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At least 541 records · Page 30

A Study of Lessons and Experiences of NASA Centers in the Use of Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) Electronics

The NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) sponsored a Technical Assessment relating to the utilization of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) electrical, electronic, and electromechanical (EEE) parts in spaceflight systems at NASA Centers. The assessment had two primary goals. The first was to capture each NASA Centers’ current practices, best practices, lessons learned and Center-proposed recommendations on the use of COTS EEE parts and assemblies in critical ground support equipment (GSE). The second was to provide recommendations on the use of COTS, including a set of current best practices based on the Centers’ current and best practices and the NESC team’s discussions. One key achievement made by the assessment team was the characterization of the term Industry Leading Parts Manufacturers (ILPMs) as parts manufacturer with high volume automatic production facilities and which can provide documented proof of the technology, process and product qualification, and its implementation of the best practices for “zero defects” for parts quality, reliability and workmanship. The assessment concluded with numerous findings, takeaways and recommendations that will be discussed during this presentation.

commercial↗

rHealth One Demonstration Aboard ISS: A Microfluidic Bioanalyzer Based on Sheath/Hydrodynamic Focusing Flow Cytometry

The Exploration Medical Capability (ExMC) element aims to provide astronauts with the means for their own health monitoring, diagnosis, and treatment during exploration missions. As space flight ventures further from earth, the need for autonomous medical care increases under greater constraints on size, mass, and resources. One pillar for diagnosis that crew would be separated from is laboratory analysis. Even now on ISS, blood samples must be collected and returned to earth for testing. In response, ExMC is assessing how assays for hematology, bone health, radiation exposure etc. could be addressed through commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) and Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funded bioanalyzers that are miniaturizing lab technology. Since missions will reach distances where there are no timely replacements, validation on the International Space Station (ISS) is a necessary part of that assessment. In partnership with NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) Immunology Lab and the Research Operations and Integration (ROI) element, ExMC conducted a technology demonstration on ISS of the rHEALTH ONE, a flow cytometry based bioanalyzer, to assess future devices based on this design. In flow cytometry, there are predominantly three ways to focus the cells (or particles) into a single file stream: hydrodynamic focusing, microcapillary, and acoustic focusing. The rHEALTH ONE utilizes the commercial standard, sheath-based hydrodynamic focusing. rHEALTH itself represents both a company and a suite of medical tools NASA has funded through SBIR grants towards the development of a promising diagnosis instrument for exploration missions. rHEALTH ONE is the interim version of the technology, functional as a benchtop analyzer and test bed for the next generation of rHEALTH in development. Several modifications were made to the rHEALTH ONE analyzer for operation in microgravity. For function, fluid management was key. A sheath-based analyzer uses sheath fluid to flow the sample, cleaning fluid to prevent biological contamination, and a reservoir to collect the liquid waste. The rHEALTH ONE analyzer uses bottles dependent on gravity to separate the air and liquid pathways and keep the liquids contained. It uses only 1 psig of air pressure to directly push the liquid through the device, requiring little-to-no resistance at inlet and outlet. A microtubing assembly with self-sealing luer connectors was designed – featuring 0.014 mm thick durable medical balloons to hold water inside the supply bottles – to create safe containment and easy access for the crew while maintaining the analyzer’s function. For safety, copper tape was added to the interior of the plastic housing to reduce electromagnetic interference, fluid and electrical connections were secured against vibration and leaks, and gaps were further sealed to ensure containment of the optical block and lasers. Water as the sheath and cleaning fluid and TOX 0 samples were used to reduce the biohazard risk to the crew. In May 2022, European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti demonstrated the rHEALTH ONE aboard ISS for its sample loading, flow cytometry, and data collection capability in microgravity. The JSC Immunology Lab provided flow cytometry expertise, designed the sample test protocol, and manufactured and benchmarked the flight samples on a ‘gold-standard’ flow cytometer. The analyzer was primed with water, purged of air, and four calibration solutions of polystyrene microparticles were tested to characterize its performance. Tightly controlled procedures and excellent execution prevented air bubble interference during air/water separation, fluid transfer, sample mixing and loading. Data showed a slight increase in signal noise on 3 of 5 channels and an anomaly of fluorophores migrating in one sample (confirmed by JSC post-flight). Flight results correctly detected the change in sample, matched the analyzer’s ground performance, and were consistent with the gold-standard’s ground results. Although areas were noted for improvement, these outcomes signified complete mission success.

