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At least 469 records · Page 26

Transmission of electrons inside the cryogenic pumps of ITER injector

Large cryogenic pumps are installed in the vessel of large neutral beam injectors (NBIs) used to heat the plasma in nuclear fusion experiments. The operation of such pumps can be compromised by the presence of stray secondary electrons that are generated along the beam path. In this paper, we present a numerical model to analyze the propagation of the electrons inside the pump. The aim of the study is to quantify the power load on the active pump elements, via evaluation of the transmission probabilities across the domain of the pump. These are obtained starting from large datasets of particle trajectories, obtained by numerical means. The transmission probability of the electrons across the domain is calculated for the NBI of the ITER and for its prototype Megavolt ITer Injector and Concept Advancement (MITICA) and the results are discussed.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Peristaltic pump-based low range pressure sensor calibration system

Peristaltic pumps were normally used to pump liquids in several chemical and biological applications. In the present study, a peristaltic pump was used to pressurize the chamber (positive as well negative pressures) using atmospheric air. In the present paper, we discuss the development and performance study of an automatic pressurization system to calibrate low range (millibar) pressure sensors. The system includes a peristaltic pump, calibrated pressure sensor (master sensor), pressure chamber, and the control electronics. An in-house developed peristaltic pump was used to pressurize the chamber. A closed loop control system has been developed to detect and adjust the pressure leaks in the chamber. The complete system has been integrated into a portable product. The system performance has been studied for a step response and steady state errors. The system is portable, free from oil contaminants, and consumes less power compared to existing pressure calibration systems. The veracity of the system was verified by calibrating an unknown diaphragm based pressure sensor and the results obtained were satisfactory.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Enhanced spin pumping in heterostructures of coupled ferrimagnetic garnets

Spin pumping has significant implications for spintronics, providing a mechanism to manipulate and transport spins for information processing. Understanding and harnessing spin currents through spin pumping is critical for the development of efficient spintronic devices. The use of a magnetic insulator with low damping enhances the signal-to-noise ratio in crucial experiments such as spin-torque ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) and spin pumping. A magnetic insulator coupled with a heavy metal or quantum material offers a more straightforward model system, especially when investigating spin-charge interconversion processes to greater accuracy. This simplicity arises from the absence of unwanted effects caused by conduction electrons unlike in ferromagnetic metals. Here, we investigate the spin pumping in coupled ferrimagnetic (FiM) Y 3 Fe 5 O 12 (YIG)/Tm 3 Fe 5 O 12 (TmIG) bilayers combined with heavy-metal (Pt) using the inverse spin Hall effect. It is observed that magnon transmission occurs at both of the FiMs FMR positions. The enhancement of spin pumping voltage (V sp ) in the FiM garnet heterostructures is observed. The plausible reason might be the interfacial exchange coupling between FiMs. The modulation of V sp is achieved by tuning the bilayer structure. Further, the spin mixing conductance for these coupled systems is found to be ≈ 10 18 m –2 . Furthermore, our findings describe a coupled FiM system for the investigation of magnon coupling providing opportunities for magnonic devices.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Fe{sup 2+} : ZnSe laser pumped by a nonchain electric-discharge HF laser at room temperature

The characteristics of a Fe{sup 2+} : ZnSe laser in a scheme with transverse pumping by a nonchain electric-discharge HF laser at room temperature are studied. Doping of ZnSe crystals with Fe{sup 2+} ions was performed by diffusion simultaneously through two surfaces under the conditions of thermodynamic equilibrium. It is found that the Fe{sup 2+} : ZnSe laser pulses are modulated by short spikes (3 – 7 ns at half maximum at low pump energies), whose number decreases and modulation depth increases as the pump energy decreases to a threshold value. A laser pulse energy of 30.6 mJ is achieved at a pulse duration at half maximum of ∼125 ns (at high pump energies); the possibility of a further increase in the energy of Fe{sup 2+} : ZnSe lasers pumped by nonchain HF lasers is discussed. (lasers)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

