Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Shielded Cells”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 163 records · Page 9
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2016

ITER Port Interspace Pressure Calculations

The ITER ('the way' in Latin) project in Cadarache, France, will operate the largest tokamak ever built to demonstrate the physical and technical feasibility of nuclear fusion as an energy source. The ITER vacuum vessel is equipped with 50 access ports. Each port has an opening in the bio-shield that communicates with a dedicated port cell. During tokamak operation, the bio-shield opening must be closed with a concrete plug to shield the radiation coming from the plasma. This port plug separates the port cell into a port interspace (between vacuum vessel closure lid and port plug) on the inner side and a port cell on the outer side. This paper presents calculations of pressures and temperatures in the ITER port interspace after a double-ended guillotine break (DEGB) of a pipe in the tokamak cooling water system (TCWS). It is assumed that the DEGB occurs during the worst possible conditions-during water baking operation, with water at 523 K (250 deg. C) and 4.4 MPa. These conditions are more severe than during normal tokamak operation with the water at 398 K (125 deg. C) and 2 MPa. Two computer codes are employed in these calculations: RELAP5-3D Version 4.2.1 to calculate blowdown releases from the pipe break, and MELCOR, Version 1.8.6 to calculate pressures and temperatures in the port interspace. A sensitivity study has been performed to optimize the maximum peak pressure in the port interspace volume of ITER. The optimum case was for a labyrinth area (FL131) of 0.5 m{sup 2} and a relief panel (FL135) kept open after the first cycle. This case keeps the pressure in the port interspace under 150 kPa and the temperatures under 385 K. (authors)

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS1961

Study of a Solar Sensor for use in Space Vehicle Orientation Control Systems

The solar sensor described herein may be used for a variety of space operations requiring solar orientation. The use of silicon solar cells as the sensing elements provides the sensor with sufficient capability to withstand the hazards of a space environment. A method of arranging the cells in a sensor consists simply of mounting them at a large angle to the base. The use of an opaque shield placed between the cells and perpendicular to the base enhances the small-angle sensitivity while adding slightly to the bulk of the sensor. The difference in illumination of these cells as the result of an oblique incidence of the light rays from the reference source causes an electrical error signal which, when used in a battery-bridge circuit, requires a minimum of electrical processing for use in a space-vehicle orientation control system. An error which could occur after prolonged operation of the sensor is that resulting from asymmetrical aging of opposite cells. This could be periodically corrected with a balance potentiometer. A more routine error in the sensor is that produced by reflected earth radiation. This error may be eliminated over a large portion of the operation time by restricting the field of view and, consequently, the capture capability. A more sophisticated method of eliminating this error is to use separate sensors, for capture and fine pointing, along with a switching device. An experimental model has been constructed and tested to yield an output sensitivity of 1.2 millivolts per second of arc with a load resistance of 1,000 ohms and a reference light source of approximately 1,200 foot-candles delivered at the sensor.

Spencer, Paul R.↗
DOE OSTI2017

NSLS-II Beam Loss Control and Monitoring System

One of the most challenging issues for accelerator operations deals with why and where the beam was lost. This is a major concern for radiation protection at facilities with a large user base, since uncontrolled beam losses could result in high radiation levels to occupied areas. For NSLS-II the tunnel radiation shield wall has increased attenuation over two lattice cells after the injection region, to shield for the possibility of higher injection losses during injection. This raised the concern over exceeding the radiation exposure limits in the lesser shielded region, if similar losses could occur elsewhere. To address this issue a beam loss control system was designed to capture most beam losses in the more heavily shielded (injection) region. A beam loss monitor system was designed to verify the fraction of the beam lost in that region, in order to insure lower levels of exposure around the rest of the ring. The design of these beam loss control and monitoring systems and their operational experience are presented here.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Zr Recycle Installation of Out-of-Cell Accessory Facilities

