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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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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2017

Additively Manufactured IN718 Components with Wirelessly Powered and Interrogated Embedded Sensing

A methodology is described for embedding commercial-off-the-shelf sensors together with wireless communication and power circuit elements using direct laser metal sintered additively manufactured components. Physics based models of the additive manufacturing processes and sensor/wireless level performance models guided the design and embedment processes. A combination of cold spray deposition and laser engineered net shaping was used to fashion the transmitter/receiving elements and embed the sensors, thereby providing environmental protection and component robustness/survivability for harsh conditions. By design, this complement of analog and digital sensors were wirelessly powered and interrogated using a health and utilization monitoring system; enabling real-time, in situ prognostics and diagnostics.

embedded sensing↗
NASA NTRS1985

The embedded operating system project

The design and construction of embedded operating systems for real-time advanced aerospace applications was investigated. The applications require reliable operating system support that must accommodate computer networks. Problems that arise in the construction of such operating systems, reconfiguration, consistency and recovery in a distributed system, and the issues of real-time processing are reported. A thesis that provides theoretical foundations for the use of atomic actions to support fault tolerance and data consistency in real-time object-based system is included. The following items are addressed: (1) atomic actions and fault-tolerance issues; (2) operating system structure; (3) program development; (4) a reliable compiler for path Pascal; and (5) mediators, a mechanism for scheduling distributed system processes.

Campbell, R. H.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Spacesuit Data Display and Management System

A prototype embedded avionics system has been designed for the next generation of NASA extra-vehicular-activity (EVA) spacesuits. The system performs biomedical and other sensor monitoring, image capture, data display, and data transmission. An existing NASA Phase I and II award winning design for an embedded computing system (ZIN vMetrics - BioWATCH) has been modified. The unit has a reliable, compact form factor with flexible packaging options. These innovations are significant, because current state-of-the-art EVA spacesuits do not provide capability for data displays or embedded data acquisition and management. The Phase 1 effort achieved Technology Readiness Level 4 (high fidelity breadboard demonstration). The breadboard uses a commercial-grade field-programmable gate array (FPGA) with embedded processor core that can be upgraded to a space-rated device for future revisions.

Hall, David G.↗
NASA NTRS2011

Circuit for Communication Over Power Lines

Many distributed systems share common sensors and instruments along with a common power line supplying current to the system. A communication technique and circuit has been developed that allows for the simple inclusion of an instrument, sensor, or actuator node within any system containing a common power bus. Wherever power is available, a node can be added, which can then draw power for itself, its associated sensors, and actuators from the power bus all while communicating with other nodes on the power bus. The technique modulates a DC power bus through capacitive coupling using on-off keying (OOK), and receives and demodulates the signal from the DC power bus through the same capacitive coupling. The circuit acts as serial modem for the physical power line communication. The circuit and technique can be made of commercially available components or included in an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) design, which allows for the circuit to be included in current designs with additional circuitry or embedded into new designs. This device and technique moves computational, sensing, and actuation abilities closer to the source, and allows for the networking of multiple similar nodes to each other and to a central processor. This technique also allows for reconfigurable systems by adding or removing nodes at any time. It can do so using nothing more than the in situ power wiring of the system.

Krasowski, Michael J.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Design and Development Comparison of Rapid Cycle Amine 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0

The development of the Rapid Cycle Amine (RCA) swing-bed technology for carbon dioxide (CO2) removal has been in progress since favorable results were published in 1996. Shortly thereafter, a prototype was designed, developed, and tested successfully and delivered to Johnson Space Center in 1999. An improved prototype was delivered to NASA in 2006 and was notated as RCA 1.0 and sized for the extravehicular activity (EVA). The new RCA swing-bed technology is a regenerative system which employs two alternating solid-amine sorbent beds to remove CO2 and water. The two- bed design employs a chemisorption process whereby the beds alternate between adsorbtion and desorbsion. This process provides for an efficient operation of the RCA so that while one bed is in adsorb (uptake) mode, the other is in the desorb (regeneration) mode. The RCA has now progressed through several iterations of technology readiness levels. Test articles have now been designed, developed, and tested for the advanced space suit portable life support system (PLSS) including RCA 1.0, RCA 2.0, and RCA 3.0. The RCA 3.0 was the most recent RCA fabrication and was delivered to NASA-JSC in June 2015. The RCA 1.0 test article was designed with a pneumatically actuated linear motion spool valve. The RCA 2.0 and 3.0 test articles were designed with a valve assembly which allows for switching between uptake and regeneration modes while minimizing gas volume losses to the vacuum source. RCA 2.0 and 3.0 also include an embedded controller design to control RCA operation and provide the capability of interfacing with various sensors and other ventilation loop components. The RCA technology is low power, small, and has fulfilled all test requirements levied upon the technology during development testing thus far. This paper will provide an overreview of the design and development of RCA 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 including detail differences between the design specifications of each.

