178results about How to "Avoid excessive mass" patented technology

An autonomous unmanned space flight system and planetary lander executes a discrete landing sequence including performing an initial velocity braking maneuver to remove velocity at altitude, coasting during which the planet surface is imaged and correlated to reference maps to estimate cross-track and along-track navigation errors and one or more lateral braking maneuvers are performed to reduce cross-track navigation error, and performing a terminal velocity braking maneuver(s) to reduce the along-track braking maneuver and remove the remainder of the velocity just prior to landing. A bi-propellant propulsion system provides a very high T/M ratio, at least 15:1 per nozzle. Short, high T/M divert maneuvers provide the capability to remove cross-track navigation error efficiently up to the maximum resolution of the reference maps. Short, high T/M terminal velocity braking maneuver(s) provide the capability to remove along-track navigation error to a similar resolution and remove the remaining velocity in a very short time window, approximately 3-15 seconds prior to touchdown. The propulsive efficiency frees up mass which can be allocated to a fuel to remove the unknown navigation errors, perform hazard avoidance and/or relocate the lander by flying it to another site or be allocated to additional payload.

A method of forming an article from an alpha-beta titanium including, in weight percentages, from about 2.9 to about 5.0 aluminum, from about 2.0 to about 3.0 vanadium, from about 0.4 to about 2.0 iron, from about 0.2 to about 0.3 oxygen, from about 0.005 to about 0.3 carbon, from about 0.001 to about 0.02 nitrogen, and less than about 0.5 of other elements. The method comprises cold working the alpha-beta titanium alloy.

A method and apparatus relating to a biocompatible soft tissue implant is disclosed. The implant, in the form of a prosthesis, is constructed of a knitted pile mesh material arranged into either a 3-dimensional structure or a planar shape or structure. The material or fabric includes a plurality of filament extensions projecting outwardly therefrom. The filament extensions can be radially projecting looping filaments from one or more rows of the knitted pile mesh material. The combination of the filament extensions with the 3-dimensional structure results in the biocompatible implant having a structural resistance to hinder anticipated crushing forces applied to the implant, and also provide a suitable 3-dimensional structure for promoting rapid tissue in-growth to anchor such implant without migration and strengthen the repaired tissue area.

A vehicle has self-contained, stand-alone flexible displays in a wide variety of locations and serving a wide variety or purposes, such as entertainment, safety warnings, operating instructions, maps, vehicle information, etc. The displays may be positioned on a vehicle interior component having a contoured surface profile, or may be movable from a generally concealed storage position to an extended position. The display may be rolled like a scroll in a storage position. The displays may show a single picture, multiple pictures on sequential frames, interactive videos, etc. and may include audio information, touch screen switches, etc.

A system designs a thin and relatively flat microwave focusing lens that can produce multiple simultaneous beams, using readily-available isotropic dielectric materials, and having a gradient-index (GRIN) profile. The design optimizes the lens to achieve beam scanning and/or multiple beams over a wide field of regard (FOR) with broad bandwidth and a very short focal length compared with conventional lenses. The lens can be used individually or as an element in a more complex antenna having multiple lenses in various orientations that are independently switched, selected and/or excited simultaneously as elements in a phased array. The antenna terminal incorporates such lens into an array of lenses along with one or more feeds to produce single or multiple beams covering a broad field of regard for such applications as satellite communications on-the-move, cellular, broadband point-point or point-multipoint and other terrestrial or satellite communications systems. The lens and array design support multiple simultaneous independently steerable beams as well as null placement for interference cancellation.

According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for operating a multicopter experiencing a failure during flight, the multicopter comprising a body, and at least four effectors attached to the body, each operable to produce both a torque and a thrust force which can cause the multicopter to fly when not experiencing said failure. The method may comprise the step of identifying a failure wherein the failure affects the torque and/or thrust force produced by an effector, and in response to identifying a failure carrying out the following steps, (1) computing an estimate of the orientation of a primary axis of said body with respect to a predefined reference frame, wherein said primary axis is an axis about which said multicopter rotates when flying, (2) computing an estimate of the angular velocity of said multicopter, (3) controlling one or more of said at least four effectors based on said estimate of the orientation of the primary axis of said body with respect to said predefined reference frame and said estimate of the angular velocity of the multicopter. The step of controlling one or more of said at least four effectors may be performed such that (a) said one or more effectors collectively produce a torque along said primary axis and a torque perpendicular to said primary axis, wherein (i) the torque along said primary axis causes said multicopter to rotate about said primary axis, and (ii) the torque perpendicular to said primary axis causes said multicopter to move such that the orientation of said primary axis converges to a target orientation with respect to said predefined reference frame, and (b) such that said one or more effectors individually produce a thrust force along said primary axis.

A lens is provided for use with a solid-state light-emitting device, typically a light-emitting diode. The lens may be used in luminaries for roadway lighting and other applications. In one embodiment the lens includes a conical structure proximate the light-emitting source of the light-emitting device.

The present invention is directed to a micro-pleated medical device assembly, preferably a micro-pleated stent assembly, comprising a tube micro-pleated to a delivery diameter suitable for intraluminal delivery. The micro-pleated stent assembly of the present invention is designed to have a substantially solid wall, and is thus particularly suited for the treatment of neurovascular aneurysms, having the ability to block the neck of an aneurysm. Sections of the micro-pleated stent may be selected for expansion to variable diameters in order to optimally fit the configuration of the vessel.

A powdered magnetic material stator core with embedded stator windings and a method for its manufacture. Embedding the windings within a radially compacted powdered magnetic material stator core enables equivalent or better electromagnetic performance in a significantly reduced size. Radial compaction of the powdered magnetic material minimizes the distortion of the stator windings during compaction.

