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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

A review of prefabricated overclad panels for building energy retrofits

Over 50% of existing buildings in the US were constructed before 1980 and lack modern, energy-efficient technologies. Despite the large number of old buildings, less than 2% of buildings are retrofitted each year with many of those retrofits consisting of small incremental improvements that often ignore the building envelope. The opaque building envelope affects 25% of building energy use equating to 10% of total US primary energy use. To meet decarbonization goals by 2035, the US must increase the rate of retrofit of existing building envelopes. The process of prefabrication is one potential opportunity to increase the rate of envelope retrofits and reduce costs. Prefabrication is the process of manufacturing construction components in a controlled environment before shipping them on-site to perform assembly of the construction. The process of prefabrication has been demonstrated to increase production efficiency, quality control, and rate of production. Prefabricated overclad panels, consisting of a cladding material and insulation designed to be installed over the existing envelope, have been successfully used to retrofit existing buildings in countries other than the US; however, the technology still has some barriers to major market adoption within the US. This paper will present a review of current implementations and demonstrations of prefabricated overclad panels. The review will include identification of panel types, materials, and applications and aims to identify barriers to retrofit market entry and widespread adoption.

Hayes, Nolan [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000332245718)↗
NASA NTRS2008

NASA Clean-Sheet Fans: Design, Build Analyze, Test, and Report

A suggested topic in small fan research is presented. Presentation briefly describes the scope of an effort to design, build and test a ventilation class cooling fan. Comments are included for the following categories: information (available and needed), benefits and values, concerns, variations and alternatives, and interest.

Koch, L. Danielle↗
DOE OSTI2021

Hamilton: Flexible, Open Source $10 Wireless Sensor System for Energy Efficient Building Operation

Sensors for improving building performance are rapidly populating the market, driven in part by the drive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions resulting from energy production as well as improve the interior environment for healthy and more productive spaces. UC Berkeley has led wireless sensor development over the past 25 years (e.g., Telos mote), with the Hamilton (named after Alexander Hamilton on the US $10 bill) as the most recent. The Hamilton sensor was designed as a low-cost high-performance sensor that is modular and interoperable. The objective of the Hamilton project was to create, evaluate and establish the technological foundations for secure and easy to deploy building energy efficiency applications utilizing pervasive, low-cost wireless sensors integrated with traditional Building Management Systems (BMS), consumer-sector building components, and powerful data analytics. The project included iterative hardware design, incorporating a high-performance database (BTrDb, http://btrdb.io/), creating and iterating the development of secure data middleware (BOSSwave, WAVE/WAVEMQ), working with and pushing the development of an open-source tiny operating system RiotOS, and implementing and improving protocols such as Thread/OpenThread and TCP/IP. The hardware benefited from careful design to drive down the cost; the design included a System-on-a-Chip (SoC), chip antenna, single crystal and five passive components. Careful design of the operating system created a low-power design to enable a long life with small batteries. The hardware included several sensors: temperature, radiant temperature, relative humidity, magnetometer, accelerometer, and light, with an optional occupancy (Passive InfraRed) sensor. The project was the basis of several applications, both internal to the research team and other researchers and professionals at other institutions. Several applications used the sensor hardware as the basis for other complex devices. Other applications used the sensors to improve building performance through interoperating with the building Heating Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) system, such as using occupancy and/or distributed temperature sensing to reduce HVAC zone energy while still providing thermal comfort and to reduce peak loads in small commercial buildings. We demonstrated cloud-based energy analytics, implemented a schedule and a Model Predictive Controller in a small commercial building to optimize HVAC energy, occupancy and electricity price. Initial integration of these technological innovations was performed through the creation of execution containers containing the WAVE agent and various driver, proxy, or building system function logic. The research added to the understanding of efficient sensor hardware, secure middleware, time-series data management (high performance database), efficient communication protocols, and interoperating with applications and building systems. The project showed the technical effectiveness and economic feasibility of creating a low-cost, modular, and easy-to-deploy sensor. Through conversations with multiple end users, the research team discovered that many customers wanted data management and services in addition to the sensors. HamiltonIOT developed packages of sensors, border router, and data services to provide a seamless “plug-and-play” sensor deployment. Some customers were willing to pay for higher quality sensors (such as light); some customers wanted a robust enclosure (waterproof).

