Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Process Development and Demonstration”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 559 records · Page 31
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Cooperative Research and Development Agreement With Georgetown University Report: National Institutes of Health, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences Clinical and Translational Science Award

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is participating with Georgetown University (GU) as a subrecipient in response to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) (U54 Clinical Trial Optional) funding opportunity announcement. This Cooperative Research and Development Agreement is put in to place to facilitate the development and implementation of clinical interventions that demonstrably improve human health is currently a complex, recursive, and inefficient process that leads to delays of years or decades before discoveries in biomedical research result in health benefits for patients and communities. NCATS conducts and supports research in the science of translation, to discover the mechanistic and operational principles of the intervention development and dissemination process, thereby providing the scientific foundation for improvements in translational efficiency that will accelerate the realization of interventions that improve human health. Under NCATS’ leadership, the CTSA Program supports a national network of medical research institutions called hubs. GU is the lead institution in one of the NIH hubs that was created as a result of a previous NIH CTSA. The missions of the GU have historically included the advancement of health through research in the clinical and biomedical sciences, the education of future leaders in medical and nursing practice and academia, and the provision of compassionate and scientifically competent patient care and service to the Washington, DC community and the nation. GU is the lead institution for the Georgetown-Howard Universities Center for Clinical and Translational Science (GHUCCTS), a multi-institutional partnership of medical research institutions forged from a desire to promote clinical research and translational science. Through multiple collaborations among these institutions, GHUCCTS is transforming clinical research and translational science in order to bring new scientific advances to health care. Oak Ridge National Laboratory is the Department of Energy's (DOE) largest science and energy laboratory. Managed since April 2000 by a partnership of the University of Tennessee and Battelle, ORNL was established in 1943 as a part of the secret Manhattan Project to pioneer a method for producing and separating plutonium. During the 1950s and 1960s, ORNL became an international center for the study of nuclear energy and related research in the physical and life sciences. With the creation of DOE in the 1970s, ORNL's mission broadened to include a variety of energy technologies and strategies. Today the laboratory supports the nation with a peacetime science and technology mission that is just as important as, but very different from, its role during the Manhattan Project. ORNL is home to the world's premier center for high performance supercomputing to enable scientific discovery. ORNL has extensive expertise in various areas of computer science that are uniquely situated to support GU. Additionally, ORNL’s leading computational user facilities present a unique opportunity to leverage the largest scale machines for open science in support of the stated mission of the NCATS CTSA. ORNL's partnership with GU will offer unparalleled opportunity in data analytics, deep-learning, artificial intelligence, and urban dynamics.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Process intensification of CO 2 absorption using a 3D printed intensified packing device

In this study, we present a first of its kind demonstration of successful enhancement of CO 2 chemical absorption, under selected conditions, using a process intensification approach. A multifunctional device that integrates contact of phases and heat exchange has been developed, characterized, and tested. Heat transfer analysis has demonstrated the efficacy of the device as a heat exchanger, and mass transfer results have shown substantial improvement in the uptake of CO 2 under a range of operating conditions.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
NASA NTRS1987

Multiple arm coordination using concurrent processing

The use of concurrent processing for robot arm coordination is considered, and a hierarchically structured set of routines for the completion of coordinated tasks is discussed. Concurrent programming controls interacting concurrent processes by providing techniques to handle the problems of mutual exclusion, synchronization, and communication. The process is demonstrated for the example of the producer-consumer problem. Software supporting a concurrent environment to control a robotic system is being developed in which parallel rather than sequential thought processes are used.

Basta, Robert A.↗
DOE OSTI2020

AMPPED LDRD: Advanced Models of the Physics & Phenomena of Electrical Discharge.

This Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project aimed at addressing an unmet need for physics-based models that enable prediction of electrical breakdown in the presence of high voltage gradients and real-world environments. This project focused on understanding coupled plasma-surface feedback phenomena critical to electrical discharge processes and design of breakdown voltages, breakdown times, and breakdown paths. New secondary electron emission and coupled plasma-surface measurement methods and models were developed. Highly reproducible discharge experiments were developed to provide current-voltage data as a function of time, and methods were developed to condition electrodes for predictable discharge. To assess plasma-surface feedback mechanisms, new surface physics capabilities, including measurement systems for local and global photoemission yield and ion-induced secondary electron emission yield were developed. Discharge models were developed to incorporate these yields for predicting discharge behavior to understand influence of surface physics on discharge current and time evolution, and methods to accelerate these simulations were demonstrated. A key finding was that the initiation process of a non-vacuum discharge appears highly dependent on photoemission at the cathode. Advanced diagnostics were developed, including spatial electrical field imaging, spectroscopy of plasmas, and high-speed imaging of discharge event s in metal and dielectric environments. These diagnostics and improved electrical models are a step toward enabling quantitative design margins, assurance of safety architectures, and implementation of novel materials and technologies for wide ranging energy and electronics applications.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Chapter 14: Sustainable Biomass Conversion Process Assessment

Process intensification and integration for sustainable design play an essential role in addressing and alleviating severe sustainable development challenges. It is prudent to evaluate a process design in its early stage development to ensure the process can achieve sustainability goals. The primary goal of a sustainability evaluation is to assess the impact of systems on areas sought to be protected and maintained over time, such as human well-being and ecosystems (Schaubroeck, T. and Rugani, B. (2017). A revision of what life cycle sustainability assessment should entail: towards modeling the net impact on human well-being. Journal of Industrial Ecology 21 (6): 1464-1477). Parenthetically, sustainable process design to convert biomass to fuels and chemicals plays an integral part in the bioeconomy sustainability. It is recognized that the integration of sustainability in process design is core to the mission in developing renewable fuels and should be considered a necessary practice in biorefinery design. This study demonstrates the use of Gauging Reaction Effectiveness for ENvironmental Sustainability of Chemistries with a multi-Objective Process Evaluator (GREENSCOPE) as a tool to help track progress on process sustainability performance attributed to conversion improvement. With the incorporation of a wide range of indicators, GREENSCOPE captures the multi-dimensional aspect of the process design and operation. As opposed to conventional techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment (in which the focuses are limited to economic and environmental aspects), GREENSCOPE enables the consideration of process intensification and integration for sustainable design. A high-octane gasoline production from woody biomass feedstock is used as a case study to demonstrate the approach.

biomass↗
NASA NTRS1991

Intelligent systems technology infrastructure for integrated systems

A system infrastructure must be properly designed and integrated from the conceptual development phase to accommodate evolutionary intelligent technologies. Several technology development activities were identified that may have application to rendezvous and capture systems. Optical correlators in conjunction with fuzzy logic control might be used for the identification, tracking, and capture of either cooperative or non-cooperative targets without the intensive computational requirements associated with vision processing. A hybrid digital/analog system was developed and tested with a robotic arm. An aircraft refueling application demonstration is planned within two years. Initially this demonstration will be ground based with a follow-on air based demonstration. System dependability measurement and modeling techniques are being developed for fault management applications. This involves usage of incremental solution/evaluation techniques and modularized systems to facilitate reuse and to take advantage of natural partitions in system models. Though not yet commercially available and currently subject to accuracy limitations, technology is being developed to perform optical matrix operations to enhance computational speed. Optical terrain recognition using camera image sequencing processed with optical correlators is being developed to determine position and velocity in support of lander guidance. The system is planned for testing in conjunction with Dryden Flight Research Facility. Advanced architecture technology is defining open architecture design constraints, test bed concepts (processors, multiple hardware/software and multi-dimensional user support, knowledge/tool sharing infrastructure), and software engineering interface issues.

