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

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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2005

A Robust, Low-Cost Virtual Archive for Science Data

Despite their expense tape silos are still often the only affordable option for petabytescale science data archives, particularly when other factors such as data reliability, floor space, power and cooling load are accounted for. However, the complexity, management software, hardware reliability and access latency of tape silos make online data storage ever more attractive. Drastic reductions in low-cost mass-market PC disk drivers help to make this more affordable (approx. 1$/GB), but are challenging to scale to the petabyte range and of questionable reliability for archival use, On the other hand, if much of the science archive could be "virtualized", i.e., produced on demand when requested by users, we would need store only a fraction of the data online, perhaps bringing an online-only system into in affordable range. Radiance data from the satellite-borne Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument provides a good opportunity for such a virtual archive: the raw data amount to 140 GB/day, but these are small relative to the 550 GB/day making up the radiance products. These data are routinely processed as inputs for geophysical parameter products and then archived on tape at the Goddard Earth Sciences Distributed Active Archive (GES DAAC) for distributing to users. Virtualizing them would be an immediate and signifcant reduction in the amount of data being stored in the tape archives and provide more customizable products. A prototype of such a virtual archive is being developed to prove the concept and develop ways of incorporating the robustness that a science data archive requires.

Lynnes, Christopher↗
DOE OSTI2021

A Study of Model-Based Protective Fast-Charging and Associated Degradation in Commercial Smartphone Cells: Insights on Cathode Degradation as a Result of Lithium Depositions on the Anode

The ever expanding mobile consumer electronic market has accelerated the need for safe and efficient fast-charging approaches that improve the overall speed of battery charging without hastened deterioration of the battery performance. Herein, the impact of a resource inexpensive, physics-based, electrochemically optimized fast-charging algorithm (charging time < 2 h) for mobile devices is investigated. A critical difference in the amount and morphology of lithium deposits on the anode for cells fast-charged without an optimized algorithm is observed and found to be the main cause of capacity decay. Furthermore, an in-depth study of the LiCoO 2 cathode regions opposite to pronounced lithium deposits on the anode reveals a “mirroring” phenomenon, i.e., a frozen monoclinic phase, and inactivity to relithiation. In operando hard X-ray absorption spectroscopy reveals that degraded spots on harvested cathodes seem to be activated again and participate in the intercalation process when lithiated at low rates from lithium foil counter electrodes. On the other hand, tests at higher C-rates, closer to the actual fast-charging rate, reveal only negligible oxidation state changes and therefore poor performance.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
NASA NTRS1999

Establishing a Distance Learning Plan for International Space Station (ISS) Interactive Video Education Events (IVEE)

Educational outreach is an integral part of the International Space Station (ISS) mandate. In a few scant years, the International Space Station has already established a tradition of successful, general outreach activities. However, as the number of outreach events increased and began to reach school classrooms, those events came under greater scrutiny by the education community. Some of the ISS electronic field trips, while informative and helpful, did not meet the generally accepted criteria for education events, especially within the context of the classroom. To make classroom outreach events more acceptable to educators, the ISS outreach program must differentiate between communication events (meant to disseminate information to the general public) and education events (designed to facilitate student learning). In contrast to communication events, education events: are directed toward a relatively homogeneous audience who are gathered together for the purpose of learning, have specific performance objectives which the students are expected to master, include a method of assessing student performance, and include a series of structured activities that will help the students to master the desired skill(s). The core of the ISS education events is an interactive videoconference between students and ISS representatives. This interactive videoconference is to be preceded by and followed by classroom activities which help the students aftain the specified learning objectives. Using the interactive videoconference as the centerpiece of the education event lends a special excitement and allows students to ask questions about what they are learning and about the International Space Station and NASA. Whenever possible, the ISS outreach education events should be congruent with national guidelines for student achievement. ISS outreach staff should recognize that there are a number of different groups that will review the events, and that each group has different criteria for acceptance. For example, school administrators are more likely to be concerned about an event meeting national standards and the cost of the event. In contrast, a teacher's acceptance of an education event may be directly related to the amount of extra work the event imposes upon that teacher. ISS education events must be marketed differently to the different groups of educators, and must never increase the workload of the average teacher.

