40,720 research outputs found
Solar cell angular position transducer
An angular position transducer utilizing photocells and a light source is disclosed. The device uses a fully rotatable baffle which is connected via an actuator shaft to the body whose rotational displacement is to be measured. The baffle blocks the light path between the light source and the photocells so that a constant semicircular beam of light reaches the photocells. The current produced by the photocells is fed through a resistor, a differential amplifier measures the voltage drop across the resistor which indicates the angular position of the actuator shaft and hence of the object
Development and demonstration of a flutter-suppression system using active controls
The application of active control technology to suppress flutter was demonstrated successfully in the transonic dynamics tunnel with a delta-wing model. The model was a simplified version of a proposed supersonic transport wing design. An active flutter suppression method based on an aerodynamic energy criterion was verified by using three different control laws. The first two control laws utilized both leading-edge and trailing-edge active control surfaces, whereas the third control law required only a single trailing-edge active control surface. At a Mach number of 0.9 the experimental results demonstrated increases in the flutter dynamic pressure from 12.5 percent to 30 percent with active controls. Analytical methods were developed to predict both open-loop and closed-loop stability, and the results agreed reasonably well with the experimental results
Preliminary design study - Oxidizer tank relief valve, Flox-Atlas airborne Final report
Protecting fluorine-liquid oxygen Atlas launch vehicle oxidizer tank against overpressurizatio
Silicon isotopic abundance toward evolved stars and its application for presolar grains
Galactic chemical evolution (GCE) is important for understanding the
composition of the present-day interstellar medium (ISM) and of our solar
system. In this paper, we aim to track the GCE by using the 29Si/30Si ratios in
evolved stars and tentatively relate this to presolar grain composition. We
used the APEX telescope to detect thermal SiO isotopologue emission toward four
oxygen-rich M-type stars. Together with the data retrieved from the Herschel
science archive and from the literature, we were able to obtain the 29Si/30Si
ratios for a total of 15 evolved stars inferred from their optically thin 29SiO
and 30SiO emission. These stars cover a range of masses and ages, and because
they do not significantly alter 29Si/30Si during their lifetimes, they provide
excellent probes of the ISM metallicity (or 29Si/30Si ratio) as a function of
time. The 29Si/30Si ratios inferred from the thermal SiO emission tend to be
lower toward low-mass oxygen-rich stars (e.g., down to about unity for W Hya),
and close to an interstellar or solar value of 1.5 for the higher-mass carbon
star IRC+10216 and two red supergiants. There is a tentative correlation
between the 29Si/30Si ratios and the mass-loss rates of evolved stars, where we
take the mass-loss rate as a proxy for the initial stellar mass or current
stellar age. This is consistent with the different abundance ratios found in
presolar grains. We found that older objects (up to possibly 10 Gyr old) in our
sample trace a previous, lower 29Si/30Si value of about 1. Material with this
isotopic ratio is present in two subclasses of presolar grains, providing
independent evidence of the lower ratio. Therefore, the 29Si/30Si ratio derived
from the SiO emission of evolved stars is a useful diagnostic tool for the
study of the GCE and presolar grains.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure
Thermal design of the space shuttle external tank
The shuttle external tank thermal design presents many challenges in meeting the stringent requirements established by the structures, main propulsion systems, and Orbiter elements. The selected thermal protection design had to meet these requirements, and ease of application, suitability for mass production considering low weight, cost, and high reliability. This development led to a spray-on-foam (SOFI) which covers the entire tank. The need and design for a SOFI material with a dual role of cryogenic insulation and ablator, and the development of the SOFI over SLA concept for high heating areas are discussed. Further issuses of minimum surface ice/frost, no debris, and the development of the TPS spray process considering the required quality and process control are examined
AdS Strings with Torsion: Non-complex Heterotic Compactifications
Combining the effects of fluxes and gaugino condensation in heterotic
supergravity, we use a ten-dimensional approach to find a new class of
four-dimensional supersymmetric AdS compactifications on almost-Hermitian
manifolds of SU(3) structure. Computation of the torsion allows a
classification of the internal geometry, which for a particular combination of
fluxes and condensate, is nearly Kahler. We argue that all moduli are fixed,
and we show that the Kahler potential and superpotential proposed in the