The present invention is directed generally to a nebulizer for the formation of micro-droplets from liquid medicaments for respiratory patient treatment, and more specifically, to a baffled nebulizer wherein a static baffle used to form an atomized medicament is proximal to a shied which responds to patient respiration force to oscillate from an aerosol flow occluding position to an aerosol flow open position. During inhalation, the shield moves into a first registration format to allow passage of the atomized medicament (nebula) to the patient. During exhalation/non-use, a biasing pressure maintains said shield in a second registration format such that the nebula is retarded from passing to the patient and is coalesced into macro-droplets which return to a supply reservoir for re-atomization. The present nebulizer design is particularly adaptable for controlling atomization in response to patient respiratory forces exceeding a defined threshold; allowing for opportunity to control inhalation airflow and enhanced therapy regimes.

A firearms training simulator provides recoil simulating the recoil of a conventional firearm. The valve assembly provides consistent rearward gas pressure for generating recoil. Preferred embodiments of the firearms training simulator may include a means for adjusting the amount of recoil provided. A trigger mechanism permitting semi-automatic operation, or full automatic operation at a user selectable cyclic rate, is provided. The firearms training simulator further provides a laser emitter structured to emit a laser substantially along the same path as a bullet fired from a conventional firearm having the same configuration as the simulator.

An improved rotary servovalve system employs a rotary magnetic solenoid having an armature that includes at least one permanent magnet. The armature is rotatable relative to a stator formed as an electromagnet which is energizable to create alternative electromagnetic fields having opposite polarities from each other. When deenergized, the stator allows the armature to return to a neutral, null position from positions of extreme rotation in opposite angular directions due to the magnetic force of the permanent magnet of the armature. The armature is coupled to carry a movable valve element in angular rotation therewith, so that flow through the servovalve of the system can occur in alternative directions. Also, the valve element is biased toward a position in which all of the valve ports are closed when power is removed from the rotary solenoid. The control circuit employed in the rotary servovalve system expands the bandwidth of response of the solenoid actuator by compensating for frequency variations in the input command signal and in the feedback signal. This compensation is achieved utilizing a combined proportional, integral, and differential amplification circuit. Also, imbalance of fluid forces within the servovalve mechanism can be avoided by utilizing a pair of inlet orifices, a pair of outlet orifices, a pair of first fluid control orifices, and a pair of second fluid control orifices. The orifices within each pair are located on opposite sides of the valve housing from each other.

Some embodiments of the present invention are directed to a brake rotor which may include a central mounting portion for mounting the brake rotor on a hub, a first annular braking surface and a second annular braking surface, where each braking surface includes an inner diameter and an outer diameter, a bridge provided between the central mounting portion and the inner diameter of at least one of the first and the annular braking surfaces and a plurality of ribs positioned proximate to the bridge.

An integrated inertial stellar attitude sensor for an aerospace vehicle includes a star camera system, a gyroscope system, a controller system for synchronously integrating an output of said star camera system and an output of said gyroscope system into a stream of data, and a flight computer responsive to said stream of data for determining from the star camera system output and the gyroscope system output the attitude of the aerospace vehicle.

The expansion machine flowrate of a vapor compression system is regulated to directly control the supercritical pressure in the high pressure component of the transcritical system. The expansion machine is directly linked to a recompressor which recompresses the vapor phase of the expanded flow. By controlling the flowrate of the recompressor with a first valve, the flowrate of the expansion machine can be controlled to control the massflow rate through the expansion machine and therefore the high pressure of the system.

The present invention provides for the manipulation of carbon flux in a recombinant host cell to increase the formation of desirable products. The invention relates to cellulose-digesting organisms that have been genetically modified to allow the production of ethanol at a high yield by redirecting carbon flux at key steps of central metabolism.

Methods and apparatus of sealing bottles with Roll-on Pilfer Proof (ROPP) closures and providing tamper evidence are provided. More specifically, the present invention relates to novel ROPP closures that may be used to seal a bottle shaped container which can subsequently receive a tamper evidence device. The bottle can have a neck portion formed without a skirt portion. Optionally, the bottle can include an annular ring. The ROPP closure generally includes a body portion. In one embodiment, the body portion has a curl. A tamper evidence device can be applied to a bottle sealed with a ROPP closure by a capping apparatus. The tamper evidence device may be visually altered when the ROPP closure is rotated in an opening direction. In one embodiment, the ROPP closure cannot be rotated while the tamper evidence device is associated with the bottle. In another embodiment, the tamper evidence device includes at least one protrusion which extends inwardly at least partially into the bottle annular ring.

The present invention relates to cylindrical rotating electric machines which comprise armature and field source, with either the field source or the dual armature being the rotating component. The dual armature is composed of two concentric cylindrical sets of coils with the field source situated in the gap between the inner and outer armature sections. Relative rotational motion between the field source and armature coils can be achieved by having either one be the rotor. By using two armature coil sections, one inside the field source aperture and the other external to the field source, the flux linkage between the armature and field source can be approximately doubled. The increased flux linkage in the invented technology produces a substantially higher power density than can be obtained with conventional machine technology.

A turbine wheel for a radial turbine includes a rotationally symmetrical base plate and a flow chamber delimited by a hub disk and a cover disk, wherein the flow chamber connects an axial inner opening to a radial outer opening and is subdivided by turbine blades into flow channels. In a method for producing such a turbine wheel, the hub disk, the turbine blades and the cover disk are integrally formed on the base plate using additive production methods.