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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 1,351 records · Page 75
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

POLARIS: Agent-based modeling framework development and implementation for integrated travel demand and network and operations simulations

Here, we discuss the development of an agent-based modelling software development kit, and the implementation and validation of a model using it that integrates dynamic simulation of travel demand, network supply and network operations. A description is given of the core utilities in the kit: a parallel discrete event engine, interprocess exchange engine, and memory allocator, as well as a number of ancillary utilities: visualization library, database IO library, and scenario manager. The overall framework emphasizes the design goals of: generality, code agility, and high performance. This framework allows the modeling of several aspects of transportation system that are typically done with separate stand-alone software applications, in a high-performance and extensible manner. The issue of integrating such models as dynamic traffic assignment and disaggregate demand models has been a long standing issue for transportation modelers. The integrated approach shows a possible way to resolve this difficulty. The simulation model built from the POLARIS framework is a single, shared-memory process for handling all aspects of the integrated urban simulation. The resulting gains in computational efficiency and performance allow planning models to be extended to include previously separate aspects of the urban system, enhancing the utility of such models from the planning perspective. Lastly, initial tests with case studies involving traffic management center impacts on various network events such as accidents, congestion and weather events, show the potential of the system.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2019

Coordinated Planning Strategy for Integrated Energy Systems in a District Energy Sector

With the ever-growing integration of diverse distributed energy resources, modern district energy sectors are transitioning into integrated energy systems (IESs), which generally consist of various energy carriers such as electric power, natural gas, and heat. Instead of modeling individual energy carriers, the emergence of IESs requires comprehensive consideration of all involved energy systems in both planning and operation phases. This paper proposes a comprehensive planning strategy for a district energy sector to address the challenges of IES planning considering the coupling of power, gas, and heat systems. The proposed planning model contains an operational module that develops a steady-state optimal multi-energy flow (OMEF) for the IES considered and a multi-stage expansion module that optimizes the investment decisions. To efficiently solve the proposed planning model, which is formulated as a mixed-integer nonlinear programming problem, an improved generalized Benders decomposition algorithm that utilizes dynamic dual multipliers to improve the convergence speed is employed. The effectiveness of the proposed planning model and the feasibility of the improved Benders decomposition algorithm are verified in case studies.

coordinated planning↗
DOE OSTI2013

Guam Transportation Petroleum-Use Reduction Plan

The island of Guam has set a goal to reduce petroleum use 20% by 2020. Because transportation is responsible for one-third of on-island petroleum use, the Guam Energy Task Force (GETF), a collaboration between the U.S. Department of Energy and numerous Guam-based agencies and organizations, devised a specific plan by which to meet the 20% goal within the transportation sector. This report lays out GETF's plan.

02 PETROLEUM↗
NASA NTRS2018

ADEPT, A Mechanically Deployable Re-Entry Vehicle System, Enabling Interplanetary CubeSat and Small Satellite Missions

There is growing interest for utilizing Small Satellites beyond low Earth orbit. A number of secondary CubeSat payload missions are planned at Mars, cis-Lunar Space, near Earth objects, and moons of the Gas Giants. Use of smaller systems may enable utilization of otherwise unused capacity of larger "host" missions. Development of re-entry systems that leverage and accommodate Small Satellite technology will substantially expand the range of mission applications by offering the capability for high speed entry or aerocapture at destinations with atmospheres. Deployable entry vehicles (DEVs) offer benefits over traditional rigid aeroshells including volume, mass and payload form factor. The Adaptive Deployable Entry and Placement Technology (ADEPT) offers such a delivery capability for Small Sat or CubeSat orbiter(s), in-situ elements, or landers. The ADEPT system can package with off the shelf CubeSat deployment systems (1U-16U) to offer a delivery capability for a single CubeSat or constellations. Furthermore, ADEPT can deliver the same science payload to a destination with a stowed diameter a factor of 3-4 times smaller than an equivalent rigid aeroshell, alleviating volumetric constraints on the secondary payload accommodation or primary carrier spacecraft bus. This paper will describe ADEPT's current development status and define various interplanetary mission concepts in order to provide guidelines for potential Small Satellite payload developers and mission implementers.

