Circuitry for testing the ability of an intermediate range nuclear instrument to detect and measure a constant current and a periodic current pulse. The invention simulates the resistance and capacitance of the signal connection of a nuclear instrument ion chamber detector and interconnecting cable. An LED flasher/oscillator illuminates an LED at a periodic rate established by a timing capacitor and circuitry internal to the flasher/oscillator. When the LED is on, a periodic current pulse is applied to the instrument. When the LED is off, a constant current is applied. An inductor opposes battery current flow when the LED is on.

A feedthrough bushing for a high voltage diode provides for using compression sealing for all sealing surfaces. A diode assembly includes a central conductor extending through the bushing and a grading ring assembly circumferentially surrounding and coaxial with the central conductor. A flexible conductive plate extends between and compressively seals against the central conductor and the grading ring assembly, wherein the flexibility of the plate allows inner and outer portions of the plate to axially translate for compression sealing against the central conductor and the grading ring assembly, respectively. The inner portion of the plate is bolted to the central conductor for affecting sealing. A compression beam is also bolted to the central conductor and engages the outer portion of the plate to urge the outer portion toward the grading ring assembly to obtain compression sealing therebetween.

The present invention is a method and system for detecting a physical feature of a test piece by detecting a pattern in a signal representing data from inspection of the test piece. The pattern is detected by automated additive decomposition of a digital point-ordered signal which represents the data. The present invention can properly handle a non-periodic signal. A physical parameter of the test piece is measured. A digital point-ordered signal representative of the measured physical parameter is generated. The digital point-ordered signal is decomposed into a baseline signal, a background noise signal, and a peaks/troughs signal. The peaks/troughs from the peaks/troughs signal are located and peaks/troughs information indicating the physical feature of the test piece is output.

A computer implemented information extraction process that locates and identifies eddy current signal features in digital point-ordered signals, said signals representing data from inspection of test materials, by enhancing the signal features relative to signal noise, detecting features of the signals, verifying the location of the signal features that can be known in advance, and outputting information about the identity and location of all detected signal features.

This invention dicloses a method for sintering particulate material (such as silica) with a laser beam to produce amorphous optical thin films on substrates.

This report discusses a selectable fragmentation warhead which is capable of producing a predetermined number of fragments from a metal plate, and accelerating the fragments toward a target. A first explosive located adjacent to the plate is detonated at selected number of points by laser-driven slapper detonators. In one embodiment, a smoother-disk and a second explosive, located adjacent to the first explosive, serve to increase acceleration of the fragments toward a target. The ability to produce a selected number of fragments allows for effective destruction of a chosen target.

Apparatus and method for detecting a chemical substance by exposing an optic fiber having a core and a cladding to the chemical substance so that the chemical substance can be adsorbed onto the surface of the cladding. The optic fiber is coiled inside a container having a pair of valves for controlling the entrance and exit of the substance. Light from a light source is received by one end of the optic fiber, preferably external to the container, and carried by the core of the fiber. Adsorbed substance changes the transmissivity of the fiber as measured by a spectrophotometer at the other end, also preferably external to the container. Hydrogen is detected by the absorption of infrared light carried by an optic fiber with a silica cladding. Since the adsorption is reversible, a sensor according to the present invention can be used repeatedly. Multiple positions in a process system can be monitored using a single container that can be connected to each location to be monitored so that a sample can be obtained for measurement, or, alternatively, containers can be placed near each position and the optic fibers carrying the partially-absorbed light can be multiplexed for rapid sequential reading, by …

A method and apparatus for determining and indicating the flame quality, or efficiency of the air-fuel ratio, in a fixed firing rate heating unit, such as an oil burning furnace, is provided. When the flame brightness falls outside a preset range, the flame quality, or excess air, has changed to the point that the unit should be serviced. The flame quality indicator output is in the form of lights mounted on the front of the unit. A green light indicates that the flame is about in the same condition as when the burner was last serviced. A red light indicates a flame which is either too rich or too lean, and that servicing of the burner is required. At the end of each firing cycle, the flame quality indicator goes into a hold mode which is in effect during the period that the burner remains off. A yellow or amber light indicates that the burner is in the hold mode. In this mode, the flame quality lights indicate the flame condition immediately before the burner turned off. Thus the unit can be viewed when it is off, and the flame condition at the end of the previous firing cycle can …

The invention relates to clean burning of fuel oil with air. More specifically, to a fuel burning combustion head using a low-pressure, high air flow atomizing nozzle so that there will be a complete combustion oil resulting in a minimum emission of pollutants. The inventors have devised a fuel burner that uses a low pressure air atomizing nozzle. The improved fuel burner does not result in the use of additional compressors or the introduction of pressurized gases downstream, nor does it require a complex design.

