Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Instrument Development”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 397 records · Page 22
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

A 15-Mev/nucleon Iso-Cyclotron for Security and Radioisotope Production

Cargo inspection systems exploit the broad bremsstrahlung spectrum from a 6-10 MeV, low-duty cycle electron accelerator which in the presence of significant backgrounds presents challenges in image and material identification. An alternative approach is to use ions which can excite nuclear states either directly, or through generation of secondary high-energy signature gammas produced from nuclear interactions in a target. RadiaBeam is designing a compact sector isocyclotron 1.25 m in radius, with high-gradient cavities to accelerate multi-ion species up to 15-20 MeV/u with large turn-to turn, centimeter-level separation for low-loss extraction without lossy foil stripping. A strong-focusing radial field profile will be optimized in a separated-sector format for control over machine tune simultaneous with isochronous orbist requirements for high-current (~0.5 milliamp) operation. Innovation in injection will be introduced to replace the high-loss central region. Non-security applications of the cyclotron include medical isotope production, ion radiobiology, as well as material science research and ion instrumentation development.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Raman Lidar (RL) Instrument Handbook

The Raman lidar at the ARM Climate Research Facility (ACRF) Southern Great Plains (SGP) Central Facility (SGPRL) is an active, ground-based laser remote sensing instrument that measures height and time resolved profiles of water vapor mixing ratio and several cloud- and aerosol-related quantities. The system is a non-commercial custom-built instrument developed by Sandia National Laboratories specifically for the ARM Program. It is fully computer automated, and will run unattended for many days following a brief (~5-minute) startup period. The self-contained system (requiring only external electrical power) is housed in a climate-controlled 8’x8’x20’ standard shipping container.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Beam-ion Studies in NSTX and NSTX-U (Final Technical Report)

The confinement of high energy "fast ions" is crucial for the success of magnetic fusion as a practical energy source. The research performed by UC Irvine on NSTX and NSTX-U provided new information about this important topic in the configuration known as a "spherical tokamak." Injected neutral beams provided the fast ions (also known as "beam ions"). There were five overarching goals of the research. One objective was to measure the confinement of beam ions in order to ascertain if they were accomplishing their desired purpose of transferring their energy to the bulk plasma. A second goal was to better understand instabilities that are driven unstable by the fast ions. A related goal was to use the similarities and differences between NSTX and the DIII-D conventional tokamak to better understand the fast-ion driven instabilities. A fourth goal was to develop new instruments to measure fast ions and techniques that facilitate analysis of the data. The fifth objective was to measure and understand acceleration of beam ions by RF waves. Much was accomplished in all of these five areas. In the first, it was shown that the large magnetic moment of the beam ions did not harm confinement but instabilities known as the "sawtooth" and "long-lived mode" do. In the second area, much attention was devoted to the fast-ion instabilities known as "Alfvén eigenmodes." In particular, Alfvén eigenmode "avalanches" can cause ~ 30% of the fast ions to be lost in a single explosive burst. The comparative studies with DIII-D showed that an instability discovered on NSTX is also important in conventional tokamaks. In the fourth category, several instruments were developed, a number of effects that complicate interpretation of the data were understood, and progress toward a new method to infer the fast-ion distribution function from the data was made. In the fifth category, the measured profile of accelerated fast ions was initially much broader than theoretical predictions but subsequent improvements in the theoretical modeling achieved good agreement with the data.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2020

High-Speed Active Integrators for Magnetic Probes

This report discusses a low cost, easy to develop instrument to measure magnetic fields in pulsed solenoids used for the MagNIF pulse power system. The instrument is designed to integrate voltage signals from custom B-dot probes made from PCB inductor chips. The instrument is battery powered with ± 9V rails. Acceptable B-dot probe inputs range from mV to 20V with frequencies up to 4MHz. Details of the circuit design and practical considerations for working with high speed signals are discussed.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2019

