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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 343 records · Page 19
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2000

SAVANT: Solar Array Verification and Analysis Tool Demonstrated

The photovoltaics (PV) industry is now being held to strict specifications, such as end-oflife power requirements, that force them to overengineer their products to avoid contractual penalties. Such overengineering has been the only reliable way to meet such specifications. Unfortunately, it also results in a more costly process than is probably necessary. In our conversations with the PV industry, the issue of cost has been raised again and again. Consequently, the Photovoltaics and Space Environment Effects branch at the NASA Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field has been developing a software tool to address this problem. SAVANT, Glenn's tool for solar array verification and analysis is in the technology demonstration phase. Ongoing work has proven that more efficient and less costly PV designs should be possible by using SAVANT to predict the on-orbit life-cycle performance. The ultimate goal of the SAVANT project is to provide a user-friendly computer tool to predict PV on-orbit life-cycle performance. This should greatly simplify the tasks of scaling and designing the PV power component of any given flight or mission. By being able to predict how a particular PV article will perform, designers will be able to balance mission power requirements (both beginning-of-life and end-of-life) with survivability concerns such as power degradation due to radiation and/or contamination. Recent comparisons with actual flight data from the Photovoltaic Array Space Power Plus Diagnostics (PASP Plus) mission validate this approach.

Chock, Ricaurte↗
NASA NTRS2006

An Integrated Approach to Life Cycle Analysis

Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) is the evaluation of the impacts that design decisions have on a system and provides a framework for identifying and evaluating design benefits and burdens associated with the life cycles of space transportation systems from a "cradle-to-grave" approach. Sometimes called life cycle assessment, life cycle approach, or "cradle to grave analysis", it represents a rapidly emerging family of tools and techniques designed to be a decision support methodology and aid in the development of sustainable systems. The implementation of a Life Cycle Analysis can vary and may take many forms; from global system-level uncertainty-centered analysis to the assessment of individualized discriminatory metrics. This paper will focus on a proven LCA methodology developed by the Systems Analysis and Concepts Directorate (SACD) at NASA Langley Research Center to quantify and assess key LCA discriminatory metrics, in particular affordability, reliability, maintainability, and operability. This paper will address issues inherent in Life Cycle Analysis including direct impacts, such as system development cost and crew safety, as well as indirect impacts, which often take the form of coupled metrics (i.e., the cost of system unreliability). Since LCA deals with the analysis of space vehicle system conceptual designs, it is imperative to stress that the goal of LCA is not to arrive at the answer but, rather, to provide important inputs to a broader strategic planning process, allowing the managers to make risk-informed decisions, and increase the likelihood of meeting mission success criteria.

Chytka, T. M.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Damage Assessment of Creep Tested and Thermally Aged Udimet 520 Using Acousto-Ultrasonics

Due to elevated temperatures and excessive stresses, turbine components may experience creep behavior. As a result, it is desirable to monitor and assess the current condition of such components. This study employed the Acousto-Ultrasonics (AU) method in an effort to monitor the state of the material at various percentages of used up creep life in the nickel base alloy, Udimet 520. A stepped specimen (i.e., varying cross sectional area) was employed which allowed for a postmortem nondestructive evaluation (NDE) analysis of the various levels of used up life. The overall objectives here were two fold: First, a user friendly, graphical interface AU system was developed, and second the new AU system was applied as an NDE tool to assess distributed damage resulting from creep. The experimental results demonstrated that the AU method shows promise as an NDE tool capable of detecting material changes as a function of used up creep life. Furthermore, the changes in the AU parameters were mainly attributed to the case of combined load and elevated temperature (i.e., creep) and not simply because of a timed exposure at elevated temperature (i.e., heat treatment or thermal aging).

Gyekenyesi, Andrew L.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Advanced Life Support Research and Technology Development Metric

The Metric is one of several measures employed by the NASA to assess the Agency s progress as mandated by the United States Congress and the Office of Management and Budget. Because any measure must have a reference point, whether explicitly defined or implied, the Metric is a comparison between a selected ALS Project life support system and an equivalently detailed life support system using technology from the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) for the International Space Station (ISS). This document provides the official calculation of the Advanced Life Support (ALS) Research and Technology Development Metric (the Metric) for Fiscal Year 2004. The values are primarily based on Systems Integration, Modeling, and Analysis (SIMA) Element approved software tools or reviewed and approved reference documents. For Fiscal Year 2004, the Advanced Life Support Research and Technology Development Metric value is 2.03 for an Orbiting Research Facility and 1.62 for an Independent Exploration Mission.

