Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “lab test”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,063 records · Page 59
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Chicago Clean Air, Clean Water Project: Environmental Monitoring for a Healthy, Sustainable Urban Future

The U.S. Department of Energy awarded Loyola University Chicago and the Institute of Environmental Sustainability (IES) $486,000.00 for the proposal entitled “Chicago clean air, clean water project: Environmental monitoring for a healthy, sustainable urban future.” The project supported the purchase of analytical instruments for the development of an environmental analytical laboratory. The analytical laboratory is designed to support the testing of field water and soil samples for nutrients, industrial pollutants, heavy metals, and agricultural toxins, with special emphasis on testing Chicago regional soils and water affected by coal-based industry. Since the award was made in 2010, the IES has been launched (fall 2013), and the IES acquired a new state-of-the-art research and education facility on Loyola University Chicago’s Lakeshore campus. Two labs were included in the research and education facility. The second floor lab is the Ecology Laboratory where lab experiments and analyses are conducted on soil, plant, and water samples. The third floor lab is the Environmental Toxicology Lab where lab experiments on environmental toxins are conducted, as well as analytical tests conducted on water, soil, and plants. On the south end of the Environmental Toxicology Lab is the analytical instrumentation collection purchased from the present DOE grant, which is overseen by a full time Analytical Chemist (hired January 2016), who maintains the instruments, conducts analyses on samples, and helps to train faculty and undergraduate and graduate student researchers.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2017

Creation of System Validation Platform

The objective of this CRADA between Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and SunSpec Alliance (SunSpec) was to create a software test platform called the System Validation Platform (SVP) that performs end-to-end certification testing of photovoltaic (PV) inverters, energy storage systems, and other distributed energy resources (DERs). The SVP automates interactions of test equipment (PV and grid simulators), data acquisition systems, and interoperable DERs to certify the devices for advanced grid-support functions and interoperability. To assist electricity grid, operators maintain voltage and frequency, new interconnection requirements in the U.S. and Europe require DERs to have grid-support functions with adjustable settings. Automating the certification process for DER devices impacts the bottom line of NRTLs because they do not need to rely on test engineers running days (or weeks) of experiments to validate the performance of the equipment. These savings can then be passed down to the DER vendors so the certification process becomes less expensive and lowers the barrier to market for PV inverters, charge controllers, and other grid-interconnected equipment. This technology can also be used as a research platform for SNL, other national labs, and universities that would like to run hardware tests with power electronics equipment.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS1990

An automated calibration laboratory for flight research instrumentation: Requirements and a proposed design approach

NASA's Dryden Flight Research Facility (Ames-Dryden), operates a diverse fleet of research aircraft which are heavily instrumented to provide both real time data for in-flight monitoring and recorded data for postflight analysis. Ames-Dryden's existing automated calibration (AUTOCAL) laboratory is a computerized facility which tests aircraft sensors to certify accuracy for anticipated harsh flight environments. Recently, a major AUTOCAL lab upgrade was initiated; the goal of this modernization is to enhance productivity and improve configuration management for both software and test data. The new system will have multiple testing stations employing distributed processing linked by a local area network to a centralized database. The baseline requirements for the new AUTOCAL lab and the design approach being taken for its mechanization are described.

Oneill-Rood, Nora↗
NASA NTRS1990

An automated calibration laboratory - Requirements and design approach

NASA's Dryden Flight Research Facility (Ames-Dryden), operates a diverse fleet of research aircraft which are heavily instrumented to provide both real time data for in-flight monitoring and recorded data for postflight analysis. Ames-Dryden's existing automated calibration (AUTOCAL) laboratory is a computerized facility which tests aircraft sensors to certify accuracy for anticipated harsh flight environments. Recently, a major AUTOCAL lab upgrade was initiated; the goal of this modernization is to enhance productivity and improve configuration management for both software and test data. The new system will have multiple testing stations employing distributed processing linked by a local area network to a centralized database. The baseline requirements for the new AUTOCAL lab and the design approach being taken for its mechanization are described.

