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All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

DOE OSTI2023

Low-Energy Ion Scattering Intensities from Supported Nanoparticles: The Spherical Cap Model

Supported nanoparticles are of great importance to many technologies like fuel processing and chemical synthesis using catalysts and electrocatalysts, energy storage and generation using fuel cells and batteries, electrochemistry, magnetic information storage, and more. Low-energy ion scattering spectroscopy (LEIS) with noble gas ions like He+ is a powerful tool for the characterization of nanoparticles dispersed across flat support surfaces due to its ability to probe the elemental composition in the topmost atomic layer of a surface, providing quantitative information regarding the size and number density of nanoparticles. In this work, we present a derivation of the LEIS intensities expected from nanoparticles and the support material as a function of the average particle size, their number per unit area, and their contact angle with the support when modeled as spherical caps of the nanoparticle material dispersed over the surface of a flat support. The model assumes that the ion intensities are determined only by the physical blocking of linear ion trajectories and independent of the tilt angle of the local surface relative to the incident and scattered ion directions, an assumption we support by quantitative modeling of published data which tested tilt-angle effects. The model is a generalization to arbitrary contact angles of the hemispherical cap model, which assumes 90° contact angle and has been widely used to model spectroscopic signals in LEIS (and also in Auger and photoelectron spectroscopies) during nanoparticle growth. Here, this new model quantitatively reveals how LEIS signals are sensitive not only to the diameter and number density of the nanoparticle but also to their contact angle (or height/diameter ratio). With the use of additional data (e.g., from microscopy or adsorption microcalorimetry), the model presented here will enable more accurate determination of the average size, shape, and number density of supported nanoparticles based on LEIS intensity measurements.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

DOE OSTI2023

Carbon Capture Design and Costing: Phase 2 (C3DC2) (Final Project Report)

ION Clean Energy’s (ION) advanced solvent is one of the leading solvent systems currently under development for post-combustion carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) capture. ION has partnered with Nebraska Power Public District (NPPD), Sargent & Lundy, Koch Modular Process Systems, and Siemens to design a commercial-scale (700 MW) capture system utilizing ION’s advanced solvent, ICE-21, retrofitted onto NPPD’s Gerald Gentleman Station in Sutherland, Nebraska, USA. The capture system was designed to take full advantage of the solvent benefits including an efficient physical plant layout, reduced energy requirements, less solvent degradation, lower emissions, and lower capital costs relative to systems built with DOE BBS case benchmark solvents. This Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) study also included an investigation of utilizing biomass co-combustion with the aim of reaching near-zero emissions for this coal-fired power generating unit. The targeted biomass was from local resources in Nebraska tied to the production of ethanol.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

NASA NTRS1993

Design of a water electrolysis flight experiment

Supply of oxygen (O2) and hydrogen (H2) by electolyzing water in space will play an important role in meeting the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) needs and goals for future space missios. Both O2 and H2 are envisioned to be used in a variety of processes including crew life support, spacecraft propulsion, extravehicular activity, electrical power generation/storage as well as in scientific experiment and manufacturing processes. The Electrolysis Performance Improvement Concept Study (EPICS) flight experiment described herein is sponsored by NASA Headquarters as a part of the In-Space Technology Experiment Program (IN-STEP). The objective of the EPICS is to further contribute to the improvement of the SEF technology, specifially by demonstrating and validating the SFE electromechanical process in microgravity as well as investigating perrformance improvements projected possible in a microgravity environment. This paper defines the experiment objective and presents the results of the preliminary design of the EPICS. The experiment will include testing three subscale self-contained SFE units: one containing baseline components, and two units having variations in key component materials. Tests will be conducted at varying current and thermal condition.

Lee, M. Gene↗

NASA NTRS1973

Research study on materials processing in space experiment number M512

Adhesion of the melted metals to the adjacent solid metals, and cohesion of the liquid metal to itself appeared to be equally as strong in zero gravity as on earth. Similar cut edge bead periodicity in cut thin plate, and similar periodic chevron patterns in full penetration welds were seen. The most significant practical result is that the design of braze joints for near zero gravity can be very tolerant of dimensional gaps in the joint. This conclusion is based on a comparison of narrow, wide and variable gap widths. Brazing is very practical as a joining or repairing technique for metal structures at zero gravity. The operation of the hardware developed to locate successive small (0.6 cm) diameter cylinders in the focus of the battery powered EB unit, melt the various metal specimens and deploy some liquid metal drops to drift in space, was generally successful. However, the sphericity and surface roughness were far from those of ball bearings.

