40
-1
450
30
Briefs: Motion Control
The term "mechanical mirroring using controlled stiffness and actuators" ("MEMICA") denotes a developmental concept for reflecting contact forces, displacements, mechanical damping,...
Briefs: Motion Control
A commercial version of the NASA plasma-contactor hollow-cathode assembly (PC HCA) has been developed. The NASA PC HCA is a highly reliable hollow discharge cathode that is the most thoroughly...
Briefs: Motion Control
Small-Stroke, High-Frequency Reciprocating Pump
A proposed reciprocating pump would operate at a small stroke and would contain no sliding parts. The oscillatory motion of a piston in the pump could be provided by a magnetostrictive actuator, for example.
Briefs: Motion Control
A developmental technique for automated alignment of threaded fasteners involves the use of the axial force between the fasteners as an indication of alignment. The technique was...
Briefs: Motion Control
The heat-driven pulse pump has been invented in an effort to satisfy a need for pumps that can circulate heat-transfer fluids at low flow rates with high reliability over long operational lifetimes. The heat-driven pulse...
Briefs: Motion Control
An improved magnetostrictively actuated pump has been developed to satisfy a need for a small, low-pressure, high-flow-rate fluid pump that contains few moving parts and can run reliably for long periods without...
Briefs: Motion Control
The figure depicts a proposed miniature, electrically actuated, one-time-opening isolation valve that would be made mostly of silicon, by use of micromachining techniques. Isolation valves...
Briefs: Motion Control
Biomorphic Robot With Distributed Power
The biomorphic robot with distributed power (BIROD) is a prototype of a class of robots that will contain simple, reliable distributed actuators that will consume power from local sources - a design concept inspired in part by biological actuators like muscles in limbs. The BIROD concept stands in contrast...
Briefs: Motion Control
A device that measures both translational acceleration and rotation exploits the dynamics of a vibratory structure that resembles a clover leaf. This device is related to other vibratory accelerometers and...
Briefs: Motion Control
A methodology proposed for actively controlling flows involves the use of proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) to derive computational models of reduced order. The methodology could...
Briefs: Motion Control
Spectrol has produced an innovative design for a three-terminal voltage output device that integrates a Hall-effect sensor and a patented magnetic circuit to convert radial motion...
Briefs: Motion Control
A fault-tolerant feedback (FTF) system has been integrated into a robot control system to prevent robot-arm runaways that could be caused by failure of one or more transducers such as...
Briefs: Motion Control
Finding a Solution for Bellows Coupling Failure
When a problem such as breaking bellows couplings threatens to halt a machinery production line, it is necessary to look beyond the obvious. In an application in which the coupling works on a Heidenhain encoder for an X-Y table that positions circuit boards, representatives of the user company and of...
Briefs: Motion Control
An apparatus called a "pneumatic stinger" has been developed to enable a first spacecraft, operating under remote control, to grasp a second spacecraft that is in orbit or other...
Briefs: Motion Control
Servomotor drive manufacturers agree that the performance of today's digital drive is largely determined by the performance of its feedback device. Clearly, previous feedback solutions, such as...
Briefs: Motion Control
Energy efficiency is a continuing focus of the power electronics industry. Motors consume the most electricity in commercial and industrial applications (followed at a distant second by...
Briefs: Motion Control
PC-based control has become one of the fastest-growing automation solutions for the factory floor. Control engineers are quickly dropping their proprietary PLC boxes and replacing them with PC-based control...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
The linear motor was invented in the mid-nineteenth century, at much the same time as its brother, the rotating electric motor. Because the linear motor always has to effect a reversing movement -...
Briefs: Motion Control
The figure shows a robot arm that is essentially a miniature crane actuated by electroactive polymers. This mechanism has been constructed as part of a continuing effort to develop lightweight,...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Mobile System for Control of a Remote Rocket-Launching Range
The Wallops Flight Facility of the Goddard Space Flight Center has designed and built in-house a Mobile Range Control System (MRCS), which is a self-contained system to be deployed in support of rocket launches at remote ranges in cases in which termination of flight may be required for...
Briefs: Motion Control
The figure presents a partial cross section of two poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) tubes with machined ends butted and sealed together in a special coupling fixture. This coupling scheme, in...
Briefs: Motion Control
Wiping devices that exploit fingerlike bending motions produced by electroactive polymeric (ionomeric) actuators are undergoing development. These wiping devices function similarly to...
Briefs: Motion Control
It is not necessary to allocate valuable forebody volume to strake-deployment mechanisms.
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A surface-micromachining process has been devised for use in fabricating microscopic polycrystalline diamond structures (e.g., bridges and cantilevers) as integral parts...
Briefs: Motion Control
Harmonic drive gearing is recognized by designers for its zero backlash, high gear ratios, and compact design features. A recent development by HD Systems incorporates a large hollow shaft...
Briefs: Software
When developing the guidance system of a missile, it is necessary to know the resonant frequencies and mode shapes of the missile in flight. Simulating the free vibration condition in the laboratory,...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
The automated propellant-blending machine, a Johnson Space Center (JSC) innovation, refines the production processes of commercial rocket-propellant manufacturers by: (1) generating inert blends that...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Two types of gear drives have been devised to improve the performances of robotic mechanisms. One type features a dual-input/single-output differential-drive configuration intended to...
Briefs: Motion Control
The figure schematically illustrates part of an accelerometer in which a feedback control subsystem applies voltages to generate electrostatic forces to minimize the displacement of a...
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