O'Neil-Rood, Nora↗
NASA NTRS2023

Orion Cabin Lighting System: Filter Workaround for Maintaining Crew Circadian Entrainment

Introduction: Suboptimal crew circadian entrainment (CCE) is common and results in cumulative fatigue and reduced cognitive function. This may promote use of psychostimulants and hypnotics. The Orion Cabin Lighting System (OCLS) consists of 15 dimmable lamps circuited to several zones. The OCLS monochromatic white lamp design is insufficient for maintaining CCE. While blue light (480-nm) elicits peak wake-cycle response, it is a powerful disruptor of CCE. We propose OCLS lamp filters (OLFs) as a workaround for maintaining CCE. Methods: Preliminary OLFs testing utilized a tunable-white LED to serve as a baseline lamp in the NASA Lighting Lab’s controlled environment (prototype OCLS lamps were unavailable). Illuminance and spectral irradiances were measured with the NASA Lighting Lab’s spectroradiometer. ConOps is proposed for OLFs. Results: OLFs markedly attenuated 480-nm light and illumination with minimal mass/volume requirements. ConOps includes in-flight deployment of OLFs and reducing OCLS lamp intensity prior to bedtime. Pros: minimal mass/volume, no added power, and a simplistic design. Cons: manual twice-daily articulation of OLFs, undetermined frangibility/flammability/off-gassing and effects on thermal regulation, and untested task illumination or color fidelity in the Orion cabin. Discussion: While OLFs aptly attenuate 480-nm light from our tunable LED lamp in the Lighting Lab’s controlled environment, they remain untested within the Orion cabin on OCLS lamps. Future tests include Orion cabin illumination optimization for appropriate Lux delivery and ensuring task/color fidelity with OLFs deployed. Adequate OCLS cooling should be similarly assessed. Other safety testing includes OLF frangibility/flammability/off-gassing in an enriched-O 2 /hypobaric environment. Together, these data will demonstrate OLFs provide a viable workaround for maintaining CCE further ensuring mission safety and success.

Carlos Rene Dostal↗
DOE OSTI2019

Synthesis of convection velocity and turbulence measurements in three-stream jets

Key flow regions linked to jet noise sources are investigated through comparison of convection velocity and turbulence measurements in high-speed three-stream nozzles. Time-resolved flow imaging using a photomultiplier tube array was applied in the Nozzle Acoustic Test Rig at NASAs Aero-Acoustic Propulsion Lab to measure 250 kHz repetition laser scattering signals arising from seeding particles at 32 points in high-speed flow. Particle image velocimetry measurements previously reported by NASA provided mean velocity and turbulence intensity. Results for convection velocity of the particle concentration field were obtained from the time-resolved data for three-stream nozzle configurations using a cross-correlation approach. The three-stream cases included an axisymmetric and an asymmetric, offset nozzle configuration. For the axisymmetric case, areas of high convection velocity and turbulence intensity were found to occur 4–6 area-equivalent nozzle diameters downstream from the nozzle exit. Comparison of convection velocity between the axisymmetric and offset cases shows this same region as having the greatest reduction in convection velocity due to the offset, up to 20% reduction for the offset case compared to the axisymmetric case. Finally, these findings suggest that this region along the centerline near the end of the potential core is an important area for noise generation with jets and contributes to the noise reductions seen from three-stream offset nozzles.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Tensile, flexural, and light output measurements of selected organic scintillators for evaluation of their potential as structural materials

In order to design structures, such as unmanned vehicle structures, out of plastic scintillator, e.g., for radionuclide searches, suitable materials must either be identified or developed. In searches utilizing unmanned vehicles, the absence of an additional detector attached to the vehicle body as a payload could enable the vehicle to travel faster, carry a longer lived battery, or carry other auxiliary equipment which may be useful for search and/or response. To this end, four mechanical characteristics of selected organic scintillators manufactured by Eljen technologies, Sandia Livermore, and Lawrence Livermore National Lab have been measured. Specifically, tensile and flexural tests have been performed to ASTM specifications on organic scintillators with polyvinyl toluene (PVT), polystyrene (PS), or crosslinked versions of these bases. In addition to these mechanical tests, light output testing was performed in order to quantify whether crosslinking or adding organometallic complexes affects light output in the particular scintillator compositions we measured. We found that the tested plastic scintillators have strengths that are comparable to common structural plastics. We also show that chemically modifying the polymer base can show improvements in the mechanical properties without being overly detrimental to the scintillator light output.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Performance of a triple-GEM detector with capacitive-sharing 3-coordinate (X–Y–U)-strip anode readout