Tobin, J. M.↗

DOE OSTI2025

Dominant end-tunneling effect in two distinct Luttinger liquids coexisting in one quantum wire

Luttinger liquids occupy a notable place in physics as one of the most understood classes of quantum many-body systems. The experimental mission of measuring its main prediction, power laws in observable quantities, has already produced a body of exponents in different semiconductor and metallic structures. Here, we combine tunneling spectroscopy with density-dependent transport measurements in the same quantum wires over more than two orders of magnitude in temperature to very low electron temperatures down to ∼40 mK. This reveals that, when the second 1D subband becomes populated, the temperature dependence splits into two ranges with different exponents in the power-law dependence of the conductance, both dominated by the finite-size effect of the end-tunneling process. This result demonstrates the importance of measuring the Luttinger parameters as well as the number of modes independently through spectroscopy in addition to the transport exponent in the characterization of Luttinger liquids. This opens a pathway to unambiguous interpretation of the exponents observed in quantum wires.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

DOE OSTI2021

Sensor enabled data-driven predictive analytics for modeling and control with high penetration of DERs in distribution systems

The electric power grid is undergoing a tremendous transformation due to the increasing penetration of renewable energy resources beginning with wind and more recently with the distributed energy resources (DERs) such as solar and battery storage. DERs have dramatically changed the role of the distribution systems in the overall power grid, and they are expected to contribute a significant portion of power generation in the future. If current trends for DERs continue, system operation and control will need to change dramatically for improved grid reliability and resiliency. As renewable resources increase in penetration, new and challenging operational, planning, and design problems are expected to emerge. Some of the key challenges that arise in the planning and operation of the future grid are: 1) Quantifying the impact of high DER penetration in distribution systems on bulk grid behavior over multiple time scales. 2) Identifying whether a particular DER configuration/settings have a large impact on the overall grid behavior. These challenges can be addressed in an offline manner using detailed T&D grid models and they can also be addressed in an online manner using sensor measurements. In particular, the advancement and planned growth in sensor technology in power grid over various voltage levels provide us with a unique opportunity to tackle these challenges from a data analytic perspective without needing detailed T&D grid models. A few questions that naturally arise when addressing the challenges from DERs using sensor data are: 1) How can we use limited sensor measurements to monitor & control voltage stability and small signal stability of the bulk system? 2) How can we ensure that the developed data analytic methods are robust to data availability and quality issues? 3) How can we compute the developed analytics in a scalable manner using streaming measurements? In this project, we addressed the aforementioned challenges arising from DERs and answered the questions raised above on how to effectively use the sensor measurements to enhance the reliability and performance of the electric grid. Thus, the overarching goal of this project is to develop effective reduced/representative system models from data that make the computational complexity sufficiently manageable so as to be useful to simulate, analyze, and even control complex non-linear power systems dynamics with large penetrations of DERs. In order to achieve the objective, the project team established a four-fold technical approach 1) Formulated a combined transmission-distribution co-simulation framework for data generation and validation, 2) Derived reduced/representative models of power systems based on data-driven methods for efficient computation and appropriate representation of system behavior, 3) Developed data driven characterization of power system behavior based on transfer operator theory, machine learning and optimization for model estimation, 4) Incorporated a scalable data management and processing architecture using distributed Kafka streaming applications that coordinate input data streams to the developed data analytics. The key accomplishments of the project are: 1) Development of a scalable multi-timescale T&D co-simulation framework (both for steady state and for dynamic co-simulation) using commercial solvers (PSSE and GridLAB-D). The steady-state T&D co-simulation interface is shared with our industry partner (PJM). 2) A structured reduced order dynamic model of distribution systems that can represent partial motor stalling along with a systematic procedure to derive the model parameters. 3) A PMU based online method to monitor, localize and mitigate fault-induced delayed voltage recovery using DER reactive support and load control in distribution systems. 4) Development of linear operator based robust methodologies for dynamic state estimation, uncertainty quantification, system identification and trajectory prediction for power system dynamics. 5) An adaptive damping control for utilizing wind energy resources to provide oscillation damping and system stability. 6) Implementation of Kafka-based framework for efficient processing of streaming data using Linux-based local virtual environment.