Wallington, Clint↗
DOE OSTI2024

FORCE Update 2024

The Framework for Optimization of Resources and Economics (FORCE) tool suite is the U.S. Department of Energy’s Nuclear Integrated Energy Systems (IES) Program flagship tool suite for technoeconomic IES analysis of IES. This tool suite is useful for analysis designed to evaluate and improve the technoeconomics of energy production systems, particularly for systems including nuclear technology. In this report, we document the development activity for the FORCE tool suite to extend its capabilities as performed during fiscal year 2024. In addition to reliability and accessibility, capability is one of the three standards guiding the development of the FORCE tool suite and the software codes that are its constituent parts. Extending the capabilities of the FORCE tool suite allows analysis both within the IES program as well as industry, university, and laboratory partners to perform analysis with more accuracy, insight, and impactful narrative. Four areas of capability development were the focus of activity this year: economic parameter uncertainty quantification, multiresolution analysis, components-to-optimization workflow automation, and statespace construction workflows for real-time optimal control. In economic parameter uncertainty quantification, the ability of HERON to capture risk due to scenarios (weather and energy demand uncertainty) was expanded to also include uncertainties in financial parameters such as capital cost or operation and maintenance costs. By including these sources of uncertainty, which are sometimes very large compared with scenario uncertainty, HERON is better able to capture the risk posed by investment in various IES technology. Because of this, analysts can also consider the reduction in risks that can be realized by choice of some technologies. In multiresolution analysis, development activity extended on work completed previously. In fiscal year 2023, methods for decomposing time series signals, such as demand, solar and wind availability, and price profiles, were analyzed and down-selected to those most effective at splitting signals into different resolutions. These resolutions allow considering the influence of different energy demand and supply behaviors across different time scales. For example, energy demand might be divided into seasonal, weekly, and hourly profiles. In fiscal year 2024, this preliminary work was extended and implemented within the Risk Analysis Virtual Environment (RAVEN) risk and uncertainty analysis platform, which is used throughout the FORCE framework. This development of the “multi-resolution time series analysis” (MR-TSA) module in RAVEN allows training synthetic history generators on complex time series. These synthetic history generators can then be used in HERON for generating scenarios that represent possible market and weather scenarios that can be analyzed on different time scales. We envision completing this work in the future, implementing multiresolution dispatch optimization strategies that can make the most beneficial use of these stratified time histories. In components-to-optimization workflow development, workflows for translating user inputs of components into algorithms for algebraic optimization were selected and implemented. Similar algorithms within the Holistic Energy Resource Optimization Network (HERON) were separated from the main code base of HERON and gathered with the components-to-optimization workflows in the new Dispatch Optimization Variable Engine (DOVE) software library. This modularization allows FORCE users to analyze dispatch optimization and energy system duty cycles independently of HERON, which previously was a burdensome task. Additionally, these dispatch optimization algorithms, set up in an independent library, can now be used across all software applications within FORCE, especially including the real-time optimal control software Optimization of Real-time Capacity Allocation (ORCA). Allowing FORCE software to share dispatch optimization algorithms within a single library allows for improved software maintenance and reliability. In statespace characterization workflow development, alternative workflows for optimizing dispatch with additional technical accuracy was the focus, particularly to improve the real-time optimization decision making in ORCA. Using algorithms and workflows initially developed for the Feasible Actuator Range Modifier (FARM), workflows for determining the statespace representation of IES were identified and demonstrated. The resulting dispatch optimization required a more robust optimization algorithm than that originally used in HERON (and moved to DOVE), which required adding an alternate workflow to DOVE that can more accurately match the behavior of physical systems using a partial differential equation representation. In conclusion, capability developments in the FORCE tool suite in fiscal year 2024 have improved the ability of the FORCE tool suite to perform