Adaptive Deployable Entry and Placement Technology↗
NASA NTRS2019

ADEPT for Interplanetary Small Satellite Missions

There is growing interest for utilizing Small Satellites beyond low Earth orbit. A number of secondary CubeSat payload missions are planned at Mars, cis-Lunar Space, near Earth objects, and moons of the Gas Giants. Use of smaller systems may enable utilization of otherwise unused capacity of larger "host" missions. Development of re-entry systems that leverage and accommodate Small Satellite technology will substantially expand the range of mission applications by offering the capability for high speed entry or aerocapture at destinations with atmospheres. Deployable entry vehicles (DEVs) offer benefits over traditional rigid aeroshells including volume, mass and payload form factor. The Adaptive Deployable Entry and Placement Technology (ADEPT) offers such a delivery capability for Small Sat or CubeSat orbiter(s), in-situ elements, or landers. The ADEPT system can package with off the shelf CubeSat deployment systems (1U-16U) to offer a delivery capability for a single CubeSat or constellations. Furthermore, ADEPT can deliver the same science payload to a destination with a stowed diameter a factor of 3-4 times smaller than an equivalent rigid aeroshell, alleviating volumetric constraints on the secondary payload accommodation or primary carrier spacecraft bus. This paper will describe ADEPT's current development status and define various interplanetary mission concepts in order to provide guidelines for potential Small Satellite payload developers and mission implementers.

Cassell, Alan↗
DOE OSTI2017

Optimizing Microgrid Energy Delivery Under High Uncertainty

One of the largest transitions in the power system today is the shift to a more sustainable and resilient power system. This is being driven by public opinion, changes in regulatory policies, and advancements in smart grid technologies. The most noticeable changes taking place is the integration of distributed energy sources (DERs); this study uses the term DER in the most general way as a resource that can be manipulated to alter energy delivery and flow in the transmission and distribution networks. Also, here it is preferred to focus on energy as the true need while power is a function of the equipment rating. As such, wind and solar, demand that can be manipulated, electric vehicles, electric energy storage, thermal storage, and storage in water system are all considered DERs. These additions to the distribution system are evolving the operation of distribution feeders into microgrids- communication, computing, and control-enabled resources that produce, transport, and utilize energy in a manner that provides cost, reliability, and resilience benefits. As this evolution progresses, the planning and operational management (scheduling and control) must explicitly include the consideration of risk. The management of system risk is currently in the purview of the utility and will likely remain so in the future. However, as each microgrid, as well as federation of microgrids, sees autonomy in order to provide maximum benefits to their constituents, they must assume responsibility to manage their internal risk. The primary scope of this study is the scheduling of resources in a distribution feeder(s) operating as microgrids. The study explores a distribution algorithm to develop the transactive schedule for the DERs, to minimize cost and risk over a time horizon, and an initial laboratory-scale to conduct implementation on distributed hardware. Results from case studies are presented that show that solutions derived by the distributed algorithm are valid. This study also discusses the continuing work on the expansion of: 1) the distributed algorithm from a deterministic to stochastic optimization formulation, and 2) implementation of the distributed algorithm into real-time simulation within the Power System laboratory at New Mexico State University (NMSU) and expanding to the Southwest Technology Development Institute located at NMSU where actual solar, energy storage, and demand response resources are installed.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2023

