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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
DOE OSTI2025

Fiber-Optic Sensing for Earthquake Hazards Research, Monitoring, and Early Warning

The use of fiber‐optic sensing systems in seismology has exploded in the past decade. Despite an ever‐growing library of ground‐breaking studies, questions remain about the potential of fiber‐optic sensing technologies as tools for advancing if not revolutionizing earthquake‐hazards‐related research, monitoring, and early warning systems. A working group convened to explore these topics; we comprehensively examined the application of fiber optics in various aspects of earthquake hazards, encompassing earthquake source processes, crustal imaging, data archiving, and technological challenges. There is great potential for fiber‐optic systems to advance earthquake monitoring and understanding, but to fully unlock their capabilities requires continued progress in key areas of research and development, including instrument testing and validation, increased dynamic range for applications focused on larger earthquakes, and continued improvement in subsurface and source imaging methods. A key current stumbling block results from the lack of clear data archiving requirements, and we propose an initial strategy that balances data volume requirements with preserving key data for a broad range of future studies. In addition, we demonstrate the potential for fiber‐optic sensing to impact monitoring efforts by documenting the data completeness in a number of long‐term experiments. Finally, we outline the features of a instrument testing facility that would enable progress toward reliable and standardized distributed acoustic sensing data. Overcoming these current obstacles would facilitate progress in fiber‐optic sensing and unlock its potential application to a broad range of earthquake hazard problems.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2017

Modeling of Dipole and Quadrupole Fringe-Field Effects for the Advanced Photon Source Upgrade Lattice

The proposed upgrade of the Advanced Photon Source (APS) to a multibend-achromat lattice requires shorter and much stronger quadrupole magnets than are present in the existing ring. This results in longitudinal gradient profiles that differ significantly from a hard-edge model. Additionally, the lattice assumes the use of five-segment longitudinal gradient dipoles. Under these circumstances, the effects of fringe fields and detailed field distributions are of interest. We evaluated the effect of soft-edge fringe fields on the linear optics and chromaticity, finding that compensation for these effects is readily accomplished. In addition, we evaluated the reliability of standard methods of simulating hardedge nonlinear fringe effects in quadrupoles.

Borland, M.↗
DOE OSTI2014

Workshop on Modeling and Simulation of Systems and Applications, August 13-14, 2014, University of Washington, Seattle

In our efforts to continue the momentum toward quantitative understanding of the performance, power, and reliability of systems and applications, the modeling and simulation (hereafter ModSim) community gathered for its annual Workshop on Modeling & Simulation of Systems and Applications, held August 13-14, 2014 in Seattle. The 2014 Workshop on Modeling & Simulation of Systems and Applications, or ModSim 2014, focused on three critical technological areas: 1. Integrated Modeling and Simulation of Performance, Power, and Reliability; 2. Standards, Integration, and Interoperability of ModSim Methodologies and Tools; and 3. Advances in Core Modeling and Simulation Methods and Tools. The two-day meeting featured 21 presentations (based on peer-reviewed submissions) delivered over six parallel sessions, and there were six invited talks. Discussions aimed toward consolidating and directing this diverse technical community were especially beneficial as we continue to map out the future and form of ModSim research and development. This report presents a summary of the presentations, discussions, and findings culled from ModSim 2014. Each of the three critical technology areas are presented, structured as major research directions, gaps, cross-pollination, and path forward.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Reducing module soiling with scalable and robust photocatalytic coatings

