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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 667 records · Page 37
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Studies of time resolution, light yield, and crosstalk using SiPM-on-tile calorimetry for the future Electron-Ion Collider

We recently proposed a high-granularity calorimeter insert for the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) that is based on plastic scintillator tiles readout with silicon photomultipliers. In this work, we concretize its design by characterizing its building blocks with measurements of light yield, optical crosstalk, and timing resolutions using cosmic-rays, an LED, and a beta source. We also compared two approaches for the optical isolation of cells: "megatiles" with grooved boundaries between cells, and a 3D-printed plastic frame hosting individual cells. Further, we found that the latter suppresses optical crosstalk to negligible levels while providing an easier assembly method. Overall, these performance studies can help inform calorimeter design and realistic simulations of 5D showers (time, energy, position) for the EIC and other experiments.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2021

SAM Co-Development to Support Fluoride-salt-cooled High-temperature Reactor Design and Licensing (CRADA 2018-18177 Final Report)

This project aims to raise the SAM code's technical and commercial maturity level to enable the Kairos Power ("Kairos") to use SAM to support its KP-FHR design analysis and licensing application. Argonne National Laboratory ("Argonne") has actively developed and maintained SAM, a modern system-level analysis tool for advanced nonlight water reactors safety analysis. Kairos is currently actively pursuing development of an FHR design and associated technology, and consequently requires a pedigreed safety analysis tool. The purpose of this project is to increase the maturity of the SAM code for the modeling and simulation of the KP-FHR design, thus enabling its use in safety analyses that support licensing application. Argonne will primarily be responsible for software design, development, and testing; while Kairos will be responsible for software requirements, assessment of software capabilities, needs, gaps, and priorities, and development of proprietary models. The research and development activities for the joint SAM development project include: a series of identification and prioritization studies on design characteristics, event sequences, relevant phenomena, and software capabilities; SAM capability enhancements for specific KP-FHR systems and components; performing code verification and validations; integrating uncertainty quantification (UQ), model calibration, and sensitivity analysis (SA) techniques in safety analyses; and raising the software quality rigor level for commercial-grade applications.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Dopant Optimization of Donors in Semiconductor Opening Switches to Eliminate Prepulse

Semiconductor opening switches are solid-state devices capable of delivering nanosecond, hundreds of kilovolts pulses by interrupting kiloamps of current. The interruption of the current occurs in a moderately doped p-region when a high electric field region (HFR) is formed. The HFR occurs because the reverse pumping current cannot be supported by the saturation velocity and majority carrier concentration of the doping level. However, the donor profile also significantly affects the pulse performance. A secondary prepulse occurs if a secondary HFR is formed at the interface of the background n-doping and N+ doping (X n ) . By moving the location of X n deeper into the diode, the effect of the prepulse is reduced. This article investigates the effect of the donor doping profile on the performance metrics of semiconductor opening switches through technology computer-aided design (TCAD) simulations and experimental results. Through a SILVACO TCAD optimization, we designed a P + /p/n - base/n/N + where the intersection of the moderate p-region and intrinsic n-base region (X p ) is at 160 μm and X n is at 220 μm. This profile is fabricated via silicon epitaxy. Experimentally, it is shown that a deep X n (220 μm) compared with a shallow X n (300 μm) reduces the rise time by >5× . In addition, the magnitude of current density during interruption affects the prepulse foot and pulse shape. At lower current densities without the graded donor profile, high peak voltages are not achieved. Comparing the experimental results to the TCAD simulations shows that the model is predictive under high-current densities in the semiconductor opening switch (SOS) regime.

nanosecond pulse power↗
DOE OSTI2021

3D printed Ni-Mn-Fe Bi-Functional Catalyst for Metal Air Batteries

Oxygen evolution catalyst with porous structures on the submillimeter and millimeter ranges have been shown to have high catalytic activity. Often, a limiting factor in the performance of a catalyst can be its specific surface area as this can limit the availability of active sites which encourage the desired reaction. As such, the inclusion of a hierarchical structure that include both meso-scale and nano-scale porosity can offer a means to greatly increase the performance of electrochemical catalysts. We have developed a method for manufacturing samples with such a hierarchical structure by combining techniques of direct ink writing (DIW), thermal sintering and free corrosion based dealloying. This allows us to prepare three-dimensionally structured samples with open-cell porosity at the macro-, micro- and nano-scales. Each level of porosity offers a different advantage to the overall functionality and applicability of this technology.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Q-18: Advanced System Development Fact Sheet

