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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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DOE OSTI2022

Novel Real- Time EMT- TS Modeling Architecture for Feeder Blackstart Simulations

This paper presents the development and benchmarking of a novel real-time electromagnetic-transient and transient-stability (EMT-TS) modeling architecture for distribution feeder restoration studies. The work presents for the first time in the literature a real-time EMT-TS testbed in which the grid-forming unit is simulated in EMT domain, operating as the slack bus of the phasor domain while including unbalanced voltage conditions. To evaluate the performance and limitations of the proposed model, an equivalent EMT testbed is developed to serve as a benchmark. First, the co-simulation framework and the domain coupling methodology are introduced. Next, the steady state operation of the EMT-TS and EMT models are matched. Then, tests are conducted to analyze the transient performance of the proposed EMT-TS model when compared to its EMT benchmark. Results reveal that when utilizing a battery energy storage system (BESS) as the grid-forming unit, the EMT-TS testbed can maintain high accuracy for typical load steps.

Paduani, Victor↗
DOE OSTI2020

Transcriptome Dynamics of the Inflorescence in Reciprocally Formed Allopolyploid Tragopogon miscellus (Asteraceae)

Polyploidy is an important evolutionary mechanism and is prevalent among land plants. Most polyploid species examined have multiple origins, which provide genetic diversity and may enhance the success of polyploids. In some polyploids, recurrent origins can result from reciprocal crosses between the same diploid progenitors. Although great progress has been made in understanding the genetic consequences of polyploidy, the genetic implications of reciprocal polyploidization remain poorly understood, especially in natural polyploids. Tragopogon (Asteraceae) has become an evolutionary model system for studies of recent and recurrent polyploidy. Allotetraploid T. miscellus has formed reciprocally in nature with resultant distinctive floral and inflorescence morphologies (i.e., short- vs. long-liguled forms). In this study, we performed comparative inflorescence transcriptome analyses of reciprocally formed T. miscellus and its diploid parents, T. dubius and T. pratensis. In both forms of T. miscellus, homeolog expression of ~70% of the loci showed vertical transmission of the parental expression patterns (i.e., parental legacy), and ~20% of the loci showed biased homeolog expression, which was unbalanced toward T. pratensis. However, 17.9% of orthologous pairs showed different homeolog expression patterns between the two forms of T. miscellus. No clear effect of cytonuclear interaction on biased expression of the maternal homeolog was found. In terms of the total expression level of the homeologs studied, 22.6% and 16.2% of the loci displayed non-additive expression in short- and long-liguled T. miscellus, respectively. Unbalanced expression level dominance toward T. pratensis was observed in both forms of T. miscellus. Significantly, genes annotated as being involved in pectin catabolic processes were highly expressed in long-liguled T. miscellus relative to the short-liguled form, and the majority of these differentially expressed genes were transgressively down-regulated in short-liguled T. miscellus. Given the known role of these genes in cell expansion, they may play a role in the differing floral and inflorescence morphologies of the two forms. In summary, the overall inflorescence transcriptome profiles are highly similar between reciprocal origins of T. miscellus. However, the dynamic homeolog-specific expression and non-additive expression patterns observed in T. miscellus emphasize the importance of reciprocal origins in promoting the genetic diversity of polyploids.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Smart Ventilation Controls for Occupancy and Auxiliary Fan Use Across U.S. Climates

