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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 109 records · Page 6
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2014

Configuration and Evaluation of a Dual-Doppler 3-D Wind Field System

Current LSP, GSDO, and SLS space vehicle operations are halted when wind speeds from specific directions exceed defined thresholds and when lightning is a threat. Strong winds and lightning are difficult parameters for the 45th Weather Squadron (45 WS) to forecast, yet are important in the protection of customer vehicle operations and the personnel that conduct them. A display of the low-level horizontal wind field to reveal areas of high winds or convergence would be a valuable tool for forecasters in assessing the timing of high winds, or convection initiation and subsequent lightning occurrence. This is especially important for areas where no weather observation platforms exist. Developing a dual-Doppler radar capability would provide such a display to assist forecasters in predicting high winds and convection initiation. The wind fields can also be used to initialize a local mesoscale numerical weather prediction model to help improve the model forecast winds, convection initiation, and other phenomena. The 45 WS and NWS MLB tasked the Applied Meteorology Unit (AMU) to develop a dual- Doppler wind field display using data from the 45th Space Wing radar, known as the Weather Surveillance Radar (WSR), NWS MLB Weather Surveillance Radar 1988 Doppler (KMLB), and the Orlando International Airport Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (KMCO). They also stipulated that the software used should be freely available. The AMU evaluated two software packages and, with concurrence from NWS MLB and the 45 WS, chose the Warning Decision Support System-Integrated Information (WDSS-II). The AMU collected data from two significant weather cases: a tornadic event on 14 April 2013 and a severe wind and hail event on 12 February 2014. For the 14 April case, the data were from WSR and KMLB. For the 12 February case, the data were from KMCO and KMLB. The AMU installed WDSS-II on a Linux PC, then processed and quality controlled the radar data for display and analysis using WDSS-II tools. Because of issues with de-aliasing the WSR velocity field, the AMU did not use data from this radar in this study and only analyzed the 12 February case. Merging the data to create the dual-Doppler analysis involved several steps. The AMU used instructions from the WDSS-II website and discussion forum to determine the correct tools to use for the analysis, and was successful in creating a merged reflectivity field, which was critical to the success of creating a merged velocity field. However, the AMU was unable to create a merged velocity field. The AMU researched the WDSS-II forum for discussions on similar issues, asked questions on the forum, and tested different options and values in the merger tool with no success. Developing a dual-Doppler wind field was the main goal of this task, but that was not accomplished. It could be an issue of not using the correct options or the correct value for the options used, or there could be issues with the radar data. There is a follow-on AMU task to install the operational version of WDSS-II in the NWS MLB office. This will provide more opportunities to try different options and input values in order to create a merged wind field from KMCO and KMLB.

Doppler radar↗
DOE OSTI2025

Defense Resilience Technical Assistance Options - Initial Overview

The Defense Resilience Technical Assistance (TA) project, a collaboration between the DOE Grid Deployment Office and the DoD, aims to enhance energy infrastructure at military installations and utilities and the surrounding community. It focuses on improving energy system performance, addressing power infrastructure inadequacies, enhancing power quality, reducing cyber sabotage impacts, and strengthening digital supply chains. Defense Resilience Technical Assistance Options - Initial Overview. Intend to tailor to the pilot installation.

24 - POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
NASA NTRS2014

Ultrasonic Inspection to Quantify Failure Pathologies of Crimped Electrical Connections

