Gage monitors quality of cross-wire resistance welds

Gage nondestructively monitors the quality of cross-wire resistance welds during the welding operation. The gage gives a dial indication of the relative embedment of the cross wires during the actual welding operation. A direct relationship exists between the depth of embedment and both weld strength and consistency

Laser measuring system for incremental assemblies

Wire-wrapped frame assemblies used in spark chambers and the like can be measured using a system which utilizes a laser, an interferometer, and a retroreflector to precisely measure distance. A light source and a photodetector are located adjacent the incremental assembly and mounted on a movable carriage. The interferometer is also mounted on the movable carriage, while the laser and retroreflector are positioned at either end of the carriage track. The carriage is moved along one edge of the incremental assembly between the retroreflector and the laser, and as the carriage is moved, the light from the light source to the photodetector is interrupted. This produces a trigger command to a control unit which in turn causes a distance measurement to be made. A printout is provided for each sampling trigger command to list such items as ideal position, actual position and amount of error

Laser measuring system for wire-wrapped frame assemblies

The laser measuring system is designed to automatically measure and record the distances between small diameter wires on a wire wrapped grid frame assembly to an accuracy of 0.00635 mm (0.00025 in.). The system utilizes a helium-neon gas laser beam as the measuring instrument with a remote interferometer and retroreflector, a light source and photodetector to detect the wire positions, in conjunction with recording, display and printout units. The laser measuring system is utilized to perform precise automatic measurements for wire application machines or as an automatic feedback device for positioning wires and/or to adjust them for out of tolerance conditions

Absolute dimensions of detached eclipsing binaries. I. The metallic-lined system WW Aurigae

WW Aurigae is a detached eclipsing binary composed of two metallic-lined A-type stars orbiting each other every 2.5 days. We have determined the masses and radii of both components to accuracies of 0.4 and 0.6 percent, respectively. From a cross-correlation analysis of high-resolution spectra we find masses of 1.964 +/- 0.007 Msun for the primary star and 1.814 +/- 0.007 Msun for the secondary star. From an analysis of photoelectric uvby and UBV light curves we find the radii of the stars to be 1.927 +/- 0.011 Rsun and 1.841 +/- 0.011 Rsun, where the uncertainties have been calculated using a Monte Carlo algorithm. Fundamental effective temperatures of the two stars have been derived, using the Hipparcos parallax of WW Aur and published ultraviolet, optical and infrared fluxes, and are 7960 +/- 420 and 7670 +/- 410 K. The masses, radii and effective temperatures of WW Aur are only matched by theoretical evolutionary models for a fractional initial metal abundance, Z, of approximately 0.06 and an age of roughly 90 Myr. This seems to be the highest metal abundance inferred for a well-studied detached eclipsing binary, but we find no evidence that it is related to the metallic-lined nature of the stars. The circular orbit of WW Aur is in conflict with the circularization timescales of both the Tassoul and the Zahn tidal theories and we suggest that this is due to pre-main-sequence evolution or the presence of a circular orbit when the stars were formed.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS (14 pages, 8 figures). Photometric data will be made available at the CDS once the final version appear

MECI: A Method for Eclipsing Component Identification

We describe an automated method for assigning the most probable physical parameters to the components of an eclipsing binary, using only its photometric light curve and combined colors. With traditional methods, one attempts to optimize a multi-parameter model over many iterations, so as to minimize the chi-squared value. We suggest an alternative method, where one selects pairs of coeval stars from a set of theoretical stellar models, and compares their simulated light curves and combined colors with the observations. This approach greatly reduces the parameter space over which one needs to search, and allows one to estimate the components' masses, radii and absolute magnitudes, without spectroscopic data. We have implemented this method in an automated program using published theoretical isochrones and limb-darkening coefficients. Since it is easy to automate, this method lends itself to systematic analyses of datasets consisting of photometric time series of large numbers of stars, such as those produced by OGLE, MACHO, TrES, HAT, and many others surveys.Comment: 25 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Ap