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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 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Concept Design and Analysis of the Magnet System of the Sustained High Power Density Tokamak Facility

A recent National Academy study recommended a next-step sustained high power density (SHPD) facility for the United States that can be a bridge to a compact fusion pilot plant. A design has been initiated to investigate a possible SHPD non-deuterium-tritium device that builds upon recent low aspect ratio tokamak studies. Here, a 1.2-m device with a 2.4 aspect ratio has been chosen to evaluate physics performance goals within a double-null plasma machine arrangement centered on three component features: high current density toroidal field (TF) and central ohmic heating/poloidal field (PF) coils, liquid metal divertor/first wall systems, and the integration of a limited set of outboard dual-coolant lead lithium test blankets that can be maintained within a vertical maintenance approach.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

New Two-Cylinder Prototype Demonstration and Concept Design of a Next Generation Class 3-6 Opposed Piston Engine (Final Report)

The objective of the project is to research, develop, and test an Opposed Piston (OP) engine prototype capable of ≥10% fuel economy improvement over a 2015 baseline diesel engine while meeting prevailing emissions standards and include a cost analysis of the proposed technologies that validates an operating cost payback of less than 2 years. Results: In direct comparison with the baseline Isuzu model, the OP engine exhibited a noteworthy average fuel economy improvement exceeding 12% across five distinct driving cycles, including the Interstate cycle, Congested interstate cycle, GM-city cycle, HWFET cycle, and FTP cycle, with Interstate cycle benefited the most.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2020

Concept Design of Active Shielding for Dynamic Wireless Charging of Light-duty EV

Dynamic wireless charging of electric vehicles is a flexible and state of the art charging technology with the potential capability of enabling fully automated in-motion charging. With charging power increasing to more than 100 kW for light duty vehicles, electromagnetic field (EMF) emission becomes a critical challenge. Due to the high costs of ferrite materials, this paper proposes an active shielding solution with multiple canceling coils installed on the ground side to supplement ferrite passive shielding to ensure electromagnetic safety. Two canceling coils are designed on two sides of the ground side coil. The canceling coils are small in size and 180 degree opposite in phase to the ground coil. Simulation and modeling shows that the canceling coils can reduce EMF emission from 37.2 µT to 18.2 µT at 0.8 m during 100 kW operation with only 2.5% of ground side current flowing in the canceling coils. These results have been preliminarily verified by inductance measurements and magnetic field measurement at 1.1 m distance without canceling coils. By further increasing the canceling coils’ currents to 4%, EMF emission can also be mitigated at 200 kW, although the canceling coils’ shape, position, and phase angle can be further optimized to improve the three-dimensional field distribution.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Domestic Safeguards Material Control and Accountancy Considerations for Molten Salt Reactors

Molten salt reactors (MSRs) are a class of nuclear reactor designs with features and operational characteristics that vary significantly more than the class of light water reactors (LWRs). MSR design concepts can be broadly categorized as solid-fueled reactors with molten salt as the coolant, liquid-fueled reactors with fuel dissolved in molten salt coolant and liquid-fueled reactors with fuel dissolved in molten salt that is contained in distinct fuel tubes with a nonfissile coolant. Proposed MSR concepts include features that are specific to each design. MSR concepts vary widely across these design features, including the physical, chemical, and isotopic composition of fresh and irradiated fuel. Operational neutron energy spectrums and breeding ratios also vary significantly across design concepts. Some concepts are burner reactors designed to transmute the spent nuclear fuel from LWRs or pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs), while others are breeder reactors designed to breed fissile 233 U from naturally occurring fertile 232 Th. Some MSR concepts are designed to be a part of a once-through fuel cycle, while others involve chemical separation. Those that include plans to recycle the fuel differ by whether the chemical processing would be done onsite, as a process connected to the fuel salt itself, or offsite at a reprocessing facility similar to how LWR or PHWR spent fuel is reprocessed in some countries. Each overall design concept contains various aspects of each of these features to produce a unique facility

