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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 163 records · Page 9
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2013

Integrated Electrical Wire Insulation Repair System

An integrated system tool will allow a technician to easily and quickly repair damaged high-performance electrical wire insulation in the field. Low-melt polyimides have been developed that can be processed into thin films that work well in the repair of damaged polyimide or fluoropolymer insulated electrical wiring. Such thin films can be used in wire insulation repairs by affixing a film of this low-melt polyimide to the damaged wire, and heating the film to effect melting, flow, and cure of the film. The resulting repair is robust, lightweight, and small in volume. The heating of this repair film is accomplished with the use of a common electrical soldering tool that has been modified with a special head or tip that can accommodate the size of wire being repaired. This repair method can furthermore be simplified for the repair technician by providing replaceable or disposable soldering tool heads that have repair film already "loaded" and ready for use. The soldering tool heating device can also be equipped with a battery power supply that will allow its use in areas where plug-in current is not available

Williams, Martha↗
NASA NTRS1973

Skylab Rescue Space Vehicle OAT No. 1 Plugs in Test

A test is described which demonstrates the compatibility of the Skylab Rescue Space Vehicle systems, the ground support equipment, and off-site support facilities by proceeding through a simulated launch countdown, liftoff, and flight. The functions of propellant loading, umbilical ejection, holddown arm release, service arm retraction, liftoff, and inflight separation are simulated. An external power source supplies transfer power to internal, and instrument unit commands are simulated by the digital command system. The test outline is presented along with a list of references, intercommunications information, radio frequency matrix, and interface control chart.

Jevitt, S. J.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Reusable Hot-Wire Cable Cutter

During the early development stage of balloon deployment systems for missions, nichrome wire cable cutters were often used in place of pyro-actuated cutters. Typically, a nichrome wire is wrapped around a bundle of polymer cables with a low melting point and connected to a relay-actuated electric circuit. The heat from the nichrome reduces the strength of the cable bundle, which quickly breaks under a mechanical load and can thus be used as a release mechanism for a deployment system. However, the use of hand-made heated nichrome wire for cutters is not very reliable. Often, the wrapped nichrome wire does not cut through the cable because it either pulls away from its power source or does not stay in contact with the cable being cut. Because nichrome is not readily soldered to copper wire, unreliable mechanical crimps are often made to connect the nichrome to an electric circuit. A self-contained device that is reusable and reliable was developed to sever cables for device release or deployment. The nichrome wire in this new device is housed within an enclosure to prevent it from being damaged by handling. The electric power leads are internally connected within the unit to the nichrome wire using a screw terminal connection. A bayonet plug, a quick and secure method of connecting the cutter to the power source, is used to connect the cutter to the power leads similar to those used in pyro-cutter devices. A small ceramic tube [0.25-in. wide 0.5-in. long (.6.4-mm wide 13-mm long)] houses a spiraled nichrome wire that is heated when a cable release action is required. The wire is formed into a spiral coil by wrapping it around a mandrel. It is then laid inside the ceramic tube so that it fits closely to the inner surface of the tube. The ceramic tube provides some thermal and electrical insulation so that most of the heat generated by the wire is directed toward the cable bundle in the center of the spiral. The ceramic tube is cemented into an aluminum block, which holds it in position. The leads of the nichrome wire are attached to screw terminals that connect them to power leads. A bayonet plug mounted at the bottom of the rectangular block connects the power leads to a relay circuit. A thin aluminum shell encloses the entire structure, leaving access points to attach to the bayonet plug and to feed a cable into the cylinder. The access holes for the deployment cable are a smaller diameter than the nichrome coil to prevent the cable from coming in direct contact with the nichrome when loaded. It uses the same general method of severing a cable with a heated wire as was used previously, but implements it in such a way that it is more reliable and less prone to failure. It creates a mechanism to create repeatability that was nonexistent in the previous method.

