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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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At least 91 records · Page 5
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2011

Flow pattern changes influenced by variation of viscosities of a heterogeneous gas-liquid mixture flow in a vertical channel

In the steady-state flow of a heterogeneous mixture such as an air-liquid mixture, the velocity and void fraction are space- and time-dependent parameters. These parameters are the most fundamental in the analysis and description of a multiphase flow. The determination of flow patterns in an objective way is extremely critical, since this is directly related to sudden changes in spatial and temporal changes of the random like characteristic of concentration. Flow patterns can be described by concentration signals in time, amplitude, and frequency domains. Despite the vital importance and countless attempts to solve or incorporate the flow pattern phenomena into multiphase models, it has still been a very challenging topic in the scientific community since the 1940's and has not yet reached a satisfactory solution. This paper reports the experimental results of the impact of fluid viscosity on flow patterns for two-phase flow. Two-phase flow was created in laboratory equipment using air and liquid as phase medium. The liquid properties were changed by using variable concentrations of glycerol in water mixture which generated a wide-range of dynamic viscosities ranging from 1 to 1060 MPa s. The in situ spatial concentration vs. liquid viscosity and airflow velocity of two-phase flow in a vertical ID=50.8 mm pipe were measured using two concomitant computer-aided measurement systems. After acquiring data, the in situ special concentration signals were analyzed in time (spatial concentration and RMS of spatial concentration vs. time), amplitude (PDF and CPDF), and frequency (PSD and CPSD) domains that documented broad flow pattern changes caused by the fluid viscosity and air velocity changes. (author)

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2018

Statistical analysis of the chemical attribution signatures of 3-methylfentanyl and its methods of production

Chemical attribution of the origin of an illegal drug is a key component of forensic efforts aimed at combating illicit and clandestine manufacture of drugs and pharmaceuticals. The results of these studies yield detailed information on synthesis byproducts, reagents, and precursors that can be used to identify the method of manufacture. Here in the present work, chemical attribution signatures (CAS) associated with the synthesis of the analgesic 3-methylfentanyl, N-(3-methyl-1-phenethylpiperidin-4-yl)-N-phenylpropanamide, were investigated. Eighteen crude samples from six synthesis methods were generated, the analysis of which was used to identify signatures (i.e. chemical compounds) that were important in the discrimination of synthetic route. These methods were carefully selected to minimize the use of scheduled precursors, complicated laboratory equipment, number of steps, and extreme reaction conditions. Using gas and liquid chromatographies combined with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-QTOF and LC-QTOF) over 160 distinct species were monitored. Lastly, analysis of this combined data set was performed using modern machine learning techniques capable of reducing the size of the data set, prioritizing key chemical attribution signatures, and identifying the method of production for blindly synthesized 3-methylfentanyl materials.

3-methylfentanyl↗
DOE OSTI2020

Large-Grained Cylindrical Block Copolymer Morphologies by One-Step Room-Temperature Casting

We report a facile method of ordering block copolymer (BCP) morphologies in which the conventional two-step casting and annealing steps are replaced by a single-step process where microphase separation and grain coarsening are seamlessly integrated within the casting protocol. This is achieved by slowing down solvent evaporation during casting by introducing a non-volatile solvent into the BCP casting solution what effectively prolongs the duration of the grain-growth phase. We demonstrate the utility of this solvent evaporation annealing (SEA) method by producing well-ordered large molecular-weight BCP thin films in a total processing time shorter than 3 minutes without resorting to any extra laboratory equipment other than a basic casting-device i.e., spin- or blade-coater. By analyzing the morphologies of the quenched samples, we identify a relatively narrow range of polymer concentration in the wet film, just above the order-disorder concentration, to be critical for obtaining large-grained morphologies. This finding is corroborated by the analysis of the grain-growth kinetics of horizontally-oriented cylindrical domains where relatively large growth exponents (1/2) are observed, indicative of a more rapid defect-annihilation mechanism in the concentrated BCP solution than in thermally-annealed BCP melts. Furthermore, the analysis of temperature-resolved kinetics data allows us to calculate the Arrhenius activation energy of the grain-coarsening in this one-step BCP ordering process.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2012