Lum, Henry↗
DOE OSTI2021

A multi-year short-range hindcast experiment with CESM1 for evaluating climate model moist processes from diurnal to interannual timescales

Abstract. We present a multi-year short-range hindcast experiment and its experimental design for better evaluation of both the mean state and variability of atmospheric moist processes in climate models from diurnal to interannual timescales and facilitate model development. We used the Community Earth System Model version 1 as the base model and performed a suite of 3 d hindcasts initialized every day starting at 00:00 Z from 1997 to 2012. Three processes – the diurnal cycle of clouds during different cloud regimes over the central US, precipitation and diabatic heating associated with the Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO), and the response of precipitation, surface radiative and heat fluxes, as well as zonal wind stress to sea surface temperature anomalies associated with the El Niño–Southern Oscillation – are evaluated as examples to demonstrate how one can better utilize simulations from this experiment to gain insights into model errors and their connection to physical parameterizations or large-scale state. This is achieved by comparing the hindcasts with corresponding long-term observations for periods based on different phenomena. These analyses can only be done through this multi-year hindcast approach to establish robust statistics of the processes under well-controlled large-scale environment because these phenomena are either a result of interannual climate variability or only happen a few times in a given year (e.g., MJO, or cloud regime types). Furthermore, comparison of hindcasts to the typical simulations in climate mode with the same model allows one to infer what portion of a model's climate error directly comes from fast errors in the parameterizations of moist processes. As demonstrated here, model biases in the mean state and variability associated with parameterized moist processes usually develop within a few days and manifest within weeks to affect the simulations of large-scale circulation and ultimately the climate mean state and variability. Therefore, model developers can achieve additional useful understanding of the underlying problems in model physics by conducting a multi-year hindcast experiment.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2009

Reconfigurable, Bi-Directional Flexfet Level Shifter for Low-Power, Rad-Hard Integration

Two prototype Reconfigurable, Bi-directional Flexfet Level Shifters (ReBiLS) have been developed, where one version is a stand-alone component designed to interface between external low voltage and high voltage, and the other version is an embedded integrated circuit (IC) for interface between internal low-voltage logic and external high-voltage components. Targeting stand-alone and embedded circuits separately allows optimization for these distinct applications. Both ReBiLS designs use the commercially available 180-nm Flex fet Independently Double-Gated (IDG) SOI CMOS (silicon on insulator, complementary metal oxide semiconductor) technology. Embedded ReBiLS circuits were integrated with a Reed-Solomon (RS) encoder using CMOS Ultra-Low-Power Radiation Tolerant (CULPRiT) double-gated digital logic circuits. The scope of the project includes: creation of a new high-voltage process, development of ReBiLS circuit designs, and adjustment of the designs to maximize performance through simulation, layout, and manufacture of prototypes. The primary technical objectives were to develop a high-voltage, thick oxide option for the 180-nm Flexfet process, and to develop a stand-alone ReBiLS IC with two 8-channel I/O busses, 1.8 2.5 I/O on the low-voltage pins, 5.0-V-tolerant input and 3.3-V output I/O on the high-voltage pins, and 100-MHz minimum operation with 10-pF external loads. Another objective was to develop an embedded, rad-hard ReBiLS I/O cell with 0.5-V low-voltage operation for interface with core logic, 5.0-V-tolerant input and 3.3-V output I/O pins, and 100-MHz minimum operation with 10- pF external loads. A third objective was to develop a 0.5- V Reed-Solomon Encoder with embedded ReBilS I/O: Transfer the existing CULPRiT RS encoder from a 0.35-micron bulk-CMOS process to the ASI 180-nm Flexfet, rad-hard SOI Process. 0.5-V low-voltage core logic. 5.0-V-tolerant input and 3.3-V output I/O pins. 100-MHz minimum operation with 10- pF external loads. The stand-alone ReBiLS chip will allow system designers to provide efficient bi-directional communication between components operating at different voltages. Embedding the ReBiLS cells into the proven Reed-Solomon encoder will demonstrate the ability to support new product development in a commercially viable, rad-hard, scalable 180-nm SOI CMOS process.

