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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 1,603 records · Page 89

Magnetic design of the commutational magnet and quadrupoles for PERLE accelerator

PERLE (Powerful Energy Recovery LINAC for Experiment) is a high-power Energy Recovery LINAC (ERL) facility with 20 mA beam current and beam energy from 250 MeV to 500 MeV featuring three passes through two cryomodules. It is a hub for validation of the ERL technology development towards future energy and intensity frontier machines. Design challenges of PERLE and its beam parameters make it a test-bed to validate multi-turn high current ERL operation for the LHeC. It will be the first ERL for some pioneering experiment of the eN interaction with radioactive nuclei. In this work, design and optimization of the commutational magnet (B-com) used to spread/combine the three beams and one series of the quadrupole magnet is discussed. It gives the design parameters including: yoke geometry, pole profile, and material, and calculation of the excitation current needed to drive the magnet, the coil parameters and the number of turns. The B-com magnet is optimized for a 30° bending angle with magnetic field of 0.88 T along the magnet length and a harmonic content of 0.036%. The quadrupole magnet is designed for a gradient field of 34.15 T/m and experiences saturation above this value. Further studies to avoid saturation and achieve the maximum gradient of 44.1 T/m required by the beam dynamics is undergoing.

Abukeshek, R.↗

Cybersecurity for the Operational Technology Environment (CyOTE)

The Department of Energy’s Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response Office (CESER) has partnered with Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and energy companies to develop CyOTE. This research initiative addresses cybersecurity threats against operational technology (OT) networks by sharing intelligence about adversarial tactics and techniques with the energy sector. CyOTE improves the sector’s ability to detect anomalous behavior that indicates potential malicious cyber activity in OT networks.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Using Residential and Office Building Archetypes for Energy Efficiency Building Solutions in an Urban Scale: A China Case Study

Building energy consumption accounts for 36% of the overall energy end use worldwide and is growing rapidly as developing countries continue to urbanize. Understanding the energy use at urban scale will lay the foundation for identification of energy efficiency opportunities to be deployed at speed. China has almost half of global new constructions and plays an important role in building suitability. However, an open source national building energy consumption database is not available in China. To provide data support for building energy consumptions, this paper used a simulation method to develop an urban building energy consumption database for a pilot city in Wuhan, China. First, residential, small, and large office building archetype energy models were created in EnergyPlus to represent typical building energy consumption in Wuhan. The baseline reference model simulation results were further validated using survey data from the literature. Second, stochastic simulations were conducted to consider different design parameters and occupants’ energy usage intensity scenarios, such as thermal properties of the building envelope, lighting power density, equipment power density, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) schedule, etc. A building energy consumption database was generated for typical building archetypes. Third, data-driven regression analysis was conducted to support quick building energy consumption prediction using key high- level building information inputs. Finally, a web-based urban energy platform and an interface were developed to support further third-party application development. The research is expected to provide fast energy efficiency building design solutions for urban planning, new constructions as well as building retrofits.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Selected advanced aerodynamic and active control concepts development

A task for the Energy Efficient Transport program conducted: (1) The design and wind tunnel development of high-aspect-ratio supercritical wings, investigating the cruise speed regime and also high-lift. (2) The preliminary design and evaluation of an aircraft combining a high-aspect-ratio supercritical wing with a winglet. (3) Active Controls: The determination of criteria, configuration, and flying qualities associated with augmented longitudinal stability of a level likely to be acceptable for the next generation transport; and the design of a practical augmentation system. The baseline against which the work was performed and evaluated was the Douglas DC-X-200 twin engine derivative of the DC-10 transport. The supercritical wing development showed that the cruise and buffet requirements could be achieved and that the wing could be designed to realize a sizable advantage over today's technology. Important advances in high lift performance were shown. The design study of an aircraft with supercritical wing and winglet suggested advantages in weight and fuel economy could be realized. The study of augmented stability, conducted with the aid of a motion base simulator, concluded that a negative static margin was acceptable for the baseline unaugmented aircraft.