R. S. Miller↗

Methods of preparing a safety battery

The present invention relates, in part, to methods of preparing a safety battery. Methods can include dispensing a safety ink formulation between the two poles of a battery. Upon exposure to moisture, the formulation provides an electrical connection between two poles, thus minimizing electrical discharge and/or reducing the formation of electrochemically generated ions at the pole(s).

Kaehr, Bryan James↗

Navigating United States Standards and Regulation for Digital Energy Systems

This report provides an analysis of the U.S. standards and regulatory landscape for digital energy systems, focusing on cybersecurity, safety, and reliability requirements. It examines the interplay between federal mandates, state regulations, voluntary industry standards, and utility-specific policies, highlighting critical gaps between compliance and real-world risk mitigation. While NERC CIP standards enforce cybersecurity for Bulk Electric System assets, distribution-level infrastructure and emerging technologies often fall outside mandatory oversight, creating vulnerabilities. The report identifies systemic challenges such as reliance on self-attestation, uneven state adoption of safety codes, and lagging standards for advanced technologies like battery energy storage and inverter-based resources. Through a detailed gap analysis, it underscores the urgency of proactive risk-based approaches, independent verification, and strategic engagement with state and federal entities. Recommendations include adopting tiered security frameworks, strengthening procurement practices, and addressing emerging technology risks to ensure resilient and secure digital energy infrastructure. This guidance is intended for utilities, regulators, and stakeholders navigating compliance obligations and seeking to enhance cybersecurity and safety beyond minimum standards.

24 - POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Barrier Function-based Reinforcement Learning for Emergency Control of Power Systems

Under voltage load shedding has been considered as a standard and effective measure to recover the voltage stability of the electric power grid under emergency and severe conditions. However, this scheme usually trips a massive amount of load which can be unnecessary and harmful to customers. Recently, deep reinforcement learning (RL) has been regarded and adopted as a promising approach that can significantly reduce the amount of load shedding. However, like most existing machine learning (ML)-based control techniques, RL control usually cannot guarantee the safety of the systems under control. In this paper, we introduce a novel safe RL method for load shedding of power systems, that can enhance the safe voltage recovery of the electric power grid after experiencing faults. Unlike standard RL method, the safe RL method integrates a Barrier function into the reward function. Consequently, the optimal control policy can render the power system to avoid the safety bounds. This method is general and can be applied to other safety-critical control problems. Numerical simulations on the 39-bus IEEE benchmark is performed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed safe RL emergency control, as well as its adaptive capability to faults not seen in the training.

Vu, Thanh Long↗

Liquid Metals for Advanced Batteries: Recent Progress and Future Perspective

ABSTRACT The shift toward sustainable energy has increased the demand for efficient energy storage systems to complement renewable sources like solar and wind. While lithium‐ion batteries dominate the market, challenges such as safety concerns and limited energy density drive the search for new solutions. Liquid metals (LMs) have emerged as promising materials for advanced batteries due to their unique properties, including low melting points, high electrical conductivity, tunable surface tension, and strong alloying tendency. Enabled by the unique properties of LMs, four key scientific functions of LMs in batteries are highlighted: active materials, self‐healing, interface stabilization, and conductivity enhancement. These applications can improve battery performance, safety, and lifespan. This review also discusses current challenges and future opportunities for using LMs in next‐generation energy storage systems. image