Previous work has shown that ultrasonic inspection provides a means of assessing electrical crimp quality that ensures the electrical and mechanical integrity of an initial crimp before the installation process is completed. The amplitude change of a compressional ultrasonic wave propagating at right angles to the wire axis and through the junction of a crimp termination was shown to correlate with the results of destructive pull tests, which is a standard for assessing crimp wire junction quality. Of additional concern are crimps made at high speed assembly lines for wiring harnesses, which are used for critical applications, such as in aircraft. During high-speed assembly it is possible that many faulty crimps go undetected until long after assembly, and fail in service. The position and speed of the crimping jaw become factors as the high-speed crimp is formed. The work presented in this paper is designed to cover the more difficult and more subtle area of high-speed crimps by taking into account the rate change of the measurements. Building on the previous work, we present an analysis methodology, based on transmitted ultrasonic energy and timing of the first received pulse that is shown to correlate to the gauge of the crimp/ferrule combination and the position of the crimping jaw. Results demonstrating the detectability of a number of the crimp failure pathologies, such as missing strands, partially inserted wires and incomplete crimp compression, are presented. The ability of this technique to estimate crimp height, a mechanical measure of crimp quality, is discussed.

Cramer, K. Elliott↗
DOE OSTI2023

Spatially Adaptive Tunable Lighting Control System with Expanded Wellness and Energy Saving Benefits

Lighting design is becoming increasingly complex, including active dimming for energy savings and spectral tuning for human wellbeing. Modern commercial lighting control systems are already difficult to use, and maintain, and even with so-called Smart Lighting, optimizing light settings is rapidly exceeding the capabilities of direct human control, limiting the adoption of lighting control systems. The growing importance of Occupancy Centric Controls (OCC) for advanced building management systems can be applied to the development of autonomous lighting system controls needed to drive the adoption of advanced lighting controls for improved adaptive “sculpted illumination” for both greater energy savings and broader human wellbeing perspectives. This project, led by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, entitled “Spatially adaptive tunable lighting control system with expanded wellness and energy saving benefits” will develop and test an entirely new platform for automated optimized lighting design and control that requires little or no human engagement, yet contours lighting profiles automatically to minimize lighting energy use. We call this approach to lighting control “dynamic light sculpting” since the right amount of illumination is automatically delivered to occupants in real time. Since the system uses new, privacy-preserving occupant position and pose detection technologies developed by Rensselaer for broad OCC building applications, the control system will analyze how to deliver the right amount of the right type of illumination only where and when it is needed based these OCC platforms. To create these powerful autonomous lighting control platforms, the project will integrate evolving augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) tools with sophisticated lighting and interior design toolkits to create interactive lighting design and control simulators. Using the quickly growing paradigm of digital twins, these tools will integrate light fixture properties, occupancy sensor data, interior design data, and lighting specifications to accurately visualize how various design concepts interact with simulated yet realistic human activities that occur in commercial office buildings of various types. These advanced digital twin design and simulation tools will be combined with a new class of digitally-programmable LED lighting fixtures that can dynamically change the spectral content and direction of light emission. When fully integrated, the new autonomous lighting control system will take all of the guesswork out of optimizing light quality while minimizing energy consumption. Digital twin tools will simplify the design, installation, commissioning, operation, and maintenance of future energy-efficient lighting systems. It should be possible to reduce lighting energy costs from 40% to 70% with OCC based dynamic light sculpting systems. The work will be led by the Center for Lighting Enabled Systems and Applications (LESA) and the Center for Architectural Science and Ecology (CASE), both at Renssealer Polytechnic Institute; Lumileds, a global leader in the development of advanced LED systems; and HKS, a leading global architecture design firm. This interdisciplinary project team’s experience includes all of the design simulation tools, VR/AR digital twin visualization technology, advanced occupancy sensing technology, and complex control system design capabilities that will revolutionize lighting design and control technology to autonomously deliver high-quality lighting that improves human health and wellbeing while simultaneously maximizing lighting energy savings.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2022

Epoxy IR Filters for Superconducting Resonators

Infrared radiation leakage through dielectrics in coaxial cabling can create unwanted quasiparticles in superconducting resonators if allowed to reach devices unattenuated. Modern experimental setups commonly incorporate epoxy-based filter blocks on readout and control lines in order to mitigate this effect; however, most of these multi-channel designs require specialized mounting hardware. Here, this investigation details the design and construction of single-channel inline infrared filters, and finds that their installation in the readout system for an aluminum resonator increased its quality factor by an average of 12% across a range of operating temperatures and powers. The option to incorporate general-purpose inline filters instead of designing custom filter blocks and mounts should prove more convenient for many newer experiments.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2025