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2024

Power Take-Off Design Study for a Small-Scale Oscillating Surge Wave Energy Converter for Powering the Blue Economy Applications

The power take-off (PTO) is an integral part of wave energy conversion, and the design process is nontrivial. Better PTOs, and better processes for selecting and designing PTO architectures for various applications, would benefit devices that assist in powering the blue economy by decreasing time and money spent on PTO design and increasing the overall energy capture performance of these devices. This paper chronicles the selection process of a PTO for a small-scale surge-type wave energy converter (WEC) for the purpose of informing future PTO selection processes. Three PTO architectures are evaluated in WEC-Sim: a hydraulic check valve PTO, a hydraulic active valving PTO, and a directly electrified PTO. Simple models of each PTO are constructed. Because a model for the small-scale device was initially unavailable, the PTOs are simulated on a large-scale device. The results are scaled down using Froude scaling and compared to results from directly simulating a small-scale model. Strong assumptions are made because this work is early in the design stages, and a coarse look at PTO options was desired. Specifically, the effectiveness of controls is investigated, along with the efficiency of energy conversion. However, energy capture is only part of the consideration; there are also logistic concerns to be considered when selecting a PTO. For example, components for large-scale WECs are so large and expensive that it may make sense to custom-build PTO components, but small-scale WECs would benefit from off-the-shelf availability because the cost of customization would be a significant portion of the total capital cost of deployment at a small scale. Submersible, off-the-shelf components are much easier to source for hydraulic PTOs. Because of highly effective controls, efficient energy conversion, and availability of marine-grade components, an active valving hydraulic PTO is selected for this small-scale surge-type WEC.

energy conversion/systems↗
DOE OSTI2024

B-Biz: Building Business Network

The Building Business Network (B-Biz) aims to provide high-performance building technology solutions to underserved customers by collaborating with local small businesses that provide and service high-performance building technologies in communities with the lowest rates of adoption.

BTO↗
DOE OSTI2022

A review of preserving privacy in data collected from buildings with differential privacy

Significant amounts of data are collected in buildings. While these data have great potential for maximizing the energy efficiency of buildings in general, only a small portion of the data are accessible to researchers, government, and industry for analyses. Concerns about privacy are one of the major barriers prohibiting access to these data. Privacy preservation techniques are generally applied to this problem not only to preserve underlying privacy but also to improve the usefulness of data. Among various privacy preserving techniques, differential privacy has become one of the more popular solutions since its introduction in 2006. Differential privacy is a mathematical measure for protecting privacy so that one's privacy cannot be incurred by participating in a database. Additionally, although significant research improvements have been made for more than a decade, applying differential privacy to data collected in buildings is still an immature field of study. Because implementing differential privacy on a certain use case is not straightforward and can be achieved with various configurations, it is important to understand variation of configurations with different use cases around data collected from buildings. This literature review aims to introduce what has been done to implement differential privacy in data collected in buildings, and to discuss associated challenges and potential future research opportunities.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2022

Hydrodynamically Controlled Self‐Organization in Mixtures of Active and Passive Colloids

Abstract Active particles are known to exhibit collective behavior and induce structure in a variety of soft‐matter systems. However, many naturally occurring complex fluids are mixtures of active and passive components. The authors examine how activity induces organization in such multi‐component systems. Mixtures of passive colloids and colloidal micromotors are investigated and it is observed that even a small fraction of active particles induces reorganization of the passive components in an intriguing series of phenomena. Experimental observations are combined with large‐scale simulations that explicitly resolve the near‐ and far‐field effects of the hydrodynamic flow and simultaneously accurately treat the fluid–colloid interfaces. It is demonstrated that neither conventional molecular dynamics simulations nor the reduction of hydrodynamic effects to phoretic attractions can explain the observed phenomena, which originate from the flow field that is generated by the active colloids and subsequently modified by the aggregating passive units. These findings not only offer insight into the organization of biological or synthetic active–passive mixtures, but also open avenues to controlling the behavior of passive building blocks by means of small amounts of active particles.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Small Business Voucher Program: Scaling-Up of Bio-Based C5 Building Block Production: Cooperative Research and Development Final Report, CRADA Number CRD-16-00611

