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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 sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS1993

Alaska SAR Facility mass storage, current system

This paper examines the mass storage systems that are currently in place at the Alaska SAR Facility (SAF). The architecture of the facility will be presented including specifications of the mass storage media that are currently used and the performances that we have realized from the various media. The distribution formats and media are also discussed. Because the facility is expected to service future sensors, the new requirements and possible solutions to these requirements are also discussed.

Cuddy, David↗

NASA NTRS1995

Feasibility of flywheel energy storage systems for applications in future space missions

The objective of this study was to examine the overall feasibility of deploying electromechanical flywheel systems in space used for excess energy storage. Results of previous Rocketdyne studies have shown that the flywheel concept has a number of advantages over the NiH2 battery, including higher specific energy, longer life and high roundtrip efficiency. Based on this prior work, this current study was broken into four subtasks. The first subtask investigated the feasibility of replacing the NiH2 battery orbital replacement unit (ORU) on the international space station (ISSA) with a flywheel ORU. In addition, a conceptual design of a generic flywheel demonstrator experiment implemented on the ISSA was completed. An assessment of the life cycle cost benefits of replacing the station battery energy storage ORU's with flywheel ORU's was performed. A fourth task generated a top-level development plan for critical flywheel technologies, the flywheel demonstrator experiments and its evolution into the production unit flywheel replacement ORU.

Santo, G. Espiritu↗

NASA NTRS1995

STS-69 Postflight Presentation

A postflight conference of the STS-69 mission is presented. The flightcrew ('The Dog Team') consisted of Cmdr. David Walker, Pilot Kenneth Cockrell, Payload Cmdr. James Voss, and Mission Specialists James Newman and Michael Gernhardt. The mission's primary objective was the deployment and retrieval of the SPARTAN-201 satellite, which investigated the interaction between the Sun and it's solar wind. Other secondary experiments and shuttle payloads included the Wake Shield Facility (WSF), which grew several layers of semiconductor films, the International Extreme Ultraviolet Hitchhiker (IEH-1), the Capillary Pumped Loop-2/Gas Bridge Assembly (CAPL-2/GBA), several Get Away Specials (GAS) experiments, the Electrolysis Performance Improvement Concept Study (EPICS), the Thermal Energy Storage (TES-2) experiment, the Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus-7 (CGBA-7), the National Institutes of Health-Cells 4 (NIH-C4) experiment, and the Biological Research in Canister-6 (BRIC-6) experiment. Earth views consisted of Saudi Arabia water wells, uncommon vortices over Oman, the Amazon River, the Bahamas, Somalia, a sunset over the Earth's horizon, and two hurricanes, Luis and Marilyn.

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NASA NTRS1996

Parameter Design and Optimal Control of an Open Core Flywheel Energy Storage System

In low earth orbit (LEO) satellite applications spacecraft power is provided by photovoltaic cells and batteries. To overcome battery shortcomings the University of Maryland, working in cooperation with NASA/GSFC and NASA/LeRC, has developed a magnetically suspended flywheel for energy storage applications. The system is referred to as an Open Core Composite Flywheel (OCCF) energy storage system. Successful application of flywheel energy storage requires integration of several technologies, viz. bearings, rotor design, motor/generator, power conditioning, and system control. In this paper we present a parameter design method which has been developed for analyzing the linear SISO model of the magnetic bearing controller for the OCCF. The objective of this continued research is to principally analyze the magnetic bearing system for nonlinear effects in order to increase the region of stability, as determined by high speed and large air gap control. This is achieved by four tasks: (1) physical modeling, design, prototyping, and testing of an improved magnetically suspended flywheel energy storage system, (2) identification of problems that limit performance and their corresponding solutions, (3) development of a design methodology for magnetic bearings, and (4) design of an optimal controller for future high speed applications. Both nonlinear SISO and MIMO models of the magnetic system were built to study limit cycle oscillations and power amplifier saturation phenomenon observed in experiments. The nonlinear models include the inductance of EM coils, the power amplifier saturation, and the physical limitation of the flywheel movement as discussed earlier. The control program EASY5 is used to study the nonlinear SISO and MIMO models. Our results have shown that the characteristics and frequency responses of the magnetic bearing system obtained from modeling are comparable to those obtained experimentally. Although magnetic saturation is shown in the bearings, there are good correlations between the theoretical model and experimental data. Both simulation and experiment confirm large variations of the magnetic bearing characteristics due to air gap growth. Therefore, the gap growth effect should be considered in the magnetic bearing system design. Additionally, the magnetic bearing control system will be compared to other design methods using not only parameter design but H-infinity optimal control and mu synthesis.

