Abstract: An aircraft engine mounting installation uses an overall partially focalized or convergent mount configuration with a combination of individual, or paired, axial mounts and individual, or paired, inclined mounts. When paired, the axial mount axes are parallel to the engine thrust axis. The respective axes of the axial and inclined mounts, or planes through paired similar mounts, converge at, or ahead of, the engine center of gravity in order to brace engine weight, engine thrust and torque reaction loads, without undue complexity in mount geometry.

Abstract: An iris includes a stator assembly having a frame coupled to an electrically wound, substantially annular magnetic core. The iris further includes a rotor, which is rotatably coupled to the magnetic core such that a channel is defined. A diaphragm, having a plurality of diaphragm leaves, is coupled to the stator assembly. The diaphragm leaves are pivotally arranged to form an adjustable aperture, which is substantially concentric with the channel. A portion of at least one of the diaphragm leaves is coupled to the stator assembly, and another portion of at least one of the plurality of diaphragm leaves is coupled to the rotor.

Abstract: The control of the coolant flow is accomplished through valving or by adjusting the pumping speed of a water pump and a water motor, or a combination of all three elements. During normal operation, where engine cooling is not required, the speed control coupling maintains a slow and constant water pump speed at all engine-operating speeds. The valve is maintained to stop coolant flow from entering the radiator while allowing coolant to flow through a heater. If engine cooling is required, the valve is actuated such that coolant is circulated to the engine and through the radiator. If air conditioning is required, the speed control coupling simply increases the water pump speed and the fan speed while the valve is set to bypass coolant flow to the engine. If air conditioning and engine cooling are required, the valve is actuated to allow coolant flow to the engine.

Abstract: A non-reciprocating engine comprising a hollow cylindrical shaft driver (13) located in a cylindrical stator cavity (14) of a stator. A number of expansion chambers (43) form between the outer wall of the shaft driver, the stator wall and movable dividers (25) which extend from the stator to bear on the shaft driver. The expansion chambers expand and contract during operation of the engine. An output shaft passes centrally through the stator cavity and shaft driver and has offset bearings (34) which bear on the inside surface of the shaft driver. Inlet ports in a removable inlet end plate of the stator allow pressurised air or air/fuel mixture, for example, to be introduced into the expansion chambers. Sequential expansion and contraction of the chambers around the circumference of the shaft driver causes a combination of orbital and rotational movement of the shaft driver and consequential rotation of the output shaft.

Abstract: A flexure plate dual capacitance accelerometer system includes a flexure plate fixed having edges fixed to a housing structure. A first fixed plate is coupled to the housing structure a distance from one side of the flexure plate. A second fixed plate is coupled to the housing structure a distance from the other side of the flexure plate and disposed substantially parallel with the first fixed plate. The two fixed plates and the flexure plate form dual capacitors, one on each side of the flexure plate. The flexure plate flexes in response to acceleration, thereby altering the two distances and generating phase shift capacitance signals from the dual capacitors.

Abstract: A control circuit (20) for controlling electrostatic discharge in an electric component includes a heater (28) that is thermally coupled to the component. A sensor (30) is used for sensing a sensed condition. A controller is coupled to the heater and the sensor. The controller (24) heats the component in response to the sensed condition. The sensor (30) may include an electron flux level near the component or a surface potential of the component itself.

Abstract: A bioremediation method and system for destroying or reducing the level of contaminants in a contaminated subterranean body of water includes a plurality of spaced injection sites. The injection sites extend below ground and intersect a body of groundwater. Each of the plurality of injection sites are in communication with a supply of concentrated oxygen. The oxygen is conveyed by a delivery mechanism from the supply of oxygen to the injection points to naturally reduce the contaminants in the groundwater. The amount of oxygen delivered to the groundwater is maintained such that the amount of oxygen in the soil gas vapor is between 15% and 25%.

Abstract: A multi-purpose aircraft servicing system (10) for an aircraft (12) is provided. The system (10) includes a multi-servicing bridge 16 having a main bridge section (26) with a plurality of bridge servicing units (56). A bridgehead (28) is mechanically coupled to the main bridge section (26) and mates to the aircraft (12). A method of servicing the aircraft (12) is also provided including parking the aircraft (12) at a terminal (24). The multi-purpose aircraft servicing system (10) is rotated to mate with the aircraft (12). The aircraft (12) is serviced from at least one side of the aircraft (12).

Abstract: A method and system (10) for utilizing water to transfer heat are provided. In one embodiment, the system (10) includes two water softeners (16) for removing the hardness of the feed water. The water softeners (16) are coupled to a filtration device (14) and deliver the softened water thereto. The filtration device (14) removes minerals from the water so as to produce a filtered water volume and a rejected water volume. The filtration device (14) delivers the filtered water volume to a heat exchanger (12). The heat exchanger (12) evaporates the filtered water volume and produces a mineral deposit volume. The mineral deposit volume is delivered to the filtration device (14) for removal of the mineral deposits so as to produce a recycled water volume and a blowdown water volume. Thereafter, the recycled water volume is delivered to the heat exchanger (12) for reuse, and the blowdown water volume is discharged to the waste vessel (24).

