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Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A versatile mobile telerobot, denoted the magnetically attached multifunction maintenance rover (MAGMER), has been proposed for use in the inspection and maintenance of the surfaces of...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Improved Electrolytic Hydrogen Peroxide Generator
An improved apparatus for the electrolytic generation of hydrogen peroxide dissolved in water has been developed. The apparatus is a prototype of H2O2 generators for the safe and effective sterilization of water, sterilization of equipment in contact with water, and other applications in which there...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
The variable-pressure washer (VPW) is a proposed device that is so named because (1) it would play the role similar to that played by an ordinary washer, except that (2) the clamping pressure applied by it would vary...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Three optical gauges have been developed for guiding the assembly and measuring precisely the reflecting surfaces of a compound mirror that comprises a corner-cube retroreflector glued in...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A special-purpose desk has been designed to facilitate collaboration by two computer programmers sharing one desktop computer or computer terminal. The impetus for the design is a...
Briefs: Materials
Verifying the Safety of a Radioactive Waste Container With Simulation Software
As part of decommissioning the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Hanford Site — an inactive nuclear facility in southeastern Washington — a contaminated apparatus called a glovebox (a steel isolation chamber with built-in gloves that allow personnel to remotely...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A recently developed mathematical model of the output (displacement) versus the input (applied voltage) of a piezoelectric transducer accounts for hysteresis. For the sake of computational speed, the...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Thin-film heat-flux sensors of a proposed type would offer advantages over currently available thin-film heat flux sensors. Like a currently available thin-film heat-flux sensor, a sensor according to the...
Briefs: Materials
More About Arc-Welding Process for Making Carbon Nanotubes
A report presents additional information about the process reported in "Manufacturing High-Quality Carbon Nanotubes at Lower Cost"; (GSC-14601) NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 28, No. 9 (September 2004), page 62. To recapitulate: High-quality batches of carbon nanotubes are produced at relatively...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
Controlling Laser Spot Size in Outer Space
Three documents discuss a method of controlling the diameter of a laser beam projected from Earth to any altitude ranging from low orbit around the Earth to geosynchronous orbit. Such laser beams are under consideration as means of supplying power to orbiting spacecraft at levels of the order of tens of...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
An electronic instrument has been developed as a prototype of a portable crane-load contact sensor. Such a sensor could be helpful in an application in which the load rests on a base in a horizontal position...
Briefs: Information Technology
Ontology-driven information integration (ODII) is a method of computerized, automated sharing of information among specialists who have expertise in different domains and who are members of subdivisions...
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Optical Sensing of Combustion Instabilities in Gas Turbines
In a continuing program of research and development, a system has been demonstrated that makes high-speed measurements of thermal infrared radiance from gas-turbine engine exhaust streams. When a gas-turbine engine is operated under conditions that minimize the emission of pollutants,...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Thin, transparent layers comprising mats of carbon nanotubes have been proposed for providing lateral (that is, inplane) electrical conductivities for collecting electric currents from...
Briefs: Information Technology
Fuzzy/Neural Software Estimates Costs of Rocket-Engine Tests
The Highly Accurate Cost Estimating Model (HACEM) is a software system for estimating the costs of testing rocket engines and components at Stennis Space Center.
Briefs: Information Technology
Real-Time Principal-Component Analysis
A recently written computer program implements dominant-element-based gradient descent and dynamic initial learning rate (DOGEDYN), which was described in "Method of Real-Time Principal-Component Analysis" (NPO-40034) NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 29, No. 1 (January 2005), page 59.
Briefs: Information Technology
NASA Records Database
The NASA Records Database, comprising a Web-based application program and a database, is used to administer an archive of paper records at Stennis Space Center. The system begins with an electronic form, into which a user enters information about records that the user is sending to the archive.
Briefs: Information Technology
Decision Support for Emergency Operations Centers
The Flood Disaster Mitigation Decision Support System (DSS) is a computerized information system that allows regional emergency-operations government officials to make decisions regarding the dispatch of resources in response to flooding.
Briefs: Medical
In the race to deliver drugs to market more quickly, biopharmaceutical companies need to classify and interpret data at unprecedented rates with tools that eliminate...
Briefs: Medical
Microwave Treatment of Prostate Cancer and Hyperplasia
Microwave ablation in the form of microwave energy applied to a heart muscle by a coaxial catheter inserted in a vein in the groin area can be used to heat and kill diseased heart cells. A microwave catheter has been developed to provide deep myocardial ablation to treat ventricular tachycardia...
Briefs: Materials
Modifications of a Composite-Material Combustion Chamber
Two short reports discuss modifications of a small, lightweight combustion chamber that comprises a carbon/carbon composite outer shell and an iridium/rhenium inner liner. The first report discusses chamber design modifications made as results of hot-fire tests and post-test characterization....
Briefs: Materials
Development of Carbon-Nanotube/Polymer Composites
A report presents a short discussion of one company's effort to develop composites of carbon nanotubes in epoxy and other polymer matrices.
Briefs: Materials
Multicomponent, Rare-Earth-Doped Thermal-Barrier Coatings
Multicomponent, rare-earth-doped, perovskite-type thermal-barrier coating materials have been developed in an effort to obtain lower thermal conductivity, greater phase stability, and greater high-temperature capability, relative to those of the prior thermal-barrier coating material of...
Briefs: Materials
Phenylethynyl containing reactive additive (PERA) compounds and mixtures have been found to be useful for improving the processability of oligomers, polymers, cooligomers, and copolymers...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
Wheel Electrometer System
The electrodes of this electrometer are embedded in a wheel of an exploratory robotic vehicle, utilizing the wheel motion to bring the electrodes into proximity or contact with the soil. Each electrode resides in one of two types of sensor modules: electric-field (ELF) or triboelectric (TRIBO). In either type, what is...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
Cryogenic High-Sensitivity Magnetometer
A proposed magnetometer for use in a cryogenic environment would be sensitive enough to measure a magnetic-flux density as small as a picogauss (10-16 Tesla). In contrast, a typical conventional flux-gate magnetometer cannot measure a magnetic-flux density smaller that about 1 microgauss (10-10 Tesla).
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Aircraft and other vehicles are often kept in service beyond their original design lives. As they age, they become susceptible to system malfunctions and fatigue. Unlike future aircraft...
Briefs: Physical Sciences
A technique has been devised for measuring the relative humidity levels in the protective helium/water vapor atmosphere in which the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, and...
Briefs: Test & Measurement
The figure shows a prototype of a relatively inexpensive electronic monitoring apparatus that measures and records selected parameters of lightning induced transient voltages on...
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