Q-18 provides Systems and Design Engineering for Future Weapons Systems and Technology up to Phase 3 or 6.3 with emphasis on improved performance, safety, produceability and agility of the future stockpile. The group regulars engages and partners with DoD customers, NNSA as well as other divisions across the LANL campus including to complete its mission. The group is forward leaning and provides Future System and System Agnostic Design and System Engineering support to a wide range of experiments from internally fielded technology tests to hydrodynamic and subcritical experiments including fabrication for small component level to full scale prototypes and test articles, test article assembly, and mechanical and electrical design.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2022

Bridging Equipment Reliability Data and Robust Decisions in a Plant Operation Context

In order to reduce operation and maintenance (O&M) costs, nuclear power plants (NPPs) are moving from corrective and periodic maintenance to predictive maintenance strategies. Such transition requires changes on the data that needs to be retrieved and on the type of decision processes to be employed. Advanced monitoring and data analysis technologies are essential to support predictive strategies. They can in fact provide precise information about health of a component, track its degradation trends, and provide information of its expected failure time. With such information, maintenance operations for a component can be performed right before its expected failure time. This dynamic context of O&M operations requires new methods to analyze data, propagate component health information from the component to the system level, and optimize plant resources. In this respect, the risk informed asset management (RIAM) project has been tasked to develop and test this new class of methods into a risk analytics toolset. This toolset consists of data analytics tools coupled with reliability methods designed to manage plant assets and performances in a predictive maintenance context. This report shows the latest improvements on such development and the initial testing of our methods on the three main research areas that the RIAM project is focusing on. These areas are the following: equipment reliability data analytics, system reliability modeling, and plant resources optimization methods. We show how the methods developed in these areas can support predictive maintenance strategies by: 1) analyzing equipment reliability data (either in numeric and textual form), 2) assessing component and system health through an innovative margin-based reliability approach, and 3) identifying the most critical components and set optimal maintenance schedule based on plant economic and operational constraints.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2024

FY24 Advancements in PFLOTRAN Development for GDSA Framework

The Spent Fuel & Waste Science and Technology (SFWST) Campaign of the Office of Spent Fuel & Waste Disposition of U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) is conducting research and development on geologic disposal of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level nuclear waste (HLW). This report describes fiscal year 2024 accomplishments in the Geologic Disposal Safety Assessment (GDSA) PFLOTRAN Development work package, which is charged with developing subsurface simulation software for postclosure performance assessment of deep geologic disposal of SNF and HLW.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2024

Development of a neural network model for peeling–ballooning stability analysis in the KSTAR tokamak pedestals

The neural network model, MISHKA-NN is developed to mitigate the computational burden associated with the linear ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) stability analysis of the pedestal based on the peeling–ballooning (P–B) model. By utilizing both 1D plasma profiles (current density, pressure gradient, and safety factor) and 0D parameters (plasma geometry, total current, and toroidal mode number), the model predicts linear growth rate of edge-localized ideal MHD instability in a given equilibrium state. By enabling the prediction of each instability within a second, the model reduces the time required for plotting a pedestal P–B stability diagram (j - α diagram) from approximately 100 CPU hours to a few CPU minutes. Notably, even with the utilization of parametric pressure and current profiles and plasma boundary shapes for the training dataset, the model shows a satisfactory level of performance in benchmarking the j - α diagram for the reconstructed equilibrium from a KSTAR tokamak experiment. We anticipate the model to serve as a versatile alternative to 2D linear MHD stability codes, alleviating numerical costs.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Produced Water Quality Standards & Techno-economic Analysis for Alternative Treatment Trains

This work presents NETL’s efforts in analyzing the performance and cost of a of water treatment trains for processing produced water. Levelized cost of water (LCOW) and specific energy consumption (SEC) figures are provided for both treatment trains. Permeate compositions are compared to the Type I produced water standards for the state of Texas.

low salt rejection reverse osmosis↗
DOE OSTI2020

Impact of Selected High-Performance Fuel Blends on Three-Way Catalyst Light Off under Synthetic Spark-Ignition Engine-Exhaust Conditions

