Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “operating costs”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 253 records · Page 14
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Applying Improved Optical Recognition with Machine Learning on Sorting Cu Impurities in Steel Scrap

Annually, 20–55 million tons of electronic waste (e-waste) is produced worldwide (5% of all municipal solid waste). Although e-waste embodies only 2% of America’s municipal waste, it accounts for a significantly larger proportion of the heavy metals and flame retardants present in the waste stream. Currently, less than 20% of all e-waste is recycled in the United States because the heterogeneity of the feedstock limits the opportunity for reuse in high value products and processing of the waste itself is often too costly to justify handling. To address this concern, the aims of this study are: 1) to identify the major plastic and metal compositions within electronic shredder residue (ESR), 2) to formulate solvents and processing conditions to separate 90% of the plastics targeted from consumer shred ESR, and 3) to develop a process design model to estimate the cost and energy efficiency of the proposed solvent-based processing. In this study, a pre-sorted heterogeneous ESR feedstock (one where aluminum, magnetic components, and hazardous battery materials removed by an e-waste recycling facility) was used, with the major compositions of the ESR characterized. It was found that 25 wt.% of the feedstock was composed of plastics, 6 wt.% rubber, 27 wt.% printed circuit boards, 23% wire, and the remainder metals and capacitors. Within the plastic portion, polystyrene (PS, 40 wt.%), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS, 25 wt.%), and styrene-acrylonitrile (SAN, 9wt.%) were identified to compose the majority of the screened plastics using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Next, selective solvents were screened using Hansen Solubility Parameter Theory (HSP) for dissolving PS and ABS. The pre-screening results show that methylene chloride (dichloromethane, DCM) and tetrahydrofuran (THF) are capable of dissolving the most PS and ABS, while methanol (MeOH) and ethylene glycol (EG) are capable of precipitating the most PS and ABS. These solvents were subsequently used to recover polymers and remove. flame retardants within the ESR feedstock. By optimizing the dissolution time and the solvents used, the highest polymer dissolution yield (99 wt.%%) was achieved using DCM for 48 hr. Both pre-screened anti-solvents (MeOH and EG) showed the highest polymer precipitation yield (71 wt.%). In terms of flame retardant removal rate, EG was found to have a high phosphorus-containing flame retardant removal rate (up to 98%). Characterization shows that the proposed solvent-based processing can preserve a high molecular weight fraction of the polymers and effectively remove flame retardants. Cost analysis indicates that the amount of the solvent/anti-solvent recovered after the reaction would play a critical role in reducing the operating costs. The energy analysis shows that the proposed solvent-based processes can save up to 60% of the embodied energy used to manufacture plastics used in electronics (PS and ABS were used for calculations). The results from this project prove the potential of solvent-based processing to produce secondary materials (plastics and metals) from e-waste for cross-industry reuse.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Monte Carlo Explicitly Correlated Second-Order Many-Body Green’s Function Calculations of Semiconductor Band Gaps

A systematically converging series of ab initio, post-density-functional, size-consistent, electron-correlated approximations is desired for predictive computing of felectronic band structures of insulating, semiconducting, and metallic solids. A series that meets all of these desiderata (except the applicability to metals) is ab initio many-body Green's function theory based on Gaussian-type-orbital (GTO) basis sets. Here, its leading-order approximation, the second-order Green's function (GF2) method in the diagonal and frequency-independent approximations with the aug-cc-pVDZ basis set, is applied to the fundamental band gaps of three semiconductors (diamond, silicon, and silicon carbide in the zincblende structure) using cluster models. Corrections are made to the basis-set-incompleteness errors by the explicit-correlation (F12) ansatz (GF2-F12) for the valence band edges. The crystals are modeled as surface-passivated clusters of increasing sizes, whose wave functions are expanded by up to 2709 GTO basis functions. Immense computational costs of these calculations are overcome by the highly scalable stochastic algorithm of the Monte Carlo GF2-F12 method, whose operation cost per state increases only as a cubic power of system size, which has a tiny memory footprint and easily achieves near-perfect parallel efficiency on thousands of CPUs or on hundreds of GPUs. The correlated, F12-corrected highest-occupied and lowest-unoccupied molecular-orbital energy (HOMO-LUMO) gap is 5.78 ± 0.07 eV for C 87 H 76 as compared with the experimental value of the fundamental (indirect) band gap of bulk diamond at 5.48 eV. The correlated, F12-corrected HOMO-LUMO gaps for Si 75 H 76 and Si 32 C 43 H 76 are 2.56 ± 0.15 eV and 3.50 ± 0.12 eV, respectively, which are expected to decrease further with increasing cluster sizes. As a result, the experimental fundamental (indirect) band gaps of bulk silicon and silicon carbide are 1.17 eV and 2.42 eV, respectively.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Chemical Recycling of Mixed Plastics and Valuable Metals in the Electronic Waste Using Solvent-Based Processing

