Integrated control and health management. Orbit transfer rocket engine technology program

To insure controllability of the baseline design for a 7500 pound thrust, 10:1 throttleable, dual expanded cycle, Hydrogen-Oxygen, orbit transfer rocket engine, an Integrated Controls and Health Monitoring concept was developed. This included: (1) Dynamic engine simulations using a TUTSIM derived computer code; (2) analysis of various control methods; (3) Failure Modes Analysis to identify critical sensors; (4) Survey of applicable sensors technology; and, (5) Study of Health Monitoring philosophies. The engine design was found to be controllable over the full throttling range by using 13 valves, including an oxygen turbine bypass valve to control mixture ratio, and a hydrogen turbine bypass valve, used in conjunction with the oxygen bypass to control thrust. Classic feedback control methods are proposed along with specific requirements for valves, sensors, and the controller. Expanding on the control system, a Health Monitoring system is proposed including suggested computing methods and the following recommended sensors: (1) Fiber optic and silicon bearing deflectometers; (2) Capacitive shaft displacement sensors; and (3) Hot spot thermocouple arrays. Further work is needed to refine and verify the dynamic simulations and control algorithms, to advance sensor capabilities, and to develop the Health Monitoring computational methods

High Availability and Scalability of Mainframe Environments using System z and z/OS as example

Mainframe computers are the backbone of industrial and commercial computing, hosting the most relevant and critical data of businesses. One of the most important mainframe environments is IBM System z with the operating system z/OS. This book introduces mainframe technology of System z and z/OS with respect to high availability and scalability. It highlights their presence on different levels within the hardware and software stack to satisfy the needs for large IT organizations

Applications of a tunable dye laser for atomic fluoresence spectrometry

Imperial Users onl

Estimation of the propensity of remnant underground coal pillars to spontaneously combust during opencast mining at a colliery in the Witbank coalfield

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Engineering, 2016Spontaneous combustion of coal may occur when coal is mined, stored or transported and is influenced by a combination of intrinsic and /or extrinsic factors. While it is unusual for intact seams to burn in the highwall, the most common occurrence is when surface mines extract seams previously partially mined by underground bord and pillar operations. The aim of the study is to provide a predictive model (matrix) of the spontaneous combustion potential of remnant pillars at Colliery X. A number of different thermal, chemical and petrographic tests (coal factors) will be undertaken to determine their individual and collective impacts on the sponcom predictive model. The primary geology at the mine is conformable with that of the Witbank Coalfield. Battacharyya (1982) described 3 main factors in the spontaneous combustion of coal, mining factor, coal factor and geological factor which have an aggregate effect. Some of the main historical and present theories of sponcom are the pyrite theory, the bacterial theory, the oxidation theory and the humidity theory. It is important to note that no single factor is responsible for spontaneous combustion. The oxidation of coal occurs constantly. The temperature of the coal is a function of the rate of heat generation versus the rate of heat loss. Fires can start at outcrops and move through interconnected workings with heat transfer by conduction (into the overburden) or convection (between panels).The overburden can also insulate the burning coal seam. Geological factors such as depth of overburden, the degree of fracturing, and the nature of the overlying strata vary between coalfields. A coal seam fire or mine fire is the underground smouldering of a coal deposit, often in a coal mine. Such fires have economic, social and ecological impacts In order to extinguish a fire, one of three elements, fuel, oxygen, or energy, must be removed. The components of the fire triangle can be further subdivided into conventional mine control techniques and more or less unconventional or unproven mine fire control techniques. The thermal techniques discussed include the crossing point temperature, thermogravimetric analyses and oxygen absorption. Macerals, the microscopically identifiable organic constituents of coal, are one of the three basic parameters that define coal. The other two parameters are the coal rank and the mineral matter Vitrinite is the principal maceral group of the No.5 seam and inertinite dominates the No.2 and No.4 seams. The results obtained from the 22 drill-core samples and 2 ROM samples were matched to the existing borehole dataset (2296 boreholes) based on similarity of heat value (figure 3.11). A total of 24 test results (thermal, chemical and petrographic) from borehole A and borehole B were thus assigned to the borehole database which has approximately 1500 samples for each seam. By linking the laboratory datasets (borehole A and B) and the existing borehole database used for resource modelling, the sponcom variables could be modelled in a similar way to the coal resources. The overall risk matrix was calculated on a full seam basis by combining 15 variable scores, each variable having a score of 0, 1 or 2 (low-mod-high probability). The overall results from this research produced clear and unambiguous contour plans of different factors effecting sponcom of coal using single variable and combined variable datasets. In conclusion, it appears that the acceptability of a method for determining spontaneous heating characteristics of coal mainly depends upon how closely it predicts the spontaneous heating behaviour in the field conditionsCK201

Spectral density measurements of gyro noise

Power spectral density (PSD) was used to analyze the outputs of several gyros in the frequency range from 0.01 to 200 Hz. Data were accumulated on eight inertial quality instruments. The results are described in terms of input angle noise (arcsec 2/Hz) and are presented on log-log plots of PSD. These data show that the standard deviation of measurement noise was 0.01 arcsec or less for some gyros in the passband from 1 Hz down 10 0.01 Hz and probably down to 0.001 Hz for at least one gyro. For the passband between 1 and 100 Hz, uncertainties in the 0.01 and 0.05 arcsec region were observed

Modeling and Analysis of Power Processing Systems

The feasibility of formulating a methodology for the modeling and analysis of aerospace electrical power processing systems is investigated. It is shown that a digital computer may be used in an interactive mode for the design, modeling, analysis, and comparison of power processing systems

Luminescence study of dolomite mineral

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The automated array assembly task of the low-cost silicon solar array project, phase 2

Several specific processing steps as part of a total process sequence for manufacturing silicon solar cells were studied. Ion implantation was identified as the preferred process step for impurity doping. Unanalyzed beam ion implantation was shown to have major cost advantages over analyzed beam implantation. Further, high quality cells were fabricated using a high current unanalyzed beam. Mechanically masked plasma patterning of silicon nitride was shown to be capable of forming fine lines on silicon surfaces with spacings between mask and substrate as great as 250 micrometers. Extensive work was performed on advances in plated metallization. The need for the thick electroless palladium layer was eliminated. Further, copper was successfully utilized as a conductor layer utilizing nickel as a barrier to copper diffusion into the silicon. Plasma etching of silicon for texturing and saw damage removal was shown technically feasible but not cost effective compared to wet chemical etching techniques