The air-glass interface at the front of a photovoltaic (PV) module reflects approximately 4% of incident light, decreasing the potential power output of the module by the same amount. Today’s modules reduce this loss by adding a low-refractive-index (1.25-1.30) SiO2 coating to the sunward side of the module glass; this antireflection coating recovers approximately 3% of the 4% light that would otherwise be lost. While such antireflection coatings work very well on clean, new modules, they do not inhibit soiling—the accumulation of soilants such as dust, pollen, soot, or other foreign material—on the module glass, and soilants reflect and scatter incident light. An improved coating would serve provide not only an antireflection effect, but also an anti-soiling effect. The goal of this project was to develop such a coating and provide a path for it to be manufactured in the U.S. The project successfully designed and fabricated coatings that provided >3% transmittance gain compared to bare glass (matching the performance of commercial antireflection coatings) and displayed anti-soiling behavior in standard laboratory soiling effects. This was achieved by using a Swift Coat proprietary coating deposition technique, aerosol impact-driven assembly (AIDA), to control the porosity and thus refractive index of coatings of photocatalytic materials—such as TiO2—that would otherwise increase (instead of decrease) reflection. These combined antireflection/anti-soiling coatings passed PV industry standard module reliability tests as well as coating-specific abrasion tests, showing that they have the durability needed for decades in the field. Swift Coat scaled the AIDA hardware and deposition process to make mini-modules that were monitored for nearly two years during field tests administered by a third party, as well as demonstrated scaling to the widths of full-sized modules. The fielded mini-modules outperformed reference modules (with commercial antireflection coatings) in two locations, providing a 1% absolute average performance boost and larger increases during periods of heavier soiling. Swift Coat’s cost analysis indicated a coating manufacturing cost below the sales price of today’s antireflection coatings. More than five module manufacturers sampled and assessed the coatings, and three provided letters of support. The coating developed in this project increases the energy output of PV modules, thereby decreasing the cost per kilowatt-hour of solar energy generated. Cheaper solar electricity benefits the public by accelerating the transition to a stable, affordable, carbon-free energy economy. In addition, for select applications in which PV modules are highly visible—such as on residential rooftops—the coating provides an aesthetic benefit because it stays cleaner than today’s modules. Finally, Swift Coat and its prospective customers are U.S. companies, and successful commercialization of this technology will provide U.S. jobs and a secure solar supply chain.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Spectral and Temperature-Dependent Optical Metrology: Towards More Robust, Effective and Durable Materials for Concentrated Solar Power

The primary objective of this project is to develop reliable and standardized spectroscopic measurement techniques to determine radiative properties, specifically the emittance and reflectance, of materials relevant for the next generation (Gen3) concentrated solar power (CSP) technologies. Experimental measurements will span near- and mid-infrared wavelengths (1–20 µm) with emphasis on quantifying the influences of: (1) operating temperatures of 25–1000 °C, (2) thermal cycling, and (3) environmental exposure of materials during operation (vacuum/air). A secondary goal is to develop open-access and digitized databases to host and share experimental data, together with standardized measurement protocols and operating procedures to determine optical properties of materials. This project will also include reasonable emphasis on developing predictive modeling tools to augment experimental data to extract more fundamental and material-specific radiative properties.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Pediatric Tuberculosis: The Impact of “Omics” on Diagnostics Development

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major public health concern for all ages. However, the disease presents a larger challenge in pediatric populations, partially owing to the lack of reliable diagnostic standards for the early identification of infection. Currently, there are no biomarkers that have been clinically validated for use in pediatric TB diagnosis. Identification and validation of biomarkers could provide critical information on prognosis of disease, and response to treatment. In this review, we discuss how the “omics” approach has influenced biomarker discovery and the advancement of a next generation rapid point-of-care diagnostic for TB, with special emphasis on pediatric disease. Limitations of current published studies and the barriers to their implementation into the field will be thoroughly reviewed within this article in hopes of highlighting future avenues and needs for combating the problem of pediatric tuberculosis.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1966

O-ring tube fittings form leakproof seal in hydraulic systems

Leakproof fittings for hydraulic systems are designed to be welded to the ends of the tubing to be joined and mated to form a seal with one o-ring at the joint. Since the fittings are coupled at only one joint, they tend to be more reliable than standard fittings coupled at two joints.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS1985

FIFO Buffer for Asynchronous Data Streams

Variable-rate, asynchronous data signals from up to four measuring instruments or other sources combined in first-in/first-out (FIFO) buffer for transmission on single channel. Constructed in complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) logic, buffer consumes low power (only 125 mW at 5V) and conforms to aerospace standards of reliability and maintainability.

