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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 1,477 records · Page 82
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2019

Coordinative Real-time Sub-Transmission Volt-VAr Control for Reactive Power Regulation between Transmission and Distribution Systems

This paper introduces an integrated voltage regulation approach to coordinate the Volt-VAr control between transmission and distribution systems. Distributed photovoltaic (PV) systems are aggregated as a virtual power plant (VPP). At the sub-transmission level, a Coordinated Real-time Sub-Transmission Volt-VAr Control Tool (CReST-VCT) is introduced to coordinate the operation of the shunt devices and the reactive power provided by the VPPs. The CReST-VCT uses an enhanced Volt-VAr control algorithm with weighted voltage control objects that include minimizing losses, maintaining the voltage within desirable levels, and minimizing the number of mechanical switching of shunt elements. The algorithm runs every 5 minutes and is solved using AC optimal power flow (OPF) solution technique. The outputs include the settings for each sub-transmission-level Volt-VAr control devices and the reactive power generation requirements for each VPP. Then, each VPP will run a distribution Volt-VAr control algorithm to select the PV inverters that provide the Volt-VAr control services considering the distribution network topology. The goal of the VPP reactive power control is to meet the transmission level service requirements while maintaining the voltage and line flow in the distribution system within limits. Each VPP will update its voltage regulation capacity every 5 minutes to allow the CReST-VCT to formulate the optimization problem for the next dispatch interval. The proposed tool is simulated on Duke Energy Carolina system to demonstrate the capability of providing voltage support service by dispatching of reactive power of distributed PV as VPP.

Ke, Xinda↗
DOE OSTI2017

Approach to fitting parameters and clustering for characterising measured voltage dips based on two-dimensional polarisation ellipses

An alternative approach to characterise real voltage dips is proposed and evaluated in this study. The proposed methodology is based on voltage-space vector solutions, identifying parameters for ellipses trajectories by using the least-squares algorithm applied on a sliding window along the disturbance. The most likely patterns are then estimated through a clustering process based on the k-means algorithm. The objective is to offer an efficient and easily implemented alternative to characterise faults and visualise the most likely instantaneous phase-voltage evolution during events through their corresponding voltage-space vector trajectories. This novel solution minimises the data to be stored but maintains extensive information about the dips including starting and ending transients. The proposed methodology has been applied satisfactorily to real voltage dips obtained from intensive field-measurement campaigns carried out in a Spanish wind power plant up to a time period of several years. A comparison to traditional minimum root mean square-voltage and time-duration classifications is also included in this study.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2021

Well-balanced treatment of gravity in astrophysical fluid dynamics simulations at low Mach numbers

We report accurate simulations of flows in stellar interiors are crucial to improving our understanding of stellar structure and evolution. Because the typically slow flows are merely tiny perturbations on top of a close balance between gravity and the pressure gradient, such simulations place heavy demands on numerical hydrodynamics schemes. We demonstrate how discretization errors on grids of reasonable size can lead to spurious flows orders of magnitude faster than the physical flow. Well-balanced numerical schemes can deal with this problem. Three such schemes were applied in the implicit, finite-volume SEVEN-LEAGUE HYDRO code in combination with a low-Mach-number numerical flux function. We compare how the schemes perform in four numerical experiments addressing some of the challenges imposed by typical problems in stellar hydrodynamics. We find that the α-β and deviation well-balancing methods can accurately maintain hydrostatic solutions provided that gravitational potential energy is included in the total energy balance. They accurately conserve minuscule entropy fluctuations advected in an isentropic stratification, which enables the methods to reproduce the expected scaling of convective flow speed with the heating rate. The deviation method also substantially increases accuracy of maintaining stationary orbital motions in a Keplerian disk on long timescales. The Cargo–LeRoux method fares substantially worse in our tests, although its simplicity may still offer some merits in certain situations. Overall, we find the well-balanced treatment of gravity in combination with low Mach number flux functions essential to reproducing correct physical solutions to challenging stellar slow-flow problems on affordable collocated grids.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2019

American eel state of buoyancy and barotrauma susceptibility associated with hydroturbine passage

American eel are likely to encounter and pass through hydropower turbines, particularly during the downstream spawning migration, where exposure to stressors can potentially lead to injuries and mortality. Previous research has recovered dead eels downstream of hydropower facilities and, for some fish, injuries were easily attributed to blade strike; however, others showed no external signs of injury suggesting that other stressors, such as rapid decompression may be a potential source of mortality. For this research, yellow– and silver-phase American eel were held and allowed to acclimate to 172 kPa (absolute pressure) in hyper/hypobaric hydro-chambers for about 1 d. After acclimation, the state of buoyancy was determined prior to exposure to a rapid decompression simulating pressures encountered during hydroturbine passage. Fish were then examined for signs of barotrauma. Eel did not attain a state of neutral buoyancy but rather maintained negative buoyancy suggesting that eels, and possibly other benthic species, likely maintain a state of negative buoyancy to facilitate occupancy on or near the substrate. Additionally, eel were found to be resilient to rapid decompression, displaying no instantaneous mortality and minimal injuries, suggesting that barotrauma is not likely a major concern for American eel passing downstream through hydroturbines.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2011

