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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Delivering Effective Virtual Energy-Focused Trainings: Successful Strategies and Lessons Learned from the Virtual Cohort In-Plant Training Pilot

While there are always barriers to energy efficiency efforts, few challenges have been as severe as the global COVID-19 pandemic. Many manufacturers throughout the United States and the world have been trying to determine how to safely open and operate their plants. To minimize the number of people working within facilities and maximize the physical distance between workers, only essential facility engineers are allowed into plants to ensure proper operations. The Department of Energy’s Better Plants Program created In-Plant Trainings (INPLTs) to help partners develop in-house expertise in energy efficiency. Delivering INPLTs in the traditional in-person fashion is infeasible under these circumstances. To continue providing INPLTs during this difficult time, the Better Plants Program piloted Virtual Cohort In-Plant Trainings (VINPLTs) on wastewater treatment and ammonia industrial refrigeration systems from October 27 to November 19, 2020. This paper provides an overview of the pilot, then discusses successful strategies and lessons learned from this pilot for delivering effective virtual energy-focused trainings.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2022

Nonlinear multiobjective and dynamic real-time predictive optimization for optimal operation of baseload power plants under variable renewable energy

Considering the increase of disruptive variable renewable energy penetration into the power grid, this article focuses on the investigation of a multiobjective and dynamic real-time optimization framework to address the cycling of large-scale power plants under renewable penetration. In this framework, a parallelized particle swarm optimization step is first performed to generate feasible initial points. Then, a multiobjective and dynamic real-time optimization formulation generates optimal trajectories. Further, the benefit of predictive capability is investigated for the dynamic component, which introduces the novel nonlinear multiobjective and dynamic real-time predictive optimization approach. Two multiobjective formulations to obtain Pareto front optimal in real time are explored: the modified Tchebycheff-based weighted metric and ϵ-constraint methods. Economic and environmental objectives are considered in this study. A novel topical discussion on the intersection of dynamic real-time optimization with model predictive control is also presented. The developed framework is successfully applied to a baseload coal-fired power plant with postcombustion CO 2 capture. Results indicate that the approach can be deployed for a large-scale system if automatic differentiation, model reduction, and parallelization are adopted to improve computational tractability, with computational improvement up to 120-folds after performing these steps. Finally, market and carbon policies showed an impact on the optimal compromise between the objectives with an additional 63 ton of CO 2 captured under favorable market conditions.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2025

A scoping study of far-SOL main-wall protection limiters for steady-state operation of compact pilot plant tokamaks

We present a novel method for handling steady-state heat fluxes incident on the main wall of pilot plant-scale magnetic fusion devices, based on the utilization of protection limiters in the far scrape-off layer (SOL). This method helps avoid large plasma-wall gaps, without excessively compromising blanket performance. We present an optimization algorithm for determining the appropriate size and scale of these protection limiters given (1) probability distributions of SOL plasma parameters and (2) assumed risk tolerance. As part of this optimization, we have developed an analytic description of parallel heat fluxes across limiter shadows, and an objective cost function (the ‘Far-SOL Marginal Cost’) to quantify the impact that different main-wall thermal management design choices have on reactor capital cost. Applying the model to a midscale fusion pilot plant concept shows that making use of far-SOL protection limiters can reduce capital costs on the order of $500 M, relative to naively increasing the plasma-wall gap. Our analysis demonstrates that the far-SOL power decay length is the highest-leverage plasma assumption for thermal loading of the first wall, and the primary cost driver for main wall thermal management. The relative cost efficiency of protection limiters increases as assumptions on the far-SOL heat flux become more pessimistic. The concepts described in this paper motivate the further development of far-SOL protection limiters as part of larger efforts to design economical core-edge-wall compatible solutions for a fusion pilot plant.