Technetium Chemistry in the Fuel Cycle: Combining Basic and Applied Studies

Technetium is intimately linked with nuclear reactions. The ultraminute natural levels in the environment are due to the spontaneous fission of uranium isotopes. The discovery of technetium was born from accelerator reactions, and its use and presence in the modern world are directly due to nuclear reactors. While occupying a central location in the periodic table, the chemistry of technetium is poorly explored, especially when compared to its neighboring elements, i.e., molybdenum, ruthenium, and rhenium. This state of affairs, which is tied to the small number of laboratories equipped to work with the long-lived (99)Tc isotope, provides a remarkable opportunity to combine basic studies with applications for the nuclear fuel cycle. An example is given through examination of the technetium halide compounds. Binary metal halides represent some of the most fundamental of inorganic compounds. The synthesis of new technetium halides demonstrates trends with structure, coordination number, and speciation that can be utilized in the nuclear fuel cycle. Examples are provided for technetium-zirconium alloys as waste forms and the formation of reduced technetium species in separations.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Substrate multiplexed protein engineering facilitates promiscuous biocatalytic synthesis

Enzymes with high activity are readily produced through protein engineering, but intentionally and efficiently engineering enzymes for an expanded substrate scope is a contemporary challenge. One approach to address this challenge is Substrate Multiplexed Screening (SUMS), where enzyme activity is measured on competing substrates. SUMS has long been used to rigorously quantitate native enzyme specificity, primarily for in vivo settings. SUMS has more recently found sporadic use as a protein engineering approach but has not been widely adopted by the field, despite its potential utility. Here, we develop principles of how to design and interpret SUMS assays to guide protein engineering. This rich information enables improving activity with multiple substrates simultaneously, identifies enzyme variants with altered scope, and indicates potential mutational hot-spots as sites for further engineering. These advances leverage common laboratory equipment and represent a highly accessible and customizable method for enzyme engineering.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2010

Design of RF Feed System for Standing-Wave Accelerator Structures

We are investigating a standing wave structure with an rf feed to each individual cell. This approach minimizes rf power flow and electromagnetic energy absorbed by an rf breakdown. The objective of this work is a robust high-gradient (above 100 MV/m) X-band accelerator structure.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Focused-ion-beam induced damage in thin films of complex oxide BiFeO{sub 3}

An unexpected, strong deterioration of crystal quality is observed in epitaxial perovskite BiFeO{sub 3} films in which microscale features have been patterned by focused-ion-beam (FIB) milling. Specifically, synchrotron x-ray microdiffraction shows that the damaged region extends to tens of μm, but does not result in measureable changes to morphology or stoichiometry. Therefore, this change would go undetected with standard laboratory equipment, but can significantly influence local material properties and must be taken into account when using a FIB to manufacture nanostructures. The damage is significantly reduced when a thin metallic layer is present on top of the film during the milling process, clearly indicating that the reduced crystallinity is caused by ion beam induced charging.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Superlinearity, saturation, and the PMT—Tailoring and calibration methodology for prompt radiation detectors

This work illustrates predominant measureable nonlinearities in photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) and introduces a controllable one called “Superlinearity,” signifying both a positive nonlinear response and the ability to extend linear operation by counteracting gain saturation mechanisms — charge depletion, space-charge field limitation, and secondary emission surface effects. Recognizing superlinearity and its effect on the temporal step response leads to a true definition of linearity, free of a small-signal linear assumption. Furthermore, given the prevalent use of glass microchannel-plate (MCP) PMTs in favor of a faster impulse response in spite of a small charge limit, we are motivated to examine their nonlinear amplitude response and deploy tailored gain bias string methods to fully harness the maximum linear gain as is usually done for transmissive metal mesh and reflective metal dynode PMTs. Our characterization methodology applies standard NIST-traceable calibrated laboratory equipment with absolute input-referenced techniques, examining step responses over many orders of magnitude in controlled illumination. By doing so, we quantitatively reveal the superlinearity strength independent of charge depletion, yielding true linear responsivity and effectively doubling the small-signal linear limit; this is very relevant to PMT modeling and charge deconvolution efforts. In conclusion, with further development, the tailoring strategies we introduce could be applied to MCP detectors, extracting all useful capillary charge with a significant improvement in large linear signal quality.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2019

Determining the anisotropy and exchange parameters of polycrystalline spin-1 magnets

