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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 685 records · Page 38
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1987

Hybrid honeycomb panel heat rejection system

The evolution of a hybrid honeycomb panel heat rejection system concept for future high-power spacecraft is described. Performance evaluation of this heat pipe-based hybrid radiator is based on data and prediction models from a developmental component hardware testing program. The concept integrates three high-performance components into an optimized radiator system. These components are the sideflow heat pipe transport leg, honeycomb panel evaporator, and light-weight high-efficiency heat pipe fins. A 3.05 m (10 ft.) long hybrid radiator was designed considering remnant hardware available from other Hughes programs. The key performance objective for the hybrid radiator was to demonstrate high thermal transport capacity, increased radiating fin lengths, improved thermal efficiency across structural boundaries, and reduced weight. Analysis showed that 9000 W can be transported over a 3.05 m radiator and that finlengths of up to 1 m are possible.

Tanzer, H. J.↗
NASA NTRS2023

Modeling and Simulation of a Parallel Hybrid-Electric Propulsion System - Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration (EPFD) Program

Electrified aircraft propulsion concepts have been proposed to meet aggressive future performance and environmental goals for the next generation of aircraft. However, electrified aircraft present a unique modeling and simulation challenge as they introduce multiple energy sources to the propulsion system, providing various means to meet thrust requirements, compared to conventional gas turbine propulsion architectures where only fuel is available. Additionally, the introduction of an electric powertrain to the existing system enables multiple electrified flight modes to exist (i.e. eTaxi, climb boost, takeoff boost, etc.), further increasing the complexity of the modeling environment. As part of the Electrified Powertrain Flight Demonstration program, this paper presents a modeling and simulation framework for a parallel hybrid-electric propulsion concept using the Environmental Design Space simulation tool. Electrical components are modeled in NPSS, and an overall sizing methodology is introduced. Finally, various operational modes of the electric powertrain are modeled and tested and their impact on key performance parameters is evaluated.

hybrid electric propulsion↗
NASA NTRS1996

Application of Hybrid Optimization-Expert System for Optimal Power Management on Board Space Power Station

The space power system has two sources of energy: photo-voltaic blankets and batteries. The optimal power management problem on-board has two broad operations: off-line power scheduling to determine the load allocation schedule of the next several hours based on the forecast of load and solar power availability. The nature of this study puts less emphasis on speed requirement for computation and more importance on the optimality of the solution. The second category problem, on-line power rescheduling, is needed in the event of occurrence of a contingency to optimally reschedule the loads to minimize the 'unused' or 'wasted' energy while keeping the priority on certain type of load and minimum disturbance of the original optimal schedule determined in the first-stage off-line study. The computational performance of the on-line 'rescheduler' is an important criterion and plays a critical role in the selection of the appropriate tool. The Howard University Center for Energy Systems and Control has developed a hybrid optimization-expert systems based power management program. The pre-scheduler has been developed using a non-linear multi-objective optimization technique called the Outer Approximation method and implemented using the General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS). The optimization model has the capability of dealing with multiple conflicting objectives viz. maximizing energy utilization, minimizing the variation of load over a day, etc. and incorporates several complex interaction between the loads in a space system. The rescheduling is performed using an expert system developed in PROLOG which utilizes a rule-base for reallocation of the loads in an emergency condition viz. shortage of power due to solar array failure, increase of base load, addition of new activity, repetition of old activity etc. Both the modules handle decision making on battery charging and discharging and allocation of loads over a time-horizon of a day divided into intervals of 10 minutes. The models have been extensively tested using a case study for the Space Station Freedom and the results for the case study will be presented. Several future enhancements of the pre-scheduler and the 'rescheduler' have been outlined which include graphic analyzer for the on-line module, incorporating probabilistic considerations, including spatial location of the loads and the connectivity using a direct current (DC) load flow model.

Momoh, James↗
NASA NTRS2016

Health Monitoring of a Planetary Rover Using Hybrid Particle Petri Nets

This paper focuses on the application of a Petri Net-based diagnosis method on a planetary rover prototype.The diagnosis is performed by using a model-based method in the context of health management of hybrid systems.In system health management, the diagnosis task aims at determining the current health state of a system and the fault occurrences that lead to this state. The Hybrid Particle Petri Nets (HPPN) formalism is used to model hybrid systems behavior and degradation, and to define the generation of diagnosers to monitor the health states of such systems under uncertainty. At any time, the HPPN-based diagnoser provides the current diagnosis represented by a distribution of beliefs over the health states. The health monitoring methodology is demonstrated on the K11 rover. A hybrid model of the K11 is proposed and experimental results show that the approach is robust to real system data and constraints.

health monitoring↗
NASA NTRS1988

Hybrid regenerative fuel cell systems for space applications

This paper describes a hybrid regenerative fuel cell (RFC) system for space application, which is made up of an alkaline fuel cell (Space Shuttle fuel cell) and an acid electrolysis unit (solid polymer electrolyte). In the RFC, gas produced from the acid electrolysis unit and water produced by the alkaline fuel cell are repeatedly reacted in the other unit. The results of RFC's tests indicate that the system is feasible in terms of fluid/unit compatibility. In addition, the fuel cell thermal-control system proved capable of controlling fuel cell temperatures throughout long open-circuit periods. Diagrams of the RFC and its subsystems are included.