Visolis, Inc. is an early stage industrial biotechnology company developing next generation of processes for producing building blocks for bulk polymers and fuels. The company is developing low-cost routes to the chemicals of the future in support of DOE, EERE and BETO goals to grow the U.S. bioeconomy. NREL has capabilities in scale-up of fermentation processes from bench top through pilot scales and also has expertise and technologies related to production of lignocellulosic sugars from cellulosic feedstocks. NREL's Integrated Biorefinery Research Facility (IBRF) houses multiple fermentation vessels/systems ranging in size from 0.5 to 9,000 L along with ancillary capabilities in compositional analysis, separations, and purification. NREL's role will be to scale-up the Visolis process to produce an intermediate product, mevalonic acid, from both dextrose and biomass derived sugars. The goals of the project are to: 1) transfer and reproduce one of Visolis's proprietary fermentation processes at bench top and pilot scale at NREL's IBRF using dextrose as the feedstock, 2) carry out bench-scale fermentations using Visolis's organism and cellulosic sugars, and 3) produce mevalonic acid from the bench top and pilot scale runs for catalyst lifetime testing and conversion to isoprene.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Evaluation of Alignment: Precision, Recall, Weighting and Limitations

In the real world, data does not come neatly packaged. Instead, it typically comes as small updates from many sources with different conventions. Building a single, cohesive knowledge-base to work from requires merging small updates from many different sources. This paper outlines methods we have investigated for scoring merging routines. Given a challenge problem consisting of a large knowledge-base and a set of smaller documents, algorithms are asked to identify alignment points between the smaller document and the knowledge base. This paper surveys options for evaluating such algorithms, providing notes on strengths, weaknesses and considerations for interpretation.

Cottam, Joseph A.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Heat Pump Water Heater Guide for Small Businesses

This guide is intended for building owners and facility managers interested in electrifying commercial building water heating systems via new building systems or system retrofits. This guide is also a resource for contractors becoming familiar with commercial heat pump water heaters (HPWHs). This guide focuses on integrated air-source HPWH equipment, and background information, best practices, and key considerations are included here. A building owner or facility manager should review project considerations with an engineer or contractor.

decarbonization↗
DOE OSTI2024

Characterization and Rationalization of Microstructural Evolution in GRCop-84 Processed by Laser-Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF)

In this study, prismatic geometries of GRCop-84 [Cu-8Cr-4Nb (at. pct)] were built with laser-powder bed fusion (L-PBF) process. The samples were sectioned parallel or perpendicular to the build direction and characterized in the as-built and after post-processing with a hot-isostatically pressing (HIP) treatment. The microstructure and phase evolutions were evaluated with optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD), and high-temperature X-ray diffraction (HTXRD) up to 1223 K. The samples in the as-built conditions exhibited predominantly columnar epitaxial and misoriented Cu-FCC grains. The microstructure evolutions are discussed based on locations within the overall build geometry, the dynamics of small melt pool shape and sectioning effects. The above grain structure did not change significantly during post-process HIP treatment. The stability of this FCC grain structure is attributed to the formation of primary stable Cr 2 Nb (Laves phase) during L-PBF, even before the emergence of FCC grains from liquid. The stability of Cr 2 Nb in both as-built and HIPed samples were evaluated using high-temperature X-ray diffraction measurements and compared with that of gas-atomized powder. The significance of these results is discussed with reference to aerospace applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Dirty bomb source term characterization and downwind dispersion: Review of experimental evidence

