Abstract: A liquid metal cooled nuclear reactor includes a reactor vessel, a containment, an air flow path, and an injection unit. The vessel has a reactor core and a coolant for the reactor core. The containment surrounds an outside of the vessel. The air flow path removes heat by flowing air around the containment. The injection unit injects filler in a gap between the vessel and the containment.

Abstract: Wireless and other external connectivity technology is used in various ways to enhance or improve upon existing radar detector and police activity detection systems. External memory interfaces, such as SD cards or USB, provide external storage. Wireless interfaces such as Bluetooth, Zigbee, 802.11, and wireless personal area network communication protocols, allow a detector processor to interact wirelessly with external devices, such as a Bluetooth headset, a cellular network device providing a server connection, or toggle buttons used to indicate the presence of police activity at a current position. Further, radar detectors are upgraded to provide GPS capabilities, using the existing power/data connector of the radar detector.

Abstract: The invention relates to a nuclear reactor primary circuit comprising a primary pipeline (30), which defines an internal volume (32) and in which a primary nuclear reactor coolant downwardly runs, an additional pipeline (26) which is branched to the primary pipeline (30) and defines an internal volume communicating with the internal volume (32) of the primary pipeline (30) and a cuff (36) whose first end (50) is connected to the additional pipeline (26) and the second free end (52) is positioned in the internal volume (32) of the primary pipeline (30). According to said invention, the second end (52) is delimited by a free peripherial edge (53) comprising at least one upstream and downstream sections (56, 58) which are oriented towards the upstream, wherein the upstream section (56) penetrates into the internal volume (32) deeper from the primary pipeline (30) than the downstream section (58).

Abstract: In a steering apparatus for a vehicle which has a steering mechanism for steering steerable road wheels by means of a steering wheel operated by a driver and an electrically controllable auxiliary steering angle superposition mechanism, and in which a target auxiliary steering angle is set in accordance with a steering wheel angle, and an electric motor of the auxiliary steering angle superposition mechanism is driven and controlled according to the target auxiliary steering angle, the rotation of the electric motor 212 is inhibited without regard to the state of the driving control. A short-circuit relay 13 is provided for short-circuiting opposite terminals of the electric motor 212, and the short-circuit relay 13 is operated so as to short-circuit the opposite terminals of the electric motor 212 through a short-circuit relay driving unit 14 in accordance with the kind of a failure detected by a failure detection unit 18, whereby the rotation of the electric motor 212 is inhibited.

Abstract: Each respective vehicle of a plurality of vehicles transports a vehicle navigation system. A position determining system determines a position and a velocity of the respective vehicle and an information acquisition system is operable to determine a displacement and velocity between the respective vehicle and a vehicle adjacent to the respective vehicle. An information communication system of a respective vehicle is operable to transmit first information (that vehicle's velocity and position) to other vehicles and to receive information from other vehicles regarding their velocities and positions. A vehicle routing system can determine a target routing and target velocity for moving the respective vehicle over a path including the roadway. Based on the received or determined information, the velocity of the respective vehicle can be controlled.

Abstract: A control system for a hybrid vehicle controls the various operating modes of the hybrid vehicle. Operating modes of the hybrid vehicle include an electric-only power mode, a series hybrid mode, a series hybrid dual-power mode, and a parallel hybrid tri-power mode. The control system selects one of the operating modes for the hybrid vehicle based on one or more inputs and comparisons. Examples of inputs for the control system include a gear-mode, a present battery storage capacity, a present velocity of the hybrid vehicle, and the previous operating mode of the hybrid power system. The control system may also take into account whether a user has selected the electric-only power mode. The control system may also control the operations of one or more components of the hybrid vehicle while operating in one of the operating modes.

Abstract: A vehicle has wheels, sensors for generating an input data set, and a controller. The controller is in communication with the sensors, including a first sensor for detecting an obstacle on a road surface in a first manner, and adapted to monitor a boundary of the road surface to determine when the wheels are crossing the boundary. A second sensor detects the obstacle in a second manner, and additional sensors determine inertial data of the vehicle. The controller compares the input data set to calibrated thresholds, and determines an appropriate control response such as autonomous braking based on the results. A method optimizes a collision preparation response in the vehicle by measuring the inertial data, detecting the obstacle using a radar or LiDAR device, and monitoring the boundary using an electro-optical device. A supplemental braking force is automatically applied when the vehicle crosses the boundary while the obstacle is detected.

Abstract: A radioactive debris trap to be installed in a steam generator for removing debris in the primary flow of a nuclear power plant's primary heat transport system. The debris trap includes an outer cylinder and a coaxial inner cylinder both having a top end and a bottom end. A top plate connects the top ends of the outer and inner cylinders. A bottom plate which encloses the trap is connected to the bottom end of the outer cylinder. There is a gap between the bottom end of the inner cylinder and the bottom plate through which primary flow enters a settling chamber located in an annular gap between the outer and inner cylinders. Several small holes are located at the top end of the outer cylinder through which liquid exits the debris trap. A means for fixedly connecting the debris trap to the steam generator is provided on the outer surface of the outer cylinder. Also included is a means for removing the radioactive debris trap from the steam generator without exposing personnel to excessive radiation.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus to fit the range extent of radar sea clutter to an ellipse to determine sea state. From one or more ellipse parameters, a sea state, which can include direction, can be identified. In one embodiment, the system autonomously determines the sea state and automatically selects non-isotropic STC filtering based on the ellipse that measures the sea state.

