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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 OSTI2014

Pilot study for compact microbeam radiation therapy using a carbon nanotube field emission micro-CT scanner

Purpose: Microbeam radiation therapy (MRT) is defined as the use of parallel, microplanar x-ray beams with an energy spectrum between 50 and 300 keV for cancer treatment and brain radiosurgery. Up until now, the possibilities of MRT have mainly been studied using synchrotron sources due to their high flux (100s Gy/s) and approximately parallel x-ray paths. The authors have proposed a compact x-ray based MRT system capable of delivering MRT dose distributions at a high dose rate. This system would employ carbon nanotube (CNT) field emission technology to create an x-ray source array that surrounds the target of irradiation. Using such a geometry, multiple collimators would shape the irradiation from this array into multiple microbeams that would then overlap or interlace in the target region. This pilot study demonstrates the feasibility of attaining a high dose rate and parallel microbeam beams using such a system. Methods: The microbeam dose distribution was generated by our CNT micro-CT scanner (100μm focal spot) and a custom-made microbeam collimator. An alignment assembly was fabricated and attached to the scanner in order to collimate and superimpose beams coming from different gantry positions. The MRT dose distribution was measured using two orthogonal radiochromic films embedded inside a cylindrical phantom. This target was irradiated with microbeams incident from 44 different gantry angles to simulate an array of x-ray sources as in the proposed compact CNT-based MRT system. Finally, phantom translation in a direction perpendicular to the microplanar beams was used to simulate the use of multiple parallel microbeams. Results: Microbeams delivered from 44 gantry angles were superimposed to form a single microbeam dose distribution in the phantom with a FWHM of 300μm (calculated value was 290 μm). Also, during the multiple beam simulation, a peak to valley dose ratio of ∼10 was found when the phantom translation distance was roughly 4x the beam width. The first prototype CNT-based x-ray tube dedicated to the development of compact MRT technology development was proposed and planned based on the preliminary experimental results presented here and the previous corresponding Monte Carlo simulations. Conclusions: The authors have demonstrated the feasibility of creating microbeam dose distributions at a high dose rate using a proposed compact MRT system. The flexibility of CNT field emission x-ray sources could possibly bring compact and low cost MRT devices to the larger research community and assist in the translational research of this promising new approach to radiation therapy.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Scalable, Economical Fabrication Processes for Ultra-Compact Warm-White LEDs

Conventional warm-white LED component fabrication consists of a large number of sequential steps which are required to incorporate electrical, mechanical, and optical functionality into the component. Each of these steps presents cost and yield challenges which multiply throughout the entire process. Although there has been significant progress in LED fabrication over the last decade, significant advances are needed to enable further reductions in cost per lumen while not sacrificing efficacy or color quality. Cree conducted a focused 18-month program to develop a new low-cost, high-efficiency light emitting diode (LED) architecture enabled by novel large-area parallel processing technologies, reduced number of fabrication steps, and minimized raw materials use. This new scheme is expected to enable ultra-compact LED components exhibiting simultaneously high efficacy and high color quality. By the end of the program, Cree fabricated warm-white LEDs with a room-temperature “instant on” efficacy of >135 lm/W at ~3500K and 90 CRI (when driven at the DOE baseline current density of 35 A/cm2). Cree modified the conventional LED fabrication process flow in a manner that is expected to translate into simultaneously high throughput and yield for ultra-compact packages. Building on its deep expertise in LED wafer fabrication, Cree developed these ultra-compact LEDs to have no compromises in color quality or efficacy compared to their conventional counterparts. Despite their very small size, the LEDs will also be robustly electrically integrated into luminaire systems with the same attach yield as conventional packages. The versatility of the prototype high-efficacy LED architecture will likely benefit solid-state lighting (SSL) luminaire platforms ranging from bulbs to troffers. We anticipate that the prototype LEDs will particularly benefit luminaires with large numbers of distributed compact packages, such as linear and area luminaires (e.g. troffers). The fraction of total SSL luminaire cost made up by the LEDs themselves has steadily fallen over the past several years, but can still make up 30% or more of the bill of materials; the new LED design will radically lower this proportion. Ultra-compact, highly efficient LEDs with optimal distribution in the system will further benefit luminaire materials and assembly costs by reducing the complexity and volume of thermal management and optical subsystems.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2017

