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The objective and planning of the NASA space power research and technology program are reviewed. The areas of research covered include photovoltaic energy conversion, chemical energy conversion and storage, thermal to electric conversion, environmental interactions and power systems management of distribution.
The NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program delivery known as "CP-11" will carry multiple payloads to the lunar surface in 2024. The payloads include (a) Lunar Vertex, the first science suite sponsored by the NASA Science Mission Directorate's Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon (PRISM) program, (b) JPL's CADRE (Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Explorers), a project from the NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate's Game Changing Development Program, (c) the Lunar Space Environment Monitor (LUSEM), a high-energy particle detector from the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) and funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT of Korea (MSIT), and (d) MPAc (MoonLIGHT Pointing Actuator), a laser retro-reflector developed by the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN-LNF) and funded by the European Space Agency.
With electricity consumption across the United States (US) and Canada anticipated to grow, energy efficiency program administrators have a key role to play in helping to ensure energy affordability and reliability in support of the broader economic systems utilities and grid support. Connected, demand side load balancing solutions, such as load shifting heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and managed charging for electric vehicles (EVs), can dynamically manage energy, allowing for more volumetric electricity consumption without incurring the expense of upgraded transmission and distribution capabilities. When combined, or aggregated, many small loads can be managed to have meaningful impact on energy demand on the grid. Utilities and their partners have an opportunity to leverage decades of experience and the infrastructure needed to assess, design, implement, and measure programs to scale up the adoption of equipment with built-in load flexibility capabilities. Current efforts among a wide variety of electricity system service providers, utilities, standards agencies, regulators, national labs and private industry stakeholders aim to identify common standards, metrics, and methodologies for valuing grid services offered by demand side equipment. By combining those efforts with decades of proven energy efficiency resources, utilities are poised to effectuate a scaling up of equipment with energy management capabilities installed in homes and businesses across the US and Canada. This paper will provide an overview of how utilities are approaching this era of load growth and new peak demands across the United States and Canada. It will highlight the specific strategies that program administrators are employing to advance market transformation for grid-enabled products and devices that have the greatest potential to reduce energy use and increase load flexibility.
This report reflects the work performed at the University of Mississippi under the support of DOE EPSCoR grant DE‐SC0021274 during the period of September 2020 through August 2024, including a one-year, no-cost extension. A summary of the research outcomes is given, with reference to the project goals as stated in the proposal. This successful project supported the mission of the DOE High Energy Physics program by leveraging the complimentary expertise of researchers at the University of Mississippi and Brookhaven National Lab to search for CP violation in charmed baryon decays using data from the Belle II experiment and to provide vital support for Belle II distributed computing.
This paper explores the applicability of using dynamic programing (DP) and approximate dynamic programming (ADP) based methods for optimal dispatch of utility scale energy storage systems (ESS). In this study, the effectiveness of these approaches have been tested using the IEEE 13 node test feeder with distributed photovoltaics (PVs) and a utility scale storage system. In this work, a co-simulation based approach has been used to setup the experiment to be able to implement detailed ESS and network models. The results obtained from DP/ADP runs have been compared with three other control strategies both myopic and intelligent. Simulations results show that DP/ADP algorithms are a good candidate for optimal EES dispatch in terms of both solution quality and execution time.
