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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 OSTI2020

Design and out-of-pile testing of a novel irradiation experiment vehicle to support qualification of nuclear thermal propulsion components

Fission power systems have demonstrated higher thermal energy density per unit mass than chemical systems. High mass specific energy density offers advantages in space thermal propulsion applications. In the 1960s, nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) development included the ROVER/NERVA program, in which full-scale prototype reactors were tested on the ground using hydrogen as the reactor coolant and propellant. NTP systems are being revisited, with expectations of improved performance resulting from improved fuel materials, allowing propellant temperatures near 2,800 K and over 20 thermal propulsion cycles. An apparatus has been developed to test NTP fuel materials in a research reactor at temperature and in a radiation environment typical of the NTP application. Here, this paper presents the design constraints, preliminary scoping thermal analysis, and basic thermal qualification testing for the out-of-pile experiment set apparatus, or OUTSET.

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Demonstrating Advanced Nuclear Energy Solutions for Net Zero

Background/Objectives. The aggressive goals being set by nation states, communities, and private industry for decarbonization of grid electricity, industrial heat sources, and transportation around the world are imperative to mitigating the devastating effects that we are seeing from climate change. Although many of these goals focus on accomplishments by 2035 or 2050, the decisions that we make today won’t just impact the landscape of energy systems for the next 20 or 30 years—they will shape the world’s environment for centuries to come. That means that we can’t just focus on technologies that will get us to 2050, but technologies that will withstand our energy demands over that long-ranging future. Success will require us to utilize all of the clean energy resources that we have available to meet demands for electricity, heat, and steam, and we will need energy carriers such as hydrogen that do not emit additional greenhouse gases at the point of use. Nuclear energy, ranging from technologies in service today to advanced, higher temperature and modular systems that will be in service this decade, will provide a robust complement to renewable energy resources that operate variably. Researchers across the U.S. Department of Energy laboratory complex are working to advance multiple aspects of these clean energy solutions, with many focusing on integrated energy system solutions that leverage all available clean energy assets to meet wide-ranging energy demands. Approach/Activities. Nuclear energy is a proven, zero-emission option during operation that can provide consistent, dispatchable power to meet electricity demands while also providing high-quality heat that can meet energy demands beyond the electricity sector. Energy system design should seek to maximize these assets. As a dispatchable energy source with a small land utilization footprint, nuclear energy can be collocated with renewable resources, and the smaller systems that will be deployed this decade (ranging from a few megawatts to hundreds of megawatts) can be installed right where that energy is needed. Integrated nuclear and renewable systems will enhance power grid reliability and resilience, and they will help stabilize the grid through their increasingly flexible operation. Licensing, installation, and broad adoption of these advanced nuclear energy systems are expected to progress significantly in the 2020s, but this may be longer than desired by some stakeholders wishing to implement impactful clean energy decisions today. However, one must recall that nuclear energy systems will operate for 80 or more years, as is being demonstrated by current fleet nuclear systems. The nuclear community is extremely thorough in reviewing these systems with regard to safety and security; these efforts ensure that the deployed systems will continue to provide reliable, resilient energy over that operational lifetime. That investment of time up front will ensure that we can support energy demands over the centuries to come. While advanced nuclear technologies move through this process, communities and private industry may choose to install renewable generation systems that can later be coupled to the complementary nuclear systems as they become available—thus moving closer to the net zero goals in the near term. Choosing technologies and deployment configurations that allow small modular nuclear powerhouses to be added to these “energy parks” as they become available will ensure that advanced technologies can be readily adopted to support growing demands for clean energy. Results/Lessons Learned. The primary focus of integrated energy systems (IES) research is to assess the technical and economic potential of novel multi-input, multioutput solutions that are expected to enhance energy system flexibility, reliability, and resilience as we pursue a clean energy transition. Various energy applications and product streams beyond electricity are being evaluated, ranging from generation of potable water to production of hydrogen, fertilizers, synthetic fuels, and various chemicals. In early FY23 Idaho National Laboratory (INL) will commission thermal energy generation systems that emulate nuclear fission energy input using electric heating and will allow for integrated system testing with thermal energy storage, hydrogen production via high temperature electrolysis (HTE), and power systems hardware to demonstrate operation of a clean energy park within a microgrid or larger grid infrastructure, supporting up to 450 kW of heat input via electric heating and demonstrating operation of HTE systems at the multi-hundred kW scale. This presentation will highlight the wide array of RD&D being conducted at INL and partner laboratories to develop and deploy nuclear and renewable-based IES that will be key to achieving our net zero goals, including both computational and experimental demonstrations. By working with key collaborators in industry, analytical st