Chullen, Cinda↗
NASA NTRS2016

Design and Development Comparison of Rapid Cycle Amine 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0

The development of the Rapid Cycle Amine (RCA) swing-bed technology for carbon dioxide (CO2) removal has been in progress since favorable results were published in 1996. Shortly thereafter, a prototype was designed, developed, and tested successfully and delivered to Johnson Space Center in 1999. An improved prototype (RCA 1.0) was delivered to NASA in 2006 and sized for the extravehicular activity (EVA). The RCA swing-bed technology is a regenerative system which employs two alternating solid-amine sorbent beds to remove CO2 and water. The two-bed design employs a chemisorption process whereby the beds alternate between adsorption and desorption. This process provides for an efficient RCA operation that enables one bed to be in adsorb (uptake) mode, while the other is in the desorb (regeneration) mode. The RCA has progressed through several iterations of technology readiness levels. Test articles have now been designed, developed, and tested for the advanced space suit portable life support system (PLSS) including RCA 1.0, RCA 2.0, and RCA 3.0. The RCA 3.0 was the most recent RCA fabrication and was delivered to NASA-JSC in June 2015. The RCA 1.0 test article was designed with a pneumatically actuated linear motion spool valve. The RCA 2.0 and 3.0 test articles were designed with a valve assembly which allows for switching between uptake and regeneration modes while minimizing gas volume losses to the vacuum source. RCA 2.0 and 3.0 also include an embedded controller design to control RCA operation and provide the capability of interfacing with various sensors and other ventilation loop components. The RCA technology is low power, small, and has fulfilled all test requirements levied upon the technology during development testing thus far. This paper will provide an overview of the design and development of RCA 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 including detail differences between the design specifications of each. Nomenclature.

Chullen, Cinda↗
NASA NTRS1990

Custom electronic subsystems for the laboratory telerobotic manipulator

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Space Station Program presents new opportunities for the application of telerobotic and robotic systems. The Laboratory Telerobotic Manipulator (LTM) is a highly advanced 7 degrees-of-freedom (DOF) telerobotic/robotic manipulator. It was developed and built for the Automation Technology Branch at NASA's Langley Research Center (LaRC) for work in research and to demonstrate ground-based telerobotic manipulator system hardware and software systems for future NASA applications in the hazardous environment of space. The LTM manipulator uses an embedded wiring design with all electronics, motor power, and control and communication cables passing through the pitch-yaw differential joints. This design requires the number of cables passing through the pitch/yaw joint to be kept to a minimum. To eliminate the cables needed to carry each pitch-yaw joint's sensor data to the VME control computers, a custom-embedded electronics package for each manipulator joint was developed. The electronics package collects and sends the joint's sensor data to the VME control computers over a fiber optic cable. The electronics package consist of five individual subsystems: the VME Link Processor, the Joint Processor and the Joint Processor power supply in the joint module, the fiber optics communications system, and the electronics and motor power cabling.

Glassell, R. L.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Design, Fabrication, and Calibration of an Embedded Piezoceramic Actuator for Active Control Applications

In this presentation, the authors describe the design and fabrication processes for a PZT strain actuator that evolved during the initial stages of a research effort to synthesize and process intelligent, cost effective structures (SPICES). The actuator performance requirements were similar to those of conventional actuators, e.g., it had to be robust, highly efficient with adequate force and stroke, as lightweight as possible, and most importantly, affordable. Further, since the actuator was to be integrated within a composite structure, it had to be compatible with the host material and easily embeddable during the fabrication process. In control applications employing strain devices as actuators, a good bond between this actuator and host material is critical to their successful operation. This criterion is often difficult to achieve when attempting to join ceramics with metals or polymers with dissimilar properties such as Young's moduli, thermal expansion coefficients, etc. One unique feature of the actuator design that evolved in this project is that the need for direct bonding between the PZT ceramic and polymers was circumvented, i.e. the strain transfer to the host material was achieved via a frame surrounding the ceramic. Consequently, the frame material could be selected (or coated) for compatibility with the host material. A second feature is that the frame enclosed a co-fired, multilayered, PZT stack that was used to minimize the voltage requirements while maximizing the output strain.

