Pallets are widely used to efficiently store and handle goods and are often subjected to bending and impact loads. The consequences of structural failure of a loaded pallet can include loss of goods, increased labor and equipment costs, and possible severe or fatal injury to humans. - The pallet industry, which annually consumes nearly 20% of all lumber manufactured in the United States, recognized a need for a rational design methodology, based upon engineering principles, to ensure consistent safety and economy in pallets of any geometry. To satisfy this need a cooperative research project between Virginia Tech, the U. S. Forest Service, and the National Wooden Pallet and Container Association was established. The objective of the project was to develop methods to design pallets for strength, stiffness, and durability. A primary expected benefit of the design methodology is to allow comparison of different pallet designs on a performance basis, without the need for extensive physical testing. This dissertation presents the results of this cooperative research project. The developed methodology was computerized (Pallet Design System (PDS)) and is intended to allow pallet manufactures to obtain estimates of the maximum safe load capacity or the member dimensions required to resist known loads. Additionally, the program produces estimates of the durability and cost-per-use for pallets in specific service environments. PDS is limited in scope to pallets with up to four stringers and a maximum of 15 deckboards. Five different load types and four support modes can be analyzed. These include uniformly distributed and concentrated loads, and racked, stacked, and sling support modes. The techniques for estimating the strength and stiffness are based on matrix structural analysis and classical beam theory. The deckboard-stringer joints are modeled as spring elements, the stiffness of which are based upon characteristics of the fastener. Most fasteners commonly used in pallet construction (i.e. threaded nails or staples) can be analyzed. A probabilistic design technique based on mean value methods was applied in PDS to ensure safety in the resulting designs. The safety index was calibrated to pallet designs associated with warehouse load data. The physical properties of the material are estimated using either a modified clear-wood property approach (ASTM D-245 method), or in·graded testing of pallet lumber. The durability estimates are based upon studies of field data and economic analysis. / Ph. D.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1979 B59 / Master of Science

ITC/USA 2006 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Second Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 23-26, 2006 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, California / A novel Automation System for the Flight Test Laboratory (SALEV) is developed in full compliance with EA-4/02 Standard (i.e. Expression of the Uncertainty of Measurement in Calibration) to compute the uncertainty of the measurement at the calibration laboratory of the Flight Tests Group (GEEV). The GEEV performs flight test campaigns to certificate and/or develop aircrafts and its systems. Then, flight tests instrumentation (FTI) systems are developed and installed in the test bed. The FTI data acquisition complies with IRIG Standard. The FTI is composed by a data acquisition system, which performs signal conditioning, sampling and quantization of all measurements provided by a set of transducers. All parameters are coded in a PCM format and represented in a non-dimensional numerical form (i.e. counts).To allow the establishment of a relation between the non-dimensional form and the physical quantity, a calibration process is carried out to provide the coefficients of a calibration curve. This process is also used to determine the systematic and random errors (i.e. the uncertainty). The accuracy and reliability of calibration process should comply with the requirements, which are customized for each flight test campaign. The satisfactory performance of the SALEV calibration process is achieved by automation in all steps. The SALEV development is presented, which includes the following steps: · Database definition; · Study of all steps and parts that forms the calibration process (i.e. from transducer to final uncertainty determination) to determine its associated uncertainties; · Automation of the entire calibration process (including the process itself up to the effective control of standard and instruments); · Development of algorithms to compute the uncertainty compliant with EA 4/02; and · System validation in compliance with ISO/IEC 17025. As result of the SALEV operation, it could be verified that measurement quality was improved, and the required time for calibration was substantially reduced. Also the standardization of this process allows failures forecast due to aging of systems parameters (i.e. bias).