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2026

Gaia: segmented germanium detector for high-energy X-ray fluorescence and spectroscopic imaging

We present Gaia, a monolithic array of 96 high-purity germanium pixel detectors integrated with a custom low-noise application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) and a field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based data acquisition system. The sensor operates at ∼100 K using a commercial closed-cycle cryocooler, with the in-vacuum electronics thermally isolated from the cold finger to ensure thermal stability. The system demonstrates an average energy resolution of 711 eV at 122 keV, measured using a 57 Co source, and 253 eV at 5.89 keV, measured with 55 Fe across all channels. The readout architecture incorporates a high-performance FPGA paired with a dual-core ARM processor, forming a complete embedded Linux-based computing platform. Communication between the processor and FPGA is handled via memory-mapped I/O, and data are streamed over high-speed gigabit Ethernet. A full-scale 384-pixel Gaia detector, based on this 96-element module, is currently under fabrication.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems (ARIES) Cyber Range Overview and Threat-to-Consequence Demonstration

This presentation was presented at the Aggregation and Grid Security Workshop - held on June 17-18, 2025, at NREL in Golden, Colorado. The goal of the two-day workshop was to address the critical cybersecurity challenges for the future electric grid. The threat-to-consequence demonstration showcases NREL's capability to model, simulate, test, and evaluate cyberattacks targeting energy systems that coincide with natural hazards, as well as the ramifications for the energy grid as a whole.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2022

ARIES/Flatirons Facility - Hydrogen System Capability Buildout

Under the "Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems" (ARIES) initiative, hydrogen system capabilities including a MW-scale electrolyzer, storage system, and MW-scale fuel cell generator will be designed and commissioned at NREL's Flatirons Campus. This hydrogen infrastructure will support H2@Scale goals by enabling integrated systems R&D to study the science of scaling for hydrogen energy systems. The system is designed with flexibility to provide a testbed to demonstrate systems integration, grid services, energy storage, direct renewable hydrogen production, and innovative end use applications (e.g. HD transportation, natural gas blending, etc.).

DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION,HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2023

ARIES/Flatirons Facility - Hydrogen System Capability Buildout

Under the "Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems" (ARIES) initiative, hydrogen system capabilities including a MW-scale electrolyzer, storage system, and MW-scale fuel cell generator will be designed and commissioned at NREL's Flatirons Campus. This hydrogen infrastructure will support H2@Scale goals by enabling integrated systems R&D to study the science of scaling for hydrogen energy systems.The system is designed with flexibility to provide a testbed to demonstrate systems integration, grid services, energy storage, direct renewable hydrogen production, and innovative end use applications (e.g. HD transportation, natural gas blending, etc.).

Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems↗
DOE OSTI2024

ARIES / Flatirons Facility - Hydrogen System Capability Buildout

Under the "Advanced Research on Integrated Energy Systems" (ARIES) initiative, hydrogen system capabilities including a MW-scale electrolyzer, storage system, and MW-scale fuel cell generator will be designed and commissioned at NREL's Flatirons Campus. This hydrogen infrastructure will support H2@Scale goals by enabling integrated systems R&D to study the science of scaling for hydrogen energy systems.The system is designed with flexibility to provide a testbed to demonstrate systems integration, grid services, energy storage, direct renewable hydrogen production, and innovative end use applications (e.g. HD transportation, natural gas blending, etc.).

electrical grid↗
DOE OSTI2024

Solving differential‐algebraic equations in power system dynamic analysis with quantum computing

Abstract Power system dynamics are generally modeled by high dimensional non‐linear differential‐algebraic equations (DAEs) given a large number of components forming the network. These DAEs' complexity can grow exponentially due to the increasing penetration of distributed energy resources, whereas their computation time becomes sensitive due to the increasing interconnection of the power grid with other energy systems. This paper demonstrates the use of quantum computing algorithms to solve DAEs for power system dynamic analysis. We leverage a symbolic programming framework to equivalently convert the power system's DAEs into ordinary differential equations (ODEs) using index reduction methods and then encode their data into qubits using amplitude encoding. The system non‐linearity is captured by Hamiltonian simulation with truncated Taylor expansion so that state variables can be updated by a quantum linear equation solver. Our results show that quantum computing can solve the power system's DAEs accurately with a computational complexity polynomial in the logarithm of the system dimension. We also illustrate the use of recent advanced tools in scientific machine learning for implementing complex computing concepts, that is, Taylor expansion, DAEs/ODEs transformation, and quantum computing solver with abstract representation for power engineering applications.

