Results for “high performance buildings” — Page 62

NASA NTRS1992

Field programmable gate arrays: Evaluation report for space-flight application

Field Programmable Gate Arrays commonly called FPGA's are the newer generation of field programmable devices and offer more flexibility in the logic modules they incorporate and in how they are interconnected. The flexibility, the number of logic building blocks available, and the high gate densities achievable are why users find FPGA's attractive. These attributes are important in reducing product development costs and shortening the development cycle. The aerospace community is interested in incorporating this new generation of field programmable technology in space applications. To this end, a consortium was formed to evaluate the quality, reliability, and radiation performance of FPGA's. This report presents the test results on FPGA parts provided by ACTEL Corporation.

Sandoe, Mike↗

NASA NTRS1997

Laser Scanning System for Pressure and Temperature Paints

Acquiring pressure maps of aerodynamic surfaces is very important for improving and validating the performance of aerospace vehicles. Traditional pressure measurements are taken with pressure taps embedded in the model surface that are connected to transducers. While pressure taps allow highly accurate measurements to be acquired, they do have several drawbacks. Pressure taps do not give good spatial resolution due to the need for individual pressure tubes, compounded by limited space available inside models. Also, building a model proves very costly if taps are needed because of the large amount of labor necessary to drill, connect and test each one. The typical cost to install one tap is about $200. Recently, a new method for measuring pressure on aerodynamic surfaces has been developed utilizing a technology known as pressure sensitive paints (PSP). Using PSP, pressure distributions can be acquired optically with high spatial resolution and simple model preparation. Flow structures can be easily visualized using PSP, but are missed using low spatial resolution arrays of pressure taps. PSP even allows pressure distributions to be found on rotating machinery where previously this has been extremely difficult or even impossible. The goal of this research is to develop a laser scanning system for use with pressure sensitive paints that allows accurate pressure measurements to be obtained on various aerodynamic surfaces ranging from wind tunnel models to high speed jet engine compressor blades.

Sullivan, John↗

NASA NTRS1997

Laser Scanning System for Pressure and Temperature Paints

Acquiring pressure maps of aerodynamic surfaces is very important for improving and validating the performance of aerospace vehicles. Traditional pressure measurements are taken with pressure taps embedded in the model surface that are connected to transducers. While pressure taps allow highly accurate measurements to be acquired, they do have several drawbacks. Pressure taps do not give good spatial resolution due to the need for individual pressure tubes, compounded by limited space available inside models. Also, building a model proves very costly if taps are needed because of the large amount of labor necessary to drill, connect and test each one. The typical cost to install one tap is about $200. Recently, a new method for measuring pressure on aerodynamic surfaces has been developed utilizing a technology known as pressure sensitive paints (PSP). Using PSP, pressure distributions can be acquired optically with high spatial resolution and simple model preparation. Flow structures can be easily visualized using PSP, but are missed using low spatial resolution arrays of pressure taps. PSP even allows pressure distributions to be found on rotating machinery where previously this has been extremely difficult or even impossible. The goal of this research is to develop a laser scanning system for use with pressure sensitive paints that allows accurate pressure measurements to be obtained on various aerodynamic surfaces ranging from wind tunnel models to high speed jet engine compressor blades.

Sullivan, John↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Machine Learning for Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Glove Inspections

The Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) Glove Machine Learning Inspection project utilizes machine learning to expedite the inspection, analysis, and recommendation for continued use of space suit gloves post spacewalks. Today, ISS glove photos are individually reviewed by a team of experts to determine the conditions of space suit gloves. For this project the Microsoft Azure platform is used to perform Automated Machine Learning (AutoML) to detect issues with tagged images from previous Extravehicular Activities (EVA’s) to build a predictive model. The model analyzes a test image and deems the glove GO or NO-GO for additional EVA’s. The goal for this ML project is to decrease the time spent reviewing images by ground personnel and crewmembers in high frequency EVA locations such as the Moon and Mars. For destinations such as the Moon and Mars the goal is to give crew autonomy in determining glove conditions with limited support from Earth. This paper will outline the results to date and future work needed to expand the capability for in-situ recommendations.