Measurement of the magnetic fields surrounding magnetic fusion energy (MFE) devices, such as tokamaks, is critical for characterizing and monitoring the plasma inside these devices, and it is especially important for detecting plasma instabilities, which can lead to the plasma damaging the inside of these devices. This program successfully demonstrated a new type of magnetic field diagnostic that is capable for the first time of measuring simultaneously the spatial and temporal magnetic field distributions of MFE devices in real-time and with high resolution. This is a capability not feasible with existing magnetic field diagnostics and, moreover, the technique we developed provides other advantages, such as less susceptibility to noise, the ability to operate during both pulsed and steady-state plasma conditions, the ability to detect relatively weak poloidal fields, and potentially lower costs. This new capability of being able in real-time to detect anomalies in the magnetic field distribution corresponding to the onset of plasma instabilities offers the ability to automatically shut down the MFE device before the plasma can damage the machine. Hence, this machine protection capability can be vital for future fusion power stations. Our technique uses optical fibers where changes in the polarization of the laser light traveling through the fiber provide a direct measurement of the magnetic field at any point along the fiber. The small size of the fibers allows them to be easily installed either outside or inside the MFE vacuum vessel, and in any direction one wishes (e.g., poloidal or toroidal). We demonstrated the basic capabilities of our new diagnostic during a proof-of-principle experiment performed on the General Atomics DIII-D tokamak, and published the results in: W. D. Kimura, D. S. Dhillon, S. Munaretto, E. J. Strait, D. Du, S. Loranger, J.-S. Boisvert, and R. Kashyap, “Measurements of DIII-D poloidal field by fiber-optic pulsed polarimetry,” Rev. Sci, Inst. 89, 10J102 (2018).
Abstract Background Distributed wind energy adoption in the United States can contribute to the diverse portfolio of energy technologies needed to achieve ambitious decarbonization goals. However, with limited deployment to date, the current distributed wind market must be better understood; these efforts will support the range of stakeholders who will drive successful deployment. This article first distinguishes three categories of distributed wind from existing literature: (1) behind the meter, (2) intended for explicit local load, and (3) physically distributed. A novel methodology to classify individual wind installations into each of these categories is then presented and applied to two data sets of wind installations in the United States to categorize and illuminate distinct segments in the distributed wind market. Results Physically distributed installations, constituted by small to moderately sized projects serving local loads on distribution systems solely because of their proximity to them, account for the highest amount of capacity but the lowest number of installations out of the three categories. The inverse is true for behind-the-meter installations, which are used to serve on-site loads. Installations intended for explicit local load, which are interconnected on the utility side of the distribution system and intentionally built to provide energy to loads on the same distribution system, rank in the middle for both installed capacity and number of installations. Conclusions Distributed wind energy deployment in the United States is geographically widespread, but the extent to which a single category is developed in each state varies. Policies, wind resources, and broad energy technology trends contribute to these deployment patterns. By identifying the extent to which each category of installations exists, decision-makers are empowered with data necessary to tailor research and development programs and address stakeholder priorities through policy and other means, ultimately supporting future deployment.
Jefferson Lab’s upgrade of its Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) has recently been completed. The project involved an upgrade of the accelerator to achieve a maximum beam energy of 12 GeV and the construction of a fourth end station, Experimental Hall D, as well as new detector equipment for two of the three existing halls (A, B, and C). A broad experimental program has been developed to map the nucleon’s intrinsic quark distributions in transverse space and in longitudinal momentum through measurements of deeply exclusive and semi-inclusive processes, and to probe color confinement by studying the spectrum of hadrons with active gluon degrees of freedom in the wave function. Other programs include the forward parton distribution function at large quark momentum fraction χ, the quark and gluon polarized distribution functions, measurements of electromagnetic form factors of the nucleon ground state and of nucleon resonance transitions at short distances, and the exploration of physics beyond the Standard Model in high-precision parity-violating processes and in the search for signals of dark matter. The higher beam energy is also suitable for exploration of quark hadronization properties using the nucleus as a laboratory. This review highlights major areas of hadron and nuclear science that will be the focus of the first 5 years of operation.
We report precision measurements on cumulants (𝐶 𝑛 ) and factorial cumulants (𝜅 𝑛 ) of (net) proton number distributions up to fourth order in Au + Au collisions over center-of-mass energies $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 7.7–27 GeV from phase II of the Beam Energy Scan program at RHIC. (Anti)protons are selected at midrapidity (|𝑦| < 0.5) within a transverse momentum range of 0.4 < 𝑝 𝑇 < 2.0 GeV/𝑐. Relative to various noncritical-point model calculations and peripheral collision 70%–80% data, the net proton 𝐶 4 /𝐶 2 measurement in 0%–5% collisions shows a minimum around 19.6 GeV for significance of deviation at ∼2–5𝜎. A minimum in 𝐶 4 /𝐶 2 with respect to a noncritical baseline is expected to be a characteristic feature of the signature associated with a critical point in the QCD phase diagram. In addition, deviations from noncritical baselines around the same collision energy region are also seen in proton factorial cumulant ratios, especially in 𝜅 2 /𝜅 1 and 𝜅 3 /𝜅 1 . As a result, dynamical model calculations including a critical point are called for in order to understand these precision measurements.
