Physical Sciences

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...

In a proposed optical microscope, the focusing optics of a conventional microscope would be supplanted by a combination of a microchannel filter and an advanced electronic image sensor. Elimination of focusing optics would eliminate the need for the time-consuming focusing operation, making it possible to...

The Simple Analysis of Materials Processing Reactors (SAMPR) computer code is meant for the analysis of plasma and nonplasma processes used in manufacturing semiconductors. The code can also be used to analyze any chemical-processing reactor with gaseous (but not liquid) streams.

An automated system of laboratory equipment and computer hardware and software reduces the time that technicians must spend in calibrating temperature transducers. The laboratory equipment includes a controlled-temperature bath, two digital multimeters for processing the outputs of two temperature...

A report discusses a class of balloon-borne robotic instrumentation systems that have been proposed for use in exploring Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The balloons would be of the Montgolfier type; that is, buoyancy would be achieved through heating of atmospheric gases contained...

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,...

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...

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...

An improved process has been devised for acquiring and preparing trace amounts of airborne organic compounds for analysis by a gas chromatograph and mass spectrometer (GC/MS). A sample of air is passed through a cryotrap, where organic compounds and water vapor condense on the wall of a tube...

Electrostatic dispersion of drops of sprayed liquid fuel has been proposed as a technique for reducing the amount of soot formed during burning of the fuel. It is necessary to disperse fuel drops in order to reduce local concentrations of fuel-rich vapors, because such concentrations favor the...

A small, robust, lightweight, low-power-consumption instrumentation system has been proposed for determining the kinetic energies, masses, and other parameters of wind-borne particles. Originally intended for use in future exploration of Mars, the system might also prove useful on Earth for...

The weighted-hyperbola technique is an iterative computational technique for processing data on the times of arrival of pulsed signals at more than four observing stations to determine location (in both space and time) of origin of the signals. (The location is overdetermined when data from...