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At least 253 records · Page 14

Carrier and sampling frequency offset estimation for RF communication with crystal-less nodes

When the ultra-low power mm-scale sensor node does not have a crystal oscillator and phase-lock loop, it inevitably exhibits significant carrier frequency offset (CFO) and sampling frequency offset (SFO) with respect to the reference frequencies in the gateway. This disclosure enables efficient real-time calculation of accurate SFO and CFO at the gateway, thus the ultra-low power mm-scale sensor node can be realized without a costly and bulky clock reference crystal and also power-hungry phase lock loop. In the proposed system, the crystal-less sensor starts transmission with repetitive RF pulses with a constant interval, followed by the data payload using pulse-position modulation (PPM). A proposed algorithm uses a two-dimensional (2D) fast Fourier transform (FFT) based process that identifies the SFO and CFO at the same time to establish successful wireless communication between the gateway and crystal-less sensor nodes.

Kim, Hun-Seok↗

Experimental Analysis of Distribution Network Voltage Regulation Using Smart Inverters

Smart inverters (SIs) have demonstrated their potential to provide grid services for both transmission and distribution systems. One of these grid services, distribution network voltage regulation by SIs, has the potential to improve network voltage regulation through controlling the reactive and active power output of the SIs. Voltage regulation by SIs will be distributed and might be better suited to controlling local conditions to complement traditional voltage-regulating assets, e.g., tap-changing transformers, capacitor banks, and line voltage regulators. There is a gap in the literature on comparing the SI response characteristics when the SIs are controlled by a local controller or external control signals. This paper presents an experimental study to characterize SI reactive power regulation responses to two different control methods: autonomous control and remote dispatch. We found that SI reactive power regulation responses exhibit important differences between these methods in terms of delays and ramp rate. Finally, power-hardware-in-the-loop (PHIL) tests were conducted to evaluate the performance of these two methods. The PHIL test results show that the SI response characteristics for autonomous control and remote dispatch need to be considered when planning for distribution network voltage regulation using SIs.

autonomous control↗

On decoupling the integrals of cosmological perturbation theory

ABSTRACT Perturbation theory (PT) is often used to model statistical observables capturing the translation and rotation-invariant information in cosmological density fields. PT produces higher order corrections by integration over linear statistics of the density fields weighted by kernels resulting from recursive solution of the fluid equations. These integrals quickly become high dimensional and naively require increasing computational resources the higher the order of the corrections. Here, we show how to decouple the integrands that often produce this issue, enabling PT corrections to be computed as a sum of products of independent 1D integrals. Our approach is related to a commonly used method for calculating multiloop Feynman integrals in quantum field theory, the Gegenbauer Polynomial x-Space Technique. We explicitly reduce the three terms entering the 2-loop power spectrum, formally requiring 9D integrations, to sums over successive 1D radial integrals. These 1D integrals can further be performed as convolutions, rendering the scaling of this method Nglog Ng with Ng the number of grid points used for each fast Fourier transform. This method should be highly enabling for upcoming large-scale structure redshift surveys where model predictions at an enormous number of cosmological parameter combinations will be required by Monte Carlo Markov Chain searches for the best-fitting values.

Slepian, Zachary↗

Wearable Wireless Telemetry System for Implantable Bio-MEMS Sensors

In this paper, a telemetry and contact-less powering system consisting of an implantable bio-MEMS sensor with a miniature printed square spiral chip antenna and an external wearable garment with printed loop antenna is investigated. The wearable garment pick-up antenna and the implantable chip antenna are in close proximity to each other and hence couple inductively through their near-fields and behave as the primary and the secondary circuits of a transformer, respectively. The numerical and experimental results are graphically presented, and include the design parameter values as a function of the geometry, the relative RF magnetic near-field intensity as a function of the distance and angle, and the current density on the strip conductors, for the implantable chip antenna.

