Thin-film Li-LiMn2O4 batteries

Thin-film rechargeable Li-LiMn₂O₄ batteries have been fabricated and characterized. Following deposition by electron beam evaporation of LiMn₂O₄, the amorphous as-deposited cathode films 1 cm² in area by 0.3to 4-μm thick were annealed at 700°C to 800°C in oxygen in order to form the crystalline spinet phase. The specific capacity of the cells between 4.5 V to 3.8 V ranged from 50 μAh/mg to 120 μAh/mg. When cycled over this range, the batteries exhibited excellent secondary performance with capacity losses as low as 0.001% per cycle. On charging to 5.3 V, a plateau with a median voltage of 5.1 V was observed. The total charge extracted between 3.8 V to 5.3 V corresponded to about 1 Li/Mn₂ O₄     

High reliability lithium rechargeable batteries for specialties

Since their development in the late 1980s, lithium rechargeable batteries have enjoyed rapid growth and wide use as a commodity battery known for its higher energy density storage and lightweight convenience. These same attributes are emerging as a strong platform in power source development for the medical and aerospace sectors with highly customized applications and narrowly defined criteria. Accordingly, this new generation of lithium rechargeables must be hermetically sealed, have long-term storage capability, and zero-fault tolerances for common causes of field failures such as electrolyte leakage or short circuits from mechanical deformation. Quallion has been developing and manufacturing highly reliable lithium rechargeable cells for medical, aerospace, and specialty applications. Summarized in this paper are some key technologies developed at Quallion for designing and manufacturing of this new class of lithium rechargeable batteries. They include: 1) leakage reliability; 2) self-extinguishing electrolyte system; 3) mechanical impact resistance; 4) deep discharge storage; and 5) high reliability manufacturing.     

Prismatic lithium-ion batteries

Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries have demonstrated the ability to fulfill the energy storage needs of many new technologies. The most significant drawbacks of currently available technologies, such as LiCoO ₂ based Li-ion cells, is their high cost and significant environmental hazards. Li-ion cells which use a lithium manganese oxide (LiMn₂O₄) spinel based cathode material should be much less costly and safer than LiCoO₂ based cells. Performance data from prismatic design cells which use a LiMn₂O₄ based cathode material is presented and shown to meet many military performance criteria. The most significant drawback of this technology is the short cycle life     

异常值和未知观测噪声鲁棒的非线性滤波器

针对含异常观测值的非线性系统滤波问题,以Huber损失函数替代推导滤波器最大后验准则中观测误差的l₂范数,构造出了一种新的优化准则函数,从而给出了一种对异常值鲁棒的非线性后验线性化滤波器。分析表明：由于Huber损失函数兼具l₁和l₂范数的性质,从而使得由这个新准则推导出的滤波器,不仅具有l₂范数的低误差拟合性,也具备l₁范数对异常值的鲁棒性。而当观测噪声的分布未知时,通过引入箱线图法检测异常值,并对噪声统计分布的参数进行估计,进一步提出了对异常值和未知观测噪声分布鲁棒的非线性后验线性化滤波器。仿真实验验证了分析结果的有效性,并表明本文算法的性能优于现有文献报道的非线性滤波算法。     

Lightweight (AlGaAs)GaAs/CuInSe2 tandem junction solarcells for space applications

Mechanically stacked tandem cells consisting of GaAs thin-film upper cells and CuInSe₂ thin-film lower cells have been developed to meet the increasing power needs projected for future spacecraft. The authors report the fabrication of the first highly efficient lightweight GaAs/CuInSe₂ tandem cell on a 2-mil thick substrate, update recent performance improvements in thin-film GaAs/CuInSe₂ tandem cells, and discuss their application to space power systems. The efficiency of 4-cm² cells has improved to 21.6% AM0, the highest ever reported for a thin-film photovoltaic cell. Lightweight 4-cm² tandem cells have been successfully fabricated with efficiencies as high as 20.8%. These cells weighed about 180 mg without optimized substrate trimming. Radiation and operating temperature effects on GaAs/CuInSe₂ tandem cells are also discussed, and an interconnect scheme to form a voltage-matched string is described     

9th Annual Battery Conference on Advances and Applications

The developments in batteries reported at the 8th Annual Battery Conference on Advances and Applications, are discussed. It was sponsored by the electrical engineering department of California state university, long beach, CA, with IEEE-AESS cooperation. Previous well-funded battery research had been directed toward getting low weight in spacecraft batteries, which had to be boosted into orbit with expensive rockets. Ni-H₂ batteries, even though costly, won the race. Their demonstrated life, like 30,000 charge-discharge cycles, gives an earth-orbiting satellite decades of usable life. Other types of batteries discussed are: aircraft batteries; electric vehicle batteries; Ni-Cd cells; Zn-Br batteries; industrial Pb-acid batteries; rechargeability; computer controlled charging; and small rechargeable and primary batteries     