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2023

ERSAP: Toward Better NP Data-Stream Analytics With Flow-Based Programming

This paper presents an reactive, actor-model and FBP paradigm based framework that we develop to design data-stream processing applications for HEP and NP. This framework encourages a functional decomposition of the overall data processing application into small mono-functional artifacts. Artifacts that are easy to understand, develop, deploy and debug. The fact that these artifacts (actors) are programmatically independent they can be scaled and optimized independently, which is impossible to do for components of the monolithic application. One of the important advantages of this approach is fault tolerance where independent actors can come and go on the data-stream without forcing the entire application to crash. Furthermore, it also makes it is easy to locate the faulty actor in the data pipeline. Due the fact that the actors are loosely coupled, and that the data (inevitably) carries the context, they can run on heterogeneous environments, utilizing different accelerators. This paper describes the main design concepts of the framework and presents a ?proof of concept? application design and deployment results obtain processing on-beam calorimeter streaming data.

Gyurjyan, V.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Process Development of the Vaporizing Foil Actuator Welding Technique

The industrial focus on continuous improvement for products is leading design engineers to consider multi-material design concepts more frequently. The design concepts use the advantages of each material while simultaneously minimizing the drawbacks. It also allows for the overall weight of the products to be reduced. Some traditional joining methods, though, struggle to join dissimilar material combinations. A technique known as vaporizing foil actuator welding, which was developed around ten years ago, is a solid-state joining method that has the potential to overcome the barriers to dissimilar material joining. The biggest drawbacks of vaporizing foil actuator welding are that it is still exclusively used in laboratory settings and early in the technology development process. As such, there is not enough confidence in the process for it to be transitioned to manufacturing environments yet. This work begins by analyzing the current state of the technology and identifying a roadmap to achieve a transition to manufacturing. The analysis found that increased confidence in the technology requires sample to sample repeatability to be improved. Beyond that, the process also needs to be fully automated before it can be considered as a viable technique for mass production. In order to further develop the technique, a fully automated work cell was constructed. By removing the human element from the process, this cell helped identify iii the aspects which contribute to process variability. The positioning of the vaporizing foil actuator was identified as the most important factor in process stability. A small set of samples were made in the automated cell with the addition of one component epoxy adhesive around the perimeter of the weld. These samples showed improved process repeatability compared with the samples made without adhesive. This indicates that small amounts of adhesive may be critical in using the process in industrial settings. Additionally, work was performed with manual positioning and adhesive dispensing. This work found that a hybrid joint behaves like traditional weld bonding, where the addition of adhesive makes the joint stronger than if either of the two joining methods were used on their own. To realize this performance with vaporizing foil actuator welding, though, the adhesive needs to be protected from burning during the rapid compression of air during the impact process.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

DUNE Phase II: scientific opportunities, detector concepts, technological solutions

The international collaboration designing and constructing the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) at the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) has developed a two-phase strategy toward the implementation of this leading-edge, large-scale science project. The 2023 report of the US Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5) reaffirmed this vision and strongly endorsed DUNE Phase I and Phase II, as did the European Strategy for Particle Physics. While the construction of the DUNE Phase I is well underway, this White Paper focuses on DUNE Phase II planning. DUNE Phase-II consists of a third and fourth far detector (FD) module, an upgraded near detector complex, and an enhanced 2.1 MW beam. The fourth FD module is conceived as a “Module of Opportunity”, aimed at expanding the physics opportunities, in addition to supporting the core DUNE science program, with more advanced technologies. This document highlights the increased science opportunities offered by the DUNE Phase II near and far detectors, including long-baseline neutrino oscillation physics, neutrino astrophysics, and physics beyond the standard model. It describes the DUNE Phase II near and far detector technologies and detector design concepts that are currently under consideration. A summary of key R&D goals and prototyping phases needed to realize the Phase II detector technical designs is also provided. DUNE's Phase II detectors, along with the increased beam power, will complete the full scope of DUNE, enabling a multi-decadal program of groundbreaking science with neutrinos.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Cellular cofferdams for hydropower use. Final report