computational complexity↗
DOE OSTI2025

Explainable multi-fidelity Bayesian neural network for distribution system state estimation

Distribution System State Estimation (DSSE) is frequently constrained by limited real-time measurements, the uncertainties introduced by distributed energy resources, and the presence of bad data. To address them, this paper proposes an enhanced Multi-Fidelity Bayesian Neural Network (MFBNN) DSSE approach. A low-fidelity layer based on a Deep Neural Network (DNN) is first pre-trained on pseudo-measurement data to learn fundamental state features. Subsequently, a high-fidelity Bayesian Neural Network (BNN) layer leverages limited but high-quality real-time measurements to refine these features, thereby achieving accurate DSSE. Additionally, the deep SHapley Additive exPlanation (SHAP) is developed to quantify the influence of measurement data on DSSE through dual perspectives of global feature importance and local nodal contributions, establishing a hierarchical explainability framework for machine learning-based DSSE. Comparative studies conducted on the IEEE 13-bus system and a real-world 2135-node system from Dominion Energy demonstrate that the proposed method excels in estimation accuracy, even under situations of high noise levels, bad data, and missing data. Further comparisons with Weighted Least Squares (WLS) and other machine learning-based DSSE approaches verify that the proposed framework offers higher accuracy, improved interpretability, and enhanced robustness.

Bad data↗
DOE OSTI2026

Filament Extension Atomization for High Solids Loading in Energy Efficient Spray Drying Systems

We demonstrate that we could scale FEA to reach outputs needed by industrial production, while increasing solids loading of the sprayed product by at least 30% and maintaining equal or better spray powder. After testing a wide range of products, in collaboration with industry partners we decided on our primary spray products of dry whey and WPC-80, two common materials processed and sold by US manufacturers with different parameters. We sprayed these with FEA at solids loadings of 70% for dry whey and 45% for WPC-80 with a spray output with particle sizes similar to industrial particles sizes and reduced variation in particle size. We simultaneously scaled up FEA first with a multi-nip with 6 nips surrounding a central roller with parallel axis of rotation and eventually with a tapered design that solved problems we encountered with our initial design. We were able to achieve output from a single array from our first design of up to 4.7 liters per minute (L/min) and from an array of our second multi-nip of 8 L/min exceeding expectations. This demonstrates that FEA technology can indeed be scaled up to meet the needs of industrial production. More arrays can be added as necessary to meet a wide range of spray dryer designs. We also tested FEA to create dried powders from a small scale (10 L/hour of water removal) spray dryer. Though we were not able to produce large quantities of powder from FEA due to challenges in integration, the powder we produced was higher quality and produced from higher solids loading materials. From our technoeconomic analysis we for a typically sized spray dryer, we estimate a 27% cost reduction and 41% energy and carbon reduction for WPC-80 and a 39-57% cost reduction and 52-76% energy reduction for sweet dry whey (depending on the exact product).

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2025

In Situ Neutron Reflectometry Reveals the Interfacial Microenvironment Driving Electrochemical Ammonia Synthesis

Electrified interfaces are critical to the performance of energy systems and often demonstrate substantial complexity under operating conditions. A nanoscale understanding of the interfacial microenvironment, i.e., the solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI), in lithium-mediated nitrogen reduction (Li–N 2 R) is key for realizing efficient ammonia (NH 3 ) production. Herein, we used time-resolved neutron reflectometry (NR) to observe SEI formation under Li–N 2 R conditions. We found that the LiBF 4 -based electrolyte provided a substantially more well-defined SEI layer than previous SEI NR interrogations that used LiClO 4 , highlighting the underlying chemistry that dictates electrolyte design and enabling new NR-based studies. Using in situ NR, we found that the LiBF 4 -derived SEI under Li–N 2 R conditions comprises a thick, diffuse outer layer and a thin, compact inner layer at low current cycling (<2 mA/cm 2 ), revealing a structure which ex situ studies have not been able to probe. Increased current cycling and sustained current cycling led to the merging of the layers into a single-layer SEI. Here, we used isotope contrast methods with d 6 -EtOH and d 8 -THF to drive time-resolved tracking of SEI growth at low current cycling, revealing that the proton donor modifies the inner layer, and the solvent modifies the outer layer. Li dendritic growth was observed in the absence of a proton donor. Neutron absorption also indicated the presence of boron in the SEI, underscoring the value of neutron-based interrogation. Our results inform Li-based systems and reaction microenvironments, and these methods can be applied broadly to interfacial energy technologies.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2026

