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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 451 records · Page 25
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Identification of Dynamic Force Coefficients for an Additively Manufactured Hermetic Squeeze Film Bearing Support Damper Utilizing a Pass-Through Channel

Abstract The following paper presents breakthrough experimental results for a new hermetic squeeze film damper (HSFD) concept that is integrally designed within an externally pressurized tilting-pad radial gas bearing support. The flexibly damped gas bearing module was designed for a 7.2″ (183 mm) diameter shaft and fabricated using direct metal laser melting (DMLM); also known as additive manufacturing. The bearing and HSFD were sized based on ongoing studies for oil-free supercritical carbon dioxide (sCO2) power turbines in the 8.5 MW–10 MW power range. The development of the new damper concept was motivated by past dynamic testing on HSFD, which generated frequency-dependent stiffness and damping force coefficients. In efforts to eliminate the frequency dependency, a new HSFD architecture was conceived that adds accumulator volumes and a pass-through channel to previously conceived HSFD flow network designs. The other motivation for the work is the need to develop a cost-effective and reliable oil-free bearing technology that is scalable to large power turbomachinery applications. There were several objectives for the following work. The first objective was to successfully design and fabricate a single piece bearing-damper using additive manufacturing, while dimensionally controlling critical design features. The paper discusses the manufacturing steps and shows cut-ups that reveal adequate clearance control capability with internal damper clearances. The second objective was to perform experimental testing with the new HSFD design in efforts to extract stiffness and damping coefficients for excitation frequencies within 20–160 Hz and peak vibration amplitudes between 0.25 mils (6.35 microns) to 1 mil (25.4 microns). The test results for a single HSFD bearing module indicated that the design modifications to the HSFD architecture were successful in eliminating nearly all the frequency dependencies for the stiffness force coefficient. The dynamic tests yielded a stiffness coefficient that varied between 112 klb/in. (19.6 MN/m) and 96 klb/in. (16.8 MN/m). The damping force coefficient however, exhibited relatively more variation with frequency with values residing between 175 lb-s/in. (31 kN-s/m) to 214 lb-s/in. (37 kN-s/m). Finally, the paper advances a three-dimensional fluid-structure interaction (FSI) model using transient finite element analysis (FEA) coupled to a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. The FSI analysis performed between 20 Hz and 80 Hz was used to predict the stiffness and damping of the HSFD using a quarter-section model of the damper. The FSI analysis was able to support test results by showing only a 6–7.4% change in the magnitude of force coefficients. Stiffness predictions agree reasonably well with experiments whereas damping is underpredicted.

Engineering↗
DOE OSTI2025

Separation of terbium from proton-irradiated gadolinium oxide targets – development of an effective, scalable and automatable process

This work reports an effective and scalable radiochemical separation process for isolating terbium from Gd 2 O 3 . The separation process uses three commercially available extraction chromatography resin columns, has been implemented on a computer-controlled chemistry module, and tested with 100 mg quantities of proton-irradiated nat Gd 2 O 3 . Here, the 4-hour separation procedure isolated radioterbium in 1.3 mL of 0.01 M HCl with 80 ±8% radiochemical yield and a Gd decontamination factor >(1.2 ± 0.3)·10 5 .

Adjacent lanthanide separation↗
DOE OSTI2026

Excipient screening by lyophilization provides insights into spray drying formulations for nanoparticle vaccines