Inverse compton light source: a compact design proposal

In the last decade, there has been an increasing demand for a compact Inverse Compton Light Source (ICLS) which is capable of producing high-quality X-rays by colliding an electron beam and a high-quality laser. It is only in recent years when both SRF and laser technology have advanced enough that compact sources can approach the quality found at large installations such as the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory. Previously, X-ray sources were either high flux and brilliance at a large facility or many orders of magnitude lesser when produced by a bremsstrahlung source. A recent compact source was constructed by Lyncean Technologies using a storage ring to produce the electron beam used to scatter the incident laser beam. By instead using a linear accelerator system for the electron beam, a significant increase in X-ray beam quality is possible, though even subsequent designs also featuring a storage ring offer improvement. Preceding the linear accelerator with an SRF reentrant gun allows for an extremely small transverse emittance, increasing the brilliance of the resulting X-ray source. In order to achieve sufficiently small emittances, optimization was done regarding both the geometry of the gun and the initial electron bunch distribution produced off the cathode. Using double-spoke SRF cavities to comprise the linear accelerator allows for an electron beam of reasonable size to be focused at the interaction point, while preserving the low emittance that was generated by the gun. An aggressive final focusing section following the electron beam's exit from the accelerator produces the small spot size at the interaction point which results in an X-ray beam of high flux and brilliance. Taking all of these advancements together, a world class compact X-ray source has been designed. It is anticipated that this source would far outperform the conventional bremsstrahlung and many other compact ICLSs, while coming closer to performing at the levels found at large facilities than ever before. The design process, including the development between subsequent iterations, is presented here in detail, with the simulation results for this groundbreaking X-ray source.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2018

Measurement of Average Burnup in TRISO-Coated Particles from AGR-2 UCO Compacts 2-2-2 and 6-4-2

Burnup analysis was performed on tristructural-isotropic (TRISO)-coated particles deconsolidated from compacts irradiated by the Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) Fuel Development and Qualification Program in the second irradiation experiment (AGR-2) [Collin 2014]. The AGR-2 irradiation experiment included TRISO fuel particles with kernels containing both uranium oxide and uranium carbide, called UCO, where uranium carbide is included with the commonly-used uranium oxide in the kernel to provide a getter for oxygen liberated during fission and limit CO production. This allows the UCO-TRISO particles to be taken to higher burnup without failure from excessive internal CO pressure or CO-corrosion of the SiC layer. The UCO kernels were fabricated and coated at BWX Technologies Nuclear Operations Group (BWXT-NOG) with a 150-mm-diameter engineering-scale coater. The UCO-TRISO batch used in the AGR-2 irradiation experiment was Batch 93073, which had kernels with an average diameter of 426.7 μm and average coating thicknesses moving out from the kernel of 98.9 μm (buffer), 40.4 μm (IPyC), 35.2 μm (SiC), 43.4 μm (OPyC) [Barnes and Marshall 2009]. The TRISO particle were shipped to ORNL to be formed into compacts for irradiation testing. The compact lot qualified for the AGR-2 irradiation test was lot LEU09-OP2-Z and had an average of 3176 UCO-TRISO particles in each compact [Hunn, Montgomery, and Pappano 2010]. Compilations of the properties data for the particles and compacts are available in a pre-irradiation characterization summary report for the AGR-2 fuel composites [Hunn, Savage, and Silva 2010].

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Determination of Average Burnup in AGR-2 Compacts 3-3-1, 3-3-2, 2-2-2, and 6-4-2

Burnup measurements have been performed on irradiated tristructural-isotropic (TRISO) particle fuel compacts from the Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) Fuel Development and Qualification Program’s second irradiation experiment (AGR-2). The AGR-2 irradiation experiment used TRISO particles fabricated by BWX Technologies (Barnes and Marshall 2009) and formed into compacts in the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Coated Particle Fuel Development Laboratory. Two compact lots were fabricated that differed in kernel type. The compact lot designated by LEU09-OP2-Z contained kernels made up of uranium carbide and uranium oxide (UCO) that were nominally 425 µm in diameter and 14% enriched (Hunn, Montgomery, and Pappano 2010a). The compact lot designated by LEU11-OP2-Z contained kernels made of only uranium dioxide (UO 2 ) that were nominally 500 µm in diameter and 9.6% enriched (Hunn, Montgomery, and Pappano 2010b). The addition of carbide to the kernel provides a getter for excess oxygen generated by the fission of UO 2 .

