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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 793 records · Page 44
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Portable Industrial Control Systems Simulator (Final Report)

Industrial Control Systems (ICS) are more integrated than they have ever been before, but also the division between IT (Information Technology) and OT (Operational Technology) is becoming a grey area. As the integration of IT and OT occurs more often, cyber attack will also increase. Cyber attacks on Critical Infrastructure can be highly detrimental to society, notably via compromised Industrial Control Systems (ICS). Virtual and physical simulation has been used in medical fields, mathematics, architecture, aeronautics, space, and many more. Virtualization & Simulation in a lab environment is ideal because there is a need for the ability to test theories and designs is a safe and cost-effective way without risking equipment damage or, more importantly, human life. Furthermore, OT and ICS are some of the most difficult systems to use for research and development. They are either committed to operations or widely expensive to set up in a life-like environment. Virtualization and simulation will allow these otherwise accessible systems to be a test bed for the training, development, and research of SRNL customers or engineers and scientists at SRNL. This will allow the testbed to fit into a small form factor and interact with a simulator with minimum hardware components for easy transports and replication effort within the environment.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2023

RADWIND Project Final Technical Report

The Rural Area Distributed Wind Integration Network Development (RADWIND) Project (January 2020-April 2023) was undertaken by NRECA Research, a not-for-profit subsidiary of NRECA focused on underwritten research, with the support of DOE. The project was part of the Wind Energy Technologies Office’s (WETO’s) Wind Integration for Rural Economic Development (WIRED) program, which was developed out of an October 2018 workshop in which NRECA participated in. RADWIND’s end of project goal was “to raise awareness of distributed wind as a solution for the energy, resiliency, and economic development needs of electric cooperatives, and to provide resources and information that reduce barriers and lower costs for co-ops seeking to deploy distributed wind. Through this project, NRECA Research seeks to establish a national distributed wind presence for and by NRECA’s members that delivers these benefits and plans to communicate NRECA’s members that properly deployed distributed wind can be a bankable technology option for rural America.”

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Innovations in Renewable Energy Technologies, Systems, and Energy Analysis

Costs for renewable energy technologies have declined rapidly in the past decade and their use for residential, commercial, and utility scale electricity has therefore grown exponentially. As the energy mix diversifies, energy analysis becomes increasing important, requiring renewable energy to integrate with other reduced emission energy sources, such as small modular nuclear reactors and carbon capture and utilization. Energy analysis can also explore the expansion of clean energy into new sectors, such as industrial processes and electrification. The U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis (JISEA), which is a partnership of NREL and universities, study the integration and application of clean energy technologies into existing and new sectors. This presentation includes an overview of NREL and JISEA and summarizes innovations in renewable energy technologies and energy systems analysis.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Integration of CO2 Electrolysis with Microbial Syngas Upgrading to Rewire the Carbon Economy

This project has worked towards demonstrating and understanding the conversion of waste CO2 into value added fuels and chemicals. If successful, our proposed technology will incentivize CO2 capture and can add carbon efficiency to biorefineries. We have integrated two conversion technologies to demonstrate a novel approach of combining electrolytic CO2 reduction with biocatalytic CO upgrading. Industrial partners 3M and Dioxide Materials have recently demonstrated electrolytic conversion of CO2 and water to syngas using inexpensive renewable energy. Concurrently, supporting partner Lanzatech has demonstrated industrial scale CO fermentation using steel mill waste CO as a substrate. This presentation will highlight the investment BETO has made to establish a CO2 electrolysis test station and CO fermentation at NREL. We will also discuss the process of increasing the size of the electrolyzers to meet fermentation needs, along with the investigation into the affect CO2 concentration and contaminates have on electrolyzer efficiency, lifetime, and specificity. Additionally, we have begun to examine the downstream impact of electrolyzer off-gas CO:H2 ratios have on the metabolism of C. autoethanologen. Experimental results along input from our industrial partners have led to a baseline techno-economic and life cycle analyses. These results enabled the identification of key cost drivers and carbon intensity of the process. We have used these metrics to identify technology gaps to iteratively inform the process optimization and potential deployment siting to achieve economically viable, sustainable conversion of biopower-derived flue gases to fuels and chemical intermediates.