Zheng, Tianrui [Materials Science and Engineering ↗

Orbiter environment at S- and Ku-band frequencies

Detailed measurements of the electric field strength associated with the Ku-band radar and S-band communication link were made by the Plasma Diagnostics Package (PDP) on STS 51F. These measurements were made while the PDP was attached to the Remote Manipulation System arm and again while the PDP was released as a subsatellite. The results indicate that cargo elements that remain inside of the scan limits of the radar should experience fields less than 2 V/m and that elements that may encounter the main beam can use 300 V/m as a design guideline with adequate safety margin. S-band fields tended to be several dB lower than worst-case predictions. Safe design practice indicates that an electric field E = 100/r (r in meters) should be used as a guideline for deployable systems. S-band electric fields within the cargo bay envelope should be less than 2 V/m even with edge diffraction effects and reflections from other payloads taken into account. The absolute accuracy of these measurements is about 2 dB.

Murphy, G. B.↗

System Guidelines for EMC Safety-Critical Circuits: Design, Selection, and Margin Demonstration

Demonstration of required safety margins on critical electrical/electronic circuits in large complex systems has become an implementation and cost problem. These margins are the difference between the activation level of the circuit and the electrical noise on the circuit in the actual operating environment. This document discusses the origin of the requirement and gives a detailed process flow for the identification of the system electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) critical circuit list. The process flow discusses the roles of engineering disciplines such as systems engineering, safety, and EMC. Design and analysis guidelines are provided to assist the designer in assuring the system design has a high probability of meeting the margin requirements. Examples of approaches used on actual programs (Skylab and Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster) are provided to show how variations of the approach can be used successfully.

Lawton, R. M.↗

Extreme fast charge aging: Correlation between electrode scale and heterogeneous degradation in Ni-rich layered cathodes

Extreme fast charging (XFC) is a key requirement for the adoption of battery-based electric vehicles by the transportation sector. However, XFC has been shown to accelerate degradation, causing the capacity, life, and safety of batteries to deteriorate. There are no systematic studies in the open literature regarding aging modes in Ni-rich Li y Ni 0.a Mn 0.b Co 0.c O 2 (NMCabc) cathodes caused by fast charging. Herein, we report the effects of cathode composition and electrode loading in pouch cells containing NMC532, 622 and 811 paired with graphite and cycled under XFC conditions. The relative anisotropic volume change in the unit cell increases with Ni content in low-loading cells, while it levels up for all three NMC cathodes in high-loading cells because of substantial Li plating. The amounts of lithium plating and heterogeneity on the anode, determined by crystallographic phase quantification, were found to be correlated with electrode loading and cathode heterogeneity. The concentrations of the transition metals deposited on the anodes depend on NMCabc composition in a complex way. More particle cracking and surface degradation was found in NMC811. Here, the findings in this work provide a new understanding of the failure mechanisms and their practical implications for compositional tuning of future high-Ni NMCabc cathode materials during fast charging.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Li 2 GeS 3 : Lithium Ionic Conductor with an Unprecedented Structural Type

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are widely used in electric vehicles, mobile electronic devices, and large-scale stationary energy storage systems. However, their liquid electrolytes present significant safety concerns due to their inherent flammability. To address this, the focus has shifted toward all-solid-state batteries (ASSBs) utilizing inorganic solid electrolytes that promise enhanced safety. In this work, we report the discovery of a new crystal structural type of Li-ion conductor, Li 2 GeS 3 , with a unique structure, synthesized by a solid-state reaction from Li 2 S and GeS 2 . It was first reported in 2000 with an orthorhombic unit cell, but its detailed crystal structure remains veiled. Here, we have unveiled its structure for the first time, employing an ab initio structure determination technique from powder X-ray and time-of-flight neutron diffraction data. The compound has an unprecedented crystal structural type with a hexagonal $P6_1$ symmetry and a unit cell of α = 6.79364(4) Å and c = 17.90724(14) Å. Its structure is comprised of a distorted hexagonal close-packed arrangement of sulfur anions with three asymmetric metal atoms: Li1, Li2, and Ge are in tetrahedral cavities surrounded by sulfur atoms. The ionic conductivity of Li 2 GeS 3 was measured to be 1.63 × 10 –8 S cm –1 at 303 K and 2.45 × 10 –7 S cm –1 at 383 K. Bond valence energy landscape calculations revealed three-dimensional lithium diffusion pathways within the structure. This novel crystal structure in Li 2 GeS 3 holds the potential for developing high-performance ionic conductors through suitable chemical substitution and offers valuable insights into designing new ionic conductors for ASSBs.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Cracking the failure of lithium batteries