Pang, D.↗

NASA NTRS1997

International Ultraviolet Explorer Final Archive

CSC processed IUE images through the Final Archive Data Processing System. Raw images were obtained from both NDADS and the IUEGTC optical disk platters for processing on the Alpha cluster, and from the IUEGTC optical disk platters for DECstation processing. Input parameters were obtained from the IUE database. Backup tapes of data to send to VILSPA were routinely made on the Alpha cluster. IPC handled more than 263 requests for priority NEWSIPS processing during the contract. Staff members also answered various questions and requests for information and sent copies of IUE documents to requesters. CSC implemented new processing capabilities into the NEWSIPS processing systems as they became available. In addition, steps were taken to improve efficiency and throughput whenever possible. The node TORTE was reconfigured as the I/O server for Alpha processing in May. The number of Alpha nodes used for the NEWSIPS processing queue was increased to a maximum of six in measured fashion in order to understand the dependence of throughput on the number of nodes and to be able to recognize when a point of diminishing returns was reached. With Project approval, generation of the VD FITS files was dropped in July. This action not only saved processing time but, even more significantly, also reduced the archive storage media requirements, and the time required to perform the archiving, drastically. The throughput of images verified through CDIVS and processed through NEWSIPS for the contract period is summarized below. The number of images of a given dispersion type and camera that were processed in any given month reflects several factors, including the availability of the required NEWSIPS software system, the availability of the corresponding required calibrations (e.g., the LWR high-dispersion ripple correction and absolute calibration), and the occurrence of reprocessing efforts such as that conducted to incorporate the updated SWP sensitivity-degradation correction in May.

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NASA NTRS1994

Performance Analysis of the Unitree Central File

This report consists of two parts. The first part briefly comments on the documentation status of two major systems at NASA#s Center for Computational Sciences, specifically the Cray C98 and the Convex C3830. The second part describes the work done on improving the performance of file transfers between the Unitree Mass Storage System running on the Convex file server and the users workstations distributed over a large georgraphic area.

Pentakalos, Odysseas I.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Reconfigurable HIL Testing of Earth Satellites

In recent years, hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing has carved a strong niche in several industries, such as automotive, aerospace, telecomm, and consumer electronics. As desktop computers have realized gains in speed, memory size, and data storage capacity, hardware/software platforms have evolved into high performance, deterministic HIL platforms, capable of hosting the most demanding applications for testing components and subsystems. Using simulation software to emulate the digital and analog I/O signals of system components, engineers of all disciplines can now test new systems in realistic environments to evaluate their function and performance prior to field deployment. Within the Aerospace industry, space-borne satellite systems are arguably some of the most demanding in terms of their requirement for custom engineering and testing. Typically, spacecraft are built one or few at a time to fulfill a space science or defense mission. In contrast to other industries that can amortize the cost of HIL systems over thousands, even millions of units, spacecraft HIL systems have been built as one-of-a-kind solutions, expensive in terms of schedule, cost, and risk, to assure satellite and spacecraft systems reliability. The focus of this paper is to present a new approach to HIL testing for spacecraft systems that takes advantage of a highly flexible hardware/software architecture based on National Instruments PXI reconfigurable hardware and virtual instruments developed using LabVIEW. This new approach to HIL is based on a multistage/multimode spacecraft bus emulation development model called Reconfigurable Hardware In-the-Loop or RHIL.

