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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 217 records · Page 12
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2017

High-Efficiency Food Production in a Renewable Energy Based Micro-Grid

Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) systems can be used to produce high-quality, desirable food year round, and the fresh produce can positively contribute to the health and well being of residents in communities with difficult supply logistics. While CEA has many positive outcomes for a remote community, the associated high electric demands have prohibited widespread implementation in what is typically already a fully subscribed power generation and distribution system. Recent advances in CEA technologies as well as renewable power generation, storage, and micro-grid management are increasing system efficiency and expanding the possibilities for enhancing community supporting infrastructure without increasing demands for outside supplied fuels. We will present examples of how new lighting, nutrient delivery, and energy management and control systems can enable significant increases in food production efficiency while maintaining high yields in CEA.Examples from Alaskan communities where initial incorporation of renewable power generation, energy storage and grid management techniques have already reduced diesel fuel consumption for electric generation by more than 40 and expanded grid capacity will be presented. We will discuss how renewable power generation, efficient grid management to extract maximum community service per kW, and novel energy storage approaches can expand the food production, water supply, waste treatment, sanitation and other community support services without traditional increases of consumable fuels supplied from outside the community. These capabilities offer communities with a range of choices to enhance their communities. The examples represent a synergy of technology advancement efforts to develop sustainable community support systems for future space-based human habitats and practical implementation of infrastructure components to increase efficiency and enhance health and well-being in remote communities today and tomorrow.

Renewable Energy↗
NASA NTRS2016

Heat Exchanger Performance Impacts on Optimum Cost Conditions in Thermoelectric Energy Recovery Designs

Cost is just as important as power density or efficiency for the adoption of waste heat recovery thermoelectric generators (TEG). Prior work [1] has shown that the system design that minimizes cost (e.g., the $/W value) can be close to the designs that maximize the system’s efficiency or power density, however, it is important to understand the relationship between those designs to optimize TEG performance-cost compromises. Expanding on recent work [1, 2, 3] the impact of heat exchanger conditions on the optimum TEG fill factors and cost scaling of a waste heat recovery thermoelectric generator with a detailed treatment of the hot side exhaust heat exchanger has been investigated further. The effect of the heat lost to the environment and updated relationships between the hot-side and cold-side conductances [4] that maximize power output are considered. The optimum fill factor to minimize TEG energy recovery system costs is strongly dependent on the heat leakage fraction, σ, the mass flow rate of the exhaust, the hot-side heat exchanger effectiveness, heat exchanger UAh, and heat flux. These relationships are explored and characterized for typical exhaust gas-flow conditions to show the inherent design complexities. The heat exchanger costs often dominate the TEG cost equation and it is critical to fully understand the tradeoff between heat exchanger performance, optimum TEG fill factors, and cost to establish potentially optimum design points within the cost-performance design space. This work will explore the design tradeoffs and relationships within the cost-efficiency-power density design space for a typical thermoelectric energy recovery system application. The interplay between optimum TEG fill factors and heat exchanger design can impact system footprint, volume, and mass in weight-sensitive applications. Less-effective, low-cost heat exchangers may outperform higher cost alternatives from a market adoption perspective. This shift of emphasis acknowledging the interdependence of optimum TEG fill factors and heat exchanger performance has significant implications on thermoelectric waste heat recovery systems designs and their operation. In addition, preferred TEG design regimes exist that accommodate reasonable compromises in TE performance and cost. This effort highlights how the optimum fill factor–heat exchanger performance relations couple to these optimum TEG performance-cost domains based on TEG-system-level analyses and provides a focus for future system research and development efforts.

Energy recovery↗
NASA NTRS1975

Development of an advanced spacecraft water and waste materials processing system

An Integrated Waste Management-Water System (WM-WS) which uses radioisotopes for thermal energy is described and results of its trial in a 4-man, 180 day simulated space mission are presented. It collects urine, feces, trash, and wash water in zero gravity, processes the wastes to a common evaporator, distills and catalytically purifies the water, and separates and incinerates the solid residues using little oxygen and no chemical additives or expendable filters. Technical details on all subsystems are given along with performance specifications. Data on recovered water and heat loss obtained in test trials are presented. The closed loop incinerator and other projects underway to increase system efficiency and capacity are discussed.