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Safety Test on Loose Particles from Irradiated Compact 4-4-2

Post-irradiation examination (PIE) is being carried out on coated particle fuel compacts from the first Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) Fuel Development and Qualification irradiation experiment (AGR-1). The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Core Conduction Cooldown Test Facility (CCCTF) has been used to evaluate the effect of elevated temperature on the fuel microstructure and fission product retention by heating compacts to maximum temperatures of 1600, 1700, or 1800°C for typically 300 hours, where 1600°C is the expected maximum temperature during a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) depressurization conduction cooldown event, while 1700 and 1800°C explore the performance margin. After completing eleven standard safety tests, a different type of experiment was conducted [INL/PLN4650], where, rather than heating an entire as-irradiated fuel compact, loose particles were tested after deconsolidation of a compact and separation of the particles from the compact matrix.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Safety Test on Irradiated Compact 4-2-2

Post-irradiation examination (PIE) is in progress on coated particle fuel compacts from the first Advanced Gas Reactor (AGR) Fuel Development and Qualification irradiation experiment (AGR-1). The AGR-1 Post-Irradiation Examination Plan (INL/PLN-2828, Rev. 1) includes safety testing of the irradiated compacts in the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Core Conduction Cooldown Test Facility (CCCTF) and the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Fuel Accident Condition Simulator (FACS) to evaluate the effect of elevated temperature on the fuel microstructure and fission product retention. Standard safety tests involve heating compacts to maximum temperatures of 1600, 1700, or 1800°C for typically 300 hours, where 1600°C is the expected maximum temperature during a high-temperature gascooled reactor (HTGR) depressurization conduction cooldown event, while 1700 and 1800°C explore the performance margin. The Compact 4-2-2 safety test was conducted using multiple hold temperatures from 1000–1600°C to investigate fission product retention at temperatures below 1600°C and during thermal cycling, with particular emphasis on silver retention behavior [INL/PLN-4714]. Previous tests produced unusual silver releases when temperatures were inadvertently or intentionally cycled between room temperature and 1600°C [ORNL/LTR-2012/396]; the Compact 4-2-2 test was designed to reproduce and explore these observations.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Performance of Compact Pulsed Thermal Imaging System for In-Service Applications. Pulsed thermal tomography nondestructive examination of additively manufactured reactor materials and components

