Slurry pumping techniques for feeding high-pressure coal gasification reactors

Operating experience in pumping coal and coal char slurries at pressures up to 1500 psig is discussed. The design specifications for the mixing tanks, pumps, piping, and slurry heaters are given along with pressure drop and minimum flow velocity data on water-lignite slurries

Surface temperatures and glassy state investigations in tribology, part 3

Research related to the development of the limiting shear stress rheological model is reported. Techniques were developed for subjecting lubricants to isothermal compression in order to obtain relevant determinations of the limiting shear stress and elastic shear modulus. The isothermal compression limiting shear stress was found to predict very well the maximum traction for a given lubricant. Small amounts of side slip and twist incorporated in the model were shown to have great influence on the rising portion of the traction curve at low slide-roll ratio. The shear rheological model was also applied to a Grubin-like elastohydrodynamic inlet analysis for predicting film thicknesses when employing the limiting shear stress model material behavior

Investigations of lubricant rheology as applied to elastohydrodynamic lubrication

Measurements of lubricant shear rheological behavior in the amorphous solid region and near the liquid-solid transition are reported. Elastic, plastic and viscous behavior was observed. A shear rheological model based on primary laboratory data is proposed for concentrated contact lubrication. The model is a Maxwell model modified with a limiting shear stress. Three material properties are required: low shear stress viscosity, limiting elastic shear modulus, and the limiting shear stress the material can withstand. All three are functions of temperature and pressure. In applying the model to EHD contacts the predicted response possesses the characteristics expected from several experiments reported in the literature

Surface temperatures and glassy state investigations in tribology, part 4

Measurements were made of the limiting shear stress for two naphthenic oils of differing molecular weight and three blends of the lower molecular weight oil and polyalkylmethacrylate polymers of differing molecular weight. The two base oils reached the same limiting shear stress for the same temperature and pressure. This was also true for all the polymer solutions although the polymer reduced the limiting shear stress by about 15 percent. It is shown that limiting stress is more a function of material type than viscosity or molecular weight. A new falling body viscometer was constructed to operate to 230 C and 0.6 GPa. Another viscometer was constructed to extend the pressure range to 1.1 GPa. A concentrated contact simulator was developed which allows recording of the traction force while the slide-roll ratio is continuously varied and the rolling speed is maintained essentially constant by a single drive motor. The configuration is that of a crowned roller against a disk. Measurement of lubricant minimum film thickness of elliptical EHD contacts of various aspect ratios were made by optical interferometry. The data collected were used to evaluate the Hamrock and Dowson minimum film thickness model over a range of contract ellipticity ratio where the major axis of the contact ellipse was aligned both parallel and perpendicular to the direction of motion. A statistical analysis of the measured film thickness data showed that on the average the experimental data were 30 percent greater than the film thickness predicted by the model. Preliminary development of the application of a scanning infrared radiation system to a tribo-system was completed

Twin-spool turbopumps for ''low'' net positive suction pressure operations

Modified single-shaft turbopump incorporates inducer and main pump, each separately driven at different speeds through coaxial-shaft arrangement. Inducer operates at low speed for low net positive suction pressure, main pump operates at high speed to generate high pressure. This arrangement requires no external control for the inducer

Diminiode thermionic conversion with 111-iridium electrodes

Preliminary data indicating thermionic-conversion potentialities for a 111-iridium emitter and collector spaced 0.2 mm apart are presented. These results comprise output densities of current and of power as functions of voltage for three sets of emitter, collector, and reservoir temperatures: 1553, 944, 561 K; 1605, 898, 533 K; and 1656, 1028, 586 K. For the 1605 K evaluation, estimates produced work-function values of 2.22 eV for the emitter and 1.63 eV for the collector with a 2.0-eV barrier index (collector work function plus interelectrode voltage drop) corresponding to the maximum output of 5.5 W/sq cm at 0.24 volt. The current, voltage curve for the 1656 K 111-iridium diminiode yields a 6.2 W/sq cm maximum at 0.25 volt and is comparable with the 1700 K envelope for a diode with an etched-rhenium emitter and a 0.025-mm electrode gap made by TECO and evaluated by NASA

Diminiode thermionic energy conversion with lanthanum-hexaboride electrodes

Thermionic conversion data obtained from a variable gap cesium diminiode with a hot pressed, sintered lanthanum hexaboride emitter and an arc melted lanthanum hexaboride collector are presented. Performance curves cover a range of temperatures: emitter 1500 to 1700 K, collector 750 to 1000 K, and cesium reservoir 370 to 510 K. Calculated values of emitter and collector work functions and barrier index are also given

Impact of intrinsic biophysical diversity on the activity of spiking neurons

We study the effect of intrinsic heterogeneity on the activity of a population of leaky integrate-and-fire neurons. By rescaling the dynamical equation, we derive mathematical relations between multiple neuronal parameters and a fluctuating input noise. To this end, common input to heterogeneous neurons is conceived as an identical noise with neuron-specific mean and variance. As a consequence, the neuronal output rates can differ considerably, and their relative spike timing becomes desynchronized. This theory can quantitatively explain some recent experimental findings.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

A C-13(alpha,n)O-16 calibration source for KamLAND

We report on the construction and performance of a calibration source for KamLAND using the reaction C-13(alpha,n)O-16 with Po-210 as the alpha progenitor. The source provides a direct measurement of this background reaction in our detector, high energy calibration points for the detector energy scale, and data on quenching of the neutron visible energy in KamLAND scintillator. We also discuss the possibility of using the reaction C-13(alpha,n)O-16 as a source of tagged slow neutrons.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Revised to agree with the published tex