Design, fabrication, and installation of the out-of-cell accessory equipment for the Zr Recycle Project tests with actual used nuclear fuel (UNF) cladding was completed on September 9, 2016, shortly before installation of the hot cell equipment. As indicated in Figures 1 and 2, the out -of- cell equipment includes (1) a gas cabinet for a chlorine cylinder, (2) piping and valves, (3) flow control valves, and (4) two shielded plugs in the hot cell walls, one for gas flow piping from the Charging Area and one for electric power and thermocouple instrumentation from the Operating Area. In addition, wiring for flow control signals and piping for Argon gas transfer were run through the existing pass-through tube underneath the hot cell to enable operation of flow controller signals in the Operating Area to the control valves and piping located in the Charging Area. The shielded plug from the Charging Area into the hot cell contains spare lines that can be used in the future for transferring off-gas from the test equipment to tritium traps located in the Charging Area, and then back into the hot cell for caustic scrubbing and venting.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗
NASA NTRS2004

Heat Shielding Characteristics and Thermostructural Performance of a Superalloy Honeycomb Sandwich Thermal Protection System (TPS)

Heat-transfer, thermal bending, and mechanical buckling analyses have been performed on a superalloy "honeycomb" thermal protection system (TPS) for future hypersonic flight vehicles. The studies focus on the effect of honeycomb cell geometry on the TPS heat-shielding performance, honeycomb cell wall buckling characteristics, and the effect of boundary conditions on the TPS thermal bending behavior. The results of the study show that the heat-shielding performance of a TPS panel is very sensitive to change in honeycomb core depth, but insensitive to change in honeycomb cell cross-sectional shape. The thermal deformations and thermal stresses in the TPS panel are found to be very sensitive to the edge support conditions. Slight corrugation of the honeycomb cell walls can greatly increase their buckling strength.

Ko, William L.↗
DOE OSTI2018

Prototype Stilbene Neutron Collar II

A neutron collar using stilbene organic scintillator cells for fast neutron counting is described for the assay of fresh low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel assemblies. The prototype stilbene collar has a form factor similar to standard He-3 based collars and uses an AmLi interrogation neutron source. This report describes the simulation, using a custom LLNL developed MCNPX, of list mode neutron correlation data on various fuel assemblies. Some of these fuel assemblies have neutron absorbers (burnable Gd poisons) and partial defect s (DU, Fe, Pb pins). Calibration curves (doubles vs 235 U linear mass density) are presented for fast (with Cd lining) mode of operation. The modeling incorporates LLNL developed neutron crosstalk correction algorithms and stilbene light output detector response quench function. Pileup issues are addressed using the LLNL code GamGen / RadSrc to estimate the flux of alpha decay gammas from the fuel assemblies on the stilbene cells with and without Pb shielding. One panel of the prototype collar using 10 high-efficiency 4”x2” stilbene cells from Inrad Optics, using LLNL developed technology, has been constructed and calibrated for optimal PSD and data acquisition electronics. Several sources (AmLi, AmBe, Cf, DD, and DT) have been measured with the single panel and the measured data is consistent with the modeling. A novel part of our work was to determine the light output (LO) quench function for the Inrad 4” x 2” stilbene crystals through a LLNL-MCNPX simulation based optimized fitting of the measured LO data.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS1995

Issues in protection from galactic cosmic rays

Radiation risks to astronauts depend on the microscopic fluctuations of energy absorption events in specific tissues. These fluctuations depend not only on the space environment but also on the modifications of that environment by the shielding provided by structures surrounding the astronauts and the attenuation characteristics of the astronaut's body. The effects of attenuation within the shield and body depends on the tissue biological response to these microscopic fluctuations. In the absence of an accepted method for estimating astronaut risk, we examined the attenuation characteristics using conventional linear energy transfer (LET)-dependent quality factors (as one means of representing relative biological effectiveness, RBE) and a track-structure repair model to fit cell transformation (and inactivation) data in the C3H10 T1/2 mouse cell system obtained for various ion beams. Although the usual aluminum spacecraft shield is effective in reducing dose equivalent with increasing shield thickness, cell transformation rates are increased for thin aluminum shields. Clearly, the exact nature of the biological response to LET and track width is critical to evaluation of biological protection factors provided by a shield design. A significant fraction of biological injury results from the LET region above 100 keV/mu m. Uncertainty in nuclear cross-sections results in a factor of 2-3 in the transmitted LET spectrum beyond depths of 15 g/cm2, but even greater uncertainty is due to the combined effects of uncertainty in biological response and nuclear parameters. Clearly, these uncertainties must be reduced before the shield design can be finalised.

