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At least 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Insulation or Irradiance: Exploring Why Bifacial Photovoltaics Run Hot

Bifacial photovoltaics are predicted to become the dominant device architecture over the next couple of years, but their thermal performance is not yet well understood. In this study, we model the thermal effects of different backside lamination materials on the performance of bifacial PERC cells. Glass-glass laminated cells were found to operate hotter than equivalent glass-polymer backsheet packed cells. This was solely due to the increased absorption of rear side incident light.

bifacial↗
DOE OSTI2025

Optimizing Insulation Design for Transformers in Medium Voltage Power Conversion Systems

Medium-frequency transformers (MFTs) play a crucial role in medium-voltage (MV) solidstate transformer (SST) systems, particularly in extreme fast charging applications. Achieving partial discharge (PD)-free operation while maintaining high power density is a significant challenge due to the high electric field (E-field) stresses inherent in MV applications. This dissertation focuses on the insulation design and optimization of MFTs used in both the main power electronics circuits and auxiliary power supplies. The study begins with an overview of insulation testing methodologies, including high potential tests, basic insulation level tests, and PD tests, which are critical for evaluating MFT insulation reliability. Given the importance of PD-free operation for long-term reliability, particular emphasis is placed on understanding PD mechanisms, including void, corona, and surface discharge, and their mitigation strategies. A high voltage isolated auxiliary power supply is then introduced, utilizing a gapped transformer encapsulated in silicone gel. This design achieves PD-free insulation up to 18 kV RMS while maintaining low coupling capacitance to minimize common-mode current. The proposed solution ensures reliable operation in MV environments and offers a scalable approach for auxiliary power in cascaded SST architectures. To improve MFT insulation in main power conversion circuits, a novel structure is developed using polypropylene sheets and potting compounds to create a void-free air gap, effectively mitigating E-field intensity. A prototype transformer with this insulation structure is built and achieves PD-free operation up to 30 kV RMS. This design is experimentally validated in a resonant converter operating at 46 kW, demonstrating its feasibility for MV SST applications. Further optimization is implemented to enhance MFT performance for dual-active-bridge(DAB) converters by integrating a semiconductive shielding layer within the insulation structure. This shielding layer improves the magnetic coupling coefficient while effectively confining the E-field within high insulation materials, thereby reducing eddy current losses. The optimized MFT achieves PD-free operation at 12.6 kV RMS and is successfully tested in a DAB converter operating at 43 kW, which meets the insulation requirements for a 13.2 kV SST system. This dissertation advances MFT insulation design by introducing and experimentally validating novel approaches that improve high voltage insulation while optimizing magnetic coupling and manufacturability. The proposed insulation structures enable PD-free operation while minimizing insulation material usage and simplifying assembly, making them ideal for high power, high voltage applications.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2024

The hygrothermal performance of continuous and cavity wood fiber insulation

Wood fiber insulation is an emerging material known for its effective thermal performance and moisture management properties, making it a compelling alternative to conventional insulation. Its vapor permeability and ability to regulate indoor humidity contribute to improved building durability and comfort, particularly in varying climate conditions. The goal of this project is to characterize the hygrothermal performance of a new wood fiber insulation product line in U.S. climate zones and to facilitate the design and construction of the product in residential and light commercial building envelopes. This study investigates the thermal and hygrothermal performance of wood fiber insulation, both as continuous and cavity insulation. The research employs an exhaustive simulation task and an environmental chamber test of a wood fiber insulation. Over 400 simulations were conducted to study the hygrothermal characteristics of bio-based wood fiber insulation in various building envelope configurations across four climate zones. Environmental chamber tests were conducted under controlled winter conditions representative of Climate Zone 5A (Chicago, IL) to complement the simulation results. The chamber tests focused on the hygrothermal performance of the wood fiber insulation and the sheathing board to assess the insulation's ability to manage moisture in a cold climate. Simulation and environmental chamber test results were analyzed to evaluate the insulation's consistency and efficacy across diverse climatic zones. Results show that with a proper moisture control strategy, both cavity and continuous wood fiber insulation can work properly in both new and retrofit constructions.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2024

