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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 559 records · Page 31

Towards Commercialization of Hydrophone Flow Shields to Improve Passive Acoustic Data Quality (CRADA 678) (Final Report)

This project performed testing, market research, and manufacturing refinement to ready patent-pending hydrophone flow shields developed at PNNL for commercialization. The flow shields reduce the impact of flow noise on underwater sound recordings in areas of strong flow, like tidal channels or rivers. Flow noise is a challenge in many applications where it is necessary to measure underwater sound, including measuring the sound produced by marine energy converters and monitoring marine mammals. This project addressed several key questions about flow shield performance that are high-priority for potential customers and refined existing manufacturing processes to be scalable for market-level production. Specifically, this project conducted both laboratory and field evaluations of the flow shields to comprehensively evaluate their performance. Overall, the results indicate that the flow shields reduce flow noise by over 20 dB at frequencies below 50 Hz at flow speeds greater than 0.5 m/s and are proven to survive deployments more than 6 months long.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Configurations of Commercial Advanced Nuclear-Maritime Applications

This report is the second deliverable of a series of reports set forth by the Department of Energy (DOE), led by the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), for the research award, “Accelerating Commercial Maritime Demonstration Projects for Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technologies.” This report highlights the technical, regulatory, and economic feasibility of nuclear-maritime configurations.

33 - ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

Microbiological, Physicochemical, and Immunological Analysis of a Commercial Cashew Nut-Based Yogurt

Nut-based milks and yogurts are gaining popularity, but may not offer the same benefits as dairy yogurts to consumers. Cashew nuts often cause severe allergic reactions, and cashew nut allergens are stable to several types of processing. To compare its characteristics to dairy yogurt and characterize the effects of fermentation on the Ana o 1–3 cashew nut allergens, a commercial yogurt made from cashew nuts (Cashewgurt) was evaluated for microbiological, physiochemical, and immunological properties. Average counts for lactobacilli and Streptococcus thermophilus were greater than 10 million colony forming units per milliliter, indicating the capacity to provide a health benefit. Cashewgurt pH and viscosity values were comparable to cow milk yogurts, and it was off white in color. SDS-PAGE analysis indicated a clear reduction in Ana o 1 and 2, and immuno-assay with polyclonal anti-cashew IgG antibody and cashew-allergic IgE indicated an overall reduction in allergen content. In contrast, SDS-PAGE, mass spectrometry, immunoblot, and ELISA all revealed that Ana o 3 was relatively unaffected by the fermentation process. In conclusion, Ana o 1 and Ana o 2 are sensitive to degradation, while Ana o 3 survives lactic acid bacterial fermentation during yogurt production. The analysis presented here indicates that cashew nut yogurt is not suitable for those with cashew nut allergy.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Identification of a Continuously Stable and Commercially Available Cell Line for the Identification of Infectious African Swine Fever Virus in Clinical Samples

African swine fever virus (ASFV) is causing outbreaks both in domestic pigs and wild boar in Europe and Asia. In 2018, the largest pig producing country, China, reported its first outbreak of African swine fever (ASF). Since then, the disease has quickly spread to all provinces in China and to other countries in southeast Asia, and most recently to India. Outbreaks of the disease occur in Europe as far west as Poland, and one isolated outbreak has been reported in Belgium. The current outbreak strain is highly contagious and can cause a high degree of lethality in domestic pigs, leading to widespread and costly losses to the industry. Currently, detection of infectious ASFV in field clinical samples requires accessibility to primary swine macrophage cultures, which are infrequently available in most regional veterinary diagnostic laboratories. Here, we report the identification of a commercially available cell line, MA-104, as a suitable substrate for virus isolation of African swine fever virus.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Real-Time Dynamic Brake Assessment for Heavy Commercial Vehicle Safety