Murray, R. W.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Energy conversion in the coronal plasma

Solar and stellar X-ray emission are the observed waste products of the interplay between magnetic fields and the motion of stellar plasma. Theoretical understanding of the process of coronal heating is of utmost importance, since the high temperature is what defines the corona in the first place. Most of the research described deals with the aspects of the several rivalling theories for coronal heating. The rest of the papers deal with processes of energy conversion related to flares.

Martens, P. C. H.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Kennedy Space Center Five Year Sustainability Plan

The Federal Government is committed to following sustainable principles. At its heart, sustainability integrates environmental, societal and economic solutions for present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Building upon its pledge towards environmental stewardship, the Administration generated a vision of sustainability spanning ten goals mandated within Executive Order (EO) 13693, Planning for Federal Sustainability in the Next Decade. In November 2015, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) responded to this EO by incorporating it into a new release of the NASA Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan (SSPP). The SSPP recognizes the importance of aligning environmental practices in a manner that preserves, enhances and strengthens NASA's ability to perform its mission indefinitely. The Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is following suit with KSC's Sustainability Plan (SP) by promoting, maintaining and pioneering green practices in all aspects of our mission. KSC's SP recognizes that the best sustainable solutions use an interdisciplinary, collaborative approach spanning civil servant and contractor personnel from across the Center. This approach relies on the participation of all employees to develop and implement sustainability endeavors connected with the following ten goals: Reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Design, build and maintain sustainable buildings, facilities and infrastructure. Leverage clean and renewable energy. Increase water conservation. Improve fleet and vehicle efficiency and management. Purchase sustainable products and services. Minimize waste and prevent pollution. Implement performance contracts for Federal buildings. Manage electronic equipment and data centers responsibly. Pursue climate change resilience. The KSC SP details the strategies and actions that address the following objectives: Reduce Center costs. center dot Increase energy and water efficiencies. Promote smart buying practices. Increase reuse and recycling while decreasing waste. Benefit the community. Meet or exceed the EO and NASA SSPP sustainability goals.

Sustainability↗
NASA NTRS1991

Plants for water recycling, oxygen regeneration and food production

During long-duration space missions that require recycling and regeneration of life support materials the major human wastes to be converted to usable forms are CO2, hygiene water, urine and feces. A Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) relies on the air revitalization, water purification and food production capabilities of higher plants to rejuvenate human wastes and replenish the life support materials. The key processes in such a system are photosynthesis, whereby green plants utilize light energy to produce food and oxygen while removing CO2 from the atmosphere, and transpiration, the evaporation of water from the plant. CELSS research has emphasized the food production capacity and efforts to minimize the area/volume of higher plants required to satisfy all human life support needs. Plants are a dynamic system capable of being manipulated to favour the supply of individual products as desired. The size and energy required for a CELSS that provides virtually all human needs are determined by the food production capacity. Growing conditions maximizing food production do not maximize transpiration of water; conditions favoring transpiration and scaling to recycle only water significantly reduces the area, volume, and energy inputs per person. Likewise, system size can be adjusted to satisfy the air regeneration needs. Requirements of a waste management system supplying inputs to maintain maximum plant productivity are clear. The ability of plants to play an active role in waste processing and the consequence in terms of degraded plant performance are not well characterized. Plant-based life support systems represent the only potential for self sufficiency and food production in an extra-terrestrial habitat.

