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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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Plants use different strategies to obtain the nutrients that they need to grow. Some plants access their nitrogen directly from the soil, while others rely on microbes to access the nitrogen for them.
The attached zip files include SolidWorks pack-and-go assemblies of NREL's HERO WEC (hydraulic and electric reverse osmosis wave energy converter), the reverse osmosis (RO) assembly, and the submersible pump assembly that is used to provide flow to the RO assembly in the electric configuration. These 3 models were upgraded in 2023 from their baseline models. The HERO WEC model does not include all aspects of the design (i.e. RO system, electrical enclosure, hose, cable), it only includes the WEC and PTO (power take-off) design. This model supersedes the old MHKDR model submission, linked below. The RO model file includes a SolidWorks (version 2023) pack-and-go assembly of the RO assembly that was used for HERO WEC as it was upgraded in 2023. This model ONLY includes the RO assembly and not the WEC, hoses, etc. The submersible pump enclosure model includes a SolidWorks (version 2023) pack-and-go assembly of the submersible pump assembly that is used to provide flow to the RO assembly in the electric configuration HERO WECas it was upgraded in 2023. This model ONLY includes the submersible pump assembly and not the WEC, RO system, hoses, etc. This work has been developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, operated by Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) under Contract No. DE-AC36-08GO28308. Funding provided U.S. Department of Energy Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Water Power Technologies Office.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) worked with AMJET Turbine Systems, LLC (ATS), to demonstrate additive manufacturing of components for low head hydro turbine/generator applications. Several different types of additive manufacturing systems were used. Components were finished and assembled for testing in a turbine. However, one of the processes, Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM),produced components that did not adequately perform due to persistent leaks that were caused by porosity in the parts produced. Therefore, the BAAM system was eliminated from contention. Vacuum infusion of rein into the parts eventually solved the porosity problem.Components were installed in anATS-8 turbine to be tested on the Keokuk Dam for operationally testing the unit.
This project explored the use of minisplit ductless heat pumps in combination with small through-wall transfer fans to provide space conditioning in small single-story homes, including manufactured homes and homes built by Habitat for Humanity. The objectives were to reduce space-conditioning energy consumption by 50% compared to the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code (ICC 2009) while maintaining home affordability and thermal comfort. The strategy to achieve this goal also included a highly efficient thermal envelope to reduce space-conditioning loads.
10CFR835 stipulates that radiation protection instruments must be calibrated at least annually. Accordingly, calibration of dose rate instruments are reliant on well-known reference fields. The neutron-free-in-air facility (NFIA) located at TA36-0214 provides such a capability for neutron remmeters. One of the reference NFIA sources, 252 Cf, must be replaced every 8-10 years due to its relatively short half-life (2.645 ± 0.008 y). In the past, each newly purchased 252 Cf source has been calibrated at NIST using the Mn-bath technique prior to shipping to LANL. However, because of COVID-19 complications, the most recently acquired 252 Cf source (FTC-CF-7167) has been stored at LANL pending approval to ship to NIST for calibration. Due to the considerable expense in transporting the source to and from NIST, this TBD was written to demonstrate that new sources can be accurately calibrated via intercomparison measurements with older NIST-calibrated 252 Cf sources. It had been previously noted that such measurements yielded emission rates that agreed very well with the official rates established by NIST
This report presents the work performed for welding 17-7PH stainless steel hemispheres, flanges, and accelerometer blocks. This includes weld development, microhardness measurements, calculated strengths, and distortion measurements after welding and heat treatment. The results of this report are utilized to propose a recommended welding procedure which was implemented for this experiment.
Synchrotron measurements for diffraction characterization and high resolution tomography require: (1) unable monochromatic X-ray incident energy from 65keV to 100keV. 65keV need is defined by Ta and W absorption edges at 67keV, 100keV need is defined by need to penetrate U/Pu sample thickness of 0.5 mm (2) focused flux density of the monochromatic beam on a beam spot of ~100 µm 2 greater than 10 10 photons per second to allow some slower kinetics experiments such as heating, cooling for CTE measurements (but not quenching, solidification etc. which require <0.1 s resolution) (3) Δλ/λ resolution of 0.3% or better across the energy spectrum. This can be achieved by monochromator as long as flux needs are met in the monochromatic beam.