Nanoparticles have shown great promise as delivery platforms in the development of tunable and safe vaccines. Nanolipoprotein particles (NLPs), also known as nanodiscs, are discoidal nanoparticles composed of a lipid bilayer stabilized at their periphery by apolipoproteins. Under the right conditions, the NLP self-assembly process is highly customizable in terms of lipids and apolipoprotein constituents, allowing for tunable physical and chemical characteristics. This flexibility allows a wide range of vaccine antigens and adjuvants to be incorporated onto the NLP platform for tailored vaccine design. The stability of NLPs during long term storage is a very important factor in developing a vaccine delivery platform suitable for widespread global use. When stored in a solution for extended periods of time, NLPs dissociate into their corresponding lipids and protein constituents, leading to particle degradation. Proper stabilization of NLPs can often be achieved by lyophilization (i.e. freeze-drying), a method widely used for various applications including pharmaceuticals. This process, however, can be damaging to particles without the presence of lyoprotectants or excipients that help maintain particle stability during lyophilization. Another method used to stabilize vaccines and pharmaceuticals is spray drying, a process that converts liquid formulations into dry powders through controlled heating and airflow. While spray drying is rapid, scalable, and cost-effective, lyophilization is typically a gentler process that better retains biomolecule structure and function. Both processes use excipients for particle stabilization, so lyophilization can be used as a surrogate to test stability of NLPs, to down-select formulations that may withstand the harsher conditions of spray drying. To screen different formulations, NLPs were synthesized and purified to homogeneity by size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and samples were prepared with a wide range of lyoprotectants and/or excipients. To assess the protective effects of excipients on NLPs upon spray drying, both pre- and post-lyophilized samples were analyzed by SEC. To assess the protective effects upon heating (encountered during the spray drying process), NLP samples were incubated at elevated temperatures prior to SEC analysis. The lyoprotectants and excipients evaluated in this study had different efficiencies in protecting NLPs during lyophilization and heating tests. Trehalose, for example, exhibits stabilization on NLPs both upon lyophilization and heating whereas leucine accelerated NLP dissociation. Although some lyoprotectants are effective by themselves, different combinations can decrease the stabilization of NLPs. Shelf-stable vaccines that do not require cold-chain storage are essential for global accessibility and our findings provide fundamental insight into how to advance NLP-based vaccines for these applications.

Serrano, Litzay J [Lawrence Livermore National Lab↗
DOE OSTI2020

An All-Ceramic, Anisotropic, and Flexible Aerogel Insulation Material

To exploit the high-temperature superinsulation potential of anisotropic thermal management materials, the incorporation of ceramic aerogel into the aligned structural networks is indispensable. Yet, the long-standing obstacle to exploring ultralight superinsulation ceramic aerogels is the inaccessibility of its mechanical elasticity, stability, and anisotropic thermal insulation. Here, we report a recoverable, flexible ceramic fiber-aerogel composite with anisotropic lamellar structure, where the interfacial cross-linking between ceramic fiber and aerogel is important in its superinsulation performance. The resulting ultralight aerogel composite exhibits a density of 0.05 g/cm 3 , large strain recovery (over 50%), and low thermal conductivity (0.0224 W m –1 K –1 ), while its hydrophobicity is achieved by in situ trichlorosilane coating with the water contact angle of 135°. The hygroscopic tests of such aerogel composites demonstrate a reversible thermal insulation. The mechanical elasticity and stability of the anisotropic composites, with its soundproof performance, shed light on the low-cost superelastic aerogel manufacturing with scalability for energy saving building applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

PYOED: AN ETENSIBLE SUITE FOR DATA ASSIMILATION AND MODEL-CONSTRAINED OPTIMAL DESIGN OF EXPERIMENTS

SF-23-005 PyOED is a highly extensible scientific package that enables developing and testing model-constrained optimal experimental design (OED) for inverse problems. Specifically, PyOED aims to be a comprehensive Python toolkit for model-constrained OED. The package targets scientists and researchers interested in understanding the details of OED formulations and approaches. It is also meant to enable researchers to experiment with standard and innovative OED technologies with a wide range of test problems (e.g., simulation models). OED, inverse problems (e.g., Bayesian inversion), and data assimilation (DA) are closely related research fields, and their formulations overlap significantly. Thus, PyOED is continuously being expanded with a plethora of Bayesian inversion, DA, and OED methods as well as new scientific simulation models, observation error models, and observation operators. These pieces are added such that they can be permuted to enable testing OED methods in various settings of varying complexities. The PyOED core is completely written in Python and utilizes the inherent object-oriented capabilities; however, PyOED is meant to be extensible rather than scalable. Specifically, PyOED is developed to ``enable rapid development and benchmarking of OED methods with minimal coding effort and to maximize code reutilization.'' PyOED will be continuously expanded with a plethora of Bayesian inversion, DA, and OED methods as well as new scientific simulation models, observation error models, and observation operators.