The concept of capacitive-sharing readout, described in detail in a previous study, offers the possibility for the development of high-performance three-coordinates (X--Y--U)-strip readout for Micro Pattern Gaseous Detectors (MPGDs) using simple standard PCB fabrication techniques. Capacitive-sharing (X--Y--U)-strip readout allows simultaneous measurement of the Cartesian coordinates x and y of the position of the particles together with a third coordinate u along the diagonal axis in a single readout PCB. This provides a powerful tool to address multiple-hit ambiguity and enable pattern recognition capabilities in moderate particle flux environment of collider or fixed target experiments in high energy physics HEP) and nuclear physics (NP). We present in this paper the performance of a 10 cm × 10 cm triple-GEM detector with capacitive-sharing (X--Y--U)-strip anode readout. Spatial resolutions of the order of $\sigma_{x}^{res}$ = 71.6 $\pm$ 0.8 $\mu$m for X-strips, $\sigma_{y}^{res}$ = 56.2 $\pm$ 0.9 $\mu$m for Y-strips and $\sigma_{u}^{res}$ = 75.2 $\pm$ 0.9 $\mu$m for U-strips have been obtained at a beam test at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab). Modifications of the readout design of future prototypes to improve the spatial resolution and challenges in scaling to large-area MPGDs are discussed.

(X-Y-U) strip↗
DOE OSTI2018

Stimulation of anaerobic organic matter decomposition by subsurface organic N addition in tundra soils

We present that increasing nitrogen (N) availability in Arctic soils could stimulate the growth of both plants and microorganisms by relieving the constraints of nutrient limitation. It was hypothesized that organic N addition to anoxic tundra soil would increase CH 4 production by stimulating the fermentation of labile substrates, which is considered the rate-limiting step in anaerobic C mineralization. We tested this hypothesis through both field and lab-based experiments. In the field experiment, we injected a solution of 13 C- and 15 N-labeled glutamate 35 cm belowground at a site near Nome on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska, and observed the resulting changes in porewater geochemistry and dissolved greenhouse gas concentrations. The concentration of free glutamate declined rapidly within hours of injection, and the 15 N label was recovered almost exclusively as dissolved organic N within 62 h. These results indicate rapid microbial assimilation of the added N and transformation into novel organic compounds. We observed increasing concentrations of dissolved CH 4 and Fe(II), indicating rapid stimulation of methanogenesis and Fe(III) reduction. Low molecular weight organic acids such as acetate and propionate accumulated despite increasing consumption through anaerobic C mineralization. A laboratory soil column flow experiment using active layer soil collected from the same site further supported these findings. Glutamate recovery was low compared to a conservative bromide tracer, but concentrations of NO 3 - and NH 4 + remained low, consistent with microbial uptake of the added N. Similar to the field experiment, we observed both increasing Fe(II) and organic acid concentrations. Lastly, together, these results support our hypothesis of increased fermentation in response to organic N addition and suggest that increasing N availability could accelerate CH 4 production in tundra soils.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2014

Active barrier films of PET for solar cell application: Processing and characterization

A preliminary investigation was carried out on the possibility to improve the protective action offered by the standard multilayer structures used to encapsulate photovoltaic devices. With this aim, a commercial active barrier PET-based material, able to absorb oxygen when activated by liquid water, was used to produce flexible and transparent active barrier films, by means of a lab-scale film production plant. The obtained film, tested in terms of thermal, optical and oxygen absorption properties, shows a slow oxygen absorption kinetics, an acceptable transparency and an easy roll-to-roll processability, so proving itself as a good candidate for the development of protective coating for solar cells against the atmospheric degradation agents like the rain.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Performance Analysis of a Biomass Gasifier Genset at Varying Operating Conditions

Abstract. An All Power Labs PP20 gasifier generation set (Berkeley, Calif.) was tested to evaluate its suitability for powering biomass conversion technologies (BCT) at remote forest operations sites. Feedstock of the species tanoak (), coast redwood (), and Douglas fir () were tested at moisture contents of 15% and 25% (wet basis). The PP20 was connected to a load bank with five different load profiles designed to simulate possible BCT loads. Two parameters of power quality, voltage variability, and frequency deviation, were determined to be within acceptable limits. The unit also successfully powered a remote biochar operation in Branscomb, California. Emissions of the PP20, when compared to diesel generator regulations, would meet non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHC) and NO X requirements but exceed the CO emissions limits by a factor of ten. The CO emissions could be reduced by adding a catalytic converter. The results indicate that it is possible to use a PP20 unit to provide electric power for the highly variable loads of a BCT system. Keywords: Bioenergy, Biomass conversion technology, Gasification, Renewable energy.