Pauken, Michael T.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Ferroresonant Flux-Coupled Battery Charger

Portable battery charger operates at about 20 kHz to take advantage of relatively low weight and low acoustical noise of ferroresonant circuits operating in this frequency range. Charger split into stationary unit connected to powerline and mobile unit connected to battery or other load. Power transferred to mobile unit by magnetic coupling between mating transformer halves. Advantage where sparking at electrical connection might pose explosion hazard or where operator disabled and cannot manipulate plug into wall outlet. Likely applications for charger include wheelchairs and robots.

Mclyman, C. W.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Capillary electrophoresis: Imaging of electroosmotic and pressure driven flow profiles in fused silica capillaries

This study is a continuation of the summer of 1994 NASA/ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship Program. This effort is a portion of the ongoing work by the Biophysics Branch of the Marshall Space Flight Center. The work has focused recently on the separation of macromolecules using capillary electrophoresis (CE). Two primary goals were established for the effort this summer. First, we wanted to use capillary electrophoresis to study the electrohydrodynamics of a sample stream. Secondly, there was a need to develop a methodology for using CE for separation of DNA molecules of various sizes. In order to achieve these goals we needed to establish a procedure for detection of a sample plug under the influence of an electric field Detection of the sample with the microscope and image analysis system would be helpful in studying the electrohydrodynamics of this stream under load. Videotaping this process under the influence of an electric field in real time would also be useful. Imaging and photography of the sample/background electrolyte interface would be vital to this study. Finally, detection and imaging of electroosmotic flow and pressure driven flow must be accomplished.

Williams, George O., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS2019

Design of P-3 Nadir Port

This project details the design and analysis of a structure to replace the interface of the P-3B nadir port with an optimized interface for science installations. A new nadir port plug has been designed to replace the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) plug (Lockheed PN 910169) currently used in Nadir ports 1 and 2 on the NASA P-3B aircraft. The plug consists of a milled frame that can be outfitted with customizable flat plates to meet a broad range of science needs. The frame slides into place using the existing P-3B rail system using a lever and tie-rod assembly. The seal interface will contact the Fuselage skin of the aircraft and consists of a bulb E-seal that is riveted around the perimeter of the frame. The flat plate (20 inches x 31 inches) provides a large profile that can be outfitted based on science mission goals and requirements to attach multiple instruments. This is a significant increase to the aircraft capability. Previously, the OEM plug had to be modified to hold very small plates, windows, or instruments limiting the use of the ports.There were several challenges for this project that included a constrained schedule, lack of historical references, and reverse engineering. The unusually tight schedule for design, manufacture, and install limited potential approaches. In addition, design of a new interface to replace the existing plug, on an aircraft designed in the 1960's by Lockheed for the Navy with little to no documentation, required substantial reverse engineering. In order to accomplish this, a suitable method to determine interface requirements with the aircraft had to be solved. After several iterations, the solution was to implement laser scanning techniques to scan the aircraft and the OEM plug and generate a 3D model to capture the design envelope. The structure is designed to maintain a positive margin of safety when subjected to the inertial, pressure, and aerodynamic load requirements for an external installation on the P-3B, as described in the Wallops' P-3B Design Requirements 548-RQMT-0001 Rev. A . A finite element model is created in FEMAP (Finite Element Modeling And Postprocessing) and is run through NX Nastran solver to analyze the structure. After several iterations of analysis, the structure was enveloped to hold 115 pounds evenly distributed on the plate.

Chance, Monica↗
DOE OSTI2025

An economic and technical feasibility analysis of a dual-source heat pump using both the air and the ground

