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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 1,333 records · Page 74

Improved Access and Analysis of Data Provides New Opportunities for Smart Cities

Making smart, informed, data-driven energy decisions for cities requires large amounts of high-value data and analysis. Cities’ energy data has traditionally been difficult to access and costly to store and manage for city administrators. When data is available, many cities lack the expertise to properly analyze and model large data sets. NREL’s transparency and knowledge about data availability, integration, and interpretation is critical to decision-making for cities.

cities' data↗

Cooler for optics transmitting high intensity light

A system and an apparatus having an optic and a cooling system for cooling the optic. In one example an optically addressed light valve forms the optic. The cooling system includes first and second windows on opposing surfaces of the optically addressed light valve which constrain a cooling fluid to flow over the opposing surfaces. The fluid pressure outside the optically addressed light valve is low enough that it does not compress a liquid crystal gap of the optically addressed light valve. The cooling fluid is also transparent to a high powered light beam which is projected through the first and second windows, and also through the optically addressed light valve, during an additive manufacturing operation.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Inverted organic photosensitive devices

The present disclosure relates to organic photosensitive optoelectronic devices grown in an inverted manner. An inverted organic photosensitive optoelectronic device of the present disclosure comprises a reflective electrode, an organic donor-acceptor heterojunction over the reflective electrode, and a transparent electrode on top of the donor-acceptor heterojunction.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Chalcogen back surface field layer

Kesterite photovoltaic devices having a back surface field layer are provided. In one aspect, a method of forming a photovoltaic device includes: forming a complete photovoltaic device having a substrate, an electrically conductive layer on the substrate, an absorber layer on the electrically conductive layer, a buffer layer on the absorber layer, and a transparent front contact on the buffer layer; removing the substrate and the electrically conductive layer from the complete photovoltaic device to expose a backside surface of the absorber layer; forming a passivating layer on the backside surface of the absorber layer; and forming a high work function back contact on the passivating layer. A photovoltaic device having a passivating layer is also provided.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

An Integrated Paradigm for the Management of Delivery Risk in Electricity Markets: From Batteries to Insurance and Beyond

This presentation discusses the objectives to quantify flexibility from distributed energy resources (DERs) through DER risk scores, increase the number of hedging options for resources with uncertain output by tapping system-wide resources through a system-wide flexibility auction, and create transparent flexibility prices ahead of time, alleviating the need for forecasting of balancing prices.

27 ARPA - Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy↗

Alvin Tollestrup (1924-2020): A Life in Science

Alvin Tollestrup was a physicist and engineer of uncommon insight, intuition, and ingenuity who was revered in life for his essential leadership in the development of superconducting magnets for high-energy accelerators. He exhibited a matchless mastery of what he called freshman physics — though his mastery hardly ended there — and an uncanny gift for joining careful measurements with transparent calculations to reveal the essence of a subject. To watch Alvin at work was to learn how a true scientist formulates and solves a problem. He had other gifts: a nose for significant problems in both science and technology, the ability to draw talented people to an important cause, and a mentor's instinct for spotting gifted junior colleagues and helping them to mature as engineers and scientists. He was also good company! Alvin brought his keen vision about what constitutes important science, along with powerful ambition for the institution and for fundamental science, to considerat ions about Fermilab's future. His questions were uniformly probing, his opinions unfailingly interesting, and his appetite for work consistently inspiring. Among Alvin's many contributions to experimental particle physics — in a career that spanned seven decades — the rich achievements of the Collider Detector at Fermilab Collaboration, of which he was a founder and an enduring leader, stand out. The discovery of the top quark in 1995 earned worldwide acclaim. He reaped individual accolades as well, including election to the National Academy of Sciences. The National Medal of Technology, conferred in 1989, recognized Alvin’s leading role in developing superconducting magnets for Fermilab's Tevatron. Universities Research Association created the Tollestrup Award for Postdoctoral Research, commemorating Alvin's avuncular support for young scientists. This volume celebrates Alvin Tollestrup’s career and the rich, fulfilling life he led beyond the laboratory. Contributions from colleagues and family illuminate many facets of this remarka! ble figure. May old friends savor the memory of the Alvin they knew, while discovering less-familiar parts of his history; and may readers who did not have the opportunity to know Alvin firsthand find inspiration in his exemplary life in science.