Source record↗

Development of Automated Pipeline for Time-Resolved Link-Wise Vehicular Energy Consumption in the Chattanooga, TN Road Network

The Department of Energy (DOE) has shown strong interest in detecting energy inefficiencies in regional road networks, so as to derive energy consumed at a high spatial temporal resolution. We have developed a workflow to automate the estimation of time-resolved vehicular energy consumption over each link in a road network of interest. The road network used in the current work is centered around the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee and its bordering regions. Utilizing the most mature road network for the Chattanooga, TN region, vehicle speed & count data from TomTom in conjunction with machine learning methods, we have developed an automated pipeline to estimate energy consumption for every link in the network. The first step in the pipeline is ingesting vehicle probe counts and speed estimates from TomTom API. In the next step, the probe counts, speed profiles and other exogenous data (i.e. road types, weather data, ground-truth volume counts and more) were used as input to a supervised learning algorithm to estimate the number of vehicles throughout the entire region for each road segment. These volume estimates were then mapped to a unified road network that contained additional important information such as percentage change in gradient across a link, number of lanes and link lengths that are features in pre-trained single vehicle energy-consumption models available with the RouteE software developed at NREL. The per vehicle energy consumption on each road link predicted using appropriate RouteE vehicular models were multiplied by the volume estimate for the corresponding link over a given time period to predict energy consumed per link for the time interval of interest. Currently, work is underway to improve both the RouteE per vehicle energy estimate and the volume estimates derived from TomTom probe counts. We have also explored the correlation of the link-wise energy estimates with the features of the pre-trained RouteE machine learning model in order to gain insight into what factors contribute most to the link-wise energy consumption.

ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION,↗

Establishing a Technical Assistance Network to Build Capacity in Southwest Alaska (Southwest Alaska Energy Network - Final Report)

The Southwest Alaska Municipal Conference (SWAMC) is a non-profit regional membership economic development organization that represents the Aleutian/Pribilof Islands, Bristol Bay, and Kodiak regions of southwest Alaska. SWAMC applied for the DOE-OIE Establishment of an Inter-Tribal Technical Assistance Energy Providers Network grant FOA to work with our partners to provide energy planning and project development technical assistance. The project team was made up of SWAMC, three regional organizations, a management consulting firm, and a panel of technical consultants. SWAMC sub-contracted with the three Alaska Native regional non-profit organizations – Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association (APIA), Bristol Bay Native Association (BBNA), and Kodiak Area Native Association (KANA) – to fund full or partial Regional Energy Coordinator (REC) positions. The project period ran from September 2016 to March 2020. The project goal was to help southwest Alaska regional tribal partners and communities to develop efficient and financially sustainable structures for identifying and developing energy projects that enhance community resiliency and energy sustainability. This project established energy coordinators and management structures in the Aleutian, Bristol Bay, and Kodiak regions to expand technical assistance capacity of regional residents; demonstrate this capacity by advancing energy efficiency, heat, and power supply projects; and secure long-term funding commitments to establish a sustained technical assistance structure. The project team expanded technical assistance capacity of energy coordinators and regional stakeholders in several ways: by providing funding for the SWAMC project manager to attend three Office of Indian Energy trainings; for energy coordinators to attend numerous energy conferences; for utility clerks from several villages to receive one-on-one reporting training on Alaska’s Power Cost Equalization electric subsidy program; and for the Kodiak REC to complete the Arctic Remote Energy Networks Academy and NREL’s Executive Energy Leadership Academy. The energy coordinators demonstrated and shared their increased capacity by hosting several public events: SWAMC hosted two full-day energy workshops in February 2017 and 2018; the Kodiak REC hosted seven Energy Committee meetings for Kodiak stakeholders and gave several presentations at other events; and SWAMC and BBNA organized a Bristol Bay Regional Energy Visioning Session in May 2019. The project team created platforms to both share and request information to involve energy stakeholders in this project, including an energy website, a Facebook group, a periodic newsletter, surveys, mass emails, and paper mailers. An increase in regional capacity was demonstrated through several grant awards, including a $1.2 million USDA grant for Akhiok for an electric distribution infrastructure replacement; an AHFC Kickstarter grant for Aleknagik to audit 2 Tribal and 3 City buildings; and installation of an Air Source Heat Pump demonstration project in Atka. Two communities and one region – Ouzinkie (May 2017), Ugashik (July 2017), and the Bristol Bay region (May 2019) – utilized DOE’s technical assistance services to hold Strategic Energy Planning sessions with NREL and DOE facilitation assistance. And in early 2018, SWAMC established a parallel program, funded through a USDA Energy Audit and Renewable Energy Development grant to provide subsidized energy audits for small businesses in the region. SWAMC and partners have now completed energy audits of over 60 businesses (buildings and fishing vessels) and are currently operating a third round of the USDA program. Fifteen of those business owners have now received additional grant funding to cover 25% of the cost of the energy efficiency upgrades identified in the audit. This technical assistance structure will be sustained beyond DOE grant funding in several forms. As a sign of increased grant writing and project management capacity, the Kodiak Regional Energy Coordinator applied for and received a USDA Community Facilities Technical Assistance and Training grant to continue work begun under this program. Energy coordination tasks have been folded into existing economic development positions at SWAMC and at BBNA, ensuring long-term outreach and support in the region.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Hydrodynamic characterization of the coastal pioneer array ocean observing system