This project expanded existing medium-voltage distribution to 33 households, a daycare, a mechanical shop, irrigation pumps, and a sewer lift station, all of which previously received electric service from the local electric utility. As part of the project, automatic meter reading (AMR) and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) was installed to allow the Tribe to set up its own electric metering like a utility. The primary objective of this project was to expand the Tribe-owned electrical distribution to provide highly reliable electrical service to these existing loads. The objective was successfully met after project completion. The project reduced high costs for electric energy previously supplied by the utility, by supplanting utility-supplied electric power with Tribe-generated electric power. The project gave the Tribe greater independence from traditional power sources and provided jobs for the community.
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This methodology document supports residential building analysis for some communities receiving technical assistance through the Department of Energy Communities LEAP (Local Energy Action Program). Communities LEAP supports community-wide economic and environmental benefits through technical assistance.
Reversible solid oxide cells(rSOCs) are an enabling energy storage/production technology for a dynamic grid environment. Reversible operation requires strong working knowledge of fuel cell (SOFC) and electrolyzer (SOEC). Performance degradation of SOECs has been observed; however, the details of physical processes related to the performance degradation remain unknown. Multiphysics simulations were performed to investigate the performance degradation of solid oxide electrolysis cells under various working conditions.
The community of North Birmingham, Alabama, participated in the Communities LEAP pilot program. As part of this technical assistance pilot, residential buildings, energy efficiency, and electrification were analyzed. This slide deck details the baseline analysis of residential buildings in the community and potential upgrade strategies.
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Inefficient control settings in multifamily boilers often lead to substantial energy and cost penalties. To address this, a Fault Detection and Diagnostic (FDD) tool was developed to automate data analysis and identify operational faults such as suboptimal outdoor temperature sensor placement, misconfigured outdoor air reset (OAR) curves, excess boiler cycling, and domestic hot water (DHW) setpoint errors. By comparing pre- and post-implementation periods and applying engineering models, the tool quantifies energy savings and reduces manual analysis time by over 90%. Testing on over 100 monitored sites and a targeted subset of 12 buildings showed an average 11% energy savings from remote optimization; further validation across 19 OAR curve changes confirmed the tool’s accuracy, predicting actual savings within ±5% for most cases. Simple payback can be under three years for many multifamily buildings, though rising hardware, labor, and fuel costs create uncertainties, and decarbonization goals increasingly shift focus to electrification. The FDD tool remains invaluable for optimizing existing boilers, enhancing future electrification measures, and adapting to new technologies by refining building load estimates. In doing so, it supports both near-term efficiency and long-term transitions to low-carbon alternatives, ensuring buildings achieve substantial cost and energy benefits throughout their system lifecycles.
Among 32 million multi-family buildings in the United States, approximately 42% have poor or no insulation. Envelope retrofits of these buildings will provide thermal resiliency and enable a pathway to electrification of space heating systems as a result of improved thermal performance. Hydronic Shell (HS) is a technology which combines an insulated retrofit panel with a heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) thus enabling both envelope retrofit and space heating electrification. In this study, we used whole building energy simulation to evaluate energy impact of multi-family building retrofit with hydronic shell system. The simulation was performed for four locations of New York, Syracuse, Chicago and Boston. The results from the simulation showed more than 66% cooling energy reduction and more than 88% heating energy reduction from Hydronic Shell retrofit compared to Baseline building in all four locations. This reduction in energy consumption resulted in up to 219 MT reduction in annual CO2 emission. The cost reduction per floor area achieved from HVAC energy consumption reduction using Hydronic Shell retrofit was 0.66 to 0.99 $\$$/ft 2 . The results also showed higher percentage of heating energy reduction comes from the envelope only retrofit and higher percentage of cooling energy reduction comes from the retrofit HVAC system for the four locations under study.