literature yield the correct AdS radius. In the nearly Kahler case, we are able
to solve the H Bianchi using a nonstandard embedding. Finally, we point out
subtleties in deriving the effective superpotential and understanding the
heterotic supergravity in the presence of a gaugino condensate.Comment: 42 pages; v2. added refs, revised discussion of Bianchi for N
Granulation in K-type Dwarf Stars. II. Hydrodynamic simulations and 3D spectrum synthesis
We construct a 3D radiative-hydrodynamic model atmosphere of parameters Teff
= 4820 K, log g = 4.5, and solar chemical composition. The theoretical line
profiles computed with this model are asymmetric, with their bisectors having a
characteristic C-shape and their core wavelengths shifted with respect to their
laboratory values. The line bisectors span from about 10 to 250 m/s, depending
on line strength, with the stronger features showing larger span. The
corresponding core wavelength shifts range from about -200 m/s for the weak Fe
I lines to almost +100 m/s in the strong Fe I features. Based on observational
results for the Sun, we argue that there should be no core wavelength shift for
Fe I lines of EW > 100 mA. The cores of the strongest lines show contributions
from the uncertain top layers of the model, where non-LTE effects and the
presence of the chromosphere, which are important in real stars, are not
accounted for. The comparison of model predictions to observed Fe I line
bisectors and core wavelength shifts for a reference star, HIP86400, shows
excellent agreement, with the exception of the core wavelength shifts of the
strongest features, for which we suspect inaccurate theoretical values. Since
this limitation does not affect the predicted line equivalent widths
significantly, we consider our 3D model validated for photospheric abundance
work.Comment: A&A, in pres
VLBA imaging of the 3mm SiO maser emission in the disk-wind from the massive protostellar system Orion Source I
We present the first images of the 28SiO v=1, J=2-1 maser emission around the
closest known massive young stellar object Orion Source I observed at 86 GHz
(3mm) with the VLBA. These images have high spatial (~0.3 mas) and spectral
(~0.054 km/s) resolutions. We find that the 3mm masers lie in an X-shaped locus
consisting of four arms, with blue-shifted emission in the south and east arms
and red-shifted emission in the north and west arms. Comparisons with previous
images of the 28SiO v=1,2, J=1-0 transitions at 7mm (observed in 2001-2002)
show that the bulk of the J=2-1 transition emission follows the streamlines of
the J=1-0 emission and exhibits an overall velocity gradient consistent with
the gradient at 7mm. While there is spatial overlap between the 3mm and 7mm
transitions, the 3mm emission, on average, lies at larger projected distances
from Source I (~44 AU compared with ~35 AU for 7mm). The spatial overlap
between the v=1, J=1-0 and J=2-1 transitions is suggestive of a range of
temperatures and densities where physical conditions are favorable for both
transitions of a same vibrational state. However, the observed spatial offset
between the bulk of emission at 3mm and 7mm possibly indicates different ranges
of temperatures and densities for optimal excitation of the masers. We discuss
different maser pumping models that may explain the observed offset. We
interpret the 3mm and 7mm masers as being part of a single wide-angle outflow
arising from the surface of an edge-on disk rotating about a
northeast-southwest axis, with a continuous velocity gradient indicative of
differential rotation consistent with a Keplerian profile in a high-mass
proto-binary.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures; accepted for publication in A&
Rebuttal to "Comment by V.M. Krasnov on 'Counterintuitive consequence of heating in strongly-driven intrinsic junctions of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d Mesas' "
In our article [1], we found that with increasing dissipation there is a
clear, systematic shift and sharpening of the conductance peak along with the
disappearance of the higher-bias dip/hump features (DHF), for a stack of
intrinsic Josephson junctions (IJJs) of intercalated Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+{\delta}
(Bi2212). Our work agrees with Zhu et al [2] on unintercalated, pristine
Bi2212, as both studies show the same systematic changes with dissipation. The
broader peaks found with reduced dissipation [1,2] are consistent with broad
peaks in the density-of-states (DOS) found among scanning tunneling
spectroscopy [3] (STS), mechanical contact tunneling [4] (MCT) and inferred
from angle (momentum) resolved photoemission spectroscopy [5] (ARPES); results
that could not be ignored. Thus, sharp peaks are extrinsic and cannot
correspond to the superconducting DOS. We suggested that the commonality of the
sharp peaks in our conductance data, which is demonstrably shown to be
heating-dominated, and the peaks of previous intrinsic tunneling spectroscopy
(ITS) data implies that these ITS reports might need reinterpretation.Comment: Rebuttal to Comment of Krasnov arXiv:1007.451
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