ATTIA, AHMEDMOHAMED↗
DOE OSTI2025

Fabrication and Evaluation of Large Alumina Crucibles by Vat Photopolymerization Additive Manufacturing for High-Temperature Actinide Chemistry

Additive manufacturing (AM) offers opportunities to advance the design and function of ceramic tooling in high temperature actinide pyrochemistry. In technical ceramics such as alumina, conventional forming techniques often restrict design flexibility and can limit experimental progress. In this study, we investigate the use of vat photopolymerization (VP) with commercial resins to fabricate large-scale alumina crucibles, reaching dimensions up to 125 mm, which is significantly larger than typically reported for dense VP ceramics. Notably, these additively manufactured components are produced using consumer-grade hardware, which limits process control, but offers significant upside in scalability and accessibility. Using microscopy and X-ray computed tomography, the VP alumina parts have high bulk densities above 95%, but also the prevalence of AM-induced artifacts and surface defects. Mechanical testing showed these defects to significantly reduce flexural strength and compromise part reliability. Electrorefining trials under sustained exposure to molten salts and metals reveal mixed results, with the AM material exhibiting high chemical compatibility, but mechanical failures due to the reduced strength were prevalent. Our findings illustrate both the promise and current limitations of AM ceramics for actinide chemistry, and point toward future improvements in process optimization, design strategies, and part screening to enhance performance and reliability.

Materials science↗
DOE OSTI2026

Field Validation of a Grid-Interactive Efficient Building Software Solution

The U.S. General Services Administration's (GSA's) Green Proving Ground (GPG) program, in partnership with the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), completed a field study of a Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings (GEB) software solution. The study focused on a single testbed facility to test the GEB functionality of the software solution, along with other features. The testbed facility - a courthouse - is a common building type in GSA's vast building portfolio, offering potentially impactful findings on a scalable level. The study evaluated Prescriptive Data's technology, Nantum OS, a connected building operating system ("GEB Solution") which aggregates multiple sources of previously siloed building data and combines that data with external sources, such as weather information or utility signals, into a single integrated platform. A GEB Solution is a type of Energy Management Information System (EMIS). EMIS is defined as a system of devices, data services, and software applications that communicates with any building system or third-party data source to aggregate and transform data into new capabilities to aid in the optimization of energy use at the building, campus, or agency level. This specific GEB Solution is an EMIS with ASO, automated system optimization, offering supervisory control of certain aspects of the Building Automation System (BAS). Multiple features were evaluated including, but not limited to, Continuous Demand Management to avoid setting new monthly kilowatt (kW) peaks, energy efficiency for reduction of kilowatt hours (kWh) and natural gas consumption, and automated demand response (ADR) for purposes of lowering demand during a utility called Demand Response (DR) event. The testbed facility was the Foley Federal Building and US Courthouse ("Foley Federal Building") located in Las Vegas, NV. This is a 209,496 sq. ft. building constructed in the 1960s with major renovations in 2004. The facility was a good candidate due to the large prevalence of office and courthouse spaces in the GSA portfolio of buildings. It also has many features which allow integration into and control of the building and a strong facilities team to assist with the study. Quantitative and qualitative performance objectives were developed using GSA's GPG GEB project template along with input from the vendor and building facility staff; these are outlined in Table 1. The quantitative performance objectives focused on continuous demand management, energy efficiency, and automated demand response. The qualitative performance objectives focused on the ease of installation and commissioning as well as the operability of the GEB solution. Other performance metrics that are reported on include carbon reduction, cost effectiveness, and occupant acceptance.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2025

Control System Upgrade for Battery State-of-Charge Indications

The Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) Complex at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) relies on Battery Backed Power (BBP) systems and Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPS) to ensure continuous power supply to critical components. This project aims to enhance the reliability and functionality of the battery monitoring and control systems by updating the State-of-Charge (SOC) system, Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), and Human-Machine Interface (HMI) for the nuclear safety-related battery banks. The current system, while functional, has areas for improvement, particularly in recharging calculations and alarm functions. The project objectives include developing flow charts, programming the new PLC and HMI, conducting bench tests, and updating design documentation. Additionally, the project ensures compliance with safety standards, develops training materials, creates comprehensive documentation, and integrates seamlessly with existing ATR infrastructure. The new SOC system is designed to be scalable for future upgrades, improve efficiency, enhance data accuracy, implement redundancy features, and achieve project goals within budget constraints while considering environmental impact. The methodology involved familiarizing with BBP and UPS systems, collecting current readings, rescaling signals, learning ladder logic, and updating the HMI. The transition from SLC 5/03 PLC using RS Logix 500 to CompactLogix 5380 using Studio 5000 was a key step. Despite challenges in transferring outdated PLC ladder logic and HMI code, starting from scratch led to a more accurate and efficient monitoring system, contributing to improved safety and operational efficiency. The project is currently awaiting approval of the Engineering Calculation and Analysis Report (ECAR) before implementation.

