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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 649 records · Page 36
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1993

Techno-economic requirements for composite aircraft components

The primary reason for use of composites is to save structural weight. A well designed composite aircraft structure will usually save 25-30 percent of a well designed metal structure. The weight savings then translates into improved performance of the aircraft in measures of greater payload, increased flying range or improved efficiency - less use of fuel. Composite materials offer technical advantages. Key technical advantages that composites offer are high stiffness, tailored strength capability, fatigue resistance, and corrosion resistance. Low thermal expansion properties produce dimensionally stable structures over a wide range of temperature. Specialty resin 'char' forming characteristics in a fire environment offer potential fire barrier application and safer aircraft. The materials and processes of composite fabrication offer the potential for lower cost structures in the near future. The application of composite materials to aircraft are discussed.

Palmer, Ray↗
NASA NTRS2004

Techno-Political Space Cooperation: A Longitudinal Analysis of NASA's Bilateral and Multilateral Agreements

NASA's international programs are both numerous and successful, with over two thousand international agreements forming a foundation of U.S. government cooperation that involved over half the United Nation's membership. Previous research, by the author, into these agreements has identified five variables underlying NASA's international cooperation efforts and these variables form a framework for explaining international cooperation behavior on a macro-level. This paper builds upon that research to effectively explain lower-level patterns of cooperation in NASA's experience. Two approaches for analyzing the space agency's history are used: aggregation of all agreements and a cluster (disaggregated) analysis of four key segments. While researchers of NASA's international cooperation often considered individual cases first, and then generalize to macro-level explanations. This study, in contrast, begins by considering all agreements together in order to explain as much as possible at the macro level before proceeding to lower tier explanations. These lower tier assessments are important to understanding regional and political influences on bilateral and multilateral cooperation. In order to accomplish this lower-tier analysis, the 2000 agreements are disaggregated into logical groupings enabling an analysis of important questions and clearer focus on key patterns concerning developing states, such as the role of international institutions or privatization on international cooperation in space technology.

Hudiburg, John J.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

TECHNO-ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF A CRYOGENIC FLUX CAPACITOR FOR GRID STORAGE

The Cryogenic Flux Capacitor (CFC) is a cold, dense fluid storage core with integrated design features that afford the designer flexibility and provide new possibilities for the storage and discharge of energy. The stored energy, in this case, is represented by hydrogen physically bonded within the nanoscale pores within the aerogel composite blanket material, and the process of bonding or debonding is governed by principles of physical adsorption (physisorption) and thermodynamics. The large surface area afforded by the nanoporous aerogel (~1,000 m2/g) allows for storage densities close to, or in some cases exceeding, that of normal boiling point liquids. Its performance easily exceeds what can be achieved via ambient temperature, high-pressure gas storage for an equivalent volume. CFC storage is predicted to be easily scalable, is constructed from readily available commercial materials, lends itself to a range of pressure applications, and is geometry insensitive.

Joshua Schmitt↗
DOE OSTI2017

Bench Scale Process for Low Cost CO 2 Capture Using a PhaseChanging Absorbent: Techno-Economic Analysis Topical Report

The objective of this project is to design and build a bench-scale process for a novel phase-changing CO 2 capture solvent. The project will establish scalability and technical and economic feasibility of using a phase-changing CO 2 capture absorbent for post-combustion capture of CO 2 from coal-fired power plants with 90% capture efficiency and 95% CO 2 purity at a cost of $40/tonne of CO 2 captured by 2025 and a cost of <$10/tonne of CO 2 captured by 2035. This report presents system and economic analysis for a process that uses a phase changing aminosilicone solvent to remove CO 2 from pulverized coal (PC) power plant flue gas. The aminosilicone solvent is a pure 1,3-bis(3-aminopropyl)-1,1,3,3-tetramethyldisiloxane (GAP-0). Performance of the phase-changing aminosilicone technology is compared to that of a conventional carbon capture system using aqueous monoethanolamine (MEA). This analysis demonstrates that the aminosilicone process has significant advantages relative to an MEA-based system. The first-year CO 2 removal cost for the phase-changing CO 2 capture process is $52.1/tonne, compared to $66.4/tonne for the aqueous amine process. The phase-changing CO 2 capture process is less costly than MEA because of advantageous solvent properties that include higher working capacity, lower corrosivity, lower vapor pressure, and lower heat capacity. The phase-changing aminosilicone process has approximately 32% lower equipment capital cost compared to that of the aqueous amine process. However, this solvent is susceptible to thermal degradation at CSTR desorber operating temperatures, which could add as much as $88/tonne to the CO 2 capture cost associated with solvent makeup. Future work is focused on mitigating this critical risk by developing an advanced low-temperature desorber that can deliver comparable desorption performance and significantly reduced thermal degradation rate.

