Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “energy systems integration”

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 307 records · Page 17
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Validation and Demonstration of Control System Functional Capabilities within the IES Plug-and-Play Simulation Environment

The concept of an integrated energy system (IES) is meant to combine different energy technologies in synergistic ways to achieve a more secure and economical energy supply. The RAVEN-based HYBRID framework is used to find the optimal installed capacity and the optimal economical dispatch of each component of the IES. The new RAVEN plugin for grid and capacity optimization (HERON) only addresses the limits that affect the production variables and the corresponding rates of variation (explicit constraints). However, other variables are subject to constraints, and the associated limits should be accounted for (implicit constraints). In particular, for the power dispatch problem, the optimization algorithm takes into account the limits on the electrical power output and the corresponding hourly power variations but does not consider other constraints on process variables whose response affects the service life of the IES. This report describes a scheme that allows accounting for implicit constraints without increasing the size of the optimization problem. To obtain a more accurate approximation of the nonlinear dynamic behavior, a parametric version of the dynamic mode decomposition with control (DMDc) algorithm was developed to derive the state-space representation matrices of the IES components at different scheduling parameter. Thanks to this approach, a more accurate approximation of the system response can be obtained, the limits imposed by thermal mechanical implicit constraints can be translated into power dispatch limits, and the feedbacks to HERON power dispatcher can be provided. To assess the developed methodology, a power dispatching test case composed of three power generating and storage units (Balance of Plant, Secondary Energy Source, Thermal Energy Storage) was developed. The power output of each one of the three units was optimized to meet the imposed time-dependent load demand trajectory and to maximize the IES profitability by meeting both the explicit and implicit constraints.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2024

PHEV Distribution Grid Integration and Smart Systems Testing: Cooperative Research and Development Final Report

To continue NREL's mission, which includes preparing technologies and markets with "speed and scale," NREL researchers will collaborate with Toyota on plug-in electric vehicle technology. Toyota will provide a collection of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles ("PHEVs" [and ultimately including PEVs], collectively, the "Vehicles") to conduct infrastructure interaction testing at NREL facilities. NREL will use available resources in the Vehicle Testing and Integration Facility (VTIF), its staff parking garage with numerous commercial Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment ("EVSEs"), and its Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) to safely execute research experiments that highlight potential distribution system power quality challenges related to plug-in electric vehicles. The expected outcome of this project is a better understanding of the correlation of individual vehicle power quality attributes to a system of vehicles on a distribution network. The data collected and the simulations conducted will be used to guide future experiments and project development that aid in the deployment of plug-in electric vehicles ("PEV").

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Hydrogen Production, Grid Integration, and Scaling for the Future

The project will explore near and long-term visions towards the commercialization of grid integrated electrolysis systems to inform deployment across the planning, procurement, and operation stages of hydrogen production on the grid. It will leverage NREL's state-of-the-art 1.25 MW polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolyzer system to characterize system performance in relevant scenarios, also creating a digital twin for emulation in the Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems (ARIES) virtual environment and performing hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing of pilot scale, decentralized, and centralized hydrogen systems.

electrolysis systems↗
DOE OSTI2023

Cyber-Informed Engineering Guidance—Implementing CIE in Early Systems Engineering Lifecycle Stages

Traditionally, cybersecurity is not considered in the design process. Design engineers typically focus on building safety and reliability into their products and applications. Security against malicious cyber incidents is often an afterthought, resulting in deployment of security solutions during installation or operation. Unfortunately, waiting to consider cybersecurity until later in the systems engineering lifecycle often results in less effective and more expense security. Idaho National Laboratory (INL) developed the concept of Cyber-Informed Engineering (CIE) in 2015 to provide a framework that enables cybersecurity to be built into systems beginning at the conceptual design stage. In addition to ongoing research by INL, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response has recently developed a National CIE Strategy document for incorporating CIE into the design and operation of infrastructure systems reliant on digital monitoring or controls. This paper provides a brief review of this National CIE Strategy as well as a roadmap to historical, current, and future CIE research by INL through the U.S. DOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) Cybersecurity Crosscutting Technology Development Program. A near-term focus of the DOE-NE’s research and development is to extend the foundational CIE work into detailed guidance for implementation during initial systems engineering stages in nuclear digital instrumentation and control projects and to demonstrate use of the guidance in an integrated energy systems project.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Energy efficient integrated photonic systems based on inverse design

The energy footprint of modern information processing and communications systems is immense and utilizes a significant fraction of total global energy usage. Data centers alone consume over 70 billion kilowatt-hours per year. Much of this energy usage is intrinsic to the use of electronic wiring, making optical-based technologies a necessary and promising route to mitigating energy consumption in short- to medium-distance communication links. In this project, we developed and implemented a framework for the design of optical components, based on machine learning, which enables optical components relevant to optical information processing to be realized at their physical performance limits.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
NASA NTRS1981

Status of commercial phosphoric acid fuel cell system development

A review of the current commercial phosphoric acid fuel cell system development efforts is presented. In both the electric utility and on-site integrated energy system applications, reducing cost and increasing reliability are important. The barrier to the attainment of these goals has been materials. The differences in approach among the three major participants are their technological features, including electrodes, matrices, intercell cooling, bipolar/separator plates, electrolyte management, fuel selection and system design philosophy.