This invention is comprised of a multi-sensor system for detecting the presence of objects on the surface of the ground or buried just under the surface, such as anti-personnel or anti-tank mines or the like, is disclosed. A remote sensor platform has a plurality of metal detector sensors and a plurality of short pulse radar sensors. The remote sensor platform is remotely controlled from a processing and control unit and signals from the remote sensor platform are sent to the processing and control unit where they are individually evaluated in separate data analysis subprocess steps to obtain a probability ``score`` for each of the pluralities of sensors. These probability scores are combined in a fusion subprocess step by comparing score sets to a probability table which is derived based upon the historical incidence of object present conditions given that score set. A decision making rule is applied to provide an output which is optionally provided to a marker subprocess for controlling a marker device to mark the location of found objects.

A photovoltaic cell used in a direct energy conversion generator for converting heat to electricity includes a reflective layer disposed within the cell between the active layers of the cell and the cell substrate. The reflective layer reflects photons of low energy back to a photon producing emitter for reabsorption by the emitter, or reflects photons with energy greater than the cell bandgap back to the cell active layers for conversion into electricity. The reflective layer can comprise a reflective metal such as gold while the substrate can comprise a heavily doped silicon or a metal.

A method and system for converting the chemical energy of methane to electrical energy. Methane is thermally decomposed to hydrogen and carbon in a decomposing unit at a temperature not less than about 1200{degree}K and at a pressure at least slightly above atmospheric pressure. Carbon and substantially pure oxygen and a cesium or potassium seed material is transmitted to a combustor which is maintained at a pressure of at least about 50 atmospheres to combust the carbon and oxygen and provide an ionized plasma having a temperature not less than about 2900{degree}K. The ionized plasma is accelerated to a velocity not less than about 1000 m/sec and transported through an MHD generator having a magnetic field in the range of from about 4 to about 6 Tesla to generate dc power. The ionized plasma is deaccelerated and passed from the MHD generator in heat exchange relationship with the methane to heat same for decomposition, and thereafter any cesium or potassium seed material is recovered and transported to the combustor, and the dc power from the MHD generator is converted to ac power.

A high-gradient linear accelerator comprises a solid-state stack in a vacuum of five sets of disc-shaped Blumlein modules each having a center hole through which particles are sequentially accelerated. Each Blumlein module is a sandwich of two outer conductive plates that bracket an inner conductive plate positioned between two dielectric plates with different thicknesses and dielectric constants. A third dielectric core in the shape of a hollow cylinder forms a casing down the series of center holes, and it has a dielectric constant different that the two dielectric plates that sandwich the inner conductive plate. In operation, all the inner conductive plates are charged to the same DC potential relative to the outer conductive plates. Next, all the inner conductive plates are simultaneously shorted to the outer conductive plates at the outer diameters. The signal short will propagate to the inner diameters at two different rates in each Blumlein module. A faster wave propagates quicker to the third dielectric core across the dielectric plates with the closer spacing and lower dielectric constant. When the faster wave reaches the inner extents of the outer and inner conductive plates, it reflects back outward and reverses the field in that segment of the …

A purge water management system is described for effectively eliminating the production of purge water when obtaining a groundwater sample from a monitoring well. In its preferred embodiment, the purge water management system comprises an expandable container, a transportation system, and a return system. The purge water management system is connected to a wellhead sampling configuration, typically permanently installed at the well site. A pump, positioned with the monitoring well, pumps groundwater through the transportation system into the expandable container, which expands in direct proportion with volume of groundwater introduced, usually three or four well volumes, yet prevents the groundwater from coming into contact with the oxygen in the air. After this quantity of groundwater has been removed from the well, a sample is taken from a sampling port, after which the groundwater in the expandable container can be returned to the monitoring well through the return system. The purge water management system prevents the purge water from coming in contact with the outside environment, especially oxygen, which might cause the constituents of the groundwater to oxidize. Therefore, by introducing the purge water back into the monitoring well, the necessity of dealing with the purge water as a hazardous waste …

This paper describes an off-gas system for the removal of radioactive particulates from a melter for the vitrification of radioactive wastes to form glass waste forms. A diagram is provided.

An isolation enclosure and a group of isolation enclosures was designed which is useful when a relatively large containment area is required. The enclosure is in the form of a ring having a section removed so that a technician may enter the center area of the ring. in a preferred embodiment, an access zone is located in the transparent wall of the enclosure and extends around the inner perimeter of the ring so that a technician can insert his hands into the enclosure to reach any point within. The inventive enclosures provide more containment area per unit area of floor space than conventional material isolation enclosures.