bioenergy↗
DOE OSTI2022

System Integration of Rationally Designed Dilute Alloy Catalysts for Energy-Efficient Electrochemical CO 2 -To-Fuel Conversion

Energy effiecient electrochemical conversion of CO 2 to high-demand chemicals and transportation fuels using renewable solar and wind energy is a key technology needed for a high-productivity, low-carbon future. However, the development of scalable, low-cost, active, selective, and stable electrocatalysts remains a key challenge that needs to be overcome to enable high-volume conversion of CO 2 to feedstock chemicals for the chemical industry. In previous work, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has developed a rational design platform for dilute alloy transition metal electrocatalysts that promise to make electrochemical CO 2 conversion more energy efficient and selective. In this project, we worked with our industrial partners, Twelve and TotalEnergies, to improve scale up, integration, and stability of LLNL’s dilute alloy catalyst technology into an industry-relevant zero gap electrolyzer platform. Through virtual experiments and data analysis, we designed efficient and cost-effective copper-based catalysts. The catalyst was specifically designed to streamline the slowest and most energy-intensive step of the electrochemical chemical transformation of CO 2 to multi-carbon products – that is making the carbon-carbon bond by dimerization of the reaction intermediate carbon monoxide - resulting in up to 10% improvement in energy efficiency for C 2 products while simultaneously increasing the selectivity towards C 2 products. We tested two different scalable catalyst coating technologies and down-selected magnetron sputtering as the technique that provided the best control over catalyst loading, composition, and morphology. Using this technology, we successfully demonstrated integration of our dilute alloy catalysts into a 100 cm 2 electrolyzer platform with Faradaic efficiencies for ethylene production reaching 40% at a current density of 200 mA/cm 2 . We also developed the technology to integrate a well-defined nanoscale porosity by depositing alloy compositions that were compatible with dealloying, that is, selective leaching of an alloy component to generate nanoscale porosity. We observed that integration of the dealloying-derived nanoporosity improved catalyst performance and stability by leading to a more hydrophobic catalyst/anion exchange membrane interface. Unsolved problems that still need to be addressed are corrosion of the Cu catalyst -specifically if the used catalyst is exposed to air - as well as long term stability do to salt formation/deposition and flooding of the catalyst/electrolyzer flow channels, especially at higher current densities. As we only worked on optimization of catalyst composition, coating thickness, and morphology, further performance optimization will require a system level approach that includes optimization of electrolyzer design and membrane technology.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Managing Cyber Supply Chain Risk for Renewable Energy Technologies

On July 1, 2021, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) hosted a virtual workshop facilitated by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Cybersecurity supply chain experts, researchers, and leaders in government and industry came together to share information on current and future challenges in securing emerging technologies and technical architecture. From a cybersecurity perspective, we need to move from a cybersecurity approach that focuses principally on legacy asset owners to one that incorporates more emphasis on end-point device manufacturers and third-party integrators. Cybersecurity for the global digital supply chain for manufacturers of consumer end-point devices—such as smart solar inverters and smart electric vehicle (EV) chargers—will be critical to the future cyber health of the grid.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Integrated millimeter-wave cavity electro-optic transduction

Emerging communications and computing technologies will rely ever-more on expanding the useful radio frequency spectrum into the millimeter-wave and terahertz frequency range. Both classical and quantum applications would benefit from advancing integration and incorporation of millimeter-wave and electro-optic technologies into common devices, such as modulators. Here we demonstrate an integrated triply-resonant, superconducting electro-optic transducer. Our design incorporates an on-chip 107 GHz niobium titanium nitride superconducting resonator, modulating a thin-film lithium niobate optical racetrack resonator operating at telecom wavelengths. We observe a maximum photon transduction efficiency of η OE ≈ 0.82 × 10 −6 and an average single-photon electro-optic interaction rate of g 0 /2π ≈ 0.7 kHz. We also present a study and analysis of the challenges associated with the design of integrated millimeter-wave resonators and propose possible solutions to these challenges. Our work paves the way for further advancements in resonant electro-optic technologies operating at millimeter-wave frequencies.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2021