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Highly Efficient Magnetocaloric Natural Gas Liquefaction (Final Report)

Over the twelve-month project the following achievements were accomplished: • Liquefication of methane as primary component of natural gas was accomplished with a magnetocaloric liquefier (MCL) prototype. This was the first time an MCL was used to liquefy methane. • Improved MCL designs were completed. • Cooling to 135 K from room temperature was achieved for the first time in a single MCL stage with dual, reciprocating four-layer regenerators. • Techno-economic analysis for a multi-stage 5 tonne/day magnetocaloric liquefier was completed. The detailed thermodynamic analysis of this MCL design showed a figure of merit (FOM) of 0.6 was achievable. This is a ~2x improvement over current state of the art. • Cost of an efficient 5 tonne/day LNG multi-stage liquefier was projected to be ~$\$$3.1 MM for the 5 tonne/day MCL with achievable design assumptions. • Market study of U.S. merchant LNG demand by energy sector was completed showing that at beginning of 2019, total use was ~2.5 million gallons/day primarily in three sectors that was filled by ~20 small companies in the merchant LNG supply business producing ~2.3 million gpd. These data exclude LNG produced at dedicated peak shaving and large export plants. • Business case for MCL technology based on LNG market study was completed showing the high FOM feature of MCL reduces cost of plant power, and lower capital cost reduces debt repayment and plant depreciation operating expenses. However, today’s demand for U.S. merchant LNG in most sectors is satisfied with conventional technology. Further, with today’s extremely low natural gas (NG) feedstock costs (e.g., ~$\$$1.8/MMBtu), the cost of fuel for NG gensets and for LNG feedstock is already very low. Therefore, possible new merchant LNG liquefier plant developers anticipating demand growth in the transportation, industrial, and electricity generation sectors do not obtain sufficient cost benefits to adopt new, commercially unproven MCL technology. • Other market factors such as remoteness from existing NG pipelines, or unfilled or unsatisfied applications such as boil-off gas re-liquefaction in LNG vessels, or policy factors such as some form of emissions-related fees may make lower capital costs and higher FOM of MCL technology attractive for new small-scale (~50 tonne/day) LNG plants. Two potentially attractive niche markets for MCL technology were identified: i) re-liquefaction of boil-off gas from large LNG transport vessels where severe transport conditions are problematic for conventional technology; and ii) providing LNG in distributed-scale plants that eliminate road transport costs to meet diverse, smaller-scale, distributed LNG bunkering fuel demands. By eliminating significant cryogenic tanker delivery costs and create an attractive cost-savings benefit with small-scale MCL plants.

03 NATURAL GAS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Quantifying System Strength From Grid-Forming Resources Using Frequency Scan Approach: Preprint

Current industry practices for quantifying the system strength contribution from grid-forming (GFM) resources to ensure stability of power systems dominated by inverter-based resources (IBRs) are primarily based on iterative electromagnetic transient (EMT) time-domain simulation studies. While feasible, these approaches are resource-intensive, lack scalability and intuition, and might not evaluate the system strength contribution over the entire frequency range of interest. This paper introduces a novel, frequency-domain approach to quantify system strength support provided by a GFM resource using frequency scans. The proposed method uses transfer functions from the grid voltage magnitude (V) and phase (?), respectively, to the reactive (Q) and active power (P) output of a GFM resource for quantifying its contribution to system strength. These transfer functions provide a direct measure of the ability of a GFM resource to behave as a stiff voltage source behind a reactance over a specified frequency range, enabling robust quantification of its system strength contribution. The key innovation of this work is the development of a frequency domain system strength metric called the dynamic short-circuit ratio (dSCR) that is suitable for IBR-dominated power systems and is directly related with the familiar short circuit ratio (SCR) metric. The new metric, dSCR, enables the assessment of system strength contributions from both synchronous machines and converter-based GFM resources using a unified benchmark, which is not possible with the traditional SCR metric. The paper also demonstrates how impedance scans could identify if an unstable condition observed during weak grid conditions is a result of the lack active or reactive power support or both. By leveraging the proposed frequency-domain dSCR metric for quantifying system strength contribution from GFM IBRs, the paper demonstrates targeted mitigation strategies for weak grid instabilities without resorting to repeated, time-consuming time-domain simulations. The result is a scalable and efficient approach to remediate stability challenges in power systems with high shares of IBRs and accelerating the integration of GFM technologies for system strength support in power systems.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Dynamic Frequency Regulation Improvement in Hydropower-Hybrid System using Variational Mode Decomposition

