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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 253 records · Page 14
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

RAFT: Reconfigurable Array of High-Efficiency Ducted Turbines for Hydrokinetic Energy Harvesting

Diversifying the energy harvesting portfolio is crucial to achieving the ambitious goal of transitioning to clean energy by 2030. Marine hydrokinetic energy has garnered renewed interest due to its high harvesting potential in the U.S., and the resource's reliability and predictability—remaining relatively constant on a daily basis and available 24/7. However, there are currently few commercial devices capable of harnessing the energy from flowing water. This project aims to bridge that gap by designing and evaluating a novel hydrokinetic turbine concept that can efficiently harvest energy from both rivers and tidal streams. The RAFT (Reconfigurable Array of High-Efficiency Ducted Turbines) concept introduces a duct surrounding the turbine rotor and creates an array of small 5-kW units. The duct serves two primary purposes: (1) it enhances hydrodynamic efficiency by accelerating flow to the rotor, and (2) it functions as a structural component, facilitating the formation of modular arrays that lower costs. This project focuses on demonstrating this concept and validating these benefits through simulations and scaled prototype testing. The project team includes 8 faculty members and over 20 students from 3 universities, organized into three core areas: hydrodynamics, electrical systems, and structural analysis, with additional teams dedicated to system integration, environmental assessment and risk management, and tech-to-market strategy. The team successfully demonstrated the increased hydrodynamic efficiency of a ducted turbine compared to an unducted version using high-fidelity simulations and prototype tests. Moreover, design optimization efforts led to surpassing the SHARKS program's goal of 60% reduction of the levelized cost of energy with a significant margin.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

2022 Prototype Manufacture and Installation Awardee: Sonsight Wind

The Sonsight Wind 3.5-kilowatt (kW) prototype turbine is designed to compete with solar power, meeting energy needs for a wide range of smaller-scale applications, such as powering individual homes and irrigation systems on farms and ranches in remote areas. The technology's innovative high-torque, low-rotations-per-minute generator permits the use of longer blades that, at moderate wind speed sites, generate the energy of a 5-kW turbine with lower thrust forces than similarly rated turbines. The 3.5-kW turbine is projected to ofer greater durability at a signifcantly lower levelized cost of energy. Sonsight Wind advanced the development of the prototype with a previous Competitiveness Improvement Project (CIP) funding award.

competitiveness improvement project↗
DOE OSTI2022

Design Challenges in High-Current Pulsed Striplines

The Long Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) will produce the worlds most intense neutrino beam. Three series connected magnetic horns will require 5 kV, 300 kA, 800 $\mu$s pulses at a rate of 1.4 Hz to focus the beam. Connecting a single power supply to these focusing horns will require a low impedance connection measuring over 60 m in length. To meet the challenging requirements of connecting the horns to the power supply, this connection is engineered as a nine-conductor, high-current pulsed stripline. It must pass through a harsh radiation environment, be passively cooled, and have an operational lifetime of at least 30 years. This paper discusses mechanical and electrical considerations such as high-voltage holdoff, clamped joint performance, and Lorentz force mitigations in order to meet the specified requirements. The results of tests and experiments on several prototypes of key design features will be presented and discussed.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Techno-Economic Wind Blade Manufacturing Model to Identify Opportunities for Cost Improvements Phase II IACMI Project 4.6/4.8

In IACMI Project 4.6 and IACMI Project 4.8, an Excel-based Techno-Economic Model (TEM) of the manufacturing process for composite wind turbine blades and a DELMIA Factory Flow Simulation of a generic wind blade manufacturing facility was developed. Together, these two tools provide a combined economic modeling capability that accounts for the material, labor, overhead and full-lifecycle operating costs associated with wind blade manufacturing as well as the impact of process flow and factory layout on overall manufacturing efficiency. The tools provide a novel means of detailed comparative analysis of the economic feasibility of proposed technologies and process changes for blade manufacturing. The modeling tools were developed with close support from members of industry and visits to multiple blade manufacturing facilities. With industry oversight, a detailed generalized manufacturing process plan and facility layout were developed with manufacturing parameters, material costs and economic factors based on historical data. Dassault Systèmes and the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) contributed to the development of the Techno-Economic Model by providing macros to enable the generation of Bill of Material (BOM) data from a 3D blade design in either CATIA or NuMAD format, respectively. The TEM was built with the capability to directly import a Bill of Materials for economic analysis, and with the addition of the macros provided by Dassault and UTD, the TEM can directly import blade designs from both CATIA and NuMAD file formats. The modeling tools developed in Project 4.6 were used to investigate four wind blade manufacturing concepts in detail and select one to explore with laboratory-scale experimentation in Project 4.8. The four manufacturing concepts that were investigated were down-selected by the full project team from a larger list of concepts. The selections were made based on a number of criteria ranking viability and level of interest for each concept. The ‘One-Step Close’ manufacturing concept was ultimately selected for investigation in Project 4.8 and the demonstration was performed at the NREL CoMET facility. The TPI advanced manufacturing facility in Warren, RI contributed the production of several prototype components, the designs for which were developed by Janicki Industries. The demonstration project provided clear indication of the viability of the One-Step Close manufacturing concept for blade manufacturing and good validation of the Techno-Economic Model’s prediction of its economic impact.