Smart Ventilation has been developed as a way to reduce the energy associated with ventilation by changing when ventilation happens and how much ventilation occurs at any given time. In high performance buildings with low envelope and appliance related loads, ventilation is becoming a bigger part of the total building energy use and needs to be addressed if performance targets are to be met. This work explores the development and performance of smart ventilation controls based on occupancy and auxiliary fan operation that provide annual dwelling unit ventilation equivalence to ASHRAE Standard 62.2-2016. A prototype high performance home compliant with U.S. DOE Building America Zero Energy Ready program requirements was simulated using the REGCAP tool with and without smart controls across 15 U.S. DOE climate zones. Balanced and unbalanced IAQ fans were independently simulated, and all smart controlled fans had airflows double the reference 62.2-2016 airflow. Three idealized occupancy patterns were examined: 1st shift (a typical daily work/school absence), an extended 1st shift with more time spent out of the home evenings and weekends and 3rd shift (night work). The Occupancy controller turns the IAQ fan off during unoccupied periods, and it resumes ventilation upon their return. While unoccupied, contaminants are allowed to accumulate in the space, because occupants are not exposed to these contaminants. When occupants return home, they are exposed to these higher contaminant concentrations, and the controller increases the ventilation rate sufficiently to ensure equivalence with a continuous IAQ fan. Accounting for pollutant emissions that occur during unoccupied periods (as required by ASHRAE 62.2-2016), sharply distinguishes our occupancy controls from past Demand Controlled Ventilation systems. This new accounting method results in equivalent contaminant exposure, as well as lower reductions in average ventilation rates and lower energy savings. Smart controls were demonstrated that saved HVAC energy (i.e., avoided heating/cooling load, as well as fan energy)—averaging between 6 and 46% of ventilation-related energy use depending on the control strategy and occupancy pattern assumptions. The greatest savings were in the combined Auxiliary Fan + Occupancy control. Energy savings increased with climate heating demand and longer unoccupied time periods. The 3rd shift occupancy pattern had better performance, due to the thermal benefit of reducing the ventilation rate during the cold nighttime hours. This same effect provided a cooling energy benefit in hotter locations for the 1st shift. Overall, savings from occupancy-based smart controls were low, because of the recovery period required after occupants return home, during which the airflow is double the 62.2 reference. This recovery is required to maintain equivalence with the ASHRAE standard. Occupancy-based control performance was improved when combined with sensing auxiliary fans and when providing a pre-occupancy flush out of one- or two-hours. Performance was similarly improved if the ASHRAE Standard were to recognize that pollutant emissions are lower during unoccupied periods, iii allowing a lower target ventilation rate during unoccupied periods (not currently in the standard) (see Full vs. Half AEQ in this report). Finally, over-sized unbalanced fans that are cycled on-and-off by a smart controller (or timer) were found to substantially increase annual average air exchange and energy use relative to a continuous unbalanced fan due to the effects of superposition with natural infiltration.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2020

Effect of Accurate Modeling of Converter Interfaced Generation (CIG) on a Practical Bulk Power System

With increased penetration of converter interfaced generation (CIG) in power systems, it becomes imperative to adequately model them in both steady-state and dynamic simulations. There are several modeling approaches and simulation platforms for CIG. In addition, it is noted that suitability of modeling approaches and models is also dependent on the system conditions. However, their suitability has yet to be systematically analyzed, and this becomes a challenge in the industry without a systemic method. To tackle these challenges, in this paper, we first develop a methodology for identifying the maximum penetration of aggregated rooftop sources that can be represented as negative loads in both the steady state and dynamic analysis. Then we verify the suitability of positive-sequence performance-based model and detailed electromagnetic transient (EMT) model for utility-scale PV plants under different fault conditions. Based on the results, we perform dynamic simulations on a large practical system with both positive-sequence transient stability(TS) and EMT-TS hybrid simulation. Our study shows that positive-sequence performance based PV plant model is more suitable for study cases with faults relatively far away from the point of connection, and that positive-sequence models and TS simulation approach can produce comparable results with reference to EMT-TS hybrid simulation for normally-cleared single-line-to-ground faults, but the inadequacy of positive-sequence based model and simulation approach becomes obvious for prolonged-tripping of unbalanced faults in proximity of the PV plants.

Huang, Qiuhua↗
DOE OSTI2020

Local Phasor-Based Control of DER Inverters for Voltage Regulation on Distribution Feeders

We introduce a new control paradigm termed Phasor-Based Control (PBC) to coordinate Distributed Energy Resources (DER) for improved voltage regulation and other objectives. PBC is a multi-layer control framework where the state of the distribution grid is represented by voltage phasors, and Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) measure the state at critical points in the distribution grid. In the PBC paradigm, a supervisory controller (S-PBC) sets phasor targets which local controllers track. In this paper, we propose a Proportional Integral (PI) implementation for the local control layer (LPBC), to regulate real and reactive power output of distributed inverters to track a voltage phasor target computed by the supervisory layer. We tune the PI controller gains offline with a genetic algorithm that yields better performance than the Ziegler-Nichols method. We benchmark the proposed L-PBC controller against droop volt-var control (DVVC) and observe improved voltage regulation in simulation on the IEEE 13 node unbalanced test feeder (IEEE 13NF). Furthermore, by means of numerical simulation we observe the response of the L-PBC controllers to small and large grid disturbances. Simulations on larger feeders, IEEE 123-node and 647-node, demonstrate challenges with tuning controllers in setups with different amounts of power-voltage coupling.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2022

A Medium Voltage Testbed for the Performance and Function Tests of a 13.8 kV Power Conditioning System Converter

Medium voltage SiC devices facilitate the development of medium voltage grid-connected power electronics converters. However, it is difficult to test these converters directly on the real medium voltage grid, especially considering abnormal grid conditions, such as grid voltage and frequency variation, and different converter operation modes, such as grid-connected mode and islanded mode. This paper introduces the design and implementation of a medium voltage testbed, which supports tests of medium voltage converters in both grid-connected and islanded mode tests. In the grid-connected mode, the testbed can provide up to 13.8 kV grid voltage, can support the four-quadrant operation, and can emulate different grid conditions, such as voltage and frequency variation. In the islanded mode, the converter under test works as a voltage source and the testbed emulates a three-phase balanced or unbalanced load. Experiment test results are provided to validate the design and capability of the testbed.