Ocean observation buoys require relatively small amounts of power, yet traditionally necessitate costly resupply trips for battery replacement. With the offshore location of the buoys and small power requirements, wave energy may be an effective solution for providing consistent and reliable power to support the buoy instrumentation. The US National Science Foundation Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) includes arrays of point absorber-like buoy systems used for ocean observation that have been deployed at multiple locations including the Southern Mid-Atlantic Bight. A study is currently underway to design a pitch resonator wave energy converter to supplement existing renewable energy generation for powering observation instrumentation. This paper details field measurements from surface moorings of the OOI Coastal Pioneer Array, which informs the subsequent development of a numerical model for the moored observation system. The model is developed in Wave Energy Converter Simulator (WEC-Sim), which leverages the Simscape multibody solver within the MATLAB/Simulink framework and linear potential flow theory to simulate the hydrodynamic interactions and multibody dynamics in 6 degrees of freedom. Multiple tuning variables are considered to produce a model for the system that matches well with empirical data (about 8% error). In conclusion, the WEC-Sim model will serve as a platform for integrating the pitch resonator wave energy converter concept and deployment preparation (detailed design including power take-off and control systems, response evaluation, etc.).

hydrodynamic modeling↗

Technical and economic evaluation of heat transfer fluids for a TES system integrated to an advanced nuclear reactor

The utilization of thermal energy storage technology has emerged as a potential enhancement for nuclear power plants. Although nuclear energy systems possess the ability to adjust their energy output, prolonged variations in production can impact the plant's overall efficiency and economic viability. However, the nuclear industry can capitalize on thermal energy storage to bolster the power plant's economics by leveraging ancillary services and market hedging strategies. Here this research aims to advance the development of thermal energy storage for advanced nuclear reactors by assessing the thermophysical properties of various heat transfer fluids, including FLiNaK, KCl-MgCl 2 , LiCl-KCl, (LiNaK) 2 CO 3 , NaF-ZrF 4 , and KF-ZrF 4 , at temperatures ranging from 500 to 900oC. The assessment is conducted based on thermophysical correlations established in previous studies and employs figures of merit as a metric to evaluate the heat transfer performance of different salt candidates. Additionally, a cost analysis is conducted to provide an idea of the potential cost associated with each salt candidate.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

A Comprehensive Chemistry Evaluation and Diagnostics Package for E3SM – ChemDyg Version 1.1.0

The Chemistry Evaluation and Diagnostics Package (ChemDyg) is an open-source tool designed for the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) developed by the U.S. Department of Energy. ChemDyg facilitates routine evaluation, tailored development, and in-depth analysis of atmospheric chemistry through its modular architecture, allowing users to compare model outputs with observational data. Version 1.1.0 introduces a robust set of diagnostic capabilities, including climatology, time evolution of key tracers, diurnal and annual cycle analyses, and extensive budget diagnostics. These features help identify model discrepancies and enhance the representation of atmospheric chemistry in E3SM. Each self-contained diagnostic set includes dedicated scripts and documentation for ease of use. The interactive HTML output improves data accessibility, accelerating chemistry model development. Additionally, ChemDyg's flexible framework allows for customization, enabling users to create unique diagnostic sets for specific scientific contributions.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Climate change deniers, hippies, and preppers. Oh my!: Unpacking engineering student perceptions of renewable energy technology adoption in the United States