Palmer, Mark↗

Monocrystal-based microchannel plate image intensifier

A monocrystalline scintillator comprises a monocrystal and an optical plate wherein a first side of the monocrystal is adhered to the optical plate. The monocrystal comprises at least one of a rare earth garnet, a perovskite crystal, a rare-earth silicate, and a monocrystal oxysulphide. The scintillator assembly includes an adhesive adhering the optical plate to the first side of the monocrystal. The adhesive can comprise an ultra-high vacuum compatible adhesive. The adhesive is substantially transparent and has a refractive index matching the optical plate. The scintillator assembly can also include a reflective coating on the second side of the monocrystal. The monocrystalline scintillator assembly can be incorporated in a microchannel plate image intensifier tube to provide improved spatial resolution and temporal response.

Lumpkin, Alex H.↗

Method of fabricating rigid radiation reflectors

A rigid radiation reflector is fabricated from a powdered material transparent to light in a wavelength band extending from approximately 0.2 micrometers to at least 8 micrometers. The powdered material is dispersed in a liquid wherein the powdered material is at least 95% insoluble in the liquid. The resulting mixture is molded under pressure at room temperature and then sintered to generate a porous solid. The porous solid is cooled to room temperature. A surface of the porous solid is then coated with a light-reflecting metal.

Youngquist, Robert C.↗

BETO 2021 Peer Review - Analytical Development & Support WBS 2.5.1.101

The objective of the Analytical Development and Support (ADS) Project is to produce and maintain the critical analytical methods and tools that enable evaluation of emerging biofuels R&D at NREL and in the broader biofuels research community. Our project is divided into two tasks: one task to develop novel analytical techniques and improve existing methods and one task to maintain existing analytical capabilities at NREL and provide outreach to the wider community. The ADS Project is world-recognized for our Laboratory Analytical Procedures (LAPS) which provide detailed procedures for compositional analysis of biomass and have been adopted as the de facto standards within the biofuels community largely due to the transparency of the methods and the high reputation of NREL's research. Our dialog with stakeholders allows us to provide robust, precise, accurate, and publicly available analytical procedures for better valuation of scientific tools such as our recent accomplishment in developing a cellulose assay to support the EPA and industry in calculation of converted cellulose during starch ethanol production. We continue to develop analytical capabilities to support BETO's directives to research cost advantaged fuels such as animal wastes and novel bioproducts like 2,3-Butane-diol.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Technical Program Plan for INL Advanced Reactor Technologies Advanced Gas Reactor Fuel Development and Qualification Program

High-temperature gas cooled reactors (HTGRs) are graphite moderated nuclear reactors cooled with helium. Their high outlet temperatures and thermal energy conversion efficiency enable efficient and cost effective integration with non electricity generating applications. These applications include process heat and hydrogen production for petrochemical and other industrial processes that require operating temperatures between 300 and 900°C. HTGRs will supplement the use of premium fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas, improve overall energy security in the United States by reducing dependence on foreign fuels, and reduce carbon dioxide (CO2)/greenhouse gas emissions. The HTGR design uses helium as a coolant, graphite as a neutron moderator, and ceramic particle fuel. Helium is chemically inert and neutronically transparent. The graphite core slows down the neutrons, retains its strength at high temperatures, provides structural stability, and acts as a substantial heat sink during transient conditions. The ceramic particle fuel is extremely robust and retains the radioactive by products of the fission reaction within the coated particle under normal and off normal conditions.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

An Improved Risk Priority Measure for the Management of Project Risk

Monte Carlo-based project risk models are essential tools in project risk management, particularly for large, complex projects in which it is difficult to glean intuitively the importance of individual risks to the overall project. Conventional correlation-based methods for measuring the importance of contributing risks in such models are argued here to be both statistically flawed and unintuitive in the importance metrics they produce. Drawing on and adapting methods more traditionally associated with engineering risk models, Risk Reduction Worth (RRW) is introduced as an importance measure. RRW is shown to be statistically robust and provide an easily interpretable, quantitative measure of the importance of a risk to the overall performance of a project; specifically, measuring the extent to which removal of a risk would improve confidence in project outcomes. To ensure practicality of the method, an approach is described in which RRWs can be produced for all contributing risks based on a single Monte Carlo sample. This is demonstrated through application to a large, complex project risk model from which intuitive risk importance insights provide a robust, transparent basis for the allocation of risk management resources.

Risk↗

Electroabsorption optical modulator

An electroabsorption modulator that operates based on electroabsorption of a surface plasmon polariton mode is improved by various structural changes and/or selection of different materials. For example, at least a portion of the waveguide may be made to be conductive, e.g., by doping. Also, layers that make up the modulator structure may be placed along sides of waveguides in addition to or instead of simply on the top thereof. High permittivity gate dielectric materials may be employed. Also, materials other than ITO may be employed as a transparent conductor. Such an improved plasmonic electroabsorption modulator can be fabricated using standard semiconductor processing techniques and may be integrated with standard photonic integrated circuits, including silicon photonics and compound semiconductor-based platforms. Advantageously, high-speed, low-voltage operation over a wide spectrum of wavelengths may be achieved.