Annually, 20-55 million tons of electronic waste (e-waste) is produced worldwide (5% of all municipal solid waste). Although e-waste embodies only 2% of America’s municipal waste, it accounts for a significantly larger proportion of the heavy metals and flame retardants present in the waste stream. Currently, less than 20% of all e-waste is recycled in the United States because the heterogeneity of the feedstock limits the opportunity for reuse in high value products and processing of the waste itself is often too costly to justify handling. To address this concern, the aims of this study are: 1) to identify the major plastic and metal compositions within electronic shredder residue (ESR), 2) to formulate solvents and processing conditions to separate 90% of the plastics targeted from consumer shred ESR, and 3) to develop a process design model to estimate the cost and energy efficiency of the proposed solvent-based processing. In this study, a pre-sorted heterogeneous ESR feedstock (one where aluminum, magnetic components, and hazardous battery materials removed by an e-waste recycling facility) was used, with the major compositions of the ESR characterized. It was found that 25 wt.% of the feedstock was composed of plastics, 6 wt.% rubber, 27 wt.% printed circuit boards, 23% wire, and the remainder metals and capacitors. Within the plastic portion, polystyrene (PS, 40 wt.%), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS, 25 wt.%), and styrene-acrylonitrile (SAN, 9wt.%) were identified to compose the majority of the screened plastics using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Next, selective solvents were screened using Hansen Solubility Parameter Theory (HSP) for dissolving PS and ABS. The pre-screening results show that methylene chloride (dichloromethane, DCM) and tetrahydrofuran (THF) are capable of dissolving the most PS and ABS, while methanol (MeOH) and ethylene glycol (EG) are capable of precipitating the most PS and ABS. These solvents were subsequently used to recover polymers and remove. flame retardants within the ESR feedstock. By optimizing the dissolution time and the solvents used, the highest polymer dissolution yield (99 wt.%%) was achieved using DCM for 48 hr. Both pre-screened anti-solvents (MeOH and EG) showed the highest polymer precipitation yield (71 wt.%). In terms of flame retardant removal rate, EG was found to have a high phosphorus-containing flame retardant removal rate (up to 98%). Characterization shows that the proposed solvent-based processing can preserve a high molecular weight fraction of the polymers and effectively remove flame retardants. Cost analysis indicates that the amount of the solvent/anti-solvent recovered after the reaction would play a critical role in reducing the operating costs. The energy analysis shows that the proposed solvent-based processes can save up to 60% of the embodied energy used to manufacture plastics used in electronics (PS and ABS were used for calculations). The results from this project prove the potential of solvent-based processing to produce secondary materials (plastics and metals) from e-waste for cross-industry reuse.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2025

ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION OF HARD AND SOFT MAGNETIC MATERIALS IN GASEOUS AND SUPERCRITICAL CO2 ENVIRONMENTS

