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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 1,747 records · Page 97
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1995

Experimental testing using a remotely operated flap with a 2D high lift model

The problem of efficient wind tunnel testing for multi-element airfoils was first addressed by the author during a previous ASEE fellowship. A modern three element model with internal actuators to position a flap in two degrees of freedom was designed and later built. Some preliminary testing proved that the approach was viable. The purpose of this summer's work was to fully develop experimental methods including efficient data acquisition. The final goal is to develop dense data sets for both lift and drag measurements as a function of flap position for both take-off and landing configurations. The model has a span of 36 in. and chord of 18 in. and is currently being fitted for a 3 ft. x 4 ft. low speed wind tunnel. The flap was reworked to allow all pressure taps to function after initial tests showed two blocked ports. The serial method of obtaining pressures from the surface taps was found to be exceedingly slow so a new method using 12 pressure transducers and a 12 port parallel scanning valve were developed. A new automated data acquisition and control algorithm was developed using LabView software and a PC platform. Flow two-dimensionality is currently under investigation with boundary layer control by blowing; this was previously omitted for initial testing. By the end of the summer a detailed data set (uncorrected) consisting of lift coefficient versus flap position for the landing configuration should be available.

Landman, Drew↗
NASA NTRS1980

Plaid evaluation of visual access for PDP berthing and deployment

Tests were performed to evaluate visual access for berthing and deployment of the Plasma Diagnostic Package (PDP) in Space Transportation 4 Flight (STS-4). The Panel Layout Automated Interactive Design (PLAID), a 3 D computer graphics package, was used to construct models of the PDP, pallet, orbiter payload bay, the Remote Manipulator System (RMS), and other relevant elements to represent the STS-4 configuration. Several different assemblies were made, each one representing a snapshot of the PDP during berth/deploy maneuvers. Thirty-six views were produced during this test.

Brown, J. W.↗
DOE OSTI2015

Function allocation for humans and automation in the context of team dynamics

Within Human Factors Engineering, a decision-making process called function allocation (FA) is used during the design life cycle of complex systems to distribute the system functions, often identified through a functional requirements analysis, to all human and automated machine agents (or teammates) involved in controlling the system. Most FA methods make allocation decisions primarily by comparing the capabilities of humans and automation, but then also by considering secondary factors such as cost, regulations, and the health and safety of workers. The primary analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of humans and machines, however, is almost always considered in terms of individual human or machine capabilities. Yet, FA is fundamentally about teamwork in that the goal of the FA decision-making process is to determine what are the optimal allocations of functions among agents. Given this framing of FA, and the increasing use of and sophistication of automation, there are two related social psychological issues that current FA methods need to address more thoroughly. First, many principles for effective human teamwork are not considered as central decision points or in the iterative hypothesis and testing phase in most FA methods, when it is clear that social factors have numerous positive and negative effects on individual and team capabilities. Second, social psychological factors affecting team performance and can be difficult to translate to automated agents, and most FA methods currently do not account for this effect. The implications for these issues are discussed.

Automation↗
DOE OSTI2015

Long Island Smart Energy Corridor

The Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) has teamed with Stony Brook University (Stony Brook or SBU) and Farmingdale State College (Farmingdale or FSC), two branches of the State University of New York (SUNY), to create a “Smart Energy Corridor.” The project, located along the Route 110 business corridor on Long Island, New York, demonstrated the integration of a suite of Smart Grid technologies from substations to end-use loads. The Smart Energy Corridor Project included the following key features: -TECHNOLOGY: Demonstrated a full range of smart energy technologies, including substations and distribution feeder automation, fiber and radio communications backbone, advanced metering infrastructure (AM”), meter data management (MDM) system (which LIPA implemented outside of this project), field tools automation, customer-level energy management including automated energy management systems, and integration with distributed generation and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. -MARKETING: A rigorous market test that identified customer response to an alternative time-of-use pricing plan and varying levels of information and analytical support. -CYBER SECURITY: Tested cyber security vulnerabilities in Smart Grid hardware, network, and application layers. Developed recommendations for policies, procedures, and technical controls to prevent or foil cyber-attacks and to harden the Smart Grid infrastructure. -RELIABILITY: Leveraged new Smart Grid-enabled data to increase system efficiency and reliability. Developed enhanced load forecasting, phase balancing, and voltage control techniques designed to work hand-in-hand with the Smart Grid technologies. -OUTREACH: Implemented public outreach and educational initiatives that were linked directly to the demonstration of Smart Grid technologies, tools, techniques, and system configurations. This included creation of full-scale operating models demonstrating application of Smart Grid technologies in business and residential settings. Farmingdale State College held three international conferences on energy and sustainability and Smart Grid related technologies and policies. These conferences, in addition to public seminars increased understanding and acceptance of Smart Grid transformation by the general public, business, industry, and municipalities in the Long Island and greater New York region. - JOB CREATION: Provided training for the Smart Grid and clean energy jobs of the future at both Farmingdale and Stony Brook. Stony Brook focused its “Cradle to Fortune 500” suite of economic development resources on the opportunities emerging from the project, helping to create new technologies, new businesses, and new jobs. To achieve these features, LIPA and its sub-recipients, FSC and SBU, each have separate but complementary objectives. At LIPA, the Smart Energy Corridor (1) meant validating Smart Grid technologies; (2) quantifying Smart Grid costs and benefits; and (3) providing insights into how Smart Grid applications can be better implemented, readily adapted, and replicated in individual homes and businesses. LIPA installed 2,550 AMI meters (exceeding the 500 AMI meters in the original plan), created three “smart” substations serving the Corridor, and installed additional distribution automation elements including two-way communications and digital controls over various feeders and capacitor banks. It gathered and analyzed customer behavior information on how they responded to a new “smart” TOU rate and to various levels of information and analytical tools.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2021