This report presents the results of a comprehensive study on a proposal to use cellular cofferdams as basis for the design and construction of water retaining structures to sustainably and cost-effectively harness hydropower. Previously, cellular cofferdams have been widely used mainly as temporary water exclusion devices to permit dry construction of in-water structures such as dams, locks, bridge footings and piers, and hydroelectric power plants. Design and construction requirements for cellular cofferdams are less stringent than for hydropower dams. To make cellular cofferdams suitable for permanent hydropower use, different design concepts that utilize cellular cofferdams as the main or core element of the water-retaining dam structure are proposed. One key design concept is the so-called “dry construction technique” in which the granular fill in cofferdam cells and the downstream berm are permanently kept dry in contrast to the wet construction technique for temporary use of cellular cofferdams. The viability of the proposed permanent cellular cofferdam design concepts is demonstrated using well-established structural and geotechnical design procedures and computational modeling. The improved performance of the proposed design concepts, particularly in combination with the dry construction technique, show cellular cofferdams have the potential to be used as basis for the construction of permanent hydropower dam structures that are versatile, with less impact on the environment, and will cost less to build than conventional hydropower dams.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

CELLULAR COFFERDAMS AS PERMANENT HYDROPOWER DAM STRUCTURES

This paper presents the results of a comprehensive study on the potential use of cellular cofferdams as basis for the design and construction of water retaining structures to sustainably and cost-effectively harness hydropower. Previously, cellular cofferdams have been widely used mainly as temporary water exclusion devices to permit dry construction of in-water structures such as dams, locks, bridge footings and piers, and hydroelectric power plants. Design and construction requirements for cellular cofferdams are less stringent than for hydropower dams. To make cellular cofferdams suitable for permanent hydropower use, different design concepts that utilize cellular cofferdams as the main or core element of the water-retaining dam structure are proposed. One particular key design concept is the so-called “dry construction technique” in which the granular fill in cofferdam cells and the downstream berm are permanently kept dry in contrast to the wet construction technique for temporary use of cellular cofferdams. The viability of the proposed permanent cellular cofferdam design concepts is demonstrated using well-established structural and geotechnical design procedures and computational modeling. The improved performance of the proposed design concepts, particularly in combination with the dry construction technique, show cellular cofferdams have the potential to be used as basis for the construction of permanent hydropower dam structures that are versatile, with less impact on the environment, and will cost less to build than conventional hydropower dams.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Candidate Core Designs for the Transformational Challenge Reactor

Early cycle activities under the Transformational Challenge Reactor (TCR) program focused on analyzing and maturing four reactor core design concepts: two fast-spectrum systems and two thermal-spectrum systems. A rapid, iterative approach has been implemented through which designs can be modified and analyzed and subcomponents can be manufactured in parallel over time frames of weeks rather than months or years. To meet key program initiatives (e.g., timeline, material use), several constraints—including fissile material availability (less than 250 kg of HALEU), component availabilities, materials compatibility, and additive manufacturing capabilities—were factored into the design effort, yielding small (less than one cubic meter in volume) cores with near-term viability. The fast-spectrum designs did not meet the fissile material constraint, so the thermal-spectrum systems became the primary design focus. Since significant progress has been made on advanced moderator materials (YH x ) under the TCR program, gas-cooled thermal-spectrum systems using less than 250 kg of HALEU that occupy less than 1 m 3 are now feasible. The designs for two of these systems have been evolved and matured. In both thermal-spectrum design concepts, bidirectional coolant flow is used. Coolant flows down through YH x moderator elements and is reversed in a bottom manifold and core support structure, and then flows up though or around the fuel elements. The main difference between the two thermal-spectrum design concepts is the fuel elements—one uses traditional UO 2 ceramic fuel, and the other uses UN-bearing TRISO fuel particles embedded inside a SiC matrix. Finally, core neutronics and thermal performance for these systems are assessed and summarized herein.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2025

On the Development of Compact HTS Coil Modules for Large Bore High Field Superconducting Magnets

