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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 73 records · Page 4

A Neural Network-Based Power Mismatch Elimination Strategy for Integrated Solar and ESS AC/DC Systems (MARS)

The multiport autonomous reconfigurable solar power plant (MARS) is a promising concept for the integration of photovoltaic (PV) and energy storage system (ESS) to the transmission ac grid and a high-voltage direct current (HVdc) link. The presence of PV and ESS in each arm of the MARS results in uneven distribution of active power among different submodules (SMs), thereby leading to unbalanced SM capacitor voltages and potentially compromising the system stability. Moreover, in the case of partial shadings, shaded PV SMs will suffer from decreased power injections causing power mismatch in the MARS system. To address this issue, a neural-network-based power mismatch elimination (NNPME) strategy is proposed in this article. The proposed NNPME strategy optimizes ESS usage and leverages both dc and ac circulating currents to facilitate power transfer among the SMs, arms, and phases of the MARS system. Simulation and control hardware-in-the-loop (cHIL) experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed NNPME strategy. Compared with the traditional approaches, the proposed NNPME strategy can significantly enhance system efficiency and ensure stable and continuous operation, even in the presence of uneven power distribution within the MARS system.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

AUTOPERF

AutoPerf is a collection of modules for low-overhead performance monitoring on HPC systems, the modules collect monitoring data such as MPI data, network counter data etc. Autoperf modules interoperate with the Open source Darshan software (xgitlab.cels.anl.gov/darshan/) as submodules and leverages the Darshan's log recording and analysis framework.

CHUNDURI, DEVISUDHEER KUMAR↗

Exploration ToolKit (ExTK)

The Exploration Toolkit (ExTK) is a reusable Extended Reality (XR) system developed for incorporating and exploring 3-Dimensional (3-D) computer aided design (CAD) models in XR, with a primary focus on Augmented Reality (AR). The ExTK consists of a Developer Mode and a User Mode. In Developer Mode, ExTK provides developers with the ability to easily import 3-D CAD models and activate desired exploration functionality and layout. Multiple models can be added to a single instantiation of the ExTK using Unity's Scene capability. Exploration functions include scaling, rotating, explode/contract, animations, hiding parts, submodules, and measurement functions. In User Mode, ExTK provides a menu system that allows users to select models and initiate exploration functions. ExTK is architected for reusability and developers can customize the ExTK layout and functions according to application needs. ExTK is designed to be hardware agnostic, although initial development focused on the Microsoft HoloLens as the primary deployment platform. The ExTK is developed using the Unity Game Engine Development Platform. Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525. SAND2021-1506 O

Klein, BrandonThorin↗

DireWolf

DireWolf is an integrated micro-reactor capability being developed using an advanced multiphysics modeling and simulation capability for heat pipe-cooled micro-reactor concepts. The DireWolf application is built on INL’s Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE) development and runtime framework and is composed of the following MOOSE- based applications as submodules, coupled together using the MOOSE MultiApps and Transfers capability and executed as a single application: Griffin (reactor physics and radiation transport), BISON (nuclear fuel performance), Grizzly (structural mechanics), Sockeye (heat pipe technology), and RELAP-7 (open-air and super-critical CO2 Brayton cycle).

Permann, Cody↗

spopt: a python package for solving spatial optimization problems in PySAL

Spatial optimization is a major spatial analytical tool in management and planning, the significance of which cannot be overstated. Spatial optimization models play an important role in designing and managing effective and efficient service systems such as transportation, education, public health, environmental protection, and commercial investment among others. To this end, spopt (spatial optimization) is under active development for the inclusion of newly proposed models and methods for regionalization, facility location, and transportation-oriented solutions (Feng et al., 2021). Spopt is a submodule in the open-source spatial analysis library PySAL (Python Spatial Analysis Library) founded by Dr. Sergio J. Rey and Dr. Luc Anselin in 2005 (Rey et al., 2015, 2021; Rey & Anselin, 2007). The goal of developing spopt is to provide management and decision-making support to all relevant practitioners and to further promote the appropriate and meaningful application of spatial optimization models in practice.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Multi-Physics Simulations of Heat Pipe Micro Reactor