含稀土TiCx增强钛基激光熔覆层组织与耐磨性

采用同轴送粉激光熔覆技术在Ti6Al4V合金表面成功制备了含稀土CeO₂的碳化钛增强钛基激光熔覆层。运用渗透探伤、光学显微镜、X射线衍射仪、扫描电镜、能谱分析仪、电子探针、显微硬度计、摩擦磨损试验机等分析和测试方法研究了碳化钛增强钛基激光熔覆层的成形质量、微观组织、元素分布、硬度和摩擦磨损性能。结果表明,涂层内无裂纹缺陷,仅在层间过渡区分布有少量气孔（孔隙率为1.65%）。涂层中物相主要包括富Ti、Cr元素的β固溶体（CrTi₄）、缺位型碳化钛（TiC_x）和稀土氧化物（CeO₂）。熔覆层各微区的碳化钛形貌存在显著差异,熔覆层顶部和中部区域呈发达树枝晶状和针状,而结合区由针状和小尺寸不发达枝晶组成。碳化钛枝晶中碳元素分布不均匀,一次枝晶含碳量高于二次枝晶。基体相中Ni和Cr元素呈现明显偏析,而Al和V元素分布相对均匀。此外,稀土氧化物CeO₂主要分布于TiC_x与CrTi₄相界以及CrTi₄晶粒边界处。与基材相比,尽管TiC_x增强钛基复合涂层具有较高的摩擦系数,但其耐磨性显著增加（提高近52%）。熔覆层和基材磨损机制均为黏着磨损和磨粒磨损的复合磨损模式,但熔覆层的磨损程度较轻。     

Five-year update: nickel hydrogen industry survey

A 1984 survey of the nickel hydrogen (NiH₂) battery industry is updated. Late 1980s and early 1990s issues are identified, and usage and testing results of the survey are summarized. NiH₂ is the system of choice for new geosynchronous-earth-orbit (GEO) satellites and is being seriously considered for low-earth-orbit (LEO) applications. In five years, the annual cell production rate has doubled from approximately 1000 to 2000 cells. A number of cells under test have exceeded 20000 cycles at 40% DOD in LEO regimes, while other cells have achieved over 35 seasons in accelerated GEO regimes. The LEO database clearly indicates that NiH₂ performance is at least as good as the best conventional nickel-cadmium performance demonstrated under test     

LMI approach to the mixed H2/H∞filtering design for discrete-time uncertain systems

The problem of full-order robust filtering design for discrete-time uncertain linear systems is addressed. The uncertain parameters are assumed to belong to convex bounded domains (polytope type uncertainty). The main purpose is to design a stable linear filter such that the filtering error output signal remains bounded. For that, the parameterization of all linear filters assuring quadratic stability with an H_∞ attenuation constraint to the filtering error system is provided in terms of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Then, through the definition of an auxiliary cost, an upper bound to the filtering error variance is minimized, providing a mixed H₂/H _∞ guaranteed cost filtering design. Standard optimization procedures with global convergence assured can be used to solve the problem, as illustrated by an example     

PIP工艺制备SiC晶须增强SiCf/SiC复合材料的性能

以不同界面层厚度的SiC纤维为增强相,采用先驱体浸渍裂解工艺(PIP)制备SiC_f(PyC)/SiC复合材料,并在复合材料基体中引入SiC晶须,对其性能进行研究。结果表明:热解碳(PyC)界面层厚度约为230 nm时,SiC纤维拔出明显,SiC_f/SiC复合材料拉伸强度、弯曲强度和断裂韧度分别达到192.3 MPa、446.9 MPa和11.4 MPa?m^1/2;在SiC_f/SiC复合材料基体中引入SiC晶须后,晶须的拔出、桥连及裂纹偏转等增韧机制增加了裂纹在基体中传递时的能量消耗,使复合材料的断裂韧度和弯曲强度分别提高了22.9%和9.1%。     