EVA↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Fluid-Structure Interaction Simulations of the ASPIRE SR01 Supersonic Parachute

High-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations have so far only played exploratory and supporting roles in the study and qualification of parachutes for planetary entry. The last few years have seen the maturation of coupled computational methods that are capable of modeling the complex fluid-structure interactions between a parachute canopy and the supersonic flow in the wake of an entry vehicle in flight conditions. One of the primary goals of these methods is to predict the peak opening load experienced by the parachute during inflation. The Launch, Ascent, and Vehicle Aerodynamics (LAVA)team is developing efficient, high-fidelity numerical methods to perform such challenging fluid-structure interaction simulations. A loose coupling approach is used to advance the solutions of a Cartesian ghost cell immersed boundary method CFD solver and a finite element computational structural dynamics (CSD) solver in space and time. The coupled solver is employed to simulate the ASPIRE SR01 flight test, where a build-to-print version of the Mars Science Laboratory parachute was inflated in supersonic conditions in the upper terrestrial atmosphere. The simulations conducted in the current paper predict a peak opening load that is within 10% of that from the flight test. Grid convergence with respect to the volume and structural domains is demonstrated, and less than 1% variation in the peak opening load is predicted between all grid resolutions.

ARMD↗

DOE OSTI2023

Towards Lightweight Data Integration Using Multi-Workflow Provenance and Data Observability

Modern large-scale scientific discovery requires multidisciplinary collaboration across diverse computing facilities, including High Performance Computing (HPC) machines and the Edge-to-Cloud continuum. Integrated data analysis plays a crucial role in scientific discovery, especially in the current AI era, by enabling Responsible AI development, FAIR, Reproducibility, and User Steering. However, the heterogeneous nature of science poses challenges such as dealing with multiple supporting tools, cross-facility environments, and efficient HPC execution. Building on data observability, adapter system design, and provenance, we propose MIDA: an approach for lightweight runtime Multi-workflow Integrated Data Analysis. MIDA defines data observability strategies and adaptability methods for various parallel systems and machine learning tools. With observability, it intercepts the dataflows in the background without requiring instrumentation while integrating domain, provenance, and telemetry data at runtime into a unified database ready for user steering queries. We conduct experiments showing end-to-end multi-workflow analysis integrating data from Dask and MLFlow in a real distributed deep learning use case for materials science that runs on multiple environments with up to 276 GPUs in parallel. We show near-zero overhead running up to 100,000 tasks on 1,680 CPU cores on the Summit supercomputer.

Santos Souza, Renan↗

DOE OSTI2025

Artificial Intelligence and Digital Engineering as Enablers for System Engineering in the Energy Sector

Systems engineering is of utmost importance for the success of high-cost, high-complexity megaprojects, which are common in the energy sector. However, the traditional document-centric systems engineering approach tends to be labor-intensive and time-consuming, which has inhibited its full adoption despite proven metrics on its return on investment. However, with the modern approach of digital engineering and technological advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, the barriers to systems engineering adoption can finally be broken. This paper goes through the systems engineering V-model for lifecycle management and assesses the current state of implementation of digital engineering (especially, mod-el-based systems engineering, digital twins, and digital threads) and AI for each step. It was observed that a combination of digital engineering and AI is being used across different industries to accelerate and optimize systems engineering processes such as concept development, requirements management, architecture definition, system development, verification and validation, operations, and maintenance. Specifically in the energy sector, AI-augmented digital engineering has shown initial potential in accelerated development and deployment, performance optimization, anomaly detection, predictive maintenance, and configuration management. However, challenges remain in integrating DE and AI into an end-to-end system lifecycle management ecosystem safely and reliably. Addressing these challenges and continuously developing impactful tools will enable fast, efficient, and high-frequency deployment of power generation capabilities to keep up with the world’s energy demands and build energy security.

42 - ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2025

Artificial Intelligence and Digital Engineering as Enablers for Systems Engineering in the Energy Sector

Systems engineering is of utmost importance for the success of high-cost, high-complexity megaprojects, which are common in the energy sector. However, the traditional document-centric systems engineering approach tends to be labor-intensive and time-consuming, which has inhibited its full adoption despite proven metrics on its return on investment. However, with the modern approach of digital engineering and technological advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, the barriers to systems engineering adoption can finally be broken. This paper goes through the systems engineering V-model for lifecycle management and assesses the current state of implementation of digital engineering (especially, mod-el-based systems engineering, digital twins, and digital threads) and AI for each step. It was observed that a combination of digital engineering and AI is being used across different industries to accelerate and optimize systems engineering processes such as concept development, requirements management, architecture definition, system development, verification and validation, operations, and maintenance. Specifically in the energy sector, AI-augmented digital engineering has shown initial potential in accelerated development and deployment, performance optimization, anomaly detection, predictive maintenance, and configuration management. However, challenges remain in integrating DE and AI into an end-to-end system lifecycle management ecosystem safely and reliably. Addressing these challenges and continuously developing impactful tools will enable fast, efficient, and high-frequency deployment of power generation capabilities to keep up with the world?s energy demands and build energy security.