Engineers play a key role in the formation, operation, and maintenance of large socio-technical systems. Enmeshed in these practices of engineering are shared perceptions and visions of how society should be ordered, and what role of engineers should play. These value systems and how they shape the perception of who and where alternative energy belongs will shape who does or does not have the opportunity to participate in these alternative visions of energy. Drawing on engineering studies and dialectology research this study examines how a group of engineering students engaged in learning about renewable energy systems perceive the kinds of people in the United States who would or would not adopt alternative energy. Rather than see adoption/non-adoption as a purely “technical” matter, students brought their own perceptions of regional, social, and political differences to characterize the potential acceptability of each technology. Certain regions of the United States, despite their technical potential based on government and industry sources, are cast as too culturally backward and resistant to change to embrace new energy sources. In conclusion, these insights elucidate the importance of 'engineers' value systems as they continue to play a significant role in shaping the development of alternative energy technologies and markets.

Adoption↗

Identification of opportunities for integrating chemical processes for carbon (dioxide) utilization to nuclear power plants

The energy and industrial sectors are responsible for more than 75% of global carbon dioxide emissions, which are primary contributors to climate change. Decarbonization strategies to reduce overall carbon dioxide emissions are urgently needed. Among the numerous decarbonization strategies that are being defined and implemented, a particular strategy of interest for the present work is “the Re-X or zero waste” strategy, which involves recycling, reuse, repurposing, and remanufacturing of industrial emissions, by-products, and waste in general. A circular value chain or Circular Economy is embedded within this strategy. In a circular carbon economy, efficient reuse of emitted carbon dioxide is considered. However, the stability of carbon dioxide implies the requirement of significant amounts of energy for its transformation into value-added chemicals or products, which must be supplied by low carbon emitting energy sources. Nuclear power plants are low carbon energy sources that, additionally to electricity, could also supply heat and radiation for chemical transformations. This work identifies the opportunities and challenges for the development of integrated energy systems to upgrade and transform carbon dioxide, involving chemical and nuclear energy. The analysis encompasses possible use of the different forms of energy that can be obtain from nuclear reactors (i.e., radiation, electricity, and heat), by reviewing the published literature on potential routes for its conversion. Overall, our review indicates that an universal technology of the one-fits-all solution-type is an utopic dream. Instead, a suite of (contaminants tolerant) technologies for processing various concentrations CO 2 and producing a variety of products is currently needed.

08 HYDROGEN↗

Particle resonances in toroidal fusion devices

Resonances of high energy particles in magnetic confinement devices due to electromagnetic instabilities can strongly modify the distribution, leading to a reduction in fusion power and even discharge termination and particle loss to the device walls through avalanche. The existence of a mode particle resonance depends on properties of the equilibrium, particle trajectories, and perturbation mode harmonic content. Resonance location is a function of particle energy and equilibrium field line helicity. Different methods for finding resonance location and energy dependence are developed. The properties of resonances are discussed using examples from magnetic fusion devices. Here, we show that if mode resonances exist at low particle energy, they very likely also exist at high energy, thus modifying high energy beam particles and fusion products. It is possible for a resonance to appear due to mode induced orbit helicity modification when it is forbidden at low mode amplitude.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

When energy doesn’t add up: use of an energyshed framework in assessing progress towards renewable energy transitions

Global progress in energy transitions to support climate mitigation goals has been slower than anticipated; this has prompted shifts away from traditional paradigms of regulated energy ownership towards a model of energy democratization by local communities and individuals. For example, in the United States, local communities in over 250 cities, counties, and states have made pledges to reach 100% renewable electrification by target dates ranging from 2020 to 2050. However, the availability of infrastructure and the competition for renewable energy resources, as well as lack of awareness of these limitations, present significant barriers to overcome. In this study, we explored a subset of 31 of these cities to assess their current electricity generation and how much further they have to go to meet their goals. Through an energyshed framework, we estimated powerplant electricity allocation to each city assuming competition for power from various renewable and non-renewable resource types, as well as look at the ‘best case scenario’ assuming 100% allocation of renewable-sourced electricity for a handful of cities in order to understand the existing and planned energy mixes for 2021 and the following 20 years. It is likely most cities will meet 10% of their energy demand with renewable energy, with best cases scenarios reaching between 35% and 65% renewable penetration, within the next 20–30 years. This highlights the need for infrastructural development in the energy sector, as well as intentional planning efforts in order to make these energy goals a reality.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Perspective—Hydrogen Bonded Concentrated Electrolytes for Redox Flow Batteries: Limitations and Prospects