Warshay, M.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Development of Energy Storage: Cost models

Energy storage technologies offer a promising solution to electric grid stability issues associated with the integration of variable renewable generators. The capability to match the electrical power output to instantaneous fluctuations in grid demand is crucial to ensure continuity of service. Including energy storage capability in an integrated energy system (IES) can provide the flexibility needed to meet variable electric demand and reduce the load following demands place on the reactor. In this report, economic data collected for energy storage (ES) technologies are described to support the objective of assessing the profitability of ES integration within the IES framework. In particular, there is a growing interest in thermal energy storage (TES) given its unique capability for long-duration storage for improving electricity reliability at a low levelized cost. It is common practice to evaluate the total lifetime cost and profitability before commercializing new technologies. In this report we identify and examine the models needed to better understand the economics of thermal energy storage. We extend the TES cost model in RAVEN in the context of a balance of plant (BOP) that incorporates thermal storage. To focus the discussion, following a general overview of the most promising TES technologies, we consider a use case that involves a sensible heat, two-tank, molten-salt system. Structural and operational details are reported to identify the source of construction capital expenditure and operation and maintenance cost. A detailed description of the different cost items is provided as well as the cost scaling with different storage capacity and power ratings for capacity optimization purpose. In addition, the capital expenditure and the recurring cost of representative two-tank, molten salt coupled with concentrated solar plants are provided for readers’ reference. The ES use case is noteworthy as it is in the pilot stage of commercialization. We identify those areas that would benefit from an increased economic focus to obtain a more complete compilation of cost data. We also describe the thermal coupling issues that arise from integration of the two-tank molten salt thermal energy storage system with a BOP, which is the subject of our current research. Some components of costs will need to be evaluated through dedicated technoeconomic analysis in future modeling activities using modeling procedures proposed in this report. With the data presented and the procedures described in this report, sufficiently accurate models can be implemented for the solution of both the power dispatch and the capacity expansion problems within the RAVEN-based HYBRID framework.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
NASA NTRS1979

Commercial phosphoric acid fuel cell system technology development

A review of the current commercial phosphoric acid fuel cell system technology development efforts is presented. In both the electric utility and on-site integrated energy system applications, reducing cost and increasing reliability are the technology drivers at this time. The longstanding barrier to the attainment of these goals, which manifests itself in a number of ways, has been materials. The differences in approach among the three major participants (United Technologies Corporation (UTC), Westinghouse Electric Corporation/Energy Research Corporation (ERC), and Engelhard Industries) and their unique technological features, including electrodes, matrices, intercell cooling, bipolar/separator plates, electrolyte management, fuel selection and system design philosophy are discussed.

Prokopius, P. R.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Delivery of Dynamic Thermal Energy Storage Models and Advanced Reactor Concept Models to the HYBRID Repository

This publication details newly created energy storage and reactor models developed within the HYBRID modeling repository as part of the Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) Integrated Energy Systems (IES) program, led by Idaho National Laboratory (INL). Model development to-date includes creation of dynamic systems-level models of a pebble bed high temperature gas reactor (HTGR), sodium fast reactor (SFR), compressed air energy storage (CAES), liquid air energy storage (LAES) and Modelica standard library based two-tank sensible heat storage (SHS) in the IES-based HYBRID repository. Models are developed using the latest publicly available data and incorporate the possibility of control strategy inclusion for use with the existing IES modeling, analysis, and optimization toolset. Simulations showcase the abilities of each technology to flexibly operate in ways consistent with IES operation expectations. When these models are available, they can be utilized within different integrated energy park concepts to understand optimal system operation, control, and dispatching. Moreover, given the generic nature of the models, industrial partner technologies can be quickly added to the repository using the existing models as a basis. Additional dynamic models for thermal energy storage concepts can be developed and added to the HYBRID repository as needed. Also detailed in this report are future development goals for the HYBRID repository including adding suites of steady-state models, economic costing information, and reduced-order models. By adding these models in addition to the physical transient models currently existing within HYBRID, HYBRID will be a fully integrable tool for FORCE users.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Preliminary Plan to Inform Testing of a Heat Exchanger Test Article

