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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 1,549 records · Page 86
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2016

Array Effects in Large Wind Farms. Cooperative Research and Development Final Report, CRADA Number CRD-09-343

The effects of wind turbine wakes within operating wind farms have a substantial impact on the overall energy production from the farm. The current generation of models drastically underpredicts the impact of these wakes leading to non-conservative estimates of energy capture and financial losses to wind farm operators and developers. To improve these models, detailed research of operating wind farms is necessary. Rebecca Barthelmie of Indiana University is a world leader of wind farm wakes effects and would like to partner with NREL to help improve wind farm modeling by gathering additional wind farm data, develop better models and increase collaboration with European researchers working in the same area. This is currently an active area of research at NREL and the capabilities of both parties should mesh nicely.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

BEopt-CA (Ex) -- A Tool for Optimal Integration of EE/DR/ES+PV in Existing California Homes. Cooperative Research and Development Final Report, CRADA Number CRD-11-429

Opportunities for combining energy efficiency, demand response, and energy storage with PV are often missed, because the required knowledge and expertise for these different technologies exist in separate organizations or individuals. Furthermore, there is a lack of quantitative tools to optimize energy efficiency, demand response and energy storage with PV, especially for existing buildings. Our goal is to develop a modeling tool, BEopt-CA (Ex), with capabilities to facilitate identification and implementation of a balanced integration of energy efficiency (EE), demand response (DR), and energy storage (ES) with photovoltaics (PV) within the residential retrofit market. To achieve this goal, we will adapt and extend an existing tool -- BEopt -- that is designed to identify optimal combinations of efficiency and PV in new home designs. In addition, we will develop multifamily residential modeling capabilities for use in California, to facilitate integration of distributed solar power into the grid in order to maximize its value to California ratepayers. The project is follow-on research that leverages previous California Solar Initiative RD&D investment in the BEopt software. BEopt facilitates finding the least cost combination of energy efficiency and renewables to support integrated DSM (iDSM) and Zero Net Energy (ZNE) in California residential buildings. However, BEopt is currently focused on modeling single-family houses and does not include satisfactory capabilities for modeling multifamily homes. The project brings BEopt's existing modeling and optimization capabilities to multifamily buildings, including duplexes, triplexes, townhouses, flats, and low-rise apartment buildings.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2016

Battery Pack Life Estimation through Cell Degradation Data and Pack Thermal Modeling for BAS+ Li-Ion Batteries. Cooperative Research and Development Final Report, CRADA Number CRD-12-489

Battery Life estimation is one of the key inputs required for Hybrid applications for all GM Hybrid/EV/EREV/PHEV programs. For each Hybrid vehicle program, GM has instituted multi-parameter Design of Experiments generating test data at Cell level and also Pack level on a reduced basis. Based on experience, generating test data on a pack level is found to be very expensive, resource intensive and sometimes less reliable. The proposed collaborative project will focus on a methodology to estimate Battery life based on cell degradation data combined with pack thermal modeling. NREL has previously developed cell-level battery aging models and pack-level thermal/electrical network models, though these models are currently not integrated. When coupled together, the models are expected to describe pack-level thermal and aging response of individual cells. GM and NREL will use data collected for GM's Bas+ battery system for evaluation of the proposed methodology and assess to what degree these models can replace pack-level aging experiments in the future.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Biodiesel Performance with Modern Engines. Cooperative Research and Development Final Report, CRADA Number CRD-05-153

NREL and the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) will work cooperatively to assess the effects of biodiesel blends on the performance of modern diesel engines and emissions control systems meeting increasingly strict emissions standards. This work will include research to understand the impact of biodiesel blends on the operation and durability of particle filters and NOx control sorbents/catalysts, to quantify the effect on emission control systems performance, and to understand effects on engine component durability. Work to assess the impact of biodiesel blends on real world fleet operations will be performed. Also, research to develop appropriate ASTM standards for biodiesel quality and stability will be conducted. The cooperative project will involve engine testing and fleet evaluation studies at NREL using biodiesel from a variety of sources. In addition, NREL will work with NBB to set up an Industrial Steering Committee to design the scope for the various projects and to provide technical oversight to these projects. NREL and NBB will cooperatively communicate the study results to as broad an audience as possible.