Li, Haiguo↗
DOE OSTI2024

OPER: Optimality-Guided Embedding Table Parallelization for Large-scale Recommendation Model

With the sharp increasing volume of user data, Deep Learning Recommendation Model (DLRM) becomes an indispensable infrastructure in large technology companies. However, large-scale DLRM on the multi-GPU platform is still inefficient due to unbalanced workload partitioning and intensive inter-GPU communication. To this end, we propose OPER, an OPtimality guided Embedding table placement for large-scale Recommendation model training and inference. OPER explores the potential of mitigating remote memory access latency in DLRM through fine-grained embedding table placement. Specifically, OPER proposes a theoretical modeling that builds up the relationship between EMT placement and the embedding communication latency in both training and inference. OPER proves the NP hardness of finding the optimal embedding table placement and proposes a heuristic algorithm that yields near optimal placement. OPER implements a SHMEM-based embedding table training system and a unified embedding index mapping to support fine-grained embedding table sharding and placement. Comprehensive experiments reveal that OPER achieves on average 3.4× and 5.1× speedup on training and inference respectively over state-of-the-art DLRM frameworks.

Wang, Zheng↗
DOE OSTI2022

Improved Control Strategy of Grid-Forming Inverters for Fault Ride-Through in a Microgrid System

This paper develops an improved control strategy of grid-forming (GFM) inverters with fault ride-through capabilities to guarantee the stable operation of microgrids under fault conditions, especially islanded microgrids and asymmetrical faults. The proposed control strategy includes the dual control of positive-sequence and negative-sequence control as well as the adaptive virtual impedance (VI) control. Unlike existing works, the proposed strategy applies the VI control for only the d component of the positive-sequence control and leaves the q component of the positive-sequence control and the dq component of the negative-sequence control as zero, thus achieving improved stability and balanced three-phase voltages under asymmetrical faults. The adaptive feature of the VI control guarantees the stability of the GFM inverter under severe faults, which could cause the saturation of the inner current loop and instability if the VI is not adaptive. Simulation results of various unbalanced faults with high- and low-fault impedances show that the proposed control strategy improves the stability of the GFM inverter and achieves stable and balanced output voltages in islanded microgrids. And the algorithm also improves the stability of GFM inverters under balanced faults with high- and low-fault impedances.

adaptive virtual impedance control↗
DOE OSTI2022

Improved Control Strategy of Grid-Forming Inverters for Fault Ride-Through in a Microgrid System

This paper develops an improved control strategy of grid-forming (GFM) inverters with fault ride-through (FRT) capabilities to guarantee the stable operation of microgrids under fault conditions, especially islanded microgrids and asymmetrical faults. The proposed control strategy includes the dual control of positive-sequence and negative-sequence control as well as the adaptive virtual impedance (VI) control. Unlike existing works, the proposed strategy applies the VI control for only the d component of the positive-sequence control and leaves the q component of the positive-sequence control and the dq component of the negative-sequence control as zero, thus achieving improved stability and balanced three-phase voltages under asymmetrical faults. The adaptive feature of the VI control guarantees the stability of the GFM inverter under severe faults, which could cause the saturation of the inner current loop, and the instability if the VI is not adaptive. Simulation results of various unbalanced faults with high and low fault impedances show that the proposed control strategy improves the stability of the GFM inverter and achieves stable and balanced output voltages in islanded microgrids. And the algorithm also improves the stability of GFM inverters under balanced faults with high and low fault impedances.

adaptive virtual impedance control↗
DOE OSTI2024

Impact of Inverter-Based Resources on Grid Protection: A Review of Negative-Sequence Current Generation

The increasing integration of inverter-based resources (IBRs) in power grids poses challenges to traditional protection systems, primarily due to their different fault current signatures compared to conventional synchronous generators. Unlike synchronous generators whose fault response is dictated by their physical design, IBRs exhibit a wide range of fault characteristics due to manufacturer-specific control algorithms and settings. This dependence on proprietary control schemes makes modeling IBR behavior during faults significantly more complex, especially considering the rapid evolution of inverter technology and the diverse control strategies employed. While much research has focused on the positive-sequence current injections of IBRs during symmetrical faults, the understanding of negative-sequence current generation during non-symmetrical faults remains limited. This report provides an overview of current research on IBRs' negative-sequence current generation during unbalanced faults and its impact on protection schemes based on negative-sequence components. It covers both type III wind turbines and full-size converter-based IBRs. Additionally, this report reviews strategies for grid-forming controlled inverters to generate negative-sequence current during unbalanced faults, in addition to grid-following controlled ones.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2021

Unbalancing Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation: Can We Make Effectiveness More Effective?