Lithium batteries that use a solid electrolyte have the potential to improve safety and increase the amount of stored energy . This makes solid-state electrochemical cells a promising option for electric vehicles and wearable devices. However, nonuniform plating or stripping of lithium at the interface between an anode (negative electrode) and the electrolyte during charging and discharging leads to growth of detrimental lithium filaments (dendrites) that short-circuit the battery cell. This problem even occurs when the battery operates at small currents. The underlying mechanism of this failure is not well understood. On page 311 of this issue, Wang et al. (1) report that structural defects accumulate in the lithium metal anode under repeated charging and discharging at a small current. This is similar to mechanical fatigue that is observed over longer periods of intermittent straining of a material. Here, the observation could guide the design of lithium batteries with increased life span.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Extreme Fast Charging: Effect of Positive Electrode Material on Crosstalk

Extreme fast charging (XFC) is a key requirement for the adoption of battery-based electric vehicles by the transportation sector. However, XFC has been shown to accelerate degradation, causing the capacity, life, and safety of batteries to deteriorate. We tested cells containing five positive electrode chemistries, LFP (olivine structure), LMO (spinel), LCO (layered), NMC811 (layered) and NCA (layered), using fast-charging protocols. After testing, the negative electrodes from cells containing positive electrodes crystallizing with a layered structure were found to have more lithium deposited on their surfaces. Further, those crystallizing with a layered structure also tended to have a larger increase in impedance than those crystallizing with a spinel or olivine structure. Characterization of the negative electrodes by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed that using the concentrations of LiF and Li x PO y F z as metrics, the concentration of LiF in the SEI from the cell with different positive electrodes is LFP > LMO > LCO ~ NMC811 > NCA; and for Li x PO y F z , the order is LMO > LFP > NCA > NMC811 > LCO. Clearly, the positive-electrode material was influencing the amounts of these materials formed.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Global Perspective of Energy Storage (2019 Annual Peer Review Report)

This report provides information about the DOE Office of Electricity Energy Storage Peer Review held in 2019 and includes posters reviewed in these categories: postdoctoral, validated reliability and safety performance, equitable regulatory environment and analytics, applied materials (Materials I), power electronics, industry acceptance, partnerships, and Materials I.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗

Macro-micro multiscale modeling to assist the design of HPDC Al castings microstructure and alloys for EV super-large body structures (Phase 1)

Implementation of High Pressure Die Casting (HPDC) Aluminum (Al) body structures for high volume electrified vehicles (EV) to improve electric efficiency remains a key strategy within many original equipment manufacturers (OEM)s. In addition to high strength for safety requirements, superior Self Piercing Riveting (SPR) performance is demanded for HPDC Al alloys to be compatible with high volume SPR joining. In this work, it is proposed to extend and validate an existing Contractor finite element multiscale macro-micro modeling approach to quantify the influence of the microstructure of HPDC alloys on the fracture strain/displacement under 3-point bend and clinch testing. The success of this work will allow to replace solution treatment stage with low energy consumption heat treatment (HT) processes, or to design new non heat treatable (NHT) HPDC Al alloys to eliminate HT requirements. Ultimately, this project will facilitate the application of HPDC Al alloys for super-large vehicle structures to significantly reduce vehicle weight and thus improving energy efficiency. The purpose of this project is to extend and validate an existing f

