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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 181 records · Page 10

Life characteristics assessment of the communications technology satellite transmitter experiment package

The performance characteristics of the transmitter experiment package (TEP) aboard the Communications Technology Satellite (CTS) measured during its first 2 years in orbit are presented. The TEP consists of a nominal 200 watt output stage tube (OST), a supporting power processing system (PPS), and a variable conductance heat pipe system (VCHPS). The OST, a traveling wave tube augmented with a 10 stage depressed collector has an overall saturated average efficiency of 51.5 percent and an average saturated radio frequency (rf) output power at center band frequency of 240 watts. The PPS operated with a measured efficiency of 86.5 to 88.5 percent. The VCHPS, using three pipes to conduct heat from the PPS and the OST to a 52 by 124 centimeter radiator fin, maintained the PPS baseplate temperature below 50 C for all operating conditions. The TEP performance characteristics presented include frequency response, rf output power, thermal performance, and efficiency. Communications characteristics were evaluated by using both video and audio modulated signals. On four occasions, the TEP experienced temporary thermal control system malfunctions. The anomalies were terminated safely, and the problem was investigated because of the potential for TEP damage due to the signficant temperature increases. Safe TEP operating procedures were established.

Smetana, J.↗

Transmitter experiment package for the communications technology satellite

The operating requirements, system design characteristics, high voltage packaging considerations, nonstandard components development, and test results for the transmitter experiment package (TEP) are described. The TEP is used for broadcasting power transmission from the Communications Technology Satellite. The TEP consists of a 12 GHz, 200-watt output stage tube (OST), a high voltage processing system that converts the unregulated spacecraft solar array power to the regulated voltages required for OST operation, and a variable conductance heat pipe system that is used to cool the OST body.

Farber, B.↗

Thermal anomalies of the transmitter experiment package on the communications technology satellite

The causes of four temporary thermal-control-system malfunctions that gave rise to unexpected temperature excursions in the 12-gigahertz, 200-watt transmitter experiment package (TEP) on the Communications Technology Satellite were investigated. The TEP consists of a nominal 200-watt output stage tube (OST), a supporting power-processing system (PPS), and a variable-conductance heat-pipe system (VCHPS). The VCHPS, which uses three heat pipes to conduct heat from the body of the OST to a radiator fin, was designed to maintain the TEP at safe operating temperatures at all operating conditions. On four occasions during 1977, all near the spring and fall equinoxes, the OST body temperature and related temperatures displayed sudden, rapid, and unexpected rises above normal levels while the TEP was operating at essentially constant, normal conditions. The temperature excursions were terminated without TEP damage by reducing the radio frequency (RF) output power of the OST. Between the anomalies and since the fourth, the thermal control system has apparently functioned as designed. The results indicate the most probable cause of the temperature anomalies is depriming of the arteries in the variable-conductance heat pipes. A mode was identified in which the TEP, as presently configured, may operate with stable temperatures and with minimum change in performance level.

Alexovich, R. E.↗

NASA Electronic Parts and Packaging (NEPP) Program: Overview and Technology Focus Areas - Responsive Technology Assurance for Civil Space

NASA Electronic Parts and Packaging (NEPP) Program Overview and Technology Highlights – The NEPP Program provides NASA's leadership for developing and maintaining guidance for the screening, qualification, test, and reliable use of electrical, electronic, and electromechanical parts by NASA, in collaboration with other government agencies and industry. The NASA Electronic Parts Assurance Group (NEPAG) is a core portion of NEPP. This presentation highlights key focus areas for 2019.

