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At least 649 records · Page 36

An RTDS-Based Testbed for Investigating the Impacts of Transmission-Level Disturbances on Solar PV Operation

The increasing penetration of renewable energy resources such as solar and wind via power electronic inverters is challenging grid dynamics, as well as grid planning, operation, and protection. Recently, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) has reported a series of similar events of the unintended loss of solar generation in Southern California over a large geographic area following the transmission-level disturbances. These events highlight the importance of understanding the characteristics of the transmission-side disturbances propagating into the distribution systems and their impacts on the operation of inverter-based resources. In this paper, a real-time electromagnetic simulation testbed is constructed for real-time electromagnetic simulations to generate realistic transmission-level disturbances and investigate their impacts on the solar PV operation under different fault types and locations, solar penetration levels, and loading levels. Through the simulation analysis and grid strength assessment, it is found that the grid strength at points of integration (POIs) of solar PVs significantly affects the transient stability of solar generators. Particularly, undesirable transient stability events are more likely to occur at the weak POIs following the transmission-level disturbances. Moreover, undesirable transient stability events become severer when the transmission-level disturbance is closer to the weak POIs or the disturbances become more serious. Additionally, the impact of the transmission-level disturbances on the solar PVs at the weak POIs exacerbate with the increasing solar penetration levels and loading levels. Thus, it is important to study and develop new technologies for grid planning, operation, and protection in weak grid conditions to address the emerging issues of integrating the high penetration of solar PVs and other IBRs.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Density and Velocity Fluctuations of Alpha Particles in Magnetic Switchbacks

Magnetic switchbacks, or sudden reversals in the magnetic field’s radial direction, are one of the more striking observations of the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) in its mission thus far. While their precise production mechanisms are still unknown, the two main theories are via interchange reconnection events and in situ generation. In this work, density and abundance variations of alpha particles are studied inside and outside individual switchbacks. We find no consistent compositional differences in the alpha particle abundance ratio, nαp, inside versus outside switchbacks, nor do we observe any signature when separating the switchbacks according to Vαp/Vpw, the ratio of the alpha–proton differential speed to the wave phase speed (the speed at which the switchback is traveling). We argue that these measurements cannot be used to rule in favor of one production mechanism over the other, due to the distance between PSP and the postulated interchange reconnection events. In addition, we examine the 3D velocity fluctuations of protons and alpha particles within individual switchbacks. While switchbacks are always associated with increases in proton velocity, alpha velocities may be enhanced, unchanged, or decrease. This is due to the interplay between Vpw and Vαp, with the Alfvénic motion of the alpha particles vanishing as the difference |Vpw – Vαp| decreases. We show how the Alfvénic motion of both the alphas and the protons through switchbacks can be understood as an approximately rigid arm rotation about the location of the wave frame, and illustrate that the wave frame can therefore be estimated using particle measurements alone, via sphere fitting.

Michael D. McManus↗

Wavelet and Deep-Learning-Based Approach for Generation System Problematic Parameters Identification and Calibration

Accurate models of generation systems are critical for maintaining reliable and secure grid operations. In this paper, a novel and systematic approach is proposed to identify and calibrate the generation system problematic parameters using continuous wavelet transform (CWT) and advanced deep-learning technology. The phasor measurement unit (PMU) data are used through “event playback” to check whether the parameter calibration is required, and if yes, a group of suspicious parameters will be identified as the primary problematic parameter candidates (PPCs). These primary PPCs are randomly perturbed to generate the event playback simulation data, which are used by the CWT and convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to further narrow down the primary PPCs into a smaller set of candidates. Then, the identified candidates are perturbed again to generate massive event playback simulation data for training a parameter calibration neural network. Here, we designed a multi-output neural network structure to find the mappings between the perturbed parameters and the simulation data using both CNN and long short-term memory (LSTM) models. Finally, the well-trained and tested CNN-LSTM model is used to estimate the accurate value of the suspicious parameters with actual PMU measurements. The proposed CNN-LSTM network can accurately and reliably estimate the generation-system problematic parameters, and has better performance when compared to other machine-learning methods, such as the multilayer perceptron network and the conditional variational autoencoder method. The accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed approach have been validated through simulation and real-world data.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Satellite Detection of Smoke Aerosols Over a Snow/Ice Surface by TOMS