Design under uncertainty↗
DOE OSTI2024

Overview of preparation for the American WAKE ExperimeNt (AWAKEN)

The American WAKE ExperimeNt (AWAKEN) is a multi-institutional field campaign focused on gathering critical observations of wind farm–atmosphere interactions. These interactions are responsible for a large portion of the uncertainty in wind plant modeling tools that are used to represent wind plant performance both prior to construction and during operation and can negatively impact wind energy profitability. The AWAKEN field campaign will provide data for validation, ultimately improving modeling and lowering these uncertainties. The field campaign is designed to address seven testable hypotheses through the analysis of the observations collected by numerous instruments at 13 ground-based locations and on five wind turbines. The location of the field campaign in Northern Oklahoma was chosen to leverage existing observational facilities operated by the U.S. Department of Energy Atmospheric Radiation Measurement program in close proximity to five operating wind plants. The vast majority of the observations from the experiment are publicly available to researchers and industry members worldwide, which the authors hope will advance the state of the science for wind plants and lead to lower cost and increased reliability of wind energy systems.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Wyandotte Integrated Renewable Energy Strategy (WIRES 2) (Final Technical Report)

Wyandotte Municipal Services (WMS), a Michigan Municipal Utility offering electric generation, transmission & distribution, water filtration & distribution and Broadband/Video sought to deploy a set of renewable energy projects for their Electric Utility that contributed to reducing the City’s environmental and energy impact, provided examples that would encourage businesses and citizens to adopt cleaner energy practices and help WMS meet the required renewable energy standards of the State of Michigan (10% in 2015, 15% in 2021). WMS generates and delivers roughly 280,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity annually to more than 10,000 homes and 1,000 businesses within the City of Wyandotte. The Wyandotte Integrated Renewable Energy Strategy – WIRES 2 resulted in deployment of a set of community-scale micro-wind turbines, evaluation and installation of energy-efficient and low-maintenance light-emitting diode (LED) street lights and park lights in highly visible locations in the City and expansion of the geothermal heating and cooling district that already included residential geothermal systems, to include larger scale business/institutional systems at the Utility’s largest electric customer and at the City Library. Finally, WMS identified the need for job training in energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies to further develop a local skilled workforce in these areas. Partially funded by the grant, the wind turbine project provides a benchmark for WMS, local businesses and residents in the evaluation of utility-scale wind v. micro-wind in an urban environment as a renewable energy strategy. Also partially funded by the grant, the LED project benefited the City of Wyandotte by reducing load on the electric system for the public utility but also reduced City costs for streetlighting, parking lot lighting and park lighting without a compromise in security. The project also resulted in a visual success that has led to additional approvals for non-Grant related LED lighting installations resulting in further reduction in the electric load in the City. Commercial Geothermal installations resulted in the Utility being able to eliminate steam customers who formerly utilized the byproduct of steam from WMS electric production. Due to the reduction in natural gas prices and the overall reduction in market purchased power, it was no longer feasible for WMS to operate its Power Plant as a base load plant and to only operate on a market dispatch philosophy when market prices dictated that WMS could produce electricity cheaper than the market purchase price. This has resulted in fewer operating days for the WMS Power Plant, resulting in less environmental impact. WMS has now completely exited the steam business and the ability to offer a geothermal option to two (2) former steam customers (BASF-Wyandotte and the Bacon Memorial Library) allowed for that. In addition, peak loads have been shaved for these two (2) large customers due to the consistent temperature offered by geothermal heating and cooling, reducing the swings associated with thermostat changes caused by outside temperature changes during extreme high and low temperatures. Finally, energy efficiency and renewable energy college-level classes at Wayne County Community College allowed a group of interested students to pursue studies in those technologies through grant provided tuition, books and course materials. This effort provided a foundation of potential future employees not only for WMS but other energy efficiency/renewable energy employers such as Franklin Energy, a partner with WMS in energy optimization efforts with Wyandotte businesses.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Online System ID for Predicting Power Plant Performance Throughout Cycling Operations

This presentation represents a review of the background research conducted by NETL to apply artificial intelligence, i.e. auto-recursive algorithms and data analytics to detect leaks in utility scale boilers and laboratory power systems. The new project being funded by the Advanced Sensors and Controls Program is part of the Field Work Proposal funded in EY21 as Task 53 to demonstrate the application of these techniques on a utility scale power system.