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION↗
DOE OSTI2016

Hydrogen Compressor Reliability Investigation and Improvement. Cooperative Research and Development Final Report, CRADA Number CRD-13-514

Diaphragm compressors have become the primary source of on-site hydrogen compression for hydrogen fueling stations around the world. NREL and PDC have undertaken two studies aimed at improving hydrogen compressor operation and reducing the cost contribution to dispensed fuel. The first study identified the failure mechanisms associated with mechanical compression to reduce the maintenance and down-time. The second study will investigate novel station configurations to maximize hydrogen usage and compressor lifetime. This partnership will allow for the simulation of operations in the field and a thorough analysis of the component failure to improve the reliability of diaphragm compression.

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION↗
DOE OSTI2016

High Efficiency Water Heating Technology Development Final Report. Part I, Lab/Field Performance Evaluation and Accelerated Life Testing of a Hybrid Electric Heat Pump Water Heater (HPWH)

DOE has supported efforts for many years with the objective of getting a water heater that uses heat pump technology (aka a heat pump water heater or HPWH) successfully on the residential equipment market. The most recent previous effort (1999-2002) produced a product that performed very well in ORNL-led accelerated durability and field tests. The commercial partner for this effort, Enviromaster International (EMI), introduced the product to the market under the trade name Watter$aver in 2002 but ceased production in 2005 due to low sales. A combination of high sales price and lack of any significant infrastructure for service after the sale were the principal reasons for the failure of this effort. What was needed for market success was a commercial partner with the manufacturing and market distribution capability necessary to allow economies of scale to lead to a viable unit price together with a strong customer service infrastructure. General Electric certainly meets these requirements, and knowing of ORNL s expertise in this area, approached ORNL with the proposal to partner in a CRADA to produce a high efficiency electric water heater. A CRADA with GE was initiated early in Fiscal Year, 2008. GE initially named its product the Hybrid Electric Water Heater (HEWH).

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2016

Intra-Hour Dispatch and Automatic Generator Control Demonstration with Solar Forecasting - Final Report

In this project we address multiple resource integration challenges associated with increasing levels of solar penetration that arise from the variability and uncertainty in solar irradiance. We will model the SMUD service region as its own balancing region, and develop an integrated, real-time operational tool that takes solar-load forecast uncertainties into consideration and commits optimal energy resources and reserves for intra-hour and intra-day decisions. The primary objectives of this effort are to reduce power system operation cost by committing appropriate amount of energy resources and reserves, as well as to provide operators a prediction of the generation fleet’s behavior in real time for realistic PV penetration scenarios. The proposed methodology includes the following steps: clustering analysis on the expected solar variability per region for the SMUD system, Day-ahead (DA) and real-time (RT) load forecasts for the entire service areas, 1-year of intra-hour CPR forecasts for cluster centers, 1-year of smart re-forecasting CPR forecasts in real-time for determination of irreducible errors, and uncertainty quantification for integrated solar-load for both distributed and central stations (selected locations within service region) PV generation.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Geothermal Risk Reduction via Geothermal/Solar Hybrid Power Plants. Final Report

There are numerous technical merits associated with a renewable geothermal-solar hybrid plant concept. The performance of air-cooled binary plants is lowest when ambient temperatures are high due to the decrease in air-cooled binary plant performance that occurs when the working fluid condensing temperature, and consequently the turbine exhaust pressure, increases. Electrical power demand is generally at peak levels during periods of elevated ambient temperature and it is therefore especially important to utilities to be able to provide electrical power during these periods. The time periods in which air-cooled binary geothermal power plant performance is lowest generally correspond to periods of high solar insolation. Use of solar heat to increase air-cooled geothermal power plant performance during these periods can improve the correlation between power plant output and utility load curves. While solar energy is a renewable energy source with long term performance that can be accurately characterized, on shorter time scales of hours or days it can be highly intermittent. Concentrating solar power (CSP), aka solar-thermal, plants often incorporate thermal energy storage to ensure continued operation during cloud events or after sunset. Hybridization with a geothermal power plant can eliminate the need for thermal storage due to the constant availability of geothermal heat. In addition to the elimination of the requirement for solar thermal storage, the ability of a geothermal/solar-thermal hybrid plant to share a common power block can reduce capital costs relative to separate, stand-alone geothermal and solar-thermal power plant installations. The common occurrence of long-term geothermal resource productivity decline provides additional motivation to consider the use of hybrid power plants in geothermal power production. Geothermal resource productivity decline is a source of significant risk in geothermal power generation. Many, if not all, geothermal resources are subject to decreasing productivity manifested in the form of decreasing production fluid temperature, flow rate, or both during the life span of the associated power generation project. The impacts of geothermal production fluid temperature decline on power plant performance can be significant; a reduction in heat input to a power plant not only decreases the thermal energy available for conversion to electrical power, but also adversely impacts the power plant efficiency. The impact of resource productivity decline on power generation project economics can be equally detrimental. The reduction in power generation is directly correlated to a reduction in revenues from power sales. Further, projects with Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) contracts in place may be subject to significant economic penalties if power generation falls below a specified default level. While the magnitude of PPA penalties varies on a case-by-case basis, it is not unrealistic for these penalties to be on the order of the value of the deficit power sales such that the utility may purchase the power elsewhere. This report evaluates the use of geothermal/solar-thermal hybrid plant technology for mitigation of resource productivity decline, which has not been a primary topic of investigation in previous analyses in the open literature.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Ionic Liquids as Multi-Functional Lubricant Additives to Enhance Engine Efficiency (final report NFE-12-03876)

