Abstract: According to typical inventive practice, a first metallic material is poured into a mold including a bottom inside surface having regularly arrayed rises (truncated spherical convexities). The molten first metallic material cools and solidifies to include a surface correspondingly having regularly arrayed dents (truncated spherical concavities). The resultant “inner casting” is removed from and repositioned in the mold so that the inner casting's dent-laden surface faces upward. Ceramic spheres are placed in the dents. A second metallic material (having a higher melting point than the first metallic material) is poured into the mold with the inner casting and spheres in place. The molten second metallic material cools and solidifies as an “outer casting” surrounding the inner casting and the spheres. The resultant integral armor structure includes the inner casting, the outer casting, and the spheres, each sphere embedded partially in the inner casting and partially in the outer casting.

Abstract: Stowage requirements are estimated either in early stage design of a ship or in evaluation of an existing ship. Initialization data includes definition of one or more stowage aid types, definition of one or more storeroom types, description of stowage requirements associated with one or more different ship types, and enumeration of “compartment utilization factors” corresponding to each defined stowage aid type (e.g., in the form of one or more data matrices, each matrix corresponding to a stowage aid type). Once the data setup is completed, the number of storerooms needed to hold a given or estimated volume of stowage is determined. Space layout rules and the corresponding “compartment utilization factors” are applied to each selected stowage aid type, thereby determining the number of stowage aids required (and the associated stowage aid weights) as to each stowage aid type, and/or the total storage area required as to each storeroom type.

Abstract: The present invention's methodology for designing a fluid propulsion intake configuration of a marine vessel considers the integral geometry of the inlet together with a portion of the hull, with respect to which the inlet's entrance opening is flush. The inventive methodology typically includes definition of an inlet reference line (an “axial” description, straight and/or curved, of the inlet), cross-planes (each of which perpendicularly intersects the inlet reference line), a footprint (a planar outline of the inlet's entrance opening), an inlet shaping line (a projection of the footprint onto the hull portion), inlet flow lines (angularly spaced about the circumference of the inlet shaping line, each connecting the cross-planes), two fairing reference curves (one at the inlet's entrance opening and the other on the hull portion, thereby demarcating a fairing therebetween that is consistent with the inlet flow lines), and a lip nose (at the inlet's entrance opening).

Abstract: According to typical inventive practice, a baseline describing a statistical distribution is established for a set of historical occurrences of an event. Comparison is made between the baseline and at least one current occurrence of the same event. Any current occurrence that is anomalous vis-à-vis the baseline is considered a possible leading indicator. According to some inventive embodiments of graphical presentation of such comparison, at least one graphical baseline comparative display component is rendered that includes a “bar” (describing a historical statistical distribution with respect to a criterion pertaining to occurrence of an event) and a “slider” (describing one or more current occurrences of the event). The bar includes at least one band representing a statistical mean range, and at least one band representing a statistical outlier range. Situation of the slider along the bar indicates whether and to what extent the current occurrence(s) is/are anomalous vis-à-vis the baseline.

Abstract: A typical inventive embodiment describes a tubular shape and comprises a rigid outer layer, an elastomeric middle layer and a rigid inner layer. The elastomeric material is a strain-rate-sensitive polymer (e.g., polyurethane or polyurea) having a Young's modulus of approximately 700-1000 psi at 100% strain, and strong strain-rate-sensitivity in approximately the 103/second-106/second range. By the time that the projectile reaches the rigid inner layer, a projectile that impacts the three-layer system (commencing at the rigid outer layer) is structurally and kinetically diminished in its destructiveness by the rigid outer layer together with the elastomeric middle layer. Furthermore, the elastomeric middle layer becomes more rigid during a brief period in which it absorbs energy from the projectile, then again becomes elastic in a manner formative of a membrane covering the rigid inner layer. The elastomeric membrane tempers leakage if rupturing of the rigid inner layer has occurred.

Abstract: As typically embodied, the inventive ramp system for bridging between structures (e.g., marine vessels) includes a hydraulic elevator device and a ramp unit. The ramp unit includes three adjoining planar members, the ramp member (the main ramp body) being pivotably connected at each end to one of the two platform members. The hydraulic elevator device includes the coaxial combination of a cylinder and a piston, the piston being translatable along and pivotable about the axis. The cylinder-piston combination is secured, axis vertical, to a first structure, with one of the ramp unit's platform members attached atop the piston. In order to position the other (unattached) platform member upon a selected (e.g., horizontal) location of a second structure, the ramp unit is configurable in terms of the attached platform member's height, the ramp unit's horizontal rotation angle, and the respective vertical rotation angles of the ramp unit's two pivotable connections.