One of the most critical uses of carbon fuels is in generating nitrogen fertilizer. Atmospheric dinitrogen is too stable to be used directly by plants, so plants need other chemical forms of nitrogen. Nitrogen fertilizer production uses ~4% of the world’s natural gas. Making N fertilizers leverages methane’s energy content by enabling additional energy to be captured into food and fiber through increased photosynthesis. Manufacturing fertilizer is essential—without it there would only be enough combined nitrogen to feed ~3 billion of the world’s ~7 billion people. How to alter this addiction is not obvious, but the best chance to secure substantial and sustainable amounts of future N might be through symbiotic nitrogen fixation (SNF). SNF describes mutualistic interactions where nitrogen-fixing bacteria provide fixed nitrogen to their plant hosts, freeing them from the need for nitrogen fertilizers. SNF already occurs on a large scale; "biological nitrogen” contributes about 5 Tg N/yr to American agriculture, a quarter of the nitrogen needed. Improving SNF and replacing inorganic fertilizers are both important goals in establishing sustainable and more energy-efficient farming. SNF has been used in agriculture for millennia, largely by using legumes like beans or alfalfa in mixed cropping systems. Legume SNF occurs in root nodules, organs that develop after a growing root is infected by bacteria called rhizobia. In the plant cells of a legume nodule, specialized forms of rhizobia fix nitrogen and can produce enough ammonia to supply the growing plant. The exchange of photosynthetically derived plant carbon compounds for nitrogen reduced by the bacteria is the engine that drives the symbiosis. Important details about the organization of development and metabolism in SNF remain to be determined, such as how plant and bacterial metabolism are coordinated as nitrogen is being fixed and what governs the overall level of nitrogen fixation. Most bacterial mutations that affect SNF completely block fixation (e.g. are Fix – ), providing a limited window into the feedback interactions that must be part of the process. We have investigated an unusual mutant of Sinorhizobium meliloti, a symbiotic partner of alfalfa, that fixes dinitrogen at a normal rate (i.e., it is Fix + ) but is not effective in supporting plant growth (i.e., it is ineffective or Eff – ). We have shown that the mutant has a specific mutation in the glnD gene, which codes for a protein that regulates the bacterial response to nitrogen stress, among other key pathways. A Fix + Eff – phenotype contains an unavoidable puzzle—how is it possible for the bacteria to fix nitrogen at a normal rate and without benefiting the nitrogen starved plant host? After eliminating other possibilities, we proposed that the bacteria synthesize a nitrogen-containing compound that the plant can’t use so that acquiring this compound does not relieve plant nitrogen stress. Extracts of nodules made by glnD mutant strains have high concentrations of pyruvate canaline oxime (PCO), a derivative of the plant defensive compound canaline, a toxic analog of ornithine, an amino acid. Many legumes produce canaline and the related arginine mimic canavanine. For reasons we do not yet understand, the mutation in glnD appears to trigger significant overproduction of canaline in a defense response that leads to substantial synthesis of PCO. We expected the bacteria to be able to use PCO, but we have not been able to grow S. meliloti on PCO under several conditions. PCO thus appears to be a metabolic dead end for both the plant and bacteria. We also examined bacterial catabolic pathways that degrade arginine and canavanine and showed that mutation of these did not alter the symbiosis in an obvious way. In related experiments to examine the metabolic development of root nodules, we carried out an ambitious experiment to simultaneously measure metabolites and protein changes during nodule maturation. For these experiments we used a related symbiotic interaction between S. medicae and Medicago truncatula. M. truncatula has a simpler genome than alfalfa so we could identify plant proteins based on predictions from the DNA sequence. Nodules formed on Medicago grow linearly, with the least mature tissues at the tip. Because development of nitrogen fixation is accompanied by the production of the pigmented plant oxygen carrier protein leghemoglobin, we were able to locate and manually separate the tip, transitional, and mature nitrogen-fixing regions from each other. Advances in proteomic and metabolomic techniques allowed us to analyze these tissues from a pool of as few as 10 nodules. We observed correlated transitions of various enzymes in the plant and bacterial proteomes from those characteristic of free-living metabolism to the microaerobic metabolism of the nitrogen-fixing tissues. The metabolome could not be separated into plant and bacterial domains but was consistent with this overall transition. A subsequent paper examined proteolysis in nodule bacteria. Protein turnover in mature regions of the nodule is significant. We were able to show complexes between various proteins and important proteases, using precipitation capture techniques to isolate the proteases and sensitive proteomic analysis to reveal the associated proteins.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Quantifying cover crop effects on soil health and productivity