DeGregorio, Kelly↗
DOE OSTI2024

Single-Shot Readout and Weak Measurement of a Tin-Vacancy Qubit in Diamond

The negatively charged tin-vacancy center in diamond (SnV − ) is an emerging platform for building the next generation of long-distance quantum networks. This is due to the SnV − ’s favorable optical and spin properties including bright emission, insensitivity to electronic noise, and long spin coherence times at temperatures above 1 K. Here, we demonstrate measurement of a single SnV − electronic spin with a single-shot readout fidelity of 87.4%, which can be further improved to 98.5% by conditioning on multiple readouts. In the process, we develop understanding of the relationship between strain, magnetic field, spin readout, and microwave spin control. We show that high-fidelity readout is compatible with rapid microwave spin control, demonstrating a favorable parameter regime for use of the SnV − center as a high-quality spin-photon interface. Finally, we use weak quantum measurement to study measurement-induced dephasing; this illuminates the fundamental interplay between measurement and decoherence in quantum mechanics, and provides a universal method to characterize the efficiency of color-center spin readout. Taken together, these results overcome an important hurdle in the development of the SnV − -based quantum technologies and, in the process, develop techniques and understanding broadly applicable to the study of solid-state quantum emitters.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2022

Energy-Efficient Microbial Electrochemical Lignin and Alkaline Hydroxide Recovery from DMR Black Liquor

Black liquor is a complex waste stream generated from the fast-expanding biorefinery industry, and the high management cost has been known as a major development barrier. In this work, we demonstrated a rationally designed 4-chamber microbial electrolysis process that was capable of recovering the value-added lignin, NaOH, and H2 products while removing waste organics from the Deacetylation and Mechanical Refining (DMR) black liquor, which could potentially reduce the disposal cost by up to 40%. The lab-scale MEC achieved 52% organic removal from a highly concentrated feedstock (28,960 ± 212 mg/L COD) and recovered 83.2 mM NaOH under a small voltage application (1.2 V). Lignin recovery was observed to be as high as 13.98 +/- 0.28 g/L, and 0.35 L/L/day H2 was produced with a faradaic efficiency of 93.5%. This work provided a good example on how complex liquid waste stream can be valorized via multi-functional microbial electrochemical technology, and how the traditionally unfavored pH gradient in an electrochemical reactor can be manipulated for lignin precipitation and alkaline recovery at the same time. The versatility and good performance in concurrent contaminants removal, lignin precipitation, H2 production and NaOH recovery demonstrate a good potential for microbial electrolysis in black liquor treatment.

BIOMASS FUELS,INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND AN↗
DOE OSTI2026

Extraction, Characterization, and Stability Studies of Bistriazinyl-Derived Carboxylic Acids

Separation of An(III) and Ln(III) ions will benefit the recycling of used nuclear fuel (UNF). For this purpose, many ligands have been tested over the years, and several separation processes have been successfully demonstrated on the laboratory scale. Current research aims at the development of new ligands that are built only with carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen (CHON), as they can be incinerated completely without secondary waste production. Here, we tested a new class of water-soluble ligands, the bistriazinyl-octa-carboxylic acids. One member, in particular, 2,6-bis-[5,6-di(3,4-dicarboxyphenyl)-1,2,4- triazin-3-yl]-pyridine (BTPOA), was found to be suitable for the selective separation of Am(III) and Cm(III) ions from Ln(III) ions and may act as a CHON alternative to its sulfonated analogue (SO 3 -Ph-BTP). BTPOA exhibited good extraction results and a high selectivity for Am(III) over Eu(III) ions. This ligand’s complexation of metal ions was further studied using potentiometric spectroscopy, as well as time-resolved laser-induced spectroscopy with Cm(III) and Eu(III) in aqueous HClO 4 and HNO 3 media. Conditional stability constants of each formed species were determined. In the HClO 4 system, Cm(III) formed three species (1:1, 1:2, and 1:3) through the stepwise addition of a single BTPOA molecule. On the other hand, in HNO 3 , Cm(III) formed two 1:2 complexes and one 1:3 complex, while the stepwise formation of three species was observed for Eu(III). The stability constants are comparable to the values for SO 3 -Ph-BTP. The radiolytic behavior of BTPOA was also investigated using electron pulse irradiation measurements to determine absolute rate coefficients (k) under ambient temperature conditions for the reaction of BTPOA with typical UNF reprocessing radical radiolysis products the hydrated electron (e aq − , k = (1.60 ± 0.02) × 10 10 M −1 s −1 ), the hydrogen atom (H • , k = (2.17 ± 0.03) × 10 9 M −1 s −1 ), and hydroxyl ( • OH, k = (6.95 ± 0.06) × 10 9 M −1 s −1 ) and nitrate (NO 3 • , k = (0.37 ± 0.02) × 10 7 M −1 s−1) radicals. These rate coefficients indicate that the radiolytic longevity of BTPOA should increase with HNO 3 concentration, owing to the consumption of e aq − /H • , by nitrate anions, and the replacement of • OH by the less reactive NO 3 • .

