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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 955 records · Page 53
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2018

Dissimilar Tendencies of Innovative Green Clay Organo-Modifier on the Final Properties of Poly(ε-caprolactone) Based Nanocomposites

Composites based on poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) were prepared by melt blending the polymer with natural and modified bentonite. Soy lecithin (SL), a natural and nontoxic biosurfactant, was used as modifier agent. Three organoclays with different SL contents were employed as fillers and composites containing 1 and 2 wt% of each clay, were prepared. Thermal (by thermogravimetric analysis, and differential scanning calorimetry), morphological (by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and melt rheology), mechanical (by tensile tests) and barrier properties (by means of water vapor permeability tests) of matrix and composites were studied as a function of clay type and content. Morphological analysis by XRD showed nanocomposites with intercalated-exfoliated structures while melt rheology suggests thermal degradation of PCL matrix catalyzed by SL bentonite modifier. Thermal and mechanical properties were consistent with this assumption, due to the slight increment in crystallinity percentage and detriment in the Young’s modulus of the nanocomposites in comparison with the neat matrix. On the other hand, water vapor permeability of PCL significantly decreased in composites, as is expected for polymer/clay nanocomposites, favoring its potential application as food packaging. Thus, dissimilar tendencies were found in the final properties of the nanocomposites that were attributed to the matrix molecular weight degradation catalyzed by the novel green clay organo-modifier.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2019

An innovative approach for performance enhancement of 320 Gbps free space optical communication system over turbulent channel

Free space optical (FSO) communication systems have recently gained huge attention as possible last mile solution in delivering high speed data services for terrestrial applications. However the FSO link performance, particularly the link range is significantly limited by the severity of atmospheric adversities affecting the channel. In this paper we advocate the use of multi-hop relay techniques to transmit wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) signal over the FSO channel. Since weather induced impairments in FSO links are distance dependent phenomena, hence relay transmission allows substantial performance enhancement by alleviating channel losses while, WDM provides cost effective solution in improving the transmission capacity. With aggregate link losses as high as 40 dB/km, the proposed 32 channel—10 Gbps (320 Gbps) FSO link has been evaluated by comparing bit error rate (BER) performances and eye patterns over different turbulent regimes. Gain optimized EDFA amplification and conventional electrical amplification have been employed to realize amplify-and-forward (A–F) multi-hop transmission in the proposed link with the former delivering more inspiring BER performance of over the latter. Our simulation results indicate that for receiver SNR of 35 dB, BER improvement up to five orders of magnitude can achieved using triple relay FSO link in contrast to direct link operating under similar conditions. Additionally, it is also observed during the analysis that for target BER of 10{sup −5}, incorporation of triple relay enhances the link range by approximately 1200 m over direct link. However on the flip side, our investigations also revealed that as the number of relay nodes is increased, the SNR gain for specified BER does increase but the magnitude of gain declines. The proposed link was designed and investigated using OptiSystem™ 14.2.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2024

Breakthrough innovations in carbon dioxide mineralization for a sustainable future

Greenhouse gas emissions and climate change concerns have prompted worldwide initiatives to lower carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) levels and prevent them from rising in the atmosphere, thereby controlling global warming. Effective CO 2 management through carbon capture and storage is essential for safe and permanent storage, as well as synchronically meeting carbon reduction targets. Lowering CO 2 emissions through carbon utilization can develop a wide range of new businesses for energy security, material production, and sustainability. CO 2 mineralization is one of the most promising strategies for producing thermodynamically stable solid calcium or magnesium carbonates for long-term sequestration using simple chemical reactions. Current advancements in CO 2 mineralization technologies, focusing on pathways and mechanisms using different industrial solid wastes, including natural minerals as feedstocks, are briefly discussed. However, the operating costs, energy consumption, reaction rates, and material management are major barriers to the application of these technologies in CO 2 mineralization. Further, the optimization of operating parameters, tailor-made equipment, and smooth supply of waste feedstocks require more attention to make the carbon mineralization process economically and commercially viable. Here, carbonation mechanisms, technological options to expedite mineral carbonation, environmental impacts, and prospects of CO 2 mineralization technologies are critically evaluated to suggest a pathway for mitigating climate change in the future. The integration of industrial wastes and brine with the CO 2 mineralization process can unlock its potential for the development of novel chemical pathways for the synthesis of calcium or magnesium carbonates, valuable metal recovery, and contribution to sustainability goals while reducing the impact of global warming.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2017