42 - ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2023

Seismic Characterization of the Blue Mountain Geothermal Field

Subsurface characterization is crucial for geothermal energy exploration and production. Yet hydrothermal reservoirs usually reside in highly fractured and faulted zones where accurate characterization is very challenging because of low signal-to-noise ratios of land seismic data and lack of coherent reflection signals. We perform an active-source seismic characterization for the Blue Mountain geothermal field in Nevada using active seismic data to reveal the elastic medium property complexity and fault distribution at this field. We first employ an unsupervised machine learning method to attenuate groundroll and near-surface guided-wave noise and enhance coherent reflection and scattering signals from noisy seismic data. We then build a smooth initial P-wave velocity model based on an existing magnetotellurics survey result, and use 3D first-arrival traveltime tomography to refine the initial velocity model. We then derive a set of elastic wave velocities and anisotropic parameters using elastic full-waveform inversion, and obtain PP and PS images using elastic reverse-time migration. We identify major faults by analyzing the variations of seismic velocities and anisotropy parameters, and reveal mid- to small-scale faults by applying a supervised machine learning method to the seismic migration images. Our characterization reveals complex velocity heterogeneities and anisotropies, as well as faults, with a high spatial resolution. These results can provide valuable information for optimal placement of future injection and production wells to increase geothermal energy production at the Blue Mountain geothermal power plant.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2021

Effective Kitchen Ventilation for Healthy Zero Net Energy Homes with Natural Gas

Past studies indicate that kitchen ventilation that minimally complies with California’s Residential Building Code is inadequate at controlling combustion pollutants from natural gas burners and particulate matter produced during cooking. Effectiveness is further limited by misperceptions that kitchen ventilation is infrequently needed. This project developed the technical basis for updating kitchen ventilation requirements to protect health in new California homes, especially in smaller homes common among low-income renters. Tasks included (1) a field study of ventilation equipment performance and indoor air quality in 23 low-income apartments at four sites; (2) analysis of range hood use related to cooking time and household parameters using data from 54 houses and 17 low-income apartments; (3)a measurement-based study to quantify performance of over-the-range microwave ovens with integrated exhaust fans;and (4) pollutant exposure simulations to inform capture efficiency standards.The field study found operational deficiencies with mechanical ventilation systems in a substantial fraction of low-income apartments that affected performance, resulting in higher exposures to pollutants generated indoors. Using gas cooking burners produced high short-term and weekly time-averaged nitrogen dioxide in apartments.Range hoods were used more frequently with cooking in houses (36percent) than apartments (28percent); use increased with overall cooking frequency in a home and with duration of cooktop but not oven events; actual use was correlated to, but lower than,self-reported use;and use was more frequent in houses when cooking generated any fine particulate matter (PM2.5)or when high PM2.5resulted from cooking in apartments. Performance of over-the-range microwaves with integrated exhaust fans was similar to that of range hoods of comparable price. Simulation analysis found that performance standards need to be updated to ensure that kitchen exhaust ventilation adequately protects for substantial cooking in new California residences.

03 NATURAL GAS↗

DOE OSTI2026

A comparative study on cubic and tetragonal Ce-ZrO 2 supported Rh catalysts for N 2 O decomposition

Zirconium oxide (ZrO 2 ) exhibits strong synergy with cerium oxide (CeO 2 ), acting as a structural and electronic promoter during catalytic redox reactions. As a result, Ce-ZrO 2 composite oxides are widely used as supports in various catalytic systems. In our previous work, we demonstrated that the incorporation of Zr 4+ into the CeO 2 lattice significantly enhanced Rh dispersion, improved redox ability, and stabilized surface Rh species, which collectively boosted the de-N 2 O activity of Rh/Ce-ZrO 2 catalysts. Building on these findings, the present study emphasizes that the crystallographic phase of Ce-ZrO 2 , governed by the Ce/Zr ratio, plays a decisive role in tuning the physicochemical environment of Rh active sites and thereby optimizing catalytic performance. In conclusion, tailoring the Ce/Zr ratio to favor the cubic fluorite structure emerges as a promising strategy for the rational design of highly active and stable catalysts for N 2 O decomposition and potentially other redox-sensitive environmental applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2021