Automated segmentation and analysis of point clouds of pier foundations using Pier Inspection and Evaluation Report (PIER)

Pier foundations are commonly used in locations with unstable soil or where other types of foundations are unsuitable or cost prohibitive. A pier foundation consists of vertical columns to support the structure and elevate it above the ground. Common materials for pier foundations include masonry, concrete, timber, and steel. The methods for accurate placement of pier foundations have remained relatively unchanged for decades. For simple installations, construction chalk lines are used to layout the locations of piers to ensure accurate placement and elevation. For more complex installations, surveying instruments operated by trained professionals are employed to accurately locate piers and assess correct elevation before construction. After installation, another survey may need to be performed to assess the quality of the as-built foundation. However, with the advent of terrestrial laser scanners (TLS), the means now exist for contractors to conduct their own assessments of as-built foundations. The major barrier preventing contractors from performing their own assessments of as-built foundation quality is the segmentation and analysis of point cloud data, a skill that often requires a trained user. The objective of this research is to develop a software tool (PIER: Pier Inspection and Evaluation Report) to enable automated segmentation and analysis of point clouds of pier foundations. In this paper, the automated segmentation and analysis algorithms are detailed. A mockup lay out of pier foundations was built using concrete masonry units, and the algorithms were tested to evaluate performance. Limitations of the current algorithms and future research direction are discussed.

Turki, Amine [ORNL]↗
NASA NTRS1980

Airborne measurement of atmospheric turbulence

A system capable of making measurements of fluctuating atmospheric density is described. Spatial scales required in assessing the quality of coherent radiation propagation are discussed. The special sensors, aircraft installation, data reduction procedures, and other special requirements necessary to obtain meaningful atmospheric turbulence data are also described. The spectral distribution of density fluctuation are presented.

Rose, W. C.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Design and simulation of EVA tools for first servicing mission of HST

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was launched into near-earth orbit by the Space Shuttle Discovery on April 24, 1990. The payload of two cameras, two spectrographs, and a high-speed photometer is supplemented by three fine-guidance sensors that can be used for astronomy as well as for star tracking. A widely reported spherical aberration in the primary mirror causes HST to produce images of much lower quality than intended. A Space Shuttle repair mission in January 1994 installed small corrective mirrors that restored the full intended optical capability of the HST. The First Servicing Mission (FSM) involved considerable Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA). Special EVA tools for the FSM were designed and developed for this specific purpose. In an earlier report, the details of the Data Acquisition System developed to test the performance of the various EVA tools in ambient as well as simulated space environment were presented. The general schematic of the test setup is reproduced in this report for continuity. Although the data acquisition system was used extensively to test a number of fasteners, only the results of one test each carried on various fasteners and the Power Ratchet Tool are included in this report.

Naik, Dipak↗
NASA NTRS1994

Innovation and application of ANN in Europe demonstrated by Kohonen maps

One of the most important contributions to neural networks comes from Kohonen, Helsinki/Espoo, Finland, who had the idea of self-organizating maps in 1981. He verified his idea by an algorithm of which many applications make use of. The impetus for this idea came from biology, a field where the Europeans have always been very active at several research laboratories. The challenge was to model the self-organization found in the brain. Today one goal is the development of more sophisticated neurons which model the biological neurons more exactly. They should come to a better performance of neural nets with only a few complex neurons instead of many simple ones. A lot of application concepts arise from this idea: Kohonen himself applied it to speech recognition, but the project did not overcome much more than the recognition of the numerals one to ten at that time. A more promising application for self-organizing maps is process control and process monitoring. Several proposals were made which concern parameter classification of semiconductor technologies, design of integrated circuits, and control of chemical processes. Self-organizing maps were applied to robotics. The neural concept was introduced into electric power systems. At Dortmund we are working on a system which has to monitor the quality and the reliability of gears and electrical motors in equipment installed in coal mines. The results are promising and the probability to apply the system in the field is very high. A special feature of the system is that linguistic rules which are embedded in a fuzzy controller analyze the data of the self-organizing map in regard to life expectation of the gears. It seems that the fuzzy technique will introduce the technology of neural networks in a tandem mode. These technologies together with the genetic algorithms start to form the attractive field of computational intelligence.