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NASA NTRS2011

Energy Storage Technology Development for Space Exploration

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is developing battery and fuel cell technology to meet the expected energy storage needs of human exploration systems. Improving battery performance and safety for human missions enhances a number of exploration systems, including un-tethered extravehicular activity suits and transportation systems including landers and rovers. Similarly, improved fuel cell and electrolyzer systems can reduce mass and increase the reliability of electrical power, oxygen, and water generation for crewed vehicles, depots and outposts. To achieve this, NASA is developing non-flow-through proton-exchange-membrane fuel cell stacks, and electrolyzers coupled with low permeability membranes for high pressure operation. The primary advantage of this technology set is the reduction of ancillary parts in the balance-of-plant fewer pumps, separators and related components should result in fewer failure modes and hence a higher probability of achieving very reliable operation, and reduced parasitic power losses enable smaller reactant tanks and therefore systems with lower mass and volume. Key accomplishments over the past year include the fabrication and testing of several robust, small-scale non-flow-through fuel cell stacks that have demonstrated proof-of-concept. NASA is also developing advanced lithium-ion battery cells, targeting cell-level safety and very high specific energy and energy density. Key accomplishments include the development of silicon composite anodes, lithiatedmixed- metal-oxide cathodes, low-flammability electrolytes, and cell-incorporated safety devices that promise to substantially improve battery performance while providing a high level of safety.

Mercer, Carolyn R.↗

NASA NTRS2014

Mission and System Advantages of Iodine Hall Thrusters

The exploration of alternative propellants for Hall thrusters continues to be of interest to the community. Investments have been made and continue for the maturation of iodine based Hall thrusters. Iodine testing has shown comparable performance to xenon. However, iodine has a higher storage density and resulting higher ΔV capability for volume constrained systems. Iodine's vapor pressure is low enough to permit low-pressure storage, but high enough to minimize potential adverse spacecraft-thruster interactions. The low vapor pressure also means that iodine does not condense inside the thruster at ordinary operating temperatures. Iodine is safe, it stores at sub-atmospheric pressure, and can be stored unregulated for years on end; whether on the ground or on orbit. Iodine fills a niche for both low power (<1kW) and high power (>10kW) electric propulsion regimes. A range of missions have been evaluated for direct comparison of Iodine and Xenon options. The results show advantages of iodine Hall systems for both small and microsatellite application and for very large exploration class missions.

Dankanich, John W.↗

NASA NTRS2015

Iodine Propulsion Advantages for Low Cost Mission Applications and the Iodine Satellite (ISAT) Technology Demonstration

The NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Science and Technology Office is continuously exploring technology options to increase performance or reduce cost and risk to future NASA missions including science and exploration. Electric propulsion is a prevalent technology known to reduce mission costs by reduction in launch costs and spacecraft mass through increased post launch propulsion performance. The exploration of alternative propellants for electric propulsion continues to be of interest to the community. Iodine testing has demonstrated comparable performance to xenon. However, iodine has a higher storage density resulting in higher ΔV capability for volume constrained systems. Iodine's unique properties also allow for unpressurized storage yet sublimation with minimal power requirements to produce required gas flow rates. These characteristics make iodine an ideal propellant for secondary spacecraft. A range of mission have been evaluated with a focus on low-cost applications. Results highlight the potential for significant cost reduction over state of the art. Based on the potential, NASA has been developing the iodine Satellite for a near-term iodine Hall propulsion technology demonstration. Mission applications and progress of the iodine Satellite project are presented.

Dankanich, John W.↗

NASA NTRS2017

Evaluation of the Radiation Susceptibility of a 3D NAND Flash Memory

We evaluated the heavy ion and proton-induced single-event effects (SEE) for a 3D NAND flash. The 3D NAND showed similar single-event upset (SEU) sensitivity to a planar NAND of similar density and performance in the multiple-cell level (MLC) storage mode. However, the single-level-cell (SLC) storage mode of the 3D NAND showed significantly reduced SEU susceptibility. Additionally, the 3D NAND showed less MBU susceptibility than the planar NAND, with reduced number of upset bits per byte and reduced cross sections overall. However, the 3D architecture exhibited angular sensitivities for both base and face angles, reflecting the anisotropic nature of the SEU vulnerability in space. Furthermore, the SEU cross section decreased with increasing fluence for both the 3D NAND and the latest generation planar NAND, indicating a variable upset rate for a space mission. These unique characteristics introduce complexity to traditional ground irradiation test procedures.

single-event upset (SEU)↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Solid-State Architecture Batteries for Enhanced Rechargeability and Safety (SABERS) Beyond Li-Ion: Technology to Enable Next-Generation Sustainable Electric