It may be beneficial to use hermetic designs for supercritical CO2 (sCO2) cycles machinery as they would eliminate CO2 leakage through shaft end seals. This would reduce CO2 emissions and operating costs for makeup of lost process fluid. Those designs may replace traditional oil-lubricated bearings with actively controlled magnetic bearings operating at high temperatures in the process fluid environment (to reduce the need for active cooling). This paper investigates the material degradation of various types of magnets in CO2. Included are several permanent and soft magnetic materials (Alnico 9C, Alnico 5-7C, and 18-T550 grade SmCo, and Hiperco 50) with or without coatings (nickel plating or C5 coating). The materials were exposed to: (1) flowing gaseous CO2 at 1,022 °F (550 °C) and atmospheric pressure in a furnace and (2) sCO2 at 842 °F (450 °C) and 1,500 psi (103 bar) in an autoclave. The preliminary mass change measured after total exposures of 1,000 hours and 2,000 hours are included.

supercritical CO2, magnetic material↗
DOE OSTI2024

Fish Friendly Water Rules' Impact On the Power Grid with High VRE Levels

Columbia River basin multipurpose reservoirs are operated for hydropower production and many other purposes considering the aquatic habitat of the river basin. Specifically, the river basin fish population is a vital element for the tribal community of the river basin. When conventional thermal power plants are retired, hydropower flexibility balances the wind and solar variability of the power grid and provides grid services to maximize the high renewable power absorption. On the other hand, over-reliance on hydropower could harm the river basin fish habitat. For example, water release pulses during peak electricity demand hours and shorter-term water release variation could harm the fish population. Power grid planners, environmentalists, Columbia Basin tribes, hydro regulators, and water resource planners work together to understand the impacts of Columbia River basin operation in a fish-friendly way in the current power grid and power grid with higher renewable power share. We examine different levels of renewable share in the Western Interconnection to understand the multiple weather years and future climate projection and operating scenario impact on the power grid and water system. We measure power grid impacts for various water resources planning scenarios in terms of total system operating cost, system reliability indicators, changes in wind and solar generation and curtailments, local marginal prices, and revenue for hydropower producers. The study results inform reservoir operating rules decisions from hydropower power producers, system operators, other water users, tribes, environmentalists, and other stakeholders.

environmental↗
DOE OSTI2020

Assessment of wind power scenario creation methods for stochastic power systems operations

Probabilistic scenarios of renewable energy production, such as wind, have been gaining popularity for use in stochastic variants of power systems operations scheduling problems, allowing for optimal decision-making under uncertainty. The quality of the scenarios has a direct impact on the value of the resulting decisions, but until now, methods for creating scenarios have not been compared under realistic operational conditions. Here, we compare the quality of scenario sets created using three different methods, based on a simulated re-enactment of stochastic day-ahead unit commitment and subsequent dispatch for a realistic test system. We create scenarios using a dataset of forecasted and actual wind power values, scaled to evaluate the effects of increasing wind penetration levels. We show that the choice of scenario set can significantly impact system operating cost, renewable energy use, and the ability of the system to meet demand. This result has implications for the ability of system operators to efficiently integrate renewable production into their day-ahead planning, highlighting the need for the use of performance-based assessments for scenario evaluation.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Comparative Techno-Economic and Life Cycle Analysis of Water Oxidation and Hydrogen Oxidation at the Anode in a CO 2 Electrolysis to Ethylene System

