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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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22 records · Page 2

Technical Feasibility Assessment of LED Roadway Lighting on the Golden Gate Bridge

Subsequent to preliminary investigations by the Golden Gate Bridge Highway & Transportation District (GGB), in coordination with Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), the GATEWAY Demonstration program was asked to evaluate the technical feasibility of replacing existing roadway lighting on the bridge with products utilizing LED technology. GGB and PG&E also indicated interest in induction (i.e., electrodeless fluorescent) technology, since both light source types feature rated lifetimes significantly exceeding those of the existing high-pressure sodium (HPS) and low-pressure sodium (LPS) products. The goal of the study was to identify any solutions which would reduce energy use and maintenance without compromising the quantity or quality of existing illumination. Products used for roadway lighting on the historic bridge must be installed within the existing amber-lensed shoebox-style luminaire housings. It was determined that induction technology does not appear to represent a viable alternative for the roadway luminaires in this application; any energy savings would be attributable to a reduction in light levels. Although no suitable LED retrofit kits were identified for installation within existing luminaire housings, several complete LED luminaires were found to offer energy savings of 6-18%, suggesting custom LED retrofit kits could be developed to match or exceed the performance of the existing shoeboxes. Luminaires utilizing ceramic metal halide (CMH) were also evaluated, and some were found to offer 28% energy savings, but these products might actually increase maintenance due to the shorter rated lamp life. Plasma technology was evaluated, as well, but no suitable products were identified. Analysis provided in this report was completed in May 2012. Although LED technologies are expected to become increasingly viable over time, and product mock-ups may reveal near-term solutions, some options not currently considered by GGB may ultimately merit evaluation. For example, it would be preferable in terms of performance to simply replace existing luminaires (some of which may already be nearing end of life) with fully-integrated LED or CMH luminaires rather than replacing internal components. Among other benefits, this would allow reputable manufacturers to offer standard warranties for their products. Similarly, the amber lenses might be reformulated such that they do not render white light sources in a greenish cast, thereby allowing the use of off-the-shelf LED or CMH products. Last, it should be noted that the existing amber-lensed shoeboxes bear no daytime resemblance to the LPS luminaires originally used to light the roadway.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Al x In 1-x P LEDs with II-VI Cladding Layers for Efficient Red and Amber Emission. Final Scientific & Technical Report

Realizing solid state lighting systems with high efficiency and enhanced functionality will require the adoption of color-mixing (cm-LEDs) architectures combining highly efficient red, green, blue and amber light emitting diodes. Already, the hybrid architectures (hy-LEDs) pair phosphor-converted wide bandgap nitride LEDs with (Al x Ga 1-x ) 0.51 In 0.49 P red LEDs to improve the emission spectrum and reduce losses in the infrared. However, the efficiencies of (Al x Ga 1-x ) 0.51 In 0.49 P red and amber LEDs are still too low to truly enable these approaches. The DOE Solid-State Lighting R&D Plan highlights red and amber LED improvement as a long-term research goal. Excessive electron leakage out of the cladding layers, in particular, leads to strong thermal droop and red LED efficiencies of ~25% at normal operating temperatures. The typical device architecture for red and amber LEDs is based on indirect bandgap (Al y Ga 1-y ) 0.51 In 0.49 P cladding layers used to confine injected electrons and holes within a lower, direct bandgap (Al x Ga 1-x ) 0.51 In 0.49 P light-emitting active layer (x < y). The challenge with this approach is that the electron confinement is limited and decreases as the emission wavelength is shortened. Hence, thermal droop and overall device efficiency are very poor for amber LEDs. Innovative solutions to this problem must be sought through the use of new semiconductor materials and structures that will increase electron confinement. We plan to develop Al x In 1-x P LEDs with a II-VI semiconductor electron cladding layer to greatly increase the carrier confinement. Such an approach has the potential to improve red and amber LED efficiency, temperature stability, and light extraction. Al x In 1-x P active layers provide high direct bandgap energies needed to reach amber wavelengths without detrimental internal losses. ZnSe-based alloys are attractive candidates for the electron cladding layer because they can be engineered to provide high conduction band energies relative to the Al x In 1-x P active layer while maintaining roughly the same lattice constant. The lower index of refraction of the II-VI cladding layer will also aid light extraction. While extended defects have largely precluded the use of II-VI semiconductors as the light emitting layer in LEDs and lasers, the effects of these defects on device performance can be mitigated by limiting the use of II-VI materials to the thin, heavily doped cladding layer. Proposed research will focus on optimizing the quality of the Al x In 1-x P active layer and the heteropolar growth of the III-V/II-VI interface, tuning the II-VI cladding layer composition, and device design to maximize electron confinement and LED efficiency. Significant improvement in the performance of red and amber LEDs through this new approach is expected to advance the capabilities of next generation solid-state lighting technologies.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Synthesis and Single Crystals of Refractory Oxides of Lanthanides and Thorium