Abstract: According to one embodiment, a weather radar apparatus includes an antenna unit, a drive unit, an adjustment unit, and a control unit. The antenna unit is configured to transmit radio waves from a plurality of antenna elements, perform beam scan in a direction of elevation angle by phase control, and receive waves reflected by a weather target. The drive unit is configured to drive an elevation angle and an azimuth angle of an aperture plane of the antenna unit. The adjustment unit is configured to adjust an observation range and an observation elevation angle by the antenna unit and the drive unit in accordance with a plurality of observation modes. The control unit is configured to set the observation mode based on a received signal of the reflected waves.

Abstract: A radar apparatus has a transmission array antenna for radiating electromagnetic waves containing a main lobe and a grating lobe in a transmission directivity, a reception array antenna for receiving electromagnetic waves radiated from the transmission array antenna and reflected from a target, and a microcomputer for setting the reception antenna in reception directivities one after another by placing a null point in a grating lobe receiving area of each directivity and placing the null points of the directivities at different positions. The microcomputer produces a reception signal, produced from the received electromagnetic waves containing the main lobe reflected from the target, every change of the reception directivity and detects the target from the average of the reception signals.

Abstract: The method of generating an image in the form of a disc portion on a display, the disc portion comprising a center and a maximum radius defining a limit of the image generated, the disc portion comprising a plurality of angular sectors, each angular sector comprising a plurality of disjoint areas, each disjoint area of an angular sector being delimited by two circular arcs defined between two radii, and each disjoint area being called a “ring”, is characterized in that it comprises: a first step of selecting a ring, a second step of comparing the area of the ring with at least one predefined value, dubbed the grain, a third step of generating the image of the ring as a function of the result of the comparison, a fourth step of incrementing the next ring to be selected.

Abstract: A pressurized water reactor nuclear containment radiation shield which surrounds the upper portion of a pressure vessel in an ice condenser containment. The vertical walls of the neutron shield are formed in vertical sections with the lower and upper sections operable during outages, to open to promote air flow cooling along the walls in the vicinity of the vessel head.

Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for orienting an agile vehicle using a control moment gyroscope array. A method comprises obtaining initial vehicle parameters for the vehicle and obtaining target vehicle parameters for the vehicle. The method further comprises determining command parameters based on a difference between the target vehicle parameters and the initial vehicle parameters, and simulating operation of the control moment gyroscope array using the command parameters and a torque value being at least equal to a maximum achievable torque for the control moment gyroscope array. When the simulated vehicle parameters are substantially equal to the target vehicle parameters, the method further comprises determining a torque profile for the control moment gyroscope array based on the simulated operation and operating the control moment gyroscope array using the torque profile.

Abstract: Method and arrangement for providing map information to an operator of a vehicle includes forming a map database to reside on the vehicle, e.g., after installation on the vehicle, and which includes for example, data about lanes that the vehicle can travel on locations of a boundary or edges of the travel lanes, data about traffic control devices in the database, data about guard rails along travel lanes and/or data about inanimate objects such as poles and trees alongside the travel lanes. The database is managed to ensure that it has current information about a travel lane on which the vehicle is currently situated. This may entail establishing wireless communications to the vehicle to enable data to be provided to the database, e.g., from other vehicles and/or from infrastructure.

Abstract: A discriminator identifies windrow pixels associated with a windrow within a collected image. A definer defines a search space with respect to a vehicle. An evaluator determines respective spatial correlations between the defined search space and the windrow pixels for different angular displacements of the search space. An alignment detector or search engine determining a desired vehicular heading as a preferential angular displacement associated with a generally maximum spatial correlation between the defined search space and the windrow pixels. An offset calculator estimates an offset of the vehicle to a central point of the windrow or a depth axis to achieve the desired vehicle heading and desired position of the vehicle with respect to the windrow.

Abstract: A method for spectrally conditioning surface seismic data. In one implementation, the method may include correcting surface seismic data for distortions due to anomalous spectral amplitudes, thereby generating a first set of corrected data; correcting the first set of corrected data for deterministic distortions, thereby generating a second set of corrected data; correcting the second set of corrected data for spectral distortions due to the seismic waves traveling through the near-surface, thereby generating a third set of corrected data; and correcting the third set of corrected data for spectral distortions due to the seismic waves traveling through deeper strata.

Abstract: Method of determining the velocity V and anellipticity ? parameters for processing seismic traces in a common midpoint (CMP) gather comprising:—a preliminary step to define a plurality of nodes (dtn, ?o), for each node (dtn, ?o) defined in the preliminary step, the following steps:—for static NMO correction of traces in the CMP gather as a function of the values of the said parameters dtn and ?o at the node considered, and calculation of the semblance function associated with the said NMO correction for the node considered; and—for each picked time to, a step including determination of the maximum semblance node (dtn (to), ?o (to)),—and a final step to convert the dtn (to) and ?o (to) parameters, so as to obtain the velocity to) and anellepticity ? (to) laws.

Abstract: A seismic source signal generator having feed-forward control uses pressure, current, and/or valve position sensors to detect system component parameters. Initial and operating parameters are processed during source operation to remove, partially or wholly, harmonic distortions from the seismic source signal.

Abstract: Exemplary embodiments provide automated nuclear fission reactors and methods for their operation. Exemplary embodiments and aspects include, without limitation, re-use of nuclear fission fuel, alternate fuels and fuel geometries, modular fuel cores, fast fluid cooling, variable burn-up, programmable nuclear thermostats, fast flux irradiation, temperature-driven surface area/volume ratio neutron absorption, low coolant temperature cores, refueling, and the like.