We compare the economic viability of employing hydrogen oxidation versus water oxidation at the anode of a commercial-scale electrolysis plant that converts CO 2 to ethylene. We vary the electrolyzer capital cost, membrane lifetime, and renewable electricity price to represent a current and future market scenario. We find that anodic hydrogen oxidation with membraneless reactor design can reduce the electrolyzer capital cost by up to 48% and reduce electricity demand by at least 50% with the current underdeveloped electrolyzer market. These capital and operating cost savings could further lead to a lower ethylene production cost from anodic hydrogen oxidation than the anodic water oxidation system with hydrogen supplied at less than $\$6$ kg. In the future scenario with a fully developed electrolyzer market and cheap renewable electricity, we find that the anodic hydrogen oxidation system requires hydrogen cheaper than $0.7/kg to compete with the anodic water oxidation system. Moreover, hydrogen oxidation at the anode enables extremely low cradle-to-gate emission ethylene by utilizing negative emission hydrogen such as biomass gasification with carbon capture and sequestration, ~240% lower than ethylene produced from the wind/solar electricity-driven water oxidation system. Furthermore, this low carbon footprint ethylene can further boost the economic competitiveness for anodic hydrogen oxidation with a future carbon credit market.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Microwave Plasma Flash Pyrolysis for Coal-to-Product Applications

Since 2010, the US coal industry has experienced a precipitous decline, with coal production volumes dropping by as much as 35% according to EIA. This decline is hardly surprising given that 90% of domestic coal use is allocated to electricity production: While coal generation supplied about 45% of the nation's power in 2010, its share is projected to fall to only 22% in 2020. Fortunately, alternative uses for coal as a feedstock rather than as energy source are available. Coal tar is an established feedstock for chemicals and high-value carbon products including carbon fiber and battery-grade graphites. At present, growth of these uses is constrained by the low availability, purity, and yields of currently available coal liquids, and high energy- and CO2-intensity of current methods of production (i.e. coking). Previously reported work conducted in a partnership with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory demonstrated technical and economic viability of flash pyrolysis of coal in a microwave plasma environment at bench scales targeting production of fuel feedstocks (synthetic oil). H Quest’s work since then indicated promise of microwave-derived coal liquids to be uniquely suited for the lower-cost production of carbon materials, including synthetic graphite, carbon fiber, and composites. Low bulk process temperatures, subsecond residence times, and ambient pressure operation enable small-scale deployment, reduce capital and operating costs, and suppress formation of impurities, including QI material, typical in conventional coal tars. With no inherent production of CO2 or water consumption, microwave plasma flash pyrolysis presents a viable route to the sustainable production of both platform chemicals and carbon-based materials. Most recently, H Quest developed a novel, ruggedized microwave plasma reactor, which departs from the proof-of-concept approach and addresses the problems typically encountered in scaling laboratory microwave plasma apparata (e.g. eliminating fragile quartz enclosures prone to coking and fouling). This reactor has been integrated with a 15kW microwave power supply, a pulverized coal injection system, and a product recovery system. A series of screening tests across a range of coals (including hv-, lv-bituminous and subbituminous PRB), entrainment gas flows and compositions and microwave energy inputs are performed to evaluate conversion rates within the novel, scaled-up system, confirm yields of liquid products, and to perform compositional (GC/MS and elemental) analyses of the products. Results of these tests will be presented and discussed.

Skoptsov, George↗
DOE OSTI2025

Cost analysis of alternative large-scale high-temperature solid oxide electrolysis hydrogen production facilities

We extend our past cost analysis of gigawatt-scale solid oxide electrolysis (SOE) facilities that produce high purity hydrogen gas from water by estimating construction and operating costs for three new alternative design cases: (1) offsite feed steam generation; (2) near-atmospheric pressure (NAP) stack; and (3) onsite electric boiler feed steam generation. Pressure effects on hydrogen electrode-(cathode-)supported SOE cell (SOEC) stack performance are estimated for the same assumed cell and stack construction and used to determine facility-wide stack capital costs for achieving a fixed H2 production at different pressures. Modular balance of plant (BOP) process equipment capital costs are estimated for each new alternative design case using our past equipment sizing, design, and cost data and scaling relationships. Furthermore, we update BOP equipment sizing and design for the NAP case using Aspen®. Vendor quotes for electric boilers are used to estimate costs for the electric boiler design case. Factory and onsite assembly and installation costs for SOEC stacks and BOP equipment are calculated using our past simplified first-principles approach. First-of-a-kind (FOAK) and N th -of-a-kind (NOAK) production maturity cost estimates are included for all results. The case with NAP stacks offers the lowest facility total capital cost (TCC, ~23% lower than base) while use of small electric boilers requires the highest TCC (~3% higher than base). H 2 production prices decrease from the base of ~$\$2.17$ /kgH 2 to ~$\$1.92$/kgH 2 for 1 GW e DC SIP facilities utilizing NAP stacks supplied by offsites steam situated in large modules and blocks for $\$0.030$/kWh e and $0.009/kWh t prices for electricity and thermal energy, respectively. We report all costs in 2021 US dollars.