Expanding NREL's Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems (ARIES) Capabilities

NREL's Integrated Energy Pathways vision represents a transformed, future integrated energy system that is more affordable, clean, secure, and resilient than today. Key to this vision is the unique Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems (ARIES) research platform. With a focus on advancing modern grid infrastructure, making investments in energy efficiency building technology research, and innovating battery storage and much more, the unique ARIES research platform can be used to accelerate the integration of new technologies into a modern grid.

advanced research↗
DOE OSTI2021

BETO 2021 Peer Review - Overview of the Chemical Catalysis for Bioenergy Consortium

Catalysis plays a central role in converting biomass and carbon-rich waste feedstocks into fuels and chemicals; however, critical catalysis challenges exist that are limiting commercialization of emerging bioenergy technologies. By leveraging unique U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratory capabilities and expertise, the Chemical Catalysis for Bioenergy consortium seeks to overcome these catalysis challenges and accelerate the catalyst and process development cycle. The foundation of the consortium consists of an integrated and collaborative portfolio of catalytic technologies and enabling capabilities, which positions ChemCatBio to address both technology-specific and overarching catalysis challenges across the development cycle from discovery to scale-up. The core catalysis projects target technological advancements for specific conversion processes, such as catalytic upgrading of biochemical process intermediates, catalytic fast pyrolysis, C1 and C2 upgrading, and electrochemical CO2 reduction, while the enabling technologies provide access to world-class capabilities and expertise in computational modeling, materials synthesis, advanced in situ and in operando catalyst characterization, and catalyst design tools.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Advancing Understanding of Geothermal Representation in the Power Sector to Accelerate Deployment

Driven mostly by decarbonization goals, geothermal interest in the US power sector has grown considerably, gradually evolving from being considered a niche technology, to being recognized as a viable source of clean, baseload, grid-balancing power, and renewable electric power generation. Furthermore, recent technical advances that could greatly accelerate deployment in the near future, and US federal incentives for low-carbon generation technologies, including geothermal, can enable opportunities for integrating geothermal into utilities resource planning portfolios. However, in general, utilities do not have in-house expertise to evaluate geothermal technologies and its potential role in helping decarbonize the grid as well as help them achieve their individual decarbonization goals. To date, geothermal is rarely included in Capacity Expansion Models (CEM) which utilities use in their planning activities and resource/technologies prioritization. To this end, EPRI and NREL are working together in a DOE-GTO funded research project to improve geothermal understanding (opportunities, value, risks) among the power industry to help accelerate geothermal deployment. In the present paper we describe the approach and preliminary findings of this work, focused on two topics: 1) Expand the degree of understanding on the value, opportunity, and risk of geothermal technologies among utilities and related companies/groups, specifically around geothermal for power generation. 2) Improve representation of geothermal power technologies in capacity expansion models (CEM).

capacity expansion models↗
DOE OSTI2021

Upgrading of C1 Building Blocks

This project is developing the centerpiece technology for a market-responsive, integrated biorefinery concept based on the conversion of renewable C1 intermediates (e.g., syngas, CO2, methanol) to a suite of fuels and co-products with improved carbon efficiency, reduced capital expense, and control of the product distribution to meet market demand. Advanced upgrading technologies of syngas are critically needed for the successful commercialization of fuel production at a scale relevant for biomass gasification. Research tasks within this project leverage complementary catalyst and process design for the conversion of CO2-rich syngas (15-20% CO2 in syngas) to achieve high carbon yields of gasoline and jet fuels as the major products. The conversion pathways generate high quality fuels (e.g., high octane gasoline with low aromatics, desirable jet-range hydrocarbons), and potential to achieve favorable cost targets by 2022. Research progress is compared against the Mobil Olefin to Gasoline and Distillate (MOGD) process, which also offers control over the gasoline and distillate products, as an industrial benchmark. The pathway for direct conversion of CO2-rich syngas to hydrocarbon fuels seeks to exceed the carbon efficiency of biomass-sourced MOGD (31.8%). Recent catalyst and process development achievements are highlighted by improvements in carbon-selectivity to fuels and carbon yields, along with evidence of incorporation of carbon from CO2 into the hydrocarbon products.