Goser, Karl↗
NASA NTRS1995

Design and simulation of EVA tools and robot end effectors for servicing missions of the HST

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was launched into near-earth orbit by the Space Shuttle Discovery on April 24, 1990. The payload of two cameras, two spectrographs, and a high-speed photometer is supplemented by three fine-guidance sensors that can be used for astronomy as well as for star tracking. A widely reported spherical aberration in the primary mirror causes HST to produce images of much lower quality than intended. A Space Shuttle repair mission in January 1994 installed small corrective mirrors that restored the full intended optical capability of the HST. A Second Servicing Mission (SM2) scheduled in 1997 will involve considerable Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA). To reduce EVA time, the addition of robotic capability in the remaining servicing missions has been proposed. Toward that end, two concept designs for a general purpose end effector for robots are presented in this report.

Naik, Dipak↗
NASA NTRS1998

[MODIS Investigation]

The objectives of the last six months were: (1) Revise the algorithms for the Fluorescence Line Height (FLH) and Chlorophyll Fluorescence Efficiency (CFE) products, especially the data quality flags; (2) Revise the MOCEAN validation plan; (3) Deploy and recover bio-optical instrumentation at the Hawaii Ocean Time-series (HOT) site as part of the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS); (4) Prepare for field work in the Antarctic Polar Frontal Zone as part of JGOFS; (5) Submit manuscript on bio-optical time scales as estimated from Lagrangian drifters; (6) Conduct chemostat experiments on fluorescence; (7) Interface with the Global Imager (GLI) science team; and (8) Continue development of advanced data system browser. We are responsible for the delivery of two at-launch products for AM-1: Fluorescence line height (FLH) and chlorophyll fluorescence efficiency (CFE). We also considered revising the input chlorophyll, which is used to determine the degree of binning. We have refined the quality flags for the Version 2 algorithms. We have acquired and installed a Silicon Graphics Origin 200. We are working with the University of Miami team to develop documentation that will describe how the MODIS ocean components are linked together.

Abbott, Mark R.↗
DOE OSTI2023

An Updated Review of the Solar PV Installation Workforce Literature

In order to develop a well-trained, equitable, and inclusive workforce with high quality jobs, the DOE Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) identified a need for analytical context around different PV project characteristics and labor aspects, and how they might impact workforce wellbeing and PV industry growth. To determine the most valuable novel analytical contributions, this work reviews existing literature on solar workforce topics to identify what areas have been studied previously and where gaps remain. Focus areas included the following topics: (1) metrics for solar workforce, deployment, costs, and associated studies capturing aspects such as demographics and regional distribution, (2) solar workforce wellbeing, including employee contracting mechanisms, compensation, occupational safety and health, and community impacts, (3) national and state policies most relevant to the U.S. solar workforce, and (4) ongoing efforts to expand solar workforce participation, including local staffing dynamics, challenges, and relevant strategies.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

A general-purpose method for Pareto optimal placement of flow rate and concentration sensors in networked systems – With application to wastewater treatment plants