Abstract: The present invention's network-based directions-provision methodology typically features the establishment of two ranking schemes that reversely parallel each other. The “personal” ranking scheme ranks all permitted persons in terms of the degree of access permission with respect to the variously ranked regions of a facility; the lower the personal rank, the fewer the regional ranks to which the person is permitted access. The “regional” ranking scheme ranks all accessible regions in terms of the degree of access permission with respect thereto by the variously ranked permitted persons; the higher the regional rank, the fewer the personal ranks that are permitted access to the region. According to typical inventive practice, a permitted person logs in to request directions, within the facility, from an original location to a destination location; the directions given (textual and/or graphical) are the optimal directions that are consistent with the personal rank of the requestor.

Abstract: Intermodulation distortion (IMD) is known to be an impediment to progress in superconductor-based filter technology. The present invention's methodology for reducing IMD can open doors to heretofore unseen practical applications involving high temperature superconductor (HTS) filters. Typical inventive practice includes (a) increasing the thickness d, and/or (b) changing the operation temperature T, of the filter's HTS film. The film's thickness d is increased in such a way as to decrease the IMD power PIMD in accordance with the material-independent proportionate relationship PIMD?1/d1.5-6. The film's operation temperature T is bettered or optimized in accordance with the material-independent proportionate relationship PIMD?(?O(T))10(K(2)(T))2/(?O(T))6, and further in accordance with three individual material-dependent relationships, namely, between operation temperature T and each of linear penetration depth ?O, gap maximum ?O, and kernel K(2).

Abstract: The present invention's new calculative methodology models the motion of a seagoing vessel in six dimensions, uniquely employing a total velocity potential as the sole parameterization for taking into consideration all linear and nonlinear dynamical effects involved in interaction between the vessel and environmental water. The solid-body rotational motion of the vessel about the vessel's center of mass is determined in three dimensions (roll, pitch, yaw) by calculating the pressure torque and the buoyancy torque. The solid-body translational motion of the vessel's center of mass is determined in three dimensions (heave, surge, sway) by calculating the pressure force and the buoyancy force. The pressure torque and the pressure force are each associated with pressure (e.g., non-hydrostatic pressure) of water on the vessel's surface. The buoyancy torque and the buoyancy force are each associated with the displacement of the vessel with respect to the vessel's equilibrium position in the water.

Abstract: The present invention, as variously practiced, implements electrorheological fluid (ERF) as a bearing lubricant. Various modes of an inventive rolling element bearing apparatus provide for electrification of inventive electrode components, viz: (first mode) two annular disk electrodes, opposite each other and perpendicular to the two raceway surfaces; or, (second mode) electrically conductive inner and outer races, having an electrically conductive spacer therebetween; or, (third mode) plural electrodes, radially embedded in a race. An ERF lubricative coating remains on one or both raceway surfaces in accordance with Winslow effect principle (first and second modes) or edge effect principle (third mode).

Abstract: The hydrodynamics of a seagoing vessel are numerically modeled through the present invention's new calculative methodology, which uniquely combines vessel boundary characteristics and pseudo-spectral environmental characteristics. Solutions are obtained through mutual transformations between the vessel boundary's irregular grid and the environment's regular pseudo-spectral grid. The pressure at the vessel boundary, an important component of the vessel boundary itself, can be determined via either (i) finite element analysis (which has a Cartesian framework) or (ii) the present invention's new vessel normal vector analysis (which has a non-Cartesian framework); the latter approach avoids the singularity problem that generally besets hydrodynamics-related mathematics. Typical inventive practice implements a computer processing unit and succeeds in finding superior solutions in shorter CPU durations.

Abstract: Three software programs are respectively run on the main processing constituent of a programmable logic controller (PLC), the network-controlling constituent of the PLC, and a human interface unit. Intelligent (e.g., switch, sensor, control, etc.) devices are distributed within a communications network associated with a vertical package conveyor (VPC). Signals are transmitted between/among the processing constituent, the controlling constituent, the interface and the devices. In an ongoing informational and regulative process, the devices provide input for the processing constituent, which in turn provides output to the devices. In furtherance of human safety, the processing constituent causes VPC operation to stop upon the occurrence of any of the following events: breached light curtain; open machinery access door; inoperable run stop button; inoperable emergency stop button; activated emergency stop button; misplaced package.

Abstract: The present invention's stratified composite material system of armor, as typically embodied, comprises a strike stratum and a backing stratum. The strike stratum includes elastomeric matrix material and inventive ceramic-inclusive elements embedded therein and arranged (e.g., in one or more rows and one or more columns) along a geometric plane corresponding to the front (initial strike) surface of the strike stratum. More rigid than the strike stratum, the backing stratum is constituted by, e.g., metallic (metal or metal alloy) material or fiber-reinforced polymeric matrix material. Some inventive embodiments also comprise a spall-containment stratum fronting the strike stratum. The inventive ceramic-inclusive elements geometrically describe any of various inventive modes, including: first mode, having a flat front face and a textured back face; second mode, having a pyramidal front section and a prismatoidal (especially, prismoidal, e.g.

