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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 181 records · Page 10
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

FCIC FY18 LT-baseline Feedstock Images

Set of images taken during pilot plant dilute-acid hydrolysis preatreatment reactor operation. Images were taken with a GoPro Hero 5 with rectilinear lens facing downwards on a weigh-belt instrument. Image period was every 30 seconds during operation. This image set is connected to a journal article titled "Real-Time Biomass Feedstock Particle Quality Detection Using Image Analysis and Machine Vision", http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13399-020-00904-w.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Performance simulation of the soft gamma-ray concentrator

The soft gamma-ray concentrator is a telescope mission concept utilizing a suitable arrangement of bent multilayer structures of alternating low- and high-density materials. This lens is able to channel gamma-ray photons via total external reflection and concentrate the incident radiation to a point. The channeling technique offers the potential for concentrating gamma rays with focal lengths <10 m and energies >100 keV, beyond the reach of current grazing-incidence hard x-ray mirrors. For the performance estimation of such an instrument, we have developed a flexible set of computer modeling tools to compute the optical properties of multilayer structures, predict the channeling efficiency for a given multilayer configuration, and aid in the optimization of potential gamma-ray concentrator-based telescope designs. This modeling includes the multilayer optical properties calculated by the IMD software, the ray tracing using an IDL code, and the focal plane detector simulation by MEGAlib. We illustrate the potential of this approach by presenting simulated astronomical observations from a balloon-borne platform. The final result, including simulated effective area, instrument sensitivity, and polarization performance, shows that the gamma-ray concentrator will provide greatly increased sensitivity for next-generation soft gamma-ray missions with modest cost and complexity.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Adaptive Sampling for In Situ Cloud Probe (Final Report)

Clouds play a leading role in the Earth's global energy and solar radiation balance and hydrological cycle. Improving cloud models requires detailed information on the cloud microphysical properties, such as droplet size distribution and number density, liquid water content and cloud composition (droplets, ice particles), which can only be provided by aerial in situ measurements. However, for many atmospheric measurement instruments, the lack of flexibility in selecting the operational mode during operation can lead to uncertainties in sampling and measurement characteristics under continuously varying atmospheric conditions. This SBIR project is developing an advanced, compact optical imaging technology for in situ characterization of cloud hydrometeors. The development involves a deep modification of the existing Mesa Photonics’ Cloud Droplet Measurement System (CDMS) in order to implement real-time automatic adaptive sampling based on the acquired in situ data and environmental parameters. The new system, CDMS-2, implements two measurement modes: side-scatter imaging for smaller hydrometeors and direct bright-field-illumination imaging for larger hydrometeors in a significantly larger sample volume. The system measures the droplet size distribution (DSD) and number density with an added capability of discriminating between liquid water and ice hydrometeors (based on polarization-resolved side-scatter imaging). The instrument will implement automatic switching or alternating between the regular side-scatter imaging mode and sparse/large hydrometeor mode (based on the acquired data). Other adaptive sampling capabilities include variable sample volume and dynamic range (based on the measured DSD). The preferred deployment platforms are uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS) and tethered balloon/kite systems (TBS). The Phase I project achieved (or exceeded) the goals listed in the Work Plan. A CDMS-2 laboratory prototype implementing the polarization-resolved side-scatter imaging mode and direct bright-field-illumination imaging mode was designed and built. Additional capabilities included the variable illumination pulse energy and sample volume. The smallest detectable droplet diameter was improved to 3–4 μm (from the nominal 10 μm value specified for the original CDMS). Discrimination between water droplets and ice particles was experimentally demonstrated. The Phase I prototype was extensively tested and calibrated in the laboratory and also tested in the Pi Cloud Chamber at Michigan Technological University (MTU). The two intensive experimental campaigns at MTU provided unique opportunities of testing the CDMS-2 laboratory prototype under realistic warm and mixed-phase cloud conditions (stable for long periods of time), testing different sampling modes and intercomparing the CDMS-2 prototype to other co-located cloud characterization instruments. The Phase I project successfully demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed technology and identified the engineering challenges of designing a field deployable prototype instrument in Phase II. The Phase I study provides a solid basis for development, characterization and field-testing of the proposed advanced cloud probe with adaptive sampling in Phase II followed by commercialization of the technology in Phase III.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2022