The study investigates the economic and technical performance of a novel dual-source heat pump (DSHP) compared with that of air-source heat pumps (ASHPs) and ground-source heat pumps (GSHPs). The DSHP can use both ambient air and the ground as a heat source or heat sink. It uses ambient air when its temperature is favorable for efficient heat pump operation. When the ambient temperature is too hot or cold, the ground source is used to retain high-efficiency heat pump operation. Since the DSHP can alternately use either the ground heat exchanger (GHE) or ambient air to meet the thermal load, the required size of GHE can be smaller than those of GSHPs. This study models the DSHP using a whole building energy simulation tool (EnergyPlus) coupled with a Python plug-in and Heat Pump Design Model (HPDM) to simulate its heating and cooling performance for a typical single-family home in 15 US climate zones. The required GHE size of the DSHP system is determined through simulations and compared with that of GSHPs. DSHP deployment can reduce electricity use compared to ASHPs, especially in cold climates where it shows a reduction of around 50%. When compared to GSHPs, DSHPs use 20%–40% more electricity in warm climates but consume around the same amount in moderate and colder climates. Since the DSHP can use air source when the ambient temperature is mild, the GHE size needed for the DSHP is about 40% less than that needed for GSHPs in hot climates and about 25% less in cold climates. In conclusion, the life cycle cost analysis shows that the DSHP is economically more feasible than ASHPs in colder regions and economically more feasible than GSHPs in hot and cold regions.

Dual-source heat pumps↗
NASA NTRS2001

Java Application Shell: A Framework for Piecing Together Java Applications

This session describes the architecture of Java Application Shell (JAS), a Swing-based framework for developing interactive Java applications. Java Application Shell is being developed by Commerce One, Inc. for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Code 588. The purpose of JAS is to provide a framework for the development of Java applications, providing features that enable the development process to be more efficient, consistent and flexible. Fundamentally, JAS is based upon an architecture where an application is considered a collection of 'plugins'. In turn, a plug-in is a collection of Swing actions defined using XML and packaged in a jar file. Plug-ins may be local to the host platform or remotely-accessible through HTTP. Local and remote plugins are automatically discovered by JAS upon application startup; plugins may also be loaded dynamically without having to re-start the application. Using Extensible Markup Language (XML) to define actions, as opposed to hardcoding them in application logic, allows easier customization of application-specific operations by separating application logic from presentation. Through XML, a developer defines an action that may appear on any number of menus, toolbars, and buttons. Actions maintain and propagate enable/disable states and specify icons, tool-tips, titles, etc. Furthermore, JAS allows actions to be implemented using various scripting languages through the use of IBM's Bean Scripting Framework. Scripted action implementation is seamless to the end-user. In addition to action implementation, scripts may be used for application and unit-level testing. In the case of application-level testing, JAS has hooks to assist a script in simulating end-user input. JAS also provides property and user preference management, JavaHelp, Undo/Redo, Multi-Document Interface, Single-Document Interface, printing, and logging. Finally, Jini technology has also been included into the framework by means of a Jini services browser and the ability to associate services with actions. Several Java technologies have been incorporated into JAS, including Swing, Internal Frames, Java Beans, XML, JavaScript, JavaHelp, and Jini. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Miller, Philip↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Variance Decomposition of MEDLI2 Reconstructed Heating Using Neural Networks

The Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrumentation (MEDLI2) sensor suite collected data during entry of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover into Mars’ atmosphere. An inverse estimation of the backshell and heatshield surface aeroheating was performed, using the data from the MEDLI2 Instrumented Sensor Plugs, a network of thermocouples embedded within the thermal protection system across the aeroshell. Monte Carlo analysis was conducted to assess the sensitivity of the surface heat rate, temperature, and heat load to uncertainties in thermocouple depth and material properties. In this paper, a variance decomposition method using Sobol indices was employed to understand the relative contributions of each uncertainty parameter. Performing this analysis using results from the inverse analysis tool FIAT_Opt was found to require incredibly high computation time, and thus machine learning models were trained and evaluated as a surrogate model for FIAT_Opt. This paper demonstrates that machine learning models can be an efficient, accurate alternative to state-of-the-art inverse analysis tools like FIAT_Opt, especially for computationally-expensive processes. Using these models, the sensitivity analysis showed that uncertainties in heat capacity and thermal conductivity were the main drivers for the overall uncertainty in peak reconstructed heating and heat load.