Hanford, A. J.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Circular Economy for Photovoltaics in Service of Energy Transition

The challenge of energy transition is immediate and immense; current projections target 75 TW of photovoltaics (PV) capacity by 2050. While any transition to renewable energy technology is preferable to the current fossil-based system, it is ideal to improve the sustainability of PV to minimize negative environmental and social impacts. Circular economy (CE) has been proposed as a method to improve the sustainability of PV, especially for emerging materials like perovskites. CE is a set of actions, principles, and systems which aim to design out waste and keep products and materials in use, to reduce environmental impacts and enable sustainable development. At the most basic level, CE is "reduce, reuse, recycle", the R-actions, in ranked order. CE of a PV technology can be metricized in a variety of ways, such as the Material Circularity Indicator (Smith and Jones, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2019) or recycling rates. Unfortunately, standard CE metrics have several shortcomings for measuring renewable energy technologies in the context of deployment for energy transition (Figge 2018, Saidani 2019): 1) Only measure mass flows; 2) De-prioritization of the use phase in favor of mass circularity when scoring; and 3) Tight focus on a single product scale The use phase and energy flows of PV are key to energy transition, and therefore need to be quantified. Additionally, correlating product-scale to system-scale is necessary for quantifying the environmental impacts of energy transition. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) can address some of these concerns, but also focuses on a single product scale and has trouble capturing the dynamics of system-scale energy transition, such as the interaction of module lifetime with manufacturing demands for energy transition deployment schedules. Therefore, we developed an open-source Python-based system dynamics model to quantify the mass, energy and carbon impacts of CE R-actions for PV technologies in the energy transition; PV in the CE (PV ICE) (Ovaitt & Mirletz 2021). The tool captures supply chains from material extraction through end of life, incorporating 5 circular end of life pathways. PV ICE takes in any evolving bill of materials, module properties and deployment schedule to support researchers and decision makers with data-backed insights. In this work, we quantify and compare proposed CE sustainable PV module designs and lifecycle management strategies, spanning currently commercialized technologies, government and industry technology targets, and several low Technology Readiness Level (TRL) emerging PV technologies, including perovskites. Our analyses capture the projected evolutions of lifetime, efficiency and material circularity of these PV technologies, as well as their material supply chains. Our analyses emphasize the importance of examining a suite of metrics to identify priorities and tradeoffs, and inform design or lifecycle management decisions holistically. Previous analyses have demonstrated the central importance of PV module lifetime to support energy transition while minimizing impacts. High levels of material circularity (>90%) enable minimizing lifecycle wastes, can reduce virgin material demands if paired with improving efficiency, but demonstrate tradeoffs in energy return on investment. In the fervor of new material and technology development, it is important to remember that CE is not the end goal; decarbonization and energy transition are the end goal. CE should be used in service to improve the sustainability of PV, and R-actions evaluated for their usefulness and efficacy to this end.

carbon↗
NASA NTRS1982

The NASA Space Biology Program

A discussion is presented of the research conducted under the auspices of the NASA Space Biology Program. The objectives of this Program include the determination of how gravity affects and how it has shaped life on earth, the use of gravity as a tool to investigate relevant biological questions, and obtaining an understanding of how near-weightlessness affects both plants and animals in order to enhance the capability to use and explore space. Several areas of current developmental research are discussed and the future focus of the Program is considered.

Halstead, T. W.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Grid sensitivity capability for large scale structures

The considerations and the resultant approach used to implement design sensitivity capability for grids into a large scale, general purpose finite element system (MSC/NASTRAN) are presented. The design variables are grid perturbations with a rather general linking capability. Moreover, shape and sizing variables may be linked together. The design is general enough to facilitate geometric modeling techniques for generating design variable linking schemes in an easy and straightforward manner. Test cases have been run and validated by comparison with the overall finite difference method. The linking of a design sensitivity capability for shape variables in MSC/NASTRAN with an optimizer would give designers a powerful, automated tool to carry out practical optimization design of real life, complicated structures.

