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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 757 records · Page 42
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2022

Intact, Commercial Lithium-Polymer Batteries: Spatially Resolved Grating-Based Interferometry Imaging, Bragg Edge Imaging, and Neutron Diffraction

We survey several neutron imaging and diffraction methods for non-destructive testing and evaluation of intact, commercial lithium-ion batteries. Specifically, far-field interferometry was explored as an option to probe a wide range of autocorrelation lengths within the batteries via neutron imaging. The dark-field interferometry images change remarkably from fresh to worn batteries, and from charged to discharged batteries. When attempting to search for visual evidence of battery degradation, neutron Talbot-Lau grating interferometry exposed battery layering and particle scattering through dark-field imaging. Bragg edge imaging also reveals battery wear and state of charge. Neutron diffraction observed chemical changes between fresh and worn, charged and discharged batteries. However, the utility of these methods, for commercial batteries, is dependent upon battery size and shape, with 19 to 43 mAh prismatic batteries proving most convenient for these experimental methods. This study reports some of the first spatially resolved, small angle scattering (dark-field) images showing battery degradation.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Representing Small Commercial Building Faults in EnergyPlus, Part I: Model Development

Small commercial buildings (those with less than approximately 1000 m2 of total floor area) often do not have access to cost-effective automated fault detection and diagnosis (AFDD) tools for maintaining efficient building operations. AFDD tools based on machine-learning algorithms hold promise for lowering cost barriers for AFDD in small commercial buildings; however, such algorithms require access to high-quality training data that is often difficult to obtain. To fill the gap in this research area, this study covers the development (Part I) and validation (Part II) of fault models that can be used with the building energy modeling software EnergyPlus® and OpenStudio® to generate a cost-effective training data set for developing AFDD algorithms. Part I (this paper) presents a library of fault models, including detailed descriptions of each fault model structure and their implementation with EnergyPlus. This paper also discusses a case study of training data set generation, representing an actual building.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2020

A Comprehensive Analysis of Energy and Daylighting Impact of Window Shading Systems and Control Strategies on Commercial Buildings in the United States

Commercial buildings consume approximately 1.9 EJ of energy in the United States, 50% of which is for heating, cooling, and lighting applications. It is estimated that windows contribute up to 34% of the energy used for heating and cooling. However, window retrofits are not often undertaken to increase energy efficiency because of the high cost and disruptive nature of window installation. Highly efficient window technologies would also need shading devices for glare prevention and visual comfort. An automated window shading system with an appropriate control strategy is a technology that can reduce energy demand, maintain occupant comfort, and enhance the aesthetics and privacy of the built environment. However, the benefits of the automated shades currently used by the shading industry are not well studied. The topic merits an analysis that will help building owners, designers and engineers, and utilities make informed decisions using knowledge of the impact of this technology on energy consumption, peak demand, daylighting, and occupant comfort. This study uses integrated daylight and whole-building energy simulation to evaluate the performance of various control strategies that the shading industry uses in commercial office buildings. The analysis was performed for three different vintages of medium office buildings at six different locations in United States. The results obtained show the control strategies enabled cooling energy savings of up to 40% using exterior shading, and lighting energy savings of up to 25%. The control strategies described can help building engineers and researchers explore different control methods used to control shading in actual buildings but rarely discussed in the literature. This information will give researchers the opportunity to investigate potential improvements in current technologies and their performance.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2021

Uncontrolled Electric Vehicle Charging Impacts on Distribution Electric Power Systems with Primarily Residential, Commercial or Industrial Loads

An increase in Electric Vehicles (EV) will result in higher demands on the distribution electric power systems (EPS) which may result in thermal line overloading and low voltage violations. To understand the impact, this work simulates two EV charging scenarios (home- and work-dominant) under potential 2030 EV adoption levels on 10 actual distribution feeders that support residential, commercial, and industrial loads. The simulations include actual driving patterns of existing (non-EV) vehicles taken from global positioning system (GPS) data. The GPS driving behaviors, which explain the spatial and temporal EV charging demands, provide information on each vehicles travel distance, dwell locations, and dwell durations. Then, the EPS simulations incorporate the EV charging demands to calculate the power flow across the feeder. Simulation results show that voltage impacts are modest (less than 0.01 p.u.), likely due to robust feeder designs and the models only represent the high-voltage (“primary”) system components. Line loading impacts are more noticeable, with a maximum increase of about 15%. Additionally, the feeder peak load times experience a slight shift for residential and mixed feeders (≈1 h), not at all for the industrial, and 8 h for the commercial feeder.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2021