42 - ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Manufacture and testing of biomass-derivable thermosets for wind blade recycling

Wind energy is helping to decarbonize the electrical grid, but wind blades are not recyclable, and current end-of-life management strategies are not sustainable. Here, to address the material recyclability challenges in sustainable energy infrastructure, we introduce scalable biomass-derivable polyester covalent adaptable networks and corresponding fiber-reinforced composites for recyclable wind blade fabrication. Through experimental and computational studies, including vacuum-assisted resin-transfer molding of a 9-meter wind blade prototype, we demonstrate drop-in technological readiness of this material with existing manufacture techniques, superior properties relative to incumbent materials, and practical end-of-life chemical recyclability. Most notable is the counterintuitive creep suppression, outperforming industry state-of-the-art thermosets despite the dynamic cross-link topology. Overall, this report details the many facets of wind blade manufacture, encompassing chemistry, engineering, safety, mechanical analyses, weathering, and chemical recyclability, enabling a realistic path toward biomass-derivable, recyclable wind blades.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

High-Temperature Particle Heat Exchanger for sCO2 Power Cycles [Award 30342]

This report describes the design, development, and testing of a prototype 100 kWt particle-to-supercritical CO 2 (sCO2) heat exchanger. An analytic hierarchy process was implemented to compare and evaluate alternative heat-exchanger designs (fluidized bed, shell-and-plate moving packed bed, and shell-and-tube moving packed bed) that could meet the high pressure (≥ 20 MPa) and high temperature (≥ 700 °C) operational requirements associated with sCO2 power cycles. Cost, heat-transfer coefficient, structural reliability, manufacturability, parasitics and heat losses, scalability, compatibility, erosion and corrosion, transient operation, and inspection ease were considered in the evaluation. A 100 kWt shell-and-plate design was selected for construction and integration with Sandia’s falling particle receiver system that heats the particles using concentrated sunlight. Sandia worked with industry to design and construct the moving packed-bed shell-and-plate heat exchanger. Tests were performed to evaluate its performance using both electrical heating and concentrated sunlight to heat the particles. Overall heat transfer coefficients at off-design conditions (reduced operating temperatures and only three stainless steel banks in the counter-crossflow heat exchanger) were measured to be approximately ~25 - 70 W/m 2 -K, significantly lower than simulated values of >100 W/m 2 -K. Tests using the falling particle receiver to heat the particles with concentrated sunlight yielded overall heat transfer coefficients of ~35 – 80 W/m 2 -K with four banks (including a nickel-alloy bank above the three stainless steel banks). The overall heat transfer coefficient was observed to decrease with increasing particle inlet temperatures, which contrasted the results of simulations that showed an increase in heat transfer coefficient with temperature due to increased effective particle-bed thermal conductivity from radiation. The likely cause of the discrepancy was particle-flow maldistributions and funnel flow within the heat exchanger caused by internal ledges and cross-bracing, which could have been exacerbated by increased particle-wall friction at higher temperatures. Additional heat loss at higher temperatures may also contribute to a lower overall heat-transfer coefficient. Design challenges including pressure drop, particle and sCO2 flow maldistribution, and reduced heat transfer coefficient are discussed with approaches for mitigation in future designs. Lessons learned regarding instrumentation, performance characterization, and operation of particle components and sCO2 flow loops are also discussed. Finally, a 200 MWt commercial-scale shell-and-plate heat-exchanger design based on the concepts investigated in this report is proposed.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Pressure Drop in Seven-Pin Wire-Wrapped Rod Bundle for the Sodium Cartridge Loop in Versatile Test Reactor