High Compression in Palladium Alloy Metal Foil Pumps

Metal foil pumps (MFPs) are key components in the direct internal recycling inner fuel cycle loop for the recovery of hydrogen isotopes from deuterium-tritium fusion exhaust. Operating under vacuum conditions, they utilize superthermal hydrogen as the feed gas in a process called superpermeation. A notable feature of MFPs is their ability to pump against a pressure gradient. This study examines the compression capabilities of PdAg and PdCu MFPs at low temperatures with a constant feed pressure of 10 Pa. At 75°C, compression ratios exceeding 200 were readily achieved, with downstream pressures exceeding 4500 Pa using PdCu. For both alloys, net fluxes decreased by only ~15% at downstream pressures of 1000 Pa, which offers potential simplifications for the downstream pump train. Performance declined markedly when the temperature was elevated to 200°C. Pump curves were constructed and advocated as the most appropriate manner to assess MFP performance. Separate pressure-driven-permeation experiments at relevant conditions were conducted, providing a direct measurement of the hydrogen dissociation constant $k$ d , which was found to be in good agreement with the previous literature. Further, these measurements were used to predict pump curves and maximum compression ratios by balancing superpermeation with pressure-driven permeation, achieving excellent agreement with experiment. Last, experiments using asymmetric MFPs revealed the detrimental impact that surface impurities have on performance in this system.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

The lunar thermal ice pump

It has long been suggested that water ice can exist in extremely cold regions near the lunar poles, where sublimation loss is negligible. The geographic distribution of H-bearing regolith shows only a partial or ambiguous correlation with permanently shadowed areas, thus suggesting that another mechanism may contribute to locally enhancing water concentrations. We show that under suitable conditions, water molecules can be pumped down into the regolith by day-night temperature cycles, leading to an enrichment of H{sub 2}O in excess of the surface concentration. Ideal conditions for pumping are estimated and found to occur where the mean surface temperature is below 105 K and the peak surface temperature is above 120 K. These conditions complement those of the classical cold traps that are roughly defined by peak temperatures lower than 120 K. On the present-day Moon, an estimated 0.8% of the global surface area experiences such temperature variations. Typically, pumping occurs on pole-facing slopes in small areas, but within a few degrees of each pole the equator-facing slopes are preferred. Although pumping of water molecules is expected over cumulatively large areas, the absolute yield of this pump is low; at best, a few percent of the H{sub 2}O delivered to the surface could have accumulated in the near-surface layer in this way. The amount of ice increases with vapor diffusivity and is thus higher in the regolith with large pore spaces.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Quantum pumping of interacting bosons

Quantum pumping in an interacting one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate is analyzed. It is shown that a spatially periodic potential, oscillating adiabatically in time with frequency {omega}{sub 0}, acts as a quantum pump inducing an atom current from broken spatiotemporal symmetries of the driven potential. The current generated by the pump is strongly affected by the interactions. It has a power-law dependence on the frequency with the exponent determined by the interaction, while the coupling to the pump affects the amplitudes. It depends on the phase difference between two umklapp terms of the drive, providing evidence for the full quantum character of the boson transport. The results suggest the realization of a quantum pump with laser-cooled atoms.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Development of Dynamic Model of a Ternary Pumped Storage Hydropower Plant

Hydropower is the largest source of renewable energy in the United States. Pumped storage hydropower (PSH) is a hydropower plant that can generate power when it operates as a hydro turbine, and it can absorb power from the electric grid when it is pumping water from the lower reservoir to the upper reservoir. The conventional role of PSH is as an energy arbitrage: it sells power when the price of electricity is high (i.e., during peak hours of energy demand), and it is operated as a pump during times when the price of electricity is low (e.g., midnight to dawn). PSH is an important part in hydropower generation. Currently, the total installed capacity is approximately 22 GW. Recently, a new type of PSH was developed, called ternary PSH (T-PSH). T-PSH is a type of advanced PSH that is different from conventional PSH and adjusted-speed PSH. T-PSH uses a single generator rotating in one direction with two different runners connected to the same shaft (i.e., one is for pumping water, and the other is for generating power as a turbine). This paper presents the development of a dynamic model of T-PSH for power system analysis. T-PSH can be operated in three different modes: generating mode, pumping mode, and hydraulic short-circuit (HSC) mode. The three modes of operation will be presented in this paper. A new combined governor is developed to represent the HSC operation mode, which is a special mode for T-PSH. The power command is divided into two parts, and a distribution coefficient is introduced to regulate the transitions from one mode to the other. Simulation and validation results are presented to verify the performance of the governor model and the characteristics of T-PSH.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

Simple self-gettering differential-pump for minimizing source oxidation in oxide-MBE environment