H S Alpert↗
DOE OSTI2020

Damaged Fuel in the United States - 20325

Throughout the history of commercial nuclear power plant operations in the U.S., many fuel assemblies have lost the capability to perform all of their desired functions. Since they can no longer be handled, stored, or transported in accordance with established regulations, they are classified as damaged fuel. The causes of these failed assemblies are diverse and plant-specific. The majority of these failed assemblies are contained in damaged fuel cans to be used in conjunction with storage and/or transportation systems. These systems have a limited number of slots that can be filled with damaged fuel cans. A damaged fuel can is generally a stainless-steel container that confines damaged spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and is closed at one end by mesh endpoints that allow gaseous and liquid media to escape but minimize the dispersal of gross particulate material. Out of extreme caution, a few reactors have loaded high burnup fuel into damaged fuel cans. Damaged fuel is not licensed for storage or transport in the U.S. because relevant regulations do not specify exactly how to classify damaged fuel. Instead, these regulations license/certify packages that specify approved contents. Damaged fuel must be included among the approved contents to be considered acceptable. In many cases, damaged SNF is encapsulated in damaged fuel cans to ensure it can confine gross fuel particles, debris, and/or damaged assemblies to known volumes within loaded casks. A damaged fuel can may then be utilized in the same way as an assembly in a storage and transportation system. Some storage cask systems utilize top and bottom plugs to confine debris in damaged fuel. The most recent domestic documentation on damaged SNF was published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), which used data from U.S. reactors compiled from 1968 to June 30, 2013, to produce Form GC-859, 'Nuclear Fuel Data Survey.' According to this form, there were 136,821 boiling water reactor (BWR) SNF assemblies and 104,647 pressurized water reactor (PWR) SNF assemblies, for a combined total of 241,468. Of these, 4,521 were classified as failed. Some were also disassembled and the fuel rods or pieces of fuel rods combined to make consolidated assemblies. These consolidated assemblies may include damaged fuel or were perhaps consolidated as part of a demonstration project. The GC-859 data includes 2,550 consolidated assemblies containing 0 - 264 entire fuel rods. These consolidated assemblies could be placed in single assembly canisters and stored in the spent fuel pool. For dry storage and transportation, a single assembly canister is generally placed in each damaged fuel can. In addition to the consolidated assemblies, 2,391 un-canistered fuel rod pieces exist, which were removed from 494 assemblies. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
NASA NTRS2011

2014/2219 Tri-Point Crack Analysis

Friction stir welding (FSW) is a solid state welding process with potential advantages for aerospace and automotive industries dealing with light alloys. Self-reacting friction stir welding (SR-FSW) is one variation of the FSW process being developed at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for use in the fabrication of propellant tanks. Friction plug welding is used to seal the exit hole that remains in a circumferential SR-FSW. The objective of this study was to evaluate the deformation response at the tips of cracks located in the heat affected zone of friction plug welds and to study the fracture behavior of welds with defects in the form of fatigue cracks. The study used existing 2014-T6 to 2219-T87 self-reacting friction stir weld panels with 2219-T87 friction plug welds. Electro-discharge machined (EDM) notches were machined into the heat affected zone of the plug at the plug-to-base metal interface. Samples were then cycled to generate a fatigue crack emanating from the notch. After the fatigue crack reached a pre-defined length, a speckle pattern was applied and the ARAMIS system (a three dimensional imaging correlation system) was used to measure the deformations at the crack tip under a sequence of loads. Testing was conducted at ambient laboratory conditions. Fracture data from the testing was analyzed to evaluate residual strength capability of the panel as a function of flaw size. ARAMIS strain data was evaluated to examine strain and deformation patterns that develop around the crack tip and at the plug/weld interfaces. Four samples were used in this study, with three samples in a post-weld heat treated condition. Three samples contained large diameter plugs (M5) and one sample contained a small diameter plug (M3). Two samples were 4 inches in width and two samples were 8.5 inches in width. All samples failed through the precrack with residual strengths ranging from 37 ksi to 42 ksi.

