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At least 991 records · Page 55

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

DOE OSTI2018

On Effect of Information Loss on Fuser Quality and Utility

We abstract the accuracy performance of any fuser into a fusion quality measure that is within the range [0; 1] and monotonically decreases with increasing errors. Although there are many possible ways to map the actual error to this quality measure, we adopt a mapping function consisting of both concave and convex regions and its parameters can be tuned based on system design requirements. The effect of communication loss over the links from the sensors, where estimates are generated, to the fuser is then considered, and based on the variations of the quality measure with loss, we define the overall fuser utility that characterizes the resilience of a fuser with increasingly adverse communication constraints. Tracking examples are shown to demonstrate the comparative quality and utility performances of several closed-form fusers.

Rao, Nageswara↗

DOE OSTI2018

On Concavity and Utilization Analytics of Wide-Area Network Transport Protocols

Wide-area data transfers in high-performance computing infrastructures and big data applications are increasingly carried over dynamically provisioned dedicated network connections, which provide high capacities with no competing traffic. Throughput of TCP and UDT over wide-area connections depends, often in a complex non-linear way, on the congestion control mechanism, buffer sizes, and the number of parallel streams. In addition, our extensive TCP and UDT throughput measurements and time traces over a suite of physical and emulated 10 Gbps connections with 0-366 ms round-trip times (RTTs) show significant statistical and temporal variations. Consequently, parameter selection and optimization for transport methods require data analytics to complement analytical throughput models. We present analytics based on the concavity-convexity of throughput profiles which provide insights into peak throughput and superior/inferior trend compared to linear interpolations based on RTT. In particular, we propose the utilization-concavity coefficient, a scalar metric that incorporates both utilization and concavity profile to characterize the overall performance of a transport protocol. These measurements-based anaytics enable us to select a transport protocol and its parameters for a given host and connection configuration to achieve high throughput with statistical guarantees.

Rao, Nageswara↗

DOE OSTI2018

ANALYSIS OF COMMUNICATION PERFORMANCE DEGRADATION OF THE RADIATION TRANSPORT CODE PIDOTS ON HIGH-UTILIZATION, MULTI-USER HPC SYSTEMS

The PIDOTS radiation transport code implements a spatially decomposed Integral Transport Matrix Method (ITMM) solver, which is intended to fully utilize the capabilities of modern, massively parallel high-performance computing (HPC) systems. While the code shows promising results, there was also an unexpected loss of parallel efficiency on the test systems as the number of participating processors grew and the parallelization grain size got finer. We seek to identify and characterize the communication-latency based effects that contribute to this slowdown. Through the creation of a high-level, parameterized representation of the workload of the code, the communication methodology was identified as the likely reason. From there, low-level, InfiniBand communication performance data measured on the Falcon HPC at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) was used to produce a discrete-event model of the communication scheme. The data, as well as the model, show that infrequent, large spikes in send/receive latency drive an unexpectedly substantial increase in projected runtime of a code. Furthermore, these effects are more pronounced under the high-utilization, scattered-workload environment of Falcon. Based on results from the model, it can be shown that a high-communication volume, small message-size regime can easily lead to slowdowns of ~5-10x, when compared to ideal results, as the processor count increases.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

DOE OSTI2019

Heat pumps utilizing ionic liquid desiccant

An ionic liquid desiccant system utilizes an ionic liquid desiccant to draw moisture from a working fluid, such as air that flow into an enclosure, such as a home. The desiccant may be mixed with the working fluid or a separator that allows moisture transport therethrough may be configured between the ionic liquid desiccant and the working fluid. The ionic liquid desiccant system may be part of an air conditioning system and may remove the moisture from air that is cooled by flowing over an evaporator or heat exchanger coupled with the evaporator. The ionic liquid desiccant may be pumped from a desiccant chamber to a regenerator chamber to remove absorbed moisture. A dual-purpose chamber may act as a desiccant chamber and as a regenerator chamber. A refrigeration system may have an electrochemical compressor and may utilize metal hydride heat exchangers.