radiation effects↗

Packaged Combined Heat and Power Technology Overview and Market Profile

Combined heat and power (CHP), sometimes referred to as cogeneration, is an efficient and clean approach to generating electric power and useful thermal energy onsite from a single fuel source, offering reliable and affordable energy services to businesses and institutions. Furthermore, CHP provides a cost effective opportunity to improve the environmental footprint and resilience of industrial and commercial facilities across the United States. CHP equipment can be custom-engineered or installed as a predesigned and assembled package. A packaged CHP system is a standardized, pre-engineered system that includes all equipment, piping, wiring, and ancillary components to deliver electricity and thermal energy to a host facility with minimal onsite engineering and design time. Packaged CHP systems can be shipped as single or multiple modules with standard interconnections (e.g., fuel; electrical; thermal—hot water, steam, and/or chilled water), which simplifies installation and reduces the costs associated with the project. Most containerized or single packaged CHP system offerings range from 10 kW to 3 MW in capacity. Packaged CHP systems are extending the operating, efficiency, and emissions benefits of CHP to nontraditional markets in commercial, institutional, multifamily, light manufacturing, government, and military applications. These markets tend to be served by smaller systems (less than 5 MW) that are conducive to pre-engineered packaging and/or modularization. Many of these sectors have limited CHP experience and technical resources to adequately evaluate, install, and maintain onsite CHP systems. The introduction of packaged CHP offerings from experienced CHP Packagers and Solution Providers has accelerated CHP adoption, lowered energy costs, reduced emissions, and strengthened energy resilience in these sectors. In 2019, the US Department of Energy (DOE) launched the Packaged CHP eCatalog to promote increased acceptance of efficient, cost-effective CHP in these applications. The Packaged CHP eCatalog is a web-based, searchable platform that hosts DOE-recognized packaged CHP systems with features designed to reduce economic and performance risks for designers, developers, owners, and facility operators interested in installing CHP. DOE established the Packaged CHP Accelerator at the same time to help launch and publicize the eCatalog, and to validate project performance, cost, and installation time of CHP packages across a variety of applications. Accelerator efforts documented installed cost reductions and installation time reductions of more than 20% for packaged CHP systems over 100 kW compared with custom-engineered systems. The Packaged CHP Accelerator and eCatalog established a peer-to-peer network connecting public and private sector partners including utilities, state energy offices, and energy efficiency program administrators interested in promoting cost-effective, efficient CHP systems, Packagers, and Solution Providers. Feedback from these partners, along with input from DOE’s CHP Technical Assistance Partnerships (CHP TAPs), was critical in understanding the current market for packaged CHP technologies, stimulating investment in these technologies, and guiding future directions for packaged CHP systems and their applications. This report provides background on packaged CHP systems, an overview of their benefits, a profile of current packaged CHP installations, and a summary of future market trends; this report is intended for facility owners, project developers, engineers, policymakers, and other stakeholders looking to increase the adoption of efficient, flexible, and resilient packaged CHP systems.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

NASA Technology Utilization House technical support package Summary of results and house description

The Technology Utilization House (Tech House) was designed and constructed to demonstrate to the building industry and the public the benefits of aerospace technology and other new technology that are presently available or will be in very near future. Use of solar energy, conservation of energy and of water, safety, and security were incorporated in the design of the house. The terms to be incorporated into the house and to assist in the design of the house were evaluated. An architectural engineering team was employed to investigate energy conservation ideas, determine cost effectiveness of new materials and systems, and prepare specifications and drawings for the house. The Tech House was constructed during the spring of 1976. All the systems were monitored to insure proper operation, and data were collected during a one year occupancy. Results obtained during the family live-in period, comments on the acceptance of the various energy-saving systems by the family, and suggestions for improvement of the systems are presented.

Source record↗

Advanced Technology Initiatives Program Project Updates

Four Airborne Telemetry Instrumentation Package (ATIP) technology development efforts were recently begun at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in areas related to soil moisture mission concepts. These are in the areas of low-mass low-power receiver modules, on-orbit calibration, and digital correlators. The relevance to enabling soil moisture missions will be discussed, along with expected products and timelines for each project.