17 WIND ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Computational materials assessment of the D/Li-stripping neutron source as a prototypical facility for fusion materials testing

As the US fusion materials community awaits the selection and design of a fusion prototypical neutron source (FPNS), a risk reduction exercise has been conducted to (i) provide an updated materials performance evaluation using state-of-the-art computational materials modeling, (ii) expand on legacy analysis based on pure Fe to other relevant fusion structural materials types, and (iii) ensure that materials response under FPNS operational conditions is consistent with referential fusion reactor conditions. The current paper describes the efforts undertaken to assemble a comprehensive computational methodology that includes neutronics, primary damage calculations, atomistic simulations of displacement cascades, chemical inventory evolution calculations, and a computational thermodynamic analysis of emerging phases during irradiation. Our work extends existing studies in pure Fe to reduced-activation ferritic/martensitic steels, tungsten, silicon carbide, and vanadium alloys. We focus on the single-beam deuteron/lithium-stripping neutron source behind the IFMIF-DONES concept, which we assess against ITER, two DEMO designs, and an ideal pure 14-MeV flux. Our analysis indicates that, within standard uncertainties inherent to the models employed, the DONES concept adequately captures fusion conditions in the four materials analyzed. Our work is intended as a comprehensive irradiation damage analysis of fusion-representative neutron sources, to be used for further neutron source evaluation and fusion facility operation.

Marian, Jaime [Univ. of California, Los Angeles, C↗
DOE OSTI2024

An Organic, Direct Bonded Copper, Multi-Layered, Ultra-Low Inductance Package for High-Power UWBG MOSFETs

The most common metalized substrates used in high-power switching packages consist of a ceramic layer such as Aluminum Nitride (AlN) sandwiched between two copper layers. Ceramic substrates are used because it has the key characteristic of having high dielectric strength while being thermally conductive. A large drawback to ceramic substrates is that they do not allow for a multi-layered circuit design. By replacing the traditional ceramic substrate with organic direct bonded copper (ODBC) we can open a wide range of possibilities when it comes to power module layout such as multi-layered circuits and double-sided cooling. Both benefits are critical while packaging high-performance Gallium Oxide (Ga2O3) MOSFETs. Because of Ga2O3's relatively poor thermal conductivity, a double-sided cooled package becomes necessary. Therefore, the use of ODBC provides the flexibility to fabricate copper traces carrying much higher currents, and by creating a multi-layered package, we can drastically reduce the parasitic inductance inside the power module. Achieving lower parasitic inductance is critical for an ultra-fast Ga2O3 package to avoid excessive voltage overshoot and ringing. Using ODBC, we have designed novel packages capable of handling the challenges presented by fast Ga2O3 switching. Using multi-physics modeling software, we can validate our design before building the prototype. Due to the simple process parameters needed to work with ODBC, we can rapidly create prototypes without using external vendors. This flexibility allows us to quickly design, build, and validate highly complex switching power modules to accommodate next generation, Ga2O3 switching devices.

ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS,ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2025

Thermal mechanical assessment of a SiC-SiC-composite clad fuel pin concept in a light water reactor environment

Accident Tolerant Fuels (ATFs) are designed to increase coping time following an accident scenario while preserving or improving current steady state reactor operational performance. A potential ATF concept is SiC-SiC composite claddings. Fuel performance simulations were conducted on a SiC-SiC based cladding concept utilizing a multilayered approach for improved performance. This cladding concept referred to as the Duplex concept is a duplex structure composed of a monolithic SiC layer placed on the outside of a SiC-SiC composite. A liquid metal is added to fuel-cladding gap for improved heat dissipation from the fuel. The monolithic SiC layer is used to improve the coolant corrosion characteristics and protect the SiC-SiC composite layer from exposure to the coolant. The fuel performance code BISON was used to conduct fuel performance simulations on the cladding concepts. Comparisons are made with a current prototypic fuel rod design (UO 2 fuel enclosed in Zircaloy-4 cladding). Representative steady-state cases were considered for normal power and two cycle power histories. Additionally, a PCI ramp case was simulated to analyze potential anticipated operational occurrences. Transient response during a Loss of Coolant Accident and a Reactivity Initiated Accident were also simulated. This computational study demonstrated that for normal operating conditions, the SiC concept cladding performed as well as the baseline for the standard power cases evaluated. The ramping evaluations indicate potential fracturing of the SiC-SiC composite of the composite cladding compared to the Zircaloy-4 cladding due to the temperature gradient and the subsequent differential thermal conductivity degradation and swelling across the composite thickness. In conclusion, the rod fails early at low enthalpy for RIA but survives a LOCA with minimal material loss due to high temperature steam corrosion.

11 - NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Design, Manufacturing, Assembly, Testing, and Lessons Learned of the Prototype 650 MHz Couplers

Six 650 MHz high-power couplers will be integrated into the prototype High Beta 650 MHz (HB650) cryomodule for the PIP-II project at Fermilab. The design of the coupler is described, including design optimizations from the previous generation. This paper then describes the coupler life-cycle, including manufacturing, assembly, testing, conditioning and the lessons learned at each stage.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Investigating Marine Environmental Degradation of Additive Manufacturing Materials for Renewable Energy Applications: Preprint

Marine renewable energy is a relatively young industry where there is a great need for rapid prototyping in design-build-test campaigns to quickly mature groundbreaking technologies. Additive manufacturing has an important role to play in the industry; however, little information is available to marine energy developers to help inform them on which additive manufacturing materials are appropriate for harsh marine environments. This paper presents an initial study on the mechanical characterization of polymeric additive manufacturing materials and the degradation effects of marine environments. Ultem 9085, acrylonitrile styrene acrylate, and chopped carbon-filled nylon, as well as continuous carbon and glass fiber-reinforced nylon were chosen for this study. Samples were manufactured to perform a variety of tension, shear, and compression mechanical characterization tests on the materials. Half of the samples were conditioned in Pacific Ocean water for approximately 6 months at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's Marine Sciences Laboratory before being returned for mechanical characterization. The mechanical testing results showed that the Ultem 9085 and acrylonitrile styrene acrylate materials experienced little to no degradation in stiffness or strength after exposure to the marine environment. On the other hand, the nylon-based materials suffered significant stiffness and strength degradation (over 50% in some cases) after environmental conditioning. Ultimately, these data sets should serve as starting points to allow marine renewable energy developers to make informed additive manufacturing material choices for their prototype deployments.

additive manufacturing↗
DOE OSTI2023

Investigating Marine Environmental Degradation Of Additive Manufacturing Materials For Renewable Energy Applications

Marine renewable energy is a relatively young industry where there is a great need for rapid prototyping in design-build-test campaigns to quickly mature ground-breaking technologies. Additive manufacturing has an important role to play in the industry; however, little information is available to marine energy developers to help inform them on which additive manufacturing materials are appropriate for harsh marine environments. This paper presents an initial study on the mechanical characterization of polymeric additive manufacturing materials and degradation effects due to the marine environment. Ultem 9085, acrylonitrile styrene acrylate (ASA), and chopped carbon-filled Nylon, as well as continuous carbon and glass fiber reinforced Nylon were chosen for this study. Samples were manufactured to perform a variety of tension, shear, and compression mechanical characterization tests on the materials. Half of the samples were conditioned in Pacific Ocean water for approximately 6 months at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Marine and Coastal Research Laboratory before being returned for mechanical characterization. The mechanical testing results showed that the Ultem 9085 and ASA materials experienced little to no degradation in stiffness or strength after exposure to the marine environment. On the other hand, the Nylon-based materials suffered significant stiffness and strength degradation (over 50% in some cases) after environmental conditioning. Ultimately, these results should serve as starting points to allow marine renewable energy developers to make informed additive manufacturing material choices for their prototype deployments.

