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At least 415 records · Page 23
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

Commissioning of the Power Supplies and Coils of the SMART Tokamak

The small aspect ratio tokamak (SMART) is a spherical tokamak (ST) that offers unique capabilities for studying the potential of negative triangularity. It has been designed, constructed, and is currently being operated by the Plasma Science Fusion Technology (PSFT) Laboratory at the University of Seville. SMART has a total of 21 coils, organized into seven independent circuits and driven by five modular power supplies (PS). The PS operation relies on switching converter technology based on IGBT and supercapacitors (SCs). The PS delivers predefined current waveforms to the copper coil system consisting of the central solenoid (CS), 12 toroidal field (TF) coils, three series pairs of poloidal field (PF) coils, and two independent PF coils. This study details the commissioning and validation of the PS toroidal and solenoid coils, as well as the assembly of coils in SMART. The maximum rated current and slope were measured, along with the series impedance of the coils, the output current ripple, and the noise levels. The internal parameters of the SCs were measured, and optimized current profiles were proposed to enhance overall performance. A comparison has been made between the theoretical values and the experimental results, providing insight into the performance of the PS and areas for improvement.

Power electronics↗
NASA NTRS1984

Conceptual design of a noncontacting power transfer device for the ASPS Vernier system

The conceptual of electrical power transfer across a magnetically controlled gap as discussed for several years. The design represents the culmination of the first serious attempt to design a very low force, noncontracting power transfer mechanism. The electromagnetic device advanced herein is an ironless, translatable secondary transformer in which one of the two coils is fixed to the entire magnetic core. The second coil is free to move within the core over the full range of motions required. The specific application considered for this design was the Vernier subsystem of the Annular Suspension and Pointing System (ASPS). The development of and rationale for the electromagnetics design is presented. Similar documentation is provided for the Electronics Design. The Appendices detail the results of small scale model tests, disturbance force calculations, the baseline transformer fabrication drawings, the AVS Converter Parts List, and model schematic diagrams.

Kroeger, J.↗
DOE OSTI2023

A pulsed current-mode class-D low-voltage high-bandwidth power amplifier for portable NMR systems

Low-field NMR has seen growing interest in recent years, especially for portable applications. The lower homogeneity magnets used for portable applications require short RF pulses to ensure enough transmit bandwidth to excite the sample volume and also support short echo periods. Furthermore, the preferred use of a high-Q coil to improve signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) prolongs the pulse transients. Thus, at such low Larmor frequencies, the excitation pulse transients become comparable or longer than the pulse length, such that the transmit bandwidth begins to limit measurement SNR. This paper describes the design of a pulsed current-mode class-D power (PCMCD) transmitter that addresses this issue by generating high power in a tuned sample coil while maintaining short transients, thus resulting in high output bandwidth. The transmitter also uses a charge recycling mechanism to maximize power efficiency for RF train excitation, which also results in faster pulse repetition rate and reduces allowable echo time. In this work, experimental results from a small form-factor PCMCD transmitter are presented. This design generates a peak RF power of 240 W into a 9.16 µH coil at 4 MHz while operating off a single 12 V power supply. NMR measurement results using the transmitter are also described, showing minimum achievable echo time of 70 µs and 25 µs depending on the transmitter mode of operation.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Tailoring tokamak error fields to control plasma instabilities and transport

A tokamak relies on the axisymmetric magnetic fields to confine fusion plasmas and aims to deliver sustainable and clean energy. However, misalignments arise inevitably in the tokamak construction, leading to small asymmetries in the magnetic field known as error fields (EFs). The EFs have been a major concern in the tokamak approaches because small EFs, even less than 0.1%, can drive a plasma disruption. Meanwhile, the EFs in the tokamak can be favorably used for controlling plasma instabilities, such as edge-localized modes (ELMs). Here we show an optimization that tailors the EFs to maintain an edge 3D response for ELM control with a minimized core 3D response to avoid plasma disruption and unnecessary confinement degradation. We design and demonstrate such an edge-localized 3D response in the KSTAR facility, benefiting from its unique flexibility to change many degrees of freedom in the 3D coil space for the various fusion plasma regimes. This favorable control of the tokamak EF represents a notable advance for designing intrinsically 3D tokamaks to optimize stability and confinement for next-step fusion reactors.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Hard Fault Protection for a Silicon Carbide-Based Aerospace Motor Drive

Due to increasingly high DC link voltages and further advancements in the current density of silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs, it has become evident that conventional IGBT protection methods are not sufficient to protect these devices from overcurrent during low-inductance fault events. The use of an air core Rogowski coil topology was explored to see if it could mitigate these hard fault events. The design of this circuit resulted in safe shutdown of a low impedance phase-tophase fault, tested up to DC link voltages of 1 kV.