Additive manufacturing (AM) is an emerging method for cost-efficient fabrication of complex topology nuclear reactor parts from high-strength corrosion resistance alloys, such as stainless steel and Inconel. AM of metallic structures for nuclear energy applications is currently based on laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) process, which has the capability of melting metallic powder and net shaping the structures with relatively high precision. Some of the challenges with using LPBF method for nuclear manufacturing include the possibility of introducing pores into metallic structures. Integrity of AM structures needs to be evaluated nondestructively because material flaws could lead to premature failures due to creep in high temperature nuclear reactor environment. Currently, there exist limited capabilities to evaluate actual AM structures nondestructively. Pulsed Thermography (PT) imaging provides a capability for non-destructive evaluation (NDE) of sub-surface defects in arbitrary size structures. The PT method is based on recording material surface temperature transients with infrared (IR) camera following thermal pulse delivered on material surface with flash light. The PT method has advantages for NDE of actual AM structures because the method involves one-sided non-contact measurements and fast processing of large sample areas captured in one image. The data cube of PT measurements consists of surface temperature taken at sequential time intervals T(x,y,t). Material defects can be detected either by analyzing the thermograms T(x,y,t) data cube, or by using thermal tomography (TT) algorithm to obtain 3D spatial reconstruction of thermal effusivity e(x,y,z). To reduce the cost and enable in-service NDE in spatially constrained environment, it is highly desirable to develop PT with compact and inexpensive IR camera. Following initial qualification of an AM component for deployment in a nuclear reactor, a compact PT system can also be used for in-service nondestructive evaluation (NDE) applications. However, data cube obtained with PT based on compact IR camera suffers from strong thermal noises and loss of features due to relatively low sampling rate. In this report we describe two unsupervised machine learning (ML) algorithms for enhancement of PT images obtained with compact IR camera. In one approach, we introduce Sparse Coding Discrete Cosine Transform (SC/DCT) algorithm to remove additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) from spatial thermal effusivity reconstructions. In another approach we introduce a Spatial Temporal Denoised Thermal Source Separation (STDTSS) ML algorithm to process thermograms. The STDTSS algorithm consists of spatial and temporal denoising using Gaussian and Savitzky–Golay filtering, followed by the matrix decomposition using Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and Independent Component Analysis (ICA) to automatically detect flaws. In the work described in this report, we constructed a compact PT system using a relatively small and low-cost FLIR A65 camera, consisting on uncooled microbolometer detector. Performance of SC/DCT algorithm was demonstrated on enhancing TT images of Inconel 718 AM plate. Performance of the STDTSS methods was investigated using thermography data obtained from imaging stainless steel 316L specimens produced with LPBF method with imprinted calibrated porosity defects.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2016

A TEMPORAL ANALYSIS INDICATES A MILDLY RELATIVISTIC COMPACT JET IN GRS 1915+105

Most of our knowledge of the radio morphology and kinematics of X-ray binary partially synchrotron self-absorbed compact jets (hereafter, compact jets) is based on the observations of GRS 1915+105, which has the most prominent compact jet. Yet, the compact jet bulk velocity, v, is poorly constrained in the literature, 0.07 10 s) X-ray activity associated with 15 GHz flux density >70 mJy for >7 consecutive days. The radio emission is associated with compact jet emission. Two HPS were monitored at 15 GHz during their termination with e-folding times of 3.8 and 8.6 hr. We combine this timescale with the scale of the spatial variation of the linear source of a Very Large Baseline Array image preceding the fade of one of these HPS in order to estimate the jet speed. Our assumption that the reduction in radio emissivity propagates as an approximate discontinuity down the HPS jet (leaving a weak jet in its wake) indicates 0.17<v/c<0.43. This agrees closely with the only other existing v estimates that are derived directly from radio images, jet asymmetry produced by Doppler enhancement.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Low gas fractions connect compact star-forming galaxies to their z ∼ 2 quiescent descendants

Early quiescent galaxies at z∼2 are known to be remarkably compact compared to their nearby counterparts. Possible progenitors of these systems include galaxies that are structurally similar, but are still rapidly forming stars. Here, we present Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) observations of the CO(1–0) line toward three such compact, star-forming galaxies (SFGs) at z∼2.3, significantly detecting one. The VLA observations indicate baryonic gas fractions ≳5 times lower and gas depletion timescales ≳10 times shorter than normal, extended massive SFGs at these redshifts. At their current star formation rates, all three objects will deplete their gas reservoirs within 100 Myr. These objects are among the most gas-poor objects observed at z>2, and are outliers from standard gas scaling relations, a result that remains true regardless of assumptions about the CO–H{sub 2} conversion factor. Our observations are consistent with the idea that compact, SFGs are in a rapid state of transition to quiescence in tandem with the buildup of the z∼2 quenched population. In the detected compact galaxy, we see no evidence of rotation or that the CO-emitting gas is spatially extended relative to the stellar light. This casts doubt on recent suggestions that the gas in these compact galaxies is rotating and significantly extended compared to the stars. Instead, we suggest that, at least for this object, the gas is centrally concentrated, and only traces a small fraction of the total galaxy dynamical mass.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Two Coexisting Families of Compact Stars: Observational Implications for Millisecond Pulsars