An automated approach to the alignment of compound refractive lenses

Compound refractive lenses (CRLs) are established X-ray focusing optics, and are thus a key element of many beamlines at X-ray facilities, used to either to focus a beam or image a sample. While CRLs are quite established, the stack of single lens elements affords a very small numerical aperture because of the thick lens profile, making them far more difficult to align than classical optical lenses that obey the thin-lens approximation. This means that the alignment must be very precise and is highly sensitive to changes to the incident beam; aligning CRLs is thus typically treated as a time-consuming manual process. Many groups circumvent day-to-day realignment by using engineering controls (e.g. mounting optics) that sacrifice some of the beam’s focusing characteristics, i.e. spot size, or resolution. While these choices minimize setup time, there are clear disadvantages. This work presents a new automated approach to align CRLs using a simple alignment apparatus that is easy to adapt and install at different types of X-ray experiments or facilities. Our approach builds on recent CRL modeling efforts, using an approach based on the Stochastic Nelder-Mead (SNM) simplex method. We demonstrate the efficacy of this method by numerical simulation and then extend this test to real experiments conducted at the Advanced Photon Source to confirm its performance with a synchrotron X-ray beam. This work provides an opportunity to automate key instrumentation at X-ray facilities.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
NASA NTRS1990

Operational testing of a figure of merit for overall task performance

An overall indicator or figure of merit (FOM), for the quality of pilot performance is needed to define optimal workload levels, predict system failure, measure the impact of new automation in the cockpit, and define the relative contributions of subtasks to overall task performance. A normative FOM was developed based on the calculation of a standard score for each component of a complex task. It reflected some effects, detailed in an earlier study, of the introduction of new data link technology into the cockpit. Since the technique showed promise, further testing was done. A new set of data was obtained using the recently developed Multi-Attribute Task Battery. This is a complex battery consisting of four tasks which can be varied in task demand, and on which performance measures can be obtained. This battery was presented to 12 subjects in a 20 minute trial at each of three levels of workload or task demand, and performance measures collected on all four tasks. The NASA-TLX workload rating scale was presented at minutes 6, 12, and 18, of each trial. A figure of merit was then obtained for each run of the battery by calculating a mean, SD, and standard score for each task. Each task contributed its own proportion to the overall FOM, and relative contributions changed with increasing workload. Thus, the FOM shows the effect of task changes, not only on the individual task that is changed, but also on the performance of other tasks and of the whole task. The cost to other tasks of maintaining constant performance on an individual task can be quantified.

Lemay, Moira↗
NASA NTRS1987

Automated acoustic intensity measurements and the effect of gear tooth profile on noise

Acoustic intensity measurements were made at NASA Lewis Research Center on a spur gear test apparatus. The measurements were obtained with the Robotic Acoustic Intensity Measurement System developed by Cleveland State University. This system provided dense spatial positioning, and was calibrated against a high quality acoustic intensity system. The measured gear noise compared gearsets having two different tooth profiles. The tests evaluated the sound field of the different gears for two speeds and three loads. The experimental results showed that gear tooth profile had a major effect on measured noise. Load and speed were found to have an effect on noise also.

Atherton, William J.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Automated acoustic intensity measurements and the effect of gear tooth profile on noise

Acoustic intensity measurements were made at NASA Lewis Research Center on a spur gear test apparatus. The measurements were obtained with the Robotic Acoustic Intensity Measurement System developed by Cleveland State University. This system provided dense spatial positioning, and was calibrated against a high quality acoustic intensity system. The measured gear noise compared gearsets having two different tooth profiles. The tests evaluated the sound field of the different gears for two speeds and three loads. The experimental results showed that gear tooth profile had a major effect on measured noise. Load and speed were found to have an effect on noise also.