A number of attractive options are available for the Space Station Power System. These include a photovoltaic system or solar dynamic system for power generation, batteries or fuel cells for energy storage and ac or dc for power management and distribution. These options are being explored during the present preliminary design and definition phase of the Space Station Program. Final selections are presently targeted for January 1986.
A Galaxy Reconstruction Program (GREP) is to be described. Using structural primitives related to galactic structural components, it is demonstrated that realistic galaxy images can be produced. By assigning spectral energy distributions to each of these primitives, the images can be mapped into other wavelengths and thereby viewed at alternate redshifts. This is essentially a method for producing spatially resolved K-corrections for spiral galaxies.
Title XIII of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), tasked OE with accelerating the commercialization, deployment and integration of advanced digital systems that are needed to modernize the nation’s electricity delivery network for enhanced interoperability and cyber security. To support this mandated task, a goal of the SGR&D Program is to develop technology with the ability to dynamically optimize grid operations and resources and incorporate demand response and consumer participation. The majority of historical research and development in the domain of distribution management systems (DMS) had focused on classical, radial and passive networks with one-way power flow from transmission to distribution systems and thus to the end customer. With the focus on customers, a bottom-up approach required a completely new thinking in real-time operations, and automation, of smart distribution systems. Thus, the GE team embarked on a project with a plan of two distinct phases. Work during the first phase concentrated on research and development (R&D) for the first three years. The second phase, lasting approximately two years, accomplished the demonstration of the use cases developed during the first phase, with further sharing and dissemination of the research at industry events. The consolidated technical scope of the project can be summarized into the following six areas: Advanced distribution modeling capability to accurately simulate/model smart grid operations. Accurate representation of the distribution system in real- or near real-time (capture real-time topology). Interoperability with, and seamless communication between, other management systems and databases used by the utility Simulation of distribution systems based on real-time operational planning to analyze the benefits of smart grid assets. Integration of network, market, and renewable resource models for next generation DMS. Management and forecasting of DER (Distributed Generation, Storage, Demand Response).
The Sodium Ion Expansion Power Block for Distributed CSP was a three-plus-one-year effort under the Concentrating Solar Power: Advanced Projects Offering Low LCOE Opportunities (CSP: APOLLO) funding program within the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office. The primary objective of this project is to develop a dual-stage modular sodium thermal electrochemical converter (Na-TEC) heat engine power block, which can be potentially integrated with either a small-scale dish solar or large-scale heliostats and parabolic trough CSP. Na-TEC is a heat engine that generates electricity through the isothermal expansion of sodium ions. The Na-TEC is a closed system that can theoretically achieve conversion efficiencies above 45% when operating between thermal reservoirs at 1150 K and 550 K. However, thermal designs have confined previous single-stage devices to thermal efficiencies below 20%. To mitigate some of these limitations, we consider dividing the isothermal expansion into two stages; one at the evaporator temperature (1150 K) and another at an intermediate temperature (650 K –1050 K). This dual-stage Na-TEC takes advantage of regeneration and reheating, and could be amenable to better thermal management. In light of this, we first designed and developed a thermo-electrochemical model, and thermodynamically demonstrated how the dual-stage device can improve the efficiency by up to 8% points over the best performing single-stage device. We also established an application regime map for the single- and dual-stage Na-TEC in terms of the power density and the total thermal parasitic loss. Moreover, a thermal design of an axisymmetric dual-stage Na-TEC is developed to guide the scale-up and fabrication of sub-components of prototype module. A reduced-order