This paper summarizes initial results and findings of a model developed to determine the braking performance of commercial motor vehicles in motion regardless of brake type or gross weight. Real-world data collected by Oak Ridge National Laboratory for a U.S. Department of Energy study was used to validate the model. Expanding on previous proof-of-concept research showing the linear relationship of brake application pressure and deceleration additional parameters such as elevation were added to the model. Outputs from the model consist of coefficients calculated for every constant pressure braking event from a vehicle that can be used to calculate a deceleration and thus compute a stopping distance for a given scenario. Using brake application pressure profiles derived from the dataset, stopping distances for light and heavy loads of the same vehicle were compared for various speed and road grades. For a constant brake application pressure profile (i.e. the pressure is relatively constant throughout the entire stop) it was shown that the lighter vehicle was able to stop in a shorter distance than the heavier vehicle in most scenarios other than large uphill grades. Significant changes in weight can be observed through the fuel efficiency of the vehicle to determine if the model needs to be calibrated with new or additional braking events. The model was initially developed for tracking brake performance to inform routine maintenance and the ordering of vehicles in a platoon but can be expanded to other connected and automated research areas.

Siekmann, Adam↗

Designing Dynamic Wireless Power Transfer Corridors for Heavy Duty Battery Electric Commercial Freight Vehicles

The use of wireless power transfer systems, consisting of inductive electrical coils on the vehicle and the power source may be designed for dynamic operations where the vehicle will absorb energy at highway speeds from transmitting coils in the road. This has the potential to reduce the onboard energy storage requirements for vehicles while enabling significantly longer missions. This paper presents an approach to architecting a dynamic wireless power transfer corridor for heavy duty battery electric commercial freight vehicles. By considering the interplay of roadway power capacity, roadway and vehicle coil coverage, seasonal road traffic loading, freight vehicle class and weight, vehicle mobility energy requirements, on-board battery chemistry, non-electrified roadway vehicle range requirements, grid capacity, substation locations, and variations in electricity costs, we minimize the vehicle TCO by architecting the electrified roadway and the vehicle battery simultaneously. The idea optimizes battery size and chemistry so that the depth of discharge between recharge events and expected life are balanced, thus fully utilizing the energy available throughout the course of the battery system's life. The approach is illustrated by applying it to the I-75 freight corridor, where the framework developed may be expanded and applied to a larger interstate system, expanded regional corridor, or other transportation network.

Sujan, Vivek↗

Continued results from a field campaign of wake steering applied at a commercial wind farm – Part 2

This paper presents the results of a field campaign investigating the performance of wake steering applied at a section of a commercial wind farm. It is the second phase of the study for which the first phase was reported in Fleming et al. (2019). The authors implemented wake steering on two turbine pairs, and compared results with the latest FLORIS (FLOw Redirection and Induction in Steady State) model of wake steering, showing good agreement in overall energy increase. Further, although not the original intention of the study, we also used the results to detect the secondary steering phenomenon. Results show an overall reduction in wake losses of approximately 6.6 % for the regions of operation, which corresponds to achieving roughly half of the static optimal result.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Results from a wake-steering experiment at a commercial wind plant: investigating the wind speed dependence of wake-steering performance

Wake steering is a wind farm control strategy in which upstream wind turbines are misaligned with the wind to redirect their wakes away from downstream turbines, thereby increasing the net wind plant power production and reducing fatigue loads generated by wake turbulence. In this paper, we present results from a wake-steering experiment at a commercial wind plant involving two wind turbines spaced 3.7 rotor diameters apart. During the 3-month experiment period, we estimate that wake steering reduced wake losses by 5.6% for the wind direction sector investigated. After applying a long-term correction based on the site wind rose, the reduction in wake losses increases to 9.3%. As a function of wind speed, we find large energy improvements near cut-in wind speed, where wake steering can prevent the downstream wind turbine from shutting down. Yet for wind speeds between 6–8 m/s, we observe little change in performance with wake steering. However, wake steering was found to improve energy production significantly for below-rated wind speeds from 8–12 m/s. By measuring the relationship between yaw misalignment and power production using a nacelle lidar, we attribute much of the improvement in wake-steering performance at higher wind speeds to a significant reduction in the power loss of the upstream turbine as wind speed increases. Additionally, we find higher wind direction variability at lower wind speeds, which contributes to poor performance in the 6–8 m/s wind speed bin because of slow yaw controller dynamics. Further, we compare the measured performance of wake steering to predictions using the FLORIS (FLOw Redirection and Induction in Steady State) wind farm control tool coupled with a wind direction variability model. Although the achieved yaw offsets at the upstream wind turbine fall short of the intended yaw offsets, we find that they are predicted well by the wind direction variability model. When incorporating the expected yaw offsets, estimates of the energy improvement from wake steering using FLORIS closely match the experimental results.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Milone eTape Liquid Level Sensor Laboratory Calibration with a Commercial 12.2 cm HS-Flume and 3D Printed 4 cm Micro-HS-Flumes