Balance of plant (BOP) process equipment↗
DOE OSTI2022

Optimal mass evacuation planning for electric vehicles before natural disasters

The electric vehicle (EV) market has significantly expanded because EVs have lower operational costs while leaving less environmental footprint than internal combustion engine vehicles. However, EVs also come with drawbacks, including long charging time and short operational ranges. With these drawbacks and limited charging facilities, efficient long-distance EV evacuation management is challenging and has not been properly addressed. Without an efficient evacuation plan, serious congestion could happen at charging facilities, the evacuation process would be excessively long, and thus human lives may be put at risk. This study is motivated to investigate the optimal mass evacuation planning for EVs considering limited charging facilities. A three-stage method is proposed to efficiently approach this problem. A case study of Florida hurricane evacuation is conducted. Here, the method's effectiveness is verified by comparing it with a benchmark. Management insights and policy indications are drawn through sensitivity analysis of key parameters.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2022

An Impartial Perspective for Superconducting Nb$_3$Sn coated Copper RF Cavities for Future Linear Accelerators

This Snowmass21 Contributed Paper encourages the Particle Physics community in fostering R&D in Superconducting Nb3Sn coated Copper RF Cavities instead of costly bulk Niobium. It describes the pressing need to devote effort in this direction, which would deliver higher gradient and higher temperature of operation and reduce the overall capital and operational costs of any future collider. It is unlikely that an ILC will be built in the next ten years with Nb as one of the main cost drivers of SRFs. This paper provides strong arguments on the benefits of using this time for R&D on producing Nb3Sn on inexpensive and thermally efficient metals such as Cu or bronze, while pursuing in parallel the novel U.S. concept of parallel-feed RF accelerator structures. A technology that synergistically uses both of these advanced tools would make an ILC or equivalent machines more affordable and more likely to be built. Such a successful enterprise would readily apply to other HEP accelerators, for instance a Muon Collider, and to accelerators beyond HEP. We present and assess current efforts in the U.S. on the novel concept of parallel-feed RF accelerator structures, and in the U.S. and abroad in producing Nb3Sn films on either Cu or bronze despite minimal funding.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Artificial Intelligence Thermostat to Detect Faults

Residential air conditioners and heat pumps often experience faults due to inadequate maintenance, which can severely reduce efficiency or even cause system failure. Common issues include dirty or clogged air filters and refrigerant leaks. These problems degrade performance and increase energy use and operating costs. This study presents a smart thermostat with embedded artificial intelligence to detect such faults and alert homeowners when maintenance is needed. The thermostat uses low-cost measurements—including return-air temperature, relative humidity, supply-air temperature, outdoor-air temperature, and condenser subcooling—to identify abnormal operations. Because different faults produce distinct response patterns, tailored algorithms are developed to recognize characteristic fault signatures. The investigation is built on a detailed co-simulation platform that couples EnergyPlus with the DOE/ORNL Heat Pump Design Model (HPDM). EnergyPlus represents the building’s dynamic environment, while HPDM is a high-fidelity, hardware-based model that can simulate fault-free performance as well as a wide range of faults, including gradual degradation such as minor refrigerant leakage. This platform provides a virtual training and testing environment that helps distinguish fault-induced behavior from normal operation and supports development of robust diagnostic algorithms. Using this framework, a Dynamic Bayesian Network was developed to identify two common faults—gradual refrigerant charge loss and indoor airflow blockage—and the AI-embedded thermostat was verified through annual building simulations.