The use of TOMS (Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer) satellite data demonstrates the recently developed technique of using satellite UV radiance measurements to detect absorbing tropospheric aerosols is effective over snow/ice surfaces. Instead of the traditional single wavelength (visible or infrared) method of measuring tropospheric aerosols, this method takes advantage of the wavelength dependent reduction in the backscattered radiance due to the presence of absorbing aerosols over snow/ice surfaces. An example of the resulting aerosol distribution derived from TOMS data is shown for an August 1998 event in which smoke generated by Canadian forest fires drifts over and across Greenland. As the smoke plume moved over Greenland, the TOMS observed 380 nm reflectivity over the snow/ice surface dropped drastically from 90-100% down to 30-40%. To study the effects of this smoke plume in both the UV and visible regions of the spectrum, we compared a smoke-laden spectrum taken over Greenland by the high spectral resolution (300 to 800 nm) GOME instrument with one that is aerosol-free. We also discuss the results of modeling the darkening effects of various types of absorbing aerosols over snow/ice surfaces using a radiative transfer code. Finally, we investigated the history of such events by looking at the nearly twenty year record of TOMS aerosol index measurements and found that there is a large interannual variability in the amount of smoke aerosols observed over Greenland. This information will be available for studies of radiation and transport properties in the Arctic.

Hsu, N. Christina↗

Event detection unit

An event detection unit (EDU) for detecting an explosive event is provided. The EDU includes different types of sensors for measuring characteristics of an explosive event. The EDU includes an event notification component. The EDU also includes a processor that receives a measurement from the sensors and generates a combined non-event probability and a combined event probability based on that measurement that indicates a likelihood that an explosive event has not occurred or has occurred. The processor determines whether an explosive event has occurred based on the non-event probabilities and event probabilities. When an explosive event has been determined to occur, the processor directs the event notification component to output a notification that an explosive event has occurred.

Candy, James Vincent↗

Event detection unit

An event detection unit (EDU) for detecting an explosive event is provided. The EDU includes different types of sensors for measuring characteristics of an explosive event. The EDU includes an event notification component. The EDU also includes a processor that receives a measurement from the sensors and generates a combined non-event probability and a combined event probability based on that measurement that indicates a likelihood that an explosive event has not occurred or has occurred. The processor determines whether an explosive event has occurred based on the non-event probabilities and event probabilities. When an explosive event has been determined to occur, the processor directs the event notification component to output a notification that an explosive event has occurred.

Candy, James Vincent↗

Chromite-Plagioclase Assemblages as a New Shock Indicator; Implications for the Shock and Thermal Histories of Ordinary Chondrites

Chromite in ordinary chondrites (OC) can be used as a shock indicator. A survey of 76 equilibrated H, L and LL chondrites shows that unshocked chromite grains occur in equant, subhedral and rounded morphologies surrounded by silicate or intergrown with metallic Fe-Ni and/or troilite. Some unmelted chromite grains are fractured or crushed during whole-rock brecciation. Others are transected by opaque veins; the veins form when impacts cause localized heating of metal-troilite intergrowths above the Fe-FeS eutectic (988 C), mobilization of metal-troilite melts, and penetration of the melt into fractures in chromite grains. Chromite-plagioclase assemblages occur in nearly every shock-stage S3-S6 OC; the assemblages range in size from 20-300 microns and consist of 0.2-20-micron-size euhedral, subhedral, anhedral and rounded chromite grains surrounded by plagioclase or glass of plagioclase composition. Plagioclase has a low impedance to shock compression. Heat from shock-melted plagioclase caused adjacent chromite grains to melt; chromite grains crystallized from this melt. Those chromite grains in the assemblages that are completely surrounded by plagioclase are generally richer in Al2O3, than unmelted, matrix chromite grains in the same meteorite. Chromite veinlets (typically 0.5-2 microns thick and 10-300 microns long) occur typically in the vicinity of chromite-plagioclase assemblages. The veinlets formed from chromite-plagioclase melts that were injected into fractures in neighboring silicate grains; chromite crystallized in the fractures and the residual plagioclase-rich melt continued to flow, eventually pooling to form plagioclase-rich melt pockets. Chromite-rich chondrules (consisting mainly of olivine, plagioclase-normative mesostasis, and 5-15 vol.% chromite) occur in many shocked OC and OC regolith breccias but they are absent from primitive type-3 OC. They may have formed by impact melting chromite, plagioclase and adjacent mafic silicates during higher-energy shock events. The melt was jetted from the impact site and formed droplets due to surface tension. Crystallization of these droplets may have commenced in flight, prior to landing on the parent-body surface. Chromite-plagioclase assemblages and chromite veinlets occur in 25 out of 25 shock-stage S1 OC of petrologic type 5 and 6 that I examined. Although these rocks contain unstrained olivine with sharp optical extinction, most possess other shock indicators such as extensive silicate darkening, numerous occurrences of metallic Cu, polycrystalline troilite, and opaque veins. It seems likely that these rocks were shocked to levels at least as high as shock-stage S3 and then annealed by heat generated during the shock event. During annealing, the olivine crystal lattices healed but other shock indicators survived. Published Ar-Ar age data for some SI OC indicate that many shock and annealing events occurred very early in the history of the parent asteroids. The common occurrence of shocked and annealed OC is consistent with collisions being a major mechanism responsible for metamorphosing OC.