Simons, Rainee N.↗

Harnessing the Digital Transformation for Development of Hybrid Electric Aircraft Propulsion Control Systems

Hybrid electric aircraft propulsion is an emerging technology that presents a variety of potential benefits along with technical integration challenges. Developing these new propulsion architectures with their complex control systems, and ultimately proving their benefit, is a multistep process that goes from concept, to analysis, to dynamic simulation, to hardware in the loop testing, to full scale testing and beyond. This effort is being revolutionized and indeed enabled by new digital tools that support the increasing technology readiness level throughout the maturation process. NASA has developed and made available a suite of digital tools that ease the path from concept to implementation. The three packages are the Toolbox for the Modeling and Analysis of Thermodynamic Systems (T-MATS), the Electrical Modeling and Thermal Analysis Toolbox (EMTAT), and the Thermal Systems Analysis Toolbox (TSAT). These tools are interactive, complementary, and compatible with each other. T-MATS is a modular thermodynamic modeling framework designed for creating custom component level models of jet engines. EMTAT is a modeling framework used to simulate a variety of power electronic devices, using both physics-based and power flow calculations. TSAT is a framework for modeling and analysis of dynamic heat transfer. These packages all consist of graphical, drag-and-drop, parameterizable building blocks representing various components of the system to be modeled, e.g., compressors, turbines, motors, energy storage devices, etc. They are designed to enable the user to model and simulate the end-to-end dynamic operation of a hybrid powertrain at the timescale of the turbomachinery, capturing mechanical, electrical, and thermal interactions. This paper will describe through multiple examples how these tools have been used successfully in several of the early stages of hybrid electric propulsion system development, from the initial system modeling to real-time interactive pilot-in-the-loop simulation to physical hardware-in-the-loop testing, each step bringing the technology closer to fruition.

Electrified Propulsion↗

Role of generic scale invariance in a Mott transition from a U(1) spin-liquid insulator to a Landau Fermi-liquid metal

Highlights: • We look at the role played by generic scale invariance (GSI) in the phase transition between a U(1) spin liquid and a Fermi liquid. • We identify dangerously irrelevant operators in the renormalization group transformation, involved with the GSI. • We highlight novel mean-field dynamics of this Mott quantum criticality, resulting from the GSI. We investigate the role of generic scale invariance in a Mott transition from a U(1) spin-liquid insulator to a Landau Fermi-liquid metal, where there exist massless degrees of freedom in addition to quantum critical fluctuations. Here, the Mott quantum criticality is described by critical charge fluctuations, and additional gapless excitations are U(1) gauge-field fluctuations coupled to a spinon Fermi surface in the spin-liquid state, which turn out to play a central role in the Mott transition. An interesting feature of this problem is that the scaling dimension of effective leading local interactions between critical charge fluctuations differs from that of the coupling constant between U(1) gauge fields and matter-field fluctuations in the presence of a Fermi surface. As a result, there appear dangerously irrelevant operators, which can cause conceptual difficulty in the implementation of renormalization group (RG) transformations. Indeed, we find that the curvature term along the angular direction of the spinon Fermi surface is dangerously irrelevant at this spin-liquid Mott quantum criticality, responsible for divergence of the self-energy correction term in U(1) gauge-field fluctuations. Performing the RG analysis in the one-loop level based on the dimensional regularization method, we reveal that such extremely overdamped dynamics of U(1) gauge-field fluctuations, which originates from the emergent one-dimensional dynamics of spinons, does not cause any renormalization effects to the effective dynamics of both critical charge fluctuations and spinon excitations. However, it turns out that the coupling between U(1) gauge-field fluctuations and both matter-field excitations still persists at this Mott transition, which results in novel mean-field dynamics to explain the nature of the spin-liquid Mott quantum criticality. We discuss physical implications of effective one-dimensional spin dynamics and extremely overdamped gauge dynamics at the Mott quantum criticality.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Regulated dc-to-dc converter for voltage step-up or step-down with input-output isolation

A closed loop regulated dc-to-dc converter employing an unregulated two winding inductive energy storage converter is provided by using a magnetically coupled multivibrator acting as duty cycle generator to drive the converter. The multivibrator is comprised of two transistor switches and a saturable transformer. The output of the converter is compared with a reference in a comparator which transmits a binary zero until the output exceeds the reference. When the output exceeds the reference, the binary output of the comparator drives transistor switches to turn the multivibrator off. The multivibrator is unbalanced so that a predetermined transistor will always turn on first when the binary feedback signal becomes zero.