Koopmann, Gary H.↗
NASA NTRS2012

Miniaturization of Planar Horn Motors

There is a great need for compact, efficient motors for driving various mechanisms including robots or mobility platforms. A study is currently underway to develop a new type of piezoelectric actuators with significantly more strength, low mass, small footprint, and efficiency. The actuators/motors utilize piezoelectric actuated horns which have a very high power density and high electromechanical conversion efficiency. The horns are fabricated using our recently developed novel pre-stress flexures that make them thermally stable and increases their coupling efficiency. The monolithic design and integrated flexures that pre-stresses the piezoelectric stack eliminates the use of stress bolt. This design allows embedding solid-state motors and actuators in any structure so that the only macroscopically moving parts are the rotor or the linear translator. The developed actuator uses a stack/horn actuation and has a Barth motor configuration, which potentially generates very large torque and speeds that do not require gearing. Finite element modeling and design tools were investigated to determine the requirements and operation parameters and the results were used to design and fabricate a motor. This new design offers a highly promising actuation mechanism that can potentially be miniaturized and integrated into systems and structures. It can be configured in many shapes to operate as multi-degrees of freedom and multi-dimensional motors/actuators including unidirectional, bidirectional, 2D and 3D. In this manuscript, we are reporting the experimental measurements from a bench top design and the results from the efforts to miniaturize the design using 2x2x2 mm piezoelectric stacks integrated into thin plates that are of the order of3 x 3x 0.2 cm.

horn actuation↗
DOE OSTI2022

Tackling the Challenges in Scene Graph Generation With Local-to-Global Interactions

In this work, we seek new insights into the underlying challenges of the scene graph generation (SGG) task. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the visual genome (VG) dataset implies: 1) ambiguity: even if interobject relationship contains the same object (or predicate), they may not be visually or semantically similar; 2) asymmetry: despite the nature of the relationship that embodied the direction, it was not well addressed in previous studies; and 3) higher-order contexts: leveraging the identities of certain graph elements can help generate accurate scene graphs. Motivated by the analysis, we design a novel SGG framework, Local-to-global interaction networks (LOGINs). Locally, interactions extract the essence between three instances of subject, object, and background, while baking direction awareness into the network by explicitly constraining the input order of subject and object. Globally, interactions encode the contexts between every graph component (i.e., nodes and edges). Finally, Attract and Repel loss is utilized to fine-tune the distribution of predicate embeddings. By design, our framework enables predicting the scene graph in a bottom-up manner, leveraging the possible complementariness. To quantify how much LOGIN is aware of relational direction, a new diagnostic task called Bidirectional Relationship Classification (BRC) is also proposed. Overall, experimental results demonstrate that LOGIN can successfully distinguish relational direction than existing methods (in BRC task), while showing state-of-the-art results on the VG benchmark (in SGG task).

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗
DOE OSTI2015

Time-dependent non-equilibrium dielectric response in QM/continuum approaches

The Polarizable Continuum Models (PCMs) are some of the most inexpensive yet successful methods for including the effects of solvation in quantum-mechanical calculations of molecular systems. However, when applied to the electronic excitation process, these methods are restricted to dichotomously assuming either that the solvent has completely equilibrated with the excited solute charge density (infinite-time limit), or that it retains the configuration that was in equilibrium with the solute prior to excitation (zero-time limit). This renders the traditional PCMs inappropriate for resolving time-dependent solvent effects on non-equilibrium solute electron dynamics like those implicated in the instants following photoexcitation of a solvated molecular species. To extend the existing methods to this non-equilibrium regime, we herein derive and apply a new formalism for a general time-dependent continuum embedding method designed to be propagated alongside the solute’s electronic degrees of freedom in the time domain. Given the frequency-dependent dielectric constant of the solvent, an equation of motion for the dielectric polarization is derived within the PCM framework and numerically integrated simultaneously with the time-dependent Hartree fock/density functional theory equations. Results for small molecular systems show the anticipated dipole quenching and electronic state dephasing/relaxation resulting from out-of-phase charge fluctuations in the dielectric and embedded quantum system.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2020

TRANSENSOR: Transformer Real-time Assessment INtelligent System with Embedded Network of Sensors and Optical Readout. Final Report