Abstract Although low-dimensional S = 1 antiferromagnets remain of great interest, difficulty in obtaining high-quality single crystals of the newest materials hinders experimental research in this area. Polycrystalline samples are more readily produced, but there are inherent problems in extracting the magnetic properties of anisotropic systems from powder data. Following a discussion of the effect of powder-averaging on various measurement techniques, we present a methodology to overcome this issue using thermodynamic measurements. In particular we focus on whether it is possible to characterise the magnetic properties of polycrystalline, anisotropic samples using readily available laboratory equipment. We test the efficacy of our method using the magnets [Ni(H 2 O) 2 (3,5-lutidine) 4 ](BF 4 ) 2 and Ni(H 2 O) 2 (acetate) 2 (4-picoline) 2 , which have negligible exchange interactions, as well as the antiferromagnet [Ni(H 2 O) 2 (pyrazine) 2 ](BF 4 ) 2 , and show that we are able to extract the anisotropy parameters in each case. The results obtained from the thermodynamic measurements are checked against electron-spin resonance and neutron diffraction. We also present a density functional method, which incorporates spin–orbit coupling to estimate the size of the anisotropy in [Ni(H 2 O) 2 (pyrazine) 2 ](BF 4 ) 2 .

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2019

A New Hands-On Course in Characterization of Wide-Bandgap Devices

As wide-bandgap (WBG) devices and applications move from niche to mainstream, a new generation of engineers trained in this area is critical to continue the development of the field. This paper introduces a new hands-on course in characterization of WBG devices, which is an emerging and fundamental topic in WBG-based techniques. First, the lecture-simulation-experiment format based course structure and design considerations, such as safety, are presented. Then, the necessary facilities to support this hands-on course are summarized, including classroom preparation, software tools, and laboratory equipment. Afterward, the detailed course implementation flow is presented to illustrate the approach of close interaction among lecture, simulation, and experiment to maximize students' learning outcomes. Finally, grading for students and course evaluation by students are discussed, highlighting the findings and potential improvements. Furthermore, detailed course materials are provided via potenntial.eecs.utk.edu/WBGLab for educational use.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2011

A Simple, Multidimensional Approach to High-Throughput Discovery of Catalytic Reactions

Transition metal complexes catalyze many important reactions that are employed in medicine, materials science, and energy production. Although high-throughput methods for the discovery of catalysts that would mirror related approaches for the discovery of medicinally active compounds have been the focus of much attention, these methods have not been sufficiently general or accessible to typical synthetic laboratories to be adopted widely. We report a method to evaluate a broad range of catalysts for potential coupling reactions with the use of simple laboratory equipment. Specifically, we screen an array of catalysts and ligands with a diverse mixture of substrates and then use mass spectrometry to identify reaction products that, by design, exceed the mass of any single substrate. Lastly, with this method, we discovered a copper-catalyzed alkyne hydroamination and two nickel-catalyzed hydroarylation reactions, each of which displays excellent functional-group tolerance.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2023

Construction and Modeling of a Coculture Microplate for Real-Time Measurement of Microbial Interactions

The dynamic structures of microbial communities emerge from the complex network of interactions between their constituent microorganisms. Quantitative measurements of these interactions are important for understanding and engineering ecosystem structure. Here, we present the development and application of the BioMe plate, a redesigned microplate device in which pairs of wells are separated by porous membranes. BioMe facilitates the measurement of dynamic microbial interactions and integrates easily with standard laboratory equipment. We first applied BioMe to recapitulate recently characterized, natural symbiotic interactions between bacteria isolated from the Drosophila melanogaster gut microbiome. Specifically, the BioMe plate allowed us to observe the benefit provided by two Lactobacillus strains to an Acetobacter strain. We next explored the use of BioMe to gain quantitative insight into the engineered obligate syntrophic interaction between a pair of Escherichia coli amino acid auxotrophs. We integrated experimental observations with a mechanistic computational model to quantify key parameters associated with this syntrophic interaction, including metabolite secretion and diffusion rates. This model also allowed us to explain the slow growth observed for auxotrophs growing in adjacent wells by demonstrating that, under the relevant range of parameters, local exchange between auxotrophs is essential for efficient growth. The BioMe plate provides a scalable and flexible approach for the study of dynamic microbial interactions.