Bahar, Bamdad↗

DOE OSTI2019

Developing Publicly Available LCA Guidance, Data, and Tools for Environmental Understanding of Emerging CO2 Utilization Research - LCAXIX

This work was presented at the American Center for Life Cycle Assessment 2019 Conference (LCAXIX) in Tucson, AZ on September 25, 2019. Capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from power and industrial sources and using that CO2 to make useful products is an emerging area of research that will benefit from a consistent and unbiassed framework like life cycle assessment/analysis (LCA) to understand the environmental impacts and net life cycle GHG reductions compared to the current state of the alternative in the marketplace. In the interest of supporting the creation of useful and consistent LCAs of CO2 utilization projects, the DOE National Energy Technology Laboratory has developed a CO2 utilization LCA toolkit. The primary audience for the toolkit is the group of principal investigators that have been awarded a grant through a DOE Carbon Use and Reuse funding opportunity announcement. However, we believe that there is potential wider application beyond those grant recipients.

Cooney, Gregory↗

DOE OSTI2019

Control Center Viewing of UAS-Based Real-Time Sensor and Video Measurements at an Electric Utility Facility

Drones equipped with video cameras, LIDAR and thermal imagers have been demonstrated in industrial and utility settings. In such instances, the images are typically locally stored onboard the drone then retrieved from the image storage media and analyzed. We report on a project involving the transport and display of measurements and thermal and visual video streams into a utility control center. Relying on an integrated multimedia communications network, realtime control center viewing of sensor readings and image streams is achieved. Details of this activity are reported.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2020

VOLTTRON™ Agent Development for Enabling Reactive Power Support of Non-Utility DERs by Integrating Transactive Energy Approach

To enable better voltage regulation in power systems with high penetration of photovoltaics (PV) and other distributed energy resources (DERs), future inverters are required to provide reactive power support to the grid in addition to providing real power generated by PV panels. This paper develops a framework that coordinates the support from DER-based inverters, which are grid-connected non-utility assets, by using a transactive energy approach. Results of the implementation demonstrate participation of DER-based inverters can be achieved by using the coordination between distributed controllers and a centralized controller. With the transactive energy approach, both the customer and utility can achieve benefits that meet their individual needs.

Kritprajun, Paychuda↗

DOE OSTI2018

Cybersecurity Framework Tool and Training Game Help Utilities ID Cyber Attack Vulnerabilities

PNNL cybersecurity experts developed two novel cyber tools to help utilities and organizations that serve them combat malicious cyber attacks. The first is the Cybersecurity Framework Tool, or CFT. This patented tool provides a way for utilities and their associated vendors to identify, protect, detect, respond to, and recover from emerging cyber threats or vulnerabilities to critical infrastructure. CFT provides an easy-to-follow set of best practices, policies, and procedures to improve the cybersecurity postures of critical infrastructure. The second tool is the Cybersecurity Training Game Simulator, a dynamic “train the trainer” tool. The game provides interactive training scenarios based on major cyberattacks that happened in the U.S. during the past decade. Both innovations are available for commercialization. Contact Commercialization Manager Peter Christensen at peter.christensen@pnnl.gov to learn more.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗

DOE OSTI2021

Peak Load Management in Distribution Systems Using Legacy Utility Equipment and Distributed Energy Resources: Preprint

The ability to perform peak load management in distribution systems has several benefits for utilities, including reduced demand charges and improved reliability, efficiency, and utilization of the network infrastructure. This paper demonstrates the coordinated operation of an advanced distribution management system (ADMS) and a distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) to achieve peak load management using a realistic laboratory test bed. A commercial ADMS reduces the peak demand by reducing system voltages using a dynamic voltage regulation (DVR) application. A prototype DERMS—based on real-time optimal power flow—controls distributed battery energy storage systems to further reduce the feeder power. Results from the experiments conducted using a model of a real distribution feeder show that the coordinated operation of the ADMS and DERMS is effective in accomplishing peak load management.