Bascle, K. P.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Mars sample return power supply

A power supply is designed for a vehicle able to operate on the surface of Mars for a period of 5 to 10 years. This vehicle will be used for sample and data collection. The design is based on the assumption that the vehicle will be unmanned. Also, there will be no means by which components could be repaired or replaced while on the Martian surface. A consequence of this is that all equipment must meet high standards of reliability and, if possible, redundancy. Power will be supplied to the vehicle by means of a General Purpose Heat Source capable of producing a minimum of 7 kW of thermal power. The heat generated from the General Purpose Heat Source will be transferred to a Stirling engine via hot side heat pipes. The Stirling engine will then convert this heat into 2 kW of electrical power. Cold side heat pipes will be used to carry away waste heat, which will be released to the Martian environment via radiators connected to the end of the cold side heat pipes.

Hoang, Don↗
NASA NTRS2000

Internet Technology on Spacecraft

The Operating Missions as Nodes on the Internet (OMNI) project has shown that Internet technology works in space missions through a demonstration using the UoSAT-12 spacecraft. An Internet Protocol (IP) stack was installed on the orbiting UoSAT-12 spacecraft and tests were run to demonstrate Internet connectivity and measure performance. This also forms the basis for demonstrating subsequent scenarios. This approach provides capabilities heretofore either too expensive or simply not feasible such as reconfiguration on orbit. The OMNI project recognized the need to reduce the risk perceived by mission managers and did this with a multi-phase strategy. In the initial phase, the concepts were implemented in a prototype system that includes space similar components communicating over the TDRS (space network) and the terrestrial Internet. The demonstration system includes a simulated spacecraft with sample instruments. Over 25 demonstrations have been given to mission and project managers, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Department of Defense (DoD), contractor technologists and other decisions makers, This initial phase reached a high point with an OMNI demonstration given from a booth at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) Inspection Day 99 exhibition. The proof to mission managers is provided during this second phase with year 2000 accomplishments: testing the use of Internet technologies onboard an actual spacecraft. This was done with a series of tests performed using the UoSAT-12 spacecraft. This spacecraft was reconfigured on orbit at very low cost. The total period between concept and the first tests was only 6 months! On board software was modified to add an IP stack to support basic IP communications. Also added was support for ping, traceroute and network timing protocol (NTP) tests. These tests show that basic Internet functionality can be used onboard spacecraft. The performance of data was measured to show no degradation from current approaches. The cost to implement is much less than current approaches due to the availability of highly reliable and standard Internet tools. Use of standard Internet applications onboard reduces the risk of obsolescence inherent in custom protocols due to extremely wide use across all domains. These basic building blocks provide the framework for building onboard software to support direct user communication with payloads including payload control. Other benefits are payload to payload communication from dissimilar spacecraft, constellations of spacecraft, and reconfigurability on orbit. This work is funded through contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC).

Rash, James↗
NASA NTRS2020

NASA Electronic Parts & Packaging (NEPP) Program

The purpose of this presentation is to familiarize the people attending the JEDEC work meetings about the NEPP Program, and recent tasks we have undertaken. There is a description of the policy and testing guidelines in development and an explanation of the Government Working Group, a collaboration of several US government space agencies that come together to discuss topics relating to the reliable use of electronics. The presentation also includes a brief description of recent NASA accomplishments such as the launching/splash down of the SpaceX Crew Dragon and the launch of the next Mars rover.

reliability↗
NASA NTRS2021

NASA Electronic Parts & Packaging (NEPP) Program

The purpose of this presentation is to familiarize the people attending the JEDEC work meetings about the NEPP Program, and recent tasks we have undertaken. There is a description of the policy and testing guidelines in development and an explanation of the Government Working Group, a collaboration of several US government space agencies that come together to discuss topics relating to the reliable use of electronics. The presentation also includes a brief description of NASA events such as the landing of the next Mars rover in Feb 2021.