Feng, S. Y.↗

Circular Bioeconomy Concepts—A Perspective

Circular economy concepts—including a circular bioeconomy—aim to transition the current, essentially linear, economic system to a more sustainable one. However, organizations and researchers currently define the circular economy concept differently, resulting in inconsistencies and difficulty in effectively implementing the framework. In this paper, we provide our perspective on the conceptual definitions of the circular economy, bioeconomy, and circular bioeconomy, outlining potential overlaps and differences and proposing a harmonized interpretation that stresses the importance of the carbon cycle. We conclude that the key goal of a circular economy is to slow, narrow, and close material resource loops, built on the foundation of renewable energy and non-toxic materials. Further, a sustainable bioeconomy goes beyond simply switching fossil resources with renewable, biological resources. It requires low-carbon energy inputs, sustainable supply chains, and promising disruptive conversion technologies for the sustainable transformation of renewable bioresources to high-value bio-based products, materials, and fuels. The bio-based circular carbon economy, in particular, stresses capturing atmospheric carbon via photosynthesis and exploiting this unique feature to the fullest extent possible. It sits at the intersection between the circular economy and the bioeconomy concept, resulting in a framework that focuses on closing the carbon cycle and stressing the opportunity to create an additional carbon sink capability in the technosphere by utilizing biogenic carbon for products and materials that are circulated in same or improved use cycles. Lastly, a sustainable circular bioeconomy transition will necessitate a set of consistent metrics that fit all products and industries.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Large planar maneuvers for articulated flexible manipulators

An articulated flexible manipulator carried on a translational cart is maneuvered by an active controller to perform certain position control tasks. The nonlinear dynamics of the articulated flexible manipulator are derived and a transformation matrix is formulated to localize the nonlinearities within the inertia matrix. Then a feedback linearization scheme is introduced to linearize the dynamic equations for controller design. Through a pole placement technique, a robust controller design is obtained by properly assigning a set of closed-loop desired eigenvalues to meet performance requirements. Numerical simulations for the articulated flexible manipulators are given to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed position control algorithms.

Huang, Jen-Kuang↗

Large planar maneuvers for articulated flexible manipulators

An articulated flexible manipulator carried on a translational cart is maneuvered by an active controller to perform certain position control tasks. The nonlinear dynamics of the articulated flexible manipulator are derived and a transformation matrix is formulated to localize the nonlinearities in the inertia matrix. Then a feeback linearization scheme is introduced to linearize the dynamic equations for controller design. Through a pole placement technique, a robust controller design is obtained by properly assigning a set of closed-loop desired eigenvalues to meet performance requirements. Numerical simulations for the articulated flexible manipulators are given to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed position control algorithms.

Huang, Jen-Kuang↗

Coupling of CTF and TRANSFORM using the Functional Mockup Interface

An in-memory coupling between the sub-channel thermal hydraulics code COBRA-TF (CTF), which is included in the Virtual Environment for Reactor Applications (VERA), and the systems code Transient Simulation Framework of Reconfigurable Models (TRANSFORM) was developed in this work. Data exchange is accomplished by using the Functional Mock-Up Interface (FMI), an open standard for coupling dynamic systems models together. The FMI-based coupling necessitated the development of a novel FORTRAN wrapper for communicating with Functional Mock-Up Units. This wrapper will facilitate future FMI-based code couplings with other FORTRAN-based programs. CTF-TRANSFORM is exercised on a simplified Molten Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE) model in steady-state and transient configurations. The coupled CTF-TRANSFORM model is shown to predict core temperature deltas similar to those available in historical MSRE operational data and is shown to be robust to fast power transients.The coupling paves the way to performing sensitivity and design studies impossible with VERA/CTF alone, in which secondary and tertiary loop operating conditions and design parameters may be perturbed and their impact on the core operating conditions studied.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Cyclic moisture reactivation of calcium sorbents for long duration thermochemical energy storage