The advent of affordable computing, low-cost sensor hardware, and high-speed and reliable communications have spurred installation of ubiquitous sensors in complex engineered systems. However, ensuring reliable data quality remains a challenge. Exploitation of redundancy among sensor signals can help improving the precision of measured variables, detecting the presence of gross errors, and identifying faulty sensors. The cost of sensor ownership, maintenance efforts in particular, can still be cost-prohibitive however. Maximizing the ability to assess and control data quality while minimizing the cost of ownership thus requires a careful sensor placement. To solve this challenge, in this work we develop a generally applicable method to solve the multi-objective sensor placement problem in systems governed by linear and bilinear balance equations. Importantly, the method computes all Pareto-optimal sensor layouts with conventional computational resources and requires no information about the expected sensor quality.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS1975

Effects of transducer flushness on fluctuating surface pressure measurements

The installation flushness of pressure transducers has been found to strongly influence the quality of fluctuating surface pressure data in supersonic-attached turbulent boundary-layer flow. A systematic investigation of the effects of flushness on surface pressure fluctuations beneath a 4-in.-thick boundary layer was conducted in a supersonic wind tunnel at Mach numbers of 1.68, 2.0, and 2.5. Flushness effects on transducer signal amplitude, power spectral density, coherence, and narrowband convection velocity was evaluated. Results show that a very slightly protruding transducer produces adverse effects on the desired pressure fluctuation measurements, whereas a submerged transducer produces small effects. Indications are that a more viable method for enhancing the uniformity and spatial correlation of fluctuating surface pressure data can be achieved by deliberately submerging transducers beneath a surface orifice about 0.010 in. deep.

Hanly, R. D.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Atmospheric determination for Shuttle aerodynamic studies

Evaluation of the aerodynamic performance of the Shuttle during atmospheric reentry requires a determination of the free-stream atmospheric properties along the entry path. This determination must be of the best possible accuracy in order to fully utilize the Shuttle as an aerodynamic flight research vehicle. To accomplish this, two Shuttle Orbiter experiments, the Shuttle Upper Atmosphere Mass Spectrometer (SUMS) and the Shuttle Entry Air Data System (SEADS), are being developed to provide onboard measurements. SUMS will measure freestream parameters in the high altitude (above 90 km), high Mach number (M above 20) regions where conventional static pressure measurements are not available. SEADS will provide research quality data below about 90 km. Since these two experiments were not installed for the Shuttle developmental flights, an alternate method was needed to determine the freestream atmospheric properties along the entry trajectory. The method which was developed is described with a discussion of the results from the first five Shuttle flights.

Price, J. M.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Theoretical and experimental investigations of sensor location for optimal aeroelastic system state estimation

One of the major concerns in the design of an active control system is obtaining the information needed for effective feedback. This involves the combination of sensing and estimation. A sensor location index is defined as the weighted sum of the mean square estimation errors in which the sensor locations can be regarded as estimator design parameters. The design goal is to choose these locations to minimize the sensor location index. The choice of the number of sensors is a tradeoff between the estimation quality based upon the same performance index and the total costs of installing and maintaining extra sensors. An experimental study for choosing the sensor location was conducted on an aeroelastic system. The system modeling which includes the unsteady aerodynamics model developed by Stephen Rock was improved. Experimental results verify the trend of the theoretical predictions of the sensor location index for different sensor locations at various wind speeds.

Liu, G.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Design and simulation of EVA tools for first servicing mission of HST

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was launched into near-earth orbit by the space shuttle Discovery on April 24, 1990. The payload of two cameras, two spectrographs, and a high-speed photometer is supplemented by three fine-guidance sensors that can be used for astronomy as well as for star tracking. A widely reported spherical aberration in the primary mirror causes HST to produce images of much lower quality than intended. A space shuttle repair mission in late 1993 will install small corrective mirrors that will restore the full intended optical capability of the HST. The first servicing mission (FSM) will involve considerable extravehicular activity (EVA). It is proposed to design special EVA tools for the FSM. This report includes details of the data acquisition system being developed to test the performance of the various EVA tools in ambient as well as simulated space environment.

Naik, Dipak↗