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗

DOE OSTI2021

Utilizing Additive Manufacturing to Create Prototype and Functional Beamline Instrumentation and Support Components

The world of beamline science is often fast-paced and dynamic. One of the major challenges in this environment is to be able to design, manufacture and then implement new items for use on the beamlines in a fast and accurate manner. Many times, this involves iterating the design to address unknown or new variables which were not pre- sent at the beginning of the project planning task. Through the use of additive manufacturing, I have been able to support the user programs of various (APS) Ad- vanced Photon Source beamlines* across multiple scien- tific disciplines. I will provide a few detailed examples of Items that were created for specific beamline applications and discuss what benefits they provided to the pertinent project. I will also talk about why choosing consumer- level printer options to produce the parts has been the direction I went and the pros and cons of this decision. Pri marily, this choice allowed for quicker turnaround times and the ability to make more frequent changes in an efficient manner. Currently, we are utilizing only the fused deposition modelling (FDM) type printers but I am exploring the addition of UV-activated resin printing, exotic materials that can be utilized using the current toolset, and the possibility of commercial metal printing systems. This technology has been a game-changer for the implementation of new support items and instrumentation over the last couple of years for the different disciplines I am sup- porting. I will discuss how the roadmap ahead and what the evolving technologies could potentially allow us to do.

Jensen, D.↗

DOE OSTI2022

Lignin Utilization

Valorization of lignin has massive potential economic and sustainability benefits for the lignocellulosic biorefinery. However, challenges remain to realize lignin conversion to coproducts, especially related to selective, high yield depolymerization to monomers and quantitative analytics on lignin, the latter of which is critical for accurate process modeling. Towards these goals, the Lignin Utilization project focuses on catalytic lignin deconstruction chemistries for C-O and C-C bond cleavage, development of analytical chemistry techniques to quantitatively characterize lignin, and syntheses of requisite model compounds for understanding lignin transformations. This work is done with and supports multiple BETO projects, including the Biological Lignin Valorization (BLV) project, the Separations Consortium, and others. Outcomes of Lignin Utilization for analytics and synthesis include 1) development of new mass spectrometry (MS) methods to characterize lignin dimers/oligomers in process streams, 2) deployment of a computational-experimental tool (with Biochemical Process Modeling and Simulation) to identify lignin-derived compounds with high fidelity from MS, and 3) delivery of >40 unique compounds. From a catalysis perspective, we have developed new oxidative approaches to cleave C-O and C-C bonds and produce >50% bio-available aromatic monomers for biological funneling for the BLV project and have developed recoverable bases for base-catalyzed deconstruction of lignin.

BIOMASS FUELS↗

DOE OSTI2022

Serving in the Public Interest: Samuel Insull and the Public Service Utility Imaginary

This chapter examines the rhetoric of Samuel Insull as an example of how early electricity utility executives framed the idea of granting monopoly territories in terms of the “public interest.” While the public interest has not always maintained sustained attention in public policy research, the concept remains as strong as ever a justification for specific policies and procedures that shape how utilities deliver energy to the public. Insull’s public speeches and other events demonstrate an important instantiation of the coproduction of an energy transition and the reimagining of how the public and energy companies interact. Though this model is by no means perfect, it represents an idea of sociotechnical order that has sustained for over a century, a level of persistent change that is instructive for considering how to shape the ongoing transition to sustainable energy systems.

Tidwell, Abraham SD↗

DOE OSTI2017

Maximizing MWh: A statistical analysis of the performance of utility-scale photovoltaic projects in the United States

Despite significant cost declines utility-scale solar projects have to perform well over their lifetime in order to return profits in a low-PPA environment of under $50/MWh. Using multivariate regression analysis this paper examines the 2014 Net Capacity Factors for 128 utility-scale projects that came online before the end of 2013 and explores the impact (in decreasing order of importance) of global horizontal irradiance, tracking technology, inverter loading ratios and project vintage plus three other interactive variables on performance. The model complies with the assumptions of OLS regressions and explains 93% of the observed NCF variation.

Bolinger, M↗

DOE OSTI2023

Pathways to CO2 Utilization and Storage for the Intermountain West

The presentation, delivered at American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) Carbon, Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) held in Houston, Texas, April 25–27, 2023, provides a detailed perspective on CO2 utilization and storage as a deep decarbonization pathway as it relates to states that make up the Intermountain West (I-WEST) region of the U.S. Content within shows findings from evaluation of the opportunity and potential value delivery that exists for CCUS to deploy at significant scale in the I-WEST region considering the region’s prominent enabling factors. This work is part of a larger initiative involving the development of a regional, stakeholder-informed technology “roadmap” for a sustainable and equitable transition to carbon neutral in the I-WEST.