The transition to a flexible and reliable energy infrastructure, using electro-thermal energy generation technologies such as geothermal, concentrated solar power, and nuclear, usually demands simultaneous advancement of thermal energy storage (TES) to support on-demand electricity generation and industrial applications while mitigating the inherent intermittency of renewable energy sources and power outages from direct energy generation. Among TES technologies, thermochemical energy storage (TCES) based on calcium looping emerges as a compelling high-power energy storage candidate due to its high reaction enthalpy, compatibility with elevated operating temperatures, and abundance of low-cost materials. However, the long-term durability of calcium-based sorbents for TCES is hindered by surface sintering and particle aggregation, leading to performance degradation over repeated thermal cycles. This study explores a moisture hydration-based strategy to regenerate a degraded calcium sorbent and mitigate performance degradation for long duration TCES. The addition of moisture transforms calcium oxide into calcium hydroxide and produces intercalation water layers, associated with a regenerated surface area and reduced calcium oxide crystallite size. Both these effects are beneficial in restoring the sorbents' reactivity for carbonization. Additionally, an optimized hydration-assisted reactivation protocol balances the recovered energy storage capacity with heating penalty required for moisture removal from hydrated samples, resulting in an enhanced energy storage capacity up to 176% compared to benchmark sorbents that undergo cycling without reactivation after 60 cycles. In conclusion, these results highlight the potential of hydration-assisted reactivation to enhance the long-term performance of TCES, providing an effective pathway to advancing electro-thermal storage technologies.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Field‐Induced Ferroelectric Phase Evolution During Polarization “Wake‐Up” in Hf 0.5 Zr 0.5 O 2 Thin Film Capacitors

Abstract As an emerging nonvolatile memory technology, HfO 2 ‐based ferroelectrics exhibit excellent compatibility with silicon CMOS process flows; however, the reliability of polarization switching in these materials remains a major challenge. During repeated field programming and erase of the polarization state of initially pristine HfO 2 ‐based ferroelectric capacitors, the magnitude of the measured polarization increases, a phenomenon known as “wake‐up”. In this study, the authors attempt to understand what causes the wake‐up effect in Hf 0.5 Zr 0.5 O 2 (HZO) capacitors using nondestructive methods that probe statistically significant sample volumes. Synchrotron X‐ray diffraction reveals a concerted shift in HZO Bragg peak position as a function of polarization switching cycle number in films prepared under conditions such that they exhibit extremely large (≈3000%) wake‐up. In contrast, a control sample with insignificant wake‐up shows no such peak shift. Capacitance – voltage measurements show evolution in the capacitance loop with switching cycle number for the wake‐up sample and no change for the control sample. Piezoresponse force microscopy measurements are utilized to visualize the domain switching with wake‐up. The combination of these observations clearly demonstrates that wake‐up is caused by a field‐driven phase transformation of the tetragonal phase to the metastable ferroelectric orthorhombic phase during polarization switching of HZO capacitors.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Submegahertz frequency-stablized Nd:YAG oscillator

The operation of a 5-msec, quasi-continuous wave (CW) 10-Hz repetition-rate pulsed single-frequency Nd:YAG oscillator with a feedback stabilized frequency bandwidth of less than 200 kHz is described. The major problems associated with frequency stabilization for quasi-CW operation, frequency chirp and maintenance of the frequency control signal, are described, and the design of a wide-bandwidth frequency locking system with a search and chirp compensation loop is given. This frequency stabilized oscillator is a potentially useful laser source for atmospheric wind velocity measurements by coherent lidar Doppler velocimetry, which require a laser source with less than 1 MHz linewidth, and also has applications in high-resolution nonlinear spectroscopic studies at Fourier-transform-limited linewidths.

