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DOE OSTI2026

Experimental Results for an Inverter Integrated with A High-Speed Surface Permanent Magnet External Rotor Motor

This work presents the prototyping and testing of a high-speed outer rotor surface permanent magnet motor. The motor employs non-heavy rare-earth permanent magnets and operates at a rated speed of 6,666 rpm. In-slot ceramic heat exchangers are used to cool the windings. The external rotor configuration provides substantial space within the stator bore, which is used for power electronics integration. This integration introduces several design and thermal management challenges that are discussed in the paper. The machine has been prototyped and tested under various operating conditions, and both simulation and experimental results are presented.

Rallabandi, Vandana [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000236241901↗

DOE OSTI2025

2 Kelvin helium distribution system for the Electron Ion Collider’s 10 o’clock satellite refrigerator

The Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) will involve superfluid helium cooling of superconducting magnets and Superconducting Radio Frequency (SRF) cavities at several sites around the existing Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) accelerator tunnel. While the majority of the cooling power for these loads is provided by BNL’s central cryogenic plant, Jefferson Lab is designing satellite equipment which augments the central plant and enables 2 Kelvin operation. The 2 K cryogenic distribution system for the collider’s 10 o’clock location (Interaction Region 10 or IR10) includes all necessary interfaces to the IR10 Satellite Refrigerator, to the overall EIC cryogenic distribution system, and to 12 SRF cryomodules for the electron and hadron storage rings. In addition to providing the required cooling capacities in all operating modes, the IR10 2 K cryogenic distribution system also stabilizes the supply temperature and enables safe connection and disconnection of individual IR10 cryomodules. Moreover, the layout of the IR10 2 K cryogenic distribution system copes with challenging spatial constraints and adapts to the process configuration and routing of existing RHIC cryogenic distribution components which will be re-used for EIC. This paper gives a full overview of the IR10 satellite cryogenic distribution system design, and highlights some of the challenges encountered.

Laverdure, Nathaniel [Thomas Jefferson National Ac↗

DOE OSTI2020

Thermal Design Consideration of Medium Voltage High Frequency Transformers

This paper describes a thermal design using epoxy potting for high frequency transformer (HFT) for medium voltage high power electronic applications, namely emerging solid-state transformers. To address HFT’s thermal stress problem, thermal performance of the HFT with air and epoxy potting cooling method are both simulated by magnetothermal-fluid coupling method (MTFCM). The effectiveness of the simulation analysis is verified in a 100 kW DC-DC resonant converter. Influencing factors including distance between the high frequency transformer and the metal enclosure, epoxy thermal conductivity and heat sink placements are simulated and analyzed. Finally, an optimal cooling structure is proposed for future high power HFTs.

Wang, Haoming↗

DOE OSTI2021

SiC and GaN Devices With Cryogenic Cooling

This article presents the cryogenically cooled application for wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductor devices. Characteristics of silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN) at cryogenic temperatures are illustrated. SiC MOSFETs exhibit increased on-state resistance and slower switching speed at cryogenic temperatures. However, cryogenic cooling provides low ambient temperature environment and thus enables the SiC converter to operate at lower junction temperature to achieve higher efficiency compared to room temperature cooling. A cryogenically cooled MW-level SiC inverter prototype is developed and demonstrated the feasibility of operating high-power SiC converter with cryogenic cooling. GaN HEMTs exhibit more than five times on-state resistance reduction and faster switching speed at cryogenic temperatures which makes GaN HEMTs an excellent candidate for cryogenic power electronics applications. The significantly reduced on-state resistance of GaN devices provides the possibility to operate them at a current level much higher than rated current at cryogenic temperatures. A GaN double pulse test (DPT) circuit is constructed and demonstrated that GaN HEMTs can operate at nearly four times of rated current at cryogenic temperatures. Challenges of utilizing WBG device with cryogenic cooling are discussed and summarized.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2021

Demonstration of electron cooling using a pulsed beam from an electrostatic electron cooler