This report presents a preliminary plan to guide the qualification testing of advanced heat exchanger (HX) components for nuclear-to-industrial heat transfer applications. The objective is to establish a defensible, physics-based methodology that integrates computational modeling, targeted experimentation, and in-service inspection considerations to demonstrate component performance and reliability under representative reactor conditions. The analysis identifies Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (SFR) and High-Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR) systems as reference configurations in terms of temperature, pressure, and chemical environment. Within these operating envelopes, dominant degradation mechanisms— including creep–fatigue interaction, flow-induced vibration, corrosion, and diffusion-bond deterioration—were evaluated to define test requirements. A comprehensive computationalexperimental framework is proposed to support life prediction and qualification activities. The framework couples high-fidelity structural-mechanics, thermal-hydraulic, and fluid-structure interaction models with accelerated degradation testing to produce a traceable linkage between microstructural evolution, mechanical performance, and remaining useful life (RUL). The approach adheres to established Verification, Validation, and Uncertainty Quantification (VVUQ) standards (ASME V&V 10/20; NUREG-2152) and incorporates a digital-twin architecture for continuous model refinement through data assimilation. The plan further outlines testing methodologies, including pre-test analyses, test-loop design parameters, and sensor placement strategies that maximize information yield while maintaining mechanistic fidelity. Complementary sections describe in-service inspection (ISI), on-line monitoring (OLM), and structural-health-monitoring (SHM) techniques applicable to compact HX geometries typical of advanced reactors. Collectively, these activities establish the technical foundation for demonstrating 40-60-year equivalent service life of advanced heat exchangers in support of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Reactor and Integrated Energy Systems programs. The forthcoming phase will execute the defined pre-test analyses, initiate hardware fabrication, and implement the integrated testing campaign to validate the proposed qualification methodology.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
NASA NTRS1979

Commercial phosphoric acid fuel cell system technology development

Reducing cost and increasing reliability were the technology drivers in both the electric utility and on-site integrated energy system applications. The longstanding barrier to the attainment of these goals was materials. Differences in approaches and their technological features, including electrodes, matrices, intercell cooling, bipolar/separator plates, electrolyte management, fuel selection, and system design philosophy were discussed.

Prokopius, P. R.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Nuclear—thermal energy storage configurations for industrial combined heat and power supply—conceptual and thermodynamic study with high temperature gas-cooled reactor

Nuclear systems are promising candidates for delivering resilient heat and power for future energy security and independence. Traditionally, nuclear plants have been used for baseload electricity production and cogeneration of heat has seen relatively limited application utilizing typically only small portion of a reactor's thermal output. This paradigm may shift due to the increasing penetration of intermittent renewables and need for resource flexibility, various decarbonization efforts aimed at both electricity and heat demands, along with the perspective of small modular nuclear reactor applications, which can be sized based on local industrial needs. Here, this study provides a comprehensive guide for the nuclear and industrial sectors, emphasizing controllability in the combined heat and power configuration options for high temperature gas-cooled reactor and process steam supply. It investigates the integration of thermal energy storage to improve nuclear energy's responsiveness to varying industrial demands. The study emphasizes placing thermal energy storage between the nuclear primary loop and steam cycle to achieve greater efficiency and flexibility in power and heat output, surpassing traditional combined heat and power systems and avoiding efficiency losses seen in other thermal energy storage integration approaches.

combined heat and power (CHP)↗
DOE OSTI2021

Midwest Nuclear-based Net-Zero Carbon Steelmaking Demonstration

Globally, the iron and steel industry accounts for around a quarter of GHG emissions from the manufacturing sector , which is about 7% of the 33 gigatonnes (Gt) of global CO 2 emissions . Thus, globally, the steel industry is a 2-3 Gt CO 2 per year emissions challenge. The steel industry is important to the U.S. economy with output equal to $0.5 trillion and domestic production capacity is critical to national defense, infrastructure, energy production, and transportation. President Biden’s executive order on climate identifies actions and policies to put the Nation on a path to achieve net-zero carbon emissions, economy-wide, by no later than 2050. To achieve this, deep carbon reductions in the power, transportation, buildings and capital-intensive industrial manufacturing segments such as steel, cement and chemicals need to be addressed. In its recent “Accelerating Decarbonization of the U.S. Energy System” report , the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) stated that, “while technology exists to decarbonize all parts of the energy system, some sectors remain at precommercial or first-of-a-kind demonstration stages and require significant improvement in cost and performance to become commercially viable.” The NAS goes on to state that these hard to decarbonize sectors include “aviation, shipping, and industrial subsectors such as steel, cement, and chemicals manufacturing .” The Administration has proposed a timeline to decarbonize energy, transportation and then industry and manufacturing. From a life-cycle approach, decarbonizing steel and other large industrial inputs are necessary to decarbonize transformations in energy and transportation. DOE’s TRI-Lab Consortium’s Integrated Energy Systems (IES) program is a collaboration amongst DOE’s three applied energy laboratories: the National Energy Technology Laboratory; National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory. The IES approach looks at more tightly integrating low-carbon nuclear energy, renewable electricity, energy storage, load/demand balancing, and biomass (including plastics and other wastes) with one or more industrial processes that utilize heat and/or power from these clean and waste energy sources to produce a low-carbon commodity-scale product.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2020

