Westinghouse Electric

About: Westinghouse Electric is a company organization based out in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Brake & Circuit breaker. The organization has 27959 authors who have published 38036 publications receiving 523387 citations.

Superconductivity in Germanium Telluride

Abstract: Changes in susceptibility of GeTe with temperature and sample composition are shown in transition curves for four pressed and sintered samples. Measurements show that GeTe becomes superconductivity in the predicted tempernture range. A plot of the transition temperatures as a function of the carrier concentration is also shown. (L.B.S.)

Electrical circuit breaker operating handle block

Abstract: Apparatus is provided for an electrical circuit breaker for preventing the handle thereof from being moved to the OFF position when the electrical contacts of the circuit breaker are welded closed. This apparatus mechanically limits the travel of the operating handle so that it may not be moved to the OFF position when the electrical contacts are closed. This restrictor apparatus as it is called is mechanically connected to, but out of direct contact with the handle arm of the circuit breaker. The mechanical linkage between the operating handle and the contact arm of the circuit breaker includes a projection. During the foregoing condition, the projection will interact with a crossbar assembly for the contact arm of the circuit breaker. If an attempt is made to move the handle to the OFF position while the contacts remain welded closed, the crossbar assembly is oriented with respect to the path of travel of the projection to prevent the projection from movement past the crossbar assembly and thus to prevent movement of the handle to the OFF position. If, however, the contacts are open as an attempt is made to move the handle to the OFF position, the crossbar assembly will become disposed differently relative to the path of travel of the projection such that the projection will freely move past the crossbar assembly thus allowing the handle mechanism to be moved completely to the OFF position.

An electrochemical fuel cell generator having an internal and leak tight hydrocarbon fuel reformer

Abstract: An electrochemical fuel cell generator configuration (10) is made having a generator section (16) which contains a plurality of axially elongated fuel cells (26), each cell containing a fuel electrode (28), air electrode (30), and solid oxide electrolyte (32) between the electrodes, in which axially elongated dividers (58) separate portions of the fuel cells from each other, and where at least one divider (60) also reforms a reformable fuel gas mixture prior to electricity generation reactions, the at least one reformer-divider (62) is hollow (64) having a closed end (70) and an open end (68) entrance for a reformable fuel mixture to pass to the closed end of the divider and then reverse flow and pass back along the hollowed walls to be reformed, and then finally to pass as reformed fuel out of the open end of the divider to contact the fuel cells, and further where the reformer-divider is a composite structure having a gas diffusion barrier (76) of metallic foil surrounding the external walls of the reformer-divider except at the entrance to prevent diffusion of the reformable gas mixture through the divider, and further housed in an outer insulating jacket (78) except at the entrance to prevent short-circuiting of the fuel cells by the gas diffusion barrier.

Effect of titanium, copper and iron on silicon solar cells

Abstract: The effect of Ti, Cu and Fe on silicon solar cells has been investigated. Ti severely degrades cell performance above a concentration of 10 11 cm −3 . The presence of 2 × 10 14 cm −3 Ti results in a 63% loss in cell performance and more than an order of magnitude reduction in carrier lifetime. Ti gives rise to two deep levels in Si at Ev + 0.30 eV and Ec − 0.27 eV. Copper, at concentrations below 10 16 cm −3 , has negligible effect on cell performance and carrier lifetime. Above 10 16 cm −3 copper occasionally produces a 10–15% loss in cell performance with a noticeable increase in junction excess current. No recombination centers were found due to Cu, instead considerable precipitation in the starting material was observed. Fe begins to hurt the cell performance above a concentration of 2 × 10 14 cm −3 . Iron at 1.7 × 10 15 cm −3 results in 46% loss in cell efficiency and about an order of magnitude reduction in lifetime. Fe induces a deep level in silicon at Ev + 0.4 eV. The active center density, for both Ti and Fe, is only a very small fraction of the total impurity content in the starting silicon wafer.