Not Available

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2021

Characterization of Highly Thermally Conductive Organic Substrates for a Double-Sided Cooled Power Module

Abstract Silicon-Carbide (SiC) power devices have become a promising option for traditional Silicon (Si) due to the superior material properties. To fully take advantage of the SiC devices, a high-performance power device packaging solution is necessary. This study proposes a cost-effective double-sided cooled (DSC) 1.2 kV SiC half-bridge power module using organic epoxy-resin composite dielectric (ERCD) substrates. The high mechanical and thermal performance of the power module is achieved by the low-modulus, moderate thermal conductivity, and relatively thin (120 μm) layer of ERCD material compared with traditional metal-clad ceramic approaches. This novel organic dielectric can withstand high voltage (5 kV @ 120 μm) and operate up to 250°C continuously, which is indispensable for high power applications. The thermal modeling results show that the equivalent thermal resistance junction-to-case (Rjc_eq) of the DSC power module using dual direct bonded copper (DBC) is 17% higher than the dual ERCD configuration. Furthermore, a non-insulated DSC power module concept is proposed for maximizing thermal performance by considering thermal vias in the ERCD substrate and direct-soldered heat sink. A thought process for optimization of thermal via design is demonstrated and it shows up to 24% of improvement on thermal performance compared with the insulated DSC power module.

Double-sided cooling, epoxy-resin composite dielec↗

DOE OSTI2021

Thermal and Reliability Characterization of an Epoxy Resin-Based Double-Side Cooled Power Module

Wide-Band Gap (WBG) power devices have become a promising option for high-power applications due to the superior material properties over traditional Silicon. To not limit WBG devices’ mother nature, a rugged and high-performance power device packaging solution is necessary. This study proposes a Double-Side Cooled (DSC) 1.2 kV half-bridge power module having dual epoxy resin insulated metal substrate (eIMS) for solving convectional power module challenges and providing a cost-effective solution. The thermal performance outperforms traditional Alumina (Al2O3) Direct Bonded Copper (DBC) DSC power module due to moderate thermal conductivity (10 W/mK) and thin (120 mm) epoxy resin composite dielectric working as the IMS insulation layer. This novel organic dielectric can withstand high voltage (5 kVAC @ 120 μm) and has a Glass Transition Temperature (Tg) of 300°C, which is suitable for high-power applications. In the thermal-mechanical modeling, the organic DSC power module can pass the thermal cycling test over 1,000 cycles by optimizing the mechanical properties of the encapsulant material. In conclusion, this article not only proposes a competitive organic-based power module but also a methodology of evaluation for thermal and mechanical performance.

42 ENGINEERING↗

NASA NTRS2017

Gravity Effects in Microgap Flow Boiling

Increasing integration density of electronic components has exacerbated the thermal management challenges facing electronic system developers. The high power, heat flux, and volumetric heat generation of emerging devices are driving the transition from remote cooling, which relies on conduction and spreading, to embedded cooling, which facilitates direct contact between the heat-generating device and coolant flow. Microgap coolers employ the forced flow of dielectric fluids undergoing phase change in a heated channel between devices. While two phase microcoolers are used routinely in ground-based systems, the lack of acceptable models and correlations for microgravity operation has limited their use for spacecraft thermal management. Previous research has revealed that gravitational acceleration plays a diminishing role as the channel diameter shrinks, but there is considerable variation among the proposed gravity-insensitive channel dimensions and minimal research on rectangular ducts. Reliable criteria for achieving gravity-insensitive flow boiling performance would enable spaceflight systems to exploit this powerful thermal management technique and reduce development time and costs through reliance on ground-based testing. In the present effort, the authors have studied the effect of evaporator orientation on flow boiling performance of HFE7100 in a 218 m tall by 13.0 mm wide microgap cooler. Similar heat transfer coefficients and critical heat flux were achieved across five evaporator orientations, indicating that the effect of gravity was negligible.