This ORNL-Shell CRADA developed and investigated ionic liquids (ILs) as multifunctional additives for next-generation low-viscosity engine oils. Several groups of oil-miscible ILs were successfully designed and synthesized with high thermal stability, non-corrosiveness, excellent wettability, and most importantly effective anti-scuffing/anti-wear and friction reduction characteristics. Synergistic effects between the common anti-wear additive zinc dialkyldithiophosphate (ZDDP) and a particular group of ILs were discovered with > 30% friction reduction and 70% wear reduction compared with using ZDDP or IL alone. The IL+ZDDP tribofilm distinguishes itself from the IL or ZDDP tribofilms with substantially higher contents of metal phosphates but less metal oxides and sulfur compounds. Notably, it was revealed that the actual concentrations of functional elements on the droplet surface of the oil containing IL+ZDDP are one order magnitude higher than their nominal values. Such significantly increased concentrations of anti-wear agents are presumably expected for the oilsolid interface and believed to be responsible for the superior lubricating performance. A prototype SAE 0W-16 engine oil using a synergistic IL+ZDDP pair as the anti-wear additive has been formulated based on the compatibility between the IL and other additives. Sequence VIE full-scale engine dynamometer tests demonstrated fuel economy improvement (FEI) for this prototype oil and revealed the individual contributions from the lower oil viscosity and reduced boundary friction. The impact of IL and IL+ZDDP on exhaust emission catalyst was investigated using an accelerated small engine aging test and results were benchmarked against ZDDP.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Development of Kinetics and Mathematical Models for High-Pressure Gasification of Lignite-Switchgrass Blends: Cooperative Research and Development Final Report, CRADA Number CRD-11-447

NREL will work with Participant as a subtier partner under DE-FOA-0000240 titled "Co-Production of Power, Fuels, and Chemicals via Coal/Biomass Mixtures." The goal of the project is to determine the gasification characteristics of switchgrass and lignite mixtures and develop kinetic models. NREL will utilize a pressurized thermogravimetric analyzer to measure the reactivity of chars generated in a pressurized entrained-flow reactor at Participant's facilities and to determine the evolution of gaseous species during pyrolysis of switchgrass-lignite mixtures. Mass spectrometry and Fourier-transform infrared analysis will be used to identify and quantify the gaseous species. The results of the project will aid in defining key reactive properties of mixed coal biomass fuels.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Conversion of Indigenous Agricultural Waste Feedstocks to Fuel Ethanol. Cooperative Research and Development Final Report, CRADA Number CRD-13-504

This Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) is between the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), a world leader in biomass conversion research and Ecopetrol American Inc., Ecopetrol S.A.'s U.S. subsidiary. The research and development efforts described in the Joint Work Statement (JWS) will take advantage of the strengths of both parties. NREL will use its Integrated Biorefinery Facility and vast experience in the conversion of lignocellulosic feedstocks to fuel ethanol to develop processes for the conversion of Ecopetrol's feedstocks. Ecopetrol will establish the infrastructure in Columbia to commercialize the conversion process.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Final Report on the Creation of the Wind Integration National Dataset (WIND) Toolkit and API: October 1, 2013 - September 30, 2015