Abstract: In overlapping reconstruction for multi-slide spiral CT, adjacent slices of an object typically only have small differences. Based on this property, a progressive updating approach for volumetric ct image reconstruction includes a method and apparatus to use the well-known ordered subset expectation maximization (OSEM) formula or other iterative algorithms for spiral CT overlapping reconstruction. The imaging geometry is assumed to be single-slice helical/spiral scanning. To start with, a complete set of projections is synthesized via linear interpolation of data associated with opposite rays for reconstruction of the first slice. Then, new data are incrementally utilized for reconstruction of subsequent slices by updating the previous slice using the OSEM approach. To overcome accumulative errors, traditional reconstruction from a complete set of projections is performed when it is necessary as is determined by dynamically monitoring the relevant errors.

Abstract: A method (100) for cascading system level target to component level design objectives using machine learning and design synthesis techniques. The method (100) of the present invention uses machine learning techniques to build (106, 108) surrogate models from given system targets (102). The method then employs design synthesis methods to determine (110) a range of component level design objectives for the given system level targets using the surrogate models. The range of component level design objectives is fed back (112) to one of the surrogate models to determine (114) the component design objectives.

Abstract: A battery cell balancing system (12) for a battery (30) having a plurality of cells (32) is provided. The system (12) includes a power supply (38) and a plurality of transformer/rectifier circuits (34) electrically coupled to the cells (32). Preferential charging occurs for a cell with the lowest state of charge. At least one current limiting device (36) is electrically coupled to the transformer/rectifier circuits (34) and the power supply (38). The current limiting device (36) buffers a source voltage from a reflected voltage of at least one of the plurality of cells (32). A method of performing the same is also provided.

Abstract: In a mechanical fuel pump control device for a diesel engine, air at intake manifold pressure is fed to an actuator that is used to control the amount of fuel being injected into the engine cylinders. The mechanism is designed such that an increase in air pressure reduces fuelling and a decrease in air pressure increases fuelling. By this means the engine's (rotational) speed is held substantially constant at a predetermined value, the variation in (rotational) speed with increasing load (speed droop) being controllable within the design by altering the effective rate of fuel increase for given pressure decrease.

Abstract: A protective garment (10) is provided for cushioning blows imparted upon the wearer's body. Preferably, the protective garment (10) is an upper body protection garment (10) that is intended to cushion blows imparted upon the upper body of a user. The upper body protective garment (10) includes a chest protector portion (12), a back protector portion, and a pair of shoulder protector portions (14). These protector portions (12,14) preferably form a single integral unit. An absorbing cap (18) is preferably located on each of the shoulder protector portions (14) and the chest protector portion (12). The absorbing cap (18) includes an inner shell (22) that is secured to the protector portion (12,14) and a resilient outer shell (20) that is secured to the protector portion (12,14) about its periphery (28) but has a portion that is spaced apart from and above the stiff inner member to form a cavity (24) therebetween.

Abstract: A method for designing and assembling a high performance catalyst bed gas generator for use in decomposing propellants, particularly hydrogen peroxide propellants, for use in target, space, and on-orbit propulsion systems and low-emission terrestrial power and gas generation. The gas generator utilizes a sectioned catalyst bed system, and incorporates a robust, high temperature mixed metal oxide catalyst. The gas generator requires no special preheat apparatus or special sequencing to meet start-up requirements, enabling a fast overall response time. The high performance catalyst bed gas generator system has consistently demonstrated high decomposition efficiency, extremely low decomposition roughness, and long operating life on multiple test articles.

Abstract: A differential phase shift keyed demodulator system uses a Michelson interferometer configuration in which polarization maintenance is accomplished by using a single 50:50 coupler coupled to a first Faraday rotator mirror and a second Faraday rotator mirror through a first fiber and a second fiber, respectively. In this way, system passively eliminates the polarization problem caused by using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer.

Abstract: A multiple head shower system particularly designed for retrofit installation on an existing shower system, and having a head member with a primary outlet and at least one secondary outlet, a primary shower head, at least one elongated water conduit, and at least one secondary on/off water valve member. The secondary valve members are secured to the shower enclosure with a bracket member and an adhesive. The header member is secured to the existing shower system with a threaded connection or a slip-fit connection. Preferably, a pair of secondary on/off water valve members and conduits are provided.

Abstract: A stator and diffuser assembly is introduced between an engine cooling fan and engine. The stator acts increase the static efficiency per unit airflow of the axial fan by reducing the rotational component of air traveling through the fan and by directing the airflow in an axial direction towards the engine. The diffuser acts to increase the static efficiency per unit airflow of the axial fan used by decelerating the airflow, thereby providing more airflow to the engine at a given fan rotational speed. The stator and diffuser assembly thus decreases the amount of horsepower necessary to drive the fan at a given rotational speed and reduces noise.

Abstract: A rivet gun system includes a rivet gun frame having two ends. A die is coupled to one end, and a force sensor coupled to the rivet gun frame. The force sensor detects force applied to the die and generates a force signal in response to the force. A holding coil defines a channel within the rivet gun frame and generates an electromagnetic force along the channel. The channel includes an end defined by an end stop and an end defined by the die. A main coil further defines the channel between the holding coil and the die. The main coil also generates an electromagnetic force along the channel. A plunger slides through the channel in response to the electromagnetic forces. A force sensor electronics controller receives the force signal from the force sensor and activates the holding coil and the main coil in response to the force signal above an activation threshold.

Abstract: A generally Y-shaped ferrite power divider for transferring an RF input from an input port to either one of two outlet ports or to both outlet ports in an equal or unequal fashion. The input port and the two output ports meet at a junction. An internal magnetic return is positioned in the junction and is in communication with an upper magnetic return and a lower magnetic return. An upper ferrite puck is positioned at the junction above the internal magnetic return and a lower ferrite puck is positioned at the junction below the internal magnetic return.