样本量为2的极小样本相容性检验方法

在航空航天领域由于成本、时间周期等原因进行疲劳寿命及可靠性评估时样本量通常极少（m=1或2）,利用相容性检验方法可对样本量进行扩充。常规的Wilcoxon秩和检验和K-S（Kolmogorov-Smirnov）检验适用于小样本情形,而极小样本相容性检验方面研究较少,且缺乏对方法合理性的详细说明和对不同方法检验功效优劣的比较。航空航天产品疲劳寿命多服从正态分布,因此本文主要以正态分布作为研究对象。利用Monte Carlo仿真发现从某一正态分布N（μ,σ²）中随机抽取两个样本x₁、x₂计算均值μ₁和标准差σ₁后构建新正态分布N（μ₁,σ₁²）,其±σ₁、±2σ₁和±3σ₁范围内的点落在原正态分布N（μ,σ²）±3σ范围内的概率依次为99.80%、98.13%和97.37%。在此基础上针对现场试验数据样本量为2的情况,本文提出利用3σ原则对先验信息数据进行相容性检验从而扩充样本量的方法。将该方法与两种文献方法对比后发现其误差率明显更低并呈现出检验性能随先验数据增加而不断提高的优势。     

Status of the Air Force nickel hydrogen low earth orbit life test

The US Air Force NiH₂ LEO (low earth orbit) life test consists of 200 cells undergoing real-time LEO cycling, pulse discharge testing, and storage testing. To date, three of the program's four objectives have been met: NiH₂ performance in LEO applications has been demonstrated. A significant number of cells have completed more than 20,000 cycles at 40% DOD. A database for cells of both 3.5 in. and 4.5 in. diameter has been generated. There have been no indications of any performance problems related to scaling up in terms of cell size. Initial data on the pulse discharge performance of a small number of cells has been demonstrated. Concerning the goal of achieving 20,000 cycles at 60% DOD, the data are mixed. Overall, it appears highly unlikely that cell designs such as those currently in the US Air Force test can achieve 20,000 cycles at 60%     

Scaling of advanced power systems

Parts of a study conducted to examine state-of-the-art power systems applicable to future military spacecraft are summarized. The study focused on burst-mode megawatt-class CW power, such as might be applied to SDIO directed energy systems, but lower-power, continuous-duty subsystems were included in less detail. A set of simple mass and volume algorithms has been developed to approximate several prime systems, and these were incorporated into a Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet. Among the power subsystems included in that study were primary batteries, alkaline primary fuel cells, and combustion turbogenerators. These systems, which are the most likely candidates for mobile battlefield power, are described     

Sm2Zr2O7基热障涂层材料研究现状

由于航空发动机不断向高效率、高推重比方向发展,发动机热端部件表面热障涂层的服役条件也越来越苛刻。稀土锆酸盐作为新型热障涂层材料,其开发和应用受到越来越多国内外学者的关注。Sm₂Zr₂O₇材料在一系列稀土锆酸盐中具有烧绿石结构稳定、低热导率和高热膨胀系数等优点,具有良好的应用前景。为满足热障涂层更高的服役要求,Sm₂Zr₂O₇的掺杂改性及性能研究也成为了研究热点。首先,对热障涂层材料进行了简要概述,然后就Sm₂Zr₂O₇基陶瓷材料及其涂层的晶体结构、热物理性能、力学性能以及抗腐蚀性能等的研究进展进行了详细的介绍,为该材料在热障涂层领域的研究及应用提供参考。     

钛基稀土激光熔覆层组织细化机制及性能

采用通快TruDisk 4002光纤激光器在TC4合金表面分别制备了0wt% Y₂O₃和3wt% Y₂O₃的TC4+Ni45+Co-WC钛基耐磨复合涂层。利用XRD、SEM、EDS、EPMA、显微硬度计和摩擦磨损试验机等分析了涂层组织、显微硬度和摩擦学性能。结果表明，两种涂层表面均无裂纹孔隙等缺陷，且生成相一致，主要包括TiC、TiB₂、Ti₂Ni、WC和α-Ti；0wt% Y₂O₃涂层组织存在明显偏析，析出相尺寸粗大且方向性明显；3wt% Y₂O₃涂层组织呈均匀弥散状态分布，细化特征明显；经Bramfitt二维点阵错配度计算，（100）_Y2O3和（100）_Ti2Ni、（111）_Y2O3和（110）_TiC、（110）_Y2O3和（1010）_TiB2间的错配度分别为5.75%、6.72%和10.10%，Y₂O₃作为异质形核核心对Ti₂Ni、TiC和TiB₂的细化能力依次为Ti₂Ni > TiC > TiB₂；0wt% Y₂O₃和3wt% Y₂O₃涂层显微硬度分别为600~630 HV_0.5和470~480 HV_0.5，较基材分别提高了约62%和26%；3wt% Y₂O₃涂层耐磨减摩性最优，其磨损体积和摩擦系数较0wt% Y₂O₃涂层分别下降了约47.8%和5.0%，磨损机制主要为磨粒磨损。     

