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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Measuring Turbomachine-Blade Deflections in Two Dimensions
A report describes a method of simultaneously measuring steady-state axial and tangential turbomachine-blade deflections by use of fiber-optic probes and probe actuators designed specifically for this purpose. Each fiber-optic probe illuminates a small spot and, by measuring a change in...
Briefs: Motion Control
Motorized Rotator for an Ultrasonic Probe
An apparatus has been devised to enable accurate, reproducible angular positioning of an ultrasonic probe used to diagnose the carotid artery. More specifically, the apparatus is intended for use in a clinical setting in which the intima-media thickness (IMT) of the carotid artery is measured by use of...
Briefs: Motion Control
Progress in Magnetoelastic Vibration Dampers
A report describes uniaxial-stress-versus-strain experiments that were performed on polycrystalline Tb76Dy24 alloy specimens. [Also see "Magnetoelastic Vibration Dampers" (NPO-20988) on page 56 of this issue.] The proposal is to use Tb-Dy alloys as vibration-damping materials at temperatures -100 K,...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) integrated-circuit image sensors that are highly tolerant of high-energy radiation ("radiation hard") are undergoing development. These devices are sensitive...
Briefs: Motion Control
Software for Analyzing Traversability of Terrain
Grid-Based Estimation of Surface Traversability Applied to Local Terrain (GESTALT) is a software library that helps a robotic wheeled vehicle choose a safe path across nearby terrain. The input to GESTALT consists mainly of three-dimensional range measurements of the nearby terrain taken by sensors...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Deployable Shell Structures With Shape-Control Actuators
Advanced control systems that include built-in smart-material elastic-deformation structural actuators have been proposed for deployable thin-shell structures that are required to be maintained in precise shapes once deployed. This approach to structural shape control was conceived to enable...
Briefs: Motion Control
The figure depicts the Legged Excursion Mechanical Utility Robot (LEMUR) - a six-legged robot for demonstrating robotic capabilities for assembly, maintenance, and inspection. LEMUR is designed to be capable of...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
An active-control surface modal (ACSM) device has been developed as an improved means of alleviating buffet of an aircraft. The ACSM device is a "smart" actuator system that includes an array...
Briefs: Motion Control
The figure depicts a tendon-driven, three-fingered robot hand (or foot, depending on one's perspective) designed to be installed on the end of the left front leg of the six-legged robot...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The figure depicts the basic geometric features of an antenna system designed to be part of a miniature atmosphere-sounding passive microwave radiometer to be flown at high altitude...
Briefs: Motion Control
Magnetoelastic Vibration Dampers
Magnetoelastic dampers have been proposed for use in suppressing vibrations of large motors and transformers that operate at temperatures below 100 K. [Also see "Progress in Magnetoelastic Vibration Dampers," (NPO-20887) on page 57 of this issue.] These dampers would be made of magnetostrictive materials -...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Simple Phase Shifter for a Scanning-Beam Antenna
A simple, inexpensive device has been conceived for shifting the phase of a signal in a feed line of a scanning-beam microstrip antenna in order to change the direction of the beam. Heretofore, phase shifters used for this purpose have been relatively bulky and expensive.
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
High-Capacity Nickel-Hydrogen Cells
Nickel-hydrogen electrochemical cells with capacities of 350 ampere-hours have been developed. These cells are intended primarily for use in government and commercial satellites; they have been fully qualified to satisfy performance requirements for operation in geosynchronous satellites for as long as 15 years....
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A compact Ka-band power amplifier has been built with GaAs field-effect transistors (FETs) and microstrip conductors on a quartz substrate. Prior to the development of this amplifier, Ka-band...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Skutterudite Thermoelectric Unicouples for Generating Power
A report presents some results of continuing efforts to develop advanced thermoelectric devices and, more particularly, thermoelectric unicouples for generating electric power from diverse thermal sources, including automotive exhausts and other waste-heat sources. The basic principles of...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Miniature proportional + integral + derivative (PID) temperature controllers that would be implemented as hybrid microcircuits have been proposed to satisfy special requirements to minimize size...