Shen, Bo [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000336600393)↗
DOE OSTI2020

Agent-Based Coordination Scheme for PV Integration (ABC4PV)

Renewables and especially photovoltaics (PV) have benefitted significantly from a host of incentives and policies targeted toward enhanced integration and adoption of specific energy technologies. However, with the push to move forward into a subsidy-free market framework, behind-the-meter residential PV applications have generally struggled to retain their value (unlike utility scale and commercial projects) [1]. This project focused on developing control-theoretic solutions aimed at improving the integration and interaction of behind-the-meter residential PV with other distribution system assets (controllable and non-controllable) to enhance the integrated value of residential PV. To this end, a suite of decentralized control methodologies have been developed to enable effective coordination and control of behind-the-meter residential load customers’ PV, battery storage systems (BSS), controllable loads and other similar assets within a distribution feeder. This interaction aims at procuring energy savings and, thus, energy bill savings. The main source of savings is drawn from reducing the effect of demand charge pricing and is realized at the feeder level, assuming community level interaction and management among the aforementioned assets. Optimal control of the assets is implemented with a distributed optimization methodology, leveraging consensus-based algorithms. The results gathered from the optimal control simulations demonstrates that the savings can be duly achieved and the algorithm decision times (to dynamically control asset set points, for example) are fast. As for the overall efficiency of PV+BSS systems, to procure energy savings from curtailment of the demand charge pricing effects, the optimal control is set up so as to minimize the variance of the load for all customers, throughout a feeder and throughout time in a rolling horizon scheduling with model predictive control. The control takes into account inter-temporal electrochemical storage (battery) degradation costs: specifically, we have developed a long-term lifetime model for the BSS that weighs in the effect of the degradation factor in the dispatch formulations, thus, a considerable operating cost that affects energy decision making. The levelized cost of energy (LCOE – redefined for the purpose of quantifying asset integration effectiveness through the customers’ energy cost) is shown to be below the threshold set for the combined PV+BSS topology of $ 0.14/kWh for multiple cases of PV penetration all the way up to 50%, provided that a policy of shared ownership of and savings is in place. Further, the LCOE calculated for the case before the deployment PV+BSS systems is also achievable, i.e. the deployment of PV+BSS, if planned and scheduled optimally. will have no effect on customers’ energy costs. From the control methodology viewpoint, the developed consensus-based algorithms are shown to converge for a wide range of problem cases (spanning normal operating scenarios and contingencies), guaranteeing dispatch solutions under forecasting errors, communication break-downs and cyber-security attacks. The proposed control solutions are scalable and real-time implementable, with dispatch computations and device set-point updates converging in less than 2s in most practical instances of the above events.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Optimizing design and dispatch of a renewable energy system

Renewable energy technologies are becoming increasingly important due to their cost-competitiveness, and because of enhanced climate concerns. We demonstrate the capabilities of an integer-programming optimization model that minimizes capital (investment) and operational costs, and utility charges, while adhering to system sizing constraints, demand requirements, and interoperability characteristics of the systems chosen. Furthermore, the model recommends an optimally sized mix of renewable energy, conventional generation, and energy storage technologies, while simultaneously optimizing the corresponding dispatch strategy. Our case studies explore several venues, i.e., a small campus and a local hospital, with complex utility rate tariffs, multi-technology integration opportunities, and incentives for renewable power production. Using an optimization model, versus applying rules of thumb, can produce millions of dollars in savings over a 25-year time horizon and result in thousands of kilowatts of installed renewable energy.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Stochastic pre-event preparation for enhancing resilience of distribution systems