Nagendra, Gopal K.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Macromolecular recognition: Structural aspects of the origin of the genetic system

Theoretical simulation of prebiotic chemical processes is an invaluable tool for probing the phenomenon of the evolution of life. Using computational and modeling techniques and guided by analogies from present day systems, we seek to understand the emergence of the genetic apparatus, enzymatic catalysis and protein synthesis under prebiotic conditions. Modeling of the ancestral aminoacyl-tRNA-synthetases (aRS) may provide important clues to the emergence of the genetic code and the protein synthetic machinery. The minimal structural requirements for the catalysis of tRNA aminoacylation are being explored. A formation of an aminoacyl adenylate was studied in the framework of ab initio molecular orbital theory. The role of individual residues in the vicinity of the TyrRS active site was examined, and the effect of all possible amino acids substitutions near the active site was examined. A formation of aminoacyl tRNA was studied by the molecular modeling system SYBYL with the high resolution crystallographic structures of the present day tRNA, aRS's complexes. The ultimate goal is to propose a simple RNA segment that is small enough to be build in the primordial chemical environment but maintains the specificity and catalytic activity of the contemporary RNA enzyme. To understand the mechanism of ribozyme catalyzed reactions, ab initio and semi-empirical (ZINDO) programs were used to investigate the reaction path of transphosphorylation. A special emphasis was placed on the possible catalytic and structural roles played by the coordinated magnesium cation. Both the inline and adjacent mechanisms of transphosphorylation were studied. The structural characteristics of the target helices, particularly a possible role for the G-T pair, is also studied by a molecular dynamics (MD) simulation technique.

Rein, Robert↗
NASA NTRS2005

Investigation of Solar Radiation Properties at the Battleship Promontory Area, Antarctica

JPL scientists in January 2005 visited the unique Battleship Promontory Area of the Antarctic Dry Valleys at 76 deg. 54 min. S one of the few places on the Antarctic continent home to viable life. Cryptoendolithic microorganisms manage to survive on and inside rocks in Antarctica's harsh conditions of extreme dryness and cold that are not So different from the past and present conditions on Mars. We are investigating the physical properties of these biological creatures through analysis of optical spectra collected from a variety of rock samples over the deep UV, visible, and near-infrared regions with the intent of gaining key insights into the environmental factors that make such a habitat viable for life. The LabView programming environment is equipped with the tools necessary to create an interface to visualize, manipulate, and normalize extensive raw reflectance and corresponding incident spectral data. We are determining the meaning of the colors observed and their relationship to the ability to acquire energy and investigating differences between the photosynthetic processes in full sunlight and diffuse/shadow lighting. Comparisons between spectral data collected in the field and from returned samples in the lab validate the accuracy of our field collection methodology.

VanNortwick, Sara S.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Human Factors in Space Flight

After forty years of experience with human space flight (Table 1), the current emphasis is on the design of space vehicles, habitats, and missions to ensure mission success. What lessons have we learned that will affect the design of spacecraft for future space exploration, leading up to exploring Mars? This chapter addresses this issue in four sections: Anthropometry and Biomechanics; Environmental Factors; Habitability and Architecture; and Crew Personal Sustenance. This introductory section introduces factors unique to space flight. A unique consideration for design of a habitable volume in a space vehicle is the lack of gravity during a space flight, referred to as microgravity. This affects all aspects of life, and drives special features in the habitat, equipment, tools, and procedures. The difference in gravity during a space mission requires designing for posture and motion differences. In Earth s gravity, or even with partial gravity, orientation is not a variable because the direction in which gravity acts defines up and down. In a microgravity environment the working position is arbitrary; there is no gravity cue. Orientation is defined primarily through visual cues. The orientation within a particular crew station or work area is referred to as local vertical, and should be consistent within a module to increase crew productivity. Equipment was intentionally arranged in various orientations in one module on Skylab to assess the efficiency in use of space versus the effects of inconsistent layout. The effects of that arrangement were confusion on entering the module, time spent in re-orientation, and conflicts in crew space requirements when multiple crew members were in the module. Design of a space vehicle is constrained by the three major mission drivers: mass, volume and power. Each of these factors drives the cost of a mission. Mass and volume determine the size of the launch vehicle directly; they can limit consumables such as air, water, and propellant; and they impact crew size and the types of activities the crew performs. Power is a limiting factor for a space vehicle. All environmental features (e.g., atmosphere, temperature, lighting) require power to maintain them. Power can be generated from batteries, from fuel cells, or from solar panels. Each of these sources requires lifting mass and volume from Earth, driving mission cost. All engineering decisions directly impact the design for habitation design and usage. For instance, if fuel cells are used they produce water, which is used for drinking and food preparation. If a different power source is used water has to be carried and stored on the vehicle which then directly impacts the food system choice as well as the launch weight of the vehicle.