reliability↗
NASA NTRS2008

Demand access protocol design and validation with SPIN

In order for distributed systems to communicate reliably engineers standardize on communication rules (or protocols). Unforeseen behavior in communication protocols can push faults up to applications resulting in uncontrollable systems and should not be tolerated. However, while most modern protocols undergo extensive testing, rigorous formal methods, such as model checking,are rarely used due to complexity and massive incomputable state spaces.

Seguí, John S.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Improving Quantification of Medical Evacuation Risk for Human Spaceflight in the IMPACT Model

Traditionally, mission planners have used a heuristic and qualitative approach to design medical systems based on prior experience however this approach may result in high variability and implicit bias to design and could put missions and crewmembers at risk. The Informing Mission Planning through Analysis of Complex Tradespaces (IMPACT) tool is a probabilistic risk assessment tool designed by NASA to model medical risk in long duration missions outside of low earth orbit (LEO). This tool can quantify risk metrics such as risk of crewmember death, loss of crew task time, and the need for medical evacuation to better inform and augment the more traditional approach to medical system design. The risk metric of Return to Definitive Care (RTDC) represents the likelihood of requiring medical evacuation and has been difficult to quantify in a reliable and standardized manner. Initial development of the RTDC metric was constrained due to the complexity of a medical evacuation decision and the lack of prior spaceflight data and this presentation will discuss the review and improvement process used to increase model accuracy and fidelity.

Prashant Parmar↗
DOE OSTI2014

Eddy Current for Sizing Cracks in Canisters for Dry Storage of Used Nuclear Fuel

The storage of used nuclear fuel (UNF) in dry canister storage systems (DCSSs) at Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installations (ISFSI) sites is a temporary measure to accommodate UNF inventory until it can be reprocessed or transferred to a repository for permanent disposal. Policy uncertainty surrounding the long-term management of UNF indicates that DCSSs will need to store UNF for much longer periods than originally envisioned. Meanwhile, the structural and leak-tight integrity of DCSSs must not be compromised. The eddy current technique is presented as a potential tool for inspecting the outer surfaces of DCSS canisters for degradation, particularly atmospheric stress corrosion cracking (SCC). Results are presented that demonstrate that eddy current can detect flaws that cannot be detected reliably using standard visual techniques. In addition, simulations are performed to explore the best parameters of a pancake coil probe for sizing of SCC flaws in DCSS canisters and to identify features in frequency sweep curves that may potentially be useful for facilitating accurate depth sizing of atmospheric SCC flaws from eddy current measurements.

dry storage↗
DOE OSTI2020

SLAC joins the global fight against COVID-19

The lab is responding to the coronavirus crisis by imaging disease-related biomolecules, developing standards for reliable coronavirus testing and enabling other essential research.

Gnida, Manuel↗
DOE OSTI2016

Software Dependability

The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief introduction of Software Dependability and a summary of lessons learned. The components of Software Dependability vary among standards, however there is agreement among the standards that reliability, availability and maintainability are some the main components of dependability. Safety is also a main component is safety systems. Although reliability and safety are similar there is an additional difference, safety can withstand some level of fault tolerance. For the purposes of this discussion Software Dependability includes reliability, availability, maintainability and safety. Software Dependability: Trustworthiness of a computer system such that reliance can be justifiably placed on the service it delivers. Reliability, availability, and maintainability are aspects of dependability. Reliability: The ability of a system or component to perform its required functions under stated conditions for a specified period of time. Availability: The degree to which a system or component is operational and accessible when required for use. Often expressed as a probability. Maintainability: Speed and ease with which a program can be corrected or changed. Safety: a measure of the length of time the software system can be expected to run before failing in such a way as to cause a system hazard. (author)

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