Providing frequency response, especially fast frequency response such as Red D in the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland Interconnection (PJM) market, is challenging for many generation plants to deliver on their own. If they have adequate flexibility, hydropower plants are typically able to provide slower regulation support (e.g., Reg A in PJM), but do not respond fast enough to provide Reg D. The ability to provide Reg D would improve their revenue because this service is typically more valuable. This work presents a control approach to use hydropower, battery, and ultracapacitor systems to provide fast regulation in a way that uses the response contribution of each asset. In particular, the proposed control architecture applies a variational mode decomposition (VMD) technique on the incoming Reg D signal to extract multiple dynamic-regulation components with non-overlapping frequencies. With the response-speed dependent alignment, these regulation components are fed to the hydrogenator and hybrid energy storage system (HESS). The paper evaluates the proposed approach on a direct-current (DC)-coupled active system by computing several performance measures and analyzing sensitivity based on HESS component proportional capacities. The results reveal that the proposed VMD-based signal conditioning performs well and that optimizing the sizing of the battery and ultracapacitor components further enhances performance.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Methane Pyrolysis for CO2-free H2 and Carbon Nanomaterials (Abstract)

We propose to continue to develop a new process for producing CO2-free hydrogen (H2) from inexpensive and domestically-abundant natural gas (NG), while simultaneously reducing H2’s net production cost to $1.0/kg through the sale of valuable crystalline solid carbon co-product. Producing clean hydrogen at this price is a DOE Hydrogen Energy Earthshot goal. Cost effective production of clean H2 is also of commercial relevance to project partners Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) and startup company C4-MCP, who aim to further develop, demonstrate at scale, and ultimately deploy the new process technology developed on this project in order to meet regulatory demands in the State of California. In the current project we have focused on i) understanding the catalyst science for thermocatalytic decomposition of methane (TCD), which resulted in the development of a patent pending bimetallic catalyst offering favorable activity, stability, and selectivity under industrially relevant process conditions, ii) developing a novel, patent pending process to enable the separation of produced carbon and catalyst, and re-synthesis of the catalyst using recycled materials, iii) performing limited characterization of the produced carbon materials, and iv) performing detailed process modeling in order to perform techno economic assessment. The additional scope proposed here will accelerate the commercial deployment of TCD for CO2-free H2 and valuable solid carbon nanotubes (CNT) co-product, by i) scaling up the production of CNT co-product using a scalable, fluidized bed reactor (25 g catalyst scale versus the 1 g catalyst scale demonstrated to-date), ii) producing at least 40 g of CNT product, produced via multiple cycles of TCD, carbon-catalyst separation, and catalyst re-synthesis, to enable the production of sufficient quantities of solid carbon so as to explore its market potential, iii) understanding the quality of the co-product CNTs, produced at larger scale, through advanced characterization, and iv) beginning to explore multiple promising high volume carbon product applications (thermoplastics, automotive composites, battery, and cement reinforcement applications).