microscale↗

NASA NTRS2017

Gravity Effects in Microgap Flow Boiling

microscale↗

DOE OSTI2020

First lower hybrid current drive experiments on the WEST tokamak

The first lower hybrid current drive experiments in the full tungsten WEST tokamak are reported. Good wave coupling is found at rather low plasma current (q 95 ~4.3) and medium density (n e ~3×10 19 m -3 ). Reflection coefficient is in agreement with the expectation from the linear theory of coupling. With low reflection coefficients, 5MW was coupled for 2 seconds. High central electron temperature, up to 5keV, is achieved at ne = 3-4×10 19 m -3 . Flat and even hollow profiles of tungsten density are derived from the bolometry diagnostic. The stored thermal energy follows the H96-P scaling law with very slight degradation with density. The current drive efficiency has been assessed in low loop voltage (V L ~0.15V) discharges. Low plasma current operation and rather high effective charge (Z eff ~3) lead to modest current drive efficiency (η = 0.5-0.65 × 10 19 A.W -1 m -2 ). Long pulse operation (~30s) with high LHCD power (P LH =2.7MW) is achieved with stationary parameters, in particular electron and impurity densities, with the upper water-cooled tungsten divertor.

Goniche, M.↗

DOE OSTI2023

Compact, high-power superconducting radio-frequency accelerators for environmental applications

Electron-beam irradiation has been proven to destructively reduce or eliminate a wide variety of organic chemicals, viruses and bacteria from wastewater, as well as reducing sulfur and nitrous oxides emission from coal-fired power plants. It is estimated that there are approximately 30,000 such particle accelerators in use worldwide for industrial processes including surface and bulk processing of material, medical sterilization, and environmental remediation. Maximum beam power from accelerators used in these applications is currently limited to less than 500 kW, and a higher beam power is needed to reduce treatment costs. The market availability of continuous-wave (CW) electron-beam accelerators with power of the order of ~100 kW is also very limited. Superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) linear accelerators (linacs) are commonly used at basic research laboratories throughout the world due to their exceptionally high efficiency as compared to current industrial varieties. Recent advances in cryogenics, SRF thin films and high-power magnetrons allow for the design of increasingly compact and efficient CW SRF electron linacs in the energy range 1-10 MeV, with up to 1 MW of beam power. A new class of compact, high-efficiency electron-beam accelerators may provide cost-effective solutions for a range of industrial and environmental remediation applications, particularly with respect to tackling one such class of contaminants so-called forever chemicals, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), which are ubiquitous in a wide range of products and for which there is currently no effective destruction technology. We have recently demonstrated the key technologies required for such accelerators by: 1) operating a Nb3Sn SRF accelerating cavity cooled by commercial cryocoolers up to an accelerating gradient of 12.4 MV/m and 2) demonstrating the phase-locking as well as a high-efficiency power combining scheme for industrial magnetron transmitters. In this presentation, we will introduce the principles and benefits of MW-class SRF linacs, based on the conduction-cooled SRF technology that we have demonstrated for environmental remediation. We propose the development of a 4 MeV, 20 kW prototype to be built at Jefferson Lab as a first accelerator demonstrator unit. We will also present the results from samples study on the effect of electron-beam irradiation on so-called forever chemicals such as 1,4-dioxane and PFAS, using an existing multi-purpose 10 MeV, low-power, CW SRF linac at Jefferson Lab.

Ciovati, Gianluigi↗

DOE OSTI2022

First-Principles Calculations of Thermoelectric Transport Properties of Quaternary and Ternary Bulk Chalcogenide Crystals