Shadle, Lawrence↗
DOE OSTI2026

A Scalable, Distribution Network-Aware, Customer Privacy-Preserving Framework for Operation of Virtual Power Plants

This poster presents a hierarchical control framework for a virtual power plant that leverages behind-the-meter resources for grid services while maintaining customer privacy during setpoint disaggregation. Unlike many existing approaches, the virtual power plant model uses a hierarchical control strategy and an iterative approach to determine the optimal set point dis-aggregation without direct load control while maintaining system-level power flow and voltage constraints. The proposed approach is numerically validated on a synthetic distribution feeder in San Francisco, demonstrating the ability of the framework to provide privacy-preserving virtual power plant services.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Auto Procedure Parsing: A Natural Language Processing Approach

Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) operating procedure is “a set of rules that describes how actions on the plant should be made if a certain system goal should be accomplished. U.S. NPPs use paper-based procedures (PBPs). PBPs are difficult to use. Common errors with PBPs are: following the wrong procedure, omit a step etc. Computer based procedures (CPBs) offer great improvement in ensuring plant safety. Some studies rely on experienced operators to understand the procedure content and then reorganize the procedure with digitally executable capabilities. Other studies utilize the procedure format to design rules to extract information from the operating procedures. Existing studies in procedure parsing are manual, laborious and extract limited information. This study aims to automatically extract critical information from operating procedures for generating computer interpretable representation of procedures. Such representation can further be used for automatic dynamic human reliability analysis and CPB design etc.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2022

Mechanically-, Thermally, and Chemically-Robust High-Temperature Ceramic Composites

In an effort to lower the levelized cost of electricity generated by Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants, the heat-to-electricity conversion efficiency may be increased by operating such plants with higher turbine inlet temperatures using closed Brayton cycles with high-pressure, supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO 2 ) as the working fluid. For example, if the turbine inlet temperature is raised to ≥750°C, in combination with sCO2 closed Brayton cycles, the relative heat-to-electricity efficiency may be raised by more than 20% (compared to subcritical steam Rankine cycles operating with turbine inlet temperatures ≤550°C). The associated reduction in the cost of dispatchable electricity from such CSP plants (utilizing high-temperature thermal energy storage) would be an important breakthrough on the path towards direct competition with fossil-fuel-based plants. A key barrier to achieve such high-temperature efficient operation has been the limited thermomechanical performance of metal alloys used in compact, primary printed circuit- type heat exchangers (PCHEXs) for heat transfer to high-pressure sCO 2 . The maximum allowed stresses for the use of conventional stainless steels and nickel-based superalloys at high sCO 2 pressures (≥20 MPa) decline rapidly at temperatures ≥550°C. This project has been focused on demonstrating the desired high-temperature properties and attractive manufacturing characteristics of mechanically-, thermally-, and chemically-robust ceramic/metal composites (cermets), in order to allow for the use of such composites in primary PCHEXs for heat transfer to sCO 2 at ≥750°C and ≥20 MPa in CSP plants. Prior work with high-temperature, co-continuous carbide/refractory metal cermets, such as ZrC/W composites, has already demonstrated: i) the attractive combination of high-temperature properties exhibited by such materials (e.g., high values of stiffness, failure strength, and thermal conductivity at 800°C), and ii) cost-effective processes for manufacturing PCHEX plates comprised of such cermets with tailorable channel patterns. However, ZrC/W cermets were not found to be inherently corrosion resistant in sCO 2 at 750°C and 20 MPa. While the application of a Cu coating to ZrC/W surfaces, along with a modest addition (50 ppm) of CO to CO 2 , rendered such composites resistant to corrosion for 1000 h in such sCO 2 -based fluids at 750°C, such additional steps would increase the design complexity of such cermet-based components. An alternative approach (the focus of this project) is to develop mechanically-robust, cost- effective cermets that are inherently resistant to high-temperature oxidation in air and CO 2 . The overall goals of this project have been to demonstrate: i) the oxidation resistance of at least one cermet at 750°C in air and in CO 2 (i.e., with a projected annual corrosion ≤30 μm), ii) the mechanically robust nature of at least one cermet at 750°C (i.e., with an average failure strength ≥200 MPa), and iii) that the selected cermet can be manufactured via low-cost forming techniques.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Crew Time Requirements in Future Space Greenhouses - What Can We Infer from Current Analog and Space Missions?