Heat transfer simulation and thermal measurements of microfabricated x-ray transparent heater stages

A microfabricated amorphous silicon nitride membrane-based nanocalorimeter is proposed to be suitable for an x-ray transparent sample platform with low power heating and built-in temperature sensing. In this work, thermal characterization in both air and vacuum are analyzed experimentally and via simulation. Infrared microscopy and thermoreflectance microscopy are used for thermal imaging of the sample area in air. While a reasonably large isothermal area is found on the sample area, the temperature homogeneity of the entire sample area is low, limiting use of the device as a heater stage in air or other gases. A simulation model that includes conduction, as well as radiation and convection heat loss, is presented with radiation and convection parameters determined experimentally. Simulated temperature distributions show that the homogeneity can be improved by using a thicker thermal conduction layer or reducing the pressure of the gas in the environment but neither are good solutions for the proposed use. A new simple design that has improved temperature homogeneity and a larger isothermal area while maintaining a thin thermal conduction layer is proposed and fabricated. This new design enables applications in transmission x-ray microscopes and spectroscopy setups at atmospheric pressure.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2011

Analysis of ICRH antenna loading data in TEXTOR obtained during gas injection experiments

The possibility of increasing the coupling of ICRH power to plasmas on TEXTOR by gas injection was investigated, for a given voltage applied at the input of an antenna pair. The antenna pair was operated in the conjugated T mode, D(H) heating was used. Modeling of the antenna by transmission line theory shows that load resilience is maintained in a broad range of independent resistance variation for each strap. It is found that the absolute value of the reflection coefficient can be maintained below 0.2 for typical values of resistance measured in plasma shots (2-10 {Omega}/m) in good matching conditions. During gas injection, the loading resistance showed a clear increase with increasing line average electron density measured close to the plasma edge. Evidence of fast wave eigenmodes was also found, as characteristic resonant behavior of loading resistance and antenna self-inductance, due to poor absorption in the plasma caused by high H minority concentration.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2012

Effects of Ag additions on melt-spun RE2Fe14B microstructure and texture

Control of microstructure and texture is of critical importance in forming rare earth (RE)-iron-boron particulate suitable for anisotropic polymer-bonded permanent magnets and anisotropic sintered permanent magnets. In this study, the selected approach to controlling grain size, while maintaining texture, is through stabilization and refinement of directional growth in melt-spun ribbons. Varying concentrations of Ag were added to melt-spun ribbons of composition (Y0.55Nd0.45)2.2Fe14B1.1. Effects on microstructure and texture were observed through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD). It was determined that Ag stabilized columnar growth (compared to alloys with no Ag added) with additions as small as 0.3 at. %, but the Ag also produced a unique texture in the ribbons. In RE-Fe-B ribbons without Ag, strong <00l> texture is observed at the free surface and a mechanism has been established. In all Ag-containing ribbons, the observed texture is canted to both the c- and a-axes, but the mechanism remains unclear.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2012

The interaction of 193-nm excimer laser irradiation with single-crystal zinc oxide: Positive ion emission

We examine UV laser-induced ion emission from a wide bandgap semiconductor, single-crystal ZnO, at fluences well below both the damage threshold and plasma formation. At fluences below 200 mJ/cm{sup 2}, we observe only Zn{sup +}, and the Zn{sup +} intensity decreases monotonically during exposure. At higher fluences, after an initial decrease, the emission is sustained; in addition O{sup +} and O{sub 2}{sup +} are observed. We explain: how Zn ions of several eV in energy can be produced on the surface of a semiconductor, how sustained emission can be maintained, and the origin of an anomalous emission of slow Zn{sup +} ions -- the latter is shown to arise from photoionization of atomic Zn, also emitted by this radiation.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2012

Performance metrics for inertial confinement fusion implosions: Aspects of the technical framework for measuring progress in the National Ignition Campaign

