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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 811 records · Page 45

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NASA NTRS1999

NASA Glenn 1-by 1-Foot Supersonic Wind Tunnel User Manual

This manual describes the NASA Glenn Research Center's 1 - by 1 -Foot Supersonic Wind Tunnel and provides information for customers who wish to conduct experiments in this facility. Tunnel performance envelopes of total pressure, total temperature, and dynamic pressure as a function of test section Mach number are presented. For each Mach number, maps are presented of Reynolds number per foot as a function of the total air temperature at the test section inlet for constant total air pressure at the inlet. General support systems-such as the service air, combustion air, altitude exhaust system, auxiliary bleed system, model hydraulic system, schlieren system, model pressure-sensitive paint, and laser sheet system are discussed. In addition, instrumentation and data processing, acquisition systems are described, pretest meeting formats and schedules are outlined, and customer responsibilities and personnel safety are addressed.

Seablom, Kirk D.↗

NASA NTRS1996

[Heart functions in monkeys during a 2-week antiorthostatic hypokinesia]

Dynamics of the left heart ventricular muscle contractility and compliance was studied in 4 monkeys in the head down position (antiorthostatic hypokinesia) with the body angle 10 during 2 weeks. Functional tests on a tilt table and under two conditions of centrifuge rotation were performed prior to and after the antiorthostatic hypokinesia. No changes in the left heart ventricular muscle contractility was found. However, the sensitivity level of the baroreflex control decreased. Compliance of the left heart myocardial fibre increased in the first hours and days of the antiorthostatic hypokinesia.

NASA Discipline Regulatory Physiology↗

NASA NTRS2003

CORBASec Used to Secure Distributed Aerospace Propulsion Simulations

The NASA Glenn Research Center and its industry partners are developing a Common Object Request Broker (CORBA) Security (CORBASec) test bed to secure their distributed aerospace propulsion simulations. Glenn has been working with its aerospace propulsion industry partners to deploy the Numerical Propulsion System Simulation (NPSS) object-based technology. NPSS is a program focused on reducing the cost and time in developing aerospace propulsion engines. It was developed by Glenn and is being managed by the NASA Ames Research Center as the lead center reporting directly to NASA Headquarters' Aerospace Technology Enterprise. Glenn is an active domain member of the Object Management Group: an open membership, not-for-profit consortium that produces and manages computer industry specifications (i.e., CORBA) for interoperable enterprise applications. When NPSS is deployed, it will assemble a distributed aerospace propulsion simulation scenario from proprietary analytical CORBA servers and execute them with security afforded by the CORBASec implementation. The NPSS CORBASec test bed was initially developed with the TPBroker Security Service product (Hitachi Computer Products (America), Inc., Waltham, MA) using the Object Request Broker (ORB), which is based on the TPBroker Basic Object Adaptor, and using NPSS software across different firewall products. The test bed has been migrated to the Portable Object Adaptor architecture using the Hitachi Security Service product based on the VisiBroker 4.x ORB (Borland, Scotts Valley, CA) and on the Orbix 2000 ORB (Dublin, Ireland, with U.S. headquarters in Waltham, MA). Glenn, GE Aircraft Engines, and Pratt & Whitney Aircraft are the initial industry partners contributing to the NPSS CORBASec test bed. The test bed uses Security SecurID (RSA Security Inc., Bedford, MA) two-factor token-based authentication together with Hitachi Security Service digital-certificate-based authentication to validate the various NPSS users. The test bed is expected to demonstrate NPSS CORBASec-specific policy functionality, confirm adequate performance, and validate the required Internet configuration in a distributed collaborative aerospace propulsion environment.

Blaser, Tammy M.↗

NASA NTRS2007

Performance Testing of Lithium Li-ion Cells and Batteries in Support of JPL's 2003 Mars Exploration Rover Mission

In early 2004, JPL successfully landed two Rovers, named Spirit and Opportunity, on the surface of Mars after traveling > 300 million miles over a 6-7 month period. In order to operate for extended duration on the surface of Mars, both Rovers are equipped with rechargeable Lithium-ion batteries, which were designed to aid in the launch, correct anomalies during cruise, and support surface operations in conjunction with a triple-junction deployable solar arrays. The requirements of the Lithium-ion battery include the ability to provide power at least 90 sols on the surface of Mars, operate over a wide temperature range (-20(super 0)C to +40(super 0)C), withstand long storage periods (e.g., including pre-launch and cruise period), operate in an inverted position, and support high currents (e.g., firing pyro events). In order to determine the inability of meeting these requirements, ground testing was performed on a Rover Battery Assembly Unit RBAU), consisting of two 8-cell 8 Ah lithium-ion batteries connected in parallel. The RBAU upon which the performance testing was performed is nearly identical to the batteries incorporated into the two Rovers currently on Mars. The primary focus of this paper is to communicate the latest results regarding Mars surface operation mission simulation testing, as well as, the corresponding performance capacity loss and impedance characteristics as a function of temperature and life. As will be discussed, the lithium-ion batteries (fabricated by Yardney Technical Products, Inc.) have been demonstrated to far exceed the requirements defined by the mission, being able to support the operation of the rovers for over three years, and are projected to support an even further extended mission.

