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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 397 records · Page 22
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2001

Electronic Components and Systems for Cryogenic Space Applications

Electronic components and systems capable of operation at cryogenic temperatures are anticipated in many future NASA space missions such as deep space probes and planetary surface exploration. For example, an unheated interplanetary probe launched to explore the rings of Saturn would reach an average temperature near Saturn of about - 183 C. In addition to surviving the deep space harsh environment, electronics capable of low temperature operation would contribute to improving circuit performance, increasing system efficiency, and reducing payload development and launch costs. Terrestrial applications where components and systems must operate in low temperature environments include cryogenic instrumentation, superconducting magnetic energy storage, magnetic levitation transportation system, and arctic exploration. An on-going research and development program at the NASA Glenn Research Center focuses on the development of reliable electronic devices and efficient power systems capable of surviving in low temperature environments. An overview of the program will be presented in this paper. A description of the low temperature test facilities along with selected data obtained from in-house component testing will also be discussed. Ongoing research activities that are being performed in collaboration with various organizations will also be presented.

Patterson, R. L.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Reflective Insulation

NRC-2 Superinsulation, manufactured by Metallized Products, Inc. (MPI), is designed for superconducting magnets used in MRI systems and particle accelerators. It is a thin, polyester film characterized by a unique crinkled surface that provides surface stand-off between layers and minimizes heat transfer in multilayer applications. NRC-2/Two is a two-sided metallized film. The material, originally developed as a skin for balloon-like satellites, was later used by NASA as a thermal barrier. MPI worked with NASA on the development of the original material and now supplies it for both space and consumer applications.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2014

Studies of Fission Fragment Rocket Engine Propelled Spacecraft

The NASA Office of Chief Technologist has funded from FY11 through FY14 successive studies of the physics, design, and spacecraft integration of a Fission Fragment Rocket Engine (FFRE) that directly converts the momentum of fission fragments continuously into spacecraft momentum at a theoretical specific impulse above one million seconds. While others have promised future propulsion advances if only you have the patience, the FFRE requires no waiting, no advances in physics and no advances in manufacturing processes. Such an engine unequivocally can create a new era of space exploration that can change spacecraft operation. The NIAC (NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts) Program Phase 1 study of FY11 first investigated how the revolutionary FFRE technology could be integrated into an advanced spacecraft. The FFRE combines existent technologies of low density fissioning dust trapped electrostatically and high field strength superconducting magnets for beam management. By organizing the nuclear core material to permit sufficient mean free path for escape of the fission fragments and by collimating the beam, this study showed the FFRE could convert nuclear power to thrust directly and efficiently at a delivered specific impulse of 527,000 seconds. The FY13 study showed that, without increasing the reactor power, adding a neutral gas to the fission fragment beam significantly increased the FFRE thrust through in a manner analogous to a jet engine afterburner. This frictional interaction of gas and beam resulted in an engine that continuously produced 1000 pound force of thrust at a delivered impulse of 32,000 seconds, thereby reducing the currently studied DRM 5 round trip mission to Mars from 3 years to 260 days. By decreasing the gas addition, this same engine can be tailored for much lower thrust at much higher impulse to match missions to more distant destinations. These studies created host spacecraft concepts configured for manned round trip journeys. While the vehicles are very large, they are primarily made up of a habitat payload on one end, the engine on the opposite end and a connecting spine containing radiator acreage needed to reject the heat of this powerful, but inefficient engine. These studies concluded that the engine and spacecraft are within today's technology, could be built, tested, launched on several SLS launchers, integrated, checked out, maintained at an in-space LEO base, and operated for decades just as Caribbean cruise ships operate today. The nuclear issues were found to be far less daunting that [than for] current nuclear engines. The FFRE produces very small amounts of radioactive efflux compared to their impulse, easily contained in an evacuated "bore-hole" test site. The engine poses no launch risk since it is simply a structure containing no fissionable material. The nuclear fuel is carried to orbit in containers highly crash-proofed for launch accidents from which it, in a liquid medium, is injected into the FFRE. The radioactive exhaust, with a velocity above 300 kilometers per second rapidly leaves the solar system.

Werka, Robert O.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Time Variations of Cosmic-Ray Helium Isotopes with BESS-Polar I

The Balloon-borne Experiment with a Superconducting Spectrometer (BESS) is configured with a solenoidal superconducting magnet and a suite of precision particle detectors, including time-of-flight hodoscopes based on plastic scintillators, a silica-aerogel Cherenkov detector, and a high resolution tracking system with a central jet-type drift chamber. The charges of incident particles are determined from energy losses in the scintillators. Their magnetic rigidities (momentum/charge) are measured by reconstructing each particle trajectory in the magnetic field, and their velocities are obtained by using the time-of-flight system. Together, these measurements can accurately identify helium isotopes among the incoming cosmic-ray helium nuclei up to energies in the GeV per nucleon region. The BESS-Polar I instrument flew for 8.5 days over Antarctica from December 13th to December 21st, 2004. Its long-duration flight and large geometric acceptance allow the time variations of isotopic fluxes to be studied for the first time. The time variations of helium isotope fluxes are presented here for rigidities from 1.2 to 2.5 GV and results are compared to previously reported proton data and neutron monitor data.