DER integration↗

DOE OSTI2025

Next-Generation Electric Motors and Electromagnetic Devices (CRADA Final Report)

As part of the Cyclotron Road program, the Foli Research team investigated electric motors and other electromagnetic devices additively manufactured by depositing fine conducting wire onto a substrate. By leveraging modern motion control and efficient upstream manufacturing processes, the team explored using geometric control and turnkey production comparable to printed circuit board manufacturing, aiming at ten-fold improvements in signal density, while eliminating the material use, cost, and complexity overheads of subtractive processes at large scales. Owing to the achievable density and additive scaling, disparate components became monolithic, and disparate processes were combined with the aim of reducing development costs, uncertainties, and timelines. When applied to electric motors, this technology may enable agile manufacturing of next-generation designs, with dramatic increases in achievable power density and material utilization. Electric motors represent the single largest user of electricity in the U.S. and a critical component of decarbonized infrastructure. Despite this significance, the manufacturing of motors and other electromagnetic devices remains capital-intensive, labor-intensive, and performance-limiting. Advanced manufacturing processes were required to produce high-performance, low-cost, application-specific electric motors and electromagnetic devices to support an electrified future.

42 ENGINEERING↗

NASA NTRS1975

Energy conservation and the transportation sector

The present status of the energy implications of the transportation systems in the United States was illustrated, with primary emphasis on the technologies and methods for achieving a substantial reduction in the associated energy price (approximately 25% of the nation's energy is consumed directly in the operation of these systems). These technologies may be classified as follows: (1) improvement of system efficiency (system operations or technological), (2) substitution for scarce energy resources (electrification, alternate fuels, use of man power, recycling), (3) curtailment of end use (managed population growth rate, education of citizenry, alternatives to personal transportation, improved urban planning, reduced travel incentives). Examples and illustrations were given. Thirty-four actions were chosen on the basis of a preliminary filtering process with the objective of: (1) demonstrating a methodological approach to arrive at logical and consistent conservation action packages, (2) recommending a viable and supportable specific set of actions.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS2004

Radio science receiver support of the Mars Exploration Rover Landings

The low power levels of the communication signals during the Entry Descent and Landing (EDL) sequences of the Mars rovers prevented the transmission of telemetry at X-band signal to inform the mission operations center of the health and progress of the spacecraft. As an altemative, a series of tones were sent to indicate basic spacecraft conditions and execution of critical events. An open-loop receiver designed for Radio Science experiments was used to acquire the signal during this time. The receiver recorded over a 100 Khz bandwidth to identify the presence of the carrier and tones. The data were fed in real-time to a processing unit which detected the carrier and the frequency separation of the tones from the carrier, in order to determine which event has occurred. Up to 256 different tones were possible. During the actual events, all tones were identified, and the carrier was tracked down to the surface, and for the second rover, through the bouncing which followed, and finally, while stopped on the surface, found the carrier and tones which indicated the spacecraft was alive. In order to identify the tones, the ground receivers had to be able to respond to the bevy of events occurring in the relatively short timespan of EDL.

Deep Space Network (DSN)↗

DOE OSTI2021

Redefining Resource Adequacy for Modern Power Systems: A Report of the Redefining Resource Adequacy Task Force

Today's rapidly increasing levels of wind, solar, storage, and load flexibility require the industry to rethink reliability planning and resource adequacy methods for modern power systems. Periods with a risk of shortfall often no longer coincide with peak demand - reliability risks are less about peak load and more about the daily setting of the sun, extended cloud cover, wind speeds, cold snaps, and heat waves. In addition, demand is increasingly flexible. Key resources are time-sensitive, as batteries need time to recharge and electricity customers can only be asked to provide demand response for just so long. And reliability failures are often correlated - with one another and with the weather. Two driving factors require the industry to reconsider its analytical approach for resource adequacy: (1) Chronological grid operations: The increasing importance of variable renewable resources (such as wind and solar) and of energy-limited resources (storage and demand response) make it essential to understand the full year of chronological operation of the grid. Specific attention must be paid to hourly, seasonal, and inter-annual resource variability. The sequence of the variability is key, as energy-limited resources such as batteries or demand response require either a preceding period or subsequent period of high production to be useful for grid reliability. (2) Correlated events: Historically, resource adequacy analysis focused on shortfalls caused by random, discrete mechanical failures of large generating units. In contrast, shortfalls today are often caused by multiple, correlated events caused by common weather patterns. Resource adequacy analysis must increasingly shift its focus to these correlated events. The redesign of resource adequacy methods will benefit from a set of guiding principles to better allow for sharing of insights and best practices, interregional resource coordination, and a smoother regulatory process for resource procurement. The objective of this report is to move this redesign forward. It provides an overview of key drivers changing the way resource adequacy needs to be evaluated, identifies shortcomings of conventional approaches, and outlines first principles for practitioners to consider as they adapt their approaches. The central message is: what got us here won't get us there.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