This perspective provides a brief overview of the recent work on electrolytes with hydrogen (H)-bonding network, specifically the deep eutectic solvents (DESs), and outlines important factors to consider when adapting these electrolytes in redox flow batteries (RFBs). The redox behavior, solubility, and stability of several redox molecules of relevance to RFBs in DESs are presented, including some of our work within the Breakthrough Electrolytes for Energy Storage (BEES)—an Energy Frontier Research Center of the United States Department of Energy. Particularly, the challenges and opportunities for further development of DESs for energy storage are discussed.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

A Study on Modeled Wind Speed Errors Using the U.S. Department of Energy Buoys

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) operates two AXYS WindSentinel lidar buoys for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Wind Energy Technologies Office. The purpose of these buoys is to collect hub-height winds and supporting meteorological and oceanographic information to facilitate the development of wind energy in the U.S. waters. The first deployment for one buoy was off the coast of Virginia from December 2014 to May 2016, and the first deployment for the other buoy was off the coast of New Jersey from November 2015 until February 2017. This report describes recent analysis of data collected during these first two deployments. Specifically, we compare hub-height wind speed estimates using Monin-Obukhov Similarity Theory (MOST) to the lidar measurements, and examine how those errors are affected by wind direction, atmospheric stability, wind-wave direction differences, and various measures of the wave-state. The comparisons are done using standard similarity functions based on MOST; including the Businger - Dyer, the Beljaars & Holtslag and the Vickers & Mahrt similarity functions. All models produce large errors over the range of atmospheric stabilities that were observed, with the largest errors occurring for stable flows. The Vickers & Mahrt function resulted in the largest overall bias and standard deviation, while Beljaars & Holtslag function gave the smallest bias and standard deviation due to its better performance under stable conditions. The models perform best under unstable conditions, but even in this regime there is a consistent overestimation of the wind speed of between roughly 0 to 1 ms -1 compared to the lidar measurements. We identify specific metocean conditions (i.e. stability and wind and wave directions) at each of the deployment locations that lead to large errors in MOST predictions. Finally, a coupled ocean-atmosphere model framework was investigated to simulate large errors in weather research forecasting (WRF).

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Electron impact excitation cross sections and energy degradation in CO.

We determine a comprehensive set of electron impact cross sections for carbon monoxide mainly on the basis of recently accumulated data on electron impact spectra, the Born approximation at high energies, and simple rules developed earlier to take into account low-energy effects. The calculation of the complete energy degradation of electrons incident on CO is carried out with these input cross sections, and the efficiencies associated with possible loss channels are presented.

Sawada, T.↗

NSF presentation

Wind energy conversion research is considered in the framework of the national energy problem. Research and development efforts for the practical application of solar energy -- including wind energy -- as alternative energy supplies are assessed in: (1) Heating and cooling of buildings; (2) photovoltaic energy conversion; (3) solar thermal energy conversion; (4) wind energy conversion; (5) ocean thermal energy conversion; (6) photosynthetic production of organic matter; and (7) conversion of organic matter into fuels.

Morse, F. H.↗

Impact of novel energy sources: OTEC, wind, goethermal, biomass

Alternate energy conversion methods such as ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC), wind power, geothermal wells and biomass conversion are being explored, and re-examined in some cases, for commercial viability. At a time when United States fossil fuel and uranium resources are found to be insufficient to supply national needs into the twenty-first century, it is essential to broaden the base of feasible energy conversion technologies. The motivations for development of these four alternative energy forms are established. Primary technical aspects of OTEC, wind, geothermal and biomass energy conversion systems are described along with a discussion of relative advantages and disadvantages of the concepts. Finally, the sentiment is voiced that each of the four systems should be developed to the prototype stage and employed in the region of the country and in the sector of economy which is complimentary to the form of system output.

Roberts, A. S., Jr.↗