The DREAM Endstation at the Linac Coherent Light Source

Free-electron lasers (FEL), with their ultrashort pulses, ultrahigh intensities, and high repetition rates at short wavelength, have provided new approaches to Atomic and Molecular Optical Science. One such approach is following the birth of a photo electron to observe ion dynamics on an ultrafast timescale. Such an approach presents the opportunity to decipher the photon-initiated structural dynamics of an isolated atomic and molecular species. It is a fundamental step towards understanding single- and non-linear multi-photon processes and coherent electron dynamics in atoms and molecules, ultimately leading to coherent control following FEL research breakthroughs in pulse shaping and polarization control. A key aspect for exploring photoinduced quantum phenomena is visualizing the collective motion of electrons and nuclei in a single reaction process, as dynamics in atoms/ions proceed at femtosecond (10 –15 s) timescales while electronic dynamics take place in the attosecond timescale (10 –18 s). Here, we report on the design of a Dynamic Reaction Microscope (DREAM) endstation located at the second interaction point of the Time-Resolved Molecular and Optical (TMO) instrument at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) capable of following the photon–matter interactions by detecting ions and electrons in coincidence. The DREAM endstation takes advantage of the pulse properties and high repetition rate of LCLS-II to perform gas-phase soft X-ray experiments in a wide spectrum of scientific domains. With its design ability to detect multi-ions and electrons in coincidence while operating in step with the high repetition rate of LCLS-II, the DREAM endstation takes advantage of the inherent momentum conservation of reaction product ions with participating electrons to reconstruct the original X-ray photon–matter interactions. In this report, we outline in detail the design of the DREAM endstation and its functionality, with scientific opportunities enabled by this state-of-the-art instrument.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Modern Trends in Neutron Scattering Instrument Technologies

This article reviews some current trends that can be observed in the development of neutron scattering instrument technologies. While the number of neutron scattering facilities worldwide and the number of beam days they offer are largely stable, their scientific impact is increasing through improving instrumental capabilities, new and more versatile instruments, and more efficient data collection protocols. Neutron beams are becoming smaller but more intense, and instruments are being designed to utilize more ‘useful’ neutrons in unit time. This article picks and discusses a few recent developments in the areas of integrated source and instrument design, use of computational tools, new detectors, and experiment automation.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2019

Absolute calibration of the continuum x-ray spectrometer (ConSpec) at the National Ignition Facility

We illustrate the absolute calibration of the continuum x-ray spectrometer (ConSpec), designed to measure the hot-spot electron temperature of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) implosions at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). The spectrometer measures emission from photon energies of 20 to 30 keV where opacity effects in ICF implosions at the NIF are negligible and provides spatial resolution to separate the hot-spot emission from other x-ray sources, such as the gold emission from the hohlraum wall. Using a combination of x-ray ray tracing and calibration data taken using a well characterized x-ray source, we measure the dispersion, spatial resolution, and absolute sensitivity of the instrument. Finally, we present an example spectrum measured at the NIF and demonstrate the ability to measure the hot-spot electron temperature with uncertainty under 10%.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Developing High-Flux Ion Soft Landing with Mass-Selection for Improved Cryo-Electron Microscopy

The goal of this project is to redesign and repurpose existing high-flux ion soft-landing (SL) instrumentation developed at PNNL for new structural biology applications by integrating SL, mass-selection/separation of high mass-to-charge species, native mass spectrometry (MS), and cryo-electron microscopy (EM) to generate a workflow enabling structural and functional annotation of proteins and other complex biological samples. Ultimately, this work will result in a new instrument for mass-selection and SL based cryo-EM sample preparation and potentially increase the impact of PNNL and the broader microscopy community through commercial licensing.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2025

ArcticShark Uncrewed Aerial System

Some studies of atmospheric processes benefit from specialized instrumented observation platforms, including towers, crewed aircraft, tethered balloon systems, and uncrewed aerial systems (UAS). The ArcticShark UAS, managed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) User Facility, has emerged as a vital scientific platform, providing comprehensive measurements to expand the horizons of atmospheric research and ARM data. The ArcticShark focuses on small-scale, accurate, and repetitive flight patterns over areas of scientific interest, including ARM’s ground observatories in Alabama and Oklahoma. When used in concert with data from ground-based instruments and other aerial platforms, UAS observations help deliver a complete picture of atmospheric processes, helping scientists evaluate and improve the accuracy of earth system models needed to inform energy infrastructure planning.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Evaluation of silicon and indium gallium arsenide photodiodes as direct timing detectors for pulsed x-ray systems