Atherton, W. J.↗
DOE OSTI2016

Advances in Westinghouse fuel rod design technology (PAD5)

The Westinghouse Performance Analysis and Design (PAD) code for light-water reactors has been recently updated to version PAD5 and submitted to NRC for review. PAD5 incorporates extensive updates in fuel performance and material property models, including fuel thermal conductivity, pellet fragment relocation, fission gas release, fission gas swelling, and cladding creep and growth. Advances in thermal models are mainly in pellet fragment relocation, radial power distribution within the pellet, and the changes in fuel thermal conductivity due to changes in temperature, burnup and fuel porosity. The PAD5 thermal fission gas release model is a phenomenological model based on the irradiation dependence of the gas release from mechanistic processes for the diffusion of the fission gas generated in the fuel grains to the grain boundaries, formation of fission gas bubbles on the grain boundaries and release of the fission gas when these grain boundary bubbles inter-link. The PAD5 cladding creep model is predominantly a combination of the following mechanisms: thermal creep, irradiation induced creep, and irradiation enhanced creep. The fuel performance database used for the development, calibration and testing of the PAD5 code covers a broad range of both commercial irradiation data and test rod data and requires continuously additional data focusing on the latest development of the PAD5 code. Test programs are also included in the database. These data are checked and stored in a hierarchical database structure that supports the automation of model development and calibration. New data, once incorporated into the database, can be quickly evaluated with respect to key fuel and cladding performance models to confirm expected trends or to evaluate potential model improvements. This automated calibration system has been integrated with state-of-the-art optimization packages in DAKOTA Analysis Kit to provide for advanced statistical assessments and model coefficient optimization. Calibration results are automatically tabulated and plotted to provide easy assessment of trends or new behaviors.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Structural Changes during the Growth of Atomically Precise Metal Oxido Nanoclusters from Combined Pair Distribution Function and Small-Angle X-ray Scattering Analysis

The combination of in situ pair distribution function (PDF) analysis and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) enables analysis of the formation mechanism of metal oxido nanoclusters and cluster–solvent interactions as they take place. Herein, we demonstrate the method for the formation of clusters with a [Bi 38 O 45 ] core. Upon dissolution of crystalline [Bi 6 O 5 (OH) 3 (NO 3 ) 5 ]∙3 H 2 O in DMSO, an intermediate rapidly forms, which slowly grows to stable [Bi 38 O 45 ] clusters. To identify the intermediate, we developed an automated modeling method, where smaller [Bi x O y ] structures based on the [Bi 38 O 45 ] framework are tested against the data. [Bi 22 O 26 ] was identified as the main intermediate species, illustrating how combined PDF and SAXS analysis is a powerful tool to gain insight into nucleation on an atomic scale. PDF also provides information on the interaction between nanoclusters and solvent, which is shown to depend on the nature of the ligands on the cluster surface.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2013

Automated fit of high-dimensional potential energy surfaces using cluster analysis and interpolation over descriptors of chemical environment

We present a method for fitting high-dimensional potential energy surfaces that is almost fully automated, can be applied to systems with various chemical compositions, and involves no particular choice of function form. We tested it on four systems: Ag{sub 20}, Sn{sub 6}Pb{sub 6}, Si{sub 10}, and Li{sub 8}. The cost for energy evaluation is smaller than the cost of a density functional theory (DFT) energy evaluation by a factor of 1500 for Li{sub 8}, and 60 000 for Ag{sub 20}. We achieved intermediate accuracy (errors of 0.4 to 0.8 eV on atomization energies, or, 1% to 3% on cohesive energies) with rather small datasets (between 240 and 1400 configurations). We demonstrate that this accuracy is sufficient to correctly screen the configurations with lowest DFT energy, making this function potentially very useful in a hybrid global optimization strategy. We show that, as expected, the accuracy of the function improves with an increase in the size of the fitting dataset.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2018

Embedded Systems for Intelligent Vehicle Research

Connected and automated vehicles are becoming more and more popular. Research and development in these fields will require new and unique test environments and strategies. Several things can be learned from prior history with specialized vehicle data bus applications. Data bus development and testing techniques for three real-world car and heavy truck vehicle data bus projects are presented in this paper, with an emphasis on hardware-in-the-loop system integration testing.