At the completion of this program, we can report that we developed a considerable degree of technical improvements in our ability to perform hydrothermal reactions at high temperatures and pressures. We can now routinely perform reactions at 700-750°C and 200 MPa. Currently we are in the process of exploiting this new technology synthesizing a range of exotic new materials investigating relatively poorly understood materials. Our initial efforts focused on the chemistry of rare earth oxides with tetravalent and pentavalent oxides. We recently published a study of the lanthanides with Nb 5+ and Ta 5+ ions, where we grew oxides such as RENdO 4 and RETaO 4 as high quality single crystals. These compounds were targeted as potential hosts for luminescent and scintillation materials, particularly given that they are among the densest oxide hosts and hence have good potential as absorbers for high energy radiation like X-rays and gamma rays. We also isolated a range of unusual new rare earth tantalates with very complex structures. indicating that the chemistry is very sensitive to conditions. We performed some fairly comprehensive examinations of the solid-state chemistry of rare earth ions with various tetravalent metal ions especially Si 4+ , Ge 4+ , Sn 4+ and Ti 4+ . Given the potential role of rare earth silicates in immobilizing radioactive waste elements in long-term storage, and the similarity of our hydrothermal fluids with known geological conditions, this chemistry continues to be relevant. We prepared an extensive series of new lanthanide germanates (e.g. RE 13 Ge 6 O 31 (OH), BaRE 10 (GeO 4 ) 4 O 8 ). and found that there is there is almost no overlap between the chemistry of the rare earth silicates. Stannic oxide (SnO 2 ) is much more refractory and requires higher temperatures and of mineralizer concentrations. One significant result is the growth of RE 2 Sn 2 O 7 pyrochlore single crystals. These are of interest because the rare earth stannate pyrochlores are known to display a wide range of magnetic frustration such as spin ice behavior. We grew high quality single crystals of rare earth germanate and stannate pyrochlores and this led to a collaboration with Professor Kate Ross at Colorado State. Preliminary measurements, indicate that the crystals contain no detectable defects or site disorder. Initial neutron diffraction on single crystals was performed at Oak Ridge, and more detailed experiments involving the Ross group are underway at both NIST and ORNL. This particular chemistry has turned out to be the most potentially significant work on this project and the collaborative effort with Prof. Ross is the topic of a DoE renewal project on quantum materials. Our initial foray into the hydrothermal chemistry of rare earth titanates has also been very promising and a range of cubic and polar ferroic phases of the light rare earths RE 2 Ti 2 O 7 (RE = La - Pr) in the P2 1 phase. We also discovered an interesting new phase Ce 2 Ti 4 O 11 that can have implications in heavy metal immobilization and storage. along with a series of new rare earth titanates (La 5 Ti 4 O 15 (OH) Sm 3 TiO 5 (OH) 3 and Lu 5 Ti 2 O 11 (OH) with exceptionally complex structures. One interesting sidelight has been high temperature hydrothermal chemistry terbium, including the growth of large crystals of TbO(OH). This is not a new compound but it is the first time it has been grown as large single crystals. The Tb atom density is almost as high as that in Tb 2 O 3 and has a very high Verdet constant (ca. 70), making it a very attractive candidate as a Faraday rotator. Unfortunately it is not in a cubic structure but he material is hard, stable, pure and inexpensive, so should still be an attractive Faraday oscillator. We recently received a patent on this material. We also synthesized K 2 Tb(Ge 2 O 7 ) containing stable octahedral Tb 4+ ions, which appears to be the first example of a well-characterized Tb 4+ complex. Given that Tb 4+ has been proposed as a benign surrogate for more treacherous tetravalent ions such as Cf 4+ and Bk 4+ , we think that Tb 4+ silicates can be a particularly useful study for actinide immobilization and related work. We also began reaction studies with rare earths and both ReO 2 and RuO 2 . These resulted in large single crystals of species like RE 5 Ru 2 O 12 , RE 4 Re 2 O 11 , REReO 4 and RE 2 ReO 5 . Several of these samples have already been sent to ORNL for magnetic and neutron diffraction studies.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

High-Luminance LED Platform for Improved Efficacy in Directional Applications (Final Technical Report)

In this project, Lumileds developed a platform of high-luminance LEDs and LED light engines to increase efficacy and reduce energy consumption of directional lighting applications. The platform was developed through innovations in three key areas: (1) epi and device architectures optimized for high drive current density, breaking through the tradeoff in efficacy (lm/W) vs. emittance (lm/mm 2 ) exhibited by state-of-the-art products; (2) a compact chip-scale package allowing high packing density and thus high overall luminance in multi-emitter arrays; and (3) phosphor technology to enable correlated color temperature (CCT) tuning in multi-emitter arrays with optimized LED utilization, efficacy, color uniformity and color quality. Directional indoor and outdoor lighting applications make up a major portion of the total lighting energy consumption in the U.S, accounting for >40% of the energy savings potential of solid-state lighting. Success of this project helps accelerate the realization of these energy savings both through higher system efficacy and adoption due to new functionality, and thus contributes significantly to realizing the DOE Lighting program goals.

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