The United States of America As Represented by the Administrator of the

Other

United States of America As Represented by the Administrator of Nasa

William N Myers

Leopold A Hein

Huu P Trinh

Birgit G Hein, Executor

Leopold A Hein, Deceased

A method for determining the optimum inlet geometry of a liquid rocket engine swirl injector includes obtaining a throttleable level phase value, volume flow rate, chamber pressure, liquid propellant density, inlet injector pressure, desired target spray angle and desired target optimum delta pressure value between an inlet and a chamber for a plurality of engine stages. The tangential inlet area for each throttleable stage is calculated. The correlation between the tangential inlet areas and delta pressure values is used to calculate the spring displacement and variable inlet geometry. An injector designed using the method includes a plurality of geometrically calculated tangential inlets in an injection tube; an injection tube cap with a plurality of inlet slots slidably engages the injection tube. A pressure differential across the injector element causes the cap to slide along the injection tube and variably align the inlet slots with the tangential inlets.

Injector element which maintains a constant mean spray angle and optimum pressure drop during throttling by varying the geometry of tangential inlets

Knee braces generally have been rigid in both the knee bending direction and in the knee straightening direction unless a manually operated release is incorporated in them to allow the knee to bend. Desirably a braced knee joint should effectively duplicate the compound, complex, actions of a normal knee. The key to knee braces is the knee joint housing. The housing herein carries a number of cam action pawls, with teeth adapted to engage the internal teeth of a ratchet ring mounted in the housing. Cam action return springs and the shape of the cam action pawl teeth allow rotation of the ratchet ring in a leg straightening direction while still supporting a load. The leg can then be extended during walking while at the same time being prevented by the cam action pawls from buckling in the knee bending direction.

Orthopedic leg brace

In vacuum plasma spraying a turntable must be provided which not only makes it possible to rotate and tilt a heavy workpiece, but to operate at vacuum plasma temperatures to do so. In the vacuum plasma coating of large parts such as combustion chambers of rocket engines the workpiece must not only be rotated, but it must be tilted. Hence the turntable must be capable not only of supporting heavy parts, but of angulating such heavy workpieces. And this must be done without drive means failure due to extremely high temperatures under which the turntable mechanism is operated. Herein a turntable mechanism is provided which is capable of operating under such conditions. For cooling the turntable drive mechanism internal cooling means are included.

Turntable mechanism

A first annular ring (44) has a keyed opening (64) sized to fit around the nut region (40) of a male coupling (14), and a second annular ring (42) has a keyed opening (52) sized to fit around the nut (26) of a female coupling (12). Each ring (42, 44) has mating ratchet teeth (56, 62), and these rings (42, 44) are biased together, thereby engaging these teeth (56, 62) and preventing rotation of these rings. This in turn prevents the rotation of the male nut region (40) with respect to the female nut (26). For tube-to-bulkhead locking, one facet (70) of one ring (44) is notched, and a pin (88) is pressed into an opening (84, 86) in the bulkhead (80). This pin (88) is sized to fit within one of the notches (74) in the ring (44), thereby preventing rotation of this ring (44) with respect to the bulkhead (80 ).

Tube coupling device

A ring seal (11) adapted for installation in an annular recess (13) between a housing (15) and a rotating or reciprocating shaft (17). The seal (11) consists of a resilient ring cup member (19) having a ring wedge member (21) inserted in the center recess (25) of the cup member (19) to wedge the opposing lips (29) and (31) of the the cup member (19) outwardly into a sealing relationship. A spring (23) maintains the force against the wedge member (29).

Resilient seal ring assembly with spring means applying force to wedge

The invention relates to the utilization of wind energy and increasing the effects thereof for power generation. Amplified wind turbine apparatus is disclosed wherein ambient inlet air is prerotated in a first air rotation chamber (B) having a high pressure profile increasing the turbulence and Reynolds number thereof and a second rotation chamber (C) adjacent and downstream of the turbine has a low pressure core profile whereby flow across the turbine is accelerated and thereafter exits the turbine apparatus through a draft anti-interference device (D) which eliminates interference with ambient winds at the outlet of the turbine apparatus. Pivotable vanes 12 controlled in response to prevailing wind direction admit air to the chambers and aid in imparting rotation. A central core 20 may be utilized for creating the desired pressure profile in chamber B.

Amplified wind turbine apparatus

The invention relates to apparatus for collecting solar radiation rays and for converting the radiation rays into a concentrated beam of parallel rays having a fixed orientation. The apparatus includes an optical system for collecting and concentrating the solar radiation rays and for converting the rays into concentrated beam of parallel rays. A system of mirrors is utilized to provide a concentrated beam of parallel rays which remain fixed in orientation as the optical system is rotated around a tracking axis. The concentrated beam of fixed orientation is then utilized for supplying thermal energy to a stationary solar appliance.

Apparatus for concentrating solar energy

A spherical bearing including an inner ball having an opening for receiving a shaft and a spherical outer surface. A circular outer race including a plurality of circumferentially spaced sections extending around the inner ball for snugly receiving the inner ball. A groove extends circumferentially around the race producing a thin wall portion therebelow which permits the opposed side portions to flex relative to the ball for maximizing the physical contact between the inner surface of the race and the spherical outer surface of the ball.

Spherical bearing

This invention relates to a solar appliance apparatus for utilizing solar thermal radiation to supply heat to a heating and cooking surface. The apparatus includes a housing permanently stationed inside a residential structure and the like. The housing contains a heat transfer medium and a radiation receiver carried in heat exchange contact with the medium. A heating and cooking surface is carried by the housing in heat exchange relationship with the heat transfer medium. A radiation pipe extends through the exterior wall of the building structure to deliver a concentrated beam of solar radiation rays to the radiation receiver.

Solar heating and cooking apparatus

An apparatus is provided for converting thermal energy such as solar energy into mechanical motion for driving fluid pumps and the like. The thermal motor comprises an inner concentric cylinder carried by a stationary core member having a cylindrical disc plate fixed adjacent a lower portion thereof and extending radially therefrom, and an outer concentric cylinder rotatably carried on the disc plate defining a space between the inner and outer concentric cylinders. A spiral tubular member encircle the inner concentric cylinder and is contained within the space between said inner and outer cylinders having a first portion connected to the inner concentric cylinder and a second portion connected to the outer concentric cylinder. A heated fluid is conveyed through the tubular member and is periodically cooled causing the tubular member to expand and contract, thus causing the outer concentric cylinder to reciprocally rotate on the base plate accordingly. The reciprocating motion of the outer concentric cylinder is then utilized to drive a pump member in a pump chamber.

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Huntsville, AL, United States of America

William N Myers