Endpoint Use Efficiency Comparison for AC and DC Power Distribution in Commercial Buildings

Advances in power electronics and their use in Miscellaneous Electric Loads (MELs) in buildings have resulted in increased interest in using low-voltage direct current (DC) power distribution as a replacement for the standard alternating current (AC) power distribution in buildings. Both systems require an endpoint converter to convert the distribution system voltage to the MELs voltage requirements. This study focused on the efficiency of these endpoint converters by testing pairs of AC/DC and DC/DC power converters powering the same load profile. In contrast to prior studies, which estimated losses based on data sheet efficiency and rated loads, in this study, we used part load data derived from real-world time-series load measurements of MELs and experimentally characterized efficiency curves for all converters. The measurements performed for this study showed no systematic efficiency advantage for commercially available DC/DC endpoint converters relative to comparable, commercially available AC/DC endpoint converters. For the eight appliances analyzed with the pair of converters tested, in 50%, the weighted energy efficiency of the DC/DC converter was higher, while, for the other 50%, the AC/DC converter was. Additionally, the measurements indicated that the common assumption of using either data sheet efficiency values or efficiency at full load may result in substantial mis-estimates of the system efficiency.

AC/DC converters↗
DOE OSTI2021

Commercial PV Inverter IEEE 1547.1 Ride-Through Assessments Using an Automated PHIL Test Platform

As more countries seek solutions to their de-carbonization targets using renewable energy (RE) technologies, interconnection standards and national grid codes for distributed energy resources (DER) are being updated to support higher penetrations of RE and improve grid stability. Common grid-code revisions mandate DER devices, such as solar inverters and energy storage systems, ride-through (RT) voltage and frequency disturbances. This is necessary because as the percentage of generation from DER increases, there is a greater risk power system faults will cause many or all DER to trip, triggering a substantial load-generation imbalance and possible cascading blackout. This paper demonstrates for the first time a methodology to verify commercial DER devices are compliant to new voltage, frequency, and rate of change of frequency (ROCOF) RT requirements established in IEEE Std. 1547-2018. The methodology incorporates a software automation tool, called the SunSpec System Validation Platform (SVP), in combination with a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) system to execute the IEEE Std. 1547.1-2020 RT test protocols. In this paper, the approach is validated with two commercial photovoltaic inverters, the test results are analyzed for compliance, and improvements to the test procedure are suggested.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Comparison of Eco-Friendly Ionic Liquids and Commercial Bio-Derived Lubricant Additives in Terms of Tribological Performance and Aquatic Toxicity

Approximately half of the lubricants sold globally find their way into the environment. The need for Environmentally Acceptable Lubricants (EALs) is gaining increased recognition. A lubricant is composed of a base oil and multiple functional additives. The literature has been focused on EAL base oils, with much less attention given to eco-friendly additives. This study presents the tribological performance and aquatic toxicity of four short-chain phosphonium-phosphate and ammonium-phosphate ionic liquids (ILs) as candidate anti-wear and friction-reducing additives for EALs. The results are benchmarked against those of four commercial bio-derived additives. The four ILs, at a mere 0.5 wt% concentration in a synthetic ester, demonstrated a 30–40% friction reduction and >99% wear reduction, superior to the commercial baselines. More impressively, all four ILs showed significantly lower toxicity than the bio-derived products. In an EPA-standard chronic aquatic toxicity test, the sensitive model organism, Ceriodaphnia dubia, had 90–100% survival when exposed to the ILs but 0% survival in exposure to the bio-derived products at the same concentration. This study offers scientific insights for the future development of eco-friendly ILs as lubricant additives.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2025

Repurposing Offshore Infrastructure for Clean Energy (ROICE) vs. Decommissioning – Commercial Considerations