bioenergy↗
DOE OSTI2020

Integrated Traction Drive Thermal Management: Keystone Project 3

The presentation was developed for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Vehicle Technologies Program 2020 Annual Merit Review and Peer Evaluation Meeting. It reports on progress and accomplishments of DOE funded Integrated Traction Drive Thermal Management project. Highlighted are NREL's research accomplishments during FY 2020. Challenges associated with thermal management of integrated traction drives for electric vehicles arise due to the limited packaging space, coolant distribution, electrical connections, and ambient temperatures. For this project at NREL, research focuses on enabling thermal management technologies to support a modular, compact, self-contained integrated electric drive unit with motor and power electronics. Integration approaches, based on packaging location and coolant options for power electronics integrated with candidate motor technologies to reduce cables and connectors, are reviewed and compared using finite element analysis (FEA) tools. Automatic transmission fluid (ATF) jet impingement cooling characterization is carried out experimentally (measuring heat transfer coefficients) and using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2020

A Sub-Threshold Low-Power Integrated Bandpass Filter for Highly-Integrated Spectrum Analyzers

Low-power analog filter banks provide frequency analysis with minimal power and space requirements, making them viable solutions for integrated remote audio- and vibration-sensing applications. Compared with their digital counterparts, analog filter banks are better suited to achieve the lower power consumption necessary for IoT applications, while maintaining high dynamic range and a wide operational frequency range. In this work, the design and implementation of a sub-threshold complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) integrated low-power tunable analog filter channel for signal spectrum analysis and signal discrimination is presented. Project specifications required a programmable, high-order, monolithic bandpass filter channel with small chip area, low power consumption, high dynamic range, and wide operational frequency range. The 8th-order filter channel presented in this work provides an effective Q-factor of 4.5 and a minimum dynamic range (DR) of approximately 85 dB, while allowing for tuning across a range of center frequencies from 2 kHz to 100 kHz, with power consumption of a single 8th-order filter channel measured at 256 µW nominally at the highest center frequency. An integrated analog Gm-C filter topology was selected for this application. Functionally, the high-Q bandpass filter transfer function is implemented via four cascaded 2nd-order filter cells, resulting in a single 8th-order filter channel, fabricated in 130-nm 1.2-V CMOS technology, suitable for use in monolithic integrated spectral analysis (MISA1) applications.

Long, Gavin B.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Integrity Enhancing Protocols: Performance and Recommendations for Nuclear Systems

In today’s communication landscape there are multiple technologies and protocols used for communication between end devices. Within security paradigms for these protocols, integrity management is a common goal of system designers. Communication protocols focused on maintaining message integrity can provide assurance that some received data has not been altered or tampered with. While integrity is often coupled with confidentiality in protocol design, this analysis focuses on an evaluation of only integrity protocols. This report outlines various ways message integrity may be preserved with respect to high performance operational technology (OT) systems. It describes a series of experiments and an evaluation framework used to evaluate the performance of the identified integrity approaches regarding common system design goals. Finally, it addresses the testing environment utilized and closes the report with a summary of experimental results.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Agent-Based Coordination Scheme for PV Integration (ABC4PV)