Innovating Distributed Embedded Energy Prize (InDEEP): A Lessons Learned Report

The U.S. Department of Energy's Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) launched the Innovating Distributed Embedded Energy Prize (InDEEP) in March 2023 to accelerate innovation in Distributed Embedded Energy Conversion Technologies (DEEC-Tec) for ocean wave energy. Administered by the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) with technical support from Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), InDEEP focused on the development of small, distributed, and embeddable energy converters (DEECs) and their integration into scalable DEEC-Tec metamaterials for marine renewable energy applications. Spanning three phases over two years, InDEEP awarded approximately $2.3 million to teams from academia, industry, and startups. Phase I emphasized conceptual design. Phase II moved into the prototyping of individual DEECs. Phase III required integration into functional DEEC-Tec metamaterial prototypes. Across 60 submissions, teams explored a wide range of energy conversion mechanisms - including piezoelectric, variable-capacitance, ionic, and inductive methods. Note, the prize did not include the design nor demonstration of ocean wave energy conversion systems. Rather, the prize only required participants to design and demonstrate individual DEECs and corresponding DEEC-Tec metamaterials. This prize utilized a mix of novel and proven techniques to attract participants from outside marine energy, including an engagement leaderboard, robust recruitment, technical expert mentorship, and a suite of technical trainings. Key insights from the competition emphasized that DEEC-Tec metamaterials must be intentionally designed to produce beneficial emergent behaviors - advantages that go beyond simply combining multiple DEEC units. Top-performing teams showed that thoughtful design of system architecture, coordinated deformation, and systems adaptabilities could unlock meaningful performance gains both at the DEEC system level and DEEC-Tec metamaterial system level. A critical realization was that many DEEC-Tec metamaterials could benefit from being designed to accept lower-frequency energy inputs and shift those into higher-frequencies per each DEEC making up the respective DEEC-Tec metamaterial. Other important takeaways included the need for rigorous and quantitative performance testing, effective integration of power conditioning electronics, and the pivotal role of material science in enabling innovative, adaptive DEEC-Tec-based energy conversion designs. InDEEP also helped establish a growing DEEC-Tec community of practitioners, attracting participants from beyond traditional marine energy sectors. Through a strong support infrastructure, InDEEP fostered early-stage innovation and laid a foundation for future DEEC-Tec-based ocean wave energy conversion solutions - positioning DEEC-Tec as a promising pathway toward scalable, resilient ocean wave energy conversion. Through focused R&D of individual DEECs and their integration into DEEC-Tec metamaterials, alongside a growing, multidisciplinary community catalyzed by InDEEP, there is a strong opportunity to drive a disruptive shift in ocean wave energy conversion design and development. This convergence of novel architectures, emergent behaviors, and collaborative innovation positions DEEC-Tec as a transformative approach, moving the field from rigid, centralized energy conversion-based designs to resilient, modular systems highly adaptable for real-world ocean wave energy conversion applications.

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗
DOE OSTI2022

Fast Quasi-Static Time-Series Simulation for Accurate PV Inverter Semiconductor Fatigue Analysis with a Long-Term Solar Profile

Power system simulations with long-term data typically have large time steps varying from one second to a few minutes. However, for PV inverter semiconductors, the minimum thermal stress cycle occurs over the fundamental grid frequency (50 or 60 Hz). This requires the time step of the fatigue simulation to be around 100 µs. This small time step requires long computation times to process yearly power production profiles. This paper proposes a fast fatigue simulation for inverter semiconductors using the quasi-static time series (QSTS) simulation concept. The proposed simulation calculates the steady state of the semiconductor junction temperature by using a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). The small thermal cycling during a switching period and even over the fundamental waveform is disregarded to further accelerate the simulation speed. The resulting time step of the fatigue simulation is 15 minutes, which is consistent with the solar dataset. The error of the proposed simulation is 0.16% compared to the fatigue simulation results using the complete thermal stress profile. A PV inverter that responds to a Transactive Energy System (TES) is simulated to demonstrate the use of the proposed fatigue simulation. The proposed simulation has the potential to co-simulate with system level simulation tools that also adopt the QSTS concept.