NASA Discipline Number 45-10↗
DOE OSTI2019

Radiation Tolerant Nanowire Array Solar Cells

Space power systems require photovoltaics that are lightweight, efficient, reliable, and capable of operating for years or decades in space environment. Current solar panels use planar multi-junction, III-V based solar cells with very high efficiency, but their specific power (power to weight ratio) is limited by the added mass of radiation shielding (e.g. coverglass) required to protect the cells from the high-energy particle radiation that occurs in space. Here we demonstrate that III-V nanowire-array solar cells have dramatically superior radiation performance relative to planar solar cell designs and show this for multiple cell geometries and materials, including GaAs and InP. Nanowire cells exhibit damage thresholds ranging from ~10-40 times higher than planar control solar cells when subjected to irradiation by 100-350 keV protons and 1 MeV electrons. Furthermore, using Monte Carlo simulations, we show that this improvement is due in part to a reduction in the displacement defect generation within the wires arising from their nanoscale dimensions. Radiation tolerance, combined with the efficient optical absorption and the improving performance of nanowire photovoltaics, indicates that nanowire arrays could provide a pathway to realize high-specific-power, substrate-free, III-V space solar cells with substantially reduced shielding requirements. More broadly, the exceptional reduction in radiation damage suggests that nanowire architectures may be useful in improving the radiation tolerance of other electronic and optoelectronic devices.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS1987

Electrodeposition of metals and metal/cermet composites in low gravity

Electrodeposition experiments were carried out on the bench and a KC-135 aircraft at 0.01 g in anticipation of microgravity flights on NASA's Space Transportation System Shuttle. Experimental results obtained by interferometry compare concentration gradients as a function of time in the vicinity of a reducing electrode (cathode) for Cu(+2) and Co(+2) electrodeposition cells. No difference was found between bench and 0.01 g produced gradients for a .1M CuSO4 cell, but a significant difference was noted between the gradients in a 1M CoSO4 cell even though the bench cells were operated in a nonconvecting shielded (cathode over anode) mode. The gradient for Co(+2) depletion produced at 0.01 g was greater and the entire layer was thicker than found on the bench. Neutral buoyancy/matched density codeposition experiments were performed on the bench in an attempt to physically duplicate the results of metal/cermet codepositions in microgravity. Polystyrene spheres with average diameter 11.8 microns and density approximately matching that of 1M CoSO4 were utilized to emulate nonsedimenting cermets in microgravity. The cells were operated in a shielded convectionless mode. Comparison with literature data on codeposition with stirred cells indicate significant improvement in volume percent neutral occluded in the depositing metal matrix. A multicell electrodeposition flight apparatus that has been designed, constructed and is undergoing testing is discussed.

Riley, Clyde↗
NASA NTRS2009

Honeycomb vs. Foam: Evaluating a Potential Upgrade to ISS Module Shielding for Micrometeoroids and Orbital Debris

The presence of a honeycomb core in a multi-wall shielding configuration for protection against micrometeoroid and orbital debris (MMOD) particle impacts at hypervelocity is generally considered to be detrimental as the cell walls act to restrict fragment cloud expansion, creating a more concentrated load on the shield rear wall. However, mission requirements often prevent the inclusion of a dedicated MMOD shield, and as such, structural honeycomb sandwich panels are amongst the most prevalent shield types. Open cell metallic foams are a relatively new material with novel mechanical and thermal properties that have shown promising results in preliminary hypervelocity impact shielding evaluations. In this study, an ISS-representative MMOD shielding configuration has been modified to evaluate the potential performance enhancement gained through the substitution of honeycomb for open cell foam. The baseline shielding configuration consists of a double mesh outer layer, two honeycomb sandwich panels, and an aluminum rear wall. In the modified configuration the two honeycomb cores are replaced by open-cell foam. To compensate for the heavier core material, facesheets have been removed from the second sandwich panel in the modified configuration. A total of 19 tests on the double layer honeycomb and double layer foam configurations are reported. For comparable mechanical and thermal performance, the foam modifications were shown to provide a 15% improvement in critical projectile diameter at low velocities (i.e. 3 km/s) and a 3% increase at high velocities (i.e. 7 km/s) for normal impact. With increasing obliquity, the performance enhancement was predicted to increase, up to a 29% improvement at 60 (low velocity). Ballistic limit equations have been developed for the new configuration, and consider the mass of each individual shield component in order to maintain validity in the event of minor configuration modifications. Previously identified weaknesses of open cell foams for hypervelocity impact shielding such as large projectile diameters, low velocities, and high degrees of impact obliquity have all been investigated, and found to be negligible for the double-layer configuration.