Diaz Gomez, Laura [Forschungszentrum Juelich (Germ↗
DOE OSTI2020

A New Process for Carbon Dioxide Conversion to Fuel

In this project, TDA developed a new mixed metal oxide-based sorbent that converts CO 2 (captured from coal fired power plant) to CO, which can then be combined with renewable H 2 generated by water electrolysis to produce different liquid fuels. TDA’s absorbent-based CO 2 conversion process uses a redox process, which splits the reverse water gas shift reaction steps into two stages: CO 2 reduction to CO and H 2 oxidation to H 2 O and eliminates the equilibrium limitations. The CO produced in the two-stage reactor system can then be further reacted with renewable H 2 to produce methanol, naphtha, diesel, or gasoline. We worked with the Gas Technology Institute (GTI) and Advanced Power & Energy Program (APEP) of University of California, Irvine (UCI) to design and develop the liquid fuel synthesis process that is built around this new material. We demonstrated the techno-economic viability of the new sorbent based redox process to convert CO 2 into synthesis gas by: 1) demonstrating continuous carbon dioxide reduction in a prototype test system for over 500 hours while converting up to 0.4 kg CO 2 /day. With the successful completion of the R&D effort, the technology is now ready for a larger pilot-scale demonstration and the technology readiness has been raised from TRL 3 to TRL 5. In collaboration UCI, we also completed a high-fidelity process design and economic analysis. The required selling price (RSP) for methanol (Case 1 H2-MeOH) is $\$$3.06/gal, naphtha and diesel (Case 2 H2-FT) are $\$$6.21/gal and $\$$8.91/gal, and for gasoline (Case 3 H2-MTG) is $\$$6.96/gal on a 2011 dollar basis. To put these costs in perspective, the recent (June 2020) U.S. price for methanol made from natural gas is about $\$$1.19/gal according to Methanex, a major methanol producer in North America. The recent (June 2, 2020) California prices for gasoline and diesel with California’s strict specifications are $\$$3.35/gal and $\$$3.73/gal according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency. On the other hand, it should be noted that the gasoline and diesel produced by the designs of Case 2 and Case 3 would be both nitrogen and sulfur free. These RSPs are based on a cost of imported electricity of $\$$64/MWh based on the low-end current wind generated electricity cost (Genevieve and Ramsden, Wind Electrolysis: Hydrogen Cost Optimization, Technical Report, June 2011, NREL/TP-5600-50408). This cost is by far the largest component of the variable costs used in computing the RSPs. The cost of the imported electricity has to approach zero for the RSP to be competitive for methanol produced in Case 1 and naphtha and diesel produced in Case 2 while the cost of electricity has to be less than $\$$10/MWh for gasoline produced in Case 3.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2022