low temperature electrolytes↗

NASA NTRS2010

Multi-Evaporator Miniature Loop Heat Pipe for Small Spacecraft Thermal Control: Validation Results - Part 2

Under NASA s New Millennium Program Space Technology 8 (ST 8) Project, Goddard Space Fight Center has conducted a Thermal Loop experiment to advance the maturity of the Thermal Loop technology from proof of concept to prototype demonstration in a relevant environment , i.e. from a technology readiness level (TRL) of 3 to a level of 6. The thermal Loop is an advanced thermal control system consisting of a miniature loop heat pipe (MLHP) with multiple evaporators and multiple condensers designed for future small system applications requiring low mass, low power, and compactness. The MLHP retains all features of state-of-the-art loop heat pipes (LHPs) and offers additional advantages to enhance the functionality, performance, versatility, and reliability of the system. An MLHP breadboard was built and tested in the laboratory and thermal vacuum environments for the TRL 4 and TRL 5 validations, respectively, and an MLHP proto-flight unit was built and tested in a thermal vacuum chamber for the TRL 6 validation. In addition, an analytical model was developed to simulate the steady state and transient behaviors of the MLHP during various validation tests. The MLHP demonstrated excellent performance during experimental tests and the analytical model predictions agreed very well with experimental data. All success criteria at various TRLs were met. Hence, the Thermal Loop technology has reached a TRL of 6. This paper presents the validation results, both experimental and analytical, of such a technology development effort.

Ku, Jentung↗

NASA NTRS2013

Functional Performance of an Enabling Atmosphere Revitalization Subsystem Architecture for Deep Space Exploration Missions

A subsystem architecture derived from the International Space Station's (ISS) Atmosphere Revitalization Subsystem (ARS) has been functionally demonstrated. This ISS-derived architecture features re-arranged unit operations for trace contaminant control and carbon dioxide removal functions, a methane purification component as a precursor to enhance resource recovery over ISS capability, operational modifications to a water electrolysis-based oxygen generation assembly, and an alternative major atmospheric constituent monitoring concept. Results from this functional demonstration are summarized and compared to the performance observed during ground-based testing conducted on an ISS-like subsystem architecture. Considerations for further subsystem architecture and process technology development are discussed.

Perry, Jay L.↗

NASA NTRS2016

SpIES: The Spitzer IRAC Equatorial Survey

We describe the first data release from the Spitzer-IRAC Equatorial Survey (SpIES); a large-area survey of approx.115 sq deg in the Equatorial SDSS Stripe 82 field using Spitzer during its "warm" mission phase. SpIES was designed to probe sufficient volume to perform measurements of quasar clustering and the luminosity function at z > or = 3 to test various models for "feedback" from active galactic nuclei (AGNs). Additionally, the wide range of available multi-wavelength, multi-epoch ancillary data enables SpIES to identify both high-redshift (z > or = 5) quasars as well as obscured quasars missed by optical surveys. SpIES achieves 5 sigma depths of 6.13 μJy (21.93 AB magnitude) and 5.75 μJy (22.0 AB magnitude) at 3.6 and 4.5 microns, respectively-depths significantly fainter than the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). We show that the SpIES survey recovers a much larger fraction of spectroscopically confirmed quasars (approx.98%) in Stripe 82 than are recovered by WISE (∼55%). This depth is especially powerful at high-redshift (z > or = 3.5), where SpIES recovers 94% of confirmed quasars, whereas WISE only recovers 25%. Here we define the SpIES survey parameters and describe the image processing, source extraction, and catalog production methods used to analyze the SpIES data. In addition to this survey paper, we release 234 images created by the SpIES team and three detection catalogs: a 3.6 microns only detection catalog containing approx. 6.1 million sources, a 4.5 microns only detection catalog containing approx. 6.5 million sources, and a dual-band detection catalog containing approx. 5.4 million sources.