The dataset presented here supports the research paper entitled “A calculator to quantify cover crop effects on soil health and productivity”. Soil health (sometimes used synonymously with soil quality) is a concept that describes soil as a living system to sustain plants, animals, and human. Soil physical, chemical, and biological properties, along with their interactions, are required to quantify soil health. The use of cover crops in agricultural rotations may enhance soil health, yet there has been little progress in understanding how external factors such as climate, soil type, and agronomic practices affect soil and cash crop responses. In response, this dataset compiles measurements from 281 studies and provides an analysis of field-measured changes in 38 soil health indicators due to cover crop usage. Environmental and background indicators were also compiled to assess how climatic and management practices affect soil and cash crop responses to cover crops, with specific categories including climate type (tropical, arid, temperate, and continental), soil texture (coarse, medium, and fine), cover crop type (legume, grass, multi-species mixture, and other), and cash crop type (corn, soybean, wheat, vegetable, corn-soybean rotation, corn-soybean-wheat rotation, and other). An unbalanced analysis of variation was used to determine the hierarchy of most to least important factors that affected responsiveness of each soil health indicator. Based on the hierarchy structure, a soil health calculator was then developed to quantify the response of 13 parameters – erosion, runoff, weed suppression, soil aggregate stability, leaching, infiltration, microbial biomass carbon, soil bulk density, soil organic carbon, soil nitrogen, microbial biomass nitrogen, cash crop yield, and saturated hydraulic conductivity – to cover crops. The presented data in the calculator report the mean change in parameter values based on all combinations of climate, soil texture, cover crop type, and cash crop type.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2021

Displacement driven balancing of a diamond turning machine flycutter

The spindle balancing operation is critical to the performance of precision lathes and should be conducted anytime the configuration of the spindle or its tooling is modified such that an unbalanced condition may occur. Within the machine tool community, accelerometers are typically used as the feedback device during the balancing operation. At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), we have nearly 40 years of history using displacement sensors, such as capacitance gauges, in place of accelerometers when balancing precision spindles. The process of balancing a precision machine spindle using displacement sensors is presented in the context of two work examples. In this case, the details of the one-dimensional balancing operation performed after replacing a flycutter on the spindles of two unique large optic diamond turning machines is discussed. The pros and cons of accelerometer driven balancing and displacement driven balancing are also presented. In the accelerometer context, the level of balance achieved for our work example is less than 100 micro-g or a total indicator reading (TIR) of 1.6 µm. The process of balancing has been enhanced over the years as advances have been made in software, data acquisition systems, and instrumentation. The balancing system is described including details about instrumentation, set-up, how phase and spindle structure stiffness is calculated, and how the LLNL developed software that guides the user through the process by suggesting corrective action.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2026

Evaluation of UKESM aerosol size and composition using ATom measurements indicates missing marine aerosol formation mechanisms

Atmospheric aerosols influence climate through their interactions with radiation and clouds, yet large uncertainties remain in their simulation by global models. This study evaluates the United Kingdom Earth System Model version 1.1 (UKESM1.1) using global-scale aircraft observations from the Atmospheric Tomography (ATom) mission, focusing on aerosol lifecycle processes in the remote marine atmosphere. We assess model performance in simulating aerosol precursor vapours, number size distributions, chemical composition, and environmental conditions. Several process improvements are tested, including sulfuric acid-ammonia nucleation, ammonium nitrate scheme, methanesulfonic acid condensation, and low-temperature isoprene-derived secondary organic aerosol formation. Model biases differ significantly between the upper troposphere (UT) and the marine boundary layer (MBL). In the UT, UKESM1.1 overestimates nucleation and Aitken mode particles while underestimating accumulation mode, indicating insufficient growth. In the MBL, the model overestimates primary aerosols (e.g. seasalt) and precursor gases but underestimates nucleation and Aitken mode particles, even after incorporating updated nucleation and ammonium nitrate scheme. The persistence of low aerosol number concentrations, despite overestimated precursors, suggests missing formation pathways likely involving other species such as iodine, amines, and organic vapours. These limitations result in an unbalanced cloud condensation nuclei budget that over-relies on primary emissions. Sensitivity tests reveal that model outputs are strongly influenced by dimethyl sulfide emissions and vapour condensation schemes. Our results highlight the need for future model development to prioritise mechanistic representation of currently missing aerosol sources, rather than relying on empirical tuning, to improve aerosol-climate interaction estimates.

