Experience with synthetic fluorinated fluid lubricants

Since the late 1970's, the wet lubricant of choice for space mechanisms has been one of the family of synthetic perfluoro polyalkylether (PFPE) compounds, namely Fomblin Z-25 (Bray-815Z) or DuPont's Krytox 143xx series. While offering the advantages of extremely low vapor pressures and wide temperature ranges, these oils and derived greases have a complex chemistry compared to the more familiar natural and synthetic hydrocarbons. Many aerospace companies have conducted test programs to characterize the behavior of these compounds in a space environment, resulting in a large body of hard knowledge as well as considerable space lore concerning the suitability of the lubricants for particular applications and techniques for successful application. The facts are summarized and a few myths about the compounds are dispelled, and some performance guidelines for the mechanism design engineer are provided

On the torque and wear behavior of selected thin film MOS2 lubricated gimbal bearings

During the thermal vacuum test phase of the GOES 7 spacecraft, the primary scan mirror system exhibited unacceptably high drive friction. The observed friction was found to correlate with small misalignments in the mirror structure and unavoidable loads induced by the vehicle spin. An intensive effort to understand and document the performance of the scan mirror bearing system under these loads is described. This effort involved calculation of the bearing loads and expected friction torque, comparison of the computed values to test data, and verification of the lubrication system performance and limitations under external loads. The study culminated in a successful system launch in February of 1987. The system has operated as predicted since that time

Integral Inequalities and their Applications to the Calculus of Variations on Time Scales

We discuss the use of inequalities to obtain the solution of certain variational problems on time scales.Comment: To appear in Mathematical Inequalities & Applications (http://mia.ele-math.com). Accepted: 14.01.201

Dedicated front-end electronics for the next generation of linear collider electromagnetic calorimeter

This paper describes an R&D electronic program for the next generation of linear collider electromagnetic calorimeter. After a brief presentation of the requirements, a global scheme of the electronics is given. Then, we describe the three different building blocks developed in 0.35\mum CMOS technology: an amplifier, a comparator and finally the pipelined AD

R-matrix approach to integrable systems on time scales

A general unifying framework for integrable soliton-like systems on time scales is introduced. The $R$-matrix formalism is applied to the algebra of $\delta$-differential operators in terms of which one can construct infinite hierarchy of commuting vector fields. The theory is illustrated by two infinite-field integrable hierarchies on time scales which are difference counterparts of KP and mKP. The difference counterparts of AKNS and Kaup-Broer soliton systems are constructed as related finite-field restrictions.Comment: 21 page

Stability of Macro Creatine Kinases and Creatine Kinase Isoenzymes Compared: Heat Inactivation Test for Determination of Thermostable Creatine Kinases

Peer Reviewe

The mixed analog/digital shaper of the LHCb preshower

The LHCb preshower signals show so many fluctuations at low energy that a classical shaping is not usable at all. Thanks to the fact that the fraction of the collected energy during a whole LHC beam crossing time is 85%, we studied the special solution we presented at Snowmass 1999 workshop. This solution consists of 2 interleaved fast integrators, one being in integrate mode when the other is digitally reset. Two track-and-hold systems and an analog multiplexer are used to give at the output 85% of the signal plus 15% of the previous one. These 15% are digitally computed from the previous sample, and subtracted. A completely new design of this solution had to be made. This new design is described, including new methods to decrease the supply voltage and the noise, as well as to increase the quality of the reset and the linearity. An output stage, consisting of an AB class push-pull using only NPN transistors is also described. Laboratory and beam test results are given. (5 refs)