NASA Discipline Life Support Systems↗
NASA NTRS1995

Magnetic Levitators With Superconductive Components

Magnetic noncontact levitators that include superconductive components provide vibration-damping suspension for cryogenic instruments, according to proposal. Because superconductive components attached to levitated cryogenic instruments, no additional coolant liquid or refrigeration power needed. Also because vibration-damping components of levitators located outside cold chambers, in ambient environment, not necessary to waste coolant liquid or refrigeration power on dissipation of vibrational energy. At least three levitating magnets and three superconductors necessary for stable levitation.

Dolgin, Benjamin P.↗
NASA NTRS2010

In the Beginning...

Having just emerged from the warmest decade on record and watching as the oceans acidify and sea level rises, global resources peak, the world's population continues to climb, and nearly half of all known species face extinction by the end of the century. We stand on the threshold of one of the most important transition in human history-the transition from hunting-and-gathering our energy to cultivating sustainable, carbon-neutral, environmentally-friendly energy supplies. Can we develop an alternative to fossil fuels in time to make a difference for our children and the "children" of all species? NASA puts people into outer space, where all resources (food, water, air, pressure, gravity, energy) are limited and far away and where conditions (temperature, radiation, vacuum) are problematic and dangerous-the life expectancy of an unprotected astronaut (physically exposed to the space environment) is 15 seconds. Therefore, by necessity, NASA has explored and developed "life-support systems" that optimize the use of resources, minimize the use of energy, and recycle, refurbish, re-use everything that on earth would be considered a waste material. Emerging from the legacy of life-support systems, the NASA OMEGA project uses microalgae, municipal wastewater, and the encroaching oceans to address our global needs for a sustainable, carbon-neutral, environmentally friendly energy supply that does not compete with agriculture. The OMEGA project is focused on producing aviation fuel, treating municipal wastewater, and sequestering carbon dioxide. More generally, however, OMEGA is an example of an "ecology of technologies" in which all processes are integrated and inter-dependent and wastes become resources. From a NASA perspective, the OMEGA project is also a reminder that "we are not passengers on Spaceship Earth, we are the crew."

Trent, Jonathan↗
NASA NTRS2015

Microlith-Based Catalytic Reactor for Air Quality and Trace Contaminant Control Applications

Traditionally, gaseous compounds such as methane, carbon monoxide, and trace contaminants have posed challenges for maintaining clean air in enclosed spaces such as crewed spacecraft cabins as they are hazardous to humans and are often difficult to remove by conventional adsorption technology. Catalytic oxidizers have provided a reliable and robust means of disposing of even trace levels of these compounds by converting them into carbon dioxide and water. Precision Combustion, Inc. (PCI) and NASA - Marshall (MSFC) have been developing, characterizing, and optimizing high temperature catalytic oxidizers (HTCO) based on PCI's patented Microlith® technology to meet the requirements of future extended human spaceflight explorations. Current efforts have focused on integrating the HTCO unit with a compact, simple recuperative heat exchanger to reduce the overall system size and weight while also reducing its energy requirements. Previous efforts relied on external heat exchangers to recover the waste heat and recycle it to the oxidizer to minimize the system's power requirements; however, these units contribute weight and volume burdens to the overall system. They also result in excess heat loss due to the separation of the HTCO and the heat recuperator, resulting in lower overall efficiency. Improvements in the recuperative efficiency and close coupling of HTCO and heat recuperator lead to reductions in system energy requirements and startup time. Results from testing HTCO units integrated with heat recuperators at a variety of scales for cabin air quality control and heat melt compactor applications are reported and their benefits over previous iterations of the HTCO and heat recuperator assembly are quantified in this paper.

Vilekar, Saurabh↗
NASA NTRS1986

Air Evaporation closed cycle water recovery technology - Advanced energy saving designs

The Air Evaporation water recovery system is a visible candidate for Space Station application. A four-man Air Evaporation open cycle system has been successfully demonstrated for waste water recovery in manned chamber tests. The design improvements described in this paper greatly enhance the system operation and energy efficiency of the air evaporation process. A state-of-the-art wick feed design which results in reduced logistics requirements is presented. In addition, several design concepts that incorporate regenerative features to minimize the energy input to the system are discussed. These include a recuperative heat exchanger, a heat pump for energy transfer to the air heater, and solar collectors for evaporative heat. The addition of the energy recovery devices will result in an energy reduction of more than 80 percent over the systems used in earlier manned chamber tests.