Efficient crop production will be required to advance humanity’s presence in space, and for this, accurate predictions of crew time in future space greenhouse modules will be crucial to design and operate these plant growth systems, and schedule crop production. Crew time estimates will also be critical for deciding priorities of automating different aspects of space crop production. Because it is difficult to capture in operational environments, crew time for plant cultivation has only been sporadically recorded in past analog and space missions. We propose a methodology for efficient categorizing and reporting of crew time in space plant growth systems: first identify the different tasks needed to operate the greenhouse module, second define a representative time period for data collection, third accurately report crew time for individual tasks - and their occurrence, and fourth use collected data to improve greenhouse modules and plant growth system designs. Using data from various analog facilities and from the Veggie hardware on ISS, and assumptions for different mission scenarios, we discuss how crew time for plant cultivation can be reduced with adequate choices of crops, automation, artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual assistants, and sufficient crew training. This has major implications for the design of future space greenhouse modules. For example, missions on future space stations or during interplanetary travel would save significant crew time by including leafy greens and microgreens for astronaut’s diet supplement, with automated watering, health and environmental checks, as well as AI managing maintenance schedules, and a virtual assistant for repair activities. This work was funded by NASA Space Biology through NASA postdoctoral program / USRA, by NASA’s Space Biology and Human Research Programs, and by the European Union Horizon 2020 program via the COMPET-07-2014 - Space exploration – Life-support subprogram (reference number: 636501).

Lucie Poulet↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Crew Time Requirements in Future Space Greenhouses: What Can We Infer from Current Analog and Space Missions?

Efficient crop production will be required to advance humanity’s presence in space, and for this, accurate predictions of crew time in future space greenhouse modules will be crucial to design and operate these plant growth systems, and schedule crop production. Crew time estimates will also be critical for deciding priorities of automating different aspects of space crop production. Because it is difficult to capture in operational environments, crew time for plant cultivation has only been sporadically recorded in past analog and space missions. We propose a methodology for efficient categorizing and reporting of crew time in space plant growth systems: first identify the different tasks needed to operate the greenhouse module, second define a representative time period for data collection, third accurately report crew time for individual tasks - and their occurrence, and fourth use collected data to improve greenhouse modules and plant growth system designs. Using data from various analog facilities and from the Veggie hardware on ISS, and assumptions for different mission scenarios, we discuss how crew time for plant cultivation can be reduced with adequate choices of crops, automation, artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual assistants, and sufficient crew training. This has major implications for the design of future space greenhouse modules. For example, missions on future space stations or during interplanetary travel would save significant crew time by including leafy greens and microgreens for astronaut’s diet supplement, with automated watering, health and environmental checks, as well as AI managing maintenance schedules, and a virtual assistant for repair activities. This work was funded by NASA Space Biology through NASA postdoctoral program / USRA, by NASA’s Space Biology and Human Research Programs, and by the European Union Horizon 2020 program via the COMPET-07-2014 - Space exploration – Life-support subprogram (reference number: 636501).

Veggie↗
DOE OSTI2020

Update on the United States Advanced Ultra-Supercritical Program with Full Scale Component Fabrication to Develop Utility Scale Power Plants with 760°C Steam Temperature