He, Xu-Cheng [Univ. of Cambridge (United Kingdom);↗
DOE OSTI2024

Influence of crossover on capacity fade of symmetric redox flow cells

Volumetrically unbalanced compositionally symmetric cell cycling with potentiostatic (CV) or galvanostatic-with-potential-hold (CCCV) protocols is a rigorous technique for evaluating the calendar lifetime of reactants for redox flow batteries. Here, we evaluate the influence of reactant crossover through the membrane on symmetric cell cycling behavior. We tested symmetric cells of anthraquinone disulfonic acid (AQDS) with Nafion membranes of varied thickness and manufacture (NR211, NR212, N115, and N117, ranging 25–183 μm). Membranes were tested both as-received and pretreated with a common procedure of soaking in water at elevated temperature and then in dilute hydrogen peroxide. We found no significant difference in capacity fade rates of symmetric cells with any of the membranes as-received, indicating a negligible influence of crossover. However, we observed increased capacity fade with increased permeability through pretreated membranes. Supported by zero-dimensional modeling and operando UV-vis spectrophotometry, we propose a mechanism for net crossover in AQDS symmetric cells based on a higher time-averaged concentration of quinhydrone dimers in the non-capacity limiting side (NCLS) compared to the capacity limiting side (CLS), driving net crossover of AQDS reactants out of the CLS. Further, we illustrate other hypothetical scenarios of net crossover using the zero-dimensional model. Overall, many membrane–electrolyte systems used in symmetric cell studies have sufficiently low crossover flux as to avoid the influence of crossover on capacity fade, but under conditions of higher crossover flux, complex interactions of crossover and chemical reactions may result in diverse capacity fade trajectories, the mechanisms of which may be untangled with operando characterization and modeling.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Blackstart and Fault Ride-Through Capability of DFIG-Based Wind Turbines

Grid-forming wind turbines must be able to re-energize transmission branches, motor loads, unbalanced loads, and power electronics loads following a blackout. Further, they must ride through faults that can arise during restoration. To tackle these challenges, this paper sets forth a grid-forming control strategy for wind turbines using doubly-fed induction generators (DFIGs). In particular, a special set of feedforward control loops are engineered to mitigate the impacts of restoration transients as well as symmetrical and asymmetrical faults on the regulation of DFIG rotor currents and stator voltages. This paper also leverages two-axis anti-windup regulators to bound two-axis voltage and current commands within ratings. As a result, the controller performance is demonstrated via a high-fidelity simulation model of a notional wind-dominant grid.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Evaluating the Effectiveness of an Ultrasonic Acoustic Deterrent in Reducing Bat Fatalities at Wind Energy Facilities