Horton, Karla Renee↗
DOE OSTI2026

Understanding Electric Vehicle Range and Charging Needs: Interactions Between Ambient Temperature, Commute Patterns, and State-of-Charge Usage

Electric vehicle (EV) performance can vary substantially under real-world operating conditions, particularly due to ambient temperature effects on energy consumption, battery behavior, and thermal management requirements. This study quantifies how weather conditions, daily driving patterns, and State-of-Charge (SOC) usage strategies jointly influence EV driving range, charging frequency, and overall energy efficiency. A detailed and experimentally validated Autonomie vehicle model is developed, integrating a powertrain, a mono-zonal cabin model, and a battery electro-thermal model. Three battery sizes (200-, 300-, and 400-mile homologated ranges) are assessed across five commute profiles (20–200 miles) and six ambient temperatures (−18 °C to 50 °C), including scenarios with and without preconditioning. Results show that extreme temperatures could significantly decrease the maximum achievable range by up to 55% in cold conditions (−18 °C) and 40% in hot conditions (50 °C), relative to moderate conditions. Larger battery packs retain a greater fraction of their nominal range under thermal stress, while smaller packs experience sharper relative penalties due to the higher contribution of thermal loads to total energy demand. The analysis further demonstrates that limiting operation to partial SOC windows (e.g., 80–20%), a common real-world practice, significantly reduces achievable range and increases charging frequency, particularly in cold weather. Thermal preconditioning while plugged in is shown to mitigate these effects for short trips, reducing energy consumption by up to 31% in hot conditions and 7% in cold conditions. The findings demonstrate how climate, SOC usage behavior, and thermal management jointly shape the practical driving capability of EVs, highlighting the importance of efficient thermal management and realistic user charging strategies for ensuring reliable EV operation across diverse climatic scenarios.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Development and Demonstration of Medium-Heavy Duty PHEV Work Trucks

The heavy-duty vehicle market (Class 6-8) has been a difficult segment for the introduction of plug-in vehicles due to the large energy storage requirement (with corresponding cost), challenging duty cycles, and the diversity of vehicle configurations. The Work Truck market represents a significant opportunity for Heavy-Duty PHEV adoption. (1) The usage cycle includes driving and stationary/worksite power requirements, ensuring full daily usage of the grid-charged battery (battery size: 15-30kWhr). Though daily driving can often be short (an average of 26 miles per day), worksite power includes substantial demand (hydraulics, exportable 110/220V power, 12V support, HVAC). (2) Worksite power demands for conventional vehicles require continuous loaded engine operation, resulting in significant emissions, fuel consumption and noise impacts. (3) These trucks serve an industry that is highly diverse in final vehicle duty cycle, configuration, and jobsite power demands resulting in the need for a modular, configurable hybrid solution. Through this program, Odyne has developed and demonstrated a medium/heavy duty plug-in hybrid solution capable of meeting the needs of the work truck market while delivering fuel and emissions reductions of 50% or greater when evaluated against the full-day work truck duty cycle. The Odyne system developed in this project was released for commercial sale as the G2V7 Odyne Plug-in Hybrid and ePTO systems. The testing and field demonstration proved that the Odyne hybrid system is capable of reducing work truck fuel use and emissions by over 50% while subsequent commercial sales demonstrate the flexibility of the modular design and the capability to support electric systems of 12 – 30 kW and hydraulic based systems of 60 kW (80 HP) or greater. Odyne is continuing to work with suppliers on reducing component costs and working with supporting agencies to initiate projects to increase the driving and full day fuel and emissions savings in order to continue to improve the customer value and return on investment.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2021

Heavy-Duty Truck Electrification and the Impacts of Depot Charging on Electricity Distribution Systems

Major technological advancements and recent policy support are improving the outlook for heavy-duty truck electrification in the United States. In particular, short-haul operations (=200 miles (=322 km)) are prevalent and early candidates for plug-in electric vehicles (EVs) given their short, predictable routes and return-to-base applications, which allows vehicles to recharge when off shift at their depots. Although previous studies investigated the impacts of added electrical loads on distribution systems, which included light-duty EVs, the implications for heavy-duty EV charging are underexplored. Here we summarize the causes, costs and lead times of distribution system upgrades anticipated for depot charging. We also developed synthetic depot charging load profiles for heavy-duty trucks from real-world operating schedules, and found that charging requirements are met at common light-duty EV charging rates (=100 kW per vehicle). Finally, we applied depot charging load profiles to 36 distribution real-world substations, which showed that most can accommodate high levels of heavy-duty EV charging without upgrades.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2022