Kim, E.↗

Earth resources technology system standalone software package: Description and user's guide

A user's guide and program description for the ERTS-B Stand-Alone Software Package is presented. This package was developed to compute the Keplerian elements at the descending node, the Brouwer mean elements at the node, the averaged Brouwer Mean Elements, and other orbital parameters for the orbits of the Earth Resources Technology Satellite (ERTS). The typical input for the program is an ephemeris file which resulted from a definitive orbit generated over a two day arc using the Cowell option in the Definitive Orbit Determination System (DODS) or the Goddard Trajectory Determination System (GTDS).

Chu, W. W.↗

Device- and System-Level Thermal Packaging for Electric-Drive Technologies (Final Technical Report)

Final Technical ReportThis project aimed to research, develop, and test electric traction drive system technology for use in vehicle applications that are capable of meeting the targets set by the Department of Energy Vehicle Technologies Office. The project is categorized into three major thrusts: Bonding interfaces for packaging, thermal management of electric vehicle (EV) power inverters, and electric motor thermal management. Device- and System-Level Thermal Packaging for Electric-Drive Technologies project aimed to develop, analyze, and validate transformative approaches in thermal management and packaging for power electronics and electric motor systems, with the ultimate goal of enhancing power density, efficiency, and reliability in electrified transportation platforms.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗

Transfer research and impact studies program

Methods developed for stimulating interest in the transfer of NASA-originated technology are described. These include: new information packaging concepts; technology transfer via people transfer; information management systems; data bank operations; and professional communication activities.

Freeman, J. E.↗

Nano-Satellite Avionics

Abstract NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is currently developing a new class of satellites called the nano-satellite (nano-sat). A major objective of this development effort is to provide the technology required to enable a constellation of tens to hundreds of nano-satellites to make both remote and in-situ measurements from space. The Nano-sat will be a spacecraft weighing a maximum of 10 kg, including the propellant mass, and producing at least 5 Watts of power to operate the spacecraft. The electronics are required to survive a total radiation dose rate of 100 krads for a mission lifetime of two years. There are many unique challenges that must be met in order to develop the avionics for such a spacecraft. The first challenge is to develop an architecture that will operate on the allotted 5 Watts and meet the diverging requirements of multiple missions. This architecture will need to incorporate a multitude of new advanced microelectronic technologies. The microelectronics developed must be a modular and scalable packaging of technology to solve the problem of developing a solution to both reduce cost and meet the requirements of various missions. This development will utilize the most cost effective approach, whether infusing commercially driven semiconductor devices into spacecraft applications or partnering with industry to design and develop low cost, low power, low mass, and high capacity data processing devices. This paper will discuss the nano-sat architecture and the major technologies that will be developed. The major technologies that will be covered include: (1) Light weight Low Power Electronics Packaging, (2) Radiation Hard/Tolerant, Low Power Processing Platforms, (3) High capacity Low Power Memory Systems (4) Radiation Hard reconfiguragble field programmable gate array (rFPGA)