Woolford, Barbara J.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Achieving Improved Reliability with Failure Analysis

Reliability is the ability of a product to properly function, within specified performance limits, for a specified period of time, under the life cycle application conditions. Failure analysis is a vital tool in the effort to ensure reliability of electronic products and systems throughout their product lifecycle. Today, organizations involved in activities within the electronics supply chain are facing new challenges, not just from complex assembly styles, harsher lifecycle environments, and sophisticated supply chains, but also from customers who are demanding a quicker turn-around. Unfortunately, root cause failure analysis is often performed incompletely, leading to a poor understanding of failure mechanisms and causes and, customer dissatisfaction due to recurring failures. The PDC starts with an introduction to reliability concepts, physics of failure and an overview of failure mechanisms that affect PCBs, PCBAs and components. The PDC then dives into root cause hypothesizing techniques (Pareto, FMEA, fishbone, FTA), non-destructive and destructive analysis and, materials characterization will be discussed. Numerous failure analysis case studies will be used to illustrate the techniques and analysis principles to arrive at the root cause(s) of field failures on printed circuit boards, active components, and assemblies. What Will You Learn: Topics include: Overview of Reliability Concepts Failure mechanisms of electronic products Root cause analysis Failure analysis techniques -Non-destructive techniques (optical, CSAM etc.) -Destructive analysis (DPA, Decap, FIB etc.) -Materials characterization (XRF, EDS, TMA/DSC etc.) Who Will Benefit: Reliability engineers, failure analysis engineers, engineering managers, design engineers, component engineers, quality assurance functions and, personnel involved with reliability activities within their company.

non-destructive techniques↗
NASA NTRS2019

Achieving Improved Reliability with Failure Analysis

Reliability is the ability of a product to properly function, within specified performance limits, for a specified period of time, under the life cycle application conditions. Failure analysis is a vital tool in the effort to ensure reliability of electronic products and systems throughout their product lifecycle. Today, organizations involved in activities within the electronics supply chain are facing new challenges, not just from complex assembly styles, harsher lifecycle environments, and sophisticated supply chains, but also from customers who are demanding a quicker turn-around. Unfortunately, root cause failure analysis is often performed incompletely, leading to a poor understanding of failure mechanisms and causes and, customer dissatisfaction due to recurring failures. The PDC (Professional Development Course) starts with an introduction to reliability concepts, physics of failure and an overview of failure mechanisms that affect PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards), PCBAs (Printed Circuit Board Assembly) and components. The PDC then dives into root cause hypothesizing techniques (Pareto, FMEA (Failure Modes and Effects Analysis), fishbone (Cause-And-Effect Diagram), FTA (Fault Tree Analysis)), non-destructive and destructive analysis and, materials characterization will be discussed. Numerous failure analysis case studies will be used to illustrate the techniques and analysis principles to arrive at the root cause(s) of field failures on printed circuit boards, active components, and assemblies. What Attendees will Learn: Topics include: Overview of Reliability Concepts Failure mechanisms of electronic products Root cause analysis Failure analysis techniques -Non-destructive techniques (optical, CSAM (Confocal Scanning Electron Microscopy) etc.) -Destructive analysis (DPA (Destructive Physical Analysis), Decap (Decapsulation), FIB (Focused Ion Beam) etc.) -Materials characterization (XRF (X-Ray Fluorescence) , EDS (Error Detection Sequential), TMA/DSC (Thermal Mechanical Analysis/Differential Scanning Calorimetry) etc.)