08 HYDROGEN↗
NASA NTRS1999

Monsoon Convection during the South China Sea Monsoon Experiment Observed from Shipboard Radar and the TRMM Satellite

A main goal of the recent South China Sea Monsoon Experiment (SCSMEX) was to study convective processes associated with the onset of the Southeast Asian summer monsoon. The NASA TOGA C-band scanning radar was deployed on the Chinese research vessel Shi Yan #3 for two 20 day cruises, collecting dual-Doppler measurements in conjunction with the BMRC C-Pol dual-polarimetric radar on Dongsha Island. Soundings and surface meteorological data were also collected with an NCAR Integrated Sounding System (ISS). This experiment was the first major tropical field campaign following the launch of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. These observations of tropical oceanic convection provided an opportunity to make comparisons between surface radar measurements and the Precipitation Radar (PR) aboard the TRMM satellite in an oceanic environment. Nearly continuous radar operations were conducted during two Intensive Observing Periods (IOPS) straddling the onset of the monsoon (5-25 May 1998 and 5-25 June 1998). Mesoscale lines of convection with widespread regions of both trailing and forward stratiform precipitation were observed during the active monsoon periods in a southwesterly flow regime. Several examples of mesoscale convection will be shown from ship-based and spacebome radar reflectivity data during times of TRMM satellite overpasses. Further examples of pre-monsoon convection, characterized by isolated cumulonimbus and shallow, precipitating congestus clouds, will be discussed. A strong waterspout was observed very near the ship from an isolated cell in the pre-monsoon period, and was well documented with photography, radar, sounding, and sounding data.

Rickenbach, Tom↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

ICME: The Design of Fit-for-Purpose Materials

With the increased emphasis on reducing the cost and time to market of new materials, ICME (Integrated Computational Materials Engineering) has become a fast growing discipline within materials science and engineering. The vision of ICME is compelling in many respects, not only for the value added in reducing time to market for new products with advanced, tailored materials, but also for enhanced efficiency and performance of these materials. Although the challenges and barriers (both technical and cultural) are formidable, substantial cost, schedule, and technical benefits can result from broad development, implementation, and validation of ICME principles. ICME is an integrated approach to the design of products, and the materials that comprise them, by linking material and structural models at multiple time and length scales. NASA’s Transformational Tools and Technology (TTT) Project sponsored a study (performed by a team led by Pratt & Whitney) in 2016 to define the potential 25-year future state required for integrated multiscale modeling of materials and systems (e.g., load-bearing structures) to accelerate the pace and reduce the expense of innovation in future aerospace and aeronautical systems. This talk will briefly review ICME, the findings of the 2040 Vision study, and discuss NASA’s TTT 2040 implementation activities: with special emphasis on recent accomplishments. The 2040 study, NASA CR 2018- 219771, envisions the development of a cyber-physical-social ecosystem comprised of experimentally verified and validated computational models, tools, and techniques, along with the associated digital tapestry, that impacts the entire supply chain to enable cost-effective, rapid, and revolutionary design of fit-for-purpose materials, components, and systems by enabling the engineer to not only “design-with-the” material but also concurrently “design-the” material.

multiscale analysis↗
DOE OSTI2025

Sustainable upcycling of polyethylene waste to compatibilizers and valuable chemicals

Controllable functionalization of polyethylene (PE) waste could generate new polymeric materials that are generally difficult to manufacture sustainably while also addressing the growing plastics waste problem. However, these modifications remain challenging due to the inherent stability of the PE backbone. Non-thermal atmospheric plasma enables molecular activation under mild conditions while utilizing renewable energy but is primarily employed for surface modification, as plasmas do not penetrate the bulk of materials. Herein, controllable bulk oxidative functionalization of PE wax (PEW) and low-density PE (LDPE) of varying molecular weights was achieved, with up to 6 mol% oxygen incorporation, by manipulating melt viscosity. This functionalization was accomplished either through temperature adjustment or by introducing a melt viscosity modifier, removable via simple extraction methods, to reduce LDPE viscosity, enhance diffusion and chain mobility, and enable bulk oxidation. The oxidized LDPE induces compatibilization in blends of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and LDPE with improved interfacial adhesion and mechanical properties, such as a 70% increase in elongation-at-break values vs. the control. These findings pave the way for catalyst-free upcycling of direct plastics waste and plastics waste-derived products, enabling the creation of high-value products across various markets.