quasar clustering↗

DOE OSTI2020

Development of the Underwater Disc Saw Used to Segment the Internals of Taiwan Research Reactor - 20038

Taiwan Research Reactor will be dismantled in the period of 2022 to 2027 according to the approved dismantling plan. Based on the sampling and analyzing results, some internals of Taiwan Research Reactor must be segmented under the water because of their higher radiation, and the calandria is one of them. To dismantle this calandria, Institute of Nuclear Energy Research develops an underwater disc saw that is driven by a hydraulic pump and will be used to segment the shell of the calandria. In this article, Taiwan Research Reactor and the structure of the calandria are briefly depicted, and the segmentation processes of this calandria and the design of this disc saw are also included. Besides, the trial of cutting the shell of the simplified full size calandria mockup is briefly demonstrated in this article. Further tests will be performed in the near future to figure out which parts or functions of this disc saw need to be modified to get better cutting performance. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

NASA NTRS2004

Alignment and Performance of the Infrared Multi-Object Spectrometer

The Infrared Multi-Object Spectrometer (IRMOS) is a principle investigator class instrument for the Kitt Peak National Observatory 4 and 2.1 meter telescopes. IRMOS is a near-IR (0.8 - 2.5 micron) spectrometer with low-to mid-resolving power (R = 300 - 3000). IRMOS produces simultaneous spectra of approximately 100 objects in its 2.8 x 2.0 arc-min field of view (4 m telescope) using a commercial Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) micro-mirror array (MMA) from Texas Instruments. The IRMOS optical design consists of two imaging subsystems. The focal reducer images the focal plane of the telescope onto the MMA field stop, and the spectrograph images the MMA onto the detector. We describe ambient breadboard subsystem alignment and imaging performance of each stage independently, and ambient imaging performance of the fully assembled instrument. Interferometric measurements of subsystem wavefront error serve as a qualitative alignment guide, and are accomplished using a commercial, modified Twyman-Green laser unequal path interferometer. Image testing provides verification of the optomechanical alignment method and a measurement of near-angle scattered light due to mirror small-scale surface error. Image testing is performed at multiple field points. A mercury-argon pencil lamp provides a spectral line at 546.1 nanometers, a blackbody source provides a line at 1550 nanometers, and a CCD camera and IR camera are used as detectors. We use commercial optical modeling software to predict the point-spread function and its effect on instrument slit transmission and resolution. Our breadboard and instrument level test results validate this prediction. We conclude with an instrument performance prediction for cryogenic operation and first light in late 2003.

Connelly, Joseph A.↗

DOE OSTI2025

Feasibility of carbon foam-based sorbents for the abatement of gaseous mercury and iodine

The U.S. Department of Energy Hanford Site in Washington State is in the process of commissioning the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant to process a portion of the 54 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste from cold war weapon production. Technologies for the capture of volatile species of concern are still being assessed, and new methods and materials are developed as operational and flowsheet mission risks are identified. One such area still being assessed is the abatement efficacy of the Carbon Adsorber units to retain gaseous mercury and 129 I released during processing. It is challenging to predict the mercury chemistry due to the variability of the feed, and different methods/materials are required for the capture of gaseous Hg 0 and Hg II compounds. In this study, the feasibility of using developmental carbon foam (CF) sorbents for the capture of iodine and mercury was assessed using static and dynamic flow testing and compared against a commercially available sorbent, BATII-37. Both CF and CF functionalized with bismuth particles (CF-Bi) chemisorbed iodine, and CF-Bi had similar mercury capture performance to BATII-37 in dynamic flow tests. While species loading concentrations were measurable, limitations in achieving a mass balance prevented a full evaluation of capture efficacy. Nonetheless, the results serve as an important first step in demonstrating the potential for simultaneous iodine and mercury capture.

Hanford site↗

NASA NTRS2007

Pan and Tilt Platform for a Thermal Vacuum Video Camera

The purpose of the Space Simulation Test Engineering (SSTE) Section at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is "to provide full service test support, engineering expertise, and state-of-the-art facilities to perform simulated space and thermal cycle testing of Earth orbit and deep space flight hardware"(ref. 1). During the Integration & Testing phase of space flight projects, flight hardware must successfully demonstrate its functionality under conditions similar to the actual environment experienced in space. When testing hardware with mechanical components, such as antenna extensions, door openings, or solar panel deployments, visual observation would allow test personnel to verify mechanical operations in real-time. A video camera can supply data that the usual sensors inside a TV chamber cannot provide. Since mechanical functional testing could affect multiple regions of a test item, a camera with a fixed position may not be able to monitor and record the performance of different components of a mechanism, especially for large test items. By mounting the camera to a Pan and Tilt Platform, the camera can cover a larger area and its field-of-view (FOV) will increase significantly. This paper details the design process for the Pan and Tilt Platform.