The U.S. Department of Energy funded Co-Optimization of Fuels and Engines initiative aims to simultaneously develop advanced engines along with high-performance fuels to reduce petroleum consumption. The engine exhaust of spark-ignited light-duty vehicles contains pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide (CO), and non-methane organic gases. When operated above their “light-off” temperature, three-way catalysts (TWCs) efficiently control the emissions of these pollutants from the vehicle exhaust. However, below the catalyst light-off temperature, during cold start, the TWCs are not effective. Thus, the stringent environmental regulations necessitate cold-start compliance of advanced engines operating on novel fuels for commercialization. Exhaust composition strongly impacts the effectiveness of TWCs. Hence, ensuring that the high-performance fuels under consideration do not have detrimental effects on current emissions control technology is necessary. To mitigate cold-start emissions, a low light-off temperature of the fuel on the TWC is desirable. As real-world fuels are multicomponent blends, we conducted investigations into the light-off behavior of representative fuel mixtures on a three-mode redox-aged commercial TWC under synthetic engine-exhaust conditions. The high-performance fuels in this study included 10–30% volumetric levels of ethanol, isobutanol, diisobutylene, and an aromatic mixture. Each of these high-performance fuel components was mixed into a gasoline surrogate blendstock for oxygenate blending (BOB). Our results showed that aromatics and alkenes in the surrogate BOB inhibit low-temperature reactivity of alkanes, alcohols, and CO on the TWC and dominate the blend light-off behavior. All the high-performance fuel blends had a very similar light-off behavior to the surrogate gasoline BOB, indicating that blending up to 30% (by vol.) of high-performance blendstocks in a gasoline base fuel can potentially reduce greenhouse gas emissions through improved engine efficiency and petroleum displacement without jeopardizing the ability to meet emissions regulations. While some high-performance blendstocks demonstrated lower light-off temperatures than a surrogate gasoline blend, taking advantage of the higher catalytic reactivity of these blendstocks to reduce cold-start emissions would require reducing the aromatic content in petroleum-based market fuels.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Ultra-low field 13 C MRI of hyperpolarized pyruvate

Medicine is evolving beyond therapy largely predicated on anatomical information and towards incorporating patient-specific molecular biomarkers of disease for more accurate diagnosis and effective treatment. The complementary combination of hyperpolarization by spin-lock induced crossing signal amplification by reversible exchange (SLIC SABRE) and low field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can enable accessible metabolic imaging to advance personalized medicine. Hyperpolarized 13 C-enriched pyruvate has demonstrated promise for imaging metabolism in cancer, heart disease and neurodegenerative disorders; however, broader clinical adoption awaits validated clinical indications, and is further constrained by the cost and limited availability of current hyperpolarization technology. Parahydrogen-based polarization techniques, paired with low-cost high-performance MRI at millitesla fields, offer a means of broadening the reach of metabolic imaging. Here we show results demonstrating in situ hyperpolarization of pyruvate at 6.5 mT by SLIC SABRE, followed by immediate readout without field cycling or sample shuttling. We achieve 13 C signal enhancements several million times above thermal equilibrium at 6.5 mT, corresponding to polarization levels of approximately 3%. Leveraging this enhancement, we perform 13 C MRI and acquire NMR spectra with resolution sufficient to distinguish chemical shifts between pyruvate isotopomers. These results show a viable pathway towards accessible metabolic imaging with hyperpolarized 13 C MRI at ultra-low field.

Medical and clinical diagnostics↗
DOE OSTI2022

Passenger Boarding Station and Curbfront Configuration Concepts for On-Demand Services with Small Automated Vehicles

This paper explores the various configurations of off-line stations and vehicle berthing that have been found to be fundamentally important parameters in the analysis of system performance, operations, and capacity. The proposed automated transit network system concept, which provides a direct ride between a passenger's origin and destination station, is applicable to both fixed guideway automated transit and to systems with self-driving vehicles. Addressed at a conceptual level is the vehicle/station interface in terms of Americans with Disability Act compliance and station capacity concerns. The concept of open-edge platforms monitored by advanced sensing technology combined with artificial intelligence-powered perception for the purpose of protecting passengers from entering the active vehicle lanes is also discussed. Finally, the paper draws initial conclusions on how these station configurations, operational complexities, and associated costs can be better understood through appropriate research and development.

ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Development of prechamber enabled mixing-controlled combustion strategy for ultra-low methane emissions from lean burn natural gas engines

This numerical study explores the optimization of Prechamber Enabled Mixing-Controlled Combustion (PC-MCC) using natural gas in heavy-duty engines, aiming to enhance combustion efficiency to minimize methane slip and NOx emissions. The approach involves a prechamber ignition system, distinct from conventional spark ignition (SI) systems, to initiate combustion of direct injected natural gas. By leveraging the robust ignition characteristics of the prechamber, the PC-MCC method demonstrates significant potential in achieving efficient combustion akin to diesel engines but with lower greenhouse gas emissions. The research evaluates the effects of various geometric and operational parameters on the combustion process and emissions, including prechamber volume, nozzle diameter, direct injector (DI) geometry, and engine operating strategies. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations are utilized, focusing on a heavy-duty, single-cylinder engine modeled after the Caterpillar C9.3B engine. Key findings indicate that a prechamber volume of 3 cc, coupled with a nozzle diameter of 2.75 mm for two prechamber holes, strikes an optimal balance between combustion efficiency and emissions reduction. This configuration ensures robust combustion across a range of operating conditions while maintaining methane slip within targeted limits. Further investigation into DI geometry shows the significance of the injector umbrella angle and nozzle diameter in shaping the fuel-air mixing and combustion dynamics. An umbrella angle of 130° and a nozzle diameter of 300 microns are identified as optimal, promoting rapid and efficient combustion with minimized methane and NOx emissions. The study also investigates the impact of injection timing and pressure, highlighting their roles in controlling combustion timing and influencing emissions levels. Advanced injection timing is found to be crucial in achieving the desired low methane slip, whereas retarded injection timing assists to reduce NOx emissions while having a slight increase in methane emissions. Operating strategies incorporating various levels of Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) are assessed for their effectiveness in further reducing emissions. The research demonstrates that a judicious combination of internal hot EGR and careful calibration of DI pressure and SOI timing can achieve significant reductions in NOx emissions while keeping methane slip under control. Specifically, an internal EGR level of 15%–25%, combined with DI pressures of 200–300 bar and injection timings at or after top dead center, is recommended. These findings contribute valuable insights into the development of advanced combustion techniques for natural gas engines, offering a viable pathway to reduce methane slip without compromising engine efficiency or performance. The PC-MCC system presents a promising solution for the future of heavy-duty natural gas engine technology to reduce methane emissions.

Nsaif, Osama↗
DOE OSTI2022

Powertrain Performance and Total Cost of Ownership Analysis for Class 8 Yard Tractors and Refuse Trucks

Advanced powertrain technologies, specifically fuel cell electric powertrains, have gained attention as viable alternatives for medium- and heavy-duty (M/HD) vehicles. However, it is unclear how these alternative powertrain vehicles stack up against their diesel counterparts in terms of performance and total cost of ownership (TCO). Furthermore, there are vehicle segments within the M/HD sector that have remained unstudied for fuel cell electric applications. This analysis aims to provide a comparative scoping-level TCO and performance analysis for two heavy-duty vocation vehicles (Class 8 U.S. port-side yard tractor and Class 8 U.S.-based refuse truck) for both conventional diesel and heavy-duty fuel cell electric (HDFC) powertrains. The refuse truck analysis also considered compressed natural gas powertrains (CNG) for comparison. The analysis includes seven timeframes (2020, 2025, 2030, 2035, 2040, 2045, and 2050) for comparison. This simplified TCO analysis includes only direct costs (fuel price, glider purchase price, and operating & maintenance costs) and excludes any associated indirect cost (e.g., dwell time costs and other opportunity based costs). Representative drive cycles for each vehicle were based on on-board GPS logged data and chosen by the analysis team to represent average, non-extreme driving conditions. At the time the analysis was performed, the Inflation Reduction Act was not in effect and therefore any potential subsidies and future cost reductions enacted under the Inflation Reduction Act were not included. Based on the operational setpoints used in this analysis, HDFC powertrains for both yard tractors and refuse trucks have the potential to achieve TCO advantages over conventional diesel powertrains (and CNG for refuse truck applications) in the near- to mid-term future while meeting the necessary duty cycle performance requirements. Yard tractors and refuse trucks spend a significant amount of time operating at low speeds, with long durations of idling, and experience numerous start/stop occurrences. These operational characteristics favor fuel cell performance as fuel cells operate with higher efficiencies at lower percentages of total power output. Conversely, conventional diesel and CNG engines are most efficient at higher percentages of total power output. This helps HDFC powered yard tractors and refuse trucks realize improved fuel economy when compared to their diesel counterparts, which helps reduce total fuel costs and therefore, total TCO. The analysis demonstrates that fuel prices play a significant role in determining TCO for each vehicle and should remain an R&D focus area. Overall, under the analysis' specified conditions, HDFC yard tractors have the potential to achieve cost parity with diesel yard tractors as early as 2025. For refuse trucks, HDFC refuse trucks have the potential to achieve cost parity with diesel and CNG refuse trucks in 2030 and 2040, respectively.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Real Time-Optimal Power Flow-Based Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS)