Abstract The Repurposing Offshore Infrastructure for Clean Energy (ROICE) Program, a collaboration of the energy industry and University of Houston, proposes extending the life of up to 1,500 oil and gas platforms in the Outer Continental Shelf of the Gulf of Mexico, USA. Rather than decommissioning or converting them to underwater reefs at the end of their oil and gas production phase, the platforms could be transformed for 10–20+ years of renewable energy development, such as green hydrogen production or carbon dioxide injection and storage, resulting in significant economic, environmental, and social benefits. ROICE has already published papers on the technical and regulatory considerations for such repurposing projects. This paper focuses on the commercial considerations needed to ensure ROICE projects are economically viable and sustainable for all involved. There are potentially many entities that can come together to progress a repurposing project, including oil and gas asset owners, operators, investors, developers, contractors, manufacturers, and regulators. This paper looks at possible combinations of these entities in a ROICE project team and the various commercial agreements that will be needed to ensure a mutually successful outcome. The paper proposes adapting existing industry agreements and templates to suit, including asset transfer agreements (ATA), asset purchase agreements (APA) and joint purchasing agreements (JOA). An ATA or APA can be drafted to address the obligations and issues involved in the sale or transfer of an existing oil and gas facility to the developer, operator, non-operating interests, and financial investors in a ROICE project, while a JOA can be drafted to govern the rights, obligations, and financial requirements of the parties involved in the development and operation.

Legge, G. [Endeavor Management, USA]↗
DOE OSTI2017

Advancements and Opportunities for On-board 700 bar Compressed Hydrogen Tanks in the Progression towards the Commercialization of Fuel Cell Vehicles

Fuel cell vehicles are entering the automotive market with significant potential to reduce harmful greenhouse emissions, facilitate energy security, and increase efficiency while providing expected driving range and fill times. One of the challenges for successful commercialization is transitioning the on-board fuel system from liquid gasoline to compressed hydrogen gas. Storing high pressurized hydrogen requires a specialized structural pressure vessel, significantly different in function from a gasoline container. In addition, the lower hydrogen energy combined with highly efficient fuel cell still requires a storage vessel that is four times the volume of a gasoline tank. In the late 1990s, the industry first developed hydrogen tanks based on traditional type 3 and 4 compressed natural gas (CNG) tanks designed for 250 bar service. As fuel cell vehicles developed along with the need for greater driving range, the OEMs increased the hydrogen storage pressure to 350 bar and then to 700 bar, which is currently the industry norm. However, the 700 bar pressure vessels continued to be manufactured using the materials and the design approach from the CNG tank technologies. In 2012 the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Fuel Cell Technologies initiated a project to develop Enhanced Materials and Design Parameters for Reducing the Cost of Hydrogen Storage Tanks. The project took a holistic approach to improving performance by investigating: 1) the cost tradeoff of reduced composite mass at 500 bar versus the added insulation cost for cold gas operation at 200K, 2) using hybrid fiber layups to refine the tank composite design, 3) increasing the composite translation efficiency by adding nano-reinforcing particles to the resin, and 4) substituting a lower cost alternate resin in the filament winding process. This paper summarizes the effectiveness of these design modifications and considers the outlook for on-board 700 bar compressed hydrogen tank systems to achieve the commercialization goals for fuel cell vehicles.

Hydrogen storage, carbon fiber composite, compo, a↗
DOE OSTI2022

Achieving Diesel Powertrain Ownership Parity in Battery Electric Heavy Duty Commercial Vehicles Using a Rapid Recurrent Recharging Architecture

Battery electric vehicles (BEV) in heavy duty (HD) commercial freight transport face challenging technoeconomic barriers to adoption. Specifically, beyond safety and compliance, fleet and operational logistics require both high up-time and parity with diesel system productivity/Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) to enable strong adoption of electrified powertrains. At present, relatively high energy storage prices coupled with the increased weight of BEV systems limit the practicality of HD commercial freight transport to shorter range applications, where smaller batteries will suffice for the mission energy requirements (single operational shift). This paper presents an approach to extend the feasibility of BEV HD trucking for a broad range of applications. The concept is based on the leveraging rapid and recurrent recharging of a BEV HD truck that may either already make frequent stops due to shipment drop-offs/reloading or be required to make frequent stops along with longer missions for recharging. While the challenges of the latter are well appreciated, the concept proposed explores making minimal impact to overall mission time by targeting high C-rate charging while optimizing the frequency (miles) through which these events must occur. The concept optimizes battery size and chemistry, such that the expected life (years and total energy throughput) is balanced with the depth of discharge between recharging events, thus making complete use of the energy available through the life of the battery system. The solution is constrained to minimize the impact on payload capacity. The paper analyzes critical levers in achieving diesel price parity (based on a simplified vehicle TCO), achieved through different purchase options (including lease versus buy) and operational models (half-life swap out). Finally, the paper identifies the application design domain where these solutions are viable with limited impact on fleet operations.