Plastic upcycling↗
DOE OSTI2022

The Demand for a Domestic Offshore Wind Energy Supply Chain

In March of 2021, the Biden-Harris Administration established a National Offshore Wind Target to install 30 GW by 2030. This ambitious goal was not only intended to help reduce dependencies on fossil fuels, but also represents an opportunity to establish a new and sustainable industry in the United States. The announcement referenced the potential benefits of establishing a domestic supply chain, including the opportunity for existing suppliers to produce thousands of components while creating tens of thousands of jobs over the course of the decade. This vision by the Biden-Harris Administration aligns with the perspective of the offshore wind industry. At a Leadership 100 event hosted by the Business Network for Offshore wind in 2019, offshore wind developers and manufacturers identified the need for a roadmap outlining a pathway to a domestic supply chain as the top priority facing the industry. Building up domestic manufacturing capabilities will not only energize local industries but can potentially de-risk individual project by reducing reliance on importing resources from European or Asian markets. Although establishing a domestic supply chain will require significant investment, it has the potential to create substantial benefits throughout the industry and, by extension, on the decarbonization goals of the United States. This study characterizes the challenges and opportunities facing the growth of a domestic supply chain industry and evaluates the potential benefits that could be achieved through the creation of the supply chain. This report is the first of a two-part series which will describe the full supply chain roadmap and the associated benefits; the current report focuses on the high-level deployment, workforce, and component requirements that need to be met to achieve the National Offshore Wind Target. We will present: 1. A deployment pipeline that demonstrates the pathway to 30 GW, the associated demand for major fixed-bottom and floating offshore wind components (turbines, foundations, cables, substations), and the vessel and port requirements to support these installation activities. 2. A series of sensitivity analyses showing how the demand for components, ports, and vessels changes for different technology pathways and availability of the global supply chain. 3. An estimate of the total number of jobs that would be required to support these deployment scenarios under varying levels of assumed domestic content. 4. A comprehensive list of the Tier 1, 2, and 3 components (finished components, subassemblies, and subcomponents) required to construct fixed-bottom and floating offshore wind projects. 5. A discussion of critical path components that represent a significant challenge, bottleneck, or risk for a future domestic supply chain.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS1994

Dual-use technologies for the mining, processing, and energy industries

Over the years, NASA has utilized several approaches towards transferring space technologies into the private sectors. Some of these approaches have been successful, others have had mixed results. The conventional approach usually involves identifying advanced NASA technologies and then searching for applications. Some approaches involve joint sponsorship, but mostly focus on technologies for space. The greatest success has occurred when market forces are used to determine technology initiatives. This paper describes an unconventional approach that was structured to drive out customer requirements for advanced technologies where NASA is also a customer on par with others. The approach used herein is best described as entrepreneurial deal-making. This approach is new and is working very well so far, but it is still too early, and the process is too immature, for quantitative evaluation of success. However, it is appropriate to share these experiences at this time in order to obtain feedback and improve our chances for success. In the needs identification stage, NASA is one of many users (customers), and in the subsequent development stage, NASA is one of many suppliers along with industry, academia, and other government organizations. This specific characteristic of the approach was a primary goal that was incorporated from inception. It was the viewpoint of the instigators (the authors) that if the activity was customer focused, it would: (1) have a higher probability for success since it will be driven by those who will reap the benefits; (2) be able to advocate and promote action if necessary, since it would be founded outside the federal government; (3) not be self-perpetuating; that is, if no common need could be found that had a reasonable return on investment, it would self-destruct; and (4) have increased stability from a broader base of support and not be dependent on NASA being the principal funding source. To date, the workshop activities have identified a collection of potential customers in NASA, other federal government, private industry, and academia who have common needs for advanced technologies.