Utilities across the world are wrestling with evolving market dynamics, population growth and climate change. Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) such as solar photovoltaics, distributed generators and energy storage systems are becoming important parts of the U.S. energy mix. These factors are driving an increasing need for low-cost grid asset monitoring. Aside from being costly, traditional utility monitoring systems are not sufficiently robust and do not provide real-time visibility into the condition of grid assets such as transformers. Lack of accurate real-time measurements on performance has resulted in the use of lagging indicators, such as oil sample analysis. To address this need, an innovative embedded optical sensing technology, Transformer Real-time Assessment Intelligent System (TRANSENSOR) was developed, validated and demonstrated in this project. To date, TRANSENSOR has focused on transformers but is extendable to other grid assets. In addition to the technology being embedded into new transformers during manufacturing, a retrofit configuration that can be installed on existing transformers in the field was also developed. It is anticipated that the ability to retrofit existing transformers will help accelerate adoption of the underlying TRANSENSOR technology. Phase 1 of the project focused on laboratory development and qualification of the technology. Following iterations and exploration of relevant optical sensing modalities and multiplexed configurations of interest for the transformer environment, an effective candidate configuration was agreed upon, down-selected and custom-designed for embedding into General Electric (GE) network transformers. Two new GE 500 kilovolt ampere (kVA), 27 kilovolt (kV) distribution network transformers were built with embedded fiber-optic (FO) sensors and successfully qualified per industry standards at GE’s Shreveport, Louisiana facility during Phase 1 of the project. Following the successful completion of Phase 1, the team proceeded to Phase 2, which focused on a field demonstration of the technology. Over Phase 2, the first new GE transformer built with embedded fiber-optic sensors was installed in an above-ground cage and connected to the grid at Con Edison’s Astoria facility. A second transformer equipped with TRANSENSOR was installed in an underground vault. Additionally, an older (1982 year model) GE transformer in an above-ground cage was retrofitted with fiber- optic sensors and reconnected to the grid at ConEd’s facility. Analysis of data acquired from the sensors showed interesting correlations with transformer loading. Additionally, key events such as transformer low-voltage network connection, primary-side energizing, and a pressure loss event from an oil sampling were detected by the TRANSENSOR system. Online data processing/feature extraction algorithms for the second transformer in the underground vault detected key features and event alerts that were transmitted through a wireless 4G connection. The remote deployment concept showed promising results with data collection running for a total of 8 months across the three (3) GE transformers instrumented for the Phase 2 field demonstration. This sets the stage well for further development and commercialization.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
NASA NTRS2011

Spacesuit Soft Upper Torso Sizing Systems

The passive sizing system consists of a series of low-profile pulleys attached to the front and back of the shoulder bearings on a spacesuit soft upper torso (SUT), textile cord or stainless steel cable, and a modified commercial ratchet mechanism. The cord/cable is routed through the pulleys and attached to the ratchet mechanism mounted on the front of the spacesuit within reach of the suited subject. Upon actuating the ratchet mechanism, the shoulder bearing breadth is changed, providing variable upper torso sizing. The active system consists of a series of pressurizable nastic cells embedded into the fabric layers of a spacesuit SUT. These cells are integrated to the front and back of the SUT and are connected to an air source with a variable regulator. When inflated, the nastic cells provide a change in the overall shoulder bearing breadth of the spacesuit and thus, torso sizing. The research focused on the development of a high-performance sizing and actuation system. This technology has application as a suit-sizing mechanism to allow easier suit entry and more accurate suit fit with fewer torso sizes than the existing EMU (Extravehicular Mobility Unit) suit system. This advanced SUT will support NASA s Advanced EMU Evolutionary Concept of a two-sizes-fit-all upper torso for replacement of the current EMU hard upper torso (HUT). Both the passive and nastic sizing system approaches provide astronauts with real-time upper torso sizing, which translates into a more comfortable suit, providing enhanced fit resulting in improved crewmember performance during extravehicular activity. These systems will also benefit NASA by reducing flight logistics as well as overall suit system cost. The nastic sizing system approach provides additional structural redundancy over existing SUT designs by embedding additional coated fabric and uncoated fabric layers. Two sizing systems were selected to build into a prototype SUT: one active and one passive. From manned testing, it was found that both systems offer good solutions to sizing a SUT to fit a crewmember. This new system provided improved suit don/doff over existing spacesuit designs as well as providing better fit at suit operational pressure resulting in improved comfort and mobility. It was found that a SUT with a sizing system may solve several problems that have plagued existing HUT designs, and that a SUT with a sizing system may be a viable option for advanced suit architectures.