3D printed device↗
DOE OSTI2021

Upgrade of the ILC Cryomodule

Results of testing modified components for the cryomodule of the International Linear Collider (ILC) are summarized. To reduce the ILC project cost, it is proposed to replace titanium cryomodule components with stainless steel (SS) ones. New bimetallic transitions (Ti/SS, Nb/SS) have been produced by a unique method based on explosion welding. Successive upgrading of these components to the latest version of the Nb/Ti/SS transition element has led to improvement of the ILC cryomodule. This new component resolves problems of residual stress, and its specific design prevents the possibility of a shift due to the difference in the linear expansion coefficients of the constituent metals. Furthermore, leak tests with the He gas revealed no leaks at the background rate of ≈0.2 × 10$^{–10}$ atm cc/s. The test results are very encouraging. The up-to-date design of trimetallic Nb/Ti/SS element promises technologically simpler and less expensive manufacture. Investigations have shown that explosion welding allows unique trimetallic components to be made not only for cryogenic units of accelerators but also for laboratory equipment and for general engineering applications.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2010

Production of polycrystalline silicon from monosilane in the electron-beam plasma

The results of experimental studies concerned with deposition of solar-grade silicon from monosilane in the electron-beam plasma are reported. With the laboratory equipment, the silicon deposition rate attains up to 40 g h{sup -1} at the expenditure of energy for the process 78 kW h kg{sup -1} and the efficiency of conversion of monosilane into silicon at about 50%. Analysis of the chemical composition of the resulting material shows that the material fits the requirements imposed on solar-grade silicon. The method suggested in the study holds promise in industrial-scale applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

A scale-consistent method for imaging porosity and micrite in dual-porosity carbonate rocks

Unlike many other clastic rocks, relating velocity and permeability to porosity for micrite-bearing carbonate rocks has been largely unsuccessful. Recent studies have shown that additional parameters, most notably the distribution and/or proportion of micrite, can be used to parameterize the velocity and permeability behavior. However, there is currently no scale-consistent, 3D methodology for differentiating macroporosity and microporosity from the total porosity measured on bench-top laboratory equipment. Previous studies estimated microporosity and micrite content by combining total porosity measurements conducted on whole 50 mm cores with measurements of phase volumes on 1 mm digital rocks (i.e., scale-inconsistent). As a step forward from those, we imaged dual-porosity carbonate rocks using X-ray microcomputed tomography and then leveraged a recently developed, optimization-based technique, called data-constrained modeling, to map the macroporosity and microporosity distribution of our samples. We evaluate the volumetric proportions of macropores, micropores, and coarse-grained calcite as a function of micrite content — with their respective uncertainties — all measured on the same digital rock and with the same method. Finally, we determine how measurements of the volumetric phase proportions could be extended using standard effective medium models to predict reservoir physical properties. Here, the sensitivity of these models to the proportion of micrite and microporosity within the micrite is evidence that the nonuniqueness among permeability, velocity, and porosity that is commonly observed of micrite-bearing carbonate rocks can be explained by a variation of micrite content and microporosity at a similar porosity.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2011