Sun, Y. L.↗

Modular, Multifunction, Multiport and Medium Voltage Utility Scale SiC PV Inverter (Final Report)

This project is to develop and demonstrate a Modular, Multi-function, Multiport and Medium Voltage utility scale SiC solar inverter (M4 Inverter). The M4 Inverter is a next generation utility scale PV + storage inverter that can substantially reduce the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) while providing grid friendly ancillary services. Conventional utility scale solar inverters includes three parts, a megawatt rated solar inverter, a low frequency transformer (LFT) and a medium voltage switch gear. The proposed M4 Inverter directly converts the DC output of solar panels to medium voltage AC, eliminating the bulky and costly LFT. The M4 Inverter also has a DC port to interface with an additional energy storage device. This plus its bidirectional power flow capability, allows multiple functions in addition to PV maximum power tracking be achieved. These additional functionalities include but not limited to reactive power support, peak shaving, fast frequency regulation and synthetic inertia. Predicted LCOE reductions with these added functionalities, improved efficiency and longer lifetime time are more than 30% compared with the 2017 utility scale solar LCOE. A 1MVA SiC M4 Inverter was developed and tested at high power level. The project has also advanced the state of the art in controller hardware in the loop simulation capability. Power electronic innovations introduced in the M4 Inverter includes 1700V SiC MOSFET application in 1500V PV system, soft switching three-port power converters and modular converter architecture.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

The relationship between the Zames representation and LQG compensators

Recently Zames (1981) has introduced the so-called model reference transformation which can be used to conveniently parameterize the class of linear time-invariant multivariable compensators that lead to stable feedback control systems. A very popular design methodology for designing stable and robust multivariable control systems is that based on the Linear-Quadratic-Gaussian (LQG) methodology with Loop Transfer Recovery (LTR). Thus, it is natural to inquire upon the relationship between the Zames representation and the LQG/LTR compensators. This paper summarizes this relationship.

Athans, M.↗

BETO 2021 Peer Review - Continuous Enzymatic Hydrolysis Development (CEHD) WBS 2.4.1.101

The Continuous Enzymatic Hydrolysis Development (CEHD) project aims to reduce the cost and commercialization scale-up risks of biorefinery sugar-lignin production through development of a deployable continuous enzymatic hydrolysis (CEH) process. Through the use of external cross flow membrane filtration loops coupled to enzymatic hydrolysis (EH) reactors, pretreated biomass solids and enzymes are retained for reaction while solubilized product sugars are removed in situ, with high extents of conversion achieved through a series of reactor-membrane unit stages. The CEHD project is focused on advancing CEH as a transformational, process-intensified, lower-cost method for producing soluble clarified biomass sugars and insoluble lignin-rich streams than traditional batch enzymatic hydrolysis (BEH). The project's primary objective is to reduce the cost of CEH to be compellingly lower than conventional BEH, 10% lower in year 1 and 20% lower in year 3 (end of project). A related objective is to expand CEH's operating envelope to increase process efficiency. Through more thorough de-risking and demonstration of CEH, in conjunction with building a suite of modeling and optimization tools that allow for more facile rigorous in silico evaluation of novel CEH designs and modalities, this project intends to elevate industry interest in adopting CEH as an improvement over conventional batch processing. This project was merit reviewed in FY20. It's now in its first year of a new 3-year plan spanning FY21-FY23.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Closed Form Solution for Minimum Norm Model-Validating Uncertainty

A methodology in which structured uncertainty models are directly constructed from measurement data for use in robust control design of multivariable systems is proposed. The formulation allows a general linear fractional transformation uncertainty structure connections with respect to a given nominal model. Existence conditions are given, and under mild assumptions, a closed-form expression for the smallest norm structured uncertainty that validates the model is given. The uncertainty bound computation is simple and is formulated for both open and closed loop systems.

Lim, Kyong Been↗