finite-element model is used in conjunction with a Na-TEC thermodynamic model that was developed to determine the total parasitic heat loss of this dual-stage design. A number of simplifications are applied in the reduced-order model to decrease the computational time while maintaining acceptable accuracy. According to this analysis, a maximum efficiency of 29% and a maximum power output of 125 W can be achieved. Ultimately, we were able to demonstrate thermal efficiency improvements of the Na-TEC heat engine from 19% up to 40.3%, in a dual-stage (non-optimized) prototype module that we designed, fabricated, and tested with high temperature stage at 923 K. Furthermore, a cost-performance analysis for this improved dual-stage design was carried out for distributed-CSP systems. A high-level techno-economic analysis (TEA) explores four scenarios where a Na-TEC is used as the heat engine for a distributed-CSP system. Overnight capital cost and levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) are estimated for a system lifetime of 30 years, revealing that overnight capital costs in a range from $3.57 to $17.71 per We are feasible, which equate to LCOEs from 6.9 to 17.2 cents/kWh e -1 . This analysis makes a significant contribution by concurrently quantifying the efficiency and unit costs for a range of multistage configurations, and demonstrating that a Na-TEC may be a promising alternative to Stirling engines for distributed-CSP systems at residential scale of 1–5 kW e .
Testing for the Space Station Freedom Nickel Hydrogen Cell Test Program began in 1990 at Crave Division, Naval Surface Warfare Center. The program has included receipt inspection, random vibration, acceptance, characterization, and life cycle testing of Ni-H2 cells in accordance with the NASA LeRC Interagency Order C-31001-J. A total of 400 Ni-H2 cells have been received at NAVSURFWARCENDIV Crane from three separate manufacturers; Yardney Technical Products (Yardney), Eagle Picher Industries (Eagle Picher), and Gates Energy Products (Gates). Of those, 308 cells distributed among 39 packs have undergone life cycle testing under a test regime simulating low earth orbit conditions. As of 30 September 1993, there are 252 cells assembled into 32 packs still on life cycle test. Since the beginning of the program, failed cells have been detected in all phases of testing. The failures include the following; seven 65 AmpHr and 81 AmpHr Yardney cells were found to be leaking KOH on receipt, one 65 AmpHr Eagle Picher cell failed the acceptance test, one 65 AmpHr Gates cell failed during the characterization test, and six 65 AmpHr Gates cells failed the random vibration test. Of the 39 life cycle packs, testing on seven packs, 56 cells, has been suspended because of low end of discharge voltages. All of the failed life cycle packs were cycled at 60% depth of discharge.
The Hybrid Hydraulic-Electric Architecture (HHEA) has, in recent years, been proposed as an energy efficient alternative to conventional load-sensing architectures in mobile machines such as excavators and wheel-loaders. HHEA leverages the advantages of hydraulic power and electric power to eliminate throttling valves while also improving the energy and control performance of the system. The architecture utilizes a set of common pressure rails to provide a majority of power and and a small electric motor driven pump to modulate this power to meet the exact demand. Previous work has developed a computationally efficient Lagrange Multiplier approach for determining the optimal pressure rail selections that minimizes the energy losses in the system. The static model used considers only the energy use for each pressure rail selection but not the losses associated with the valves during the transition. This paper presents an approach to include the switching losses in the model and in the optimization procedure. To capture the switching losses, switching events between different rails and at various input and output flow rates were simulated with consideration of valve spool dynamics. A parameterized model that summarizes the losses is then obtained, allowing switching losses to be added to the previous energy analysis. The performance of the switching loss model was compared with reference data obtained from a high-fidelity simulation model. To incorporate the switching losses into optimal control algorithm, an efficient dynamic programming approach that prevents frequent switching is adopted in place of the Lagrange multiplier approach. The overall effect of switching losses on the energy consumption and optimal control decisions is presented. In general, switching losses contribute to about 9–10% of input energy.
