Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “utility scale”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 415 records · Page 23

Investigation of the effects of external current systems on the MAGSAT data utilizing grid cell modeling techniques

The feasibility of modeling magnetic fields due to certain electrical currents flowing in the Earth's ionosphere and magnetosphere was studied. Initial efforts were devoted to reading MAGSAT data tapes in preparation for further analysis of the MAGSAT data. Further efforts concern a modeling procedure developed to compute the magnetic field at satellite orbit due to hypothesized current distributions in the ionosphere and magnetosphere. This technique utilizes a linear current element representation of the large scale space current system.

Klumpar, D. M.↗

Evaluation of a wind turbine electric power generator

A technical assessment of the aerodynamic performance of the wind wheel turbine (WWT) is reported. The potential of the WWT in utilizing wind as an alternate power source was evaluated. Scaling parameters were developed to predict the aerodynamic performance of WWT prototype sized to produce 3, 9, 30, and 100 kw outputs in a 6.7 m/sec wind.

Swim, W. B.↗

Investigation of the effects of external current systems on the MAGSAT data utilizing grid cell modeling techniques

Refinements to the modeling procedure developed to compute the magnetic fields at satellite orbit due to current distributions in the ionosphere and magnetosphere are described. The modeling technique utilizes a linear current element representation of the large scale space current system. A model polar current system is presented and magnetic field perturbations resulting from this system are computed along two hypothetical satellite orbits.

Klumpar, D. M.↗

Investigation of the effects of external current systems on the MAGSAT data utilizing grid cell modeling techniques

Efforts in support of the development of a model of the magnetic fields due to ionospheric and magnetospheric electrical currents are discussed. Specifically, progress made in reading MAGSAT tapes and plotting the deviation of the measured magnetic field components with respect to a spherical harmonic model of the main geomagnetic field is reported. Initial tests of the modeling procedure developed to compute the ionosphere/magnetosphere-induced fields at satellite orbit are also described. The modeling technique utilizes a liner current element representation of the large scale current system.

Klumpar, D. M.↗

Investigation of the effects of external current systems on the MAGSAT data utilizing grid cell modeling techniques

Progress made in reducing MAGSAT data and displaying magnetic field perturbations caused primarily by external currents is reported. A periodic and repeatable perturbation pattern is described that arises from external current effects but appears as unique signatures associated with upper middle latitudes on the Earth's surface. Initial testing of the modeling procedure that was developed to compute the magnetic fields at satellite orbit due to current distributions in the ionosphere and magnetosphere is also discussed. The modeling technique utilizes a linear current element representation of the large scale space current system.

Klumpar, D. M.↗

Effects of expiration of the Federal energy tax credit on the National Photovoltaics Program

Projected 1986 sales are significantly reduced as a direct result of system price increases following from expiration of the Federal energy tax credits. There would be greatly reduced emphasis on domestic electric utility applications. Indirect effects arising from unrealized economies of scale and reduced private investment in PV research and development (R&D) and in production facilities could have a very large cumulative adverse impact on the U.S. PV industry. The industry forecasts as much as fourfold reduction in 1990 sales if tax credits expire, compared with what sales would be with the credits. Because the National Photovoltaics Program is explicitly structured as a government partnership, large changes in the motivation or funding of either partner can affect Program success profoundly. Reduced industry participation implies that such industry tasks as industrialization and new product development would slow or halt. Those research areas receiving heavy R&D support from private PV manufacturers would be adversely affected.

Smith, J. L.↗

Integrating Residential Photovoltaics With Power Lines

Report finds rooftop solar-cell arrays feed excess power to electric-utility grid for fee are potentially attractive large-scale application of photovoltaic technology. Presents assessment of breakeven costs of these arrays under variety of technological and economic assumptions.

Borden, C. S.↗

Space station architectural elements model study

The worksphere, a user controlled computer workstation enclosure, was expanded in scope to an engineering workstation suitable for use on the Space Station as a crewmember desk in orbit. The concept was also explored as a module control station capable of enclosing enough equipment to control the station from each module. The concept has commercial potential for the Space Station and surface workstation applications. The central triangular beam interior configuration was expanded and refined to seven different beam configurations. These included triangular on center, triangular off center, square, hexagonal small, hexagonal medium, hexagonal large and the H beam. Each was explored with some considerations as to the utilities and a suggested evaluation factor methodology was presented. Scale models of each concept were made. The models were helpful in researching the seven beam configurations and determining the negative residual (unused) volume of each configuration. A flexible hardware evaluation factor concept is proposed which could be helpful in evaluating interior space volumes from a human factors point of view. A magnetic version with all the graphics is available from the author or the technical monitor.