All-electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles (eVTOL) for urban air mobility (UAM) concepts face numerous challenging technical barriers before their introduction into the consumer marketplace. The primary barrier to overcome is developing an energy storage system that meets rigorous aerospace safety and performance criteria. The performance metrics for eVTOL vehicles are at least two times greater than those of electric ground vehicles. Furthermore, inherently non-flammable batteries are essential for the safe operation of commercial electric aero vehicles. The SABERS concept proposes a battery that meets the critical performance criteria by developing a solid-state architecture battery utilizing a high-capacity sulfur-selenium cathode and lithium metal anode. The combination of sulfur and selenium offers a balanced energy-to-power density ratio, which can be tailored to the specific application by altering the stoichiometric ratios of sulfur to selenium. This hybrid cathode will be developed using NASA-patented holey graphene technology as a highly conductive, ultra-lightweight electrode scaffold. A solid-state electrolyte will be used as a safe, non-flammable replacement for the highly flammable liquid organic electrolytes currently in SOA lithium-ion batteries. This solid-state lithium-sulfur/selenium cell will be designed in a serial stacking configuration to enable the dense packaging of the battery cells. The serial stacking configuration is termed a bipolar stack, which has the advantages of reducing overall cell weight, simplifying the interfaced connections for the cell, and minimizing the cooling requirements. Lastly, the optimization of battery components will occur through a robust and rigorous combination of various computational modeling techniques covering multiple length scales. The expected result will be a fully solid-state battery with operational temperatures up to 150°C, providing the required energy density, discharge rates, and inherent safety to meet the strict aerospace mission performance criteria. The SABERS team employed novel materials development, computational modeling, and design-of-experiments (DOE) optimization studies in their research. This presentation will show the results of these studies and demonstrate a feasible path for solid-state cells with a specific energy greater than 400 Wh/kg to enable electric aircraft.

Computational Modeling↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Hybrid Electric Turboprop Commercial Freighter Opportunity

As the era of electric and hybrid electric aviation is dawning, we have the opportunity to reduce cost, energy use, and emissions of air transportation. In this paper, the case is made for the potential efficiency benefits that can be gained with hybrid electric propulsion. Initial economic, mission profile, and propulsion system concepts for a large turboprop aircraft we designate as the Hybrid Electric Turboprop Commercial Freighter (HETCOF) are presented. Market analysis shows HETCOF has the potential to serve a large market share, but the cost requirements for a new purpose built are challenging relative to the repurposed narrow body aircraft currently operating in the market. Comparing HETCOF to a genericized large turboprop freighter the payload capacity is reduced by 40% for the TRL 5+ configuration but is equivalent to the baseline for the TRL 1-2 configuration. All HETCOF configurations result in increased efficiency and subsequent block fuel, block energy, and block emissions reductions. An integrated power/thermal/and energy storage system is presented and analyzed using key performance parameters to estimate weights and losses at three technology readiness levels. Analysis shows that for a concept like this to have economic and energy benefits, many TRL 1-2 level technologies would be needed. Relevant ARPA-E programs and NASA technologies being developed to enable the benefit are also described. The most significant result of this paper is that the HETCOF concept can close with reduced fuel burn, energy use, and emissions while retaining some or all of the cargo capability of the baseline aircraft across TRL level assumptions, which enables this platform to be used for near term introduction with increasing benefits as technology matures.

Ralph H Jansen↗

NASA NTRS2007

Wetlife Study of Nickel Hydrogen Cells

A study was undertaken to determine the residual Nickel Precharge, and to understand the Performance and Cycle Life of Aged Nickel Hydrogen cells that were in cold storage up to thirteen (13) years. Comsat Technical Services, Aerospace Corporation, and NSWC/Crane test data to date indicate a nominal electrical performance with a small second plateau and the presence of Nickel Precharge in the cells: Cell Teardown, Plate (active Nickel Precharge determination), and Electrolyte Analyses are in progress. Preliminary Thermal Imaging data indicates that older the cell greater the heat generation, but cell over charge (capacity) could dominate heat generation. U.S. Govt. cells has completed 1150 nominal 60% LEO cycles. The completion date for this study is January 31, 2008.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS1999