The primary objective of this work was to create a state-of-the-art national wind resource data set and to provide detailed wind plant output data for specific sites based on that data set. Corresponding retrospective wind forecasts were also included at all selected locations. The combined information from these activities was used to create the Wind Integration National Dataset (WIND), and an extraction tool was developed to allow web-based data access.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Nuclear Structure Studies of Exotic Nuclei with Radioactive Ion Beams A Final Report

Beta-decay spectroscopy provides important information on nuclear structure and properties needed to understand topics as widely varied as fundamental nuclear astrophysics to applied nuclear reactor design. However, there are significant limitations of our knowledge due to an inability to experimentally measure everything. Therefore, it is often necessary to rely on theoretical calculations which need to be vetted with experimental results. The focus of this report will be results from experimental research performed by the Principal Investigator (PI) and his research group at Mississippi State University in which the group played the lead role in proposing, implementing, performing and analyzing the experiment. This research was carried out at both the National Superconduction Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) at Michigan State University and the Holifield Radioactive Ion Beam Facility (HRIBF) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The primary emphasis of the research was the use of \bdec spectroscopy as a tool to understand the evolution of nuclear structure in neutron-rich nuclei which could then be applied to improve theory and to increase the overall knowledge of nuclear structure.

Nuclear Astrophysics↗
DOE OSTI2016

Accelerating Energy Efficiency in Indian Data Centers. Final Report for Phase I Activities

This report documents Phase 1 of the “Accelerating Energy Efficiency in Indian Data Centers” initiative to support the development of an energy efficiency policy framework for Indian data centers. The initiative is being led by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), in collaboration with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)-U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and under the guidance of Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE). It is also part of the larger Power and Energy Efficiency Working Group of the US-India Bilateral Energy Dialogue. The initiative consists of two phases: Phase 1 (November 2014 – September 2015) and Phase 2 (October 2015 – September 2016).

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2016

Final report

Conductivity and Magnetism in Strongly Coupled Quantum Dot Solids. One outcome of the project is the discovery of a rather universal 1/f noise magnitude in electrical transport across nanocrystals. The noise is extensive in the number of dots in the device, and inversely proportional to the interdot resistance. The other outcome is a study of the magneto-resistance of light and heavy doped chalcogenides semiconductor quantum dots with Manganese. Strong MR was observed at low temperature in n-doped Mn doped quantum dot films, and this was attributed to the formation of magnetic polarons.

1/f noise↗
DOE OSTI2016

Final Report DE-SC0006997; PI Sharp; Coupled Biological and Micro-XAS/XRF Analysis of In Situ Uranium Biogeochemical Processes

Project Overview: The impact of the original seed award was substantially increased by leveraging a postdoctoral fellowship (Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship) and parallel funds from (A) synergistic project supported by NSF and (B) with DOE collaborators (PI’s Ranville and Williams) as well as no-cost extension that greatly increased the impact and publications associated with the project. In aligning with SBR priorities, the project’s focus was extended more broadly to explore coupled biogeochemical analysis of metal (im)mobilization processes beyond uranium with a foundation in integrating microbial ecology with geochemical analyses. This included investigations of arsenic and zinc during sulfate reducing conditions in addition to direct microbial reduction of metals. Complimentary work with NSF funding and collaborative DOE interactions further increased the project scope to investigate metal (im)mobilization coupled to biogeochemical perturbations in forest ecosystems with an emphasis on coupled carbon and metal biogeochemistry. In total, the project was highly impactful and resulted in 9 publications and directly supported salary/tuition for 3 graduate students at various stages of their academic careers as well as my promotion to Associate Professor. In going forward, findings provided inspiration for a two subsequent proposals with collaborators at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and others that are currently in review (as of March 2016).

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2015

Final Report for DE-FG02-99ER45795

The research supported by this grant focuses on atomistic studies of defects, phase transitions, electronic and magnetic properties, and mechanical behaviors of materials. We have been studying novel properties of various emerging nanoscale materials on multiple levels of length and time scales, and have made accurate predictions on many technologically important properties. A significant part of our research has been devoted to exploring properties of novel nano-scale materials by pushing the limit of quantum mechanical simulations, and development of a rigorous scheme to design accurate classical inter-atomic potentials for larger scale atomistic simulations for many technologically important metals and metal alloys.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