ITC/USA 2006 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Second Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 23-26, 2006 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, California / Today Ranges are faced with the typical dilemma of doing more with less—less money, less time, and less experienced range personnel. Meanwhile, Ranges are being forced to make their operations more efficient in use of time, money, and functionality. As a result, Ranges are looking for automated ways to remotely configure and operate their tracking stations and to provide interoperability between ranges, sites, and equipment. RT Logic worked with numerous range operators and equipment vendors to create an open software architecture that provides rapid device configuration, equipment status at a glance, and automatic fault detection and isolation. RT Logic’s architecture utilizes the CORBA specification to achieve extensibility and scalability for future range requirements. Adoption of this architecture and approach will reduce costs, time, and mistakes.

ITC/USA 2007 Conference Proceedings / The Forty-Third Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 22-25, 2007 / Riviera Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Imagine that a test vehicle has just arrived at your test facility and that it is fully instrumented with sensors and a data acquisition system (DAS). Imagine that a test engineer logs onto the vehicle’s DAS, submits a list of data requirements, and the DAS automatically configures itself to meet those data requirements. Imagine that the control room then contacts the DAS, downloads the configuration, and coordinates its own configuration with the vehicle’s setup. Imagine all of this done with no more human interaction than the original test engineer’s request. How close to this imaginary scenario is the instrumentation community? We’re not there yet, but through a variety of efforts, we are headed towards this fully automated scenario. This paper outlines the current status, current projects, and some missing pieces in the journey towards this end. This journey includes standards development in the Range Commander’s Council (RCC), smart sensor standards development through the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts, efforts by the integrated Network Enhanced Telemetry (iNET) project, and other projects involved in reaching this goal.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 28-31, 1996 / Town and Country Hotel and Convention Center, San Diego, California / The Integrated Monitoring and Control COTS System (IMACCS) was developed as a proof-of-concept to show that commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products could be integrated to provide spacecraft ground support faster and cheaper than current practices. A key component of IMACCS is the Altair Mission Control System (AMCS), one of several commercial packages available for satellite command and control. It is distinguished from otherwise similar tools by its implementation of Finite State Modeling as part of its expert system capability. Using the Finite State Modeling and State Transition capabilities of the ALTAIR Mission Control System (AMCS), IMACCS was enhanced to provide automated monitoring, routine pass support, anomaly resolution, and emergency "lights on again" response. Orbit determination and production of typical flight dynamics products, such as acquisition times and vectors, have also been automated.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 28-31, 1996 / Town and Country Hotel and Convention Center, San Diego, California / The Integrated Monitoring, Analysis, and Control COTS System (IMACCS), a system providing real time satellite command and telemetry support, orbit and attitude determination, events prediction, and data trending, was implemented in 90 days at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in 1995. This paper describes upgrades made to the original commercial, off-the-shelf (COTS)-based prototype. These upgrades include automation capability and spacecraft Integration and Testing (I&T) capability. A further extension to the prototype is the establishment of a direct RF interface to a spacecraft. As with the original prototype, all of these enhancements required lower staffing levels and reduced schedules compared to custom system development approaches. The team's approach to system development, including taking advantage of COTS and legacy software, is also described.

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 27-30, 1997 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / Caterpillar Inc. has been testing construction and mining equipment using Computerized Analysis Vans for two decades. During our latest van upgrade, we chose to move to PCM/FM from FM/FM mainly to increase the channel count. We also replaced our old signal conditioning that used span and balance potentiometers with computer programmable signal conditioning. This new signal conditioning requires that the gain and balance point be calculated for every channel on each test. The formulas for these calculations depend on the sensor, the signal conditioning card used, and the test requirements. Due to the number and variety of machines tested at the Caterpillar Proving Grounds, these calculations needed to be automated. Using a few initial parameters and the information from our sensor calibration database, each channel’s balance point, gain, and expected slope are calculated. This system has increased productivity, accuracy, and consistency over manually calculating these parameters. This paper covers the sensor database, the calculated parameters and an overview of the way the system works.

published_or_final_version / Business Administration / Master / Master of Business Administration

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Science in Information Technology in Education