Taylor, T. C.↗

The national- and international-wide prospects of future improvements of position location and time synchronization systems and aids

The concept being designed by the Leningrad Scientific Research Radio Technical Institute (LSRRI) of united positioning and timing service on the basis of the utilization of long-range and global radionavigation and common time systems and aids for different users is described. The estimate of its utilization on the national as well as on international scale is given.

Gouzhva, Yuri G.↗

Facilitation techniques as predictors of crew participation in LOFT debriefings

Based on theories of adult learning and airline industry guidelines for Crew Resource Management (CRM), the stated objective during Line Oriented Flight Training (LOFT) debriefings is for instructor pilots (IP's) to facilitate crew self-analysis of performance. This study reviews 19 LOFT debriefings from two major U.S. airlines to examine the relationship between IP efforts at facilitation and associated characteristics of crew participation. A subjective rating scale called the Debriefing Assessment Battery was developed and utilized to evaluate the effectiveness of IP facilitation and the quality of crew participation. The results indicate that IP content, encouragement, and questioning techniques are highly and significantly correlated with, and can therefore predict, the degree and depth of crew participation.

McDonnell, L. K.↗

Development of an Intermediate-Scale Aerobic Bioreactor to Regenerate Nutrients from Inedible Crop Residues

Three Intermediate-Scale Aerobic Bioreactors were designed, fabricated, and operated. They utilized mixed microbial communities to bio-degrade plant residues. The continuously stirred tank reactors operated at a working volume of 8 L, and the average oxygen mass transfer coefficient, k(sub L)a, was 0.01 s(exp -1). Mixing time was 35 s. An experiment using inedible wheat residues, a replenishment rate of 0.125/day, and a solids loading rate of 20 gdw/day yielded a 48% reduction in biomass. Bioreactor effluent was successfully used to regenerate a wheat hydroponic nutrient solution. Over 80% of available potassium, calcium, and other minerals were recovered and recycled in the 76-day wheat growth experiment.

Finger, Barry W.↗

Cryogenic Propellant Long-term Storage With Zero Boil-off

Significant boil-off losses of cryogenic propellant storage systems in long-duration space mission applications result in additional propellant and large tanks. The zero boil-off (ZBO) concept consists of an active cryo-cooling system integrated with traditional passive thermal insulation. The potential mass reductions with the ZBO concept are Substantial; therefore, further exploration through technology programs has been initiated within NASA. A large-scale demonstration of the ZBO concept has been devised utilizing the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Multipurpose Hydrogen Test Bed (MHTB) along with a cryo-cooler unit. The cryo-cooler with the MHTB and spraybar recirculation/mixer system in a manner that enables thermal energy removal at a rate that equals the total tank heat leak. The liquid hydrogen is withdrawn from the tank, passed through a heat exchanger, and then the chilled liquid is sprayed back into the tank through a spraybar. The test series will be performed over a 30-40 day period. Tests will be conducted at multiple fill levels and various mixer operational cycles to demonstrate concept viability and to provide benchmark data to be used in analytical model development. In this paper. analytical models for heat flows through the MHTB tank, cryo-cooler performance. and spraybar performance will be presented.

Hedayat, A.↗

Cryogenic Propellant Long-Term Storage With Zero Boil-Off

Significant boil-off losses from cryogenic propellant storage systems in long-duration space mission applications result in additional propellant and larger tanks. The potential propellant mass loss reductions with the Zero Boil-off (ZBO) concept are substantial; therefore, further exploration through technology programs has been initiated within NASA. A large-scale demonstration of the ZBO concept has been devised utilizing the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Multipurpose Hydrogen Test Bed (MHTB) along with a cryo-cooler unit. The ZBO concept consists of an active cryo-cooling system integrated with traditional passive thermal insulation. The cryo-cooler is interfaced with the MHTB and spraybar recirculation/mixer system in a manner that enables thermal energy removal at a rate that equals the total tank heat leak. The liquid hydrogen (LH2) is withdrawn from the tank, passed through a heat exchanger, and then the chilled liquid is sprayed back into the tank through a spraybar. The test series will be performed over a 20-30 day period. Tests will be conducted at multiple fill levels to demonstrate concept viability and to provide benchmark data to be used in analytical model development. In this paper the test set-up and test procedures are presented.