Chalcogenide crystals have a wide range of applications, especially as thermoelectric materials for energy conversion. Thermoelectric materials can be used to generate an electric current from a temperature gradient based on the Seebeck effect and based on the Peltier effect, and they can be used in cooling applications. Using first-principles calculations and semiclassical Boltzmann theory, we have computed the Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity, electronic thermal conductivity, power factor, and figure of merit of 30 chalcogenide crystals. A Quantum Espresso package is used to calculate the electronic properties and locate the Fermi level. The transport properties are then calculated using the BoltzTraP code. The 30 crystals are divided into two groups. The first group has four crystals with quaternary composition (A 2 BCQ 4 ) (A = Tl; B = Cd, Hg; C = Si, Ge, Sn; Q = S, Se, Te). The second group contains 26 crystals with the ternary composition (A’B’Q 2 ) (A’ = Ag, Cu, Au, Na; B’ = B, Al, Ga, In; Q = S, Se, Te). Among these 30 chalcogenide crystals, the results for 11 crystals: Tl 2 CdGeSe 4 , Tl 2 CdSnSe 4 , Tl 2 HgSiSe 4 , Tl 2 HgSnS 4 , AuBSe 2 , AuBTe 2 , AuAlTe 2 , AuGaTe 2 , AuInTe 2 , AgAlSe 2 , and AgAlTe 2 are revealed for the first time. In addition, temperature-dependent transport properties of pure and doped AgSbSe 2 and AgSbTe 2 crystals with dopant compositions of AgSb 0.94 Cd 0.06 Te 2 and AgSbTe 1.85 Se 0.15 were explored. These results provide an excellent database for bulk chalcogenides crucial for a wide range of potential applications in renewable energy fields.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

NASA NTRS1989

Critical Evaluation of the Conference on Low Reynolds Number Aerodynamics at the University of Notre Dame

As a result of the continued interest in designing efficient low Reynolds number systems, the University of Notre Dame decided to organize a Conference on Low Reynolds Number Aerodynamics in June 1989. This Conference followed the 1986 International Conference in London by about three years and the first Conference on Low Reynolds Number Airfoil Aerodynamics at Notre Dame in 1985 by four years. The emphasis of the 1989 Conference was to assess the state-of-the-art in the chord Reynolds number range from about 10,000 to about 700,000. Applications of current interest include high altitude remotely or robotically piloted vehicles, ultra-light, and human powered vehicles as well as mini-RPVs at low altitudes. Other examples include small axial-flow fans used to cool electronic equipment in the unpressurized sections of high-altitude aircraft and gas turbine blades. High Reynolds number airfoil design strategies attempt to control the onset and development of turbulent boundary layers. This is difficult at low Reynolds numbers because of the increased stability of attached laminar boundary layers. Therefore, laminar separation is common even at small angles of attack at low Reynolds numbers. Under these conditions, the development of a turbulent boundary layer usually depends on the formation of a transitional separation bubble. The purpose of this Conference on Low Reynolds Number Aerodynamics was to bring together those researchers who have been active in areas closely related to this subject. It is clear from the papers presented that a great deal of progress has been made in understanding the occurrence and behavior of laminar separation and transition as well as their overall effect on the performance of airfoils at low chord Reynolds numbers. This progress has brought us closer to our goal of improving analytical methods for the design and evaluation of a variety of practical applications.

Mueller, Thomas J.↗

NASA NTRS2015

Thermodynamic Analysis of the 3-Stage ADR for the Astro-H Soft X-Ray Spectrometer Instrument

The Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) instrument on Astro-H will use a 3-stage ADR to cool the microcalorimeter array to 50 mK. In the primary operating mode, two stages of the ADR cool the detectors using superfluid helium at 1.20 K as the heat sink. In the secondary mode, which is activated when the liquid helium is depleted, two of the stages continuously cool the (empty) helium tank using a 4.5 K Joule-Thomson cooler as the heat sink, and the third stage cools the detectors. In the design phase, a high-fidelity model of the ADR was developed in order to predict both the cooling capacity and heat rejection rates in both operating modes. The primary sources of heat flow are from the salt pills, hysteresis heat from the magnets and magnetic shields, and power dissipated by the heat switches. The flight instrument dewar, ADR, detectors and electronics were integrated in mid-2014 and have since undergone extensive performance testing, in part to validate the performance model. This paper will present the thermodynamic performance of the ADR, including cooling capacity, heat rejection to the heat sinks, and various measures of efficiency.