Abstract: As the present invention's adaptation process is typically practiced, an observation made by one or more sensing element(s) is classified as being either recognized or unrecognized in the context of a knowledge base. If the observation is classified as being recognized and consistent, then the observation is assimilated into the knowledge base; otherwise, it is not assimilated. If the observation is classified as being unrecognized, then the observation is classified as being uncorroborated in the context of the knowledge base. Prior to being classified as being uncorroborated, the unrecognized observation is categorized in the context of the knowledge base and is associated with an outcome in terms of relationship between/among physical parameters. At the time that corroboration is determined, the observation (originally unrecognized) and its categorization-related and association-related information are assimilated into the knowledge base.

Abstract: A device for imposing a torque load upon rotating machinery comprises a rotary unit and plural electromagnetic units. The rotary unit includes a shaft and conductive disks discretely fastened thereto. Each electromagnetic unit includes a bracket-shaped magnetic core and one or more ferromagnetic pieces discretely fastened thereto. The device's shaft is joined end-to-end to the motor's shaft, permitting integral axial rotation of the device's shaft, the disks and the motor's shaft. Each electromagnetic unit is placed so that the core “brackets” the two extreme disks, while each piece is between two disks. During rotation, a wire (coiled around each core) conducts current of selected amperage so as to generate a magnetic field of sufficient intensity that a magnetic flux circuit is formed through the stationary core and pieces and the rotating disks, resulting in a Lorentz force associated with the magnetic field and eddy currents engendered in the disks.

Abstract: An elongate structure having a magnetostrictive material composition is subjected to tensile stress in the longitudinal-axial direction, thereby generally orienting the magnetization of the elongate structure in the longitudinal-axial direction. Electrical current is conducted through the elongate structure and/or through at least one adjacent elongate conductor, thereby generally orienting the magnetization of the elongate structure in the transverse direction, generally in parallel with the transverse direction of the magnetic field concomitant the conduction of current through the elongate structure. The elongate structure magnetostrictively contracts due to the (generally 90°) repositioning of the magnetization of the elongate structure.

Abstract: The present invention's unique utilization of an electrolytic solution renders more efficient the conduction of electricity between two objects (such as two parts of electrical or electromechanical machinery) in relative motion. According to typical inventive practice, the electrolytic solution is a “strong” electrolytic solution of a “dual-valance” nature, including two compatible solute compounds containing electron donor ions and electron acceptor ions. When inventively implemented at the current collector interface, the electrolytic solution serves to improve current transfer across the interface. During machine operation in which a brush (e.g., fiber brush) slidingly contacts a first machine part while being affixed to a second machine part, the inventive additive represents an auxiliary vehicle for conducting electrical current from one machine part to the other machine part.

Abstract: According to typical practice of an inventive radar system, a switching device is capable of activating a receiver array one at a time so that when a receiver is activated the remaining receivers are inactivated. A switch control circuit is pre-programmed with control logic that is based on the counting of radio pulses that are emitted by a signal generator (for transmission by a transmitter). The control logic dictates, via the switching device, the rapid sequential cycling through of the arrayed receivers so that each receiver is activated for the same prescribed period of time, which corresponds to a pre-programmed number N of emitted radio pulses wherein N=[the number of frequencies in the wave table]×[the number of pulse integrations in the wave table]×[1 polarization or 2 polarizations]. Radio pulse input from the receivers is interleaved in a manner associable with individual receivers.

Abstract: The present invention's vehicle, suitable for being hoisted while carrying people between destinations, is compactable and de-compactable. As typically embodied, the vehicle includes a box-shaped open frame, plural chairs, and a shock-absorbent base. The frame includes a rectangular floor panel, a rectangular ceiling panel, and four posts connecting the floor and ceiling panels. Each post is foldable via a medial hinge to half its unfolded length, and is attached in a hinged manner at its opposite ends to respective corner portions of the floor panel and the ceiling panel. Each chair is mounted on the floor panel and can be folded down to a position adjacent to the top surface of the floor panel using hinges variously connecting chair components including a seat, a chair back, two side safety restraints, and a chair support. The shock-absorbent base is solid or inflatable and is attached beneath the floor panel.

Abstract: The present invention provides a baseline function, viz., a transmission-related parameter (transmission loss, transmission coefficient, etc.) as a function of resistance of a uniformly resistant finitely thin film—which is predicated on the theoretical behavior of electromagnetic radiation passing through a uniformly resistant infinitely thin film. This theoretical behavior is characterized by constancy of the transmission-related parameter for any frequency of the electromagnetic radiation, wherein each resistance value has associated therewith a constant transmission-related parameter. The baseline function is formed by calculating the constant transmission-related parameter value for each of plural resistance values in the theoretical model. The baseline function is correlated with an empirical function, viz.