The Hygrothermal Performance of Continuous and Cavity Wood Fiber Insulation

Wood fiber insulation is an emerging material known for its effective thermal performance and moisture management properties, making it a compelling alternative to conventional insulation. Its vapor permeability and ability to regulate indoor humidity contribute to improved building durability and comfort, particularly in varying climate conditions. The goal of this project is to characterize the hygrothermal performance of a new wood fiber insulation product line in U.S. climate zones and to facilitate the design and construction of the product in residential and light commercial building envelopes. This study investigates the thermal and hygrothermal performance of wood fiber insulation, both as continuous and cavity insulation. The research employs an exhaustive simulation task and an environmental chamber test of a wood fiber insulation. Over 400 simulations were conducted to study the hygrothermal characteristics of bio-based wood fiber insulation in various building envelope configurations across four climate zones. Environmental chamber tests were conducted under controlled winter conditions representative of Climate Zone 5A (Chicago, IL) to complement the simulation results. The chamber tests focused on the hygrothermal performance of the wood fiber insulation and the sheathing board to assess the insulation's ability to manage moisture in a cold climate. Simulation and environmental chamber test results were analyzed to evaluate the insulation's consistency and efficacy across diverse climatic zones. Results show that with a proper moisture control strategy, both cavity and continuous wood fiber insulation can work properly in both new and retrofit constructions.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2021

Evidence for a monolayer excitonic insulator

The interplay between topology and correlations can generate a variety of quantum phases, many of which remain to be explored. Recent advances have identified monolayer WTe 2 as a promising material for doing so in a highly tunable fashion. The ground state of this two-dimensional crystal can be electrostatically tuned from a quantum spin Hall insulator to a superconductor. However, much remains unknown about the gap-opening mechanism of the insulating state. In this work, we report evidence that the quantum spin Hall insulator is also an excitonic insulator, arising from the spontaneous formation of electron–hole bound states, namely excitons. We reveal the presence of an intrinsic insulating state at the charge neutrality point in clean samples and confirm the correlated nature of this charge-neutral insulator by tunnelling spectroscopy. We provide evidence against alternative scenarios of a band insulator or a localized insulator and support the existence of an excitonic insulator phase in the clean limit. These observations lay the foundation for understanding a new class of correlated insulators with nontrivial topology and identify monolayer WTe 2 as a promising candidate for exploring quantum phases of ground-state excitons.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

False metals, real insulators, and degenerate gapped metals

This paper deals with a significant family of compounds predicted by simplistic electronic structure theory to be metals but are, in fact, insulators. This false metallic state has been traditionally attributed in the literature to reflect the absence of proper treatment of electron-electron correlation (“Mott insulators”) whereas, in fact, even mean-field like density functional theory describes the insulating phase correctly if the restrictions posed on the simplistic theory are avoided. Such unwarranted restrictions included different forms of disallowing symmetry breaking described in this article. As the science and technology of conductors have transitioned from studying simple elemental metals such as Al or Cu to compound conductors such as binary or ternary oxides and pnictides, a special class of degenerate but gapped metals has been noticed. Their presumed electronic configurations show the Fermi level inside the conduction band or valence band, yet there is an “internal band gap” between the principal band edges. The significance of this electronic configuration is that it might be unstable toward the formation of states inside the internal band gap when the formation of such states costs less energy than the energy gained by transferring carriers from the conduction band to these lower energy acceptor states, changing the original (false) metal to an insulator. The analogous process also exists for degenerate but gapped metals with the Fermi level inside the valence band, where the energy gain is defined by transfer of electrons from the donor level to the unoccupied part of the valence band. We focus here on the fact that numerous electronic structure methodologies have overlooked some physical factors that could stabilize the insulating alternative, predicting instead false metals that do not really exist (note that this is in general not a physical phase transition, but a correction of a previous error in theory that led to a false prediction of a metal). Such errors include: (i) ignoring spin symmetry breaking, such as disallowing magnetic spin ordering in CuBi2O4 or disallowing the formation of polymorphous spin networks in paramagnetic LaTiO 3 and YTiO 3 ; (ii) ignoring structural symmetry breaking, e.g., not enabling energy-lowering bond disproportionation (Li-doped TiO 2 , SrBiO 3 , and rare-earth nickelates), or not exploring pseudo-Jahn–Teller-like distortions in LaMnO 3 , or disallowing spontaneous formation of ordered vacancy compounds in Ba 4 As 3 and Ag 3 Al 22 O 34 ; and (iii) ignoring spin–orbit coupling forcing false metallic states in CaIrO 3 and Sr 2 IrO 4 . The distinction between false metals vs real insulators is important because (a) predicting theoretically that a given compound is metal even though it is found to be an insulator often creates the temptation to invoke high order novel physical effects (such as correlation in d-electron Mott insulators) to explain what was in effect caused by a more mundane artifact in a lower-level mean-field band theory, (b) recent prediction of exotic physical effects such as topological semimetals were unfortunately based on the above compounds that were misconstrued by theory to be metal, but are now recognized to be stable insulators not hosting exotic effects, and (c) practical technological applications based on stable degenerate but gapped metals such as transparent conductors or electrides for catalysis must rely on the systematically correct and reliable theoretical classification of metals vs insulators.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2024