Renewables and especially photovoltaics (PV) have benefitted significantly from a host of incentives and policies targeted toward enhanced integration and adoption of specific energy technologies. However, with the push to move forward into a subsidy-free market framework, behind-the-meter residential PV applications have generally struggled to retain their value (unlike utility scale and commercial projects) [1]. This project focused on developing control-theoretic solutions aimed at improving the integration and interaction of behind-the-meter residential PV with other distribution system assets (controllable and non-controllable) to enhance the integrated value of residential PV. To this end, a suite of decentralized control methodologies have been developed to enable effective coordination and control of behind-the-meter residential load customers’ PV, battery storage systems (BSS), controllable loads and other similar assets within a distribution feeder. This interaction aims at procuring energy savings and, thus, energy bill savings. The main source of savings is drawn from reducing the effect of demand charge pricing and is realized at the feeder level, assuming community level interaction and management among the aforementioned assets. Optimal control of the assets is implemented with a distributed optimization methodology, leveraging consensus-based algorithms. The results gathered from the optimal control simulations demonstrates that the savings can be duly achieved and the algorithm decision times (to dynamically control asset set points, for example) are fast. As for the overall efficiency of PV+BSS systems, to procure energy savings from curtailment of the demand charge pricing effects, the optimal control is set up so as to minimize the variance of the load for all customers, throughout a feeder and throughout time in a rolling horizon scheduling with model predictive control. The control takes into account inter-temporal electrochemical storage (battery) degradation costs: specifically, we have developed a long-term lifetime model for the BSS that weighs in the effect of the degradation factor in the dispatch formulations, thus, a considerable operating cost that affects energy decision making. The levelized cost of energy (LCOE – redefined for the purpose of quantifying asset integration effectiveness through the customers’ energy cost) is shown to be below the threshold set for the combined PV+BSS topology of $ 0.14/kWh for multiple cases of PV penetration all the way up to 50%, provided that a policy of shared ownership of and savings is in place. Further, the LCOE calculated for the case before the deployment PV+BSS systems is also achievable, i.e. the deployment of PV+BSS, if planned and scheduled optimally. will have no effect on customers’ energy costs. From the control methodology viewpoint, the developed consensus-based algorithms are shown to converge for a wide range of problem cases (spanning normal operating scenarios and contingencies), guaranteeing dispatch solutions under forecasting errors, communication break-downs and cyber-security attacks. The proposed control solutions are scalable and real-time implementable, with dispatch computations and device set-point updates converging in less than 2s in most practical instances of the above events.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Shielding the Quantum Realm: Technical Considerations for Maintaining a Stable and Secure Radio Frequency Environment for Quantum Research

Advancements in quantum technology, which include quantum computing, quantum sensing, quantum communications, and associated research, continue to revolutionize various fields of study by solving challenging problems deemed too difficult or more efficient than those used for classical computers. However, as these systems become ever so complex, it is critical to secure their electromagnetic operational environments and the associated impact on quantum systems and infrastructure. The goal of this synopsis is to bring attention to the susceptibility of quantum technology facilities to potential issues related to the radio frequency (RF) environment within the broader electromagnetic context. A framework is proposed for identifying, mitigating, monitoring, and auditing these often complex operational environments. By establishing best practices in the consideration and evaluation of these criteria, one can enhance the operational integrity, resilience, and security of quantum technology systems and facilities, thereby supporting their continued development and application in research and industry.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Technical Assessment of Potential Climate Impact and Economic Viability of Biochar Technologies for Small-Scale Agriculture in the Pacific Northwest

The goal of this study is to evaluate the state of biochar technology and determine the feasibility of integrating small-scale biochar production in ways that benefit smaller, diversified producers. Because of the emergence of carbon markets, this innovative climate and agricultural solution may be financed externally, making biochar more accessible to the growers that could benefit. In this report, we review the current state of biochar technology (Section 2), methods for assessing the potential climate impacts derived from its implementation (Section 3), and the current state of carbon-offset mechanisms for biochar technology (Section 4). In Section 5, we apply this knowledge to several specific biochar technology scenarios involving combinations of different feedstocks, production methods, and economic incentives to arrive at estimates of climate-mitigation impacts and costs per carbon credit generated. We conclude with a summary in Section 6.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