United States of America As Represented by the Administrator of Nasa

Other

Kurt A Polzin

Valentin Korman

William K Witherow

John Elihu Sinko

Robert Coker

Boris Johann Stanojev

Adam Gail Hendrickson

Jason Waggoner

Thomas E Markusic

Joao F Seixal

Stephanie Mauro

J Boise Pearson

An apparatus for use in material sublimation includes a hollow reservoir having thermally conductive walls. A piston is disposed between the sealed end and the ported end of the reservoir, and is in sliding contact with the walls of the reservoir. The piston has holes passing there through. A force generator is coupled to the piston for applying a continuous force to the piston wherein the continuous force biases the piston towards the sealed end of the reservoir.

Orientation-independent apparatus for use in material sublimation

A mobile or portable pumping platform for being conveyed to a point of use where there are tanks containing a liquid, such as fuel, to be dispensed is disclosed. The platform comprises at least one station including a display indicating at least price/quantity of liquid to be dispensed, and possibly type of liquid. In some embodiments, the platform includes at least one metering station and a computer for calculating price of dispensed fluid. The pumping platform may be mounted to a truck or skid and deployed for use, or configured as a trailer to be towed to a point of use.

Mobile platform for dispensing fuel from any tank

An ignitron apparatus has an airtight tubular housing having a first sealed end and a second sealed end. An anode is connected at the first sealed end, projecting into the housing, and a recess at the second sealed and forms a well which contains a quantity of liquid gallium or gallium alloy making up the cathode. An ignitor projects through the liquid metal and into the housing. The inner surface of the housing includes at least one plating-reduction structure to prevent electrical shorting of the apparatus caused by plating of the liquid metal.

Reduced plating ignitron

The system includes at least one light source generating light energy having a corresponding wavelength. The system's sensor is based on an optical interferometer that receives light energy from each light source. The interferometer includes a free-space optical path disposed in an environment of interest. The system's sensor includes an optical device disposed in the optical path that causes light energy of a first selected wavelength to continue traversing the optical path whereas light energy of at least one second selected wavelength is directed away from the optical path. The interferometer generates an interference between the light energy of the first selected wavelength so-traversing the optical path with the light energy at the corresponding wavelength incident on the optical interferometer. A first optical detector detects the interference. At least one second detector detects the light energy at the at least one second selected wavelength directed away from the optical path.

Optical multi-species gas monitoring sensor and system

A free-space optical path of an optical interferometer is disposed in an environment of interest. A light beam is guided to the optical interferometer using a single-mode optical fiber. The light beam traverses the interferometer's optical path. The light beam guided to the optical path is combined with the light beam at the end of the optical path to define an output light. A temporal history of the output light is recorded.

Optical system and method for gas detection and monitoring

A flowing electrically-conductive fluid is controlled between an upstream and downstream location thereof to insure that a convection timescale of the flowing fluid is less than a thermal diffusion timescale of the flowing fluid. First and second nodes of a current-carrying circuit are coupled to the fluid at the upstream location. A current pulse is applied to the current-carrying circuit so that the current pulse travels through the flowing fluid to thereby generate a thermal feature therein at the upstream location. The thermal feature is convected to the downstream location where it is monitored to detect a peak associated with the thermal feature so-convected. The velocity of the fluid flow is determined using a time-of-flight analysis.

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Owens Cross Roads, AL, United States of America

Kurt A Polzin