Results of Speciation Determination Measurements of Insulating Sulfur Hexafluoride Gas

Under the direction of the NNSA NA-231 Mo-99 Program, SRNL has provided technical assistance to U.S. companies under cooperative agreements. One such area of technical assistance has been for the recommendation for contamination management methods in the eventuality that tritium contaminates the insulating gas of a high-voltage ion source used in the accelerator-based process developed by SHINE Medical Technologies to produce Mo-99. The SHINE accelerator process uses tritium as the target of a deuterium ion beam, where the ion beam is produced within a high-voltage ion source insulated with sulfur hexafluoride (SF 6 ), and is separated from the tritium target by an extensive pump train. Normal operating conditions preclude the conditions necessary for contamination of the insulating gas, however certain atypical conditions could result in a tritium contamination event. Accelerator based processes for medical isotope production represent an anomalous tritium contamination challenge due to the presence of SF 6 . SF 6 decomposes through normal use as an insulator gas, and the exact speciation of the decomposition byproducts depends on a variety of factors. This creates a scenario where the anticipation of species present in the insulating gas mixture is difficult. In turn, the fate of tritium within such a chemical system is unclear. This document discusses the results of measurements made in-situ of the SF 6 insulating gas in use within a SHINE Medical Technology’s high-voltage ion source. This was done in an effort to determine the chemical speciation of the gas, allowing for the recommendation of management strategies in the event that tritium contaminates the insulating gas. The results of the measurements reported in this work suggest that tritium contamination in the insulating gas may result in two chemical forms of tritium in the system, tritiated water and molecular tritium. These two forms of tritium would be captured by two methods. Tritiated water may be captured and removed from the SF 6 by an adsorbent canister already present within the pressure vessel that houses the insulating gas while in use. It may also be separated from the SF 6 during routine purification of the SF 6 , which is performed by SHINE personnel routinely. The purification cart will perform all non-embedded systems cleanup necessary to remediate tritiated species in the system. The purification cart passes the insulating gas through several filters, followed by the liquefication of the SF 6 . The filters will separate tritiated water from the SF 6 at this stage. It is expected that molecular tritium will accumulate in the gas-phase during the liquification step, which is separated and stored. Tritium may be recovered from this mixture through more conventional hydrogen purification methods such as a palladium diffuser.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2023

Rise and fall of Mott insulating gaps in YNiO 3 paramagnets as a reflection of symmetry breaking and remaking

The YNiO 3 nickelate is a paradigm d-electron oxide that manifests the intriguing temperature-mediated sequence of three phases transitions from (i) magnetically ordered insulator to (ii) paramagnetic (PM) insulator and then to (iii) PM metal. Such phenomena raised the question of the nature of the association of magnetism and structural symmetry breaking with the appearance in (i) and (ii) and disappearance in (iii) of insulating band gaps. It is demonstrated here that first-principles mean-field–like density-functional theory (DFT), driven by molecular dynamics temperature evolution, can describe not only the origin of the magnetically long-range ordered insulating phase (i), but also the creation of an insulating paramagnet (ii) that lacks spin- long-range order, and of a metallic paramagnet (iii) as temperature rises. This approach provides the patterns of structural and magnetic symmetry breaking at different temperatures, in parallel with band gaps obtained when the evolving geometries are used as input to DFT electronic band-structure calculations. This disentangles the complex interplay among spin, charge, and orbital degrees of freedom. Analysis shows that the success in describing the rise and fall of the insulating band gaps along the phase transition sequence is enabled by allowing sufficient flexibility in describing diverse local structural and magnetic motifs as input to DFT. This entails the use of sufficiently large supercells that allow expressing structural disproportionation of octahedra, as well as a description of PM phases as a distribution of local magnetic moments (rather than using a single averaged moment). It appears that the historic dismissal of mean-field–like DFT as being unable to describe such Mott-like transitions was premature, as it was based on consideration of averaged crystallographic unit cells, a description that washes out local symmetry-breaking motifs. The magnetically ordered insulating YNiO 3 phase (i) and the PM insulating phase (ii) result in DFT from allowing symmetry breaking, evident already by considering the athermal internal energy. In contrast, the PM metallic phase (iii) is formed thermally by smearing out thus weakening symmetry breaking. Analysis of snapshots of the different forms of structural vs magnetic symmetry breaking shows that only the loss of the polymorphous distribution of magnetic moments existing in (ii) causes the fall of the band gap, resulting in the metallic state in (iii). Finally, the interesting conclusion is that such a description of the rise [in phases (i) and (ii)] and fall [in phase (iii)] of the insulating gap does not rely on the traditional Mott-like strong correlation understanding, but on breaking and remaking of magnetic and structural symmetries reflected in energy lowering.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Theory and Simulation of Metal–Insulator–Semiconductor (MIS) Photoelectrodes