This project was designed to use thermal video cameras and fatality monitoring to evaluate the effectiveness of an ultrasonic acoustic deterrent (UAD) on bat activity and mortality, respectively. Our goals were to redesign the UAD device and installation infrastructure, determine the placement on wind turbines to optimize safety, compatibility and functionality, and to compare the mortality among the following conditions: Control (deterrents off and turbines feathered up to the manufacturer’s cut-in speed of 3.5 m/s), Deterrent (deterrents on and turbines feathered up to the manufacturer’s cut-in speed of 3.5 m/s), Curtailment (deterrents off and turbines feathered up to 5/ m/s), and combination (deterrents on and turbines feathered up to 5 m/s). The project was divided into a Feasibility Study and Comparative Study. The objectives for the Feasibility Study were to develop an installation strategy, redesign a previous iteration of a UAD to improve performance and weatherization, and test the effectiveness of the deterrents on bat activity. The Feasibility Study was intended to work out potential issues using a relatively small number of devices prior to manufacturing and installing numerous devices for a larger-scale comparative study. The division of the project into these separate studies was based on previous experience and the challenges of assessing the capabilities of an untested UAD. During the initial development and manufacturing of the UAD, NRG Systems decided to use a piezoelectric transducer rather than an electrostatic transducer, which was used by a previous device (i.e. Deaton UAD). NRG Systems conducted lab testing (i.e., IP67 or Ingress Protection) to ensure no water or dust ingress. In addition, shock/drop trials and variations in temperature exposure were conducted as part of the reliability testing. NRG Systems also developed a communications system to allow for continuous performance monitoring of the UADs. For the Feasibility Study, we installed 6 UADs on each of 2 Gamesa G90 2-MW wind turbines (Turbine 14 and 8) at the South Chestnut Wind Energy Facility, Pennsylvania and monitored activity under control and treatment (i.e. Deterrent) conditions using thermal video monitoring. There are two major sources of variation in bat activity (beyond the anticipated treatment effect): 1) environment around the turbines might inherently favor more activity at one than the other; 2) weather conditions on any given night or within season difference (e.g., migration later during the study period) might favor more activity on some nights than on other nights. Because we could only monitor two turbines on any night, we sought to control the potential influences of these two sources by alternating the turbine on which deterrents were activated each night. If there were no loss of data due to technical failures, this design would result in an equal number of deterrent and control nights at each turbine through the monitoring period, balancing the effects of both sources of variation. We compared the time bats spent and the number of events that occurred in overlapping cameras FOV as an indicator of risk, since 80% of the overlapping FOV of the cameras was in the RSA. Equipment failures, majority due to lightning, resulted in only 17 nights with useable data, with unbalanced treatment assignment within turbines and uneven distribution of treatment assignment throughout the observational period. This resulted in a confounding of treatment assignment and seasonal change. Deterrent treatment was measured at Turbine 14 on only 2 of the first 8 usable nights (spanning the period from 8/18-9/17), whereas 6 times on Turbine 8. From 9/18-927, deterrent was on at Turbine 14 on 6 of the remaining 10 nights, and 4 on Turbine 8. We recorded a total of 1,057 bats and observed a reduction in number of events and duration of events at the UAD-activated turbine when it was Turbine 14. When Turbine 8 had the UAD activated, we observed no difference in number or duration of events. Variation between turbines is not unusual and can cause issues when study designs have no true replication, i.e., multiple turbines per treatment. Within-turbine differences suggested a trend for reduced activity when UADs were activated, particularly for Turbine 14. These results may be caused by the overall higher bat activity at Turbine 8 and confounding of treatment assignment and seasonal trends. We mapped 58 bat events in 3-dimensional space (3D), 30 and 28 events during control and treatment conditions, respectively. We observed bats crossing the rotor plane under both control and treatment conditions and observed a total of 40 confirmed or near-collisions (i.e., target close to blade but no visual confirmation of a strike) out of a total of 1,491 medium and high confidence bat observations (880 control, 611 at treatment). Twice as many collisions/possible collisions were observed during control conditions. Given the challenges with the equipment and potential confounding of the data (i.e., different activity levels at the two wind turbines), we were unable to determine whether this initial turbine placement and orientation was optimal. Given no new information on how best to install the devices, we elected to use the same placement and orientation for the comparative study. For the Comparative Study, the objectives were to investigate the relative mortality rates among 4 treatments. We searched the area within 90 m of each turbine daily to recover the highest number of fresh fatalities possible. We were unable to detect a clear reduction in mortality from deterrents alone for any individual species. Surprisingly, mortality rate of the eastern red bat (Lasiurus borealis) was estimated to be 1.3–4.2 times as much when turbines were operating normally and UADs were on than when UADs were off. Reduction in mortality of all bat species combined due to curtailment of turbines was estimated to be between 0%–38%. This effect was nullified when, in addition to curtailment, UADs were on, with 95% confidence interval ranging from a 45% reduction to a 36% increase in mortality. This was likely due to the large proportion of eastern red bats in the total carcass population. Mortality of all low-frequency echolocating bats combined (i.e. hoary bat [L. cinereus], big brown bat [Eptesicus fuscus], silver-haired bat [Lasionycteris noctivagans]) relative to control was lower when curtailed (95% CI: 0%–74%), but the addition of UADs had no detectable effect (95%CI: 13%–79%). The combined treatment reduced mortality in silver-haired bats relative to control by 11%–99%, compared to curtailment (81% reduction–67% increase) or deterrent (82% reduction–67% increase) alone. Because silver-haired bats comprised a large proportion of low-frequency calling bats found during this study, a similar effect was seen for that group. The higher mortality observed for eastern red bats at UAD compared to control could have been caused by several factors, such as the effective range of the UAD, particularly at higher frequencies, behavior, positioning of the devices on the nacelle, or a combination of these. We used 3D thermal videography to compare control and UAD bat behavior from two turbines using a total of 203 3D bat-tracks across 34 nights. We recorded a similar number of bat-tracks between treatment groups, with 51% and 49% for control and UAD, respectively. Due to potential differences in bat behavior around spinning vs stationary turbine blades, we examined UAD effectiveness separately for non-operating turbines (feathered below cut-in speed of 3.5 m/s) and operating (normal operation above wind speed of 3.5 m/s). We found a higher proportion of bat-tracks at operating turbines (82%) compared to non-operating turbines (18%), although this does not account for overall time turbines were operating versus not. At non-operating turbines the UAD appears to be effective at reducing the amount of time, flight length, and number of passes through the rotor plane, compared to control. In addition, we found bats approached turbines similarly between control and treatment turbines, with 61% of control and 63% of UAD bat-tracks originating leeward of the hub. In contrast, at operating turbines, we saw little change in bat behavior in response to UADs. For example, we found an increase in the average duration of bat-tracks between non-operating and operating turbines for UAD but at control turbines we found average duration decreased once turbines became operational. Both control and UAD had a high proportion of bat-tracks that crossed the rotor plane (i.e., collision risk) originate from the windward side when turbines were operational 65% to 92%, respectively. Given that the UAD devices closest to the blades were orientated parallel to the blades, its possible bats were not exposed to the signal until they were close to the turbine blades, as suggested by the slightly higher mean duration within 5 meters of the blades for UAD turbines. Future research should consider concentrating UAD intensity on the areas of risk (i.e. blades) with enough buffer to allow bats to react to the sound before entering the rotor-swept area (RSA). In addition, investigating the potential of installing UAD units windward of the turbine blades (e.g. a hub-mounted UAD), particularly since even under control conditions, a relatively high proportion (65%) of crosses through the blade plane originated windward. 3D thermal videography provided valuable information on future testing strategies (e.g. device placement, UAD orientation) to improve UAD effectiveness when bats are at risk (i.e., operating wind turbines). Across the entire project we experienced issues with the operation and communication with the UADs. Most of the issues occurred during the Feasibility Study and were resolved prior to the Comparability Study. Additional challenges surfaced during the Comparability Study but were remedied immediately and are thought to have little impact on the results. We had logistical constraints at the project that limited our ability use traditional methods in our camera calibration. Several calibrations showed inaccurate scales, which may have been related to inadequate spatial coverage of “points” in the camera calibration volume. Because we were using actual video recordings of bats at a wind turbine, the behavior of bats could have concentrated “points” in specific areas of the turbine (i.e. leeward of nacelle), and limited “points” in other areas, resulting in camera calibration issues. We have plans to address these inconsistencies and improving the software and related methodologies by early 2020.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Assembling Vertical Block Copolymer Nanopores via Solvent Vapor Annealing on Homopolymer-Functionalized Substrates

