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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 199 records · Page 11
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

OpenCRUMS USA: An Open Machine Learning Framework for Characterizing Variability in Aerosol Reanalysis Data

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have called for exploring how these techniques can be used for exploring patterns in large climate datasets. To that regard, the U.S. Department of Energy AI for Earth System Predictability (AI4ESP) supported a pilot initiative called the Open Classification of Regimes in the Southeast USA (OpenCRUMS USA) project to explore how AI can be used to characterize modes of spatial variability in large climate datasets. For this study, we focus on comparing two methods for characterizing the modes of spatial variability of surface aerosol concentration over the Houston region: empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs) and layerwise relevance propagation (LRP) applied to a convolutional neural network (CNN) classifier. We show that EOF analysis typically attributes spatial variability modes that span all of southeast Texas, prohibiting the attribution of spatial variability to localized regions. However, using LRP on the CNN classifier resolves the explanatory parameters at a finer spatial resolution than EOFs. This allows for the attribution of the spatial variability of surface aerosols to local regions of organic carbon which was not possible using EOFs. In addition, the LRP analysis also suggests that synoptic-scale transport of dust is most prevalent during anticyclonic and pretrough synoptic conditions as categorized by self-organizing maps.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Evaluation of Torque-Dense Electric Machine Technology for Off-Highway Vehicle Electrification

Electrification of off-highway vehicles offers the benefits of improved energy efficiency, enhanced control, and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. However, progress towards electrification has been limited by the low torque density (30 kNm/m 3 ) of conventional electric machines compared to mobile hydraulic machines (up to approximately 1000 kNm/m 3 ). This paper reviews emerging variants of electric machines that offer a step improvement in torque density and potential pathway to enable electrified off-highway vehicles. First, sizing approaches for electric and hydraulic machines are developed, and torque-dense electric machines reviewed in literature are compared to commercial hydraulic machines to identify design trends in terms of speed, torque density, and power density. Next, key metrics are identified for the electric machine, based on which the following four emerging electric machine variants that promise to improve torque density are reviewed: i) multi-harmonic machines injection, ii) combined radial-axial flux machines, iii) magnetic gears, and iv) magnetically-geared machines. Here, the findings from this review show that these new electric machines can achieve upwards of 300% improvement in electric machine torque density, with several designs exceeding 100 kNm/m 3 , making them worthy candidates for further research to bridge the torque density gap with hydraulic machines.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Predicting chatter using machine learning and acoustic signals from low-cost microphones

Machining chatter is a phenomenon resulting from self-oscillation between a machining tool and workpiece. This self-oscillation results in variation on the machined product that reduces the ability to meet desired specifications. Chatter is a widely studied topic as it directly relates to the quality of machined products. Here, this study details the application of a Random Forest (RF) classifier with Recursive Feature Elimination (RFE) to machining audio collected by a single microphone during down-milling operations. This approach allows straightforward feature elimination that results in an easily understood set of analyzed dimensions. Stability is predicted solely based on the classification output of the RF classifier. Our approach proves highly predictive with consistent machining setup and a small sample set. We also review transferability between machining setups and present key findings. Our RF approach demonstrates the ability to analyze and classify chatter through a low-cost approach with limited training data required. The motivation for using a single microphone is to enable detection on machines without other sensors, such as accelerometers, present in the machining setup. The value of the in-process sensor and chatter classifier is highlighted because the machining setup included asymmetric dynamics that reduced the accuracy of the traditional analytical stability solution. We see a natural progression to deploying this audio-only methodology with real-time processing and classification using either a laptop or smartphone. This progression will allow visual indicators during the machining process that can alert machinists of progression into unstable machining processes.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2022

Hybrid Hydraulic-Electric Architecture (HHEA) for Mobile Machines (Final Report)

Traditionally, off-road mobile machines such as excavators and wheel loaders are primarily powered by hydraulics, and throttling valves are used to control their work circuits. In recent years, two general trends are towards more energy efficient systems and electrification. With electrification, both efficiency and control performance can be improved by the elimination of throttling losses and the use of high-bandwidth inverter control. Electrification is generally accomplished with Electro-hydraulic actuators (EHA) but they are limited to lower powered systems due to the high cost of electric machines capable of high power or high torque. This project proposes a new system architecture for off-road vehicles - Hybrid Hydraulic Electric Architecture (HHEA) to improve efficiency and control performance without requiring large electric machines. The widely applicable architecture combines hydraulic power and electric power in such a way that the majority of power is provided hydraulically while electric drives are used to modulate this power. In particular, HHEA utilizes multiple common pressure rails to transmit the majority of power and small electric machines to modulate the power. The energy-saving potential of the the HHEA has been validated for the work circuits of a variety of mobile machines, from small 5-ton excavators to medium sized 20-ton excavators and wheel loaders, and representative duty cycles to reduce energy input by 50-80% compared to the commercial state-of-art load-sensing systems. In addition, the corner power requirements of the electrical machines can be downsized by 85% compared to the EHA approach. Various tradeoff studies have also been conducted, including sensitivities to individual components performances, controllers, accumulator sizes, and variations of the system architecture etc. A control strategy has been developed to maintain or exceed the motion control precision compared to current systems. The motion control strategy consists of a nominal controller, based on a passivity-based backstepping design, and a transition controller, based on least-norn feedforward design. The nominal controller is used in between common pressure rail switches whereas the transition controller compensates for any disturbance that common pressure rail switchings inflict on the system. The control strategy has been experimentally validated on both a medium pressure (200bar) hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testbed and a high pressure (300+bar) HIL testbed. An efficient and power-dense integrated electric-hydraulic machine consisting of an axial flux electric machine and a radial hydrostatic piston hydraulic machine has been designed, constructed and tested. The machine has an active material power density of 6.1kW/kg, a rated speed of 12500 RPM, and a design efficiency of 85%. This is among the highest power density electric machines using conventional materials. While the integrated machine was designed for modulating the hydraulic power within the HHEA, it can also be used in other applications.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