Thermal Energy Corporation Combined Heat and Power Project

To meet the planned heating and cooling load growth at the Texas Medical Center (TMC), Thermal Energy Corporation (TECO) implemented Phase 1 of a Master Plan to install an additional 32,000 tons of chilled water capacity, a 75,000 ton-hour (8.8 million gallon) Thermal Energy Storage (TES) tank, and a 48 MW Combined Heat and Power (CHP) system. The Department of Energy selected TMC for a $10 million grant award as part of the Financial Assistance Funding Opportunity Announcement, U.S. Department of Energy National Energy Technology, Recovery Act: Deployment of Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Systems, District Energy Systems, Waste Energy Recovery Systems, and Efficiency Industrial Equipment Funding Opportunity Number: DE-FOA-0000044 to support the installation of a new 48 MW CHP system at the TMC located just outside downtown Houston. As the largest medical center in the world, TMC is home to many of the nation's best hospitals, physicians, researchers, educational institutions, and health care providers. TMC provides care to approximately six million patients each year, and medical instruction to over 71,000 students. A medical center the size of TMC has enormous electricity and thermal energy demands to help it carry out its mission. Reliable, high-quality steam and chilled water are of utmost importance to the operations of its many facilities. For example, advanced medical equipment, laboratories, laundry facilities, space heating and cooling all rely on the generation of heat and power. As result of this project TECO provides this mission critical heating and cooling to TMC utilizing a system that is both energy-efficient and reliable since it provides the capability to run on power independent of the already strained regional electric grid. This allows the medical center to focus on its primary mission providing top quality medical care and instruction without worrying about excessive energy costs or the loss of heating and cooling due to the risk of power outages. TECO's operation is the largest Chilled Water District Energy System in the United States. The company used DOE's funding to help install a new high efficiency CHP system consisting of a Combustion Turbine and a Heat Recovery Steam Generator. This CHP installation was just part of a larger project undertaken by TECO to ensure that it can continue to meet TMC's growing needs. The complete efficiency overhaul that TECO undertook supported more than 1,000 direct and indirect jobs in manufacturing, engineering, and construction, with approximately 400 of those being jobs directly associated with construction of the combined heat and power plant. This showcase industrial scale CHP project, serving a critical component of the nation's healthcare infrastructure, directly and immediately supported the energy efficiency and job creation goals established by ARRA and DOE. It also provided an unsurpassed model of a district energy CHP application that can be replicated within other energy intensive applications in the industrial, institutional and commercial sectors.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2012

Clean Energy Infrastructure Educational Initiative

The Clean Energy Infrastructure Educational Initiative represents a collaborative effort by the University of Dayton, Wright State University and Sinclair Community College. This effort above all aimed to establish energy related programs at each of the universities while also providing outreach to the local, state-wide, and national communities. At the University of Dayton, the grant has aimed at: solidfying a newly created Master's program in Renewable and Clean Energy; helping to establish and staff a regional sustainability organization for SW Ohio. As well, as the prime grantee, the University of Dayton was responsible for insuring curricular sharing between WSU and the University of Dayton. Finally, the grant, through its support of graduate students, and through cooperation with the largest utilities in SW Ohio enabled a region-wide evaluation of over 10,000 commercial building buildings in order to identify the priority buildings in the region for energy reduction. In each, the grant has achieved success. The main focus of Wright State was to continue the development of graduate education in renewable and clean energy. Wright State has done this in a number of ways. First and foremost this was done by continuing the development of the new Renewable and Clean Energy Master's Degree program at Wright State . Development tasks included: continuing development of courses for the Renewable and Clean Energy Master's Degree, increasing the student enrollment, and increasing renewable and clean energy research work. The grant has enabled development and/or improvement of 7 courses. Collectively, the University of Dayton and WSU offer perhaps the most comprehensive list of courses in the renewable and clean energy area in the country. Because of this development, enrollment at WSU has increased from 4 students to 23. Secondly, the grant has helped to support student research aimed in the renewable and clean energy program. The grant helped to solidify new research in the renewable and clean energy area. The educational outreach provided as a result of the grant included activities to introduce renewable and clean energy design projects into the Mechanical and Materials Engineering senior design class, the development of a geothermal energy demonstration unit, and the development of renewable energy learning modules for high school students. Finally, this grant supported curriculum development by Sinclair Community College for seven new courses and acquisition of necessary related instrumentation and laboratory equipment. These new courses, EGV 1201 Weatherization Training, EGV 1251 Introduction to Energy Management Principles, EGV 2301 Commercial and Industrial Assessment, EGV 2351 LEED Green Associate Exam Preparation, EGV 2251 Energy Control Strategies, EGV Solar Photovoltaic Design and Installation, and EGV Solar Thermal Systems, enable Sinclair to offer complete Energy Technology Certificate and an Energy Management Degree programs. To date, 151 students have completed or are currently registered in one of the seven courses developed through this grant. With the increasing interest in the Energy Management Degree program, Sinclair has begun the procedure to have the program approved by the Ohio Board of Regents.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2013

Low Cost Arc Fault Detection and Protection for PV Systems

Final report for Tigo Energy Incubator project. The specific objective of this 18-month research effort was to develop an off-the-shelf arc-fault detector. The starting point of the project was a prototype detector that was constructed using discrete components and laboratory equipment. An intermediate objective was to build a technically viable detector using programmable components in the detector circuitry. The final objective was to build a commercially viable detector by reducing the cost of the circuitry through the use of more sophisticated programmable components and higher levels of integration.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