DOE OSTI2025

Fusing Edge Computing with Transport Security by Leveraging the Controller Area Network Transport Security Tracking and Reporting (C-STAR) Unit

Rapid advances in embedded system complexity and capability provides exciting opportunities for transportation security deployment. Manufacturers and developers of these embedded systems continue to provide lower cost and more powerful solutions that can be leveraged by researchers and engineers. Furthermore, deploying these devices at the “edge” of the Internet-of-Things (IoT) infrastructure provides opportunities for highly capable applications in transport security. In an edge computation architecture, the device is co-located at the source of the data in the larger IoT structure – this provides computational capability at the location directly where the data is collected. For shipment transport security, this provides a direct compute node for digestion of data and mitigation actions in real-time. In our application, the vehicle provides a significant amount of this data that can be processed in real-time via the Controller Area Network Transport Security Tracking and Reporting (C-STAR) edge device. Utilization of a computational node located on the vehicle, such as the C-STAR, capitalizes on previously discussed opportunities of edge architectures. In this paper, we will discuss this security solution’s usability, current deployments, and scalability to further applications in transport security. First, we will cover the supported vehicle platforms that can leverage the C-STAR technology. This will be particularly relevant to medium- and heavy-duty vehicles transporting high-risk shipments. Second, we will speak to current deployments of the C-STAR that are ongoing. Finally, we will discuss additional areas for expansion such as maturing the onboard algorithms through continuing collaborations.

Cook, Adian [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000160825395)↗

DOE OSTI2025

High-Energy and High-Power NMP-Free, Designer NMC 811 Cathodes with Ultra-Thick Architectures Processed by Electrophoretic Deposition

This project focused on electrode engineering and reducing the weight of inactive components in the battery cells. Additionally, the project focused on optimizing the ‘electrophoretic deposition’ technique developed by PPG industries for aqueous processing of electrodes. During this project team has screened several binders suitable for electrophoretic deposition of electrodes. Additionally, we developed a nice strategy to deposit a low cost and scalable oxide coating on the surface of cathode materials. ORNL team performed the research under this CRADA at DOE’s Battery Manufacturing Facility (BMF) at ORNL.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

DOE OSTI2025

High-Energy and High-Power NMP-Free, Designer NMC 811 Cathodes with Ultra-Thick Architectures Processed by Electrophoretic Deposition

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

DOE OSTI2025

The Staged, Pressurized Oxy-Combustion Technology: Status and Application to Boiler Retrofits to Yield Carbon-Negative Power via Biomass

Recognizing the benefits of pressurization and fuel staging on the efficiency of oxy-combustion, the staged, pressurized oxy-combustion (SPOC) process was introduced in 2012. The combination of fuel staging and pressurized oxy-combustion results in a more compact plant, a higher plant efficiency and reduced costs for pollutant and greenhouse gas removal compared with plants equipped with conventional carbon capture. This approach to power generation enables a modular boiler design and optimizes the plant for flexible operation, which is essential to meet the demands of the modern grid when it contains intermittent power sources. Originally designed to burn coal, the SPOC process is well-suited for biomass because the combustion of biomass leads to a high moisture content in the flue gas and the SPOC process is able to recover the latent heat of this moisture, enhancing system performance over that of traditional biomass combustion at atmospheric pressure. The present work is focused on evaluating the potential for utilizing the SPOC process in retrofit applications wherein the boilers of an existing plant are replaced with the SPOC process, and woody biomass is used as the fuel to yield carbon-negative power. Two applications are considered: power generation and cogeneration (heat and power). Modeling these systems in Aspen Plus demonstrates that the SPOC process surpasses the performance of baseline plants with post-combustion capture (PCC) for both power generation and cogeneration. Specifically, compared to a PCC equipped plant, the SPOC power plant has 33% higher efficiency, and the SPOC cogeneration plant reaches 42% higher net energy. Experimentally, the existing SPOC facility was fired for the first time with 100% biomass and after minor improvements were made to the feeding system, the facility demonstrated excellent performance during startup, steady-state operation and turndown.