Extreme weather events are the common causes for power supply interruptions and power outages in electrical distribution systems. Improving the distribution system and enhancing its resilience is becoming crucial due to the increased frequency of extreme weather events. Preparation and allocation of multiple flexible resources, such as mobile resources, fuel resources, and labor resources before extreme weather events can mitigate the effects of extreme weather events and enhance the resilience of power distribution systems. Here, in this paper, a two-stage stochastic mixed-integer linear programming (SMILP) is proposed to optimize the preparation and resource allocation process for upcoming extreme weather events, which leads to faster and more efficient post-event restoration. The objective of the proposed two-stage SMILP is to maximize the served load and minimize the operating cost of flexible resources. The first stage in the optimization problem selects the amounts and locations of different resources. The second stage considers the operational constraints of the distribution system and repair crew scheduling constraints. The proposed stochastic pre-event preparation model is solved by a scenario decomposition method, Progressive Hedging (PH), to ease the computational complexity introduced by a large number of scenarios. Furthermore, to show the impact of solar photovoltaic (PV) generation on system resilience, three types of PV systems are considered during a power outage and the resilience improvements with different PV penetration levels are compared. Numerical results from simulations on a large-scale (more than 10,000 nodes) distribution feeder have been used to validate the effectiveness and scalability of the proposed method.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Cascaded Control for Building HVAC Systems in Practice

Actuator hunting is a widespread and often neglected problem in the HVAC field. Hunting is typically characterized by sustained or intermittent oscillations, and can result in decreased efficiency, increased actuator wear, and poor setpoint tracking. Cascaded control loops have been shown to effectively linearize system dynamics and reduce the prevalence of hunting. This paper details the implementation of cascaded control architectures for Air Handling Unit chilled water valves at three university campus buildings. A framework for implementation the control in existing Building Automation software is developed that requires only a single line of additional code. Results gathered for more than a year show that cascaded control not only eliminates hunting in control loops with documented hunting issues, but provides better tracking and more consistent performance during all seasons. A discussion of efficiency losses due to hunting behavior is presented and illustrated with comparative data. Furthermore, an analysis of cost savings from implementing cascaded chilled water valve control is presented. Field tests show 2.2–4.4% energy savings, with additional potential savings from reduced operational costs (i.e., maintenance and controller retuning).

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2020

Advanced Sensors & Controls FWP Overview

Fossil energy power generation is needed now and in the future, but its role is shifting from baseload operation to fulfilling dispatchable power needs in regions of the United States. Novel sensors and controls will help to increase efficiency, minimize emissions, and reduce operating costs of existing power generation technologies under this increased load following role; and help enable next generation power systems with high efficiency and greater operational flexibility.<br>

Buric, Michael↗
DOE OSTI2024

Recharge Demand Mitigation for Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage at Off-peak Hours

The utilization of integrated heat pump thermal energy storage (HP-TES) systems for space conditioning applications can reduce electrical power demand and achieve utility savings resulting from peak shaving and load shifting. However, issues arise when the energy required to recharge the TES exceeds the shifted energy demand, especially in extreme climates where high-temperature lifts between the outdoor air conditions and phase-change materials (PCMs) during recharging may occur. In this work, a single room-temperature (22°C) PCM-TES is integrated into a single-speed heat pump system using a secondary hydronic loop where the TES is recharged using the outdoor unit during off-peak hours. Three recharge strategies were investigated as potential pathways to reduce recharging power demand: (i) considering different heat source/sink temperatures, (ii) using a variable-speed compressor, and (iii) using a variable-speed pump. Simulations were conducted using Modelica for HP-TES recharging at different heat source/sink temperatures from -30 – 20℃ in heating mode and 0 – 30℃ in cooling mode. Results show that the most effective recharge demand reduction strategy is an HP-TES system using a single-speed compressor with a variable-speed pump for the hydronic loop run at preferable heat source/sink temperatures when the temperature lifts were reduced. Utilizing a variable-speed compressor for the HP-TES system reduced recharge time in extreme cases at the cost of additional compressor power input. The findings motivate potential control strategies that minimize recharge energy and maximize peak energy savings, hence reducing overall operating costs and annual energy consumption for HP-TES systems for space conditioning applications.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