Hardware Items Research Articles

The Pay-off from Improved Marine Navigational Aids

The Chief Marine Superintendent of BP Tanker Co. and his Electronics Superintendent examine cost–benefit analyses of expenditure on improved navigational aids as part of a broader study which includes a technical appreciation of individual items of hardware and their contribution to the navigational package. It is suggested that the range of modern, and in many cases complex, aids now available needs careful scrutiny before the optimum outfit for a given vessel may be selected. This paper was read at a meeting of the Institute in London on 19 December 1973 with the President in the Chair.

Selection and implementation of a minicomputer system

The problems are discussed of selecting and implementing a minicomputer system, with particular reference to the key stages in the various decision making processes involved. Following a brief description of a typical minicomputer, the range and purpose of the various system inputs and outputs is presented. This leads to discusson of: the function of the system; the type of equipment required to implement that function; the class of minicomputer suited to that requirement; the type of system which should be purchased-i.e. in terms of hardware, software, systems support- with special reference to the individual responsibilities of user and supplier; criteria affecting the choice of supplier; and the particular items of software and hardware which should be bought.

Equipment

Taylor Servomex have recently introduced a comprehensive range of gas chromatographs for routine laboratory applications. The aim of this range of equipment is to bring a high quality of instrumentation and reliability into low cost routine gas chromatographs. Several non‐conventional items of hardware have been included: a small oven, which only contains the essential parts of the gas chromatograph, and does not include expensive motors, heaters and an excess of metal, and flow switching techniques developed in the research laboratories of I.C.I. Petrochemicals Division, thus enabling chromatography to be carried out on quite difficult samples.

Review of Sonic-Boom Simulation Devices and Techniques

Research on aircraft-generated sonic booms has led to the development of special techniques to generate controlled sonic-boom-type disturbances without the complications and expense of supersonic flight operations. This paper contains brief descriptions of several of these techniques along with the significant hardware items involved and indicates the advantages and disadvantages of each in research applications. Included are wind tunnels, ballistic ranges, spark discharges, piston phones, shock tubes, high-speed valve systems, and shaped explosive charges. Specialized applications include sonic-boom generation and propagation studies and the responses of structures, terrain, people, and animals. Situations for which simulators are applicable are shown to include both small-scale and large-scale laboratory tests and full-scale field tests. Although no one approach to simulation is ideal, the various techniques available generally complement each other to provide desired capability for a broad range of sonic-boom studies.

Sonic Boom Simulation Technology

Research on aircraft-generated sonic booms has led to the development of special techniques to generate controlled sonic-boom-type disturbances without the complications and expense of supersonic flight operations. This paper contains brief descriptions of several of these techniques along with the significant hardware items involved and indicates the advantages and disadvantages of each in research applications. Included are wind tunnels, ballistic ranges, spark discharges, piston phones, shock tubes, high-speed valve systems, and shaped explosive charges. Specialized applications include sonic boom generation and propagation studies and the responses of structures, terrain, people, and animals. Situations for which simulators are applicable are shown to include both small-scale and large-scale laboratory tests and full-scale field tests. Although no one approach to simulation is ideal, the various techniques available generally complement each other to provide desired capability for a broad range of sonic boom studies.

Airplane Pre-Delivery Test Policies and System Reliability

The results of a study of pre-delivery reflight practices and subsequent airplane system reliability are presented and discussed. Since the airplane comprises the most complex single end item of hardware in the airplane pilot training system, the paper deals solely with the airplane. The study encompassed records of 33 airplanes delivered over a four month period. It was found that, for the corrective action policy in effect, the number of failures observed during the delivery flight was independent of the number of flights before delivery as well as of the number of failures experienced on the last flight prior to delivery. In addition, the failure rate of these aircraft in the field during the first 50 flight hours after delivery was found to be independent of the number of pre-delivery flights. As an extension of this study, the statistical distribution of airplane failure rates during the second 50 hours of post-delivery service was determined, and is presented. The overall MTBF for the group of aircraft studied was 7.46 hours during these second 50 hour periods.

Highway Risks at Extreme Speeds

IN 1961 there were 800 fatal injuries in highway accidents that didn't occur. They didn't occur because in 1956 automobile manufacturers began installing a new type of door lock on all U.S. cars. In certain accident circumstances where the old door locks failed to hold the door closed, the new door locks did the job. Consequently, instead of being thrown out of the car (with a high risk of a fatal injury), the occupant stayed inside (with a much lower risk of a fatal injury). From the scientific studies of the Automotive Crash Injury Research Program (ACIR) of C,ornell University it is possible to make a reasonably accurate evaluation of the number of lives saved by introduction of the modified door lock (1). It is also possible to determine that the modified door locks were only about 33 percent effective. As a result, further modifications have been made in the door locks going into most U.S. cars. Eventually, it may be possible to prevent some 5,000 deaths on our highways each year by these seemingly minor changes in the design of a single item of hardware (2). If scientific knowledge gained in the past decade were fully utilized, the highway toll could probably be cut in half in the next 10 years (3). As of now, the main task is to apply the scientific findings to the design and construction of U.S. cars. The final decisions as to what safety hardware goes into the assembly line are made by the automobile manufacturers. Safety is not the only consideration since the product must compete for consumer acceptance. Sometimes, as with door locks, these decisions have improved the safety of the product. Other design decisions have tended to swell the highway toll. Delay in translating new scientific knowledge about highway accidents into hardware contributes to 15,000 unnecessary deaths on our highways each year. Extreme speeds have been especially costly in deaths, disabilities, and human suffering. Yet the scientific study of highway accidents associated with extreme speeds could yield results just as positive as those that came from the study of door locks.

Development of Thin Metal Film Corrosion Indicators

Abstract An account is given of the development of visual and electrical corrosion indicators which utilize thin metal films vacuum-deposited on non-metallic substrates. Data are presented showing the behavior of these indicators in corrosive atmospheres. Although the indicators were developed primarily to detect and mark corrosive conditions in packages and storage areas, other possible applications are described briefly. Data reported include comparative corrosion information on electrical cards and buttons in various humid atmospheres, condition of visual and resistance thin film indicators at first sign of corrosion on hardware items, and behavior of polyvinyl resistance card indicators at different sensitizations at 25 C and 60 percent relative humidity. The paper presents the progress of this development program from the feasibility studies through the final development of manufacturing protypes. 3.23

Thin Metal Film Corrosion Indicators

Abstract Tests were made to find a thin metal film which would act as both a visual and electrical corrosion indicator in connection with the packaging of hardware items. Selected for testing purposes were thin, continuous iron films which had been vacuum deposited on borosilicate glass and on Plexiglass 55 in thicknesses ranging from 100 to 2500 Angstroms. Measuring the electrical resistance per inch and computing the resistance per square of the films was a convenient, reasonably accurate method of comparing film thicknesses and determining the progress of corrosion. Early visual detection of corrosion products was not difficult due to change in film characteristics. However, changes in electrical resistance were not great until specimens were moderately corroded. A marked decrease in corrosion occurred when films were too thick or too thin and when Plexiglass 55 was used as a substrate rather than a borosilicate glass. Tests were conducted in atmospheres varying from 0 to 100 percent relative humidity....