HPC at NREL: FY 2019

Brochure featuring Fiscal Year 2019 accomplishments at the NREL High-Performance Computing User Facility and Data Center at the Energy Systems Integration Facility, including information on the facility's HPC systems as well as highlights from several modeling and simulation projects across the spectrum of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2022

Control system for multi-system coordination via a single reference governor

This report describes the improvements to the Feasible Actuator Range Modifier (FARM) component of the RAVEN-based HYBRID framework for analysis of Integrated Energy Systems (IES). FARM supports the HERON plug-in that solves the power dispatch problem. The solution involves economically optimal dispatches that satisfy the limits on production variables and corresponding rates of variation (explicit constraints) as well as the limits on the process variables tied to the service life of equipment (implicit constraints). The problem can be addressed as a two-stage process, i.e., HERON power dispatcher estimates a solution that meets explicit constraints (low-resolution physics), whereas FARM uses the simulation outcomes of HYBRID high-fidelity model to capture the system dynamic response and enforce implicit constraints (high-resolution physics). The initial version of the code (FARM-Alpha) was released by Argonne National Laboratory in January 2021 followed by FARM-Beta (January 2022) and FARM-Gamma (April 2022).

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Signal Decomposition for Intrusion Detection in Reliability Assessment in Cyber Resilience (Summary Report)

The complexity of assuring cyber resilience for physical process interactions in connected systems such as energy grids increases dramatically as the coupling between processes becomes more direct and responsive. An example of this growing complexity is provided by Integrated Energy Systems (IES), in which various processes such as nuclear heat generation and commodity production are being directly coupled for increased responsiveness to highly variable signals such as market pricing or electricity demand. As such, the potential attack surface of the coupled processes is larger than the two processes independently. Securing these complex systems requires two-fold monitoring: cybersecure monitoring for potential malicious incursion, and physics monitoring for system tampering. Physics monitoring includes analyzing the behavior of the signals within the system for anomalous behavior. This analysis has been shown to be insufficient if approached by only data-driven machine learning and artificial intelligence (MLAI) techniques or only low-level model comparison. Previous efforts at Purdue University suggested combining high-fidelity models with MLAI algorithms as a basis for a software tool for detecting anomalies in physical processes. This work built on that suggestion, developing an advanced library for signal decomposition and analysis using both MLAI and high-fidelity physics algorithms for greatly improved anomaly detection, especially false data injection. This software can be used as part of a secure imbedded intelligence (SEI) system designed under Consequence-driven Cyber-informed Engineering (CCE) for complex coupled systems. This library established a foundation for online and posteriori analysis of digital signals for the purpose of detecting potential malicious tampering in digital signals representing physical processes. Demonstrations carried out throughout the development highlight the effective use of characterization algorithms to detect signal perturbations, particularly triangle attack-style perturbations, in three wide-ranging applications: seismic monitoring, nuclear thermal hydraulics system simulation, and custom manufacturing.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2026

Investigation of a thermocapacitive cycle by aqueous supercapacitors for multifunctional heat pump and energy storage

Thermocapacitive cycles are promising thermal and energy storage cycles using supercapacitors, which can achieve thermal efficiencies over 50% of the Carnot limit. There is a lack of work investigating the use of thermocapacitive effects in practical heat pumps. Here, this paper explores the design of thermocapacitive cells with higher temperature changes to be better suited for heat pumping applications. To evaluate the cell designs on temperature changes, pouch type cells are prototyped and modeled, and tested using a micro-calorimeter. A peak adiabatic temperature span of a LiCl aqueous cell is 2.7 °C. By arranging the cells in a cascade manner, the projected adiabatic temperature span can reach up to 12 °C with a heating density of 15 kW m −3 and an energy storage density of 0.83 kWh m −3 . Models predict that this could be increased to 30 °C and 1.65 kWh m −3 through improvements to cell capacitance and thermopower. Incorporating the energy storage capabilities into heating and cooling devices can be beneficial to building thermal management as energy storage becomes increasingly important for energy system integration.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