Roberts, Barney B.↗
NASA NTRS2023

Trades, Architecture, and Design of the Joint Augmented Reality Visual Informatics (Joint AR) Product

Future expeditions will enable exploration and study of the planetary surfaces of the Moon and Mars by performing extravehicular activity (EVA) operations. Present-day International Space Station (ISS) EVA operations require an intricate and tight choreography of crew, space suits, tools, systems, and flight teams to plan, train, and execute with limited advanced informatics. Additionally, EVA operations, aside from the Apollo Lunar surface missions, have predominately focused on maintenance and construction tasks where success criteria are clearly measurable. However, future exploration missions expect to enable crew to carry out scientific objectives in increasingly Earth-independent ways. In this paper, the Joint Augmented Reality Visual Informatics System (Joint AR) characterizes the design space for developing a modular augmented reality (AR) device for a spacesuit form factor that can support crew decision-making for EVA. This paper highlights the project’s experience with a product-focused management style and use-case centered systems engineering approach to iteratively design, build, and test. The Joint AR product features were defined via trade studies and market analysis of previous EVA display efforts, various AR components such as optics, commercial AR systems, light engines, data interfaces, graphics engine software and analog test beds. We outline the defining architectural design decisions, including safety criticality considerations, suit mounting interfaces, computer architectures, and partnership contracting mechanisms. The outcomes of these studies, architecture decisions, and management requirements result in a recommended design which is the Joint AR product. We discuss the evolution, development of these system components, and what work remains. We hope to share a unified understanding of various design decisions and how they impact the future of crew members’ access to data during Lunar and Martian EVAs. This ongoing effort can enable a community-wide discovery process toward realizing necessary AR features and capabilities for future missions.

Augmented Reality↗
NASA NTRS2004

Medical/Scientific Illustration And Production Of Otological Health Awareness Materials

Over the past year, I have worked for my mentor, Beth Cooper, on a large variety of projects. Beth is the Manager of the Acoustical Testing Laboratory, which tests the acoustical emissions of payloads destined for the International Space Station. She is also responsible for educating, and developing new methods of educating, people of all occupational and educational backgrounds in hearing conservation. Beth spends much of her time developing new materials and strategies with which to train people and teach other people to train people in hearing conservation and noise emissions control. I have been helping Beth develop and market these materials by way of graphic design and scientific illustration. Last summer, I spent much of my time creating educational illustrations that visually explained particular concepts in Beth's presentations. Sometimes these illustrations were small "comics" while, at other times, they were an instructional series of illustrations. Since then, Beth and her lab have been developing and updating some materials which will be distributed free to hearing conservation and noise control professionals and others in related fields. I have helped with these projects by designing their packaging. In each instance, it was my responsibility to develop an aesthetically appealing package that would also, through its imagery, describe or summarize the contents of the product. I did this for 3 CD's (Auditory Demonstrations 11, MACSUG, and JeopEARdy) and saw them through their actual production and distribution. In addition to working with Beth, I work with the Imaging Technology Center on various imaging projects. Some of my activities include photo retouching and manipulation for videos and print. This summer, I also had the opportunity to develop a screen saver that would show of some of the photography contained on the soon-to-be-released "Highlights of the GRC Image Archives, vol. 2". I was also able to utilize my medical training to help several of ITC s videographers identify the best histological examples of cancerous cells for incorporation in one of their videos. Over the last part of this summer and then throughout the school year, I will be working with Beth to develop a "pre-packaged" lecture series about the physics of acoustics in the context of hearing conservation. These lectures will be used to teach people of all backgrounds the fundamental concepts involved in acoustical physics so they might be better aware of their own and others auditory health in and out of the work place, and, in the case of payload developers, to design and build more quiet science experiments for the ISS. Even though it may not seem as such, this project is precisely what I am learning to do as a student of the Cleveland Institute of Art's Medical Illustration Department. From my perspective, this project is about taking technical information and translating it into terms that anyone, regardless of background, can understand.