Sujan, Vivek↗
DOE OSTI2023

Development of a hardware-in-the-loop testbed for laboratory performance verification of flexible building equipment in typical commercial buildings

The goals of reducing energy costs, shifting electricity peaks, increasing the use of renewable energy, and enhancing the stability of the electric grid can be met in part by fully exploiting the energy flexibility potential of buildings and building equipment. The development of strategies that exploit these flexibilities could be facilitated by publicly available high-resolution datasets illustrating how control of HVAC systems in commercial buildings can be used in different climate zones to shape the energy use profile of a building for grid needs. This article presents the development and integration of a Hardware-In-the-Loop Flexible load Testbed (HILFT) that integrates physical HVAC systems with a simulated building model and simulated occupants with the goal of generating datasets to verify load flexibility of typical commercial buildings. Compared to simulation-only experiments, the hardware-in-the-loop approach captures the dynamics of the physical systems while also allowing efficient testing of various boundary conditions. The HILFT integration in this article is achieved through the co-simulation among various software environments including LabVIEW, MATLAB, and EnergyPlus. Although theoretically viable, such integration has encountered many real-world challenges, such as: 1) how to design the overall data infrastructure to ensure effective, robust, and efficient integration; 2) how to avoid closed-loop hunting between simulated and emulated variables; 3) how to quantify system response times and minimize system delays; and 4) how to assess the overall integration quality. Lessons-learned using the examples of an AHU-VAV system, an air-source heat pump system, and a water-source heat pump system are presented.

Chen, zhelun↗
DOE OSTI2025

Modeling commercial-scale CO 2 storage in the gas hydrate stability zone with PFLOTRAN v6.0

Abstract. Safe and secure carbon dioxide (CO2) storage is likely to be critical for mitigating some of the most dangerous effects of climate change. In the last decade, there has been a significant increase in activity associated with reservoir characterization and site selection for large-scale CO2 storage projects across the globe. These prospective storage sites tend to be selected for their optimal structural, petrophysical, and geochemical trapping potential. However, it has also been suggested that storing CO2 in reservoirs within the CO2 hydrate stability zone (GHSZ), characterized by high pressures and low temperatures (e.g., Arctic or marine environments), could provide a natural thermodynamic barrier to gas leakage. Evaluating the prospect of commercial-scale, long-term storage of CO2 in the GHSZ requires reservoir-scale modeling capabilities designed to account for the unique physics and thermodynamics associated with these systems. We have developed the HYDRATE flow mode and the accompanying fully implicit parallel well model in the massively parallel subsurface flow and reactive transport simulator PFLOTRAN to model CO2 injection into the marine GHSZ. We have applied these capabilities to a set of CO2 injection scenarios designed to reveal the challenges and opportunities for commercial-scale CO2 storage in the GHSZ.

carbon storage↗
NASA NTRS1972

Propulsion system studies for an advanced high subsonic, long range jet commercial transport aircraft

Propulsion system characteristics for a long range, high subsonic (Mach 0.90 - 0.98), jet commercial transport aircraft are studied to identify the most desirable cycle and engine configuration and to assess the payoff of advanced engine technologies applicable to the time frame of the late 1970s to the mid 1980s. An engine parametric study phase examines major cycle trends on the basis of aircraft economics. This is followed by the preliminary design of two advanced mixed exhaust turbofan engines pointed at two different technology levels (1970 and 1985 commercial certification for engines No. 1 and No. 2, respectively). The economic penalties of environmental constraints - noise and exhaust emissions - are assessed. The highest specific thrust engine (lowest bypass ratio for a given core technology) achievable with a single-stage fan yields the best economics for a Mach 0.95 - 0.98 aircraft and can meet the noise objectives specified, but with significant economic penalties. Advanced technologies which would allow high temperature and cycle pressure ratios to be used effectively are shown to provide significant improvement in mission performance which can partially offset the economic penalties incurred to meet lower noise goals. Advanced technology needs are identified; and, in particular, the initiation of an integrated fan and inlet aero/acoustic program is recommended.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1973

An airline study of advanced technology requirements for advanced high speed commercial transport engines. 1: Engine design study assessment

The advanced technology requirements for an advanced high speed commercial tranport engine are presented. The results of the phase 1 study effort cover the following areas: (1) statement of an airline's major objectives for future transport engines, (2) airline's method of evaluating engine proposals, (3) description of an optimum engine for a long range subsonic commercial transport including installation and critical design features, (4) discussion of engine performance problems and experience with performance degradation, (5) trends in engine and pod prices with increasing technology and objectives for the future, (6) discussion of the research objectives for composites, reversers, advanced components, engine control systems, and devices to reduce the impact of engine stall, and (7) discussion of the airline objectives for noise and pollution reduction.