Morasko, Gwyndolyn↗
NASA NTRS1989

Sources and processing of CELSS wastes

The production rate and solid content of waste streams found in a life support system for a space habitat (in which plants are grown for food) are discussed. Two recycling scenarios, derived from qualitative considerations as opposed to quantitative mass and energy balances, tradeoff studies, etc., are presented; they reflect differing emphases on and responses to the waste stream formation rates and their composition, as well as indicate the required products from waste treatment that are needed in a life support system. The data presented demonstrate the magnitude of the challenge to developing a life support system for a space habitat requiring a high degree of closure.

Wydeven, T.↗
NASA NTRS1976

A preliminary assessment of the feasibility of deriving liquid and gaseous fuels from grown and waste organics

An estimate is obtained of the yearly supply of organic material for conversion to fuels, the energy potential is evaluated, and the fermentation and pyrolysis conversion processes are discussed. An investigation is conducted of the estimated cost of fuel from organics and the conclusions of an overall evaluation are presented. It is found that climate, land availability and economics of agricultural production and marketing, food demand, fertilizer shortage, and water availability combine to cast doubts on the feasibility of producing grown organic matter for fuel, in competition with food, feed, or fiber. Less controversial is the utilization of agricultural, industrial, and domestic waste as a conversion feedstock. The evaluation of a demonstration size system is recommended.

Graham, R. W.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Chemicals from biomass - The U.S. prospects for the turn of the century

Historically, chemicals from biomass have been and are expected to be economical in three major areas: byproducts, specialty items and polymers. Assessments of producing major chemicals from biomass in a processing plant based on the available conversion techniques indicate that they are not economically attractive, with the possible exception of conversion to ammonia and ethanol. The deterrents are the heavy capital investments, dependability of raw material supply and transportation costs for large plants, lack of operation experience, inadaptability of market variations, and competition from petroleum and coal. More importantly, it is also shown that even if chemicals from biomass were economical today, the resultant savings in petroleum would be far less than those achieved through other options available for the utilization of biomass as fuel and structural material. Thus, it is concluded that near-term research and development must be toward improved conversion processes, recovery of valuable products from waste streams at existing plants, more efficient use of biomass of energy and more efficient production of superior material products.

Sarbolouki, M. N.↗
NASA NTRS1974

The Energy Systems Optimization Computer Program /ESOP/ developed for Modular Integrated Utility Systems /MIUS/ analysis

A significant energy and cost savings can be obtained by integrating various utility services (space heating and cooling, electrical power generation, solid waste disposal, potable water, and waste water treatment) into a single unit which provides buildings or groups of buildings with these services. This paper presents a description of a computer program, called the Energy Systems Optimization Program (ESOP). This program predicts the loads, energy requirements, equipment sizes, and life-cycle costs of alternative methods of meeting these utility requirements. The program has been used extensively for performing energy analyses of Modular Integrated Utility Systems (MIUS).

Ferden, S. L.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Thermoradiative Conversion for Space Power Systems

