Non-homogeneous Hybrid Rocket Fuel for Enhanced Regression Rates Utilizing Partial Entrainment

A concept was developed and tested to enhance the performance and regression rate of hydroxyl terminated polybutadiene (HTPB), a commonly used hybrid rocket fuel. By adding small nodules of paraffin into the HTPB fuel, a non-homogeneous mixture was created resulting in increased regression rates. The goal was to develop a fuel with a simplified single core geometry and a tailorable regression rate. The new fuel would benefit from the structural stability of HTPB yet not suffer from the large void fraction representative of typical HTPB core geometries. Regression rates were compared between traditional HTPB single core grains, 85% HTPB mixed with 15% (by weight) paraffin cores, 70% HTPB mixed with 30% paraffin cores, and plain paraffin single core grains. Each fuel combination was tested at oxidizer flow rates, ranging from 0.9 - 3.3 g/s of gaseous oxygen, in a small scale hybrid test rocket and average regression rates were measured. While large uncertainties were present in the experimental setup, the overall data showed that the regression rate was enhanced as paraffin concentration increased. While further testing would be required at larger scales of interest, the trends are encouraging. Inclusion of paraffin nodules in the HTPB grain may produce a greater advantage than other more noxious additives in current use. In addition, it may lead to safer rocket motors with higher integrated thrust due to the decreased void fraction

Empowering the mobile worker by wearable computing – wearIT@work, Journal of Telecommunications and Information Technology, 2006, nr 2

Currently wearable computing is still a technology of niches and in a laboratory stage. With wearIT@work a project dedicated to applications was launched by the European Commission (EC IP 004216). The first year of the project is nearly over and first results were achieved. In this paper the concept of the project is introduced and first results are presented. As the project strongly follows a user centred design approach much effort was put on first investigations with users in the four application domains of maintenance, production, hospital and fire fighting. Beside this results concerning a wearable computing hardware platform and software framework were achieved

Automatic Measurement Interpretation of a Physical System with Decision Tree Induction

. The automatic interpretation of data is a problem with great practical importance. Due to the need of process control, a physical system is generally equipped with a great number of sensors. But how could the acquired data be used to improve the insights into the system dynamics ? In this article decision tree induction is used to extract knowledge out of the continuous measurements of a physical system. The introduced approach tries to minimize manual user interaction, because in practical applications people usually are not willing or able to invest too much time in measurement interpretation. As continuous monitoring of a physical system provides a great amount of data, we show how the efficiency in induction could be increased, by abstracting time series though piecewise linear approximations. In two case studies the practical importance of our approach is illustrated. On the one hand it is demonstrated, that universally valid rules can be extracted and on the other hand it is sh..

Dynamic Coordinator Mobility Management Methodology for Balancing Energy Consumption in the Wireless Sensor Network

Nowadays, the most topical researches pertaining to wireless sensor networks are grounded on the new optimization of structure of network transmission protocol, the routing and network optimization, as a result of which the life circle of wireless network sensors is possible to increase. The nodes pertaining to information storage and processing are mainly equipped with an uninterrupted power supply, independent distribution network connectivity and high performance computing system. This means that the direction of the data is definitely known in the sensor network, the information from terminals is sent to the information storage and processing nodes. The capacity of data traffic near coordinator node is much higher than in the distant points, as a result, the existing elements close to processing nodes faster than others stop operating due to lack of electricity and, as a result, the network ceases its overall work. In present article a new method for balancing energy through the mobility of network coordinator node, which provides the opportunity for reconfiguration of dynamic network or change of network topology, is discussed

Showrooms as a Window to Science Based Innovation

Scientific results benefit from more tangible stakeholder communication. Showrooms are a tool to transform abstract scientific concepts into solution-oriented and less complex demonstrators. The basic idea of a showroom implies a smart expo and meeting place to demonstrate the latest technological developments in a comprehensive and interactive manner and to stimulate transfer of scientific results to practice. Presentation of new technologies can be an eye opener of what can already be done today. But it is just more than this as it can put discussion with interested stakeholders to a new level - allowing to think beyond this - paving the ground for innovation. This way a showroom stimulates very substantial discussion about future ideas with real involvement of industry and society. Involving the public via a showroom environment is also helpful for the diffusion of new ideas, leading to potential faster market take-up, when new solutions are put into reality. Furthermore the interaction with the public is a stimulus also for the scientist, raising a much better understanding about current and future needs. Capability is understood as a measure of the ability of an entity (organization, person, system) to achieve its objectives in relation to its overall mission professional science communication is part of the capability of, e.g., a university. Innovation capability in this sense refers to the ability of a set of regional stakeholders from academia, political authorities, public administrations and industry to innovate in synergy for economic and societal development – showrooms are an important tool to achieve this

Validation of InnoSPICE for Technology Transfer

Innovation and technology transfer consist mainly of process-oriented activities and can be described in process-oriented terms by an innovation and technology transfer process capability model such as InnoSPICE. To verify such a thesis, an extended validation of the InnoSPICE adequacy for different factual innovation and technology transfer activities is needed. The purpose of this paper is to validate the InnoSPICE model for technology transfer led by a technology developer based on capability assessment of technology transfer process for several various research results