Lui, Yan↗

DOE OSTI2017

Experimental Evaluation of Grid Support Enabled PV Inverter Response to Abnormal Grid Conditions

As revised interconnection standards for grid-tied photovoltaic (PV) inverters address new advanced grid support functions (GSFs), there is increasing interest in inverter performance in the case of abnormal grid conditions. The growth of GSF-enabled inverters has outpaced the industry standards that define their operation, although recently published updates to UL1741 Supplement SA define test conditions for GSFs such as volt-var control, frequency-watt control, and voltage/frequency ride-through, among others. This paper describes the results of a comparative experimental evaluation on four commercially available, three-phase PV inverters in the 24.0-39.8 kVA power range on their GSF capability and its effect on abnormal grid condition response. The evaluation examined the impact particular GSF implementations have on run-on times during islanding conditions, peak voltages in load rejection overvoltage scenarios, and peak currents during single-phase and three-phase fault events for individual inverters. Testing results indicated a wide variance in the performance of GSF enabled inverters to various test cases.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2018

Survival of the most transferable at the top of Jacob’s ladder: Defining and testing the ω B97M(2) double hybrid density functional

A meta-generalized gradient approximation, range-separated double hybrid (DH) density functional with VV10 non-local correlation is presented. The final 14-parameter functional form is determined by screening trillions of candidate fits through a combination of best subset selection, forward stepwise selection, and random sample consensus (RANSAC) outlier detection. The MGCDB84 database of 4986 data points is employed in this work, containing a training set of 870 data points, a validation set of 2964 data points, and a test set of 1152 data points. Following an xDH approach, orbitals from the ωB97M-V density functional are used to compute the second-order perturbation theory correction. The resu|ting functional, ωB97M(2) is benchmarked against a variety of leading double hybrid density functionals, including B2PLYP-D3(BJ), B2GPPLYP-D3(BJ), ωB97X-2(TQZ), XYG3, PTPSS-D3(0), XYGJ-OS, DSD-PBEP86-D3(BJ), and DSD-PBEPBE-D3(BJ). Encouragingly, the overall performance of ωB97M(2) on nearly 5000 datq points clearly surpasses that of all of the tested density funstionals. As a Rung 5 density functional, ωB97M(2) completes our family of combinatorially optimized functionals, complementing B97M-V on Rung 3, and ωB97X-V and ωB97M-V on Rung 4. The results suggest that ωB97M(2) has the potential to serve as a powerful predictive tool for accurate and efficient electronic structure calculations of main-group chemistry.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

DOE OSTI2021

Code and Solution Verification Assessment of the CTF Thermal Hydraulic Subchannel Code

CTF is a thermal-hydraulics subchannel code jointly developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory and North Carolina State University. Over the past seven years, the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL) has made a significant investment in developing CTF so it can be used to model light water reactors, including nominal operating conditions, departure from nucleate boiling analysis, and transients ranging from loss of flow to reactivity insertion accidents. In addition to implementing new modeling capabilities and developing the user input and output interface, extensive work has been performed to improve the code’s quality assurance program, resulting in a development process that conforms with NQA-1 requirements. The CASL program follows the Predictive Capability Maturity Model (PCMM) approach for assessing code quality, which emphasizes performing code verification(ensuring the code converges to the correct answer) and solution verification (ensuring the code converges for the intended application). Code and solution verification are used to identify uncertainty errors introduced by numerical approximations in the code and are important for demonstrating that the model is coded without error, which is an important aspect of the Best Estimate plus Uncertainty method. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the code and solution verification testing that has been performed on CTF. A top-down approach is taken in which the intended CTF applications are presented, followed by the code features required for their modeling. These features are then linked to the applicable code and solution verification tests that demonstrate proper functioning. Past testing efforts are summarized, and new tests are added to help close gaps in the presented test matrix. Rather than performing “one-off” exercises, these tests are added to the automated CTF regression test suite to ensure continual code quality.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

NASA NTRS1983

Advanced single permanent magnet axipolar ironless stator ac motor for electric passenger vehicles