Dirty bombs are considered one of the easiest forms of radiological terrorism, a form of terrorism based on the deliberate use of radiological material to cause adverse effects in a target population. One U.S. Government official has even described a dirty bomb attack as “all but inevitable”. While people in the vicinity of the blast may experience acute radiation effects, people downwind may unknowingly be contaminated by the radioactive airborne particulate and face increased long-term cancer risk. The likelihood of increased cancer risk depends on the radionuclide used and its specific activity, its aerosolization potential, the particle sizes generated in the blast, and where a person is with respect to the detonation. Different studies have reported that plausible radionuclides for dirty bomb include 60 Co, 90 Sr, 137 Cs, 192 Ir, 241 Am based on their availability in commercial sources as well as safeguards, the amount needed for adverse health effects, previous mishandling of radionuclides and malicious uses. In order to have increased long-term cancer risk, the radionuclide would have to deposit inside the body by entering the respiratory tract and then possibly migrate to other organs or bones (ground shine is not considered in this paper because areas affected by the event will likely become inaccessible). This implies that the particles will have to be smaller than 10 μm to be inhaled. Experiments involving the detonation of dirty bombs have shown that particles or droplets smaller than 10 μm are generated, independently from the initial radionuclide or its state (e.g., powder, solution). Atmospheric tests have shown that in unobstructed terrain, the radionuclide laden cloud can travel kilometers downwind even for relatively small amounts of explosives. Furthermore, buildings in the path of the cloud can change the dose rate. For instance, in one experiment with a single building, the dose rate was 1–2 orders of magnitude lower behind the obstacle compared to its front face. For people walking around, the amount of particulate deposited on them and inhaled will depend on their path relative to the cloud, resulting in the counterintuitive result that the closer people may actually not be the ones more at risk because they could simply miss the bulk of the cloud in their wandering. In summary, the long-term cancer risk for people caught in a dirty bomb cloud away from the detonation requires considering where and when the people are, which radionuclide was used, and the layout of the obstacles (e.g., buildings, vegetation) in the path of the cloud.

63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTAN↗
DOE OSTI2020

Light Exposure Promotes Degradation of Intermediates and Growth of Phosphine-Ligated Gold Clusters

Subnanometer clusters exhibit unique properties not observed at the bulk or nanometer scale. Many applications, however, require clusters to be monodisperse in size and composition.While substantial progress has been made empirically on producing specific-sized gold clusters using different ligands, the mechanisms of cluster formation remain insufficiently understood. Using high mass-resolution electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), we characterized the formation of cationic triphenylphosphine-ligated gold clusters [Aux(PPh3)y z+] in solution. Our data provides evidence that small hydrogen-containing intermediate “building blocks” (i.e., Au2(PPh3)2H+, Au4(PPh3)4H+, and Au7(PPh3)7H5 2+) are responsible for the growth of larger gold clusters (i.e., Au6(PPh3)6 2+ and Au8(PPh3)7 2+) over several hours. In addition, intermediate degradation and cluster growth are shown to be dependent on irradiation of the reacting solution with light. Specifically, the rate of growth of large clusters is demonstrated to scale with the intensity of light exposure. Complementary theoretical calculations were also performed that provide molecular-level insight into the nature of the bonding between the hydrogens and gold atoms in the intermediate Au-phosphine clusters. Collectively, our joint experimental and theoretical findings advance the understanding of the factors at play in the size-selective synthesis of ligated gold clusters in solution.

Hewitt, Michael A.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Direct pulse-level compilation of arbitrary quantum logic gates on superconducting qutrits