LA100 Equity Strategies. Chapter 7: Housing Weatherization and Resilience

The LA100 Equity Strategies project integrates community guidance with robust research, modeling, and analysis to identify strategy options that can increase equitable outcomes in Los Angeles' clean energy transition. This chapter focuses on housing weatherization and access to cooling as means to achieve more equitable resilience to heat waves during unplanned power outages. Specifically, NREL used weather, housing, and socioeconomic data to characterize LA's residential building stock. We?developed a residential building stock model to simulate the energy use of 50,000 dwellings representing the diversity of housing types, appliances, climate zones, and household incomes across Los Angeles. We then simulated and evaluated the impacts of 10 building envelope and cooling upgrades on indoor temperature - a main cause of heat-induced health risks-over a 4-day power outage during a heat wave. We examined occupant exposure to extreme heat and how heat exposure changes with each upgrade across income, tenure (renter/owner status), building type, and disadvantaged community (DAC) status. We also examined upgrade costs and utility bills. Based on the results of our analysis and community guidance, we identified building envelope upgrades and cooling strategies that could save lives and maintain safe home temperatures for LA's low-income households in the event of a planned or unplanned power outage during a summer heat wave. Research was guided by input from the community engagement process, and associated equity strategies are presented in alignment with that guidance.

building envelope↗
NASA NTRS2011

Utilization of Ancillary Data Sets for Conceptual SMAP Mission Algorithm Development and Product Generation

The planned Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission is one of the first Earth observation satellites being developed by NASA in response to the National Research Council's Decadal Survey, Earth Science and Applications from Space: National Imperatives for the Next Decade and Beyond [1]. Scheduled to launch late in 2014, the proposed SMAP mission would provide high resolution and frequent revisit global mapping of soil moisture and freeze/thaw state, utilizing enhanced Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) mitigation approaches to collect new measurements of the hydrological condition of the Earth's surface. The SMAP instrument design incorporates an L-band radar (3 km) and an L band radiometer (40 km) sharing a single 6-meter rotating mesh antenna to provide measurements of soil moisture and landscape freeze/thaw state [2]. These observations would (1) improve our understanding of linkages between the Earth's water, energy, and carbon cycles, (2) benefit many application areas including numerical weather and climate prediction, flood and drought monitoring, agricultural productivity, human health, and national security, (3) help to address priority questions on climate change, and (4) potentially provide continuity with brightness temperature and soil moisture measurements from ESA's SMOS (Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity) and NASA's Aquarius missions. In the planned SMAP mission prelaunch time frame, baseline algorithms are being developed for generating (1) soil moisture products both from radiometer measurements on a 36 km grid and from combined radar/radiometer measurements on a 9 km grid, and (2) freeze/thaw products from radar measurements on a 3 km grid. These retrieval algorithms need a variety of global ancillary data, both static and dynamic, to run the retrieval models, constrain the retrievals, and provide flags for indicating retrieval quality. The choice of which ancillary dataset to use for a particular SMAP product would be based on a number of factors, including its availability and ease of use, its inherent error and resulting impact on the overall soil moisture or freeze/thaw retrieval accuracy, and its compatibility with similar choices made by the SMOS mission. All decisions regarding SMAP ancillary data sources would be fully documented by the SMAP Project and made available to the user community.

freeze/thaw↗
DOE OSTI2012

A characterization of robust radiation therapy treatment planning methods-from expected value to worst case optimization

Purpose: To characterize a class of optimization formulations used to handle systematic and random errors in radiation therapy, and to study the differences between the methods within this class. Methods: The class of robust methods that can be formulated as minimax stochastic programs is studied. This class generalizes many previously used methods, ranging between optimization of the expected and the worst case objective value. The robust methods are used to plan intensity-modulated proton therapy (IMPT) treatments for a case subject to systematic setup and range errors, random setup errors with and without uncertain probability distribution, and combinations thereof. As reference, plans resulting from a conventional method that uses a margin to account for errors are shown. Results: For all types of errors, target coverage robustness increased with the conservativeness of the method. For systematic errors, best case organ at risk (OAR) doses increased and worst case doses decreased with the conservativeness. Accounting for random errors of fixed probability distribution resulted in heterogeneous dose. The heterogeneities were reduced when uncertainty in the probability distribution was accounted for. Doing so, the OAR doses decreased with the conservativeness. All robust methods studied resulted in more robust target coverage and lower OAR doses than the conventional method. Conclusions: Accounting for uncertainties is essential to ensure plan quality in complex radiation therapy such as IMPT. The utilization of more information than conventional in the optimization can lead to robust target coverage and low OAR doses. Increased target coverage robustness can be achieved by more conservative methods.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Distribution Network Capacity Market Design: Marginal Distribution Capacity Pricing Mechanism for Efficient Investment and Cost Allocation