Single Crystal Casting with Fluidized Carbon Bed Cooling: A Process Innovation for Quality Improvement and Cost Reduction

Superalloy gas turbine blades are being produced by investment casting and directional solidification. A new process, Fluidized Carbon Bed Cooling (FCBC), has been developed and is now being optimized in a prototype casting unit with 10 kg pouring weight. In early test runs with still rather simple mold cluster geometries, a reduction of the primary dendrite arm spacing of around 40 pct compared to the standard radiation cooling process (HRS) could be demonstrated. The improvement is mainly attributed to higher temperature gradients driving solidification, made possible by a functioning Dynamic Baffle. Compared to earlier development efforts in the literature, contamination of the melt and damage to the equipment are avoided using carbon-based fluidized bed materials and the so-called “counter pressure concept.”.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

An innovative heterogeneous transfer learning framework to enhance the scalability of deep reinforcement learning controllers in buildings with integrated energy systems

Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL)-based control shows enhanced performance in the management of integrated energy systems when compared with Rule-Based Controllers (RBCs), but it still lacks scalability and generalisation due to the necessity of using tailored models for the training process. Transfer Learning (TL) is a potential solution to address this limitation. However, existing TL applications in building control have been mostly tested among buildings with similar features, not addressing the need to scale up advanced control in real-world scenarios with diverse energy systems. This paper assesses the performance of an online heterogeneous TL strategy, comparing it with RBC and offline and online DRL controllers in a simulation setup using EnergyPlus and Python. The study tests the transfer in both transductive and inductive settings of a DRL policy designed to manage a chiller coupled with a Thermal Energy Storage (TES). The control policy is pre-trained on a source building and transferred to various target buildings characterised by an integrated energy system including photovoltaic and battery energy storage systems, different building envelope features, occupancy schedule and boundary conditions (e.g., weather and price signal). The TL approach incorporates model slicing, imitation learning and fine-tuning to handle diverse state spaces and reward functions between source and target buildings. Results show that the proposed methodology leads to a reduction of 10% in electricity cost and between 10% and 40% in the mean value of the daily average temperature violation rate compared to RBC and online DRL controllers. Moreover, online TL maximises self-sufficiency and self-consumption by 9% and 11% with respect to RBC. Conversely, online TL achieves worse performance compared to offline DRL in either transductive or inductive settings. However, offline Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) agents should be trained at least for 15 episodes to reach the same level of performance as the online TL. Therefore, the proposed online TL methodology is effective, completely model-free and it can be directly implemented in real buildings with satisfying performance.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2023

An innovative carbonated cementitious material and its printability and carbon mineralization capacity

The main goal of this research is to develop a carbonated cementitious material (CCMs) mix design and demonstrate its rapid stiffening for manufacturing 3D printed or precast elements for building construction (i.e., concrete with enhanced durability and CO 2 capture efficiency). The material development employs hydrated Ca(OH) 2 , and its distinct reaction with CO 2 to form CaCO 3 . Different formulations and additives including polymer materials enable the thermomechanical properties that give these CCMs 3D printability comparable with cement materials used for similar applications. Here, printable and castable CCM formulations were successfully developed and demonstrated to mineralize CO 2 to form up to 57% CaCO 3 .