This white paper can help guide a state as it considers issues associated with distributed generation valuation and compensation. States may address a common set of questions and issues in the valuation process, but differences in market expectations, policy priorities, and regulations result in different responses. Key issues include: Context is important. Valuations and compensation strategies will vary based on goals and objectives they are being designed to achieve. Goals and objectives should be made clear up front and will drive the perspective used in performing valuations and how outcomes are applied. Utilities and stakeholders can have different interpretations of how value elements should be calculated. In some states, the objective of standardized calculators and methods is to reduce ambiguity and inconsistencies in how valuations are performed. Certain value elements are difficult or impossible to quantify and most efforts to establish workable value of solar or value of distributed energy resource tariffs are emerging and nascent. Assessing locational and temporal value of distributed generation and applying that in compensation schemes is a new and emerging field of study, being explored by a handful of research organizations and advanced states and utilities. The most advanced states, such as California, are using demonstration projects to test valuation and compensation methodologies or are applying valuation and compensation strategies to a subset of customer projects, such as for community solar projects (e.g., Oregon and New York) before rolling out programs to the full customer base. A variety of states are moving away from full net metering, in many cases substituting avoided cost rates (sometimes with an adder) in lieu of full retail rate compensation, instead of pursuing valuation of distributed energy resource approaches. For example, in Indiana a 25% adder is applied to average wholesale electricity prices and in Mississippi a 2.5 cents/kWh adder is applied to avoided cost rates. These adders appear to have been established through policy directives rather than a comprehensive cost of service valuations.
Load shedding is currently implemented as a two-step based approach. In the first step, manual load shedding is taken place, were system operators, using estimates, inform distribution utilities of predicted stressful conditions. Information provided include the potential use of energy reserves, as well as load shedding amount. In a second step, automatic load shedding is done. The latter is realized using protection relays. While considering frequency variation, pre-defined values of load to be shed and correspondent number of stages for such to be realized are transformed into relay settings. Under-frequency protection relays use only local measurements towards decision making, thus operate in a decentralized architecture. Decision making is done in milliseconds plus breaker time. While this approach has provided much system reliability, considering the new smart grid paradigm, where system dynamics are much faster due to increasing renewable resources penetration, in some operating conditions it will generate sub-optimal solutions, such as islanding. Phasor measurement units provide a source of information which can be useful for this problem. Centralized architecture-based solutions for automatic load shedding, as present in the state-of-the-art, require though total processing times which are not acceptable for real-life implementation. In this work, considering the above, a bi-level linear programming model is presented. The model is implemented considering a distributed architecture while leveraging phasor measurement units data. The upper-level model estimates the current system state. Results of this model are embedded in a lower-level model, which decision variables are the location and load value to be shed. Easy-to-implement model, built-on the classic weighted least squares solution, highlight potential aspects towards real-life applications.
Electricity markets worldwide allow participants to bid non-convex production offers. While non-convex offers can more accurately reflect a resource's capabilities, they create challenges for market clearing processes. For example, system operators may be required to execute side payments to participants whose costs are not covered through energy sales as determined via traditional locational marginal pricing schemes. Convex hull pricing minimizes this and other types of side payments while providing uniform (i.e., locationally and temporally consistent) prices. Computing convex hull prices involves solving either a large-scale linear program or the Lagrangian dual of the corresponding non-convex scheduling problem. Further, the former approach requires explicit descriptions of market participants' convex hulls. While linear programs for computing convex hull prices are large, their structure is naturally decomposable by generators. Here, in this work, we propose and empirically analyze a Benders decomposition approach to computing convex hull prices that leverages recent advances in convex hull formulations for thermal generating units. We demonstrate across a large set of test instances that our decomposition approach only requires modest computational effort, obtaining solutions at least an order of magnitude faster than the equivalent large-scale linear programming approach. Overall, we provide a computationally feasible method for computing convex hull prices for industrial scale market clearing problems, enabling the possibility of practical adoption of this advanced pricing mechanism.