Liu, Yunting↗
DOE OSTI2026

Demonstration of Power System Black Start with Hydropower Generator and Battery Energy Storage: Preprint

Battery energy storage systems (BESS) are an important asset for power systems with high integration levels of renewable energy, and they can be controlled to provide various services to the grid. This paper presents the hardware demonstration and characterization of using a utility-scale BESS with grid-following (GFL) and grid-forming (GFM) controls and a run-of-river (ROR) hydropower plant to perform a bottom-up power system black start that enhances power systems' resiliency. ROR hydropower plants are generally not used for power system restoration due to their frequency instability during islanded operation; however, BESS with droop control can provide critical damping to convert a ROR hydropower generator into a blackstart- capable unit. To demonstrate this, we carry out hardware experiments at the megawatt-scale integrating a synchronous generator driven by a dynamometer, an actual GFL/GFM BESS, a medium-voltage impedance network, and a load bank. The demonstration shows the different roles of BESS with GFL and GFM control in power system restoration. GFL BESS can suffer from high-frequency oscillations, even instability, depending on the droop control gain and loading condition. The results provide further insights for system operators on how GFL- or GFMcontrolled BESS can enhance grid stability and how hydro-BESS hybrids can operate as a black-start-capable unit. The presented experimental results are also a valuable resource to understand the different stability characteristics of real-world BESS with different control modes.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2025

Deep Cyber-Physical Situational Awareness for Energy Systems: A Secure Foundation for Next-Generation Energy Management

This document provides the final report for the CYPRES project. The purpose is (1) to highlight and summarize its major accomplishments and (2) to provide guidance on how its outcomes have informed and can inform important additional research and technology transfer. The goal of CYPRES was the research, development, and demonstration of a security-oriented next generation cyber-physical EMS for electric power systems that detects malicious and abnormal events through the fusion of cyber and physical data. To achieve this, the CYPRES project team researched, developed, and built a prototype of the solution, referred to as the CYPRES EMS. The CYPRES EMS is a proof-of-concept cyber-physical platform that demonstrates the management of the energy system, communications, security, and cyber-physical grid modeling and analytics. As part of the capabilities of the CYPRES EMS, the team designed and developed a suite of power system applications for monitoring, risk analyses, detection, and control that are inherently cyberaware. At its core, the project aimed to research, develop, and demonstrate a security-oriented next-generation cyber-physical Energy Management System (EMS) capable of detecting malicious and abnormal events through the innovative fusion of cyber and physical data. This approach represents a fundamental shift from traditional EMS, reimagining how critical infrastructure can be protected through unified cyber-aware and physics-aware secure data flow pipelines. The project’s cornerstone deliverable, the CYPRES EMS, serves as a proof-of-concept cyber-physical platform that revolutionizes the management of energy systems, communications, security, and cyber-physical grid modeling and analytics. This prototype implements a comprehensive suite of power system applications for monitoring, risk analyses, detection, and control, all designed with inherent cyber awareness. The system’s architecture extends from end-devices in the field through to control center applications, establishing a secure and resilient control framework that addresses the challenges posed by diverse devices of unknown trustworthiness connecting to modern power systems. Through this innovative approach to deep cyber-physical situational awareness, the CYPRES project not only advances the state-of-the-art in energy infrastructure protection but also establishes a new paradigm for how EMS can be designed, deployed, and operated in an increasingly complex threat landscape. The findings and developments from this project provide crucial insights for stakeholders across the energy sector, offering a blueprint for enhancing the reliability and resilience of our nation’s critical energy infrastructure in the face of evolving cyber threats.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2020

Microgrid Energy Management System Integration with Advanced Distribution Management System