Source oxidation of easily oxidizing elements such as Ca, Sr, Ba, and Ti in an oxidizing ambient leads to their flux instability and is one of the biggest problems in the multielemental oxide molecular beam epitaxy technique. Here, the authors report a new scheme that can completely eliminate the source oxidation problem: a self-gettering differential pump using the source itself as the pumping medium. The pump simply comprises a long collimator mounted in front of the source in extended port geometry. With this arrangement, the oxygen partial pressure near the source was easily maintained well below the source oxidation regime, resulting in a stabilized flux, comparable to that of an ultrahigh-vacuum environment. Moreover, this pump has a self-feedback mechanism that allows a stronger pumping effectiveness for more easily oxidizing elements, which is a desired property for eliminating the source oxidation problem.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Development of A High Performance Cold Climate Heat Pump

The primary goals of the proposed project were to develop, test, and evaluate a high performance and cost-effective vapor compression air-source heat pump for use in cold climate regions. Vapor compression heat pumps are a proven technology, and have been used for many years to meet heating requirements for buildings in residential, commercial, and industrial applications. However, in climate regions that experience very low outdoor ambient temperatures both the heating capacity and coefficient of performance (COP) of traditional air-source vapor compression heat pumps drops dramatically with a decrease in the outdoor air temperature. The efficiency of heat pumping equipment has improved substantially over the past 20 years; however, the efficiencies of the highest rated equipment on the market are approaching practical limits that cannot be surpassed without modifications to the basic cycle and possibly the use of additional hardware. In this report, three technologies to improve the efficiency of vapor compression systems are described. These are a) vapor injected compression, b) oil flooded compression and c) hybrid flow control of the evaporator. Compressor prototypes for both, oil flooded and vapor injected compression were developed by Emerson Climate Technologies. For the oil flooded compressor, the oil injection port location was optimized and an internal oil separator was added using several design iterations. After initial testing at Emerson Climate Technologies, further testing was done at Purdue University, and compressor models were developed. These models were then integrated into a system model to determine the achievable improvement of seasonal energy efficiency (SEER) for Minneapolis (Minnesota) climate. For the oil flooded compression, a 34% improvement in seasonal energy efficiency was found while a 21% improvement in seasonal energy efficiency ratio was found for the vapor injected compression. It was found that one benefit of both tested compression technologies is a lower discharge temperature, which allows for continued operation at lower ambient temperatures. A bin analysis of the vapor injected prototype cold climate heat pump predicts a 6% improvement in HSPF for Minneapolis. This improvement is mainly a result of the increased capacity of the system for active vapor injection. For the oil flooded system, a slightly larger performance improvement is predicted, in this case mostly caused by an increase in heating COP. Based on an economic analysis of these results, the maximum additional cost of the system changes, for the Minneapolis location, are $\$430$ for the vapor injected system and $\$391$ for the oil flooded system. These estimates assume that a 3-year simple payback period is accepted by the customer. For the hybrid flow control of evaporators, a new type of balancing valve was developed together with Emerson Climate technologies to reduce the cost of the control scheme. In contrast to conventional stepper motor valves, this valve requires less cables and can be driven by a cheaper output circuit on the control board. The correct valve size was determined in a dedicated test stand in several design iterations. The performance benefits of the hybrid control of the evaporator coil were determined for clean coil conditions as well as with partial blockage of the air inlet grille and under frosting conditions. For clean coil conditions, the benefits in terms of COP and capacity are negligible. However, significant benefits were noted for severely air-maldistributed operating conditions. For the H2-test, the maximum COP improvement of 17% along with a capacity improvement of nearly 40% was observed. Overall, the hybrid control scheme leads to a significant amount of performance improvement, if the air inlet conditions to the evaporator are maldistributed.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