UAE6 - Wind Tunnel Tests Data - UAE6 - Sequence W - Raw Data

Sequence W: Extended Blade (F) This test sequence used an upwind, rigid turbine with a 0° cone angle. The wind speed ranged from 5 m/s to 21 m/s, and the yaw angle was held at 0°. The blade pitch angle was 3°. The rotor rotated at 72 RPM. Blade pressure measurements were collected. The five-hole probes were removed and the plugs were installed. Plastic tape 0.03-mm thick was used to smooth the interface between the plugs and the blade. The teeter dampers were replaced with rigid links, and these two channels were flagged as not applicable by setting the measured values in the data file to –99999.99 Nm. The teeter link load cell was pretensioned to 40,000 N. During postprocessing, the probe channels were set to read –99999.99. The standard tip blocks were replaced with blade extensions that created a 5.532-m radius rotor as shown in Appendix A. The extension used the S809 airfoil throughout, and the linear taper of the blade continued along the extension. Note that the blade radius was not changed during post-processing so the pressure tap locations are at the same radial location, but the reference to 30% represents 30% of 5.029 m, not 5.532 m. Throughout this report, references to the blade span are made for the 5.029-m radius, not the 5.532-m radius.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

UAE6 - Wind Tunnel Tests Data - UAE6 - Sequence 5 - Raw Data

Sequence 5: Sweep Wind Speed (F,P) This test sequence used an upwind, rigid turbine with a 0° cone angle. The wind speed was ramped from 5 m/s to 25 m/s by the wind tunnel operator. This was repeated with a decreasing ramp. The yaw angle was maintained at 0°. The blade tip pitch was 3° or 6°. The rotor rotated at 72 RPM. Blade pressure and probe measurements were collected for both pitch angles. The five-hole probes were removed and the plugs were installed for another 3° pitch case. Plastic tape 0.03 mm thick was used to smooth the interface between the plugs and the blade. The teeter dampers were replaced with rigid links, and these two channels were flagged as not applicable by setting the measured values in the data file to –99999.99 Nm. The teeter link load cell was pre-tensioned to 40,000 N. During post-processing, the probe channels were set to read -99999.99. The 6- minute campaigns were named using the sequence designation 5, followed by DN or UP, which indicates the wind speed ramp direction. The next four digits are 0000, and the sequence digit is at the end.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

UAE6 - Wind Tunnel Tests Data - UAE6 - Sequence 8 - Raw Data

Sequences 8 and 9: Downwind Sonics (F,P) and Downwind Sonics Parked (P) This test sequence used an upwind, rigid turbine with a 0° cone angle. The wind speed ranged from 5 m/s to 25 m/s. Yaw angles of 0° to 60° were achieved. The blade tip pitch was 3°. The rotor rotated at 72 RPM during Sequence 8, but it was parked during Sequence 9. Blade pressure measurements were collected. The five-hole probes were removed and the plugs were installed. Plastic tape 0.03-mm-thick was used to smooth the interface between the plugs and the blade. The teeter dampers were replaced with rigid links, and these two channels were flagged as not applicable by setting the measured values in the data file to –99999.99 Nm. The teeter link load cell was pre-tensioned to 40,000 N. During post-processing, the probe channels were set to read -99999.99. Sonic anemometers were mounted on a strut downwind of the turbine. The strut was mounted to the T-frame, which was rotated to align the anemometers aft of the 9% and 49% radius locations at hub height. Because of this configuration, the tunnel balance data are considered invalid. Sequence 9 was designed to compare the downwind sonic anemometer readings with the upwind sonic anemometers without interference from the turbine. The rotor was parked with the instrumented blade at 0° azimuth. All pressure measurements obtained in Sequence 9 are invalid because sufficient time for temperature stabilization did not occur, thus all associated data values were flagged as not applicable by setting the measured values in the data file to 0.0000 Pa. This test is further described in Appendix G.

17 WIND ENERGY↗