Regional suitability of heating tower heat pumps based on technical and economic performance maps

The heating tower heat pump (HTHP) technology is evolving rapidly due to its high performance in summer and frost-free characteristic in winter. However, lacking comprehensive comparisons between the HTHP and conventional methods, such as air-source heat pump (ASHP), and chiller and boiler, greatly limits its applications. To address this problem, this paper carries out technological and economic performance analyses of the three systems in 353 locations over China by the processes of building load calculation, system sizing, annual simulation, performance comparison, and demonstration. Energy saving principle and potential of the HTHP are presented and explained. Based on that, economic performance comparison is conducted by considering the energy conversion efficiency and prices. The results show that the HTHP has advantage over the ASHP in most locations in China. The improvement in annual coefficient of performance (COP) is about 10% to 20%. For the locations in southwest China like Chongqing, the improvement is also less than 10% due to the large regeneration penalization in winter and small difference between dry-bulb and wet-bulb temperature in summer. The annual COP of the HTHP is 10% to 23% higher than that of the chiller and boiler in hot summer and cold winter zone, and cold zone. However, the HTHP shows no advantage over the chiller and boiler in severe cold zone because of the low efficiency of heat pump in winter, neither in hot summer and warm winter zone due to the small heating load. Based on the results, technical and economic performance maps are developed to guide the application of the HTHP in different climate regions.

heating tower heat pump, air-source heat pump, chi↗

DOE OSTI2021

Flexible and efficient perovskite quantum dot solar cells via hybrid interfacial architecture

All-inorganic CsPbI 3 perovskite quantum dots have received substantial research interest for photovoltaic applications because of higher efficiency compared to solar cells using other quantum dots materials and the various exciting properties that perovskites have to offer. These quantum dot devices also exhibit good mechanical stability amongst various thin-film photovoltaic technologies. We demonstrate higher mechanical endurance of quantum dot films compared to bulk thin film and highlight the importance of further research on high-performance and flexible optoelectronic devices using nanoscale grains as an advantage. Specifically, we develop a hybrid interfacial architecture consisting of CsPbI 3 quantum dot/PCBM heterojunction, enabling an energy cascade for efficient charge transfer and mechanical adhesion. The champion CsPbI3 quantum dot solar cell has an efficiency of 15.1% (stabilized power output of 14.61%), which is among the highest report to date. Building on this strategy, we further demonstrate a highest efficiency of 12.3% in flexible quantum dot photovoltaics.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2021

HVAC System Performance for Energy Codes (Technical Brief)

The prescriptive path is likely the most widely used approach for commercial code compliance in the United States. Though easy to implement, the prescriptive approach does not discriminate between high-performing and poorly performing heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC) system configurations that are both minimally compliant. To meet aggressive energy and carbon reduction goals, energy codes will need to transition from prescriptive to performance-based approaches, a transition that is riddled with several challenges. HVAC System Performance is a discipline performance path and provides a simpler solution to HVAC system evaluation compared to whole building performance, while keeping tradeoffs limited to specific building systems. The Total System Performance Ratio (TSPR) is a metric for evaluation of overall system efficiency instead of individual component efficiency, a solution that could also eventually facilitate the transition to a 100% performance-based code structure. TSPR is a ratio that compares the annual heating and cooling load of a building to the annual energy consumed by the building’s HVAC system. A web-based calculation tool has been developed for determining a building’s TSPR. Already incorporated into the 2018 Washington State Energy Code, this approach has also been evaluated by the ASHRAE Standard 90.1 Project Committee and has the potential to provide a comprehensive performance-based approach for HVAC system evaluation and analysis

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2022

Home Energy Upgrades as a Pathway to Home Decarbonization in the US: A Literature Review