It is usually thought that a single equation of state (EoS) model “correctly” represents cores of all compact stars. Here we emphasize that two families of compact stars, viz., neutron stars and strange stars, can coexist in nature, and that neutron stars can get converted to strange stars through the nucleation process of quark matter in the stellar center. From our fully general relativistic numerical computations of the structures of fast-spinning compact stars, known as millisecond pulsars, we find that such a stellar conversion causes a simultaneous spin-up and decrease in gravitational mass of these stars. This is a new type of millisecond pulsar evolution through a new mechanism, which gives rise to relatively lower mass compact stars with higher spin rates. This could have an implication for the observed mass and spin distributions of millisecond pulsars. Such a stellar conversion can also rescue some massive, spin-supported millisecond pulsars from collapsing into black holes. Besides, we extend the concept of critical mass M{sub cr} for the neutron star sequence to the case of fast-spinning neutron stars, and point out that neutron star EoS models cannot be ruled out by the stellar mass measurement alone. Finally, we emphasize the additional complexity for constraining EoS models, for example, by stellar radius measurements using X-ray observations, if two families of compact stars coexist.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1983

A search for X-ray emission from optically quiet, compact radio sources

A search for X-ray emission from optically quiet, compact radio sources reveals that such sources are significantly weaker X-ray emitters than are optically identified objects with comparable radio properties. For the radio samples examined here, the X-ray luminosity, relative to the radio, is typically at least 3 times lower in the optically quiet, compact radio sources than in the optically identified ones. Possible reasons for the distinction between optically quiet, compact radio sources and other compact radio sources are discussed. If strong nonthermal sources occur in the nuclei of dust-rich galaxies and do not eliminate the dust and gas of the interstellar medium, a few percent of such sources should be optically faint and red (due to extinction by dust) and X-ray weak (due to K-edge absorption). However, many optically quiet, compact radio sources are apparently 'blazars' with particularly sharp high-frequency breaks in their synchrotron spectra.

Ledden, J. E.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Blue ellipticals in compact groups

By studying galaxies in compact groups, the authors examine the hypothesis that mergers of spiral galaxies make elliptical galaxies. The authors combine dynamical models of the merger-rich compact group environment with stellar evolution models and predict that roughly 15 percent of compact group ellipticals should be 0.15 mag bluer in B - R color than normal ellipticals. The published colors of these galaxies suggest the existence of this predicted blue population, but a normal distribution with large random errors can not be ruled out based on these data alone. However, the authors have new ultraviolet blue visual data which confirm the blue color of the two ellipticals with blue B - R colors for which they have their own colors. This confirmation of a population of blue ellipticals indicates that interactions are occurring in compact groups, but a blue color in one index alone does not require that these ellipticals are recent products of the merger of two spirals. The authors demonstrate how optical spectroscopy in the blue may distinguish between a true spiral + spiral merger and the swallowing of a gas-rich system by an already formed elliptical. The authors also show that the sum of the luminosity of the galaxies in each group is consistent with the hypothesis that the final stage in the evolution of compact group is an elliptical galaxy.

Zepf, Stephen E.↗
NASA NTRS1990

What is the number of spiral galaxies in compact groups

The distribution of morphological types of galaxies in compact groups is studied on plates from the 6 m telescope. In compact groups there are 57 percent galaxies of late morphological types (S + Irr), 23 percent lenticulars (SO) and 20 percent elliptical galaxies. The morphological content of compact groups is very nearly the same as in loose groups. There is no dependence of galaxy morphology on density in all compact groups (and possibly in loose groups). Genuine compact groups form only 60 percent of Hickson's list.

Tikhonov, N. A.↗
NASA NTRS1994

The luminosity function of galaxies in compact groups

We use counts of faint galaxies in the regions of compact groups to extend the study of the luminosity function of galaxies in compact groups to absolute magnitudes as faint as M(sub B) = -14.5 + 5 log h. We find a slope of the faint end of the luminosity function of approximately alpha = -0.8, with a formal uncertainty of 0.15. This slope is not significantly different from that found for galaxies in other environments. Our results do not support previous suggestions of a dramatic underabundance of intrinsically faint galaxies in compact groups, which were based on extrapolations from fits at brighter magnitudes. The normal faint-end slope of the luminosity function in compact groups is in agreement with previous evidence that most galaxies in compact groups have not been dramatically affected by recent merging.