space cryogenics↗

DOE OSTI2021

Quantization effects in semiconductor nanostructures and singlet fission in molecular chromophores for photovoltaics and solar fuels

Hot carriers in semiconductors are electrons and/or holes that have energies greater than carriers that reside at the top and bottom of the conduction and valence bands, respectively; the latter carriers are in equilibrium with the lattice and have a temperature equal to the lattice (ambient) temperature. Hot carriers are created in semiconductors upon the absorption of photons with energies greater than the bandgap. The excess energy above the bandgap energy is in the form of kinetic energy. The hot carriers can cool to the lattice temperature via electron–phonon scattering and establish separate Boltzmann distributions for electrons and holes at the band edges. Thus, upon cooling, the excess kinetic energy of the hot carriers is transformed into heat and is unavailable to be converted into electrical or chemical free energy in a solar photon-converting cell. This hot-carrier cooling process significantly limits the maximum possible power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the free energy of solar photons into electrical free energy or chemical free energy in chemical bonds of fuels. However, if hot-carrier cooling can be slowed such that the hot carriers can be extracted before cooling to create higher photovoltages, or utilized to create additional electron-hole pairs through carrier multiplication, then beneficial use can be made of the excess energy of hot carriers and the maximum thermodynamic PCE can be dramatically increased. Quantization effects in semiconductor nanostructures, unique properties of some bulk semiconductors, and exciton multiplication in both semiconductors and molecular chromophores that undergo singlet fission have shown a path forward for potential dramatic increases in the PCEs of solar photons into electricity and solar fuels. The status, history, and future promise of the science and technology of these future approaches for different types of photovoltaic cells and cells for solar fuels will be discussed.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

DOE OSTI2024

Testing of Helium-Cooled Metal Molybdenum Disk Target

NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes LLC is planning to produce an important medical radioisotope, molybdenum-99 (Mo-99), through photonuclear reaction on molybdenum-100 (Mo-100). In this approach, molybdenum metal will be bombarded with a 40-MeV electron beam. Because enriched Mo-100 is expensive, it is desired to use as much beam power as possible to achieve maximum production yield and minimize target mass. This objective leads to very high beam power density (heat deposition in the target), which sets challenging requirements for cooling. Together with scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory, a team at Argonne National Laboratory has developed and demonstrated a cooling approach using pressurized helium, which allows for efficient heat removal. One of the main challenges in this approach is the management of the heat load on the target window. The target window separates the high-pressure helium inside the target from the vacuum in the beamline, so it is constantly under stress from differential pressure. Also, the window is cooled only by the helium gas flowing on one side, making the window cooling even more challenging. High heat deposition in the target disks also imposes a strict requirement on performance of the helium cooling system and thickness of the target disks. The target disks are produced from metal powder via a press-and-sinter process. The resulting disks do not possess tensile strength as high as solid molybdenum and might not survive the vibration from the high-velocity helium coolant and high thermal stress from beam heating. An Argonne team of scientists performed a series of tests at Argonne’s Low Energy Accelerator Facility (LEAF) [3-7]. This report describes two series of tests for scale down production target designs that utilize full-scale 29 millimeters diameter, 0.75 mm thick press-and-sintered disks. We performed two thermal tests with different beam parameters and configurations of the disk laminations. We compared the results of the window temperature measurements and cooling system parameters obtained in the experiments with those predicted by analytical calculations and Computation Flow Dynamic (CFD) simulations. Results of the experiments and calculations are presented below.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2025

A Modified DBC Substrate Improving Thermal Performance for Confined Space Applications