Following the successful completion of a 15-year effort to develop and test materials that would allow coal-fired power plants to be operated at advanced ultra-supercritical (A-USC) steam conditions, a United States-based consortium is presently engaged in Phase 2 of a project which includes an advanced manufacturing effort to complete US-based supply chain development for full commercial scale (800-850 MWe) A-USC components made of nickel-based alloys, components operating at up to 760°C. The project, funded under U.S. Department of Energy Award No. DE-FE0025064, falls under the US DOE overall goal to Develop cost-effective, reliable technologies to improve the efficiency of new and existing coal-fired power plants. A-USC steam cycles have the potential to improve cycle efficiency, reduce fuel costs, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Current development and demonstration efforts are focused on enabling the construction of A-USC plants, operating with steam temperatures as high as 1400°F (760°C) and steam pressures up to 5000 psi (35 MPa), which can potentially increase cycle efficiencies to 47% HHV (higher heating value), or approximately 50% LHV (lower heating value), and reduce CO 2 emissions by roughly 25%, compared to today’s U.S. fleet. A-USC technology provides a lower-cost method to reduce CO 2 emissions, compared to CO 2 capture technologies, while retaining a viable coal option for owners of coal generation assets. Among the specific goals of Phase 2 of the ComTest Project are to: validate that components made from advanced nickel-based alloys can operate and perform under A-USC conditions accelerate the development of a U.S.-based supply chain for the full complement of A-USC components close the remaining gaps and reduce the risks for manufacturing components from advanced materials for commercial demonstration fabricate full-scale versions of selected key components made of nickel-based alloys validate a qualified U.S. supply chain, to provide greater cost certainty for components obtain American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) code approval for new materials, components and processes Additional benefit: Manufacturing technology will be applicable to other advanced fossil energy high temperature cycles, and can support increased flexibility of existing power plants The ComTest project is managed by Energy Industries of Ohio, and technically directed by the Electric Power Research Institute, Inc., with General Electric designing the A-USC components. As stated earlier, the current phase of the effort is primarily funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, through the National Energy Technology Laboratory. This presentation outlines the motivation for the project, explains the project’s structure and schedule, and provides some of the technical details on the design of the ComTest components.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2020

Update on the United States Advanced Ultra-Supercritical Program with Full Scale Component Fabrication to Develop Utility Scale Power Plants with 760°C Steam Temperature

Following the successful completion of a 15-year effort to develop and test materials that would allow coal-fired power plants to be operated at advanced ultra-supercritical (A-USC) steam conditions, a United States-based consortium is presently engaged in Phase 2 of a project which includes an advanced manufacturing effort to complete US-based supply chain development for full commercial scale (800-850 MWe) A-USC components made of nickel-based alloys, components operating at up to 760°C. The project, funded under U.S. Department of Energy Award No. DE-FE0025064, falls under the US DOE overall goal to Develop cost-effective, reliable technologies to improve the efficiency of new and existing coal-fired power plants. A-USC steam cycles have the potential to improve cycle efficiency, reduce fuel costs, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Current development and demonstration efforts are focused on enabling the construction of A-USC plants, operating with steam temperatures as high as 1400°F (760°C) and steam pressures up to 5000 psi (35 MPa), which can potentially increase cycle efficiencies to 47% HHV (higher heating value), or approximately 50% LHV (lower heating value), and reduce CO 2 emissions by roughly 25%, compared to today’s U.S. fleet. A-USC technology provides a lower-cost method to reduce CO 2 emissions, compared to CO 2 capture technologies, while retaining a viable coal option for owners of coal generation assets. Among the specific goals of Phase 2 of the ComTest Project are to: validate that components made from advanced nickel-based alloys can operate and perform under A-USC conditions accelerate the development of a U.S.-based supply chain for the full complement of A-USC components close the remaining gaps and reduce the risks for manufacturing components from advanced materials for commercial demonstration fabricate full-scale versions of selected key components made of nickel-based alloys validate a qualified U.S. supply chain, to provide greater cost certainty for components obtain American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) code approval for new materials, components and processes Additional benefit: Manufacturing technology will be applicable to other advanced fossil energy high temperature cycles, and can support increased flexibility of existing power plants The ComTest project is managed by Energy Industries of Ohio, and technically directed by the Electric Power Research Institute, Inc., with General Electric designing the A-USC components. As stated earlier, the current phase of the effort is primarily funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, through the National Energy Technology Laboratory. This presentation outlines the motivation for the project, explains the project’s structure and schedule, and provides some of the technical details on the design of the ComTest components.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