Electrical spot terminal assembly Patent

Electrical spot terminal assembly for printed circuit board

Pressure transducer

Pressure-sensitive transducer, consisting of a series of spindle-supported electrically conductive metal washers connected to electrical sensing circuitry, determines the force exerted between a mounting bolt and nut on relatively fragile components

Improved electrical spot terminals

Improved electrical spot terminal has been developed which can be rigidly attached to terminal mounting board. Mounting board is bonded to epoxy board which in turn is bonded to printed circuit board with high temperature adhesive. Conductive lead is coupled between electrical terminal and circuit trace on circuit board. Shape is usually clover-leaf

Progress report 3 of cooperative program for design, fabrication, and testing of high modulus composite helicopter shafting

This report describes the third phase of work, the objective of which was to overcome the excessive brittleness of the previously developed UH-1 helicopter tail rotor drive shaft design which demonstrated a shaft train weight savings of 53.1% over the current 2024-T3 aluminum shaft train. A materials impact program demonstrated exceptionally noteworthy performance of two woven constructions containing E-glass and PRD 49-III (designation later changed to KEVLAR 49) fibers in an epoxy resin matrix. Thermoplastic matrices and PRD 49-III fiber provided impact resistance at low weight which was superior to composites having the same fiber in a thermoset resin matrix. A design, fabrication, and test program showed that shaft impact resistance could be improved over the previously developed graphite composite design at a cost in shaft train rate savings. The shaft train weight savings of the most impact tolerant construction was 4.0% over the current aluminum shaft train. Alternating plies of graphite and glass appear to provide substantially greater tube impact durability than that provided by hybridization of the two fibers into one tape wound to a ply design equivalent in strength and stiffness to that of the alternating ply design. Recommendations were made to continue research work to exploit the potential for more impact-durable structures through the use of KEVLAR 49 fiber, woven structures, thermoplastic matrices and THORNEL 50-S/KEVLAR 49 blends with thermoset matrices

Determinants of project success

The interactions of numerous project characteristics, with particular reference to project performance, were studied. Determinants of success are identified along with the accompanying implications for client organization, parent organization, project organization, and future research. Variables are selected which are found to have the greatest impact on project outcome, and the methodology and analytic techniques to be employed in identification of those variables are discussed

Plasma Diagnostics by Antenna Impedance Measurements

The impedance of an electrically short antenna immersed in a plasma provides an excellent in situ diagnostic tool for electron density and other plasma parameters. By electrically short we mean that the wavelength of the free-space electromagnetic wave that would be excited at the driving frequency is much longer than the physical size of the antenna. Probes using this impedance technique have had a long history with sounding rockets and satellites, stretching back to the early 1960s. This active technique could provide information on composition and temperature of plasmas for comet or planetary missions. Advantages of the impedance probe technique are discussed and two classes of instruments built and flown by SDL-USU for determining electron density (the capacitance and plasma frequency probes) are described

The Chemical Evolution of the Universe I: High Column Density Absorbers

We construct a simple, robust model of the chemical evolution of galaxies from high to low redshift, and apply it to published observations of damped Lyman-alpha quasar absorption line systems (DLAs). The elementary model assumes quiescent star formation and isolated galaxies (no interactions, mergers or gas flows). We consider the influence of dust and chemical gradients in the galaxies, and hence explore the selection effects in quasar surveys. We fit individual DLA systems to predict some observable properties of the absorbing galaxies, and also indicate the expected redshift behaviour of chemical element ratios involving nucleosynthetic time delays. Despite its simplicity, our `monolithic collapse' model gives a good account of the distribution and evolution of the metallicity and column density of DLAs, and of the evolution of the global star formation rate and gas density below redshifts z 3. However, from the comparison of DLA observations with our model, it is clear that star formation rates at higher redshifts (z>3) are enhanced. Galaxy interactions and mergers, and gas flows very probably play a major role.Comment: 36 pages, 11 figures; accepted by MNRA

Directly comparing coronal and solar wind elemental fractionation

As the solar wind propagates through the heliosphere, dynamical processes irreversibly erase the signatures of the near-Sun heating and acceleration processes. The elemental fractionation of the solar wind should not change during transit however, making it an ideal tracer of these processes. We aimed to verify directly if the solar wind elemental fractionation is reflective of the coronal source region fractionation, both within and across different solar wind source regions. A backmapping scheme was used to predict where solar wind measured by the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) originated in the corona. The coronal composition measured by the Hinode Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) at the source regions was then compared with the in-situ solar wind composition. On hourly timescales there was no apparent correlation between coronal and solar wind composition. In contrast, the distribution of fractionation values within individual source regions was similar in both the corona and solar wind, but distributions between different sources have significant overlap. The matching distributions directly verifies that elemental composition is conserved as the plasma travels from the corona to the solar wind, further validating it as a tracer of heating and acceleration processes. The overlap of fractionation values between sources means it is not possible to identify solar wind source regions solely by comparing solar wind and coronal composition measurements, but a comparison can be used to verify consistency with predicted spacecraft-corona connections.Comment: Accepted version; 8 pages, 7 figure