High-power modules use substrates to house the semiconductor device and for electrical insulation. These substrates are constructed with thermally conductive dielectric material sandwiched between two metals to extract heat from semiconductor chips. Thus, the required cooling performance of a power module is linked to the substrate’s thermal performance and can vary based on the substrate technologies. Here, in this study, five substrate technologies were evaluated for space-restricted applications: direct-bonded copper (DBC), an insulated metal substrate (IMS), a thermally annealed pyrolytic graphite (TPG)-based IMS, DBC-based double-sided cooling, and direct-bonded aluminum (DBA) where the heat sink is directly attached without thermal interface materials (TIMs). The finite element (FE) analysis results suggest that the popular DBC substrate has thermal performance better than that of the other substrates for space-constrained applications. To further improve the thermal performance, a modified DBC substrate was proposed where a copper block was added between the semiconductor and the DBC substrate to achieve heat spreading underneath the chip. The modified DBC performance was then compared with the aforementioned substrates and the results showed significant thermal performance improvement. The results were verified with experimental results where the proposed substrate showed 20% more loss handling capability compared to an identical DBC substrate.

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2023

A Hot‐Swappable, Fault‐Tolerant, Modular Power Converter System for Solar Photovoltaic Plants

The performance metrics of the state-of-the-art commercial solar inverters, such as system cost, operation and maintenance (O&M) cost, service life, reliability, maintainability, and power density are much lower than the target metrics needed to achieve SunShot’s 2030 levelized cost of energy (LCOE) goals. To overcome the shortcomings of the existing solar inverters, this project proposed a novel Hot-Swappable, Fault-Tolerant, Modular Power Converter (HSFT-MPC) concept for solar photovoltaic (PV) plants and proved the concept through the design, fabrication, and laboratory test validation of a single-phase HSFT-MPC prototype. The HSFT-MPC has the following distinct advantages over the state-of-the-art: 1) elimination of harmonic/ electromagnetic interference (EMI) filter in the inverter stage due to the novel topology, 2) lower system cost and higher power density due to the modular design, elimination of harmonic/EMI filter, and lower cooling requirement, 3) higher efficiency due to lower switching frequencies, 4) higher reliability and longer (50 years) service life due to simpler cooling and fault tolerance capability, 5) easier installation, lower O&M cost, and improved maintainability due to the modular design and hot-swappable power electronic building blocks (PEBBs), and 6) improved manufacturability due to the modular design. This project developed a single-phase HSFT-MPC prototype with 25kW nominal output power, 2.4kV, 60Hz nominal AC output, lower than 5% AC output voltage total harmonic distortion, over 5 kW/L inverter power density, and 99.4% inverter peak efficiency, being tolerant to failure of single and multiple PEBBs, and capable of hot swapping of the failed PEBB(s). The HSFT-MPC enables uninterruptable operation of the solar PV plant when failure of single or multiple PEBBs or PV modules occurs. Compared with the existing solar inverters in the market, the HSFT-MPC is expected to reduce the inverter failure-caused downtime and energy losses of solar PV plants by more than 60% and 50%, respectively. Project findings have been presented at major conferences in the field and published in peer-reviewed papers, which added new knowledge to the field of power electronics for solar PV systems. A minicourse on Solar PV Systems was developed for outreach activities. The minicourse will help attract young individuals to the renewable energy profession which has a significant talent shortage. The HSFT-MPC is expected to overcome all of the shortcomings of the state-of-the-art solar inverters in terms of cost, efficiency, service life, reliability, maintainability, and manufacturability targets needed to achieve SunShot’s 2030 LCOE goals. Therefore, the proposed HSFT-MPC concept has the great potential to disrupt the current solar inverter market. This project created a pathway towards industry adoption of the HSFT-MPC to help achieve 50-year service life solar PV systems. Since the solar PV plants using the HSFT-MPC will feature with higher reliability, longer service life, and easier maintenance, they are particularly useful for the rural areas with underserved populations that demand reliable and affordable clean electricity. The outcomes of the project have the strong potential to address national needs in the field of renewable energy to reduce CO 2 emissions from the electricity sector, reduce imports of energy from foreign sources, and improve energy security, efficiency, and sustainability. Since electricity is used in almost all of society’s sectors, the outcomes of the project will benefit various sectors of society and economy.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