A metal–insulator–semiconductor (MIS) structure is an attractive photoelectrode-catalyst architecture for promoting photoelectrochemical reactions, such as the formation of H 2 by proton reduction. The metal catalyzes the generation of H 2 using electrons generated by photon absorption and charge separation in the semiconductor. The insulator layer between the metal and the semiconductor protects the latter element from photo-corrosion and, also, significantly impacts the photovoltage at the metal surface. Understanding how the insulator layer determines the photovoltage and what properties lead to high photovoltages is critical to the development of MIS structures for solar-to-chemical energy conversion. Herein, we present a continuum model for charge-carrier transport from the semiconductor to the metal with an emphasis on mechanisms of charge transport across the insulator. The polarization curves and photovoltages predicted by this model for a Pt/HfO 2 /p-Si MIS structure at different HfO 2 thicknesses agree well with experimentally measured data. The simulations reveal how insulator properties (i.e., thickness and band structure) affect band bending near the semiconductor/insulator interface and how tuning them can lead to operation closer to the maximally attainable photovoltage, the flat-band potential. This phenomenon is understood by considering the change in tunneling resistance with insulator properties. The model shows that the best MIS performance is attained with highly symmetric semiconductor/insulator band offsets (e.g., BeO, MgO, SiO 2 , HfO 2 , or ZrO 2 deposited on Si) and a low to moderate insulator thickness (e.g., between 0.8 and 1.5 nm). Beyond 1.5 nm, the density of filled interfacial trap sites is high and significantly limits the photovoltage and the solar-to-chemical conversion rate. These conclusions are true for photocathodes and photoanodes. This understanding provides critical insight into the phenomena enhancing and limiting photoelectrode performance and how this phenomenon is influenced by insulator properties. The study gives guidance toward the development of next-generation insulators for MIS structures that achieve high performance.

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

Tuning the Chern number in quantum anomalous Hall insulators

A quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) state is a two-dimensional topological insulating state that has a quantized Hall resistance of h/(Ce 2 ) and vanishing longitudinal resistance under zero magnetic field (where h is the Planck constant, e is the elementary charge, and the Chern number C is an integer). The QAH effect has been realized in magnetic topological insulators and magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene. However, the QAH effect at zero magnetic field has so far been realized only for C = 1. Here we realize a well quantized QAH effect with tunable Chern number (up to C = 5) in multilayer structures consisting of alternating magnetic and undoped topological insulator layers, fabricated using molecular beam epitaxy. The Chern number of these QAH insulators is determined by the number of undoped topological insulator layers in the multilayer structure. Moreover, we demonstrate that the Chern number of a given multilayer structure can be tuned by varying either the magnetic doping concentration in the magnetic topological insulator layers or the thickness of the interior magnetic topological insulator layer. We develop a theoretical model to explain our experimental observations and establish phase diagrams for QAH insulators with high, tunable Chern number. Furthermore, the realization of such insulators facilitates the application of dissipationless chiral edge currents in energy-efficient electronic devices, and opens up opportunities for developing multi-channel quantum computing and higher-capacity chiral circuit interconnects.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Topological surface conduction in Kondo insulator YbB 12

Kondo insulators have recently aroused great interest because they are promising materials that host a topological insulator state caused by the strong electron interactions. Moreover, recent observations of the quantum oscillations in the insulating state of Kondo insulators have come as a great surprise. Here, we investigate the surface electronic state of a prototype Kondo insulator YbB 12 , we measured the transport properties of single crystals and microstructures. In all samples, the temperature dependence of the electrical resistivity is insulating at high temperatures and the resistivity exhibits a plateau at low temperatures. The magnitude of the plateau value decreases with reducing sample thickness, which is quantitatively consistent with the surface electronic conduction in the bulk insulating YbB 12 . Moreover, the magnetoresistance of the microstructures exhibits a weak-antilocalization effect at low field. These results are consistent with the presence of a topologically protected surface state, suggesting that YbB 12 is a candidate material for a topological Kondo insulator. The high field resistivity measurements up to µ 0 H = 50 T of the microstructures provide supporting evidence that the quantum oscillations of the resistivity in YbB 12 occurs in the insulating bulk.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2022