This project aims to promote lab-proven clean energy technology to commercially scalable versions of the technology, integrate the technology with broader systems, provide extended performance data, and validate the manufacturability and reliability of the technology. The lab-proven technology, RT-OPF DERMS, was developed and validated through previous U.S. Department of Energy-funded efforts, including Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy funding under the Network Optimized Distributed Energy Systems program and Holy-Cross Energy High Impact Project. In the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy Network Optimized Distributed Energy Systems project, the RT-OPF DERMS was developed and implemented in multiple hardware platforms, demonstrating its performance and capabilities in the lab and field environments. The technology was also evaluated and matured via a participation in the U.S. Department of Energy I-Corps program, whose goal is to pair teams of researchers with industry mentors for an intensive 2-month training in which the researchers define technology value propositions, conduct customer discovery interviews, and develop viable market pathways for their technologies. These activities indicate the high technology maturity and Technology Readiness Level of the RT-OPF DERMS.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Salt International Collaborations FY24 Update

This report summarizes the international collaborations conducted by Sandia funded by the US Department of Energy Office (DOE) of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) Spent Fuel and Waste Science & Technology (SFWST) as part of the Sandia National Laboratories Salt R&D and Salt International work packages. This report satisfies the level-three milestone M3SF-24SN010303063. Several stand-alone sections make up this summary report, each completed by the participants. The sections discuss granular salt reconsolidation (KOMPASS/MEASURES), engineered barriers (RANGERS), numerical model comparison (DECOVALEX), an NEA Salt Club working group on the development of scenarios as part of the performance assessment development process, and progress on seal percolation experiments with German colleagues at Gesellschaft für Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit (GRS). Finally, we summarize events related to the US/German Workshop on Repository Research, Design and Operations.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Passenger Boarding Station and Curbfront Configuration Concepts for On-Demand Services with Small Automated Vehicles: Preprint

This paper explores the various configurations of off-line stations and vehicle berthing that have been found to be fundamentally important parameters in the analysis of system performance, operations, and capacity. The proposed Automated Transit Network system concept, which provides a direct ride between a passenger's origin and destination station, is applicable to both fixed guideway automated transit and to systems with self-driving vehicles. Addressed at a conceptual level are the vehicle/station interface in terms of Americans with Disability Act compliance and station capacity concerns. The concept of open-edge platforms monitored by advanced sensing technology combined with artificial intelligence-powered perception for the purpose of protecting passengers from entering the active vehicle lanes is also discussed. Finally, the paper draws initial conclusions on how these station configurations, operational complexities, and associated costs can be better understood through appropriate research and development.

ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Application of Banking Scoring and Rating for Coherent Risk Measures in Electricity Systems ABSCORES

This project developed a framework for asset and system risk management that can be incorporated into current electricity system operations to improve economic efficiency and establish an Electric Assets Risk Bureau. We leveraged scoring and ratings from banking and financial institutions alongside current optimization methods in dispatching power systems to help system operators and electricity markets schedule resources. This approach is based on the observation that there are major discrepancies between the power scheduled by a system operator and the actual power generated/consumed. These discrepancies—exacerbated by unplanned contingencies (e.g., natural disasters)—are caused by multiple factors, including the different financial, environmental and risk preferences of power producers, consumers, and aggregators. We developed a framework that counteracts two failures in electricity system operations: imperfect information and missing markets for products. The technical approach included five tasks. Tasks 1 and 2 supported the development of risk scores at the asset level with historical data collected for this project. Tasks 3, 4, and 5 incorporated scoring into decision-making at the system level. The proposed effort achieved PERFORM's Program Objectives because the proposed outputs and algorithms do not exist in the electricity industry and are an innovative approach to managing risk. Since the acknowledged need to better assess and act upon risk profiles for grid assets has not been met by the industry, this project will also impact ARPA-E's Mission Areas, including improving energy efficiency and giving the U.S. a technological lead in advanced energy technologies.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