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Techno-economic Analysis of an Integrated Gasification Direct-Fired Supercritical CO2 Power Cycle

This presentation describes recent systems studies of a coal-fueled, oxy-fired direct supercritical CO2 (sCO2) power cycle, which inherently captures carbon for storage (CCS). In this plant, coal is gasified in an entrained flow gasifier, the syngas is cleaned and burned with oxygen and diluent sCO2 in the cycle’s oxy-combustor. This is followed by turbine expansion and recuperation of thermal energy in the exhaust. After water is condensed from the working fluid, some of the CO2 is exhausted for CCS, and the balance is compressed and heated in the recuperator for return to the combustor. The conceptual design and system model for the plant are discussed, including thermal integration between the sCO2 cycle and the gasifier, and optimization of the overall plant configuration and operating conditions. The capital cost, operating expenses, and cost of electricity (COE) are also estimated. Results show improved efficiency and COE relative to IGCC plants with CCS.

Weiland, Nathan↗
DOE OSTI2019

Techno-Economic Assessment of Geothermal Power Plants Hybridized with Solar Heat and Thermal Storage

Geothermal power plants may experience a decrease in power output over time due to a reduction in either mass flow rate, temperature or pressure of the resource. A recent study quantified the temperature drawdown of U.S. double-flash geothermal power plants at 0.8% per year. Hybridizing existing geothermal plants with other renewable power sources to exploit the unused capacity of the geothermal power block has become an area of increasing interest. For instance, a geothermal power plant may be retrofitted with heat from a concentrating solar field. In addition, geothermal may be integrated with solar in a new-build site with the aim of combining the benefits of both technologies -- i.e. the baseload generation of geothermal, plus the relatively high efficiency of concentrating solar power. In this article, we give an overview of hybrid geothermal-solar projects undertaken at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in collaboration with various partners. We investigate the retrofit of double-flash and binary geothermal plants with solar heat. Off-design models are developed and validated with operational data. Annual simulations evaluate the hourly performance, the benefits of thermal storage, and are used to calculate economic metrics. Finally, we discuss the implications of integrating solar and geothermal in a new greenfield site.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Geothermal-Enabled Zero Energy Community: A Techno-Economic Design Study to Address Cold-Climate Challenges

In northern climates, developing a zero-energy community is increasingly costly. Building loads are higher, thanks to the colder weather, and solar PV is both less effective, due to lower solar incidence, and misalignment with the buildings' energy needs (summer production, winter demands). We present a novel application for geothermal energy production in support of a zero-energy community, combining appropriate energy efficiency (demand design), geothermal production (supply design), and asset dispatch as an integrated technoeconomic package. This poster presents the process used to explore this system integration challenge, initial results, and discusses some of the technical opportunities for increasing the community-scale adoption of geothermal as an electric and thermal resource. Results indicate that under certain conditions, community-scale geothermal resources are quite competitive with today's grid tariffs and with PV, showing an LCOE within $0.01/kWh before consideration of important grid modernization factors such as resiliency and reliability.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Techno-Economic Analysis of Integrated Gasification Fuel Cell Systems

This is a presentation that was delivered virtually at the 2020 International Pittsburgh Coal Conference. In the presentation, details of the cost and performance parameter improvement due to incremental changes made in gasification and fuel cell operation and system configurations were presented. High level results indicate that SOFC fueled by coal-derived synthesis gas can be competitive with other fossil-based energy generation technologies when significant improvement to gasification technology is made and carbon capture is included. The cost of carbon capture of this system is very low due to the high efficiency of the SOFC and the high system fuel utilization due to the vent gas recirculation concept which recirculates hydrogen in the effluent back to the cell.

Noring, Alex↗