PCB quality↗
NASA NTRS2020

Enabling Assurance in the MBSE Environment

A number of specific benefits that fit within the hallmarks of effective development are realized with implementation of model-based approaches to systems and assurance. Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) enabled by standardized modeling languages (e.g., SysML®) is at the core. These benefits in the context of spaceflight system challenges can include [1]: • Improved management of complex development • Reduced risk in the development process • Improved cost management • Improved design decisions With appropriate modeling techniques the assurance community also can improve early oversight and insight into project development. NASA has shown the basic constructs of SysML in an MBSE environment offer several key advantages, within a Model Based Mission Assurance (MBMA) initiative [2, 3]. These include the following: • Model viewpoints that promote rapid and systematic assessment of requirements coverage, hazard tagging and risk management • Embedded safety assessments for launch vehicles • Deployment of model assisted development of reliability products - Failure Modes and Effects Analyses (FMEAs) and Fault Trees • Test Planning • Validation and Verification of complex functions • Support of Assurance Case development for complex systems In addition, while there are benefits to be harvested, there is a realization that these do not come without effort and cost. Enabling model-based approaches requires structure, not only in an organizational context, but in a modeling context as well. There can be a steep learning curve and costs associated to train skilled modelers. But, on the other hand, not all of the assurance community need to be modelers. Models themselves must conform to ontologies that enable assurance. This places constraints upon the models and modelers. Optimums have yet to be developed where resources and constraints on modeling must be traded off in the organization and modeling efforts for projects. A number of barriers need to be overcome, as well, which pose challenges to the developers of the software that supports MBSE/MBMA. Information and data must be made to flow seamlessly through the life cycle. Because there is a wide variety of tools used in the community, to avoid the problems of the past of silos, delays, and diverging interests, information should flow among these tools to support the “single source of truth” paradigm of MBSE. This will greatly facilitate MBMA and advancement of assurance functions.

Evans, John W.↗
DOE OSTI2022

LCA Tools Available at NETL

This presentation was given at the 2022 Carbon Management Project Review Meeting in Pittsburgh, PA. The presentation covered available and in progress tools that can help carbon capture projects perform environmental life cycle analyses (LCAs). The presentation also briefly covers working being performed by the NETL LCA team.

Jamieson, Matthew↗
DOE OSTI2022

LCA Tools Available at NETL

This presentation was given at the virtual kickoff meeting for funding opportunity announcements 2596 and 2598 - University Training and Research for Fossil Energy and Carbon Management - UCR and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs). The presentation covered available and in progress tools that can help carbon capture projects perform environmental life cycle analyses (LCAs). The presentation also briefly covers working being performed by the NETL LCA team.

Jamieson, Matthew↗
DOE OSTI2023

Scenarios for Future Energy Systems

Energy systems in the U.S. and globally have continuously changed and expanded over the past 200 years, from animal and biomass based energy to electricity and petroleum for heat, light, transportation, and industries of all kinds. The most recent two decades have experienced a significant increase in the use of natural gas, solar, and wind energy, as well as energy efficiency, due to both technology breakthroughs and public policy. With history as a guide, we can expect on-going transformation of our energy system in future decades, including increased electrification and advanced energy technologies, ideally helping meet societal goals of reducing pollution, improving quality of human life, and preserving ecosystems. Scenario modeling is an important tool for planning energy system transformations toward specific goals - such as net-zero greenhouse gas emissions, 100% renewable energy, or energy security - particularly when there are multiple options, conflicting objectives, and significant unknowns about a path forward. This presentation will review the history of energy transitions and the future policy and societal objectives on energy. Then it will summarize multiple scenario studies of future energy systems, with a focus on "100% studies" and the challenges to meeting those objectives. It will also outline of a few of the technologies being researched now that could advance the ongoing energy transition.

ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY,SOLAR ENERGY,↗
NASA NTRS1987

Sensitivity and optimization of composite structures using MSC/NASTRAN

Design sensitivity analysis for composites will soon be available in MSC/NASTRAN. The design variables for composites can be lamina thicknesses, orientation angles, material properties or a combination of all three. With the increasing use of composites in aerospace and automotive industries, this general capability can be used in its own right for carrying out sensitivity analysis of complicated real-life structures. As part of a research effort, the sensitivity analysis was coupled with a general purpose optimizer. This preliminary version of the optimizer is capable of dealing with minimum weight structural design with a rather general design variable linking capability at the element level or system level. Only sizing type of design variables (i.e., lamina thicknesses) can be handled by the optimizer. Test cases were run and validated by comparison with independent finite element packages. The linking of design sensitivity capability for composites in MSC/NASTRAN with an optimizer would give designers a powerful automated tool to carry out practical opitmization design of real-life complicated composite structures.

Nagendra, Gopal K.↗