As electricity markets begin to shift from reliance on large, centralized power plants and towards distributed energy resources (DERs), there is a growing acknowledgement that more efficient planning, operations, and oversight is needed in the distribution system. This paper addresses one step in that direction by proposing an auction mechanism that uses a detailed distribution system planning model that allocates permits to end-used customers who request capacity to install new devices at their location and network upgrade contracts to utilities or 3rd-party companies who offer to upgrade system components. The resulting plan maximizes market surplus, that is, maximizes the total benefit to consumers minus the cost of network upgrades. We apply a marginal pricing scheme to the auction’s results such that the cost of each permits or contracts is differentiated by time and location, based on the Lagrangian multipliers of binding network constraints. These prices are shown to be no greater than the bid price of any awarded contract and no less than the offered cost of any awarded upgrade contract. Furthermore, the nonlinearity of power flows in the planning model result in an additional surplus that would be collected by the entity that hosts the auction, which could then be refunded to market participants or used to cover overhead costs of running the market. We provide four example auction results in a simple three-node distribution feeder to demonstrate the properties of the design. Results suggest that larger or more realistic case studies could be a promising next step.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2014

DNDO Analysis Cell Concept

The Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) has a mission of implementing rad/nuc interdiction capabilities for a managed and coordinated response to threats, integration of federal nuclear forensics programs, and coordinating the development of the global nuclear detection and reporting architecture. In the process of executing this mission, DNDO has generated substantial information, data, technical results, operational workflows and analytical tools. The effective utilization of these resources is an overarching goal of the organization. After nearly a decade of performing work, DNDO faces a challenge in capitalizing on the large amount of data, reports, processes, tools, and people. As new work is being planned, managers and researchers need to have an understating of what information has been collected, what tools are available, the collaborations which can be utilized to propel the work forward, processes to plan and execute, and how to present conclusions and results that can assist the government in making decisions. This type of challenge can be met through the use of a series of organized and connected elements which form a broader structure (cell) that promotes cross utilization of elements such that they can be tailored (analyzed) to fit the context of the problem to be solved. The development of an analysis cell for DNDO will address the challenges of utilizing existing elements, identifying gaps, annually reporting the performance of rad/nuc interdiction instrumentation, and planning the execution of future work.

Pagh, Richard T.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Kennedy Space Center's Partnership with Graftel Incorporated

NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) has recently partnered with Graftel Incorporated under an exclusive license agreement for the manufacture and sale of the Smart Current Signature Sensor. The Smart Current Signature Sensor and software were designed and developed to be utilized on any application using solenoid valves. The system monitors the electrical and mechanical health of solenoids by comparing the electrical current profile of each solenoid actuation to a typical current profile and reporting deviation from its learned behavior. The objective of this partnership with Graftel is for them to develop the technology into a hand-held testing device for their customer base in the Nuclear Power Industry. The device will be used to perform diagnostic testing on electromechanical valves used in Nuclear Power plants. Initially, Graftel plans to have working units within the first year of license in order to show customers and allow them to put purchase requests into their next year's budget. The subject technology under discussion was commercialized by the Kennedy Space Center Technology Programs and Partnerships Office, which patented the technology and licensed it to Graftel, Inc., a company providing support, instrumentation, and calibration services to the nuclear community and private sector for over 10 years. For the nuclear power industry, Graftel designs, manufacturers, and calibrates a full line of testing instrumentation. Grafters smart sensors have been in use in the United States since 1993 and have proved to decrease set-up time and test durations. The project was funded by Non-Destructive Engineering, and it is felt that this technology will have more emphasis on future vehicles. Graftel plans to market the Current Signature Sensor to the Electric Utility industry. Graftel currently supplies product and services to the Nuclear Power Industry in the United States as well as internationally. Product and services sold are used in non-destructive testing for valves, penetrations and other applications. Graftel also supplies testing services to an industrial customer base. The customer base includes 90 percent of the U.S. Nuclear plants and plants in Brazil, Europe, and Asia. Graftel works internationally with two representative groups and employees and has ten people at the principle location and a group of contract engineers around the country.