High Voltage↗
NASA NTRS1992

Cooling options for Astromag

A comparison of the various cooling options for the Astromag particle physics experiment is presented. The baseline design for the cryogenic system involves using a natural circulation fountain-effect driven flow loop (Hofmann type). The present paper considers two alternative options for cooling. The first design involves a thermal strap made of a high-conductivity metal, e.g., high-purity aluminum or copper, which connects the coil to the helium reservoir. Venting helium vapor can also be used to minimize the temperature of the magnet and recover from a quench. The second design is based on an He II heat pipe concept where steady state heat transport is by counterflow. Cavitation is prevented by use of a porous plug. Forced flow He II is also available but only during extraordinary operating conditions.

Maytal, B. Z.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Design considerations for optimizing the transient CHI injector on QUEST

Transient coaxial helicity injection (transient CHI) on the QUEST (Q-shu University Experiment with Steady-State ST) spherical tokamak (ST) has recently validated the floating biased electrode configuration for solenoid-free plasma startup. In support of a significant divertor upgrade on QUEST, the details of the transient CHI injector geometry on QUEST have been examined more closely using tokamak simulation code (TSC) simulations. QUEST uses a HIT-II-like (Helicity Injected Torus) injector configuration in which the injector region is comprised of coaxial injector electrodes located in the lower part of the machine. TSC simulations indicate high injector flux operation may benefit from an increased gap between the coaxial electrodes. This is the first study to examine the differences between an open and closed electrode configuration for solenoid-free plasma startup using transient CHI. Results show that both configurations can generate similar levels of closed flux, but the closed configuration may be easier to implement in some ST designs as a much smaller portion of the injector needs to be close to the injector flux coil. Results show that increasing the electrode gap width from the present 10.8 cm to about 15–20 cm would increase the closed flux fraction by about 40%. The results presented in this paper are generally applicable to the CHI design for other STs.

coaxial helicity injection↗
DOE OSTI2021

Design options for a superconducting ion linac

Following a review of the design options for a superconducting ion linac, we present here an alternative design for the pre-stripper section of the superconducting driver linac for the rare isotope science project (RISP) of the Institute for Basic Science in Korea. The proposed alternative design takes advantage of the recent accelerator developments at Argonne, namely for the recent ATLAS intensity and efficiency upgrade and the Fermilab proton improvement plan project (PIP-II). In particular, the state-of-the-art performance of quarter-wave (QWRs) and half-wave resonators (HWRs), the integrated steering correctors and cold beam position monitors (BPMs) for a compact cryomodule design. In order to simplify the design and avoid frequency transitions, we used two types of QWRs at 81.25 MHz while the baseline design has QWRs at 81.25 MHz and HWRs at 162.5 MHz. The new QWR types were optimized for β ~0.05 and ~0.11, respectively, and corrected for beam steering effects. Nine cryomodules are required to reach the stripping energy of 18.5 MeV/u for uranium beam. An alternative radio-frequency quadrupole (RFQ) design was also developed. It is optimized with the multi-harmonic buncher (MHB) to produce a much smaller longitudinal emittance, offering much needed flexibility for beam tuning and more tolerance to errors. Following the lattice design optimization, end-to-end beam dynamics simulations including most important sources of machine error were performed. The results showed that the design is robust and tolerant to errors with no beam loss observed for typical machine errors.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Vertical control of DIII-D discharges with strong negative triangularity

Through predictive modeling validated by a series of experiments on DIII-D, the vertical stability of low β diverted plasmas with strong negative triangularity (NT) ($\delta\sim-0.6$) is assessed. As a result of their unique magnetic geometry, NT plasmas feature larger Shafranov shifts and more elongated inner flux surfaces than positive triangularity counterparts, typically leading to enhanced vertical instability growth rates. However, coupling with the non-conformal vessel DIII-D wall reduces these growth rates to controllable values, providing a path forward for stabilizing strongly NT plasma with a diverted geometry. These discharges are used to validate GSdesign (part of the TokSys code suite) stability calculations in strong NT plasmas on DIII-D, with errors of no more than ~20% observed between modeled and experimentally measured growth rates. Additions of diagnostic noise and power supply tuning to the TokSys model are needed to accurately capture the time dependence of DIII-D NT discharges, assisting with the design of control schemes specific to the DIII-D poloidal field coils. Lastly, implications of these results on a future NT reactor are briefly described.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