Hawes, Nicholas E.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Community-Based Transactive Coordination Mechanism for Enabling Grid Edge Systems

The changing landscape of the electricity industry, characterized by a surge in distributed energy resources (DERs) and proactive customers, necessitates practical solutions for coordinated operations especially at the distribution-level. This paper introduces a community-based transactive coordination mechanism designed to incentivize customers for providing localized and system-level services reflected through real-time prices. The work presents a bidding approach for communities with DERs, such as solar photovoltaic (PV) and battery energy storage systems (BESS), to formulate their price-responsiveness for retail energy coordination, emphasizing a community-centric model. By sending bidding curves to a third-party, the mechanism enables customers with DER assets to actively participate in localized coordination with the load serving entity (LSE), thereby supplementing each other’s and even the utilities needs through a shared energy economy. The proposed transactive mechanism is implemented leveraging a co-simulation framework that integrates a distribution grid simulator and Python-based agents for performance evaluation. Collaboration with a local utility to access real distribution feeder models and consumption profiles yields simulation results demonstrating the potential to reduce costs by 12\% for communities with DERs like PV and BESS.

Community-based coordination, grid-edge systems, R↗
DOE OSTI2024

Exploring Multidimensional Spatial-Temporal Hydropower Operational Flexibilities by Modeling and Optimizing Water-Constrained Cascading Hydroelectric Systems

Because of unique characteristics such as clean and cost-competitive electricity as well as fast-ramping and storage abilities, the power industry continues to evolve its operation strategies for cascading hydroelectric (CHE) systems for providing enhanced values to the grid, especially under the deeper renewable resource integration. However, existing operation practices of CHEs predate the integration of renewables, which could prohibit the effective utilization of their inherent flexibilities in delivering maximum financial benefits and providing valuable grid services to the power system and electricity market operations. Indeed, modeling and optimizing these resource-limited while flexible CHE assets with uncertainties and imperfect information across multiple spatial-temporal dimensions present significant challenges. To facilitate CHE facility operators in effectively coordinating water usage and hydropower plant operations across multiple timescales, this project aims to fill the existing gaps by developing a suite of accurate water inflow (WI) forecast models as well as enhanced CHE modeling and optimization approaches with proper consideration of their unique characteristics, which would help explore their multidimensional spatial-temporal operational flexibility potentials. The developed approaches could better align reservoir operation strategies with variability and uncertainty of future water availability. They can also promote more effective utilization of multidimensional spatial-temporal hydropower operational flexibility potentials by designing long-term evacuation plans of reservoirs and short-term operation of CHEs, along with their coordination with other types of renewables. The project leverages various resources to facilitate the research and development activities, including actual characteristics data of CHE systems and a library of current and future cases of Portland General Electric (PGE). These realistic data enable the project team to study how to maximize the value of CHEs under current and future portfolios and evaluate opportunities to improve operation practices.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Streamlining Energy Sprawl: Assessment of Geothermal Impacts on Public Lands

Renewable energy power generation, including geothermal, solar photovoltaics (PV), and wind, can have significant land use impacts depending on the technology and the size of the facility. At the same time, innovations across these renewable technologies are working to improve plant efficiency per acre of disturbance. Through a survey of satellite imagery and other sources, this analysis reevaluates the impact of geothermal power generation and examines the variations in land use for different geothermal technologies (binary, flash, and dry steam). Geothermal operations on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) sites serve as the focus for this analysis - i.e., only active sites with federal mineral ownership for which the BLM receives royalties from power production. The results show significant variation in direct land disturbance across the operations sites and across these three geothermal technologies. Although there is variation across plants within the same geothermal technology category, dry steam plants (The Geysers) were shown to have the lowest impact, in acres per megawatt capacity and acres per gigawatt-hour generation, followed by flash steam and binary plants. Overall, direct land impacts relative to capacity and generation have declined 16-27% for facilities constructed since 2000 as compared to those constructed prior, even though most new facilities are binary plants (which traditionally had higher land disturbance). Additionally, capacity factors based on actual net production data were found to average only 50% across all operations sites, suggesting that previous estimates based on nameplate capacity only may lead to an undercounting of generation-based land disturbance metrics. Should the geothermal industry capture additional market share, improving land disturbance metrics through accurate net production and capacity data and further minimizing impacts will be increasingly important as competition over land use intensifies.

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