Ribeiro, A. L. B.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Physically detached 'compact groups'

A small fraction of galaxies appear to reside in dense compact groups, whose inferred crossing times are much shorter than a Hubble time. These short crossing times have led to considerable disagreement among researchers attempting to deduce the dynamical state of these systems. In this paper, we suggest that many of the observed groups are not physically bound but are chance projections of galaxies well separated along the line of sight. Unlike earlier similar proposals, ours does not require that the galaxies in the compact group be members of a more diffuse, but physically bound entity. The probability of physically separated galaxies projecting into an apparent compact group is nonnegligible if most galaxies are distributed in thin filaments. We illustrate this general point with a specific example: a simulation of a cold dark matter universe, in which hydrodynamic effects are included to identify galaxies. The simulated galaxy distribution is filamentary and end-on views of these filaments produce apparent galaxy associations that have sizes and velocity dispersions similar to those of observed compact groups. The frequency of such projections is sufficient, in principle, to explain the observed space density of groups in the Hickson catalog. We discuss the implications of our proposal for the formation and evolution of groups and elliptical galaxies. The proposal can be tested by using redshift-independent distance estimators to measure the line-of-sight spatial extent of nearby compact groups.

Hernquist, Lars↗
NASA NTRS2008

Design and Build a Compact Raman Sensor for Identification of Chemical Composition

A compact remote Raman sensor system was developed at NASA Langley Research Center. This sensor is an improvement over the previously reported system, which consisted of a 532 nm pulsed laser, a 4-inch telescope, a spectrograph, and an intensified charge-coupled devices (CCD) camera. One of the attractive features of the previous system was its portability, thereby making it suitable for applications such as planetary surface explorations, homeland security and defense applications where a compact portable instrument is important. The new system was made more compact by replacing bulky components with smaller and lighter components. The new compact system uses a smaller spectrograph measuring 9 x 4 x 4 in. and a smaller intensified CCD camera measuring 5 in. long and 2 in. in diameter. The previous system was used to obtain the Raman spectra of several materials that are important to defense and security applications. Furthermore, the new compact Raman sensor system is used to obtain the Raman spectra of a diverse set of materials to demonstrate the sensor system's potential use in the identification of unknown materials.

Garcia, Christopher S.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Development of a High Reliability Compact Air Independent PEMFC Power System

Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV's) have received increasing attention in recent years as military and commercial users look for means to maintain a mobile and persistent presence in the undersea world. Compact, neutrally buoyant power systems are needed for both small and large vehicles. Historically, batteries have been employed in these applications, but the energy density and therefore mission duration are limited with current battery technologies. Vehicles with stored energy requirements greater than approximately 10 kWh have an alternate means to get long duration power. High efficiency Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell systems utilizing pure hydrogen and oxygen reactants show the potential for an order of magnitude energy density improvement over batteries as long as the subsystems are compact. One key aspect to achieving a compact and energy dense system is the design of the fuel cell balance of plant (BOP). Recent fuel cell work, initially focused on NASA applications requiring high reliability, has developed systems that can meet target power and energy densities. Passive flow through systems using ejector driven reactant (EDR) circulation have been developed to provide high reactant flow and water management within the stack, with minimal parasitic losses compared to blowers. The ejectors and recirculation loops, along with valves and other BOP instrumentation, have been incorporated within the stack end plate. In addition, components for water management and reactant conditioning have been incorporated within the stack to further minimize the BOP. These BOP systems are thermally and functionally integrated into the stack hardware and fit into the small volumes required for AUV and future NASA applications to maximize the volume available for reactants. These integrated systems provide a compact solution for the fuel cell BOP and maximize the efficiency and reliability of the system. Designs have been developed for multiple applications ranging from less than 1 kWe to 70 kWe. These systems occupy a very small portion of the overall energy system, allowing most of the system volume to be used for reactants. The fuel cell systems have been optimized to use reactants efficiently with high stack efficiency and low parasitic losses. The resulting compact, highly efficient fuel cell system provides exceptional reactant utilization and energy density. Key design variables and supporting test data are presented. Future development activities are described.

Vasquez, Arturo↗