Sallee, G. P.↗
NASA NTRS1973

ERTS-1 imagery use in reconnaissance prospecting: Evaluation of commercial utility of ERTS-1 imagery in structural reconnaissance for minerals and petroleum

The author has identified the following significant results. Five areas in North America (North Slope-Alaska, Superior Province-Canada, Williston Basin-Montana, Colorado, and New Mexico-West Texas) are being studied for discernibility of geological evidence on ERTS-1 imagery. Evidence mapped is compared with known mineral/hydrocarbon accumulations to determine the value of the imagery in commercial exploration programs. Evaluation has proceeded in the New Mexico-Texas area, and to date, results have been better than expected. Clearly discernible structural lineaments in this area are evident on the photographs. Comparison of this evidence with known major mining localities in New Mexico indicates a clear pattern of coincidence between the lineaments and mining localities. In West Texas, lineament and geomorphological evidence obtainable from the photographs define the petroleum-productive Central Basin Platform. Based on evaluation of results in the New Mexico-West Texas area and on cursory results in the other four areas of North America, it is concluded that ERTS-1 imagery will be extremely valuable in defining the regional and local structure in any commercial exploration program.

Saunders, D. F.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Evaluation of commercial utility of ERTS-A imagery in structural reconnaissance for minerals and petroleum

Five areas in North America (North Slope-Alaska, Superior Province-Canada, Williston Basin-Montana, Colorado and New Mexico-West Texas) are being studied for discernibility of geological evidence on ERTS-1 imagery, Evidence mapped is compared with known mineral/hydrocarbon accumulations to determine the value of the imagery in commercial exploration programs. Evaluation has proceeded in the New Mexico-West Texas area while awaiting imagery in the other areas. To date, results have been better than expected. Clearly discernible structural lineaments in New Mexico-West Texas are evident on the photographs. Comparison of this evidence with known major mining localities in New Mexico indicates a clear pattern of coincidence between the lineaments and mining localities. In West Texas, lineament and geomorphological evidence obtainable from the photographs define the petroleum-productive Central Basin Platform. Based on evaluation results in the New Mexico-West Texas area and on cursory results in the other four areas of North America, ERTS-1 imagery will be extremely valuable in defining the regional and local structure in any commercial exploration program.

Saunders, D. F.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Commercial Aircraft Development and the Export Market

The various factors which endanger the future of commercial aircraft development are defined. The factors discussed are: (1) a decline in federally funded research and development programs, (2) a general decline in the economic health of the domestic airlines, (3) the increased cost of development which may be several times the net worth of the company, (4) the development overseas of common market and manufacturing consortia, and (5) foreign manufacturers receiving significant financial support from their national governments. It is stated that unless immediate and innovative solutions to combat these factors are found, the commercial aviation industry will be in serious difficulty.

Snodgrass, J.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Evaluation of commercially supplied silver coated Teflon for spacecraft temperature control usage

A series of tests are described which were performed to evaluate the acceptability of a commercially supplied silver backed teflon thermal control coating relative to teflon previously coated at GSFC. Optical measurements made on numerous samples indicate that the commercial material possesses an average solar absorptance of 0.085, an emittance of 0.76 and an average alpha/epsilon equal to 0.112, all of which are equivalent to the GSFC coated teflon. The emittance of the protective inconel backing was found to be 0.037. The coating is shown to have good adhesion at the Ag-teflon interface and exposure to UV irradiation uncovered no coating irregularities. Temperature cycling over the range -135 C to +200 C produced crazing in the evaporated Ag layer as expected but no delamination was observed. The suitability of Mystik no. 7366 and 3M no. 467 adhesives as bonding agents for the metallized polymer is demonstrated. Various problems associated with production reproducibility and selection of a proper bonding process are discussed.

Heaney, J. B.↗