Wood, Michael↗

Optoelectronic memristor devices including one or more solid electrolytes with electrically controllable optical properties

An optoelectronic memristor includes a first electrode, a second electrode, and a solid electrolyte in between that is in electrical communication with the first electrode and the second electrode. The solid electrolyte has an electronic conductivity of about 10 −10 Siemens/cm to about 10 −4 Siemens/cm at room temperature. The first electrode, and optionally the second electrode, can be optically transparent at a specific wavelength and/or a wavelength range. A direct current (DC) voltage source is employed to apply an electric field across the solid electrolyte, which induces a spatial redistribution of ionic defects in the solid electrolyte. In turn, this causes a change in electrical resistance of the solid electrolyte. The application of the electric field can also cause a change in an optical property of the solid electrolyte at the specific wavelength, and/or at the wavelength range (or a portion thereof).

Defferriere, Thomas↗

Integrated telescope for imaging applications

Integrated telescopes are described that are stable and compact, and include optics pieces that are susceptible to stray light. One example telescope includes an optics piece formed of a transparent optical material and two surfaces with each surface including a reflector surface and a baffle. The baffles may be formed in a groove in one of the surfaces of the optics piece. The baffle may have an index of refraction that is approximately the same as an index of refraction of the optics piece. The baffle may include a blackened epoxy, a carbon black material, or a powdered black spinel. The integrated telescope may include a short-wave infrared image sensor fixed in position relative to the optics piece.

Bauman, Brian↗

Scalable filesystem enumeration and metadata operations

Systems, apparatus, and methods are disclosed for performing scalable operations in a file system, including POSIX-like file systems. Metadata entries in a namespace or directory tree are sharded across multiple file metadata servers. An enumeration operation, such as listing a directory, is parallelized across the multiple file metadata servers, while retaining standard functionality transparently to clients. Other enumeration operations include no-output operations such as changing file attributes or deleting a file, and cumulative operations such as counting total disk space usage. The parallelization is compatible with tree-level parallelization and storage-level parallelization. Disclosed technologies can be applied to other fields requiring scalable enumeration, such as database and network applications.

Grider, Gary A.↗

What Clinical Trials Can Teach Us About the Development of More Resilient AI for Cybersecurity

Policy-mandated, rigorously administered scientific testing is needed to provide transparency into the efficacy of artificial intelligence-–based (AI-based) cyber defense tools for consumers and to prioritize future research and development. In this work, we propose a model that is informed by our experience, urged forward by massive-scale cyberattacks, and inspired by parallel developments in the biomedical field and the unprecedentedly fast development of new vaccines to combat global pathogens.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Efficient solar cells using all-organic nanocrystalline networks

An optoelectronic device and a method of fabricating a photosensitive optoelectronic device includes depositing a first organic semiconductor material on a first electrode to form a continuous first layer; depositing a layer of a second organic semiconductor material on the first layer to form a discontinuous second layer, portions of the first layer remaining exposed; and depositing the first organic semiconductor material on the second layer to form a discontinuous third layer, portions of at least the second layer remaining exposed. The depositing of the first and second organic semiconductor materials are alternated a number of times until a final layer of the second organic material is added to form a continuous layer. A second electrode is deposited over this final layer. One of the first electrode and the second electrode is transparent, and the first organic semiconductor material is one or more donor-type materials or one or more acceptor-type materials relative to second organic semiconductor material, which is one or more materials of the other material type.

Sun, Kai↗

Technical Program Plan for INL Advanced Reactor Technologies Advanced Gas Reactor Fuel Development and Qualification Program

High-temperature gas cooled reactors (HTGRs) are graphite moderated nuclear reactors cooled with helium. Their high outlet temperatures and thermal energy conversion efficiency enable efficient and cost effective integration with non electricity generating applications. These applications include process heat and hydrogen production for petrochemical and other industrial processes that require operating temperatures between 300 and 900°C. HTGRs will supplement the use of premium fossil fuels such as oil and natural gas, improve overall energy security in the United States by reducing dependence on foreign fuels, and reduce carbon dioxide (CO2)/greenhouse gas emissions. The HTGR design uses helium as a coolant, graphite as a neutron moderator, and ceramic particle fuel. Helium is chemically inert and neutronically transparent. The graphite core slows down the neutrons, retains its strength at high temperatures, provides structural stability, and acts as a substantial heat sink during transient conditions. The ceramic particle fuel is extremely robust and retains the radioactive by products of the fission reaction within the coated particle under normal and off normal conditions.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