Rubin, Alan E.↗

The Role of Regional Connections in Planning for Future Power System Operations Under Climate Extremes

Identifying the sensitivity of future power systems to climate extremes must consider the concurrent effects of changing climate and evolving power systems. We investigated the sensitivity of a Western U.S. power system to isolated and combined heat and drought when it has low (5%) and moderate (31%) variable renewable energy shares, representing historic and future systems. We used an electricity operational model combined with a model of historically extreme drought (for hydropower and freshwater-reliant thermoelectric generators) over the Western U.S. and a synthetic, regionally extreme heat event in Southern California (for thermoelectric generators and electricity load). We found that the drought has the highest impact on summertime production cost (+10% to +12%), while temperature-based deratings have minimal effect (at most +1%). The Southern California heat wave scenario impacting load increases summertime regional net imports to Southern California by 10-14%, while the drought decreases them by 6-12%. Combined heat and drought conditions have a moderate effect on imports to Southern California (-2%) in the historic system and a stronger effect (+8%) in the future system. Southern California dependence on other regions decreases in the summertime with the moderate increase in variable renewable energy (-34% imports), but hourly peak regional imports are maintained under those infrastructure changes. By combining synthetic and historically driven conditions to test two infrastructures, we consolidate the importance of considering compounded heat wave and drought in planning studies and suggest that region-to-region energy transfers during peak periods are key to optimal operations under climate extremes.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Novel technique for the study of pileup events in cryogenic bolometers

Precise characterization of detector time resolution is of crucial importance for next-generation cryogenic-bolometer experiments searching for neutrinoless double-beta decay, such as CUPID, in order to reject background due to pile-up of two-neutrino double-beta decay events. In this paper, we describe a technique developed to study the pile-up rejection capability of cryogenic bolometers. Our approach, which consists of producing controlled pile-up events with a programmable waveform generator, has the benefit that we can reliably and reproducibly control the time separation and relative energy of the individual components of the generated pile-up events. The resulting data allow us to optimize and benchmark analysis strategies to discriminate between individual and pile-up pulses. We describe a test of this technique performed with a small array of detectors at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, in Italy; we obtain a 90% rejection efficiency against pulser-generated pile-up events with rise time of ~15 ms down to time separation between the individual events of 2 ms.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Science Goal Driven Observing: A Step Towards Maximizing Science Returns and Spacecraft Autonomy

While recent missions have made great strides in the ability to autonomously monitor and react to changing health and physical status of spacecraft, little progress has been made in responding quickly to science driven events. Also, the new generation of space-based telescopes will generate data at an unprecedented rate. Yet, while on-board data processing and storage capability will increase rapidly, bandwidth for downloading data will not increase as fast and can become a significant cost of a science program. For observations of inherently variable targets and targets of opportunity, the ability to recognize early if an observation will not meet the science goals, and react accordingly, can have a major positive impact on the overall scientific returns of an observatory and on its operational costs. If the observatory can reprioritize the schedule to focus on alternate targets, discard uninteresting observations prior to downloading, or download them at a reduced resolution its overall efficiency will be dramatically increased. We are investigating and developing tools for a science goal monitoring (SGM) system. The SGM will have an interface to help capture higher-level science goals from the scientists and translate them into a flexible observing strategy that SGM can execute and monitor. SGM will then monitor the incoming data stream and interface with data processing systems to recognize significant events. When an event occurs, the system will use the science goals given it to reprioritize observations, and react appropriately and/or communicate with ground systems - both human and machine - for confirmation and/or further high priority analyses.

Jones, Jeremy↗

Comparison of Single-Event Transients in an Epitaxial Silicon Diode Resulting from Heavy Ion-, Focused X-Ray-, and Pulsed Laser-Induced Charge Generation

Heavy ion, focused x-ray, and pulsed laser single event transient experiments are performed on a silicon epitaxial diode. Collected charge, transient rise times, and transient fall times are calculated and compared between the different sources. It is observed that these transient shape characteristics depend on the source (ion, x-ray, or laser), even when similar amounts of charge are generated. Finally, the observed differences are examined and explained in terms of basic charge collection mechanisms.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Satellite-Based Tracking of Reservoir Operations for Flood Management During the 2018 Extreme Weather Event in Kerala, India