A Novel Process for Carbon Dioxide Conversion to Fuel

In this project, TDA developed a new mixed metal oxide-based sorbent that converts CO2 (captured from coal fired power plants) to CO, which can then be combined with renewable H2 generated by water electrolysis or H2 from steam methane reforming to produce different liquid fuels. TDA’s absorbent-based CO2 conversion process uses a redox process, which splits the catalytic reforming of methane with CO2 reaction into two stages: CO2 reduction to CO and CH4 reforming into H2 and CO which eliminates the equilibrium limitations. The CO produced in the two-stage reactor system can then be further reacted with renewable H2 to produce methanol, naphtha, diesel, or gasoline. We worked with the Advanced Power & Energy Program (APEP) of University of California, Irvine (UCI) to design and develop the liquid fuel synthesis process that is built around this new material. We demonstrated the techno-economic viability of the new sorbent based redox process to convert CO2 into synthesis gas by demonstrating continuous carbon dioxide reduction in a prototype test system for over 585 hours while converting up to 10 kg CO2/day. With the successful completion of the R&D effort, the technology is now ready for a larger pilot-scale demonstration and the technology readiness has been raised from TRL 3 to TRL 5. In collaboration with UCI, we completed a high-fidelity process design and economic analysis. The required sale price (RSP) for gasoline (Case 1 NG-MTG) is $4.91/gal and naphtha and diesel (Case 2 NG-FT) are $4.23/gal and $6.07/gal, respectively, on a 2011 dollar basis. To put these costs in perspective, the California prices in current dollars (with its strict specifications) for regular grade gasoline from last year to current year have varied from a low of $3.10/gal in January 2021 to a high of $5.76/gal in March 2022, while prices for diesel from last year to current year have varied from a low of $3.40/gal in January 2021 to a high of $6.41/gal in May 2022 according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency data. It should be noted that the gasoline and diesel produced by these designs of Case 1 and Case 2 would be of very high quality and both nitrogen and sulfur free. These RSPs are based on a cost of imported electricity of $64/MWh based on the low-end current wind generated electricity cost (Genevieve 2011). This cost is by far the largest component of the variable costs used in computing the RSPs. A sensitivity analysis of these RSPs to the cost of imported electricity shows that the cost of the imported electricity has a significant effect on the RSPs. The life cycle analysis (LCA) shows that the total cradle-to-gate CO2 emissions for both liquid fuels (diesel and gasoline) were negative, indicating that overall more CO2 is consumed than released during production of the fuel from CO2 feed stack for both cases (-296 kgCO2 per MT gasoline for Case 1 and -705 kgCO2 per MT diesel for Case 2). On a cradle-to-grave comparison, the use of diesel produced using TDA’s process (2,457 kgCO2 per MT diesel) would release 37.6% less CO2 compared to petroleum based diesel (3,937 kgCO2 per MT diesel) while the use of gasoline produced using TDA’s process (2,792 kgCO2 per MT gasoline) would release 29.3% less CO2 compared to petroleum based gasoline (3,946 kgCO2 per MT gasoline). With the successful completion of the R&D effort, the technology is now ready for a bench-scale demonstration and the technology readiness has been raised from TRL 3 (Analytical and experimental critical function and/or characteristic proof of concept) to TRL 5 (Laboratory scale similar system validation in relevant environment).

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗
NASA NTRS1987

Real time AI expert system for robotic applications

A computer controlled multi-robot process cell to demonstrate advanced technologies for the demilitarization of obsolete chemical munitions was developed. The methods through which the vision system and other sensory inputs were used by the artificial intelligence to provide the information required to direct the robots to complete the desired task are discussed. The mechanisms that the expert system uses to solve problems (goals), the different rule data base, and the methods for adapting this control system to any device that can be controlled or programmed through a high level computer interface are discussed.