High Efficiency Fiber-Coupled Diode Lasers for Resonant Pumping of Fiber Lasers

In this program, we have been developing high power, high efficiency laser diodes in InP, operating at 1532 nm and 1910 nm. These lasers have applications in resonant pumping eye-safe laser gain media, such as Erbium or Thulium doped fiber lasers, emitting in the ranges of 1600 nm and 1800-2000 nm, respectively. While such fiber lasers may be pumped with shorter wavelength diode lasers (e.g. 790 nm or 976 nm GaAs didoes), there are advantages to pumping with diode laser light that is closer in wavelength to the fiber laser emission, a technique known as resonant pumping. These advantages include lower quantum defect (the energy lost due to pump and emission at different wavelengths), increased eye-safety of system, decreased waste heat, and potential for lower overall system efficiency. We have achieved diode laser performance with peak electrical-to-optical (EO) efficiency of 39% at 15xx nm and 13% at 19xx nm, a significant advancement over current state-of-the-art. The rated output power and efficiency for these lasers are 4.0 W at 34% EO for 15xx nm, and 1.1 W at 11% EO for 19xx nm. We have designed and built a fiber-coupled-module at 15xx nm. There are many improvements to be made to increase the output power and efficiency of the module, but in our preliminary demonstration, we have achieved a fiber coupling efficiency of 85%.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Performance Evaluation and Costs of a Combined Ground Source Heat Pump and Solar Photovoltaic Storage System in an Extreme Cold Climate

This report outlines the effectiveness and economics of a ground source heat pump system installed together with solar photovoltaic panels and a battery storage system in a local community building situated in a cold climate. The community building is a tribal building located in Ruby, Alaska. Power from solar photovoltaic panels is supplemented by electricity purchased from the local community microgrid. A ground source heat pump was commissioned three years after the building was occupied, and supplements the heat generated by a boiler for both heat and domestic hot water. Data collected over the 2021-2022 heating season shows that the heat pump is providing heat to the building about 19% of the time with an average coefficient of performance of 2.68, ranging from below 2.5 in winter to above 3.0 in summer. The solar photovoltaic panels provided 4,700 kWh of power used within the building and an additional 2,900 kWh exported to the microgrid. The solar-produced power used within the building nearly offsets the estimated annual electrical draw of the heat pump of 5,700 kWh. Due to the very high costs for shipping and installation to remote locations, projects such as this, while not economically feasible if self-funded, can save the community an estimated $76,051 over a period of 20-years. Fuel prices increasing by more than 25%, or subsidized electricity prices decreasing by more than 25%, make the ground source heat pump a more viable option economically. Unsubsidized electricity prices increasing by 25% or more make a solar photovoltaic system with battery storage nearly economically viable after a 20-year period for commercial or school buildings that are not eligible for Alaska's Power Cost Equalization program.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

End-Use Savings Shapes Measure Documentation: Heat Pump Rooftop Units with Original Fuel Backup

This documentation focuses on a single end-use savings shape measure—heat pump rooftop units with supplemental heat that matches the original fuel type of the replaced system; if the existing system used electric resistance heating, the supplemental heating source is electric resistance. If it was a natural gas furnace, the supplemental system is modeled as natural gas. This is a modification to the heat pump rooftop unit with electric supplemental heat measure from the Commercial EUSS 2023 Release 1 dataset. This document will primarily discuss the supplemental heating change for the heat pump RTU measure. For a comprehensive overview of the fundamental modeling methodology and background of the heat pump RTU measure, including performance curves and other key assumptions, please review the documentation for the original heat pump rooftop unit with electric supplemental heat.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Pumped Thermal Energy Storage Using Low-Cost Particles and a Fluid Bed Heat Exchanger for Maximum Power Efficiency

Robust, efficient, cost-effective long-duration electricity storage (LDES) solutions can enhance grid resiliency, support existing transmission and distribution infrastructure, and enable a greater share of low-cost, variable alternative energy sources to penetrate the market. To meet this need, the project team at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory developed a transformative LDES system based on pumped thermal energy storage (TES) using low-cost particles and a fluid bed heat exchanger for maximum power efficiency (PUMP). The PUMP system is composed of high-temperature, low-cost particle TES coupled with an advanced pressurized fluid bed heat exchanger (PFB HX) that supports a high-efficiency pumped thermal energy storage (PTES) system integrated with concentrating solar thermal power (CSP). The PUMP project developed and de-risked a PFB HX and particle CSP system intended to be integrated with reversible turbomachinery and a modeling tool to assess PTES cost and performance.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Fan and Pump Efficiency in Modelica based on the Euler Number