The Integrated Distribution Management System (IDMS) project was initiated to demonstrate the interactive operation of microgrid systems and the distribution systems with which they interconnect. The key technologies for this are the microgrid management system and the utility distribution management system. The IDMS project successfully demonstrated that a utility’s advanced distribution management system/distributed energy resources management system (ADMS/DERMS) could effectively manage microgrids to provide visibility and control functionalities as well as use the microgrid as a dispatchable resource to support the utility grid. The DERMS accomplishes this by determining active and reactive power needs at the point of common coupling (PCC) using advanced applications like volt/VAR watt optimization (VVWO) and load relief (LR) with the underlying core applications state estimation (SE) and load flow (LF). The ADMS/DERMS can use the microgrid as a resource to resolve and prevent violations in the grid and to optimize the operational working state of the grid. The IDMS project demonstrated that a utility-operated ADMS with embedded DERMS functionality can flexibly manage a variety of microgrids and other aggregated distributed energy resources (DER) in concert with the wider distribution grid. Microgrids can provide grid services in any number of different ways to meet the operational needs of the distribution utility. The manner of aggregation — microgrid or virtual power plant — is not necessarily relevant to the utility as long as the grid services from the aggregated DER are available and can be managed by its ADMS/DERMS for the stability and reliability of the grid. The IDMS project demonstrated this integrated ADMS concept by combining hardware/software-in-the-loop testing with commercial products from different vendors and a utility’s network model. The project integrated the Schneider Electric EcoStruxure™ ADMS with DERMS with the Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) POWERMAX ® Microgrid Control System, and the simulated resources with energy company PECO’s model of a utility-owned microgrid, establishing an operational relationship in which the utility manages the operational functionality of a microgrid at the PCC and that provides the utility with the capability to control the comprehensive power system, inclusive of the macrogrid and microgrid.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2021

Towards a Techno-Economic Analysis of PCM Integrated Hybrid HVAC Systems

Thermal end uses dominate building energy consumption and are a major driver of peak demand. As heating is electrified, peak electrical power required will surge, prompting a need for innovative HVAC system designs and controls.These designs must incorporate novel technologies at the component level and new integration techniques at the system level. One such possibility involves the addition of thermal energy storage (TES) in heating and cooling equipment using a phase change material (PCM) heat exchanger. Here, thermal energy storage via phase change can be used to shift the HVAC system loads to times of lower electricity cost, reduced carbon intensity, and greater energy efficiency. Most of the current utilization of PCM in buildings involves passive components. By actively controlling when heat is stored and released from PCM, we can optimize the building HVAC system to cost-effectively meet consumer needs with the flexibility to draw on renewable energy resources when they are abundant and available. While this combination of technologies is promising in theory, simulation-based evaluation of a prototype can be difficult due to the modeling requirements at the component level and the large number of possible configurations and operating modes at the system level. To conduct this evaluation, we use the Modelica language for modeling and simulation because it enables users to represent the important physics of the problem, interchange and rearrange components in an efficient manner, and implement a range of control configurations. In this work, we considered three case studies: a portable building, a large commercial retail store, and a multifamily residential apartment unit. Each of these employs a different system design, ranging from a single package vertical unit incorporating PCM to a central plant with independent heat pump, evaporative cooling, and thermal energy storage components. This paper describes the technologies in question, presents modeling at the component and system levels, and demonstrates building energy and demand charge cost savings with local time-of-use tariffs in a hot-dry climate.

Helmns, Dre↗
DOE OSTI2023

Validation and Verification of TEDS Facility HYBRID Modeling

The HYBRID modeling repository is an in-house developed library of models for selected integrated energy systems (IES) modelling. HYBRID models have been developed since 2015 to describe the physical operation of tightly coupled thermal systems including power generators, thermal transport systems, thermal storage, thermal-to-electric conversion systems, and other thermal applications. Here, validation and verification (V&V) capabilities are demonstrated using the Thermal Energy Distribution System (TEDS) at INL. Building upon prior work, the TEDS model has been updated and verified so that it better represents the installed system configuration and the operating control system. The model control system was changed to allow replication of actual experimental procedures. Experimental operations focusing primarily on thermocline tank performance were devised and performed. Several anomalies were found in the operation data of the experiment facility. V&V activities calibrating a selected input parameter are demonstrated on a single component as well as with a single parameter within the thermocline. Calibrating is then demonstrated on multiple components and a multi-parameter metric for the entire system. The validation methodology is successfully applied to validate the model with experimental data. It is also used to confirm a hypothesis behind one of the anomalies in experimental performance.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