Follin, John F.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Knowledge From Pictures (KFP)

The old maxim goes: 'A picture is worth a thousand words'. The objective of the research reported in this paper is to demonstrate this idea as it relates to the knowledge acquisition process and the automated development of an expert system's rule base. A prototype tool, the Knowledge From Pictures (KFP) tool, has been developed which configures an expert system's rule base by an automated analysis of and reasoning about a 'picture', i.e., a graphical representation of some target system to be supported by the diagnostic capabilities of the expert system under development. This rule base, when refined, could then be used by the expert system for target system monitoring and fault analysis in an operational setting. Most people, when faced with the problem of understanding the behavior of a complicated system, resort to the use of some picture or graphical representation of the system as an aid in thinking about it. This depiction provides a means of helping the individual to visualize the bahavior and dynamics of the system under study. An analysis of the picture augmented with the individual's background information, allows the problem solver to codify knowledge about the system. This knowledge can, in turn, be used to develop computer programs to automatically monitor the system's performance. The approach taken is this research was to mimic this knowledge acquisition paradigm. A prototype tool was developed which provides the user: (1) a mechanism for graphically representing sample system-configurations appropriate for the domain, and (2) a linguistic device for annotating the graphical representation with the behaviors and mutual influences of the components depicted in the graphic. The KFP tool, reasoning from the graphical depiction along with user-supplied annotations of component behaviors and inter-component influences, generates a rule base that could be used in automating the fault detection, isolation, and repair of the system.

Truszkowski, Walt↗
NASA NTRS2002

A Data-Driven Solution for Performance Improvement

Marketed as the "Software of the Future," Optimal Engineering Systems P.I. EXPERT(TM) technology offers statistical process control and optimization techniques that are critical to businesses looking to restructure or accelerate operations in order to gain a competitive edge. Kennedy Space Center granted Optimal Engineering Systems the funding and aid necessary to develop a prototype of the process monitoring and improvement software. Completion of this prototype demonstrated that it was possible to integrate traditional statistical quality assurance tools with robust optimization techniques in a user- friendly format that is visually compelling. Using an expert system knowledge base, the software allows the user to determine objectives, capture constraints and out-of-control processes, predict results, and compute optimal process settings.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2005

Nondestructive Evaluation of Advanced Materials with X-ray Phase Mapping

X-ray radiation has been widely used for imaging applications since Rontgen first discovered X-rays over a century ago. Its large penetration depth makes it ideal for the nondestructive visualization of the internal structure and/or defects of materials unobtainable otherwise. Currently used nondestructive evaluation (NDE) tools, X-ray radiography and tomography, are absorption-based, and work well in heavy-element materials where density or composition variations due to internal structure or defects are high enough to produce appreciable absorption contrast. However, in many cases where materials are light-weight and/or composites that have similar mass absorption coefficients, the conventional absorption-based X-ray methods for NDE become less useful. Indeed, the light-weight and ultra-high-strength requirements for the most advanced materials used or developed for current flight mission and future space exploration pose a great challenge to the standard NDE tools in that the absorption contrast arising from the internal structure of these materials is often too weak to be resolved. In this presentation, a solution to the problem, the use of phase information of X-rays for phase contrast X-ray imaging, will be discussed, along with a comparison between the absorption-based and phase-contrast imaging methods. Latest results on phase contrast X-ray imaging of lightweight Space Shuttle foam in 2D and 3D will be presented, demonstrating new opportunities to solve the challenging issues encountered in advanced materials development and processing.

Hu, Zhengwei↗
NASA NTRS2012

A Multidisciplinary Approach to Mixer-Ejector Analysis and Design

The design of an engine for a civil supersonic aircraft presents a difficult multidisciplinary problem to propulsion system engineers. There are numerous competing requirements for the engine, such as to be efficient during cruise while yet quiet enough at takeoff to meet airport noise regulations. The use of mixer-ejector nozzles presents one possible solution to this challenge. However, designing a mixer-ejector which will successfully address both of these concerns is a difficult proposition. Presented in this paper is an integrated multidisciplinary approach to the analysis and design of these systems. A process that uses several low-fidelity tools to evaluate both the performance and acoustics of mixer-ejectors nozzles is described. This process is further expanded to include system-level modeling of engines and aircraft to determine the effects on mission performance and noise near airports. The overall process is developed in the OpenMDAO framework currently being developed by NASA. From the developed process, sample results are given for a notional mixer-ejector design, thereby demonstrating the capabilities of the method.

Hendricks, Eric, S.↗