Hedayat, Ali↗

Job Superscheduler Architecture and Performance in Computational Grid Environments

Computational grids hold great promise in utilizing geographically separated heterogeneous resources to solve large-scale complex scientific problems. However, a number of major technical hurdles, including distributed resource management and effective job scheduling, stand in the way of realizing these gains. In this paper, we propose a novel grid superscheduler architecture and three distributed job migration algorithms. We also model the critical interaction between the superscheduler and autonomous local schedulers. Extensive performance comparisons with ideal, central, and local schemes using real workloads from leading computational centers are conducted in a simulation environment. Additionally, synthetic workloads are used to perform a detailed sensitivity analysis of our superscheduler. Several key metrics demonstrate that substantial performance gains can be achieved via smart superscheduling in distributed computational grids.

Shan, Hongzhang↗

Cryogenic Calcite: A Morphologic and Isotopic Analog to the ALH84001 Carbonates

Martian meteorite ALH84001 carbonates preserve large and variable microscale isotopic compositions, which in some way reflect their formation environment. These measurements show large variations (>20%) in the carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions of the carbonates on a 10-20 micron scale that are correlated with chemical composition. However, the utilization of these data sets for interpreting the formation conditions of the carbonates is complex due to lack of suitable terrestrial analogs and the difficulty of modeling under non-equilibrium conditions. Thus, the mechanisms and processes are largely unknown that create and preserve large microscale isotopic variations in carbonate minerals. Experimental tests of the possible environments and mechanisms that lead to large microscale isotopic variations can help address these concerns. One possible mechanism for creating large carbon isotopic variations in carbonates involves the freezing of water. Carbonates precipitate during extensive CO2 degassing that occurs during the freezing process as the fluid s decreasing volume drives CO2 out. This rapid CO2 degassing results in a kinetic isotopic fractionation where the CO2 gas has a much lighter isotopic composition causing an enrichment of 13C in the remaining dissolved bicarbonate. This study seeks to determine the suitability of cryogenically formed carbonates as analogs to ALH84001 carbonates. Specifically, our objective is to determine how accurately models using equilibrium fractionation factors approximate the isotopic compositions of cryogenically precipitated carbonates. This includes determining the accuracy of applying equilibrium fractionation factors during a kinetic process, and determining how isotopic variations in the fluid are preserved in microscale variations in the precipitated carbonates.

Niles, P. B.↗

Radiation Evaluation of an Advanced 64Mb 3.3V DRAM and Insights into the Effects of Scaling on Radiation Hardness

In this paper, total ionizing dose radiation evaluations of the Micron 64 Mb 3.3 V, fast page mode DRAM and the IBM LUNA-ES 16 Mb DRAM are presented. The effects of scaling on total ionizing dose radiation hardness are studied utilizing test structures and a series of 16 Mb DRAMs with different feature sizes from the same manufacturing line. General agreement was found between the threshold voltage shifts of 16 Mb DRAM test structures and the threshold voltage measured on complete circuits using retention time measurements. Retention time measurement data from early radiation doses are shown that allow internal failure modes to be distinguished.

Radiation Hardness↗

Pressure and Thrust Measurements of a High-Frequency Pulsed-Detonation Actuator

This paper describes the development of a small-scale, high-frequency pulsed detonation actuator. The device utilized a fuel mixture of H2 and air, which was injected into the device at frequencies of up to 1200 Hz. Pulsed detonations were demonstrated in an 8-inch long combustion volume, at approx.600 Hz, for the lambda/4 mode. The primary objective of this experiment was to measure the generated thrust. A mean value of thrust was measured up to 6.0 lb, corresponding to specific impulse of 2611 s. This value is comparable to other H2-fueled pulsed detonation engines (PDEs) experiments. The injection and detonation frequency for this new experimental case was approx.600 Hz, and was much higher than typical PDEs, where frequencies are usually less than 100 Hz. The compact size of the model and high frequency of detonation yields a thrust-per-unit-volume of approximately 2.0 lb/cu in, and compares favorably with other experiments, which typically have thrust-per-unit-volume values of approximately 0.01 lb/cu in.

Nguyen, Namtran C.↗