A program was conducted to design and develop an advanced-concept motor specifically created for propulsion of electric vehicles with increased range, reduced energy consumption, and reduced life-cycle costs in comparison with conventional systems. The motor developed is a brushless, dc, rare-earth cobalt, permanent magnet, axial air gap inductor machine that uses an ironless stator. Air cooling is inherent provided by the centrifugal-fan action of the rotor poles. An extensive design phase was conducted, which included analysis of the system performance versus the SAE J227a(D) driving cycle. A proof-of-principle model was developed and tested, and a functional model was developed and tested. Full generator-level testing was conducted on the functional model, recording electromagnetic, thermal, aerodynamic, and acoustic noise data. The machine demonstrated 20.3 kW output at 1466 rad/s and 160 dc. The novel ironless stator demonstated the capability to continuously operate at peak current. The projected system performance based on the use of a transistor inverter is 23.6 kW output power at 1466 rad/s and 83.3 percent efficiency. Design areas of concern regarding electric vehicle applications include the inherently high windage loss and rotor inertia.

Beauchamp, E. D.↗

DOE OSTI2022

Extending the low-temperature operation of sodium metal batteries combining linear and cyclic ether-based electrolyte solutions

Nonaqueous sodium-based batteries are ideal candidates for the next generation of electrochemical energy storage devices. However, despite the promising performance at ambient temperature, their low-temperature (e.g., < 0 °C) operation is detrimentally affected by the increase in the electrolyte resistance and solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) instability. Here, to circumvent these issues, we propose specific electrolyte formulations comprising linear and cyclic ether-based solvents and sodium trifluoromethanesulfonate salt that are thermally stable down to –150 °C and enable the formation of a stable SEI at low temperatures. When tested in the Na||Na coin cell configuration, the low-temperature electrolytes enable long-term cycling down to –80 °C. Via ex situ physicochemical (e.g., X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, cryogenic transmission electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy) electrode measurements and density functional theory calculations, we investigate the mechanisms responsible for efficient low-temperature electrochemical performance. We also report the assembly and testing between –20 °C and –60 °C of full Na||Na 3 V 2 (PO 4 ) 3 coin cells. The cell tested at –40 °C shows an initial discharge capacity of 68 mAh g –1 with a capacity retention of approximately 94% after 100 cycles at 22 mA g –1 .

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

NASA NTRS2011

A Hybrid Parachute Simulation Environment for the Orion Parachute Development Project

A parachute simulation environment (PSE) has been developed that aims to take advantage of legacy parachute simulation codes and modern object-oriented programming techniques. This hybrid simulation environment provides the parachute analyst with a natural and intuitive way to construct simulation tasks while preserving the pedigree and authority of established parachute simulations. NASA currently employs four simulation tools for developing and analyzing air-drop tests performed by the CEV Parachute Assembly System (CPAS) Project. These tools were developed at different times, in different languages, and with different capabilities in mind. As a result, each tool has a distinct interface and set of inputs and outputs. However, regardless of the simulation code that is most appropriate for the type of test, engineers typically perform similar tasks for each drop test such as prediction of loads, assessment of altitude, and sequencing of disreefs or cut-aways. An object-oriented approach to simulation configuration allows the analyst to choose models of real physical test articles (parachutes, vehicles, etc.) and sequence them to achieve the desired test conditions. Once configured, these objects are translated into traditional input lists and processed by the legacy simulation codes. This approach minimizes the number of sim inputs that the engineer must track while configuring an input file. An object oriented approach to simulation output allows a common set of post-processing functions to perform routine tasks such as plotting and timeline generation with minimal sensitivity to the simulation that generated the data. Flight test data may also be translated into the common output class to simplify test reconstruction and analysis.

Moore, James W.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Systems Engineering and Integration for Advanced Life Support System and HST

Systems engineering (SE) discipline has revolutionized the way engineers and managers think about solving issues related to design of complex systems: With continued development of state-of-the-art technologies, systems are becoming more complex and therefore, a systematic approach is essential to control and manage their integrated design and development. This complexity is driven from integration issues. In this case, subsystems must interact with one another in order to achieve integration objectives, and also achieve the overall system's required performance. Systems engineering process addresses these issues at multiple levels. It is a technology and management process dedicated to controlling all aspects of system life cycle to assure integration at all levels. The Advanced Integration Matrix (AIM) project serves as the systems engineering and integration function for the Human Support Technology (HST) program. AIM provides means for integrated test facilities and personnel for performance trade studies, analyses, integrated models, test results, and validated requirements of the integration of HST. The goal of AIM is to address systems-level integration issues for exploration missions. It will use an incremental systems integration approach to yield technologies, baselines for further development, and possible breakthrough concepts in the areas of technological and organizational interfaces, total information flow, system wide controls, technical synergism, mission operations protocols and procedures, and human-machine interfaces.

Kamarani, Ali K.↗