Uncoordinated management of hydropower dams during extreme and unexpected precipitation events in mountainous terrain can have disastrous consequences due to the competing nature of flood control and hydropower generation. Numerous cases of flooding events that have been exacerbated due to insufficient storage conditions in hydropower dams have been reported worldwide. There is a need for a scalable and publicly accessible monitoring framework that is capable of providing reliable, near-real time, and transparent reservoir operations data. A fully satellite-based framework is the most viable solution to build such capability. The Reservoir Assessment Tool (RAT 3.0), which utilizes high frequency remote sensing-based surface area and reservoir storage estimation alongside hydrological modelled inflow was applied here for the 2018 Kerala floods in India as a globally representative case for a mountainous river basin with high precipitation and hydropower dams. Application of satellite-based RAT 3.0 in monitoring the state of 19 reservoirs in Kerala during the flood event showed very promising results. In general, RAT 3.0, using satellite remote sensing, was found to be able to capture the temporal trend of the reservoir storage and pinpoint the sudden shift in filling or release decisions made by the dam operator. Inflow modelling in such regions was found to require careful calibration with identification of reservoirs that are heavily regulated being a critical aspect. The perennial high cloud cover in such regions necessitate and highlights the central role played by microwave and radar-based satellite sensors, such as the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission, in tracking reservoir state. An operational version of RAT 3.0 for stakeholder agencies tailored for hydropower dams operating in high precipitation and mountainous environments is a real-world outcome of this study.

Sarath Suresh↗

The Foggy EUV Corona and Coronal Heating by MHD Waves from Explosive Reconnection Events

In 0.5 arcsec/pixel TRACE coronal EUV images, the corona rooted in active regions that are at the limb and are not flaring is seen to consist of (1) a complex array of discrete loops and plumes embedded in (2) a diffuse ambient component that shows no fine structure and gradually fades with height. For each of two not-flaring active regions, found that the diffuse component is (1) approximately isothermal and hydrostatic and (2) emits well over half of the total EUV luminosity of the active-region corona. Here, from a TRACE Fe XII coronal image of another not-flaring active region, the large sunspot active region AR 10652 when it was at the west limb on 30 July 2004, we separate the diffuse component from the discrete loop component by spatial filtering, and find that the diffuse component has about 60% of the total luminosity. If under much higher spatial resolution than that of TRACE (e. g., the 0.1 arcsec/pixel resolution of the Hi-C sounding-rocket experiment proposed by J. W. Cirtain et al), most of the diffuse component remains diffuse rather being resolved into very narrow loops and plumes, this will raise the possibility that the EUV corona in active regions consists of two basically different but comparably luminous components: one being the set of discrete bright loops and plumes and the other being a truly diffuse component filling the space between the discrete loops and plumes. This dichotomy would imply that there are two different but comparably powerful coronal heating mechanisms operating in active regions, one for the distinct loops and plumes and another for the diffuse component. We present a scenario in which (1) each discrete bright loop or plume is a flux tube that was recently reconnected in a burst of reconnection, and (2) the diffuse component is heated by MHD waves that are generated by these reconnection events and by other fine-scale explosive reconnection events, most of which occur in and below the base of the corona where they are seen as UV explosive events, EUV blinkers, and type II spicules. These MHD waves propagate across field lines and dissipate, heating the plasma in the field between the bright loops and plumes.

Moore, Ron L.↗

Interhemispheric Observations of ULF Waves Caused by Foreshock Transients Under Quiet Solar Wind Conditions

Abstract Foreshock transient (FT) events are frequently observed phenomena that are generated by discontinuities in the solar wind. These transient events are known to trigger global‐scale magnetic field perturbations (e.g., ULF waves). We report a series of FT events observed by the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission in the upstream bow shock region under quiet solar wind conditions. During the event, ground magnetometers observed significant Pc1 wave activity as well as magnetic impulse events in both hemispheres. Ground Pc1 wave observations show ∼8 min time delay (with some time differences) from each FT event which is observed at the bow shock. We also find that the ground Pc1 waves are observed earlier in the northern hemisphere compared to the southern hemisphere. The observation time difference between the hemispheres implies that the source region of the wave is the off‐equatorial region.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Detecting impurity-specific effects on structure and radiolytic hydrogen production in aluminum hydroxide