Barker, Alan↗
DOE OSTI2022

Upgrade of Core Conduction Cooldown Test Facility Control System

The CCCTF was designed and installed at ORNL in the 1990s for high-temperature gas-cooled reactor accident simulation. It is located within a modular hot cell housed in the IFEL facility. In 2008 and 2009, modifications were made to the CCCTF in preparation for AGR safety testing. A new airlock was designed and installed to better support periodic exchange of the fission product deposition cups while maintaining the fuel at safety test temperature, and modifications were made to add routines to the existing user interface software for computer-controlled automation of the He sweep gas flow and liquid nitrogen supply to the 85Kr cold traps. However, the furnace control hardware and software remained essentially unchanged. At the conclusion of the AGR-1 and AGR-2 PIE campaigns, continued use of the CCCTF was in question because of the gradual obsolescence of the hardware and software used to control the furnace and ancillary systems that make up the CCCTF. Therefore, an effort was undertaken to replace all the obsolete components with new hardware and update the software to increase system reliability and ensure this capability’s maintenance for future research and fuel qualification efforts. The modifications included creating a new National Instruments (NI) LabVIEW-based control system with a graphical user interface (GUI).

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Viability of Data Analytics to Ascertain Component Performance for Additive Manufacturing

The Transformational Challenge Reactor (TCR) program is leveraging additive manufacturing (AM) technologies to produce multiple nuclear components to be assembled into a fully functional microreactor core. AM was selected as the main manufacturing technology for TCR because it has the potential to disrupt the nuclear industry on two fronts: (1) it enables the manufacturing of very complex geometries with optimized and tailored material properties for the intended use of the component, opening up new options for reactor designs, and (2) it allows for a better understanding of the manufacturing process through real-time in situ monitoring, data analytics, and artificial intelligence, which can lead to a streamlined qualification and certification process. Within TCR, the development and deployment of a digital platform aims at addressing the latter opportunity. As part of this effort, the collection of pedigree datasets is vital, should these data be generated before, during or after the manufacturing process. This report focuses on the development of data analytics tools enabling qualitative assessment of the manufacturing processes to automate the identification of flaws in in situ monitoring imagery and to correlate those flaws to the resulting mechanical testing data. Through examples, the report gives an overview of the data collected and presents a path forward for the digital platform.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Optimization of wind plant layouts using an adjoint approach

Abstract. Using adjoint optimization and three-dimensional steady-state Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulations, we present a new gradient-based approach for optimally siting wind turbines within utility-scale wind plants. By solving the adjoint equations of the flow model, the gradients needed for optimization are found at a cost that is independent of the number of control variables, thereby permitting optimization of large wind plants with many turbine locations. Moreover, compared to the common approach of superimposing prescribed wake deficits onto linearized flow models, the computational efficiency of the adjoint approach allows the use of higher-fidelity RANS flow models which can capture nonlinear turbulent flow physics within a wind plant. The steady-state RANS flow model is implemented in the Python finite-element package FEniCS and the derivation and solution of the discrete adjoint equations are automated within the dolfin-adjoint framework. Gradient-based optimization of wind turbine locations is demonstrated for idealized test cases that reveal new optimization heuristics such as rotational symmetry, local speedups, and nonlinear wake curvature effects. Layout optimization is also demonstrated on more complex wind rose shapes, including a full annual energy production (AEP) layout optimization over 36 inflow directions and 5 wind speed bins.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS1979

Algorithms for the Automated Power Systems Management

The system breadboard for the demonstration of Automated Power Systems Management (APSM) functions has been designed, fabricated, and is in the final stages of verification and testing. APSM functions fall into categories of fault detection and correction, commanding system and subsystem test and diagnoses, relay position monitoring, data acquisition and processing, and power management. All these functions are accomplished through software residing in 8-bit microprocessors dedicated to each group of Viking Orbiter power breadboard subassemblies and a 16-bit microprocessor serving as the central processor for the power system. This paper describes key monitoring, diagnostic, and control algorithms used in the APSM breadboard.

Moser, R. L.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Liquid droplet radiator program at the NASA Lewis Research Center

The NASA Lewis Research Center and the Air Force Rocket Propulsion Laboratory (AFRPL) are jointly engaged in a program for technical assessment of the Liquid Droplet Radiator (LDR) concept as an advanced high performance heat ejection component for future space missions. NASA Lewis has responsibility for the technology needed for the droplet generator, for working fluid qualification, and for investigating the physics of droplets in space; NASA Lewis is also conducting systems/mission analyses for potential LDR applications with candidate space power systems. For the droplet generator technology task, both micro-orifice fabrication techniques and droplet stream formation processes have been experimentally investigated. High quality micro-orifices (to 50 micron diameter) are routinely fabricated with automated equipment. Droplet formation studies have established operating boundaries for the generation of controlled and uniform droplet streams. A test rig is currently being installed for the experimental verification, under simulated space conditions, of droplet radiation heat transfer performance analyses and the determination of the effect radiative emissivity of multiple droplet streams. Initial testing has begun in the NASA Lewis Zero-Gravity Facility for investigating droplet stream behavior in microgravity conditions. This includes the effect of orifice wetting on jet dynamics and droplet formation. Results for both Brayton and Stirling power cycles have identified favorable mass and size comparisons of the LDR with conventional radiator concepts.

Presler, A. F.↗