High Energy Density Regenerative Fuel Cell Systems for Terrestrial Applications

Regenerative Fuel Cell System (RFCS) technology for energy storage has been a NASA power system concept for many years. Compared to battery-based energy storage systems, RFCS has received relatively little attention or resources for development because the energy density and electrical efficiency were not sufficiently attractive relative to advanced battery systems. Even today, RFCS remains at a very low technology readiness level (TRL of about 2 indicating feasibility has been demonstrated). Commercial development of the Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cells for automobiles and other terrestrial applications and improvements in lightweight pressure vessel design to reduce weight and improve performance make possible a high energy density RFCS energy storage system. The results from this study of a lightweight RFCS energy storage system for a remotely piloted, solar-powered, high altitude aircraft indicate an energy density up to 790 w-h/kg with electrical efficiency of 53.4% is attainable. Such an energy storage system would allow a solar-powered aircraft to carry hundreds of kilograms of payload and remain in flight indefinitely for use in atmospheric research, earth observation, resource mapping. and telecommunications. Future developments in the areas of hydrogen and oxygen storage, pressure vessel design, higher temperature and higher- pressure fuel cell operation, unitized regenerative fuel cells, and commercial development of fuel cell technology will improve both the energy density and electrical efficiency of the RFCS.

Burke, Kenneth A.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Development of optimum process for electron beam cross-linking of high density polyethylene thermal energy storage pellets, process scale-up and production of application qualities of material

The electron irradiation conditions required to prepare thermally from stable high density polyethylene (HDPE) were defined. The conditions were defined by evaluating the heat of fusion and the melting temperature of several HDPE specimens. The performance tests conducted on the specimens, including the thermal cycling tests in the thermal energy storage unit are described. The electron beam irradiation tests performed on the specimens, in which the total radiation dose received by the pellets, the electron beam current, the accelerating potential, and the atmospheres were varied, are discussed.

Salyer, I. O.↗

NASA NTRS2002

Super NiCd Open-Circuit Storage and Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Life Test Evaluation

This presentation discusses Air Force tests performed on super NiCd cells to measure their performance under conditions simulating Low Earth Orbit (LEO) conditions. Super NiCd cells offer potential advantages over existing NiCd cell designs including advanced cell design with improved separator material and electrode making processes, but handling and storage requires active charging. These tests conclude that the super NiCd cells support generic Air Force qualifications for conventional LEO missions (up to five years duration) and that handling and storage may not actually require active charging as previously assumed. Topics covered include: Test Plan, Initial Characterization Tests, Open-Circuit Storage Tests, and post storage capacities.

Baer, Jean Marie↗

NASA NTRS2010

Performance Characterization of High Energy Commercial Lithium-ion Cells

The NASA Glenn Research Center Electrochemistry Branch performed characterization of commercial lithium-ion cells to determine the cells' performance against Exploration Technology Development Program (ETDP) Key Performance Parameters (KPP). The goals of the ETDP Energy Storage Project require significant improvements in the specific energy of lithium-ion technology over the state-of-the-art. This work supports the high energy cell development for the Constellation customer Lunar Surface Systems (LSS). In support of these goals, testing was initiated in September 2009 with high energy cylindrical cells obtained from Panasonic and E-One Moli. Both manufacturers indicated the capability of their cells to deliver specific energy of at least 180 Wh/kg or higher. Testing is being performed at the NASA Glenn Research Center to evaluate the performance of these cells under temperature, rate, and cycling conditions relevant to the ETDP goals for high energy cells. The cell-level specific energy goal for high energy technology is 180 Wh/kg at a C/10 rate and 0 C. The threshold value is 165 Wh/kg. The goal is to operate for at least 2000 cycles at 100 percent DOD with greater than 80 percent capacity retention. The Panasonic NCR18650 cells were able to deliver nearly 200 Wh/kg at the aforementioned conditions. The E-One Moli ICR18650J cells also met the specific energy goal by delivering 183 Wh/kg. Though both cells met the goal for specific energy, this testing was only one portion of the testing required to determine the suitability of commercial cells for the ETDP. The cells must also meet goals for cycle life and safety. The results of this characterization are summarized in this report.

Schneidegger, Brianne T.↗