System Analysis Module (SAM) is under development at Argonne National Laboratory as a modern system-level modeling and simulation tool for advanced non-light water reactor safety analyses. It utilizes the object-oriented application framework MOOSE to leverage the modern software environment and advanced numerical methods. The capabilities of SAM are being extended to enable the transient modeling, analysis, and design of various advanced nuclear reactor systems. This report presents the development of new capabilities for modeling the heat pipe type reactor systems. The need for power at remote locations away from a reliable electrical grid is an important niche for nuclear energy. Heat pipe-cooled fast-spectrum nuclear reactors are well suited for these applications. The key feature of the heat pipe reactors is the use of heat pipes for heat removal from the reactor core. The heat pipe makes use of the phase change of the working fluid and transports a large amount of heat from the evaporator to the condensation end with very small temperature drops. In contrast to the traditional nuclear reactor system that makes use of pumped loop for extracting the thermal power, the heat pipe reactors make use of hundreds of heat pipes for removing the thermal power (including the decay heat) passively. This could potentially significantly improve the reliability and safety of the reactor systems. The essential part in the analysis of a heat pipe type reactor is the modeling of heat transport inside the heat pipe. The capability of SAM was extended to enable the modeling of the conventional heat pipe. The full suite of non-LWR codes for confirmatory analysis at NRC is known as the Comprehensive Reactor Analysis Bundle (CRAB). It makes use of existing NRC codes, and integrates them with several codes developed through the DOE-NE’s Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program. In this report, the heat pipe micro reactor is simulated using three submodules under CRAB. The MAMMOTH module is used to simulate the reactor kinetics behavior of the micro reactor; the SAM module is used to simulate the heat conduction in the reactor core and heat removal through the heat pipe heat exchangers and Reactor Cavity Cooling System (RCCS); and the MOOSE Tensor Mechanics module is used to simulate the thermal expansion of the reactor cores. The different sub-models are coupled together using MOOSE’s MultiApp system and executed using the BlueCrab application. The new capability has been demonstrated by a steady-state operation analysis, a failure of a single central heat pipe transient analysis, and a loss of heat sink transient analysis. The fully coupled model is shown to work well.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

FY22 Progress Report on BISON Metallic Fuel Model Development and V&V Using EBR-II Legacy Data

In this report, the activities and achievements made by Argonne National Laboratory for the Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) BISON code metallic fuel validation and verification project in FY2022 are summarized. The FIPD-BISON integration powered metallic fuel low-burnup swelling framework has been enhanced to cover both radial and axial swelling analyses. Axial-dependent as-fabricated fuel radius profiles have been used to improve the accuracy in evaluating radial swelling strain. The simulations of the IFR experiment X447, which was focused on FCCI/CCCI induced cladding degradation and failure, have been converted into a BISON metallic fuel assessment case with detailed documentation, which is also the first FIPD-BISON integration powered assessment case in BISON. A FIPD-BISON integration repository has been established to be an optional submodule of BISON to support FIPD-BISON integration powered assessment cases. Preliminary trials to simulate the in-cell out-of-pile transient experiment have been made after implementing some essential models such as cladding plasticity models and liquid phase penetration models. The initial results are promising and help identify gaps that need to be filled in FY2023 and beyond, to eventually achieve OPTD-BISON integration powered assessment cases.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

Resilient GaN-based Power Module with Improved Diagnostic for Future Accelerator

Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) and Dual-Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test facility (DARHT) play a pivotal role in advancing scientific research and national security initiatives. As a premier facility for neutron science, LANSCE and DARHT provide invaluable insights into fundamental research, materials science, nuclear physics, high-energy physics, material science, and medical imaging. Existing (DC) power supply and pulse modulation technologies used in LANSCE and DARHT face limitations in terms of reliability, maintainability, and diagnostics which hinder the progress of these cutting-edge facilities. By proposing improvements to LANL accelerator facilities’ performance and addressing component failure, we aim to enhance scientific outcomes and minimize disruptions, allowing for more efficient and productive research activities while ensuring the continuity of valuable contributions to the user community. This proposal aims to revolutionize (DC) power supply and pulse power systems for future particle accelerators via the development of a resilient GaN-based power module with improved diagnostic and redundant submodules.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Low-cost Manufacturing of Semitransparent CdTe PV for Building Integration