The NGEE Arctic Rainfall Simulator (NARS) is a variable intensity rainfall simulator (RFS) with a frame design based on the Humphry et al. (2002) RFS and a water delivery system based on the Walnut Gulch (Paige et al., 2004) RFS. The NARS uses an aluminum frame that is fully deconstructable for transportation to field locations and a water system that enables variable rain intensity. Prior to field deployment, H-flume discharge and the corresponding Milone eTape Liquid Level Sensor (eTape) resistance values were measured in the laboratory so that discharge measurements from the NGEE Arctic Rainfall Simulator could be automated. eTape resistance was measured with increasing fluid heights for the full range of the eTape to calculate sensor detection limits and resolution. The eTape was calibrated to both a commercially available 12.2 cm HS-flume and a 3D printed 4 cm Micro-HS-flume. This data package contains two .csv files, one for the eTape calibration and the other for the flume calibrations, and two .stl files to 3D print the 4 cm Micro-HS-Flume design with a 1 cm x 3.6 cm stilling well opening. The .stl files can be opened in most 3D printing or CAD programs/software. Two .kml files of the laboratory location and broader area where testing was conducted are also included in this data package.The Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments: Arctic (NGEE Arctic), was a research effort to reduce uncertainty in Earth System Models by developing a predictive understanding of carbon-rich Arctic ecosystems and feedbacks to climate. NGEE Arctic was supported by the Department of Energy's Office of Biological and Environmental Research.The NGEE Arctic project had two field research sites: 1) located within the Arctic polygonal tundra coastal region on the Barrow Environmental Observatory (BEO) and the North Slope near Utqiagvik (Barrow), Alaska and 2) multiple areas on the discontinuous permafrost region of the Seward Peninsula north of Nome, Alaska.Through observations, experiments, and synthesis with existing datasets, NGEE Arctic provided an enhanced knowledge base for multi-scale modeling and contributed to improved process representation at global pan-Arctic scales within the Department of Energy's Earth system Model (the Energy Exascale Earth System Model, or E3SM), and specifically within the E3SM Land Model component (ELM).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Timber Harvesting Economics in Early Commercial Thinning and Group Selection Prescriptions

Forest management decisions that consider both short- and long-term objectives are becoming more challenging and costly, due to market uncertainty, labor shortages, and the evolving forest industry. Under such unpredictable circumstances, a better understanding of the production economics of various silvicultural prescriptions is crucial in implementing sound forest management activities. The objectives of this study were to: a) estimate stump to landing productivity and cost for Early Commercial Thinning (ECT) and Group Selection (GS) prescriptions; and b) compare the harvest system cost ($/PMH) using machine rate and PATH (Planning and Analysis in Timber Harvesting) methods. Detailed time-motion studies were conducted in the spruce-fir forest of Northern Maine, USA, during the summer of 2019. The results, as expected, indicated the harvesting costs were 23% higher for ECT (21.08 $/m3) compared to GS (16.32 $/m3). The average productivity of the harvester and forwarder were reduced by 15 and 37%, respectively, for ECT compared to GS. The estimated harvesting system cost ($/PMH) was 4% higher as indicated by PATH compared to machine rate method. Higher operational productivity in GS can be attributed to the larger volume of logs, and shorter travel loaded distance than ECT. These findings can help forest managers make more informed decisions while implementing appropriate silvicultural prescriptions under varying conditions based on management objectives and market conditions.