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Macro-micro multiscale modeling to assist the design of HPDC Al castings microstructure and alloys for EV super-large body structures (Phase 1)

Implementation of High Pressure Die Casting (HPDC) Aluminum (Al) body structures for high volume electrified vehicles (EV) to improve electric efficiency remains a key strategy within many original equipment manufacturer (OEM)s. In addition to high strength for safety requirements, superior Self-Piercing Riveting (SPR) performance is demanded for HPDC Al alloys to be compatible with high volume SPR joining. In this work, it is proposed to extend and validate an existing Contractor finite element multiscale macro-micro modeling approach to quantify the influence of the microstructure of HPDC alloys on the fracture strain/displacement under 3-point bend and clinch testing. The success of this work will allow to replace solution treatment stage with low energy consumption heat treatment (HT) processes, or to design new non heat treatable (NHT) HPDC Al alloys to eliminate HT requirements. Ultimately, this project will facilitate the application of HPDC Al alloys for super-large vehicle structures to significantly reduce vehicle weight, and thus improving energy efficiency. The purpose of this project is to extend and validate an existing finite element code, which is based on the Contractor developed macro-micro multi-scale modeling approach, to numerically simulate the three-point bending and clinch test and study the influences of material microstructural characteristics and phase properties on the rivetability. The macro-micro modeling approach begins with a sample scale model and identify the location, which is mostly prone to failure, the deformation history of the boundaries of that location calculated will be used to drive a microstructure-based sub-models where the material microstructure and microscale properties are considered. Using this approach, the wrap-bending failure for two Al alloys are correctly predicted for the first time. This will start with phase I effort of building a framework of macro-micro three point bending test and clinch test of Al10SiMgMn HPDC alloy in the as-cast and T7 heat treated conditions. Those results will then be validated with experimental test results. The phase II effort will involve the utilization of the knowledge learned in phase I to establish the quantitative correlation between the microstructure characteristics and the riveting performance, which will be further used to guide the optimization of HPDC Al alloy microstructure using heat treatment process to achieve sufficient rivetability to join large thin-wall HPDC alloys.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

More About N2O-Based Propulsion and Breathable-Gas Systems

A concept was evaluated of using nitrous oxide as (1) a monopropellant in thrusters for space suits and spacecraft and (2) a source of breathable gas inside space suits and spacecraft, both by exploiting the controlled decomposition of N2O into N2 and O2. Relative to one prior monopropellant hydrazine, N2O is much less toxic, yet offers comparable performance. N2O can be stored safely as a liquid at room temperature and unlike another prior monopropellant hydrogen peroxide does not decompose spontaneously. A prototype N2O-based thruster has been demonstrated. It has also been proposed to harness N2O-based thrusters for generating electric power and to use the N2 + O2 decomposition product as a breathable gas. Because of the high performance, safety, and ease of handling of N2O, it can be expected to be economically attractive to equip future spacecraft and space suits with N2O-based thrusters and breathable-gas systems.

Zubrin, Robert↗

Electrical Characterizations of Lightning Strike Protection Techniques for Composite Materials

The growing application of composite materials in commercial aircraft manufacturing has significantly increased the risk of aircraft damage from lightning strikes. Composite aircraft designs require new mitigation strategies and engineering practices to maintain the same level of safety and protection as achieved by conductive aluminum skinned aircraft. Researchers working under the NASA Aviation Safety Program s Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) Project are investigating lightning damage on composite materials to support the development of new mitigation, diagnosis & prognosis techniques to overcome the increased challenges associated with lightning protection on composite aircraft. This paper provides an overview of the electrical characterizations being performed to support IVHM lightning damage diagnosis research on composite materials at the NASA Langley Research Center.

Szatkowski, George N.↗