Culver, Harry↗

Communications Transceivers for Venus Surface Missions

The high temperature of the surface of Venus poses many difficulties. Previous Venus landers have only operated for short durations before succumbing to the heat. NASA Glenn Research Center conducted a study on communications for long duration Venus surface missions. I report the findings in this presentation. Current technology allows production of communications transceivers that can operate on the surface of Venus, at temperatures above 450 C and pressures of over 90 atmospheres. While these transceivers would have to be relatively simple, without much of the advanced signal processing often used in modern transceivers, since current and near future integrated circuits cannot operate at such high temperatures, the transceivers will be able to meet the requirements of proposed Venus Surface mission. The communication bands of interest are High Frequency or Very High Frequency (HFNHF) for communication between Venus surface and airborne probes (including surface to surface and air to air), and Ultra High Frequency (UHF) to Microwave bands for communication to orbiters. For HFNHF, transceivers could use existing vacuum tube technology. The packaging of the vacuum tubes may need modification, but the internal operating structure already operates at high temperatures. Using metal vacuum structures instead of glass, allows operation at high pressure. Wide bandgap transistors and diodes may be able to replace some of the thermionic components. VHF communications would be useful for line-of- sight operations, while HF would be useful for short-wave type communications using the Venusian ionosphere. UHF and microwave communications use magnetically focused thermionic devices, such as traveling wave tubes (TWTs), magnetron (M-type) amplifiers, and klystrons for high power amplifiers, and backward wave oscillators (BWOs) and reflex klystrons for oscillators. Permanent magnets are already in use in industry that can operate at 500 C. These magnets could focus electron beam tubes on the surface of Venus. While microwave windows will need to be designed for the high pressure, diamond windows have already been demonstrated, so high-pressure microwave windows can be designed and built. Thus, all of these devices could be useful for Venus surface missions. Current electronic power conditioners to supply the high voltages used in these microwave devices cannot operate at high temperatures, but earlier electronic power conditioners that used vacuum tubes can be modified to work at high temperature. Evaluating the various devices in this study, the M-type traveling wave tube (where a traveling wave structure is used in a crossed-field device, similar to the Amplitron used on the Apollo missions) stood out for the high power amplifier since it requires a single high voltage, simplifying the power supply design. Since the receiver amplifier is a low power amplifier, the loss of efficiency in linear beam devices without a depressed collector (and thus needing a single high voltage) is not important; a low noise TWT is a possible solution. Before solid-state microwave amplifiers were available, such TWTs were built with a 1-2 dB noise figure. A microwave triode or transistor made from a wide bandgap material may be preferable, if available. Much of the development work needed for Venusian communication devices will need to focus on the packaging of the devices, and their connections, but the technology is available to build transceivers that can operate on the surface of Venus indefinitely.

Force, Dale A.↗

Casing Annulus Monitoring of CO 2 Injection Using Wireless Autonomous Distributed Sensor Networks

Effective and secure carbon subsurface storage, involving the deep underground injection of CO 2 into geological formations where it is permanently trapped, is paramount to mitigating CO 2 emissions (Figure I). Ensuring the integrity of these storage sites and detecting potential leakage through the casing annulus necessitates robust monitoring. This work provides the first integrated demonstration of a wireless casing-annulus monitoring architecture that can operate in highly attenuating cement-brine environments relevant to CO 2 storage. This project focused on developing and validating a novel sensor system for integration with autonomous monitoring near the cement reservoir interface. The goal was a fully integrated Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 4/5 field validation of a distributed wireless intelligent sensor system providing real-time, direct subsurface formation measurements to enhance fluid movement monitoring in the cemented casing annulus. Achieving this objective required the development and integration of 1) wireless autonomous microsensor technology by California Institute of Technology (Caltech); 2) sensor packaging and emplacement technology by Research Triangle Institute (RTI); and 3) smart well completions using wireless active casing collars and NOV pipe by the Sandia National Lab (SNL). The collaboration with the Caltech team in this project aimed to develop millimeter-scale radio frequency identification (RFID) sensors capable of detecting CO 2 , pH, and/or methane levels. These sensors are engineered to be impervious to fluids, allowing them to be mixed with cement and installed within the casing annulus. They operate using RFID protocols at frequencies of 902–928 MHz for both power and communication. A Sandia National Laboratories’ team engaged their expertise in the development of a Smart Collar system designed for the wireless data collection from these RFID sensors embedded in the cement annulus and transmission of this information to the ground surface via IntelliPipe/IntelliServ NOV drill pipe. This is accomplished through inductive coupling at the collar, which facilitates data transfer through each segment of the pipe. Because the system cannot transmit a direct current signal to power the Smart Collar, both power and communication were implemented using alternating current and electromagnetic signals at varying frequencies. Furthermore, the developed microsensor technology had to be demonstrated and validated in comparison with reference transducer measurements in a field test site at The University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin). Although the full sensor suite did not reach field-deployment readiness, the system-level integration achieved in this project establishes a validated pathway for future incorporation of advanced microsensors.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