Vikara, Derek↗

DOE OSTI2023

Overview of the Pathways to CO2 Utilization and Storage for the Intermountain West Region

The topic of the webinar focused on findings from the first phase of I-WEST initiative, specifically related to CO2 utilization and storage as one of the many potential deep decarbonization pathway available to the region. Specifically, the seminar presented topics like: an overview of CCUS technology and benefits; a highlight of a variety of CO2 storage and utilization approaches available to the region, relevant governing regulations, and technical and non-technical grand challenges associated with each option; findings from an assessment of opportunities for CCUS deployment at significant scale within the Intermountain West; and context to help listeners better understand the technical aspects of CCUS and how they interface with economic, social, and policy aspects of decarbonization applicable to the I-WEST geographic region.

Vikara, Derek↗

DOE OSTI2023

In-situ resource utilization-derived water purification and hydrogen and oxygen production

This disclosure provides an integrated system and method for producing purified water, hydrogen, and oxygen from contaminated water. The contaminated water may be derived from regolith-based resources on the moon, Mars, near-Earth asteroids, or other destination in outer space. The integrated system and method utilize a cold trap to receive the contaminated water in a vapor phase and selectively freeze out water from one or more volatiles. A heat source increases temperature in the cold trap to vaporize the frozen contaminated water to produce a gas stream of water vapor and volatiles. A chemical scrubber may remove one or more volatiles. The integrated system and method utilize ionomer membrane technology to separate the water vapor from remaining volatiles. The water vapor is delivered for crew use or delivered to an electrolyzer to produce hydrogen and oxygen.

Finger, Barry Wynns↗

DOE OSTI2016

Uncertainty evaluation for the realistic safety analysis methodology of RIA by utilizing experimental results

An audit calculation methodology for the safety analysis of reactivity-initiated accident (RIA) in a PWR based on the realistic approach is under developing in Korean Institute of Nuclear Safety. In this paper important uncertainty parameters to the rod performance were described, and the validity of those parameters was assessed by utilizing the CABRI and NSRR experimental results. Sensitivity study has been carried out to identify the parameters by changing fuel burnup, injected energy and full-width half maximum (FWHM) of given RIA power pulses. FRAPCON-3.5 and FRAPTRAN-1.5 fuel performance code were utilized. Non-parametric order statistics was used for the uncertainty quantification, and 124 inputs on each experimental case were produced by simple random sampling technique. Analysis results showed that the assessed fuel performance uncertainties such as the fuel enthalpy, fission gas release and clad plastic hoop strain could not bound some experimental results. This means that the currently considered uncertainty range, particularly for the peak power, is not enough to cover the fuel performance uncertainty within a sufficient probability and confidence level. (author)

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

DOE OSTI2023

Utilizing GEOPHIRES-X Beyond Electricity

The GEOPHIRES tool is a techno-economic simulator for evaluating the thermal performance and cost-competitiveness of geothermal plants for electricity, heating, and/or cooling. The tool combines reservoir, wellbore, and surface plant cost and performance models to estimate overall techno-economic metrics such as net present value or levelized cost of electricity, heating, or cooling. We recently upgraded the tool to an object-oriented Python framework, presented in an accompanying paper. As part of the upgrade, we enhanced the capability to simulate the performance of geothermal plants for heating and cooling, which is the topic of this paper. Specifically, we (1) integrated absorption chillers to investigate the performance of utilizing geothermal heat for cooling, (2) integrated a heat pump module to boost the geothermal temperature and thermal output, (3) integrated a district heating module to estimate heating demand for a district based on local weather data, and simulated heat supply with geothermal energy and peaking boilers, and (4) integrated GEOPHIRES as an engine in the dGeo simulator to perform a geospatial analysis of geothermal district heating feasibility across a large region (e.g., a state or the entire United States) utilizing resource and thermal demand maps. This paper presents background information and case studies for several of these heating and cooling end-use options in GEOPHIRES.

absorption chiller↗