While radiolytic hydrogen (H 2 ) generation is an intrinsic property of aqueous and mineral radiolysis in nuclear waste systems, detection of the sub-ns events leading to H 2 generation is challenging. Interfacial processes involving key mineral phases in the sludge, e.g., gibbsite (α-Al(OH) 3 ), have been implicated, with impurities affecting the amount of H 2 generated. To understand why gibbsite synthesized from nitrate precursors produces less H 2 than gibbsite from chloride precursors, we paired 27 Al multiple quantum magic angle spinning (MQMAS) NMR spectroscopy to determine structural heterogeneity with transverse-field muon spin rotation (TF-μSR) to probe electron availability. MQMAS revealed greater structural disorder in the gibbsite synthesized with nitrate (NO 3 -gibbsite). Correspondingly, TF-μSR showed a larger diamagnetic fraction for NO 3 -gibbsite, indicating reduced persistence of μ + -electron bound states (muonium or other radicals) and thus fewer electrons available for reaction on the sub-ns timescale. This establishes a correlation between impurity-induced disorder and electron loss. The diamagnetic fraction serves as a signature for these sub-ns events, as it provides a key constraint for predictive models without currently resolving whether the electron is lost to direct chemical scavenging or trapping at lattice defects.

Graham, Trent R. [Pacific Northwest National Labor↗

Nonlinear electronic excitation in water under proton irradiation: a first principles study

Nonlinear dynamics of electronic excitation bridge physical and physicochemical stages of water radiolysis under proton irradiation, a multi-scale physicochemical process that is fundamental to a wide range of technological and medical applications of high-energy protons. We study the spatial and temporal changes to the excited holes generated in this ionization event using first-principles theory simulation. A significant majority of holes are formed in the immediate vicinity of the irradiating proton paths, and these holes decay rapidly, while secondary excitations are simultaneously induced in regions farther away. While the hole population remains constant, the observed spatially spreading hole distribution cannot be described as concentration-dependent diffusion current. Compared to the primary excitation induced by the irradiating protons, the secondary excitation farther away is somewhat less energetic. Here, the first-principles theory simulation here provides a detailed description of how the primary excitation by proton radiation precedes the formation of cationic holes, which undergo ultrafast chemical processes in water radiolysis.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Quantitative time-resolved diagnostics of electric field dynamics during individual plasma breakdown events using burst laser pulse electric field induced second harmonic generation

In plasma discharges, the acceleration of electrons by a fast varying electric field and the subsequent collisional electron energy transfer determines the plasma dynamics, chemical reactivity, and breakdown. Current in situ electric field measurements require reconstruction of the temporal profile over many observations. However, such methods are unsuitable for non-repetitive and unstable plasmas. Here, in this paper, we present a method for creating “movies” of dynamic electric fields in a single acquisition at sample rates of 500 × 10 6 fps. This ultrafast diagnostic was demonstrated in radio frequency electric fields between two parallel plates in air, as well as in Ar nanosecond-pulsed single-sided dielectric barrier discharges.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Characterization of a novel HIV-1 circulating recombinant form, CRF91_cpx, comprising CRF02_AG, G, J, and U, mostly among men who have sex with men

Prospective molecular studies of HIV-1 pol region (2253–5250 in HXB2 genome) sequences from sequenced samples of 269 HIV-1-infected patients in Cyprus (2017–2021) revealed a transmission cluster of 14 unknown HIV-1 recombinants that were not classified as previously established CRFs. The earliest recombinant was collected in September 2017, and the transmission cluster continued to grow until November 2020. Near full-length HIV-1 genome sequences of the 11 of the 14 recombinants were successfully obtained (790–8795 in HXB2 genome) and aligned against a reference dataset of HIV-1 subtypes and CRFs. We employed MEGAX for maximum-likelihood tree construction (GTR model, 1000 bootstrap replicates), Cluster-Picker for phylogenetic clustering analysis (genetic distance ≤0.045, bootstrap support value ≥70%), and REGA-3.0 for subtype determination. Bootscan and similarity plot analyses (sliding window of 400 nucleotides overlapped by 40 nucleotides) were conducted using SimPlot-v3.5.1, and subregion confirmatory neighbour-joining tree analyses were conducted using MEGAX (Kimura two-parameter model, 1000 bootstrap replicates, ≥70% bootstrap-support value). Exclusive clustering of the HIV-1 recombinants revealed their uniqueness. The recombination analyses illustrated the same unique mosaic pattern with six putative intersubtype recombination breakpoints, seven fragments of subtypes CRF02_AG, G, J and an unclassified fragment. We conclusively characterized the mosaic structure of the novel HIV-1 CRF, named CRF91_cpx, by the Los Alamos HIV Sequence Database. Additionally, we identified a URF of CRF91_cpx with two additional recombination sites, generated by a recombination event between subtype B and CRF91_cpx. Since the identification of CRF91_cpx, two additional patient samples have been entered into the CRF91_cpx transmission cluster, demonstrating active growth.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