Benchtop pulsed x-ray systems are commonly used to record dynamic material data on the order of nanoseconds, but pulse timing is often difficult to accurately determine. This study demonstrates that commercially available photodiodes can be used effectively for direct x-ray pulse detection without the need for visible light scintillators. X-ray pulses from four commercially available flash x-ray systems were quantified using one silicon and two indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) photodiodes. The measured InGaAs pulse durations were strongly dependent on radiation dose in the non-linear operating regime, so the photodiodes were shielded to operate below the 2.5 V non-linear regime threshold. The average pulse duration and pulse arrival time jitter of the photodiodes for each x-ray source were within several nanoseconds with the exception of two sets of measurements that were affected by low instrument sensitivity and electrical noise. These results show that InGaAs photodiodes can be used as effective and repeatable stand-alone timing diagnostics for x-ray pulses as short as 20 ns or less.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2020

High-Speed Active Integrators for Magnetic Probes

This report discusses a low cost, easy to develop instrument to measure magnetic fields in pulsed solenoids used for the MagNIF pulse power system. The instrument is designed to integrate voltage signals from custom B-dot probes made from PCB inductor chips. The instrument is battery powered with ± 9V rails. Acceptable B-dot probe inputs range from mV to 20V with frequencies up to 4MHz. Details of the circuit design and practical considerations for working with high speed signals are discussed.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2022

The Analysis and Support for LANL Technology Testbed: High Altitude Balloon Gondola and Orion Eagle Gamma Ray Detection Instrument

The Analysis and Support for LANL Technology Testbed: High Altitude Balloon Gondola and Orion Eagle Gamma-Ray Detection Instrument is a project where Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), in conjunction with the University of Michigan, are looking into gamma-ray detection in a space-like environment. The purpose of the detection is to work on instruments that can assist with planetary exploration and nuclear deterrents using a High-Altitude Balloon (HAB). For this paper, the main focus is on the mechanical aspects related to the structural analysis of the gondola. It is vital to understand the structural analysis because it helps determine if the gondola can survive the changes in the environment and the different forces or shocks that it will experience when the parachute is deployed and at landing. Additionally, NASA's Balloon Program Office (BPO) has specific requirements to meet to achieve flight certifications. Part of those certifications requires the gondola to simulate different scenarios at specific conditions with various forces applied and orientations. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the calculations of each method and the force applied to get the right results. Once that is done, the information is inputted into the structural analysis modeling system. The system will aid the mechanical team in assessing the conditions of the gondola at each scenario and determine its margin of safety. After the gondola and instrument are certified, the payload will be able to fly. The HAB and payload are launched from NASA's Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF) at Fort Sumner, NM. The official flight was on September 26th, 2021.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Scorpius Accelerator Emittance Diagnostic Design

The 14th International Particle Accelerator Conference (IPAC’23) will be held in Venice, Italy from 7 to 12 May 2023 at the Venice Convention Centre. Website: https://www.ipac23.org/ Presenter: Mark Raphaelian Dear Mark, we acknowledge reception of your abstract #1268 for IPAC'23 - 14th International Particle Accelerator Conference. Here follow the details: Title: The Design of the Emittance Diagnostic for the Scorpius Accelerator Classification: MC6.T03: Beam Diagnostics and Instrumentation Type of presentation: Poster Presentation Submitter: Mark Raphaelian Authors: Mark Raphaelian Co-Authors: Daniel Dzenitis, Franz Weber, Nathaniel Pogue, Sean Littleton, Steven Falabella, Patrick Duffy, William Stem

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Simulations of the collection of mesospheric dust particles with a rocket instrument

We investigate the collection of dust particles in the mesosphere with the MESS (MEteoric Smoke Sampler) instrument that is designed to fly on a sounding rocket. We assume that the ice particles that form in the polar mesosphere between 80 and 85 km altitude in summer contain meteoric smoke particles; and these should be collected with MESS. The instrument consists of a collection device with an opening and closure mechanism, as well as an attached conic funnel which increases the sampling area in comparison to the collection area. Dust particles are collected either directly after passing through the instrument or indirectly after colliding with and fragmenting on the funnel wall. We calculate the dust and fragment trajectories in the detector to determine the collection efficiency for different particle sizes, rocket velocities, and heights, and we find the final velocities and the temperatures of the particles. The considered design has a sampling area of 62.78 mm diameter and a collection area of 20 mm diameter. For the conditions at the rocket launch site in Andøya, Norway, we estimate the collection of meteoric smoke particles contained in the ice particles to be ~10 12 –10 14 amu mm –2 . The estimated temperatures suggest that the composition of these smoke particles is not affected by the collection. Our calculations also show that keeping the instrument open above 85 km altitude increases the amount of small smoke particles that are directly collected. The directly collected smoke particles are heated as they decelerate, which can affect their composition.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Absolute calibration of the conical crystal configuration of the zinc spectrometer (ZSPEC) at the OMEGA laser facility