This work studies the hydrodynamics of the seven pin wire-wrapped rod bundle in the sodium cartridge loop for the Versatile Test Reactor (VTR) through scaled water experiments and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. Here, the scaling analysis is first performed to demonstrate the hydrodynamic similarity between water and sodium flows at the same Reynolds number Re. A separate-effects test facility is designed and constructed based on the scaling analysis. Detailed experimental data on the pressure drop covering a wide range of Re values (1165 to 27 689) are obtained, which are used to evaluate existing correlations for friction factor and to benchmark CFD simulations. The experimentally determined friction factors f Exp agree well with the Upgraded Cheng and Todreas Detailed Correlation and Pacio-Chen-Todreas Detailed Model within ±7% but are significantly underpredicted by Rehme's correlation by 25%. Various CFD near-wall treatment methods are tested using ANSYS Fluent and evaluated by experimental data. It is found that when the recommended wall y + values are met, most of the near-wall treatment methods can give accurate friction factor predictions. The resolved near-wall method (y + ~ 1) with the Shear Stress Transport k - ω turbulence model and the scalable wall functions (y + > 12) with the realizable k - ε turbulence model can predict f Exp within ±5% The standard wall functions (y + > 30) and nonequilibrium wall functions (y + > 30) with the realizable k - ε model can predict f Exp within ±10%.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2025

High‐Performance Low‐Emissivity Paints Enabled by N‐Doped Poly(benzodifurandione) (n‐PBDF) for Energy‐Efficient Buildings

Abstract Low‐emissivity (low‐e) paints reduce radiative heat exchange between buildings and the environment, stabilizing indoor climates and lowering air conditioning demand. However, low‐cost, durable, and colored low‐e paints have yet to be demonstrated. Here, an approach is proposed using n‐doped poly(benzodifurandione) (n‐PBDF), a transparent organic conducting polymer, coated over colored commercial paints. This achieves a low thermal emissivity of 0.19 in the mid‐infrared spectrum, attributed to the efficient charge transport of delocalized π‐electrons in n‐PBDF structure. The reduction in thermal emissivity aids in regulating building temperatures by minimizing heat transfer between buildings and their surroundings across diverse climate zones and seasons. The n‐PBDF coating preserves the underlying paint's color due to its high visible transparency, meeting aesthetic requirements. It also shows strong stability in accelerated indoor weathering tests, ensuring long‐term performance. Simulations estimate annual HVAC energy savings of over 10,800 kWh in San Francisco and 5,500 kWh in Chicago for the typical mid‐rise apartments. The paint's versatility, scalability, and durability make it suitable for buildings, vehicles, and greenhouses, aiding urban heat island mitigation.

Liu, Xiaojie [School of Mechanical Engineering and↗
DOE OSTI2022

Scalable and automated CRISPR-based strain engineering using droplet microfluidics

Abstract We present a droplet-based microfluidic system that enables CRISPR-based gene editing and high-throughput screening on a chip. The microfluidic device contains a 10 × 10 element array, and each element contains sets of electrodes for two electric field-actuated operations: electrowetting for merging droplets to mix reagents and electroporation for transformation. This device can perform up to 100 genetic modification reactions in parallel, providing a scalable platform for generating the large number of engineered strains required for the combinatorial optimization of genetic pathways and predictable bioengineering. We demonstrate the system’s capabilities through the CRISPR-based engineering of two test cases: (1) disruption of the function of the enzyme galactokinase ( galK ) in E. coli and (2) targeted engineering of the glutamine synthetase gene ( glnA ) and the blue-pigment synthetase gene ( bpsA ) to improve indigoidine production in E. coli .

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2020

Online Parameter Estimation Methods for Adaptive Cruise Control Systems

Modeling Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) vehicles enables the understanding of the impact of these vehicles on traffic flow. In this work, two online methods are used to provide real time system identification of ACC enabled vehicles. The first technique is a recursive least squares (RLS) approach, while the second method solves a nonlinear joint state and parameter estimation problem via particle filtering (PF). We provide a parameter identifiability analysis for both methods to analytically show that the model parameters are not identifiable using equilibrium driving. The accuracy and computational runtime of the online methods are compared to a commonly used offline simulation-based optimization (i.e., batch optimization) approach. The methods are tested on synthetic data as well as on empirical data collected directly from a 2019 model year ACC vehicle using data from sensors that are part of the stock ACC system. The online methods are scalable and provide comparable accuracy to the batch method. RLS runs in real time and is two orders of magnitude faster than the batch method for modest sized (e.g., 15 min) datasets. The particle filter also runs in real- time, and is also suitable in streaming applications in which the datasets can grow arbitrarily large.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2025

otsdaq

otsdaq is a Ready-to-Use data-acquisition (DAQ) solution aimed at scaling down to test-beam, detector development, and other rapid-deployment scenarios; and scaling up through the development cycle to fullscale production and operation. otsdaq uses the artdaq DAQ framework under-the-hood, providing flexibility and scalability to meet evolving DAQ needs. otsdaq provides a library of supported front-end boards and firmware modules which implement a custom UDP protocol. Additionally, an integrated Run Control GUI and readout software are provided, preconfigured to communicate with otsdaq firmware.