Solar has been demonstrated to be a robust renewable energy source, constituting a significant portion of the United States’ renewable energy portfolio. Despite its growth across residential, commercial, and utility sectors over the past decades, it remains a small fraction of the overall energy infrastructure. Challenges persist in fully harnessing solar power to meet the nation's escalating energy demands. Among these challenges lies the hurdle of efficiently distributing large quantities of solar-generated electricity to densely populated regions with the highest energy needs and costs. Traditional utility-scale arrays demand extensive land, a luxury often unavailable in metropolitan areas. Consequently, installations must be situated at a distance, necessitating additional infrastructure for electricity transmission to service areas. While metropolitan landscapes lack sprawling open spaces suitable for conventional utility-scale solar deployment, they offer a different resource: windows. Semitransparent photovoltaic window technology has the potential to not only bolster the grid's energy capacity, but to also provide HVAC and economic advantages to building owners. However, commercial availability of building-integrated photovoltaic windows remains limited. Silicon based photovoltaics currently dominate the solar market but adapting them for use in windows poses a variety of engineering and economic challenges such as relatively low power density, high costs associated with custom manufacturing, and aesthetic considerations. Addressing these challenges, this project explored the use of laser ablation patterning to manufacture cost-effective, high-efficiency, semitransparent Cadmium Telluride photovoltaic modules. Results showcased the potential of this methodology in developing photovoltaic windows and other innovative semitransparent PV applications. The ablation manufacturing technique demonstrated great versatility in achieving different patterns and levels of visible light transmission, and the power loss due to ablation was nearly directly proportional to the amount of material removed. Furthermore, the manufacturing process for Cadmium Telluride modules already has established advantages in material and energy efficiency, and the conversion of a standard submodule to semitransparent essentially requires a single additional process step, ensuring scalability. It is important to note that during this work, Toledo Solar experienced substantial organizational upheaval stemming from a lawsuit with First Solar. An external investigation led the board of directors to remove and replace the previous management team, and several other members of the staff elected to depart as well, including the then acting Principle Investigator on this project. The remaining Toledo Solar team attempted to recover from the disruption and deliver on the remaining tasks, but upon its own review, the Department of Energy ruled the project in default and terminated the contract in December 2023.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Code Coverage Status of the ARC Code PERSENT

The Argonne Reactor Code (ARC) software system supports users in their fast reactor design goals by providing neutronic, thermal-hydraulic, and structural analysis capabilities. PERSENT fulfills the role of generating reactivity coefficients for a given time point of a REBUS calculation usable in a point kinetics based safety analysis capability. PERSENT also provides a sensitivity coefficient capability on eigenvalue, reactivity worth, and several other key coefficients that are used in the follow-on safety analysis. Given a co-variance matrix, PERSENT can carry out the uncertainty quantification to indicate the amount of error in the reactivity coefficients derived from the errors in the cross section measurements. With continued improvement of computational resources, many of the geometry modeling capabilities in DIF3D that were primarily used in low order schemes are not really needed anymore. Today, the diffusion and transport capabilities of DIF3D-VARIANT are primarily used in the reactor design process with some scattered usage of DIF3D-FD and DIF3D-Nodal. PERSENT is part of the ARC code system and is built around DIF3D-VARIANT and the flux solution it provides. The purpose of the present work is to identify a set of test problems for PERSENT and assess the code coverage of PERSENT for those test problems. PERSENT treats the DIF3D executable as an external executable and thus the code coverage considerations only need to focus on the PERSENT source code and only a fraction of the connected modules in the existing ARC software library. The goal is to document what parts of the existing PERSENT code are touched by the set of test problems and which are not. Because the verification work done on PERSENT was focused on the most common uses of PERSENT for fast reactor analysis, the code coverage assessment of those capabilities is the highest priority. This will ensure that nothing is being missed by the existing verification test problems that users of PERSENT rely upon. The code coverage analysis of PERSENT was performed with the Code Coverage Tool of the Intel Fortran compiler which requires modifications to the compilation of PERSENT. The detailed coverage tables are given for each submodule of PERSENT. Most of the uncovered parts/files could be easily ignored because they are either for error message and debugging output or not needed by PERSENT today. Only a few uncovered parts of PERSENT deserve extending the verification test suite.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Code Coverage Status of the ARC code GAMSRC