In this study, we present the absolute calibration of the conical crystal for the zinc spectrometer (ZSPEC), an x-ray spectrometer at the OMEGA laser facility at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics. The ZSPEC was originally designed to measure x-ray Thomson scattering using flat or cylindrically curved highly oriented pyrolytic graphite crystals centered around Zn He-alpha emission at 9 keV. To improve the useful spectral range and collection efficiency of the ZSPEC, a conical highly annealed pyrolytic graphite crystal was fabricated for the ZSPEC. The conically bent crystal in the Hall geometry produces a line focus perpendicular to the spectrometer axis, corresponding to the detector plane of electronic detectors at large scale laser facilities such as OMEGA, extending the useful range of the spectrometer to 7–11 keV. Further, using data collected using a microfocus Mo x-ray source, we determine important characteristics of ZSPEC such as the dispersion, spatial resolution, and absolute sensitivity of the instrument. A ray-trace model of ZSPEC provides another point of agreement in calculations of the ZSPEC dispersion and crystal response.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2020

Diffusivity Analysis

Summary: The analytical instrumentation being used is a DVS system. The materials being tested are C-CE resin and C-Ph resin with carbon fiber content. The objective is to find and use the sorption kinetics to determine the diffusivity of the samples.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2021

Phase-curve Pollution of Exoplanet Transmission Spectra

The occurrence of a planet transiting in front of its host star offers the opportunity to observe the planet’s atmosphere filtering starlight. The fraction of occulted stellar flux is roughly proportional to the optically thick area of the planet, the extent of which depends on the opacity of the planet’s gaseous envelope at the observed wavelengths. Chemical species, haze, and clouds are now routinely detected in exoplanet atmospheres through rather small features in transmission spectra, i.e., collections of planet-to-star area ratios across multiple spectral bins and/or photometric bands. Technological advances have led to a shrinking of the error bars down to a few tens of parts per million (ppm) per spectral point for the brightest targets. The upcoming James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is anticipated to deliver transmission spectra with precision down to 10 ppm. The increasing precision of measurements requires a reassessment of the approximations hitherto adopted in astrophysical models, including transit light-curve models. Recently, it has been shown that neglecting the planet’s thermal emission can introduce significant biases in the transit depth measured with the JWST/Mid-InfraRed Instrument, integrated between 5 and 12 μm. In this paper, we take a step forward by analyzing the effects of the approximation on transmission spectra over the 0.6–12 μm wavelength range covered by various JWST instruments. We present open-source software to predict the spectral bias, showing that, if not corrected, it may affect the inferred molecular abundances and thermal structure of some exoplanet atmospheres.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Wind Energy Instrumentation Development Roadmap

The instrumentation development roadmap provides a guide on which measurements, and instruments, are important for future field campaigns to meet both the science objects and validation plans for their successful execution. The roadmap ensures the measurements are of sufficient type and resolution to meet science objectives and validation needs essential to the campaigns. The roadmap includes measurement categories ranging from instruments that need to be created to existing instruments essential to the field campaigns. The creation of the instrumentation development roadmap builds upon the previous Atmospheric to Electrons (A2e) validation work and formation of the American WAKE experimeNt (AWAKEN) science objectives.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Performance Assessment of Portable Optical Particle Spectrometer (POPS)

Accurate representation of atmospheric aerosol properties is a long-standing problem in atmospheric research. Modern pilotless aerial systems provide a new platform for atmospheric in situ measurement. However, small airborne platforms require miniaturized instrumentation due to apparent size, power, and weight limitations. A Portable Optical Particle Spectrometer (POPS) is an emerged instrument to measure ambient aerosol size distribution with high time and size resolution, designed for deployment on a small unmanned aerial system (UAS) or tethered balloon system (TBS) platforms. This study evaluates the performance of a POPS with an upgraded laser heater and additional temperature sensors in the aerosol pathway. POPS maintains its performance under different environmental conditions as long as the laser temperature remains above 25 °C and the aerosol flow temperature inside the optical chamber is 15 °C higher than the ambient temperature. The comparison between POPS and an Ultra-High Sensitivity Aerosol Spectrometer (UHSAS) suggests that the coincidence error is less than 25% when the number concentration is less than 4000 cm –3 . The size distributions measured by both of them remained unaffected up to 15,000 cm –3 . While both instruments’ sizing accuracy is affected by the aerosol chemical composition and morphology, the influence is more profound on the POPS.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