Carbon capture and storage↗

DOE OSTI2025

Cold air quench control of local crystallization environment in fully air-processed carbon-based perovskite solar cells

Carbon-based perovskite solar cells (C-PSCs) present a low-cost route to efficient photovoltaic technology. Gas quenching is an essential process commonly used for solvent extraction in scalable module fabrication using solution processes, but film quality remains highly sensitive to the localized environmental processing temperature, especially during intermediate phase transitions before perovskite film high temperature annealing. In this study, we introduce a cold air quench strategy to precisely control the local crystallization temperature that simultaneously promotes uniform crystallization and facilitates strain relaxation in fully air-processed C-PSCs. It is found that implementing dry air at 10 °C as the quenching gas yields a champion power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 20.52 %, with preferential (110) orientation and reduced, homogenized in-plane strain. This newly developed technique of a cost-effective low temperature air quenching process also enhances carrier lifetime, reduces interface recombination, and improves charge extraction. Furthermore, this work presents cold air quenching as a scalable, economic method to control perovskite crystallization and strain in C-PSC fabrication, advancing the industrial viability of high-performance perovskite modules.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2020

Virtual Metering for Monitoring Building Energy Consumption

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) has standard metering requirements of commercial buildings for optimizing energy performance. The guiding principles are to continuously track and optimize energy performance and install building-level meters for electricity, natural gas, and steam. Some buildings at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) have physical submeters monitoring their energy consumption, but these meters have proven to be unreliable. And, in most cases, replacing them has proven to be a slow process. Installing new submeters also requires a temporary lockout of the circuit on which they are being installed. Many buildings at LANL contain laboratories with ongoing experiments or data centers, which makes an equipment power outage nearly impossible to plan. This inability to plan power outages results in long-term submeter failures. Although most submeters are eventually replaced, failures lead to missing consumption data for some unpredictable, extended time. A building automation system (BAS) is a system that provides control and monitoring on a building to maintain the operational performance of the building and occupancy comfort. Many buildings at LANL currently have a BAS, and all new renovations and installs will include installing a BAS if one does not already exist. The intended purpose for a BAS is primarily to monitor the health and efficiency of a building; however, it is also possible to calculate equipment power and energy consumption using BAS information. This project aims to use virtual meters to monitor building energy consumption as a cost-effective and minimally labor-intensive alternative to installing physical submeters. The fault detection and diagnostics tool, SkySpark, provides a centralized database for all the data from the various BAS that are active at LANL. This data includes the information that is needed to create virtual meters for heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems in most buildings, including heating and cooling loads. 9 This report begins with a detailed summary of the project, including the reasoning, procedure, and results. The specific processes of creating the various virtual meters are then identified. Then the limitations are discussed. And, lastly, the results and future potential are presented.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

NASA NTRS1993

High energy density aluminum-oxygen cell

An alternative to a secondary battery as the power source for vehicle propulsion is a fuel cell. An example of this is the metal-air fuel cell using metals such as aluminum, zinc, or iron. Aluminum is a particularly attractive candidate, having high energy and power densities, being environmentally acceptable, and having a large, established industrial base for production and distribution. An aluminum-oxygen system is currently under development for a UUV test vehicle, and recent work has focussed upon low corrosion aluminum alloys and an electrolyte management system for processing the by-products of the energy-producing reactions. This paper summarizes the progress made in both areas. Anode materials capable of providing high utilization factors over current densities ranging from S to 150 mA/sq cm have been identified. These materials are essential to realizing an acceptable mission life for the UUV. With respect to the electrolyte management system, a filter/precipitator unit has been successfully operated for over 250 hours in a large scale, half-cell system.

Rudd, E. J.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Portable x-ray fluorescence spectrometer for environmental monitoring of inorganic pollutants

A portable x-ray fluorescence spectrometer has a portable sensor unit containing a battery, a high voltage power supply, an x-ray tube which produces a beam x-ray radiation directed toward a target sample, and a detector for fluorescent x-rays produced by the sample. If a silicon-lithium detector is used, the sensor unit also contains either a thermoelectric or thermochemical cooler, or a small dewar flask containing liquid nitrogen to cool the detector. A pulse height analyzer (PHA) generates a spectrum of data for each sample consisting of the number of fluorescent x-rays detected as a function of their energy level. The PHA can also store spectrum data for a number of samples in the field. A processing unit can be attached to the pulse height analyzer to upload and analyze the stored spectrum data for each sample. The processing unit provides a graphic display of the spectrum data for each sample, and provides qualitative and/or quantitative analysis of the elemental composition of the sample by comparing the peaks in the sample spectrum against known x-ray energies for various chemical elements. An optional filtration enclosure can be used to filter particles from a sample suspension, either in the form of a natural suspension or a chemically created precipitate. The sensor unit is then temporarily attached to the filtration unit to analyze the particles collected by the filter medium.

Thornton, Michael G.↗