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Briefs: Physical Sciences
Analysis of Stresses and Deflections in RTDs
A report presents an analysis of stresses and deflections in resistance temperature detectors (RTDs) of various model numbers with standard sizes and shapes. The RTDs are assumed to be installed in pipes that contain flows of oxygen and hydrogen in a test facility at Stennis Space Center. The analysis,...
Briefs: Information Technology
The Nondestructive Inspection and Evaluation Management System (NIMS), based at Stennis Space Center, is a computer network dedicated to administration of a large data base pertaining to...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
An improved hybrid thermal/mechanical system has been developed to protect airplane wings and other airfoils against the accretion of ice, which degrades aerodynamic performance. The...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The modified fully utilized design (MFUD) method is undergoing development for use by engineers who favor traditional methods of designing structures over methods based on advanced calculus and...
Briefs: Motion Control
A robust, optimal, adaptive technique for compensating rate and position limits in the joints of a six-degree-of-freedom manipulator has been developed. In this new algorithm,...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Carbon/Carbon Shield/Antenna Structure
A proposed lightweight, off-axis reflector structure for a microwave communication antenna would be made of a carbon/carbon composite material. The structure was conceived for use aboard the Solar Probe spacecraft, where it would also serve as a shield to protect the spacecraft against solar radiation at...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
ASIC Physical Layout for the HCD ASIC
An integrated circuit (IC) physical layout has been developed for the HCD ASIC - an application-specific integrated circuit that decodes digital command signals transmitted from a ground station to a spacecraft (uplink commands). The HCD ASIC is described in "Hardware-Command-Decoding ASIC" (NPO-19615), which...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The Reed-Solomon downlink application-specific integrated circuit (RSDL ASIC) performs Reed-Solomon encoding of telemetry data, internally generates all timing and control signals necessary...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Figure 1 shows an apparatus for growing a single-crystal fiber by solidification from a floating zone of laser-heated molten material on the tip of a feed rod. The apparatus can be...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
An aircraft control actuator that incorporates self-contained control electronics has been installed in the F-18 Systems Research Aircraft and evaluated in flight tests. This "smart" actuator...
Briefs: Motion Control
Device for High-Pressure Fused Deposition of Engineering Polymers From Feed Rods
A more versatile delivery system for fused deposition has recently been developed. This system uses a very stiff, precise, and compact actuator to drive a small piston/cylinder extruder that has a heated nozzle. Because feed rods are used as the feed material, this...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Micromachined Tunneling Accelerometer for Use in Outer Space
Two short reports describe a micromachined quantum-mechanical-tunneling accelerometer and radiation-hardened support electronics designed for use in outer space. Like the micromachined tunneling accelerometers described previously in NASA Tech Briefs, this device is based on the use of...
Briefs: Materials
Muscle Wires for Planetary-Exploration Robots
A report proposes the use of muscle wires as mechanical actuators for planetary-exploration robots. Muscle wires are commercially available in kit form in the hobby market, and have been described (though not explicitly called "muscle wires") in previous articles in NASA Tech Briefs. A muscle wire is...
Briefs: Information Technology
A wavelet-based modal-parameter-extraction procedure has been developed to augment wavelet filtering and thereby produce more-realistic, robust aeroservoelastic-stability margins. The...
Briefs: Propulsion
Hybrid Propulsion System for Returning a Sample From Mars
A paper suggests the development of a hybrid rocket engine and associated equipment for returning a sample of material from Mars at relatively low cost. In a hybrid rocket engine, a solid fuel is burned by use of a liquid or gaseous oxidizer, the flow of which can be throttled to control...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A hand-held optoelectronic shop tool measures cavities of the order of 6 in. (15 cm) in length and width, 2 to 4 in. (5 to 10 cm) in depth, with nominally flat side walls, and either curved or flat...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Equations have been derived to fill a gap in previously published standard collections of stress-and-strain formulas: These are equations for deflection of a thin circular membrane...
Briefs: Materials
A thermosetting polyimide called "DMBZ-15" has been developed for use as a matrix material in relatively inexpensive matrix/fiber composite materials. The glass-transition temperature (Tg) of DMBZ-15 is 414°C....
Briefs: Physical Sciences
We have developed an apparatus that generates a pulsed beam of fast oxygen atoms, under Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, to...
Briefs: Materials
A process that involves reaction forming has been devised to enable the joining of high-temperature-resistant structural parts made of SiC-based materials. These materials...
Briefs: Software
Program Counts Lines of Source Code
The Source Lines of Code Count (SLOCC) computer program counts the number of source lines of a computer code, as an aid in the management of software, documentation of code, estimation of cost, and satisfying miscellaneous code-metric needs. SLOCC accommodates the following programming languages: Ada, Pascal,...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Improved pressure probes have been designed to give nearly instantaneous readings of the time-varying local static pressure in flowing gases. The probes have been installed in a wind tunnel (see...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Aircraft-Skin-Rivet Thermocouple
The aircraft-skin-rivet thermocouple is designed for measuring the temperature on the outer surface of an airplane wing under icing conditions. More specifically, its design was motivated by the need to measure the temperature near 32 °F (0 °C) on an aluminum wing skin, with an error of no more than 1 °F (0.6...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
An etching and electrolyte solution called "UNIEL" has been found to be useful for electrochemical characterization as a function of depth ("electrochemical profiling" for short) of...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Magnetron plasma etching has been found to be a promising technique for micromachining of single-crystal silicon carbide to fabricate microscopic structures comprising integrated mechanical,...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
An electromagnetic shaker based on a linear induction motor has been developed for use in flight flutter testing of aircraft. The shaker is a wing-tip-mounted unit capable of delivering...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Some additional applications have been proposed to exploit amplification by stimulated Brillouin scattering ("Brillouin Amplification" for short), building on the concepts introduced in the preceding...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A hybrid-grid scheme has been developed to afford a computationally efficient means for numerically solving equations of both (1) coupled flows of heat and mass in a fluid and (2)...
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