Ryan, Shannon↗
DOE OSTI2021

Combination of DGA and LN Columns: A Versatile Option for Isotope Production and Purification at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

The chromatographic resins DGA and LN have been used sequentially to separate curium, californium, plutonium, and various fission products (FPs) to obtain products with a pure radioisotope or a radioelement with high isotopic purity. This 2-step combination of resins has found applications in the 252 Cf and 238 Pu campaigns performed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Experiments have been carried out in glove boxes, shielded caves, and hot cells, demonstrating that these resins are adequate and maintain their performance in highly radiolytic environments. We find that using these resins has led to the recovery of curium highly enriched (>95%) in 248 Cm, the clean separation of 251 Cf for the superheavy element research, and the recovery of 147 Pm from the FP stream obtained during the 238 Pu production campaign while demonstrating that the raffinate post DGA is essentially free of transuranic elements.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Low-Cost Scaffold-Reinforced Perovskite Solar Modules with Integrated Light Management

Perovskite solar cells are a promising new solar technology because they are highly efficient and cheaper to manufacture compared to silicon solar cells. However, perovskites suffer from mechanical and thermal fragility, important factors limiting device lifetimes, which leads to problems in making reliable solar cells. In our recent work, we showed how to make perovskite solar cells that look like the eye of a fly by subdividing a solar cell into thousands of microcells that are surrounded by a honeycomb-shaped reinforcing scaffold. This discovery was a new architecture called a compound solar cell (CSC). The perovskite is effectively shielded from mechanical forces by the scaffold and leads to robust solar cells that are no longer fragile. This was a promising advancement, but the drawback of the scaffold structure is that the scaffold absorbs light from the solar cell and leads to a reduced efficiency. In this project, we address this reduced efficiency by integrating concentrating lens arrays into CSCs to focus any incident light away from the scaffolds. Perovskite is deposited into the microcells between these scaffolds, and upon sunlight exposure, the lenses concentrate light into the microcells and away from the insulating scaffolds, resulting in significantly improved efficiencies. The lenses redirect over 90% of the light that otherwise would have been incident on the scaffolds into the microcells leading to a corresponding 90% recovery of efficiency. Furthermore, the lenses show passive light tracking capabilities, meaning as the angle of incident light changes (simulating how the sunlight moves across the sky during the course of the day), a majority of the light is still focused into the perovskite microcells. The improved efficiency and passive tracking capabilities suggest that lens-integrated CSCs are a potential pathway to high-performance, robust, commercially viable perovskite solar cells.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS1974

Saving Skylab

Initial difficulties encountered with the launch and operational deployment of the Skylab vehicle are described in terms of early indications of hardware failures, ground-based efforts at diagnosing the nature and significance of damage, and organization of improvized means and procedures for repair operations. Attention is given to heating and power-supply problems stemming from the loss of a micrometeoroid shield and a solar cell array. Systems engineering problems arising from the necessity of achieving a compromise among thermal, electrical, and stabilization requirements are explained, and repair solutions and operations in space and on the ground are described in detail.-

Schneider, W. C.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Radiation performance of GaAs concentrator cells for 0.4 to 12 MeV electrons and 0.1 to 37 MeV protons

Gallium arsenide concentrator cells have been irradiated with both electrons and protons with a wide variety of energies. The cells are made using OM-VPE growth process with a junction depth of a half micron. All data are taken with bare cells without coverglasses or shielding. Performance data are given at the designed concentration level of 100X AMO. Results are presented in a number of ways, including performance of electrical parameters (Pmax, Isc, and Voc) as a function of fluence for different electron and proton energies. Critical fluences (defined at a degradation of 25 percent in Pmax) are calculated for each energy level and presented for both electron and proton irradiations.

