing fiber optic technologies, and are based on several patents and on disclosures now before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The patents are No....
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Microlenses for Calibrating Phase Doppler Particle Analyzers
Simple optical devices called "scattering reticles" have been invented for calibrating Phase Doppler Particle Analyzers (PDPAs), which are optical instruments that analyze scattered light to determine the sizes and velocities of droplets. A scattering reticle comprises a polymeric...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
The proposed electron microscope would function without the need for external vacuum pumps and thus have a significant reduction in size, mass, and power consumption, as compared to...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Devices are proposed that would sublime solid propellants to generate small thrusts for maneuvering spacecraft with masses of no more than 15 kg. With solids rather than gases in propellant tanks, there would be...
Briefs: Energy
Experiments have shown that improved hydride-forming negative electrodes for rechargeable nickel/metal hydride (Ni/MH) electrochemical cells can be made by substituting Sn for some...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The figure illustrates a device that flexes to allow rotation about a single axis through a total range of ±12°. This device was designed to offer the following advantages over commercial flexural pivots:
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Jewellike bearings have been devised to enhance the performance and safety of small rotary pumps that are used to increase or sustain flows of blood in cardiac patients. A pump of this type includes a...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
The Boeing Company has developed fiber-laser-amplifier technology representing the latest in diode-laser-pumped systems, providing high output power, high brightness, tunability, frequency-doubled...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A single-block fixture enables the rapid and accurate electrical characterization of planar microwave electronic components, by use of the through-reflect-line (TRL) technique, in air...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Easy-to-use high-temperature strain-sensor systems based on strain gauges made from Pd/Cr-alloy wires have been developed. These systems include strain-gauge units comprising Pd/Cr wires...
Briefs: Materials
Current production thermal-barrier coatings (TBCs) have been shown to be capable of reducing the average temperatures of metallic components by 50 to 80 °C and hot-spot temperature by up...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Experiments have revealed that stable breakdown-voltage characteristics can be achieved in silicon carbide rectifiers. Stable breakdown-voltage characteristics are essential to the...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Semimonolithic resonant structures external to lasers have been proposed for use in optical frequency-conversion applications - for example, doubling the frequencies of laser beams....
Briefs: Materials
A probabilistic method has been developed for use in designing a composite-material structure to achieve a balance between maximum reliability and minimum cost. This method accounts...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A simple technique for extending the dynamic range of a charge-coupled-device (CCD) video camera involves the use of photochromic material — the same material used in...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Single-Event Latchup Protection of Integrated Circuits
Many commercially available advanced-technology CMOS and bipolar integrated circuits are susceptible to single-event latchup (SEL) effects caused by heavy ions or protons from cosmic rays or solar flares, making them unsuitable for satellite applications. Remanufacturing the integrated circuits...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The term "inverse rectenna" may seem like an oxymoron at first glance. However, preliminary experiments have demonstrated that a rectenna of suitable design can be made to operate in an...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
As electronic circuits become more densely packaged and higher in power, maintaining them within permissible temperature ranges becomes a major issue. This is especially true in the case of...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
SQUID-Based Asymmetric Planar Gradiometer
Berkeley Laboratory researchers have demonstrated a novel superconducting gradiometer that helps to reduce ambient magnetic field noise generated by relatively distant sources in favor of tiny magnetic signals generated by a local source. This is another step toward the operation of SQUID-based instruments...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Automatic valves have been proposed for shutting off flows of liquids when abnormally large accelerations occur. These valves could be used, for example, to prevent outflows of...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Lightweight, inflatable robotic vehicles (rovers) that superficially resemble beach balls and that could be driven by wind and/or electric power are undergoing development. These rovers were conceived...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
An electronic system that comprises airborne and ground-based subsystems generates data for a global real-time interactive map (GRIM) that displays the current position and velocity...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The Spacecraft Autonomous Navigation System using GPS for Earth Orbiters (SANS-GEO) computer program is designed to perform the navigation calculations that will enable the New...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A method for reducing the number of bits of quantization of synaptic weights during training of an artificial neural network involves the use of the cascade back-propagation learning...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The Multiple Interferometric Ranging Analysis using GPS Ensemble (MIRAGE) computer program processes spacecraft-tracking data to determine orbits of single satellites, or of...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A data-communication and -processing network of compact, laptop-computer-based portable stations communicating via the World Wide Web (WWW) has been proposed as a relatively inexpensive...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A mathematical model that includes layerwise finite elements has been developed for use in numerical simulation of the coupled electrical, mechanical, and thermal responses of composite...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A new joint, proposed for use on an attachable debris shield for the International Space Station Service Module, has potential for commercial use in situations where hardware must be assembled...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Quasi-thermostatic gas-gap thermal switches have been proposed. These switches would operate automatically, would contain no moving parts, would not require power supplies or controls, would not...
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