Murdy, Paul↗
DOE OSTI2023

Investigating Marine Environmental Degradation of Additive Manufacturing Materials for Renewable Energy Applications

Marine renewable energy is a relatively young industry where there is a great need for rapid prototyping in design-build-test campaigns to quickly mature groundbreaking technologies. Additive manufacturing has an important role to play in the industry; however, little information is available to marine energy developers to help inform them on which additive manufacturing materials are appropriate for highly loaded structures in harsh marine environments. This paper presents an initial study on the mechanical characterization of polymeric additive manufacturing materials and the degradation effects due to the marine environment. Ultem 9085, acrylonitrile styrene acrylate, and chopped carbon-filled nylon, as well as continuous carbon and glass fiber-reinforced nylon were chosen for this study. Samples were manufactured to perform a variety of tension, shear, and compression mechanical characterization tests on the materials. Half of the samples were conditioned in Pacific Ocean water for approximately 6 months at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's Marine and Coastal Research Laboratory before being returned for mechanical characterization. The mechanical testing results showed that the Ultem 9085 and acrylonitrile styrene acrylate materials experienced little to no degradation in stiffness or strength after exposure to the marine environment. On the other hand, the nylon-based materials suffered significant stiffness and strength degradation (over 50% in some cases) after environmental conditioning. Ultimately, these data sets should serve as starting points to allow marine renewable energy developers to make informed additive manufacturing material choices for their prototype deployments.

additive manufacturing↗
DOE OSTI2020

Design and performance of a silicon–tungsten calorimeter prototype module and the associated readout

Here, we describe the details of a silicon–tungsten prototype electromagnetic calorimeter module and associated readout electronics. Detector performance for this prototype has been measured in test beam experiments at the CERN PS and SPS accelerator facilities in 2015/16. The results are compared to those in Monte Carlo Geant4 simulations. This is the first real-world demonstration of the performance of a custom ASIC designed for fast, lower-power, high-granularity applications.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2023

Additive Manufacturing of Self‐Sensing Carbon Fiber Composites

Carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites have gained substantial attention across various industries owing to their exceptional mechanical properties and lightweight nature. The emergence of additive manufacturing technologies brings new opportunities to the industry, offering advantages such as design freedom, rapid prototyping, and customization. However, the fabrication of CFRP composites through 3D printing techniques poses challenges pertaining to low resolution and limitations in complex geometry realization. This work introduces digital light processing printing as a versatile, high-resolution method ideal for CFRP composite fabrication. Furthermore, the development and characterization of CFRP are focused on and the manipulation of mechanical properties through variations in matrix resins and fiber loadings is investigated, showcasing the versatility of CFRP composites for tailored applications. Additionally, the integration of self-sensing capabilities in CFRP structures is explored, which opens up opportunities for applications in smart components for automotive and structural health monitoring.

carbon fiber composites↗
DOE OSTI2026

State of the art, gaps, and prospects in fusion materials theory and modelling

Advancing the theory and simulation of materials for fusion applications remains a key component of global roadmaps aimed at delivering much-needed fusion power. Especially as the drive for commercial application increases, prototypes must be designed against radiation damage before the relevant experimental data can be collected and cost reductions that are possible by testing materials in silico become even more important. Here, we summarise the state of the art as it emerged during the 7 th Fusion Materials Theory & Modelling Workshop that took place in 2024, with the aim to highlight present gaps and future directions for the fusion materials modelling community. Of particular interest were the effects of transmutations, chemical complexity with the development of novel alloys and interatomic potentials, advancements in modelling high-dose microstructures, comparison with experimental data and multiscale models for structural assessment relying on high-performance computing and virtual reality.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Nonlinear Interface Reduction for Time-Domain Analysis of Hurty/Craig-Bampton Superelements with Frictional Contact