High temperature ceramic thermal insulation material

Flexible and lightweight thermal insulation materials with hierarchical microstructures are ubiquitous in thermal management and protection systems. Ceramic aerogels promise high-temperature thermal insulation but lack mechanical robustness, while the fibrous materials with excellent mechanical elasticity display modest thermal insulation. Here we describe flexible hierarchical superhydrophobic ceramic insulation nanocomposites through the densified architectured hierarchical nanostructures, radiative insulation coating, and interfacial cross-linking among composites. The lightweight flexible ceramic nanocomposites exhibit a density of 0.13 g/cm 3 , high-temperature fire resistance with thermal conductivity of 0.024 W/(m·K), and super-hydrophobicity with the water contact angle of 152°. The mechanical robustness and high-temperature thermal insulation of ceramic nanocomposites, together with its soundproof performance, shed light on the low-cost flexible insulation materials manufacturing with scalability for high-temperature thermal insulation applications under high mechanical loading conditions.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Design, construction, and testing of no-insulation small subscale solenoids for compact tokamaks

Fusion energy systems studies (FESS) for next-step devices based on the most promising magnetic configurations indicate that high magnetic fields and high current density for magnet coil systems may reduce device size and lower the cost. High current density and radiation resistant fusion magnets are particularly beneficial for low cost, low aspect ratio compact reactor designs such as Fusion Nuclear Science Facility (FNSF), Fusion Pilot Plant (FPP) of low-aspect ratio spherical tokamak (ST) or compact stellarators. Unlike typical high field magnets for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or high energy physics research applications, neutron irradiation damage to organic insulations in the coil winding pack is a critical issue for next generation fusion reactors where orders of magnitude higher neutron fluence than those in present experimental reactors such as ITER are expected. Moreover, a high coil winding pack current density is needed for high field magnets in low cost, compact radial build next step fusion reactors. The slow current charging time, however, is an issue in fully non-insulated coils. In this work, we present the design, construction and testing of subscale Nb3Sn solenoids, up to half the diameter of the central solenoid (CS) for National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX), with and without inter-layer insulation for enhancing radiation resistance while improving the winding pack current density and coil performance. The major radius for the NSTX/NSTX-Upgrade (reference for compact ST) is 0.854/0.934 meter, and 4.8 meters for FNSF. The magnetic field for NSTX/NSTX-U at the plasma center is 0.6/1 Tesla and 9 Tesla for FNSF. The inner diameter of the central solenoid coil is 0.2/0.4 meter for NSTX/NSTX-U and 1.2 meters for FNSF. The current charging and discharging behavior of the prototype solenoids was investigated to quantify performance advantages of a simplified coil fabrication without error-prone vacuum pressure impregnation (VPI) for the removal of epoxy organic insulation. Scalability of the no insulation concept for fusion can be addressed via engineered coating for novel insulation on contact resistance or intra-layer no insulations. Radiation resistance and coil winding efficiency were significantly improved in the no insulation coils for next step compact fusion reactors.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2024

Impact of Insulation Strategies of Cross-Laminated Timber Assemblies on Energy Use, Peak Demand, and Carbon Emissions

Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) panels have many structural benefits but do not have much thermal resistance. We have developed a solution to insulate CLT structures that uses high-performance insulation panels that provide R-values up to R40/inch. The CLT panels are made of layers of wood laminates (three, five, seven or more). The solution replaces some of the wood laminates in the CLT production with the insulation panels in a staggered fashion so that the wood laminates maintain contact throughout the panel, ensuring the CLT panel’s structural integrity. The insulated CLT panels have factory-installed water-resistive barriers reducing the installation time by eliminating installing insulation and water-resistive barriers on site. Per simulations, the CLT/insulation panel achieved code-required insulation levels with commonly available insulation materials. The significance of the thermal mass of CLT/insulation hybrid building envelopes was quantified by comparing the whole building energy performance and peak demand of traditional low mass and CLT wall assemblies resulting in up to 7% reduction in peak demand for cooling in Knoxville, TN, in a multifamily building. Buildings contribute over 40 percent of carbon emissions. The proposed CLT/insulation hybrid building envelope addresses both operational and embodied carbon by having high thermal resistances due to the embedded insulation sections and eliminating the use of high embodied carbon materials such as steel and concrete. The carbon benefit is estimated.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