Framework for Characterizing Strain in the Vicinity of Leaky Reservoirs

The identification of leaks in the vicinity of reservoirs is critical to determining the feasibility of long-term geologic storage of CO2, methane, wastewater and other fluids. We have established a series of basic reservoir leakage scenarios and performed numerical analysis to characterize the associated pressure and strain fields created from injection into these leaky reservoir settings, as well from ambient loads, such as barometric pressure and earth tides. The end-member conceptual models evaluated include injection and ambient loads applied to: 1) a thin, horizontal layer with no leakage pathways (baseline), 2) a thin layer with a vertical conduit to the surface (e.g., a leaky fault or abandoned well) and 3) a thin layer with a conduit to an overlying aquifer. The pressure and strain fields are sensitive to the reservoir and confining unit geometry, material properties, the distribution, composition and compressibility of the pore fluid and the type of applied load (e.g., constant vs. cyclical injection, barometric pressure fluctuations, earth tides, etc.). Initial results from the numerical analyses indicate that an induced pressure change of 1 MPa in a formation at 1 km depth with a Young’s modulus of 10 GPa is sufficient to create vertical and horizontal strain signals as high as 2 με at a depth of 100 m. The signals predicted from leaky conditions compared to an intact reservoir differ by as much as 0.2 με in magnitude and evolve at different rates. We have developed instruments capable of measuring vertical and horizontal strain at a resolution of better than 5 nε and have recorded repeatable strain signals at 30 m depth in response to wastewater injection into the Avant field in Oklahoma. Based on these findings, strain signals predicted in the shallow subsurface (< 100 m) with numerical analysis are expected to be measurable, and this signal may be inverted to characterize the location and magnitude of leaks, as well as to characterize the geometry and hydromechanical properties of the formation and overlying confining units. This suggests that shallow strain measurements could be a cost effective method for characterizing and monitoring gas storage projects.

Robert, Moak↗
DOE OSTI2026

LArCADe | Liquid Argon Charge Amplification Devices

The Liquid Argon Charge Amplification Devices (LArCADe) project is an R$\&$D effort aimed at developing instrumentation capable of lowering detection thresholds for ionization signatures in liquid and gaseous argon detectors and achieving O(100 $\mu$m) position resolution. The core concept is the use of sharp “tip arrays” that generate strong local electric-field enhancement, enabling charge amplification and collection with improved spatial resolution. A key physics motivation for this work is to enhance the experimental sensitivity of Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering (CEvNS) measurements to low-energy nuclear recoils by enabling spatially resolved charge reconstruction at reduced ionization thresholds, with the goal of achieving event-by-event energy reconstruction for interactions originating from localized accelerator or astrophysical neutrino sources. This poster will present the current status of the instrumentation R$\&$D, which leverages Fermilab’s Noble Liquid Test Facility and UC Santa Barbara’s Nanofabrication Facility, and will discuss the potential physics impact of this technology.

Antonakis, Alexander [UC, Santa Barbara]↗
NASA NTRS1971

Methodological problems

Data processing procedures and instrument development for space radiation measurements

Dergachev, V. A.↗
NASA NTRS1971

Microwave measurement of thermal emission from the sea.

Review of the results of some experimental and theoretical investigations of various limiting factors in microwave measurements of thermal emission from the sea, ranging from instrumentation to surface properties of the ocean. It is shown that absolute measurement of the thermal emission from the sea can be made at 2.69 GHz, with accuracies of better than plus or minus 1 K within the present state of microwave instrument development. The principal uncertainties on interpretation of such observations in terms of molecular temperature of the sea involve: (1) surface contamination such as oil slicks, (2) spray and foaming, (3) salinity variation, and (4) surface waves.

Gray, K. W.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Earth resources survey applications of the space shuttle sortie mode

The use of the shuttle sortie mode for earth observation applications was investigated and its feasibility for applied research and instrument development was appraised. The results indicate that the shuttle sortie missions offer unique advantages and that specific aspects of earth applications are particularly suited to the sortie mode.

Sharma, R. D.↗