Dunn, Carol Anne↗
DOE OSTI2019

An investigation of a novel reusable radiochromic sheet for 2D dose measurement

Purpose Radiochromic film remains a useful and versatile clinical dosimetry tool. Current film options are single use. Here, we introduce a novel prototype two‐dimensional (2D) radiochromic sheet, which optically clears naturally at room temperature after irradiation and can be reused. We evaluate the sheets for potential as a 2D dosimeter and as a radiochromic bolus with capability for dose measurement. Methods A novel derivative of reusable Presage ® was manufactured into thin sheets of 5 mm thickness. The sheets contained 2% cumin‐leucomalachitegreen‐diethylamine (LMG‐DEA) and plasticizer (up to 25% by weight). Irradiation experiments were performed to characterize the response to megavoltage radiation, including dose sensitivity, temporal decay rate, consistency of repeat irradiations, intra and inter‐sheet reproducibility, multi‐modality response (electrons and photons), and temperature sensitivity (22°C to 36°C). The local change in optical‐density (ΔOD), before and after radiation, was obtained with a flat‐bed film scanner and extracting the red channel. Repeat scanning enabled investigation of the temporal decay of ΔOD. Additional studies investigated clinical utility of the sheets through application to IMRT treatment plans (prostate and a TG119 commissioning plan), and a chest wall electron boost treatment. In the latter test, the sheet performed as a radiochromic bolus. Results The radiation induced OD change in the sheets was found to be proportional to dose and to exponentially decay to baseline in ~24 h (R2 = 0.9986). The sheet could be reused and had similar sensitivity (within 1% after the first irradiation) for at least eight irradiations. Importantly, no memory of previous irradiations was observed within measurement uncertainty. The consistency of dose response from photons (6 and 15 MV) and electrons (6–20 MeV) was found to be within calibration uncertainty (~1%). The dose sensitivity of the sheets had a temperature dependence of 0.0012 ΔOD/°C. For the short (1 min) single field IMRT QA verification, good agreement was observed between the Presage sheet and EBT film (gamma pass rate 97% at 3% 3 mm dose‐difference and distance‐to‐agreement tolerance, with a 10% threshold). For the longer (~13 min) TG‐119 9‐field IMRT verification the gamma agreement was lower at 93% pass rate at 5% 3 mm, 10% threshold, when compared with Eclipse. The lower rate is attributed to uncertainty arising from signal decay during irradiation and indicates a current limitation. For the electron cutout treatment, both Presage and EBT agreed well (within 2% RMS difference) but differed from the Eclipse treatment plan (~7% RMS difference) indicating some limitations to the Eclipse modeling in this case. The worst case estimates of uncertainty introduced by the signal decay for deliveries of 2, 5, and 10 min are 0.6%, 1.4%, and 2.8% respectively. Conclusions Reusable Presage sheets show promise for 2D dose measurement and as a radiochromic bolus for in vivo dose measurement. The current prototype is suitable for deliveries of length up to 5 min, where the uncertainty introduced by signal decay is anticipated to be ~1% (worst case 1.4%), or for longer deliveries where there is no temporal modulation (e.g. physical compensators, or open beams). Additionally, spatial resolution is limited by sheet thickness and scanner resolution, resulting in a practical resolution of 0.8 mm.