The National Ignition Campaign (NIC) uses non-igniting 'tritium hydrogen deuterium (THD)' capsules to study and optimize the hydrodynamic assembly of the fuel without burn. These capsules are designed to simultaneously reduce DT neutron yield and to maintain hydrodynamic similarity with the DT ignition capsule. We will discuss nominal THD performance and the associated experimental observables. We will show the results of large ensembles of numerical simulations of THD and DT implosions and their simulated diagnostic outputs. These simulations cover a broad range of both nominal and off-nominal implosions. We will focus on the development of an experimental implosion performance metric called the experimental ignition threshold factor (ITFX). We will discuss the relationship between ITFX and other integrated performance metrics, including the ignition threshold factor (ITF), the generalized Lawson criterion (GLC), and the hot spot pressure (HSP). We will then consider the experimental results of the recent NIC THD campaign. We will show that we can observe the key quantities for producing a measured ITFX and for inferring the other performance metrics. We will discuss trends in the experimental data, improvement in ITFX, and briefly the upcoming tuning campaign aimed at taking the next steps in performance improvement on the path to ignition on NIF.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

Displacive radiation-induced structural contraction in nanocrystalline ZrN

Nanocrystalline ZrN thin films with 5 nm grain size, prepared by ion beam assisted deposition, maintained their isometric structure upon intensive displacive and ionizing irradiations, indicating an extremely high stability similar to bulk ZrN. However, a unique structural contraction up to 1.42% in lattice parameter occurred only in nano-sized ZrN upon displacive irradiations. A significant nitrogen loss occurred with reduced N:Zr atomic ratio to 0.88, probably due to the production of displaced nitrogen atoms and fast diffusion along grain boundaries in nanocrystalline ZrN matrix. The accumulation of nitrogen vacancies and related strain relaxation may be responsible for the structural contraction.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2013

Optimizing TaO{sub x} memristor performance and consistency within the reactive sputtering “forbidden region”

Standard deposition processes for depositing ReRAM oxides utilize mass flow of reactive gas to control stoichiometry and have difficulty depositing a precisely defined sub-stoichiometry within a “forbidden region” where film properties are discontinuous with mass flow. We show that by maintaining partial pressure within this discontinuous “forbidden region,” instead of by maintaining mass flow, we can optimize tantalum oxide device properties and reduce or eliminate the electroforming step. We also show that defining the partial pressure set point as a fraction of the “forbidden region” instead of as an absolute value can be used to improve wafer-to-wafer consistency with minimal recalibration efforts.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Evaluation of ultra-low background materials for uranium and thorium using ICP-MS

An increasing number of physics experiments require low background materials for their construction. The presence of Uranium and Thorium and their progeny in these materials present a variety of unwanted background sources for these experiments. The sensitivity of the experiments continues to drive the necessary levels of detection ever lower as well. This requirement for greater sensitivity has rendered direct radioassay impractical in many cases requiring large quantities of material, frequently many kilograms, and prolonged counting times, often months. Other assay techniques have been employed such as Neutron Activation Analysis but this requires access to expensive facilities and instrumentation and can be further complicated and delayed by the formation of unwanted radionuclides. Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) is a useful tool and recent advancements have increased the sensitivity particularly in the elemental high mass range of U and Th. Unlike direct radioassay, ICP-MS is a destructive technique since it requires the sample to be in liquid form which is aspirated into a high temperature plasma. But it benefits in that it usually requires a very small sample, typically about a gram. This paper discusses how a variety of low background materials such as copper, polymers, and fused silica are made amenable to ICP-MS assay and how the arduous task of maintaining low backgrounds of U and Th is achieved.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2013

Mitigation of cross-beam energy transfer: Implication of two-state focal zooming on OMEGA

Cross-beam energy transfer (CBET) during OMEGA low-adiabat cryogenic experiments reduces the hydrodynamic efficiency by ∼35%, which lowers the calculated one-dimensional (1-D) yield by a factor of 7. CBET can be mitigated by reducing the diameter of the laser beams relative to the target diameter. Reducing the diameter of the laser beams by 30%, after a sufficient conduction zone has been generated (two-state zooming), is predicted to maintain low-mode uniformity while recovering 90% of the kinetic energy lost to CBET. A radially varying phase plate is proposed to implement two-state zooming on OMEGA. A beam propagating through the central half-diameter of the phase plate will produce a large spot, while a beam propagating through the outer annular region of the phase plate will produce a narrower spot. To generate the required two-state near-field laser-beam profile, a picket driver with smoothing by spectral dispersion (SSD) would pass through an apodizer, forming a beam of half the standard diameter. A second main-pulse driver would co-propagate without SSD through its own apodizer, forming a full-diameter annular beam. Hydrodynamic simulations, using the designed laser spots produced by the proposed zooming scheme on OMEGA, show that implementing zooming will increase the implosion velocity by 25% resulting in a 4.5× increase in the 1-D neutron yield. Demonstrating zooming on OMEGA would validate a viable direct-drive CBET mitigation scheme and help establish a pathway to hydrodynamically equivalent direct-drive–ignition implosions by increasing the ablation pressure (1.6×), which will allow for more stable implosions at ignition-relevant velocities.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Reduction of edge localized mode intensity on DIII-D by on-demand triggering with high frequency pellet injection and implications for ITER