A free electron laser amplifier provides a scalloping annular electron beam that interacts with the axial electric field of a T{sub 0n} mode. A waveguide defines an axial centerline and . A solenoid arranged about the waveguide produces an axial constant magnetic field within the waveguide. An electron beam source outputs a annular electron beam that interacts with the axial magnetic field to have an equilibrium radius and a ripple radius component having a variable radius with a ripple period along the axial centerline. An rf source outputs an axial electric field that propagates within the waveguide coaxial with the electron beam and has a radial mode that interacts at the electron beam at the equilibrium radius component of the electron beam.

This invention is directed to a process for treating the flow of anaerobic groundwater through an aquifer with a primary treatment media, preferably iron, and then passing the treated groundwater through a second porous media though which an oxygenated gas is passed in order to oxygenate the dissolved primary treatment material and convert it into an insoluble material thereby removing the dissolved primary treatment material from the groundwater.

A nondestructive method, and associated apparatus, are provided for determining the grain flow of the grains in a convex curved, textured polycrystalline surface. The convex, curved surface of a polycrystalline article is aligned in a horizontal x-ray diffractometer and a monochromatic, converging x-ray beam is directed onto the curved surface of the polycrystalline article so that the converging x-ray beam is diffracted by crystallographic planes of the grains in the polycrystalline article. The diffracted x-ray beam is caused to pass through a set of horizontal, parallel slits to limit the height of the beam and thereafter. The linear intensity of the diffracted x-ray is measured, suing a linear position sensitive proportional counter, as a function of position in a direction orthogonal to the counter so as to generate two dimensional data. An image of the grains in the curved surface of the polycrystalline article is provided based on the two-dimensional data.

A triaxial thermopile array geothermal heat flow sensor is designed to measure heat flow in three dimensions in a reconstituted or unperturbed subsurface regime. Heat flow can be measured in conductive or permeable convective media. The sensor may be encased in protective pvc tubing and includes a plurality of thermistors and an array of heat flow transducers produce voltage proportional to heat flux along the subsurface regime and permit direct measurement of heat flow in the subsurface regime. The presence of the thermistor array permits a comparison to be made between the heat flow estimates obtained from the transducers and heat flow calculated using temperature differences and Fourier's Law. The device is extremely sensitive with an accuracy of less than 0.1 Heat Flow Units (HFU) and may be used for long term readings. 6 figs.

This invention consists of an monolithic optical tamper sensor, comprising an optical emitter and detector, connected by an optical waveguide and placed into the critical entry plane of an enclosed sensitive region, the tamper sensor having a myriad of scraps of a material optically absorbent at the wavelength of interest, such that when the absorbent material is in place on the waveguide, an unique optical signature can be recorded, but when entry is attempted into the enclosed sensitive region, the scraps of absorbent material will be displaced and the optical/electrical signature of the tamper sensor will change and that change can be recorded.

A security barrier for placement across a passageway is made up of interconnected pressurized tubing made up in a grid pattern with openings too small to allow passage. The tubing is connected to a pressure switch, located away from the barrier site, which activates an alarm upon occurrence of a pressure drop. A reinforcing bar is located inside and along the length of the tubing so as to cause the tubing to rupture and set off the alarm upon an intruder`s making an attempt to crimp and seal off a portion of the tubing by application of a hydraulic tool. Radial and rectangular grid patterns are disclosed.

A process for fabricating superconducting composite wire by the steps of placing a superconductive precursor admixture capable of undergoing a self propagating combustion in stoichiometric amounts sufficient to form a superconductive product within a metal tube, sealing one end of said tube, igniting said superconductive precursor admixture whereby said superconductive precursor admixture endburns along the length of the admixture, and cross-section reducing said tube at a rate substantially equal to the rate of burning of said superconductive precursor admixture and at a point substantially planar with the burnfront of the superconductive precursor mixture, whereby a clad superconductive product is formed in situ, the product characterized as superconductive without a subsequent sintering stage, is disclosed.

A liquid-liquid extraction method for removing metals and hydrous metal colloids from waste streams is provided wherein said waste streams are contacted with a solvent system containing a water-in-oil microemulsion wherein the inverted micelles contain the extracted metal. A silicon alkoxide, either alone or in combination with other metal alkoxide compounds is added to the water-in-oil microemulsion, thereby allowing encapsulation of the extracted metal within a silicon oxide network. Lastly, the now-encapsulated metal is precipitated from the water-in-oil microemulsion phase to yield aggregates of metal-silicate particles having average. individual particle sizes of approximately 40 manometers.