Advanced simulations and calculations on quantum computers require high-fidelity implementations of quantum operations. The universal gateset approach builds complex unitaries from a small set of primitive gates, often resulting in a long gate sequence, which is typically a leading factor in the total accumulated error. Compiling a complex unitary for processors with higher-dimensional logical elements, such as qutrits, exacerbates the accumulated error per unitary, since an even longer gate sequence is required. Optimal control methods promise time- and resource-efficient compact gate sequences and, therefore, higher fidelity. These methods generate pulses that can directly implement any complex unitary on a quantum device. In this work, we demonstrate that any arbitrary qubit and qutrit gate can be realized with high fidelity, which can significantly reduce the length of a gate sequence. We generate and test pulses for a large set of randomly selected arbitrary unitaries on several quantum processing units (QPUs): the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Quantum Device and Integration Testbed’s (QuDIT’s) standard QPU and three of Rigetti’s QPUs: Ankaa-2, Ankaa-9Q-1, and Aspen-M-3. On the QuDIT platform’s standard QPU, the average fidelity of random qutrit gates is 97.9 ± 0.5% measured with conventional QPT and 98.8 ± 0.6% from QPT with gate folding. Rigetti’s Ankaa-2 achieves random qubit gates with an average fidelity of 98.4 ± 0.5% (conventional QPT) and 99.7 ± 0.1% (QPT with gate folding). On Ankaa-9Q-1 and Aspen-M-3, the average fidelities with conventional qubit QPT measurements were higher than 99% (see Appendix). Here we show that optimal control gates are robust to drift for at least 3 h and that the same calibration parameters can be used for all implemented gates. Our work promises that the calibration overheads for optimal control gates can be made small enough to enable efficient quantum circuits based on this technique.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2025

VOLTTRON/volttron-pnnl-aems

The Autonomous Energy Management Software (AEMS) system will continuously optimize the operations of the distributed energy resources in the small and medium size commercial building by minimizing energy consumption and cost, while providing a solution for maximizing decarbonization benefits from electrification of buildings. Initially, AEMS system will manage rooftop air conditioners and heat pumps but it can be extended in the future to manage, hot water heaters, storage (battery and thermal), electric vehicle charging and monitoring solar photovoltaic. AEMS support both energy efficiency and grid service features.

Bleeker, Amelia [Pacific Northwest National Labora↗
DOE OSTI2024

Continuous thermostat setpoint monitoring and correction (Thermostat setpoint correction) v1.0

The Continuous Thermostat Setpoint Monitoring and Correction software is a set of fault detection and correction algorithms that can be implemented in thermostats with two-way OpenAPIs. It is written in the Python language. The algorithms aim to detect the most common and impactful efficiency problems associated with thermostat setpoints - overly aggressive heating or cooling setpoints, incorrect schedules/setbacks, and overly narrow deadbands. These algorithms can automatically detect faults, and implement associated corrective actions to bring the system back to a state of efficient operation. The algorithms can run remotely in the cloud, and directly implemented by connected thermostat manufacturers, or by third party service providers. The software enables a lightweight cost-effective energy management strategy for HVAC systems. The solution is specially viable for small and medium sized commercial buildings, where a full scale building automation system and fault detection and diagnostic tools are often unavailable.

Granderson, Jessica↗
DOE OSTI2021

REopt Lite User Manual

REopt Lite evaluates the economic viability of grid-connected solar photovoltaics, wind, combined heat and power, and electric and thermal storage at commercial and small industrial sites. It allows building owners to identify the system sizes and dispatch strategies that minimize the site’s life cycle cost of energy. REopt Lite also estimates the amount of time on-site generation and storage can sustain the site's critical load during a grid outage and allows the user the choice of optimizing for energy resilience. It is primarily used to inform project development decisions and to support research on the factors that drive project feasibility for market development and policy analysis. It is available through a web interface, application programing interface, and open-source code. This user manual provides an overview of the model, including its capabilities and typical applications; inputs and outputs; economic calculations; technology descriptions; and model parameters, variables, and equations. The model is highly flexible and is continually evolving to meet the needs of each analysis. Therefore, this report is not an exhaustive description of all capabilities, but rather a summary of the core components of the model.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2023

Volume 10: Flow Test Facilities

Adding additional flow testing facilities has been considered as part of the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) Sustaining and Enhancing Neutron Science (SENSe) Initiative at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to support HFIR operations and experiments. This prospect has prompted many ideas and discussions regarding potential features, configurations, locations, and applications for the facilities. A working group of ORNL staff members was formed in fiscal year 2022 to recommend one or more configurations to best support future HFIR operations and scientific capacities and to develop order-of magnitude cost estimates and timing. The ideas discussed in this report include options ranging from upgrading existing small-scale testing facilities to building a full-scale HFIR mockup for detailed thermohydraulic testing and fuel assessment.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