Forestry↗

A Probabilistic Approach to Load Modeling for Central HVAC Systems in Large Commercial Buildings for Retrofit Decisions Under Uncertainty

Retrofitting central HVAC systems in large commercial buildings with advanced technologies like heat recovery chillers (HRCs) offers a significant opportunity to enhance energy efficiency. However, analyzing these retrofits is challenging with traditional whole-building simulation tools, which require intensive calibration and struggle to model innovative system configurations and controls. To overcome these limitations, this study proposes a load profilebased retrofit analysis framework that provides better decisions under uncertainty. The main focus of this paper is the development of a probabilistic load profile model that can be used in the framework by using exploratory data analysis (EDA) of measured building data to properly quantify its inherent variability. A non-parametric Gaussian Process (GP) model was employed to capture the time- and weather-dependent characteristics of the heating load while explicitly modeling its uncertainty. The model's effectiveness is demonstrated through strong predictive performance on unseen data and physically interpretable insights into load behavior. This data-driven, probabilistic load profile serves as a robust and flexible input for subsequent system simulations, enabling a more confident and statistically sound analysis of retrofit potential.

Ham, S W↗

Commercialization of the NLR Hydrogen Wide Area Monitor (HyWAM): Cooperative Research and Development (Final Report)

Hydrogen wide area monitoring refers to the temporal and quantitative 3-dimenasional spatial profiling of hydrogen plumes following either intentional or unintentional hydrogen releases. A hydrogen wide area monitor (HyWAM) would have applications as a research tool, for example to provide empirical data on the behavior of hydrogen dispersions following a release, which in turn can be used to validate modelling studies. Support of modeling studies and commercial applications are interrelated, since modeling can serve to guide HyWAM deployment for enhanced safety within medium to large scale hydrogen operations, such as those envisioned by H2@Scale.

08 HYDROGEN↗

Multiphase Reacting Flow Simulations and Optimization of Commercial-Scale Aerobic Bioreactors

Aerobic bioreactors are widely used in the synthesis of value-added products in pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, wherein microbial bioreactions aid in the conversion of sugars to macromolecules. These reactors are also being actively investigated as a cost-effective pathway for the production of low-value commodities such as biofuels and animal feed. Reactor scale-up is one of the important challenges when designing these systems. Gas and liquid phase transport, mass-transfer, and mixing physics at large length scales can significantly affect microbial conversion rates, particularly when the microbial reaction requires a narrow set of conditions. These phenomena are difficult to study in small-scale bench-top reactors that are typically well-mixed. Predictive computational fluid dynamics (CFD) based simulations can therefore aid in the design and optimization of these reactors. This work presents multiphase Euler-Euler CFD simulations of commercial-scale (~ 500 m3) aerobic bioreactors. Our mathematical model treats the gas and liquid as interpenetrating phases. This approach reduces the computational complexity of tracking individual gas bubbles that are several orders of magnitude smaller than reactor dimensions. We solve the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) multiphase equations that account for phase and chemical species transport, interphase mass and momentum transfer and uses a phenomenological model for oxygen uptake by microbes. We use a customized solver derived from open-source CFD toolbox, OpenFOAM, to perform these simulations, which has been validated against small-scale reactors in our previous work. This work examines the performance of three different reactor designs, viz. bubble column reactor, airlift reactor with an internal draft tube, and a stirred-tank reactor with Rushton impellers. Reactor oxygen mass-transfer coefficient, gas hold-up, and oxygen distribution are critically analyzed among reactors, and sensitivity studies pertaining to gas flow rates and reactor geometry will be presented.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

Where and When Does Solar Plus Storage Make Sense for Commercial Buildings?

As the capital cost of battery energy storage systems (BESS) declines, opportunities for commercial buildings to achieve net savings through peak demand management and energy arbitrage are emerging. National Renewable Energy Laboratory researchers modeled energy storage project economics - with and without accompanying solar photovoltaic systems - using local utility rates, ASHRAE climate zones, and solar intensity data to identify regions where these systems deliver life cycle savings now and in future cost scenarios.

battery energy storage systems↗

Report Documenting Activity for Second Alloy 709 Commercial Heat

SUMMARY Qualification of the advanced austenitic stainless steel material Alloy 709 for use in Section III Division 5 of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code is being pursued by the US Department of Energy Advanced Reactor Technology Program. Qualification of this alloy will allow its use in design and construction of components for elevated temperature nuclear reactor systems. Code qualification requires extensive characterization of three commercial scale heats of the alloy. This report describes progress in procuring the second of three required heats of Alloy 709 plate from ATI Flat Rolled Products.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