First Field Measurements of the 15 T Nb 3 Sn Dipole Demonstrator MDPCT1

Within the US Magnet Development Program (MDP) a 15 T Nb 3 Sn dipole was developed, to demonstrate a magnet design for a post-LHC pp Collider. Specifically, the magnet design is based on 60 mm aperture 4-layer shell-type coils, graded between the inner and outer layers to maximize the magnet performance. The cable in the two innermost layers has 28 strands 1.0 mm in diameter and the cable in the two outermost layers has 40 strands 0.7 mm in diameter. Both cables use RRP Nb3Sn wires produced by Bruker-OST. Magnet coils are surrounded by vertically-split thick iron laminations, con-nected by aluminum I-clamps, and a thick stainless-steel skin. The magnet was tested at the Vertical Magnet Test Facility (VMTF) at Fermilab. This paper reports the first results of magnetic measure-ments of the 15 T Nb 3 Sn dipole demonstrator including geometrical harmonics, coil magnetization and iron saturation effects. The ex-perimental data are compared with the magnetic calculations.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Quantification of Energy Savings and Demand Reduction for a Heat Pump Integrated with Thermal Energy Storage (Final Report)

To mitigate the variation in demand on the electric grid, thermal energy storage (TES) is an alternative to electric batteries or installing new peaking power plants. Stakeholders and policy makers across the United States have expressed interests in promoting TES, as demonstrated by the US Department of Energy’s Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings program and the efforts of various state legislatures. However, the cost value provided by TES are unclear. If reliable cost benefits were determined, stakeholders would have a clearer picture of the financial returns that can be gained from their investment in TES. The study in this report is conducted by ORNL with collaboration with Emerson the Helix Innovation Center. In the first part of this report, EnergyPlus was used to perform whole-building simulations for two residential buildings in Indianapolis and Atlanta. The HVAC system in both buildings were equipped with phase change material TES. The TES tank was charged in off-peak hours and discharged in peak hours to perform load shifting. First, the economic value implied by existing time-of-use (TOU) rates offered by utility companies was analyzed via whole-building simulation. Second, existing demand reduction (DR) incentives sourced from 3 different electrical grid administrators (i.e., California, Texas, and New England region) were surveyed to determine their implied value. The study suggests that the traditional value analysis that focuses on ROI for the building owner significantly undervalues TES technology making economic viability difficult. A more comprehensive value analysis that includes peak demand management and deferred capital for peaking power plants shows that TES should be economically viable but here the value is greater for the utility and requires large market penetration and aggregation to fully realize the benefits. Therefore, to facilitate commercialization, new business models are needed that include a broader range of stakeholders and distribute the value of TES proportionally. In the 2 nd part of this project, the benefits of a novel phase change material (PCM) integrated heat pump configuration were evaluated via detailed component based simulation. A one-dimensional PCM heat exchanger model which discretizes the PCM tank and refrigerant tubes into small control volumes is developed. Each control volume can have different PCM temperatures, PCM properties, and heat transfer coefficients. The PCM tank is charged by a wrapped tank condenser and discharged by an internal refrigerant coil. The PCM heat exchanger model is integrated into DOE/ORNL Heat Pump Design Model for heat pump system simulation. To demonstrate the performance of the PCM integrated heat pump, a case study in Chicago was performed. A Time-of-Use utility structure-based control strategy is implemented to schedule the PCM tank charging and discharging mode switching. Compared with a conventional electric heat pump, the PCM integrated heat pump shows superior performance on load shifting and utility cost reduction. As a result, the proposed system demonstrates 24.6% utility saving for cooling application and 25.8% utility saving for heating application.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
NASA NTRS1980

Superconducting bearings for application in cryogenic experiments in space

Linear superconducting magnetic bearings suitable for use in a proposed orbital equivalence principle experiment and for general application in space were developed and tested. Current flows in opposite directions in adjacent superconducting wires arranged parallel to the axis of a cylinder. This configuration provides maximum stiffness radially while allowing the test mass to move freely along the cylinder axis. In a space application, the wires are extended to cover the entire perimeter of the cylinder: for the earth-based tests it was desirable to use only the bottom half. Control of the axial position of the test mass is by small control coils which may be positioned inside or outside the main bearing. The design is suitable for application to other geometries where maximum stiffness is desired. A working model scaled to operate in a 1-g environment was perfected approximate solutions for the bearings were developed. A superconducting transformer method of charging the magnets for the bearing, and a position detector based on a SQUID magnetometer and associated superconducting circuit were also investigated.

Everitt, C. W. F.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Improved Transparent Furnace For Crystal-Growth Experiments

Novel design and fabrication process for transparent crystal-growing furnace developed. Design consists of one or more heater zones in which heating wire coiled around insides of quartz tubes. Ampoule of material supported inside furnace by guide wire. Crystal then grown by directional freezing of material in ampoule. Distinct feature of use of quartz is capability of direct visual observation of crystal-growth process during experiment. Study of transparent electronic materials conducted in new furnaces.