Graziosi, David↗
DOE OSTI2025

Advances in Quantum Defect Embedding Theory

Quantum defect embedding theory (QDET) is a many-body embedding method designed to describe condensed systems with strongly correlated electrons localized within a given region of space, for example spin defects in semiconductors and insulators. Although the QDET approach has been successful in predicting the electronic properties of several point defects, several limitations of the method remain. Here, in this work, we propose multiple advances to the QDET formalism. We derive a doublecounting correction that consistently treats the frequency dependence of the screened Coulomb interaction, and we illustrate the effect of including unoccupied orbitals in the active space. In addition, we propose a method to describe hybridization effects between the active space and the environment, and we compare the results of several impurity solvers, providing further insights into improving the reliability and applicability of the method. We present results for defects in diamond and for molecular qubits, including a detailed comparison with experiments.

Chen, Siyuan [University of Chicago, IL (United St↗
DOE OSTI2021

Power System Event Identification Based on Deep Neural Network With Information Loading

Online power system event identification and classification are crucial to enhancing the reliability of transmission systems. In this study, we develop a deep neural network (DNN) based approach to identify and classify power system events by leveraging real-world measurements from hundreds of phasor measurement units (PMUs) and labels from thousands of events. Two innovative designs are embedded into the baseline model built on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to improve the event classification accuracy. First, we propose a graph signal processing based PMU sorting algorithm to improve the learning efficiency of CNNs. Second, we deploy information loading based regularization to strike the right balance between memorization and generalization for the DNN. Numerical results based on real-world dataset from the Eastern Interconnection of the U.S power transmission grid show that the combination of PMU based sorting and the information loading based regularization techniques help the proposed DNN approach achieve highly accurate event identification and classification results.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
NASA NTRS2006

Long-Wavelength Infrared (LWIR) Quantum Dot Infrared Photodetector (QDIP) Focal Plane Array

We have exploited the artificial atomlike properties of epitaxially self-assembled quantum dots for the development of high operating temperature long wavelength infrared (LWIR) focal plane arrays. Quantum dots are nanometer-scale islands that form spontaneously on a semiconductor substrate due to lattice mismatch. QDIPs are expected to outperform quantum well infrared detectors (QWIPs) and are expected to offer significant advantages over II-VI material based focal plane arrays. QDIPs are fabricated using robust wide bandgap III-V materials which are well suited to the production of highly uniform LWIR arrays. We have used molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) technology to grow multi-layer LWIR quantum dot structures based on the InAs/InGaAs/GaAs material system. JPL is building on its significant QWIP experience and is basically building a Dot-in-the-Well (DWELL) device design by embedding InAs quantum dots in a QWIP structure. This hybrid quantum dot/quantum well device offers additional control in wavelength tuning via control of dot-size and/or quantum well sizes. In addition the quantum wells can trap electrons and aide in ground state refilling. Recent measurements have shown a 10 times higher photoconductive gain than the typical QWIP device, which indirectly confirms the lower relaxation rate of excited electrons (photon bottleneck) in QDPs. Subsequent material and device improvements have demonstrated an absorption quantum efficiency (QE) of approx. 3%. Dot-in-the-well (DWELL) QDIPs were also experimentally shown to absorb both 45 deg. and normally incident light. Thus we have employed a reflection grating structure to further enhance the quantum efficiency. JPL has demonstrated wavelength control by progressively growing material and fabricating devices structures that have continuously increased in LWIR response. The most recent devices exhibit peak responsivity out to 8.1 microns. Peak detectivity of the 8.1 micrometer devices has reached approx. 1 x 10(exp 10) Jones at 77 K. Furthermore, we have fabricated the first long-wavelength 640x512 pixels QDP focal plane array. This QDIP focal plane may has produced excellent infrared imagery with noise equivalent temperature difference of 40 mK at 60K operating temperature. In addition, we have managed to increase the quantum efficiency of these devices from 0.1% (according to the data published in literature) to 20% in discrete devices. This is a factor of 200 increase in quantum efficiency. With these excellent results, for the first time QDIP performance has surpassed the QWIP performance. Our goal is to operate these long-wavelength detectors at much higher operating temperature than 77K which can be passively achieved in space. This will be a huge leap in high performance infrared detectors specifically applicable to space science instruments.

infrared imaging↗