Collins, Cielle↗
DOE OSTI2024

Finite element procedure for thermomechanical and structural integrity analysis of beam intercepting devices subjected to free electron laser

High-energy particles, including photons (x-ray, γ-ray, bremsstrahlung), electrons, and protons, possess the capability to penetrate materials and deposit energy within them. The degree of absorption depends on both the energy and type of particles, as well as the properties of the materials with which they interact. This energy deposition can manifest either at the material's surface or throughout its volume, potentially resulting in various failure modes. The primary aim of this paper is to establish a structured analysis methodology for evaluating the structural integrity of beam-intercepting devices when subjected to high-energy particles. Here, the paper also reviews some of the underlying physics, pertinent to the scope of the thermomechanical analysis, potential failure modes, and introduces verification and validation methodologies. Engineers and researchers can utilize the guidelines presented in this paper to effectively plan the development of beam intercepting devices, thereby ensuring their reliability and performance in the presence of high-energy particle exposure.

Finite element analysis↗
DOE OSTI2014

CMS Space Monitoring

During the first LHC run, CMS stored about one hundred petabytes of data. Storage accounting and monitoring help to meet the challenges of storage management, such as efficient space utilization, fair share between users and groups and resource planning. We present a newly developed CMS space monitoring system based on the storage metadata dumps produced at the sites. The information extracted from the storage dumps is aggregated and uploaded to a central database. A web based data service is provided to retrieve the information for a given time interval and a range of sites, so it can be further aggregated and presented in the desired format. The system has been designed based on the analysis of CMS monitoring requirements and experiences of the other LHC experiments. In this paper, we demonstrate how the existing software components of the CMS data placement system, PhEDEx, have been re-used, dramatically reducing the development effort.

Ratnikova, N.↗
DOE OSTI2016

SU-F-T-171: Manufacturing Cost Effective Heterogeneous Phantoms for Use in Proton Therapy

Purpose: To study the feasibility of 3D printing cost effective heterogeneous phantoms for use in proton therapy treatment planning quality assurance. Methods: A desktop 3D printer was utilized to create a series of 2 cm × 2 cm × 4 cm PLA plastic blocks of varying fill materials and hexagonal fill pattern. The blocks were than tested when filled with air, polyurethane foam, paraffin, silicone, and caulk of calcium carbonate – acrylic polymer blend. The blocks were evaluated with a “GE Lightspeed” 16 slice CT scanner and average CT# of the materials’ centers evaluated. Blocks were then placed into a custom aperture fitted to a Mevion Proton system to determine the relative stopping power of each. Scans were performed in water tank with Marcus type parallel plate chamber under a beam with a range of 15 cm and modulation of 2 cm. Shifts in range occurring relative to the 80% distal edge of the open SOBP were evaluated. Results: The CT#s of the blocks were plotted against their measured relative stopping power. This curve was compared to that which is in clinical use. While the trend agrees generally, specific differences between the relative stopping powers were as great as 10%. Conclusion: We have demonstrated that it is possible to utilize different cost effective materials in the manufacturing of phantoms for use in proton therapy. While different materials may provide better agreement to established calibration curves, a custom curve specific to the materials used may be utilized to accurately predict proton treatment dose distributions.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2014

LEDS GP Success Story: Fostering Coordinated LEDS Support in Kenya (Fact Sheet)

The LEDS Global Partnership (LEDS GP) strives to advance climate-resilient, low-emission development through catalyzing collaboration, information exchange, and action on the ground. The Government of Kenya is a key LEDS GP member and offers an inspiring example of how LEDS GP is having an impact globally. The 2012 LEDS Collaboration in Action workshop in London provided an interactive space for members to share experiences on cross-ministerial LEDS leadership and to learn about concrete development impacts of LEDS around the world. Inspired by these stories, the Kenya's Ministry of State for Planning, National Development and Vision 2030 (MPND) began to collaborate closely with the Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources to create strong links between climate change action and development in the country, culminating in the integration of Kenya's National Climate Change Action Plan and the country's Medium Term Development Plan.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