Rosenthal, Bruce N.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Active Inertial Vibration Isolators And Dampers

Report describes development of active inertial vibration isolators and dampers in which actuators electromagnet coils moving linearly within permanent magnetic fields in housings, somewhat as though massive, low-frequency voice coils in loudspeakers. Discusses principle of operation, electrical and mechanical considerations in design of actuators, characteristics of accelerometers, and frequency responses of control systems. Describes design and performance of one- and three-degree-of-freedom vibration-suppressing system based on concept.

Laughlin, Darren↗
NASA NTRS2005

Realizing "2001: A Space Odyssey": Piloted Spherical Torus Nuclear Fusion Propulsion

A conceptual vehicle design enabling fast, piloted outer solar system travel was created predicated on a small aspect ratio spherical torus nuclear fusion reactor. The initial requirements were satisfied by the vehicle concept, which could deliver a 172 mt crew payload from Earth to Jupiter rendezvous in 118 days, with an initial mass in low Earth orbit of 1,690 mt. Engineering conceptual design, analysis, and assessment was performed on all major systems including artificial gravity payload, central truss, nuclear fusion reactor, power conversion, magnetic nozzle, fast wave plasma heating, tankage, fuel pellet injector, startup/re-start fission reactor and battery bank, refrigeration, reaction control, communications, mission design, and space operations. Detailed fusion reactor design included analysis of plasma characteristics, power balance/utilization, first wall, toroidal field coils, heat transfer, and neutron/x-ray radiation. Technical comparisons are made between the vehicle concept and the interplanetary spacecraft depicted in the motion picture 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Williams, Craig H.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Simulation of a PCM Integrated Heat Pump Using Time-of-Use Utility Structure based Control Strategy for Demand Response

To mitigate the variation in demand on the electric grid, thermal energy storage (TES) is an alternative to electric batteries and constructing new peaking power plants. The aggressive carbon reduction goals of the United States are accelerating the electrification of building equipment. If space heating and cooling in the US were electrified using conventional heat pump technologies, the winter electric grid peak would approximately double. Integrating TES with heat pump (HP) enables electrification of space cooling and heating devices without overtaxing the grid.This paper evaluates the benefits of a novel phase change material (PCM) integrated heat pump configuration via simulation. A one-dimensional PCM heat exchanger model which discretizes the PCM tank and refrigerant tubes into small control volumes is developed. Each control volume can have different PCM temperatures, PCM properties, and heat transfer coefficients. The PCM tank is charged by a wrapped tank condenser and discharged by an internal refrigerant coil. The PCM heat exchanger model is integrated into DOE/ORNL Heat Pump Design Model for heat pump system simulation.To demonstrate the performance of the PCM integrated heat pump, a case study in Chicago was performed. A Time-of-Use utility structure-based control strategy is implemented to schedule the PCM tank charging and discharging mode switching. Compared with a conventional electric heat pump, the PCM integrated heat pump shows superior performance on load shifting and utility cost reduction. As a result, the proposed system demonstrates 24.6% utility saving for cooling application and 25.8% utility saving for heating application.

Li, Zhenning↗
NASA NTRS1977

Design and prototype fabrication of a 30 tesla cryogenic magnet

A liquid neon cooled magnet was designed to produce 30 teslas in steady operation. To ensure the correctness of the heat transfer relationships used, supercritical neon heat transfer tests were made. Other tests made before the final design included tests on the effect of the magnetic field on pump motors, tensile shear tests on the cryogenic adhesives, and simulated flow studies for the coolant. The magnet will consist of two pairs of coils, cooled by forced convection of supercritical neon. Heat from the supercritical neon will be rejected through heat exchangers which are made of roll bonded copper panels and are submerged in a pool of saturated liquid neon. A partial mock up coil was wound to identify the tooling required to wind the magnet. This was followed by winding a prototype pair of coils. The prototype winding established procedures for fabricating the final magnet and revealed slight changes needed in the final design.

Prok, G. M.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Magnetic suspension and balance system (MSBS) advanced study.I - System design

A magnetic suspension and balance system is designed to support models of aircraft or other objects in wind tunnels by means of magnetic forces. Major design improvements have been achieved, resulting in reductions of the system size, weight, and cost. These improvements are due to: (1) the use of holmium in the model core to increase its magnetic moment, (2) the use of a powerful new permanent magnet material in the model wings, (3) a new arrangement for the roll coils, and (4) the use of a nonmetallic structure to eliminate eddy current losses. The conceptual design of the holmium core superconductive solenoid and of the new permanent magnet wing assembly is described in detail. The discussion includes comparisons of the pole strengths for different model core magnets, the design of a superconducting solenoid and cryostat, and the analysis of model wing magnetic requirements.

Boom, Roger W.↗