Rivera, Ryan [Fermi National Accelerator Laborator↗
DOE OSTI2023

HipBone: A performance-portable graphics processing unit-accelerated C++ version of the NekBone benchmark

We present hipBone, an open-source performance-portable proxy application for the Nek5000 (and NekRS) computational fluid dynamics applications. HipBone is a fully GPU-accelerated C++ implementation of the original NekBone CPU proxy application with several novel algorithmic and implementation improvements which optimize its performance on modern fine-grain parallel GPU accelerators. Our optimizations include a conversion to store the degrees of freedom of the problem in assembled form in order to reduce the amount of data moved during the main iteration and a portable implementation of the main Poisson operator kernel. We demonstrate near-roofline performance of the operator kernel on three different modern GPU accelerators from two different vendors. We present a novel algorithm for splitting the application of the Poisson operator on GPUs which aggressively hides MPI communication required for both halo exchange and assembly. Our implementation of nearest-neighbor MPI communication then leverages several different routing algorithms and GPU-Direct RDMA capabilities, when available, which improves scalability of the benchmark. We demonstrate the performance of hipBone on three different clusters housed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, namely, the Summit supercomputer and the Frontier early-access clusters, Spock and Crusher. Our tests demonstrate both portability across different clusters and very good scaling efficiency, especially on large problems.

Computer Science↗
DOE OSTI2021

Stable, Ductile and Strong Ultrafine HT-9 Steels via Large Strain Machining

Beyond the current commercial materials, refining the grain size is among the proposed strategies to manufacture resilient materials for industrial applications demanding high resistance to severe environments. Here, large strain machining (LSM) was used to manufacture nanostructured HT-9 steel with enhanced thermal stability, mechanical properties, and ductility. Nanocrystalline HT-9 steels with different aspect rations are achieved. In-situ transmission electron microscopy annealing experiments demonstrated that the nanocrystalline grains have excellent thermal stability up to 700 °C with no additional elemental segregation on the grain boundaries other than the initial carbides, attributing the thermal stability of the LSM materials to the low dislocation densities and strains in the final microstructure. Nano-indentation and micro-tensile testing performed on the LSM material pre- and post-annealing demonstrated the possibility of tuning the material’s strength and ductility. The results expound on the possibility of manufacturing controlled nanocrystalline materials via a scalable and cost-effective method, albeit with additional fundamental understanding of the resultant morphology dependence on the LSM conditions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS2007

Overview of NASA Langley's Piezoelectric Ceramic Packaging Technology and Applications

Over the past decade, NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) has developed several actuator packaging concepts designed to enhance the performance of commercial electroactive ceramics. NASA LaRC focused on properly designed actuator and sensor packaging for the following reasons, increased durability, protect the working material from the environment, allow for proper mechanical and electrical contact, afford "ready to use" mechanisms that are scalable, and develop fabrication methodology applicable to any active material of the same physical class. It is more cost effective to enhance or tailor the performance of existing systems, through innovative packaging, than to develop, test and manufacture new materials. This approach led to the development of several solid state actuators that include THUNDER, the Macrofiber Composite or (MFC) and the Radial Field Diaphragm or (RFD). All these actuators are fabricated using standard materials and processes derived from earlier concepts. NASA s fabrication and packaging technology as yielded, piezoelectric actuators and sensors that are easy to implement, reliable, consistent in properties, and of lower cost to manufacture in quantity, than their predecessors (as evidenced by their continued commercial availability.) These piezoelectric actuators have helped foster new research and development in areas involving computational modeling, actuator specific refinements, and engineering system redesign which led to new applications for piezo-based devices that replace traditional systems currently in use.

Bryant, Robert G.↗