The injection of small deuterium pellets at high repetition rates up to 12× the natural edge localized mode (ELM) frequency has been used to trigger high-frequency ELMs in otherwise low natural ELM frequency H-mode deuterium discharges in the DIII-D tokamak [J. L. Luxon and L. G. Davis, Fusion Technol. 8, 441 (1985)]. The resulting pellet-triggered ELMs result in up to 12× lower energy and particle fluxes to the divertor than the natural ELMs. The plasma global energy confinement and density are not strongly affected by the pellet perturbations. The plasma core impurity density is strongly reduced with the application of the pellets. These experiments were performed with pellets injected from the low field side pellet in plasmas designed to match the ITER baseline configuration in shape and normalized β operation with input heating power just above the H-mode power threshold. Nonlinear MHD simulations of the injected pellets show that destabilization of ballooning modes by a local pressure perturbation is responsible for the pellet ELM triggering. This strongly reduced ELM intensity shows promise for exploitation in ITER to control ELM size while maintaining high plasma purity and performance.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Polarity driven simultaneous growth of free-standing and lateral GaAsP epitaxial nanowires on GaAs (001) substrate

Simultaneous growth of 〈111〉{sub B} free-standing and ±[110] lateral GaAsP epitaxial nanowires on GaAs (001) substrates were observed and investigated by electron microscopy and crystallographic analysis. It was found that the growth of both free-standing and lateral ternary nanowires via Au catalysts was driven by the fact that Au catalysts prefer to maintain low-energy (111){sub B} interfaces with surrounding GaAs(P) materials: in the case of free-standing nanowires, Au catalysts maintain (111){sub B} interfaces with their underlying GaAsP nanowires; while in the case of lateral nanowires, each Au catalyst remain their side (111){sub B} interfaces with the surrounding GaAs(P) material during the lateral nanowire growth.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Results for aliovalent doping of CeBr{sub 3} with Ca{sup 2+}

Despite the outstanding scintillation performance characteristics of cerium tribromide (CeBr{sub 3}) and cerium-activated lanthanum tribromide, their commercial availability and application are limited due to the difficulties of growing large, crack-free single crystals from these fragile materials. This investigation employed aliovalent doping to increase crystal strength while maintaining the optical properties of the crystal. One divalent dopant (Ca{sup 2+}) was used as a dopant to strengthen CeBr{sub 3} without negatively impacting scintillation performance. Ingots containing nominal concentrations of 1.9% of the Ca{sup 2+} dopant were grown, i.e., 1.9% of the CeBr{sub 3} molecules were replaced by CaBr{sub 2} molecules, to match our target replacement of 1 out of 54 cerium atoms be replaced by a calcium atom. Precisely the mixture was composed of 2.26 g of CaBr{sub 2} added to 222.14 g of CeBr{sub 3}. Preliminary scintillation measurements are presented for this aliovalently doped scintillator. Ca{sup 2+}-doped CeBr{sub 3} exhibited little or no change in the peak fluorescence emission for 371 nm optical excitation for CeBr{sub 3}. The structural, electronic, and optical properties of CeBr{sub 3} crystals were studied using the density functional theory within the generalized gradient approximation. Calculated lattice parameters are in agreement with the experimental data. The energy band structures and density of states were obtained. The optical properties of CeBr{sub 3}, including the dielectric function, were calculated.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2014

Magnetic shielding of a laboratory Hall thruster. II. Experiments

The physics of magnetic shielding in Hall thrusters were validated through laboratory experiments demonstrating essentially erosionless, high-performance operation. The magnetic field near the walls of a laboratory Hall thruster was modified to effectively eliminate wall erosion while maintaining the magnetic field topology away from the walls necessary to retain efficient operation. Plasma measurements at the walls validate our understanding of magnetic shielding as derived from the theory. The plasma potential was maintained very near the anode potential, the electron temperature was reduced by a factor of two to three, and the ion current density was reduced by at least a factor of two. Measurements of the carbon backsputter rate, wall geometry, and direct measurement of plasma properties at the wall indicate that the wall erosion rate was reduced by a factor of 1000 relative to the unshielded thruster. These changes effectively eliminate wall erosion as a life limitation in Hall thrusters, enabling a new class of deep-space missions that could not previously be attempted.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