Briefs: Information Technology
External Data and Attribute Hyperlink Programs for Promis•e®
External Data and Attribute Hyperlink are computer programs that can be added to Promis•e®, which is a commercial software system that automates routine tasks in the design (including drawing schematic diagrams) of electrical control systems. The programs were developed under the...
Briefs: Software
Software for Parallel Computation of 3D Thermal Convection
A computer program solves the differential equations of three-dimensional (3D) thermal convection of an incompressible fluid by use of a parallel-processing, finite volume numerical scheme. The equations of conservation of momentum, and energy are integrated over macroscopic control...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Software for Simulating Two-Phase Systems
Møtran (signifying "multi-phase transient") is a package of software for simulating flows in two-phase (gas/liquid) fluid systems like networks of such components as pipes, T junctions, pumps, evaporators, and condensers. The software is based on a two-fluid formulation that can accommodate unequal...
Briefs: Software
Fourth-Generation Software for SEU Testing
RBK4 is a computer program for testing electronic components for susceptibility to single-event upsets (SEUs). RBK4 controls the computer on which it is executed to communicate with both the board holding the device under test (DUT), a power supply, and other laboratory instruments including custom...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Software for Improved Processing of DRWP Signals
The Automated Adaptive Signal Processing (AASP) computer program extracts wind data from the outputs of Doppler-radar wind profilers (DRWPs). Unlike prior software used for this purpose, AASP does not rely on manual intervention to prevent a DRWP system from locking onto and tracking...
Briefs: Materials
Refrigerant Blends Containing Trifluoroiodomethane
Blends of refrigerant fluids have been developed as improved alternatives to conventional chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) and hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) refrigerants, which contribute to depletion of stratosphere ozone. Each blend of this type is a zeotropic or nearly azeotropic mixture of...
Briefs: Materials
Heat-Exchanger Rocket Engine
The proposed rocket engine includes a combustion chamber actively cooled by liquid oxygen: Heat from the combustion chamber vaporizes the flowing liquid oxygen, and the absorption of latent heat of vaporization contributes to cooling of the combustion-chamber wall. The resulting high-vapor-quality (mostly vapor)...
Briefs: Materials
Stable Ohmic Contacts on SiC Devices for High Temperatures
Ti3SiC2 has been proposed as a mate- rial for ohmic contacts on SiC-based electronic and microelectromechanical devices intended to operate at temperatures >600 °C and/or in corrosive environments. Although SiC is stable and devices made of SiC are capable of functioning at elevated...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Improved Lightweight Freeze-Tolerant Tubes
Improved designs have been conceived for lightweight tubes that can withstand the large (as much as 8 or 9 volume percent) freeze/thaw expansions and contractions of typical heat-transfer fluids like water and ammonia. Intended originally for radiators for rejecting waste heat from spacecraft, these...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Simple mechanisms have been devised to facilitate the blowdown of large diesel engines. As explained below, these mechanisms reduce the amount of time and effort that must be expended to...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Uncertainty Models From Ground Vibration Testing
Structural dynamics are often an important consideration when evaluating system characteristics. A concern related to structural dynamics is the analysis of flutter for a flight vehicle. The instability associated with flutter can be quite sensitive to the structural dynamics; therefore, analysis of...
Briefs: Information Technology
Compressed Symbology — Making Its Mark at NASA
Compressed symbology is a product-identification method that was pioneered by NASA for tracking space-shuttle parts and is now being used to mark everything from groceries to automobile parts. Based on a system of two-dimensional marks applied to parts, compressed symbology was developed at NASA's...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Large-Aperture Telescope Synthesized From Small Mirrors
A report proposes a design concept for synthesizing a reflecting telescope with a large-aperture (diameter ≈100 m) primary mirror from a sparse arrangement of four smaller (diameter ≈10 m) primary mirrors. The telescope would be placed in orbit for viewing Earth with high resolution....
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