Parametric Rao Test for Multichannel Adaptive Signal Detection

The parametric Rao test for a multichannel adaptive signal detection problem is derived by modeling the disturbance signal as a multichannel autoregressive (AR) process. Interestingly, the parametric Rao test takes a form identical to that of the recently introduced parametric adaptive matched filter (PAMF) detector for space-time adaptive processing (STAP) in airborne surveillance radar systems and other similar applications. The equivalence offers new insights into the performance and implementation of the PAMF detector. Specifically, the Rao/PAMF detector is asymptotically (for large samples) a parametric generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT), due to an asymptotic equivalence between the Rao test and the GLRT. The asymptotic distribution of the Rao test statistic is obtained in closed form, which follows an exponential distribution under the null hypothesis H ₀ and, respectively, a noncentral Chi-squared distribution with two degrees of freedom under the alternative hypothesis H ₁. The noncentrality parameter of the noncentral Chi-squared distribution is determined by the output signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) of a temporal whitening filter. Since the asymptotic distribution under H ₀ is independent of the unknown parameters, the Rao/PAMF asymptotically achieves constant false alarm rate (CFAR). Numerical results show that these results are accurate in predicting the performance of the parametric Rao/PAMF detector even with moderate data support.     

Application of nonlinear filtering to navigation system designusing passive sensors

The problem of navigation system design for autonomous aircraft landing is addressed. New nonlinear filter structures are introduced to estimate the position and velocity of an aircraft with respect to a possibly moving landing site, such as a naval vessel, based on measurements provided by airborne vision and inertial sensors. By exploring the geometry of the navigation problem, the navigation filter dynamics are cast in the framework of linear parametrically varying systems (LPVs). Using this set-up, filter performance and stability are studied in an H_∞ setting by resorting to the theory of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). The design of nonlinear, regionally stable filters to meet adequate H_∞ performance measures is thus converted into that of determining the feasibility of a related set of LMIs and finding a solution to them, if it exists. This is done by using-widely available numerical tools that borrow from convex optimization techniques. The mathematical framework that is required for integrated vision/inertial navigation system design is developed and a design example for an air vehicle landing on an aircraft carrier is detailed     

Sealed nickel cadmium and nickel metal hydride cell advances

Nickel cadmium cells have almost doubled in capacity since 1980 after being stagnated in performance for twenty years. Nickel metal hydride cells, introduced in 1992, have shown a 170 percent increase in energy density to be competitive on a volume basis with lithium ion. Other characteristics, such as charge retention, charge rate, high temperature operation, and rate capability have also advanced with improvements in materials and constructions. These two cell types account for roughly one half of the value of the small secondary battery market     

TiC-TiB2复合相钛基稀土激光熔覆层组织与性能

采用通快同轴送粉4002光纤激光器,在TC4表面熔覆制备了不同含量Y₂O₃的TC4+Ni45+Co-WC+Y₂O₃钛基复合耐磨涂层。采用XRD、SEM、EDS、EPMA测试研究了涂层微观组织,利用显微硬度计、摩擦磨损实验机和白光轮廓仪分析评价了涂层的显微硬度和摩擦学性能。结果表明,涂层生成相不随Y₂O₃含量变化而改变,主要包括Ti₂Ni、TiC、TiB₂以及α-Ti;未添加Y₂O₃涂层,生成相尺寸粗大,方向性明显;随着Y₂O₃的加入,涂层组织逐步细化,生成相方向性减弱;当Y₂O₃为3wt%时,涂层析出相以颗粒和短棒状相为主,合成了大量TiC-TiB₂依附生长复合相,经二维点阵错配度计算,TiB₂（0001）与TiC （111）错配度δ为0.912%,TiC与TiB₂形成了共格界面,可有效增加涂层组织分布均匀性;Y₂O₃含量为0wt%、1wt%和3wt%时,涂层显微硬度逐渐减小,磨损体积先增大后减小,摩擦系数逐渐降低;在TiC-TiB₂复合相的作用下,3wt% Y₂O₃涂层的耐磨、减摩性最优,涂层磨损机理为磨粒磨损。     

Disturbance estimation and compensation in linear systems

Discrete-time estimation and compensation are discussed as a solution to the problems encountered when disturbances are present and degrade the performance of continuous automatic control systems. The method described, under a mild set of conditions, allows the designer to locate the closed-loop system poles substantially anywhere and provide disturbance rejection as large as desired by increasing the dimensions of the disturbance estimator. This estimation/compensation scheme results in a gain characteristic, below some frequency (ω_c ), with a slope of q×20 dB/decade. The value of q and ω_c can be chosen by the designer, within the physical limitations of the problem, so that the system error resulting from either deterministic or stochastic disturbances is sufficiently reduced. The method has been investigated for use with known linear, time-invariant systems