The Argonne Reactor Code (ARC) software system supports users in their fast reactor design goals by providing neutronic, thermal-hydraulic, and structural analysis capabilities. GAMSOR serves as procedure to obtain the neutron and gamma power distribution information in the ARC code system. GAMSOR is a specially modified version of DIF3D (dif3d.x becomes dif3d_gamsor.x). After some work, it was determined that carrying out software on GAMSOR was impractical and would not fit well with commercial grade dedication. GAMSRC was written in the last decade to replace GAMSOR such that the user can rely soley upon the verified DIF3D (dif3d.x) code and GAMSRC to obtain the neutron and gamma power distribution information. GAMSRC is also fully verified and ready for commercial grade dedication. In the coming years, GAMSOR will be deprecated and GAMSRC will fully take over in the ARC code system. This document identifies the set of test problems used to assess the code coverage for GAMSRC. The goal is to document what parts of the existing GAMSRC code are touched by the set of test problems and which are not. The code coverage analysis of GAMSRC was performed with the Code Coverage Tool of the Intel Fortran compiler which requires modifications to the compilation of GAMSRC. The code coverage tables are given for each submodule of GAMSRC. Because GAMSRC links to modules in DIF3D, some details on coverage changes to the DIF3D lined files is provided. As will be seen, most of the uncovered parts/files can be ignored because they are either for error message and debugging output or obviously not needed by GAMSRC today.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Code Coverage Status of the ARC Code DASSH-F

The Argonne Reactor Code (ARC) software system supports users in their fast reactor design goals by providing neutronic, thermal-hydraulic, and structural analysis capabilities. DASSH-F serves as a steady state thermal hydraulic capability within the ARC system and replaces the SE2-ANL software that preceded it. This document identifies the set of test problems used to assess the code coverage for DASSH-F. The goal is to document what parts of the existing DASSH-F code are touched by the set of test problems and which are not. Because the verification work remains to be done on DASSH-F, one can assume that most of these issues will be resolved as part of that work. The code coverage analysis of DASSH-F was performed with the Code Coverage Tool of the Intel Fortran compiler which requires modifications to the compilation of DASSH-F. The code coverage tables are given for each submodule of DASSH-F. Because DASSH-F links to modules in DIF3D, some details on coverage changes to the DIF3D linked files is provided. As will be seen, most of the uncovered parts/files can be ignored because they are either for error message and debugging output or obviously not needed by DASSH-F today. Seven features of the DASSH-F code were identified to not be covered by the existing testing suite and thus additional verification test problems are suggested to fully cover these sections.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Solar cell matrix Patent

Conductor for connecting parallel cells into submodules in series to form solar cell matrix

Yasui, R. K.↗

Architectural concepts and redundancy techniques in fault-tolerant computers

This paper presents a description of redundancy techniques employed in the design of fault-tolerant computers, and a discussion of the effects of functional requirements, technology constraints, and cost considerations which enter into the choice of these techniques. The STAR computer, developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for long-duration planetary spacecraft missions, is discussed along with several later fault-tolerant computer designs. The class of computers described in this paper employs dynamic redundancy, i.e., the machine is divided into a set of submodules, each with standby spares; a special hard core monitor unit detects and diagnoses faults, and effects automated recovery by replacing failed parts.

Rennels, D. A.↗

Set covering algorithm, a subprogram of the scheduling algorithm for mission planning and logistic evaluation

A computer program using Lemke, Salkin and Spielberg's Set Covering Algorithm (SCA) to optimize a traffic model problem in the Scheduling Algorithm for Mission Planning and Logistics Evaluation (SAMPLE) was documented. SCA forms a submodule of SAMPLE and provides for input and output, subroutines, and an interactive feature for performing the optimization and arranging the results in a readily understandable form for output.

Chang, H.↗

Space telescope optical telescope assembly/scientific instruments. Phase B: -Preliminary design and program definition study; Volume 2A: Planetary camera report

Development of the F/48, F/96 Planetary Camera for the Large Space Telescope is discussed. Instrument characteristics, optical design, and CCD camera submodule thermal design are considered along with structural subsystem and thermal control subsystem. Weight, electrical subsystem, and support equipment requirements are also included.

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