Saucier, David R.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Considering Turbofan Operability in Hybrid Electric Aircraft Propulsion System Design

This paper explores the design of a hybrid electric aircraft propulsion system that uses a turbofan to power an electric system. In such a system, the gas turbine will experience a loss of power generation as altitude increases, however the electric system will not. This difference results in designs that may over size the electric system at high altitude or under size at low altitude. Two studies are performed within this paper. The first looks at extracting power from the engine for use with electric aircraft propulsion at cruise and the second reviews a design of an engine that uses thrust assist for takeoff. Both studies look at the effects of changing altitude on the amount of power extraction or insertion that can be taken from the turbofan as dictated by operability limits. Results of the paper show that low-pressure compressor surge margin and high-pressure compressor speed can be pushed to unaccepted limits with large scale power extraction or insertion, however these issues can be mitigated by adding power extraction or insertion at off design operating points to compensate. Additionally, the benefits of thrust assist are quantified for this configuration demonstrating a reduction in thrust specific fuel consumption at cruise of over 5%.

Gas Turbine↗
NASA NTRS2023

Considering Turbofan Operability in Hybrid Electric Aircraft Propulsion System Design

This paper explores the design of a hybrid electric aircraft propulsion system that uses a turbofan to power an electric system. In such a system, the gas turbine will experience a loss of power generation as altitude increases, however the electric system will not. This difference results in designs that may over size the electric system at high altitude or under size at low altitude. Two studies are performed within this paper. The first looks at extracting power from the engine for use with electric aircraft propulsion at cruise and the second reviews a design of an engine that uses thrust assist for takeoff. Both studies look at the effects of changing altitude on the amount of power extraction or insertion that can be taken from the turbofan as dictated by operability limits. Results of the paper show that low-pressure compressor surge margin and high-pressure compressor speed can be pushed to unaccepted limits with large scale power extraction or insertion, however these issues can be mitigated by adding power extraction or insertion at off design operating points to compensate. Additionally, the benefits of thrust assist are quantified for this configuration demonstrating a reduction in thrust specific fuel consumption at cruise of over 5%.

Gas turbine↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Considering Turbofan Operability in Hybrid Electric Aircraft Propulsion System Design

This paper explores the design of a hybrid electric aircraft propulsion system that uses a turbofan to power an electric system. In such a system, the gas turbine will experience a loss of power generation as altitude increases, however the electric system will not. This difference results in designs that may over size the electric system at high altitude or under size at low altitude. Two studies are performed within this paper. The first looks at extracting power from the engine for use with electric aircraft propulsion at cruise and the second reviews a design of an engine that uses thrust assist for takeoff. Both studies look at the effects of changing altitude on the amount of power extraction or insertion that can be taken from the turbofan as dictated by operability limits. Results of the paper show that low-pressure compressor surge margin and high-pressure compressor speed can be pushed to unaccepted limits with large scale power extraction or insertion, however these issues can be mitigated by adding power extraction or insertion at off design operating points to compensate. Additionally, the benefits of thrust assist are quantified for this configuration demonstrating a reduction in thrust specific fuel consumption at cruise of over 5%.

Gas turbine↗
NASA NTRS2023

Considering Turbofan Operability in Hybrid Electric Aircraft Propulsion System Design

This paper explores the design of a hybrid electric aircraft propulsion system that uses a turbofan to power an electric system. In such a system, the gas turbine will experience a loss of power generation as altitude increases, however the electric system will not. This difference results in designs that may over size the electric system at high altitude or under size at low altitude. Two studies are performed within this paper. The first looks at extracting power from the engine for use with electric aircraft propulsion at cruise and the second reviews a design of an engine that uses thrust assist for takeoff. Both studies look at the effects of changing altitude on the amount of power extraction or insertion that can be taken from the turbofan as dictated by operability limits. Results of the paper show that low-pressure compressor surge margin and high-pressure compressor speed can be pushed to unaccepted limits with large scale power extraction or insertion, however these issues can be mitigated by adding power extraction or insertion at off design operating points to compensate. Additionally, the benefits of thrust assist are quantified for this configuration demonstrating a reduction in thrust specific fuel consumption at cruise of over 5%.