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Revolutionizing thermal Management in Next-Generation AI data centers: Challenges and breakthrough innovations

Data centers (DCs) serve as critical infrastructure for powering the growth and evolution of AI. Next-generation AI DCs present unique challenges in thermal management driven by unprecedented computational demands. This paper provides a comprehensive summary of key stakeholder perspectives on technology gaps, infrastructure requirements, test bed needs, emerging opportunities, and preliminary solutions related to thermal management for AI DCs. It establishes six strategic pillars of thermal management for next generation AI DC: reliability, deployability, efficiency, resilience, measurability, and valorization. The discussion spans a range of critical topics, including advanced cooling technologies, thermal strategies for emerging modular and edge DCs, system-level optimization and control frameworks, infrastructure planning and grid integration designs, benchmarking approaches, and pathways for waste heat recovery and reuse. The proposed research, development, and demonstration efforts are aimed at accelerating the deployment of AI DCs while ensuring energy efficiency, reliability, safety, and regulatory compliance.

Wang, Pengtao [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000214713429)↗
DOE OSTI2018

NMR-based serum metabolomics study reveals a innovative diagnostic model for missed abortion

A missed abortion (MA) is an in-utero death of the embryo or fetus before the 20th week of gestation with retained products of conception. In order to discover novel biomarkers for MA, a {sup 1}H NMR spectroscopy-based metabolomics approach was applied to detect human MA serum metabolic profiles. Serum samples were obtained from patients with MA (n = 15) and healthy controls (n = 9) for study. The NOESYPR1D spectrum combined with multi-variate pattern recognition analysis was used to cluster the groups and establish a disease-specific metabolites phenotype. Principal component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal partial least-squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) models were capable of distinguishing MA patients from healthy subjects. The results revealed that 24 metabolites altered in MA patients compared with the control population. Metabolomic pathway analysis demonstrated that alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism, citrate cycle (TCA cycle), taurine and hypotaurine metabolism were significantly altered in MA. The results indicated that serum NMR-based metabolomic profiling method is sensitive and specific enough to distinguish MA and from healthy controls, this method could be developed as a clinically useful diagnostic tool for MA. The finding from the MA serum metabolic profiling shed a new light on further understanding of MA disease mechanisms.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

An innovative approach for atrazine electrochemical oxidation modelling: Process parameter effect, intermediate formation and kinetic constant assessment

Water reuse for irrigation activities is becoming a crucial worldwide challenge due to the depletion of water sources. Anyway, agricultural drainage can potentially contain dangerous contaminants such as metals, pesticides, and herbicides, including atrazine. To address the need for agriculture wastewater purification, we investigated atrazine removal from simulated wastewater by electro-oxidation using platinum-coated titanium electrodes on a lab-scale experimental apparatus. The effects of electrolyte composition and concentration, i.e. ionic strength and applied current density on atrazine removal, were investigated. The results demonstrated that the electrochemical oxidation of the herbicide occurred through two routes, depending on the presence or absence of oxidizing chlorine species. The generation of intermediates during the treatment was monitored and quantified by evaluating the effect of an inert electrolyte (NaClO 4 ) versus an oxidizable chlorine species (NaCl). In both experimental conditions, five intermediates were identified, including desethyl-atrazine (DEA), hydroxyatrazine (ATZ-OH), desisopropyl-atrazine (DIA) and desethyl-desisopropyl-atrazine (DEDIA). A degradation mechanism and a model for describing hydroxyl radicals and active chlorine species contributions at ATZ oxidation were also proposed. Intermediate evolution profiles suggest that ATZ degradation can be considered as a series–parallel reaction system. Finally, the energy requirement assessment for ATZ removal was carried out. The highest ATZ removal (≅98%) was achieved with NaCl = 0.08 M, J = 60 A/m −2 , and E C = 5.83 kWh m −3 . Results highlight that atrazine removal was improved when an active chlorine species (NaCl) was present in the water solution. Moreover, the addition of chlorine species during electro-oxidation is an energy-saving strategy. Collectively, electro-oxidation technique can be efficiently applied to treat polluted water in order to meet the needs of recycling water quality and reduce resource consumption.

Electro-chemical oxidation↗