This work aims to characterize how home energy upgrade projects and programs in the US have evolved over the past decade. It also identifies what changes are needed to drive expansion of the US energy retrofit market in such a way that addresses carbon emissions from buildings, improves resilience and upgrades the housing stock. This review focuses on whole-home energy upgrades, targeting deep energy retrofit savings of >30%. The topics we cover include trends in home electrification, US and European home energy upgrade programs, energy upgrade measure costs, business economics, and health effects. Key changes in project design noted in this review include: (1) the electrification of dwellings with rapidly improving heat pump systems and low-cost solar photovoltaic technology; and (2) a shift away from high-cost building envelope strategies and towards more traditional home performance/weatherization envelope upgrades. Promising program design strategies covered include: (1) end-use electrification programs; (2) novel financing approaches; (3) the use of carbon-based program and project metrics; and (4) “one-stop shop” programs. Based on the existing market barriers, we suggest that the industry should adopt new project performance metrics. Additionally, market drivers are needed to spur widespread energy upgrades in the US housing stock. Costs must be reduced, and projects designed to appeal to homeowners and contractors.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

NASA NTRS1998

Buried Oxide Densification for Low Power, Low Voltage CMOS Applications

Special technology and circuit architecture are of growing interest for implementation of circuits which operate at low supply voltages and consume low power levels without sacrificing performance[1]. Use of thin buried oxide SOI substrates is a primary approach to simultaneously achieve these goals. A significant aspect regarding SIMOX SOI for low voltage, low power applications is the reliability and performance of the thin buried oxide. In addition, when subjected to high total dose irradiation, the silicon islands within the BOX layer of SIMOX can store charges and significantly effect the back channel threshold voltages of devices. Thus, elimination of the islands within the buried oxide (BOX) layer is preferred in order to prevent leakage through these conductive islands and charge build-up within the buried oxide layer. A differential (2-step) ramp rate as applied to full and 100 nm BOX SIMOX was previously reported to play a significant role in the stoichiometry and island formation within the buried layer[2]. This paper focus is on the properties of a thin (120nm) buried oxide as a function of the anneal ramp rate and the temperature of anneal. In this research, we have found an improvement in the buried oxide stoichiometry with the use of a slower, singular ramp rate for specified thin buried oxides, with slower ramp rates and higher temperatures of anneal suggested for reducing the presence of Si islands within the BOX layer.

Allen, L. P.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Computational Aerodynamics Study of the Lift+Cruise VTOL Concept Vehicle Components

This paper describes a building-block approach for high-fidelity computational fluid dynamic simulations of NASA’s Lift+Cruise (L+C) Vertical Take-off and Landing (VTOL) concept vehicle. The Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations are solved on overset structured grids using OVERFLOW. For these analyses, overset meshes are generated using recently developed automated meshing tools. A baseline study is initially performed on the vehicle fuselage with wings and tails. Vehicle components such as pylons and gears are then added individually and together to study incremental component aerodynamic effects. The results from this study are also used to demonstrate the capabilities of the automatic meshing tools for performing rapid computational analyses.

RVLT↗

DOE OSTI2026

Force-triggered, Bio-based, Sealants for Prefabricated Building Components: Towards Improved Efficiency, Performance and Sustainability

The prefabricated building construction industry has made extensive progress in expediting the manufacture of prefabricated components at offsite plants. However, this progress has not translated to the assembly of the prefabricated components at the construction site. Case in point, sealing the joints between components to prevent air leaks requires the manual application of tape, caulk, or spray foam at the jobsite, and performance is highly dependent on the skills of the installer. To reduce assembly time and improve assembly quality of prefabricated components, we developed a sealant that can be installed at the plant and triggered at the jobsite. Additionally, we used this opportunity to lower the use of fossil fuel derived feedstocks and introduced bio-based alternatives to decrease the embodied carbon of the new sealant. We evaluated a series of force-triggered, bio-based, high strength, and fast curing sealants, consisting of a one-part heterogeneous system. These sealants are derived from formulations with ≥80% of biogenic carbon, consisting of a cardanol derived diepoxy that is microencapsulated in a polymer shell and embedded in a cardanol derived amine curing agent. The microcapsule shell allows separation of the reactive species in the one part sealant allowing shelf stability to an otherwise fast curing system. When the microcapsules are broken and activated by force, the highly reactive species mix and cure, exhibiting peel strengths up to 143 ppi. The shelf stability of these sealants and the on-demand triggering of the curing reactions enable installation on prefabricated components and storage prior to delivery and assembly at a jobsite, which could result in consistent sealant application with lower installation time than tapes and caulks at the construction site.

Cortes Guzman, Karen [ORNL] (ORCID:000000028793468↗