Cosmic-ray flux time variations↗
NASA NTRS2019

Development of a Flight-Worthy 10 to 4 K Continuous Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerator

The cryogenics and fluids branch at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is currently developing a high-efficiency, vibration-free, flight-worthy Continuous Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerator (CADR) that consist of two modular units: one that lifts ~6 microW at 50 mK while rejecting its heat to a 4 K thermal sink, and another unit that provides a constant 4 K cooling stage while rejecting its heat to a thermal sink at 10 K. The two units are linked together via a 4 K common platform. This paper discusses the status report on the thermodynamic performance of the 4 -10 K ADR. This ADR utilizes an Nb3Sn superconducting magnet and Gadolinium Gallium Garnet (GGG) as its refrigerant. Results show that an idealized cycle, one where its hold time at 4 K is equal to the recycle time, can lift 13 mW at 4 K with a hold time of 132 seconds.

CADR↗
NASA NTRS2019

Rewet Temperature Correlations for Liquid-Nitrogen Boiling Pipe Flows Across Varying Flow Conditions and Orientations

In many convective liquid-vapor phase change heat transfer engineering applications, cryogenic fluids are widely used in industrial processes, spacecraft and cryosurgery systems, and so on. For example, cryogens are usually used as liquid fuels such as liquid hydrogen and oxygen in the rocket industry, liquid nitrogen (LN2) and helium are frequently used to cool superconducting magnetic device for medical applications. In these systems, proper transport, handling, and storage of cryogenic fluids are of extreme importance. Among all the cryogenic transport processes performed in room temperatures, quenching, also termed chilldown, is a unavoidable initial, transient phase-change heat transfer process that brings the system down to the cryogenic condition. The Leidenfrost temperature or rewet temperature that signals the end of film boiling is practically considered the completion point of a quenching process. Therefore, rewet temperature has been considered the most important parameter for the engineering design of cryogenic thermal management systems. As most of the previous correlations for predicting the Leidenfrost temperature and the rewet temperature have been basically developed for water, they are shown to disagree with recent liquid nitrogen pipe chilldown experiments in upward and downward flow directions over a wide range of flow rates, pressures, and degrees of inlet subcooling. In addition to a complete review of the literature, two new correlations are presented in this work, one based on bubble growth and another based on the theoretical maximum limit of superheat. Each correlation performs well over the entire data set.

liquid nitrogen↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Critical Current Stability of 2G REBCO Tape for Space-Flight HTS Leads

High reliability is an essential requirement for all spaceflight hardware. XRISM, a follow-on mission to the Hitomi x-ray observatory, also uses 2G REBCO tapes as current leads for the superconducting magnets that are a key component of the Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerator (ADR) that cools the detector array. While the Hitomi Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) worked flawlessly in orbit, during its development there were indications that the critical current of its specialized REBCO tapes could degrade over time when exposed to normal-humidity air. To demonstrate that the updates to the XRISM HTS lead assemblies had mitigated this risk, a series of tests were carried out to measure the stability of Ic of dozens of samples over a period greater than the flight assemblies were exposed to air during integration and test. The test rig allowed not only the measurement of the sample Ic, but also the localization of the voltage rise as the current approached Ic. We will discuss the trends in the critical current of the samples, as well as localization of lower Ic regions.

Edgar R. Canavan↗
DOE OSTI2025

E-198A Proton Nucleon Scattering

During the past year the E-198 spectrometer was completed.This involved the construction and implementation of 15 MWPCplanes, a remotely operated liquid helium transport system forthe LBL superconducting magnets and a room temperature gas jettarget. The experimental setup is indicated in the first attachedfigure.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2025

IDENTIFICATION OF POTENTIAL SUPERCONDUCTOR QUENCH PRECURSORS USING FREQUENCY DOMAIN FEATURE ANALYSIS

Superconducting magnets are important pieces of technology in the world of particle accelerators, allowing researchers to study atomic and subatomic phenomena, among other things. In some instances, superconductors can lose this non-resistive property in a phenomenon known as quenching, which can cause damage to the magnets. This potential danger prompts the introduction of systems to predict when a quench is imminent; one such implementation is through the use of acoustic sensors that detect vibrations within the magnet. Within these acoustic sensor signals, significantly above-noise disturbances (referred to as ”events”) can be identified. Our research applies the statistical framework of a permutation test to features calculated from the power spectral density (PSD) to distinguish between events far from the quench at the end of the signal to events at the start of the signal. We found that dividing the PSD into frequency bands produced a feature capable of distinguishing between events early in the signal and late in the signal leading up the quench, providing a promising starting place for future quench prediction systems.