Gas Turbine↗
DOE OSTI2022

Atomic-resolution lithography with an on-chip scanning tunneling microscope

In this work, atomic-resolution lithography with a Microelectromechanical-System (MEMS) based Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) is demonstrated for the first time. The microscope consists of a commercial UltraHigh-Vacuum (UHV) STM whose regular tip is replaced with a 1-Degree-of-Freedom (1-DOF) MEMS nanopositioner. This results in a hybrid STM system where XY-plane motions are provided by the piezotube of the original system and Z-axis motion by the MEMS with a higher bandwidth. Sharp tips made of Pt or W are added to the MEMS devices with postfabrication techniques. With this hybrid system, STM-based lithography is demonstrated on an H-passivated Si (100)-2×1 sample under UHV condition. Results prove the capability of the hybrid STM system for atomic-scale lithography. This capability, paired with the small footprint of the MEMS device, makes this approach a candidate for building a high-throughput parallel STM lithography platform by incorporating an array of 1-DOF MEMS devices that perform lithography in parallel.

Alipour, Afshin (ORCID:0000000263252067)↗
NASA NTRS2018

Using Liquid Natural Gas Fuel to Cryogenically Cool and Enhance a Hybrid Electric Aircraft Power System

A previous system study identified significant increases in range and number of urban air mobility (UAM) missions by replacing the all battery power system of a notional UAM vehicle with an advanced diesel hybrid using conventional diesel or liquid natural gas (LNG) fuels (at constant vehicle design gross weight). Some benefits were realized using the LNG's cryogenic properties to reduce some electrical component losses and cooling requirements. Significant questions were raised concerning volume and thermal management considerations for all studied systems. The notional, baseline vehicle was a hybrid helicopter / airplane design capable of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL), balancing high cruise efficiency with reasonable hover capability. A subsequent power system assessment using the same notional vehicle and mission was performed that identified increased volume and power requirements for the active cooling required. The cooling airflow could also generate additional drag on the vehicle during operation. For the notional vehicle studied, the additional volume identified by the subsequent study would not affect vehicle mold line and therefore drag. However, the additional drag from cooling airflow and the power to circulate it as needed would impact power system and vehicle mission performance. Vehicle and mission models were updated and rerun. Updated results still indicated significant benefits in range and number of UAM missions, but reduced the benefit by 12-15%. Hold time for the hybrid systems also generally increased a few minutes because of reduced power available for charging from the power for required cooling flows. Vehicle weights, thermal loads, and cooling airflows from the updated analyses were similar to previous results.

systems analysis↗
DOE OSTI2021

Making the most of your electrons: Challenges and opportunities in characterizing hybrid interfaces with STEM

Inspired by the unique architectures composed of hard and soft materials in natural and biological systems, synthetic hybrid structures and associated hard-soft interfaces have recently evoked significant interest. Soft matter is typically dominated by structural fluctuations even at room temperature, while hard matter is governed by rigid mechanical behavior. This dichotomy offers considerable opportunities to leverage the disparate properties offered by these components across a wide spectrum spanning from basic science to engineering insights with significant technological overtones. Such hybrid structures, which include polymer nanocomposites, DNA functionalized nanoparticle superlattices, and metal organic frameworks to name a few, have delivered promising insights into the technologically relevant applications such as catalysis, environmental remediation, optoelectronics, and medicine. The interfacial structure between the hard and soft phases demonstrates features across a variety of length scales and often strongly influence the functionality of hybrid systems. While scanning/transmission electron microscopy (S/TEM) has proven to be a valuable tool for acquiring intricate molecular and nanoscale details of these interfaces, the unusual nature of hybrid composites presents a suite of challenges that make assessing or establishing structure–property relationships especially difficult. There are additional considerations at all stages of sample analysis from preparing electron-transparent samples to obtaining sufficient contrast to resolve the interface between dissimilar materials given the dose sensitivity of soft materials. Here, we discuss each of these challenges and supplement a review of recent developments in the field with additional experimental investigations and simulations to present solutions for attaining a nano or molecular-level understanding of these interfaces. These solutions present a host of opportunities for investigating the role interfaces play in this unique class of functional materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS2007