Utilizing the self-assembly of block copolymers with large Flory–Huggins interaction parameters (χ) for nanofabrication is a formidable challenge due to the attendant large surface energy differences between the blocks. This work reports a robust protocol for the fabrication of thin films with highly ordered cylindrical nanopore arrays via the self-assembly of an asymmetric poly(styrene-block-4-vinylpyridine) (PS-b-P4VP) diblock copolymer blended with a P4VP homopolymer. The desired vertical domain orientation is achieved at the air–polymer interface by controlled solvent vapor annealing (SVA) using acetone, a solvent with weak selectivity for PS over P4VP, and at the substrate interface by functionalization using a hydroxy-terminated poly(2-vinylpyridine) (P2VP-OH) homopolymer brush. In contrast, the vertical cylinder orientation is unstable during acetone SVA on substrates functionalized using hydroxy-terminated poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA-OH). Although PMMA exhibits more balanced interfacial energies between PS and P4VP than P2VP in the dry state, it is also swollen more selectively by acetone. We hypothesize that the nearly balanced solvent swelling of the three polymers (P2VP, P4VP, and PS) stabilizes the vertical cylinder orientation, while unbalanced swelling (PMMA > P4VP and PS) does not. Here we further characterize pore formation by addition of a P4VP homopolymer and its postassembly extraction using ethanol, revealing a narrow window of pore size tunability. Notably, minimal differences in nanopore morphologies are observed for P4VP volume fractions as high as 0.1, regardless of the P4VP molar mass. However, further increasing the P4VP volume fraction results in domain reorientation or macrophase separation when its molar mass is less than or greater than the P4VP block molar mass, respectively. Using a P4VP homopolymer that is nearly equal in length to the P4VP block enables the fabrication of well-ordered arrays of vertical, through-film nanopores with high aspect ratios (>10), small periods (<23 nm), and diameters less than 10 nm.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