Curtis, Henry B.↗
NASA NTRS2009

NASA Lunar Mining and Construction Activities and Plans

The Space Exploration Policy enacted by the US Congress in 2005 calls for the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to implement a sustained and affordable human and robotic program to explore the solar system and beyond; Extend human presence across the solar system, starting with a human return to the Moon by the year 2020, in preparation for human exploration of Mars and other destinations; Develop the innovative technologies, knowledge, and infrastructures both to explore and to support decisions about the destinations for human exploration; and Promote international and commercial participation in exploration to further U.S. scientific, security, and economic interests. In 2006, NASA released the Lunar Architecture Study, which proposed establishing a lunar Outpost on the Moon with international participation to extend human presence beyond Earth's orbit, pursue scientific activities, use the Moon to prepare for future human missions to Mars, and expand Earth s economic sphere. The establishment of sustained human presence on the Moon for science and exploration combines the design, integration, and operation challenges experienced from both the short Apollo lunar missions and the build-up and sustained crew operations of the International Space Station (ISS). Apollo experience reminds developers and mission planners that hardware must operate under extremely harsh environmental and abrasive conditions and every kilogram of mass and payload must be critical to achieve the mission s objectives due to the difficulty and cost of reaching the lunar surface. Experience from the ISS reminds developers and mission planners that integration of all hardware must be designed and planned from the start of the program, operations and evolution of capabilities on a continuous basis are important, and long-term life-cycle costs and logistical needs are equally or more important than minimizing early development and test costs. Overarching all of this is the need to implement efforts that are sustainable and affordable. One area NASA is developing that can significantly change how systems required for sustained human presence are designed and integrated, as well as potentially break our reliance on Earth supplied logistics, is In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU). ISRU, also known living off the land, involves the extraction and processing of local resources into useful products. In particular, the ability to make propellants, life support consumables, fuel cell reagents, and radiation shielding can significantly reduce the cost, mass, and risk of sustained human activities beyond Earth. Also, the ability to modify the lunar landscape for safer landing, transfer of payloads from the lander an outpost, dust generation mitigation, and infrastructure placement and buildup are also extremely important for long-term lunar operations. While extra-terrestrial excavation, material handling and processing, and site preparation and construction may be new to NASA and other space agencies, there is extensive terrestrial hardware and commercial experience that can be leveraged. This paper will provide an overview of current NASA activities in lunar ISRU mining and construction and how terrestrial experience in these areas are important to achieving the goal of affordable and sustainable human exploration.

Sanders, Gerald B.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Concept for Hydrogen-Impregnated Nanofiber/Photovoltaic Cargo Stowage System

A stowage system was conceived that consists of collapsible, reconfigurable stowage bags, rigid polyethylene or metal inserts, stainless-steel hooks, flexible photovoltaic materials, and webbing curtains that provide power generation, thermal stabilization, impact resistance, work/sleeping surfaces, and radiation protection to spaceflight hardware and crew members. Providing materials to the Lunar surface is costly from both a mass and a volume standpoint. Most of the materials that will be transferred to other planets or celestial bodies will not be returned to the Earth. In developing a plan to reconfigure pressurized logistics modules, it was determined that there was a requirement to be able to utilize the interior volume of these modules and transform them from Logistics Modules to Storage/Living Quarters. Logistics-to-living must re-utilize stowage bags and the structures that support them to construct living spaces, partitions, furniture, protective shelters from solar particle events, galactic cosmic radiation, and workspaces. In addition to reusing these logistics items for development of the interior living spaces, these items could also be reused outside the habitable volumes to build berms that protect assets from secondary blast ejecta, to define pathways, to stabilize high traffic areas, to protect against dust contamination, to secure assets to mobility elements, to provide thermal protection, and to create other types of protective shelters for surface experiments. Unique features of this innovation include hydrogen-impregnated nano fibers encapsulated in a polyethelyne coating that act as radiation shielding, flexible solar collection cells that can be connected together with cells from other bags via the webbing walls to create a solar array, and the ability to reconfigure each bag to satisfy multiple needs.

Kennedy, Kriss J.↗
NASA NTRS1991

The effect of low energy protons on silicon solar cells with simulated coverglass cracks

Results of a series of low-energy proton (LEP) tests are presented. The purpose of the tests was to investigate the effect of low-energy protons on the electrical performance of solar cells with simulated cracked covers. The results of the tests were then related to the space environment. A matrix of LEP tests was set up using solar cells with simulated cracks to determine the effect on electrical performance as a function of fluence, energy, crack width, coverglass adhesive shielding, crack location, and solar cell size. The results of the test were, for the most part, logical, and consistent.

Gasner, S.↗