Roehrig, Benjamin [Northern Illinois U.]↗
DOE OSTI2025

Advancing 1D thermo-hydraulic tools for large cryogenic facilities

The Cryogenic Division at Fermilab develops large-scale cryogenic systems for particle accelerators and superconducting magnet test facilities. To support design and diagnostics, a Python-based code was created to calculate pressure drops in components such as valves and pipes. This paper presents recent enhancements to the code, including new heat transfer functions that improve the accuracy of thermal and hydraulic predictions. The first application models pressure and temperature changes in Proton Improvement Plant PIP-II relief pipes, aiding pipe sizing and protecting relief valves. The second example analyses heat load evolution in a pipe carrying sub-atmospheric helium, helping interpret temperature sensor data and understand gas return behavior to cold compressors. These improvements significantly expand the tool's capabilities, offering a practical resource for designing and troubleshooting cryogenic systems under dynamic thermal and flow conditions.

Beckwith, R. [Fermilab]↗
NASA NTRS1972

Performance of a 12-coil superconducting bumpy torus magnet facility

The bumpy torus facility consists of 12 superconducting coils, each 19 cm i.d. and capable of 3.0 teslas on their axes. The coils are equally spaced around a toroidal array with a major diameter of 1.52 m, and are mounted with the major axis of the torus vertical in a single vacuum tank 2.6 m in diameter. Final shakedown tests of the facility mapped out its magnetic, cryogenic, vacuum, mechanical, and electrical performance. The facility is now ready for use as a plasma physics research facility. A maximum magnetic field on the magnetic axis of 3.23 teslas was held for a period of more than sixty minutes without a coil normalcy. The design field was 3.00 teslas. The steady-state liquid helium boil-off rate was 87 liters per hour of liquid helium without the coils charged. The coil array was stable when subjected to an impulsive loading, even with the magnets fully charged. When the coils were charged to a maximum magnetic field of 3.35 teslas, the system was driven normal without damage.

Roth, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Performance of a 12-coil superconducting 'bumpy torus' magnet facility.

The NASA-Lewis 'bumpy torus' facility consists of 12 superconducting coils, each 19 cm ID and capable of 3.0 tesla on their axes. The coils are equally spaced around a toroidal array with a major diameter of 1.52 m, and are mounted with the major axis of the torus vertical in a single vacuum tank 2.6 m in diameter. Final shakedown tests of the facility mapped out its magnetic, cryogenic, vacuum, mechanical, and electrical performance. The facility is now ready for use as a plasma physics research facility. A maximum magnetic field on the magnetic axis of 3.23 teslas has been held for a period of more than sixty minutes without a coil normalcy.

Roth, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1972

A 12 coil superconducting bumpy torus magnet facility for plasma research

A summary is presented of the performance of the two-coil superconducting pilot rig which preceded the NASA Lewis bumpy torus. This pilot rig was operated for 550 experimental runs over a period of 7 years. The NASA Lewis bumpy torus facility consists of 12 superconducting coils, each with a 19 cm in diameter and capable of producing magnetic field strengths of 3.0 teslas on their axes. The magnets are equally spaced around a major circumference 1.52 m in diameter, and are mounted with the major axis of the torus vertical in a single vacuum tank 2.59 m in diameter. The design value of maximum magnetic field on the magnetic axis (3.0 teslas) was reached and exceeded. A maximum magnetic field of 3.23 teslas was held for a period of 60 minutes, and the coils did not go to normal. When the coils were charged to a maximum magnetic field of 3.35 teslas, the coil system was driven normal without damage to the facility.

Roth, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1972

A 12-coil superconducting 'bumpy torus' magnet facility for plasma research.

A retrospective summary is presented of the performance of the two-coil superconducting pilot rig which preceded the NASA Lewis bumpy torus. The NASA Lewis bumpy torus facility consists of 12 superconducting coils, each with a 19 cm i.d. and capable of producing magnetic field strengths of 3.0 teslas on their axes. The magnets are equally spaced around a major circumference 1.52 m in diameter, and are mounted with the major axis of the torus vertical in a single vacuum tank 2.59 m in diameter. The design value of maximum magnetic field on the magnetic axis (3.0 T) has been reached and exceeded.

Roth, J. R.↗