The thermoradiative cell is a new method for converting heat energy to electrical power, first detailed by Strandberg in 2015. The cell is structurally similar to a photovoltaic cell, in that it is a p-n junction semiconductor device, but thermodynamically operates in the reverse direction, converting the thermal dark current into electrical power by utilizing the recombination radiation from thermally-generated electron hole pairs to radiate waste heat to space. This technology may have application for space missions in converting thermal energy produced by a radioisotope source or from a nuclear reactor into power. The power and efficiency can be calculated as a function of bandgap in the detailed-balance case (the Shockley-Queisser limit), in which all of the thermal emissivity of the cell is due to the recombination of thermally generated electron-hole pairs, and all other recombination losses are ignored. The current produced is directly proportional to the recombination radiation, and thus the more thermally generated pairs, the higher the current. The voltage is proportional to the external bias. These two constraints allow optimization of the optimum bias point for maximum power, and allow calculation of the efficiency at maximum power point. Unlike photovoltaic cells, the maximum power operating point is not the same as the maximum efficiency point, and higher efficiency can be achieved at a higher (negative) bias in the ideal case. Incorporating non-ideal losses, however, shifts the maximum efficiency point toward lower bias. Since a thermoradiative cell operates by radiating directly to space, the current produced by a themoradiative cells will increase with the Stefan-Boltzman radiative efficiency; roughly the fourth power of the temperature. Thus, in contrast to a photovoltaic converter, the power produced is highest at high operating temperatures. Likewise, in contrast to conventional thermal conversion, high radiator temperature increases, rather than decreases the efficiency. Thus, the thermoradiative conversion may fill a mission niche in which small radiator size is required. The basic operation will be summarized, applications to space power discussed, and the requirements for further research outlined.

Photovoltaic Cell↗
NASA NTRS1975

Application of fuel cells with heat recovery for integrated utility systems

This paper presents the results of a study of fuel cell powerplants with heat recovery for use in an integrated utility system. Such a design provides for a low pollution, noise-free, highly efficient integrated utility. Use of the waste heat from the fuel cell powerplant in an integrated utility system for the village center complex of a new community results in a reduction in resource consumption of 42 percent compared to conventional methods. In addition, the system has the potential of operating on fuels produced from waste materials (pyrolysis and digester gases); this would provide further reduction in energy consumption.

Shields, V.↗
NASA NTRS1990

A solar power system for an early Mars expedition

As NASA looks at missions that will expand human presence in the solar system, the power requirements for such missions need to be defined, developed and analyzed. One mission under consideration consists of a 40 day manned Mars surface expedition to perform science experiments. The mission time was centered around an aerocentric longitude (Ls) of 90 deg to lessen the probability of an occurrence of a local or planetary dust storm. The mission site was arbitrarily located at the Martian equator. The power requirements were assumed to be 40 kWe for life support and experiment power during the Martian day and 20 kWe for life support during the Martian night. A solar energy system consisting of roll-out amorphous silicon arrays and a hydrogen-oxygen regenerative fuel cell energy storage system was chosen for the study. The power available from a roll-out array, when plotted against time, approaches a cosine-like curve and depends on both array area and the amount of solar irradiance impinging on its horizontal surface. The array is sized to provide at least 20 KWe when the sun is 12.5 deg above the horizon and ramp up to 140 kWe peak power at Martian noon. In this configuration, the array is capable of supplying 40 KWe continuously to the user for the majority of the Martian day while supplying the excess energy to the electrolyzer portion of the energy storage system. A roll-out, pumped loop radiator system is used to dissipate the waste heat produced by the fuel cell. The power management and distribution system inverts the power from the individual solar array sub-modules and the fuel cell stacks and connects them to a 440 VAC single phase 20 kHz main bus. The total power system is comprised of 80 individual solar array modules with an integral bus and three energy storage modules consisting of fuel cell and electrolyzer stacks, reactant storage tanks, and a roll-out radiator. Power system mass, stowed volume, and deployed area were determined. Day/night power splits of 40/10 kWe, 40/30 kWe, and 40/40 kWe were also considered to determine the impact of a range of nighttime power requirements on the baseline system.

Mckissock, Barbara I.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Comparison of two total energy systems for a diesel power generation plant

The capabilities and limitations, as well as the associated costs for two total energy systems for a diesel power generation plant are compared. Both systems utilize waste heat from engine cooling water and waste heat from exhaust gases. Pressurized water heat recovery system is simple in nature and requires no engine modifications, but operates at lower temperature ranges. On the other hand, a two-phase ebullient system operates the engine at constant temperature, provides higher temperature water or steam to the load, but is more expensive.

Chai, V. W.↗