Agriculture↗
DOE OSTI2013

Test of a 250 kVA Battery-Inverter System Micro-Grid: Cooperative Research and Development Final Report, CRADA Number CRD-11-460

Portland General Electric (PGE) is installing a 5-megawatt (MW) lithium-ion-based battery-inverter system (BIS) in Salem, Oregon, as part of the Pacific Northwest Smart Grid Demonstration Project. NREL will assist PGE in testing a 250-kilovolt-ampere (kVA) portion of the BIS in order to verify correct operation and minimize risk to subsequent demonstrations. In this project NREL will providetechnical support for the 250-kVA test and will work with PGE to write a test plan and evaluate the system in the lab before deployment in the field.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Material Protection, Accounting, and Control Technologies (MPACT): Modeling and Simulation Roadmap

The development of sustainable advanced nuclear fuel cycles is a long-term goal of the Office of Nuclear Energy’s (DOE-NE) Fuel Cycle Technologies program. The Material Protection, Accounting, and Control Technologies (MPACT) campaign is supporting research and development (R&D) of advanced instrumentation, analysis tools, and integration methodologies to meet this goal. This advanced R&D is intended to facilitate safeguards and security by design of fuel cycle facilities. The lab-scale demonstration of a virtual facility, distributed test bed, that connects the individual tools being developed at National Laboratories and university research establishments, is a key program milestone for 2020. These tools will consist of instrumentation and devices as well as computer software for modeling. To aid in framing its long-term goal, during FY16, a modeling and simulation roadmap is being developed for three major areas of investigation: (1) radiation transport and sensors, (2) process and chemical models, and (3) shock physics and assessments. For each area, current modeling approaches are described, and gaps and needs are identified.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Material Protection, Accounting, and Control Technologies (MPACT) Advanced Integration Roadmap

The development of sustainable advanced nuclear fuel cycles is a long-term goal of the Office of Nuclear Energy’s (DOE-NE) Fuel Cycle Technologies program. The Material Protection, Accounting, and Control Technologies (MPACT) campaign is supporting research and development (R&D) of advanced instrumentation, analysis tools, and integration methodologies to meet this goal (Miller, 2015). This advanced R&D is intended to facilitate safeguards and security by design of fuel cycle facilities. The lab-scale demonstration of a virtual facility, distributed test bed, that connects the individual tools being developed at National Laboratories and university research establishments, is a key program milestone for 2020. These tools will consist of instrumentation and devices as well as computer software for modeling, simulation and integration.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Material Protection, Accounting, and Control Technologies (MPACT) Advanced Integration Roadmap

The development of sustainable advanced nuclear fuel cycles is a long-term goal of the Office of Nuclear Energy’s (DOE-NE) Fuel Cycle Technologies program. The Material Protection, Accounting, and Control Technologies (MPACT) campaign is supporting research and development (R&D) of advanced instrumentation, analysis tools, and integration methodologies to meet this goal (Miller, 2015). This advanced R&D is intended to facilitate safeguards and security by design of fuel cycle facilities. The lab-scale demonstration of a virtual facility, distributed test bed, that connects the individual tools being developed at National Laboratories and university research establishments, is a key program milestone for 2020. These tools will consist of instrumentation and devices as well as computer software for modeling, simulation and integration.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Roadmap to Advance Heliostat Technologies for Concentrating Solar-Thermal Power

Heliostat-based concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP) systems can offer immense potential to provide low-cost, dispatchable renewable thermal and electrical energy to help achieve 100% decarbonized energy infrastructure in the United States. Heliostats are a major capital cost technology and a performance-dominating component of state-of-the-art commercial molten salt towers and Generation 3 CSP systems. In 2021, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) launched the Heliostat Consortium (HelioCon), a five-year initiative to advance heliostat technologies. The HelioCon mission is threefold: (1) establish strategic core testing and modeling capabilities and infrastructure at national labs; (2) support heliostat technology development in relevant industries; and (3) serve as a central repository to integrate industry, academia, and other stakeholders for heliostat technology research, development, validation, and deployment. In this report, HelioCon presents a roadmapping study on advancing heliostat technologies, intended as a central reference for the whole CSP community.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