Virtual prototyping in engineering design relies today on modern numerical models of contacting structures with accurate resolution of interface mechanics, which strongly affect the system-level stiffness and energy dissipation due to frictional losses. High-fidelity modeling within the localized interfaces is required to resolve local quantities of interest that may drive design decisions. The high-resolution finite element meshes necessary to resolve inter-component stresses tend to be computationally expensive, particularly when the analyst is interested in response time histories. The Hurty/Craig-Bampton (HCB) transformation is a widely used method in structural dynamics for reducing the interior portion of a finite element model while having the ability to retain all nonlinear contact degrees of freedom (DOF) in physical coordinates. These models may still require many DOF to adequately resolve the kinematics of the interface, leading to inadequate reduction and computational savings. This study proposes a novel interface reduction method to overcome these challenges by means of system-level characteristic constraint (SCC) modes and properly orthogonal interface modal derivatives (POIMDs) for transient dynamic analyses. Both SCC modes and POIMDs are computed using the reduced HCB mass and stiffness matrices, which can be directly computed from many commercial finite element analysis software. Comparison of time history responses to an impulse-type load in a mechanical beam assembly indicate that the interface-reduced model correlates well with the HCB truth model. Localized features like slip and contact area are well-represented in the time domain when the beam assembly is loaded with a broadband excitation. The proposed method also yields reduced-order models with greater critical timestep lengths for explicit integration schemes.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2024

Performance of a triple-GEM detector with capacitive-sharing 3-coordinate (X–Y–U)-strip anode readout

The concept of capacitive-sharing readout, described in detail in a previous study, offers the possibility for the development of high-performance three-coordinates (X--Y--U)-strip readout for Micro Pattern Gaseous Detectors (MPGDs) using simple standard PCB fabrication techniques. Capacitive-sharing (X--Y--U)-strip readout allows simultaneous measurement of the Cartesian coordinates x and y of the position of the particles together with a third coordinate u along the diagonal axis in a single readout PCB. This provides a powerful tool to address multiple-hit ambiguity and enable pattern recognition capabilities in moderate particle flux environment of collider or fixed target experiments in high energy physics HEP) and nuclear physics (NP). We present in this paper the performance of a 10 cm × 10 cm triple-GEM detector with capacitive-sharing (X--Y--U)-strip anode readout. Spatial resolutions of the order of $\sigma_{x}^{res}$ = 71.6 $\pm$ 0.8 $\mu$m for X-strips, $\sigma_{y}^{res}$ = 56.2 $\pm$ 0.9 $\mu$m for Y-strips and $\sigma_{u}^{res}$ = 75.2 $\pm$ 0.9 $\mu$m for U-strips have been obtained at a beam test at Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab). Modifications of the readout design of future prototypes to improve the spatial resolution and challenges in scaling to large-area MPGDs are discussed.

(X-Y-U) strip↗
DOE OSTI2020

Exploration of advanced porous organic polymers as a platform for biomimetic catalysis and molecular recognition

Nature has long been a dominant source of inspiration in the area of chemistry, serving as prototypes for the design of materials with proficient performance. In this Feature article, we present our efforts to explore porous organic polymers (POPs) as a platform for the construction of biomimetic materials to enable new technologies to achieve efficient conversions and molecular recognition. For each aspect, we first present the chemical basis of nature, followed by depicting the principles and design strategies involved for functionalizing POPs along with a summary of critical requirements for materials, culminating in a demonstration of unique features of POPs. Our endeavours in using POPs to address the fundamental scientific problems related to biomimetic catalysis and adsorption are then illustrated to show their enormous potential and capabilities for applications ranging from concerted catalysis to radionuclide sequestration. To conclude, we present a personal perspective on the challenges and opportunities in this emerging field.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2025

Enabling Technology for Energy Sustainability: Power Electronic Converter Control for Renewables

To ensure high penetration of renewable energy sources into power grids, their interfacing inverters need to be designed to provide grid support functions. Important grid support functions include frequency and voltage support. To this end, the research community has recently invested heavily on grid-forming control pilot projects. Grid forming control aims to replace traditional grid following control, which is based on phase-locked loop and can achieve decoupled real and reactive power control. Here, in this article, we review the state-of-the-art grid following and forming technology and point out some deficiencies in dynamic performance in the widely adopted grid-forming control design. We also examine how to ensure that the vector control capable of decoupled real and reactive power regulation can also be achieved in the grid forming design. This type of design has been prototyped and shown great potential to enable retrofitting of large amounts of grid-following controllers through purely software algorithm update. The technology ensures reliable operation of power grids with high penetration of IBRs, thereby further reducing fossil fueled energy sources and cut down carbon emission.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