Hybrid Automated Diagnosis of Discrete/Continuous Systems

A recently conceived method of automated diagnosis of a complex electromechanical system affords a complete set of capabilities for hybrid diagnosis in the case in which the state of the electromechanical system is characterized by both continuous and discrete values (as represented by analog and digital signals, respectively). The method is an integration of two complementary diagnostic systems: (1) beacon-based exception analysis for multi-missions (BEAM), which is primarily useful in the continuous domain and easily performs diagnoses in the presence of transients; and (2) Livingstone, which is primarily useful in the discrete domain and is typically restricted to quasi-steady conditions. BEAM has been described in several prior NASA Tech Briefs articles: "Software for Autonomous Diagnosis of Complex Systems" (NPO-20803), Vol. 26, No. 3 (March 2002), page 33; "Beacon-Based Exception Analysis for Multimissions" (NPO-20827), Vol. 26, No. 9 (September 2002), page 32; "Wavelet-Based Real-Time Diagnosis of Complex Systems" (NPO-20830), Vol. 27, No. 1 (January 2003), page 67; and "Integrated Formulation of Beacon-Based Exception Analysis for Multimissions" (NPO-21126), Vol. 27, No. 3 (March 2003), page 74. Briefly, BEAM is a complete data-analysis method, implemented in software, for real-time or off-line detection and characterization of faults. The basic premise of BEAM is to characterize a system from all available observations and train the characterization with respect to normal phases of operation. The observations are primarily continuous in nature. BEAM isolates anomalies by analyzing the deviations from nominal for each phase of operation. Livingstone is a model-based reasoner that uses a model of a system, controller commands, and sensor observations to track the system s state, and detect and diagnose faults. Livingstone models a system within the discrete domain. Therefore, continuous sensor readings, as well as time, must be discretized. To reason about continuous systems, Livingstone uses monitors that discretize the sensor readings using trending and thresholding techniques. In development of the a hybrid method, BEAM results were sent to Livingstone to serve as an independent source of evidence that is in addition to the evidence gathered by Livingstone standard monitors. The figure depicts the flow of data in an early version of a hybrid system dedicated to diagnosing a simulated electromechanical system. In effect, BEAM served as a "smart" monitor for Livingstone. BEAM read the simulation data, processed the data to form observations, and stored the observations in a file. A monitor stub synchronized the events recorded by BEAM with the output of the Livingstone standard monitors according to time tags. This information was fed to a real-time interface, which buffered and fed the information to Livingstone, and requested diagnoses at the appropriate times. In a test, the hybrid system was found to correctly identify a failed component in an electromechanical system for which neither BEAM nor Livingstone alone yielded the correct diagnosis.

Park, Han↗
DOE OSTI2026

Polarization‐Engineered Near‐Field Generation Using a Hybrid Tip–Antenna System

Precise control of light polarization at the nanoscale is critical for accessing chiral optical responses and manipulating spin–photon interactions in advanced materials. Yet, conventional scattering-type near-field probes predominantly generate out-of-plane linear polarization and offer little control over phase or polarization state. Here, in this study, we introduce a polarization-engineered near-field methodology based on a combined metallic tip and planar dipole nanoantenna system. Using full-wave electromagnetic simulations, we show that the tip acts as a vertically oriented plasmonic resonator, while the antenna supports an in-plane dipolar mode. By tuning the tip–antenna geometry and tip height, the two orthogonal field components attain comparable amplitudes and a controllable ∼90° phase offset, producing circularly polarized nano-light in the antenna gap. The proposed system effectively functions as a nanoscale quarter-wave plate, converting linearly polarized illumination into circularly polarized hotspots without external polarization optics. This method establishes an experimentally accessible route toward polarization-programmable near-field nanoscopy, enabling chiral spectroscopy, selective excitation of spin/valley degrees of freedom, and quantum optical investigations at the nanoscale.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

A Quantum-Classical Collaborative Training Architecture Based on Quantum State Fidelity

Recent advancements have highlighted the limitations of current quantum systems, particularly the restricted number of qubits available on near-term quantum devices. This constraint greatly inhibits the range of applications that can leverage quantum computers. Moreover, as the available qubits increase, the computational complexity grows exponentially, posing additional challenges. Consequently, there is an urgent need to use qubits efficiently and mitigate both present limitations and future complexities. To address this, existing quantum applications attempt to integrate classical and quantum systems in a hybrid framework. In this study, we concentrate on quantum deep learning and introduce a collaborative classical-quantum architecture called co-TenQu. The classical component employs a tensor network for compression and feature extraction, enabling higher-dimensional data to be encoded onto logical quantum circuits with limited qubits. On the quantum side, we propose a quantum-state-fidelity-based evaluation function to iteratively train the network through a feedback loop between the two sides. co-TenQu has been implemented and evaluated with both simulators and the IBM-Q platform. Compared to state-of-the-art approaches, co-TenQu enhances a classical deep neural network by up to 41.72% in a fair setting. Additionally, it outperforms other quantum-based methods by up to 1.9 times and achieves similar accuracy while utilizing 70.59% fewer qubits.

42 ENGINEERING↗