Simulation programs often assume constant hydraulic efficiency for fan or pump models when performance curves are unavailable. This is inaccurate because the hydraulic efficiency varies with the operation condition. It therefore consistently underestimates the power draw at off-design conditions at which the hydraulic efficiency drops. Use of a modified Euler number allows computing the hydraulic efficiency and shaft power with limited data. Others showed the validity of the modified Euler number for fan efficiency calculations. We show that it is also applicable for pumps, and present its implementation in Modelica for a fan or pump model. Here, the only input required from the user is one data point at which the hydraulic efficiency is at its maximum. The reported method is applicable regardless of the type, size, or operational region of the fan or pump. Across a sample of eighteen sets of pump data and seven sets of fan data, the errors of the computed power from interpolated data were within 15% for the range of 20% - 70% of maximum flow rate and 40% - 90% of maximum pressure rise, excluding outliers.

component model↗

Bacterial Resistance Toward Antimicrobial Ionic Liquids Mediated by Multidrug Efflux Pumps

The effective elimination of foodborne pathogens through cleaning and disinfection measures is of great importance to the food processing industry. As food producers rely heavily on disinfectants to control pathogenic bacteria in their facilities, the increasing spread of tolerant, often even multidrug resistant, strains is of particular concern. In addition to efforts to prevent or at least reduce development and spread of strains resistant to disinfectants and sanitizers, there is an urgent need for new and effective antimicrobials. One new class of promising antimicrobials is ionic liquids (ILs), which have been reported to be effective against resistant strains as they interact with bacterial cells in multiple ways, but investigations of their effectivity against MDR bacteria or specific defense mechanisms are still limited. This study investigates the role of multidrug efflux pumps of the Resistance Nodulation-Division family (RND) on the resistance of bacterial pathogens Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium toward 10 antimicrobial active ILs. Results reveal that, while known structure–activity relationships (SARs), such as the side-chain effect, were found for all strains, antimicrobial ILs with one elongated alkyl side chain were significantly affected by the RND efflux pump, highlighting the importance of efflux pumps for future IL toxicity studies. In case of antimicrobial ILs with multiple side chains and different cationic head groups, two ILs were identified that were highly active against all investigated strains with little to no effect of the efflux pump. The results obtained in this study for RND efflux pumps can serve as a starting point for identifying and designing antimicrobial ILs as effective biocides against MDR bacteria.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Interpreting pulse-shape effects in pump-probe spectroscopies

The effect of the pulse-shape on pump-probe spectroscopies is examined for the simplest model of noninteracting fermions on an infinite-dimensional hypercubic lattice. The probe-modified density of states follows the time evolution of the pump and displays narrowing and Floquet-like sidebands at the pump maximum, whereas the photoelectron spectra are also strongly affected by the nonequilibrium occupation of the single-particle states due to the excitation from the pump. The nonequilibrium Raman cross section is derived, and the nonresonant one in both the A 1g and B 1g symmetries contains a number of peaks at the pump maximum, which can be attributed to an interference effect or Brillouin scattering off the time variations of the stress tensor. Both the "measured" occupation of single-particle states and the ratio of Stokes to anti-Stokes peaks are strongly modified by the probe-pulse width, which must be included in the interpretation of experimental results.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Performance improvements in commercial heat pump water heaters using carbon dioxide

Although heat pump water heaters are today widely accepted in Japan, where energy costs are high and government incentives for their use exist, acceptance of such a product in the U.S. has been slow. This trend is slowly changing with the introduction of heat pump water heaters into the residential market, but remains in the commercial sector. Barriers to heat pump water heater acceptance in the commercial market have historically been performance, reliability and first/operating costs. The use of carbon dioxide (R744) as the refrigerant in such a system can improve performance for relatively small increase in initial cost and make this technology more appealing. What makes R744 an excellent candidate for use in heat pump water heaters is not only the wide range of ambient temperatures within which it can operate, but also the excellent ability to match water to refrigerant temperatures on the high side, resulting in very high exit water temperatures of up to 82ºC (180ºF), as required by sanitary codes in the U.S.(Food Code, 2005), in a single pass, temperatures that are much more difficult to reach with other refrigerants. This can be especially attractive in applications where this water is used for the purpose of sanitation. While reliability has also been of concern historically, dramatic improvements have been made over the last several years through research done in the automotive industry and commercialization of R744 technology in residential water heating mainly in Japan. This paper presents the performance results from the development of an R744 commercial heat pump water heater of approximately 35kW and a comparison to a baseline R134a unit of the same capacity and footprint. In addition, recommendations are made for further improvements of the R744 system which could result in possible energy savings of up to 20%.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