Lower cost, high current density superconducting coil modules producing higher magnetic fields and cooled affordably are crucial for obtaining cost-effective, compact commercial fusion reactors. Accessibility to low cost, higher field magnets (>30 T) is also critical for the discovery of new quantum phenomena in materials, cosmic frontier and other topics in basic science research. The Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) is working with Princeton University to develop unique large bore, compact superconducting magnets to support science experiments including the development of new instrumentation for condensed matter physics and Axion dark matter search in the cosmic frontier. Core elements of these experiments are unique for access to lower cost, simple fabrication of compact superconducting magnets that can be cooled affordably, while integrated with dedicated science instruments. Conductor qualification and coil design concepts are discussed in support of needs for these experiments. PPPL has the unique expertise and experimental facilities to design, construct and test subscale coil modules for these projects. Compact high field coil modules were fabricated and tested to validate coil design concepts and coil performance. Finally, the design and model coil integration challenges are discussed to identify performance risks and demonstrate feasibility for deploying full scale large bore compact superconducting magnets for cost effective operations of multiple laboratory experiments.

axion dark matter↗
DOE OSTI2023

Thin film design of amorphous hafnium oxide nanocomposites enabling strong interfacial resistive switching uniformity

A design concept of phase-separated amorphous nanocomposite thin films is presented that realizes interfacial resistive switching (RS) in hafnium-oxide-based devices. The films are formed by incorporating an average of 7% Ba into hafnium oxide during pulsed laser deposition at temperatures ≤400°C. The added Ba prevents the films from crystallizing and leads to ~20-nm-thin films consisting of an amorphous HfO x host matrix interspersed with ~2-nm-wide, ~5-to-10-nm-pitch Ba-rich amorphous nanocolumns penetrating approximately two-thirds through the films. This restricts the RS to an interfacial Schottky-like energy barrier whose magnitude is tuned by ionic migration under an applied electric field. Resulting devices achieve stable cycle-to-cycle, device-to-device, and sample-to-sample reproducibility with a measured switching endurance of ≥10 4 cycles for a memory window ≥10 at switching voltages of ±2 V. Each device can be set to multiple intermediate resistance states, which enables synaptic spike-timing–dependent plasticity. The presented concept unlocks additional design variables for RS devices.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Developing Low Noise, Rad-hard Detectors for Parity Violating Experiments

As parity-violating electron scattering (PVeS) experiments continue to push the frontiers of precision electro-weak asymmetry measurements, the demands on the experimental techniques and apparatus are also pushed. In particular, the need for higher resolution and radiation-hardness of the main integrating detectors has increased over the successive generations of PVeS experiments. The demand for precise measurement of GHz event rates has pushed the field toward the use of thin quartz Cerenkov light based detectors. We have been designing and testing such thin quartz detectors specifically for the upcoming experiments at Jefferson Lab, PREX-II and CREX, but this work also greatly influences the detector development for several future experiments including MOLLER at Jefferson Lab. These are all PVeS experiments that will use the new thin quartz Cerenkov detector design concept for their main asymmetry measurements (as well as for beam monitoring). The new design concept gives not only significant performance improvements compared to its predecessor from PREX-I, but also we have now thoroughly characterized its operational design and performance using a combination of test-beam data and detailed particle and optical Monte Carlo Geant4 simulations. These activities have culminated in the development and implementation of a "bench-marked" Monte Carlo package, QSIM, which constitutes a powerful design tool for present and future PVeS quartz detectors. The benchmarked simulation can replicate real photoelectron distributions (RMS and Mean) from testbeam data with ~5% precision – limited mainly by the systematic uncertainty of the PMT gain measurements.

Villarreal, Carlos Bula Villarreal↗
DOE OSTI2020

Feasibility Analysis of Converter-Interfaced Combined Heat and Power System

As a promising new design concept, the converter-interfaced combined heat and power (CHP) system is coupled to the bulk grid through a rectifier and a grid-ready tied inverter. Compared to the traditional directly-coupled CHP system, it removes the requirement for oversizing the CHP generator, limits the short-circuit contribution of the generator and simplifies the grid integration process of CHP system. This paper evaluates the economic benefits of this concept by calculating the annualized Return-on-Investment (ROI) and comparing it to the directly-coupled system. The economic analysis includes timeseries simulations to compute energy transactions with the bulk grid as well as sizing the equipment to calculate the capital and operational costs. Obtained results indicate that in majority of user cases evaluated, the converter-interfaced CHP systems can provide better ROI than directly-coupled systems. Given the additional technical benefits provided by inverter-based distributed energy resources (DERs), the proposed concept is proved to be technically viable and economically feasible.

03 NATURAL GAS↗