SEARCH · Search NASA
Results for “Particle separation”
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.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
STOCHASTIC ACCELERATION OF SUPRATHERMAL PARTICLES UNDER PRESSURE BALANCE CONDITIONS
The acceleration of suprathermal charged particles in the heliosphere under pressure balance conditions including for the first time the radial spatial particle diffusion and convection in the solar wind is investigated. The physical conditions are derived for which the stationary phase space distribution of suprathermal particles approaches the power-law distribution f{proportional_to}p {sup -5}, which is often seen in spacecraft observations. For separable source distributions in momentum and position we analytically solve the stationary particle transport equation for a radially constant solar wind speed V {sub 0} and a momentum-independent radial spatial diffusion coefficient. The resulting stationary solution at any position within the finite heliosphere is the superposition of an infinite sum of power laws in momentum below and above the (assumed mono-momentum) injection momentum p{sub I} . The smallest spatial eigenvalue determines the flattest power law, to which the full stationary solution approaches at large and small enough momenta. Only for the case of a reflecting inner and a free-escape outer spatial boundary, does one small eigenvalue exist, yielding the power-law distribution f{proportional_to}p {sup -5} at sufficiently large momentum values. The other three spatial boundary conditions imply steeper momentum spectra. Momentum spectra and radial profiles of suprathermal particles are calculated by adopting a uniform outer ring spatial source distribution.
On the possibility of precipitation-induced vertical lightning in the protoplanetary nebula
Many primitive meteorites contain high concentrations of chondrules - millimeter-sized beads of glassy silicate - in a matrix of essentially unprocessed material. These chondrules were apparently melted by some transient high-energy event, then cooled rapidly on timescales of minutes to hours. Among the phenomena that have been suggested as driving mechanisms for the heating event are: (1) high-velocity impacts; (2) magnetic flares; (3) aerodynamic drag heating; and (4) lightning. Although nebular lightning has been made of the efficiency of such lightning in melting chondrule precursors, a quantitative treatment of processes that might produce nebular lightning has not been attempted. We have developed a one-dimensional nebular lightning model that utilizes a spectrum of particle sizes. This model has also been applied to the Earth as a test of its predictive ability. Particles grow to an initial size distribution, then undergo elastic charge-separating collisions. Charge separation is opposed by the mobile free charge in the nebula, which can either accumulate on and neutralize the charged ice particles or move to cancel the large scale electric field. Since the free charge density depends on the grain size distribution, it is determined self-consistently as the particle distribution changes.
Generalizable Porous Aromatic Framework‐Included Polymer Membranes for Diffusion‐Enhanced Gas Separations
Industrial separation processes account for 10-15% of global energy consumption. Membrane-based processes are less energy-intensive than traditional gas separation technologies; however, enhanced material separation performance and stability for numerous gas mixtures are needed for widespread industrial adoption. This work presents a generalizable strategy for preparing mixed-matrix gas separation membranes exceeding the performance upper bounds of existing polymer membranes for a wide variety of industrial gases. By incorporating robust porous aromatic framework (PAF) particles into various dense commercial polymer matrices, gas diffusivity and solubility can be enhanced. For diverse gas mixtures (e.g., CO2/N2, O2/N2, He/CH4, H2/N2, and C2H4/C2H6), the resulting composite membranes exhibit enhanced gas permeabilities-by as much as 520%-and largely unchanged selectivities even after 6 years of aging under simulated flue gas conditions. These improvements arise from the ultrahigh porosity, excellent chemical compatibility, and unique physicochemical properties of the embedded PAF particles. Functionalizing the PAFs with polyamines also enables composite membranes that achieve among the highest reported performances against plasticization, a common obstacle in commercializing gas separation membranes. Significantly, the PAF-1 particles are readily dispersible in various common membrane casting solvents, suggesting their broader utility as a filler for designing high-performance membranes for many industrial gas separations.
Search for Electron Neutrinos in Multiple Topologies with the MicroBooNE Experiment
This note presents the status of the measurement of electron neutrinos from the Fermilab Booster Neutrino Beamline (BNB) with the MicroBooNE experiment. The analysis is aimed at investigating the nature of the low energy excess of electromagnetic activity observed by the MiniBooNE experiment. The $ν_e$ event selection relies on topological and calorimetric information to characterise particles produced in these interactions, leveraging the Pandora multi-algorithm reconstruction framework as well as custom particle identification and pattern recognition tools. Results presented in this note use 5.88 × 10 20 protons on target of data collected between 2015 and 2018. These include the performance of particle identification tools for $\mu/p$ and $e/\gamma$ separation, along with electromagnetic shower calibration with the largest sample of $\pi^0$ events measured on argon. Progress towards the completion of this analysis is shown through the measurement of high-energy charged-current $ν_e$ interactions and their kinematic distributions using both inclusive (1eX) and exclusive (1$e$0$p$0$\pi$ and 1$e$N$p$0$\pi$) channels. Measurements of charged-current $ν_µ$ interactions aimed at constraining flux and cross-section systematic uncertainties are also shown. We present the analysis’ preliminary sensitivity of an electron-like signal hypothesis to the MiniBooNE excess which includes flux, cross-section, and detector systematic uncertainties.
Energy-dependent implementation of secondary electron emission models in continuum kinetic sheath simulations
The plasma-material interactions present in multiple fusion and propulsion concepts between the flow of plasma through a channel and a material wall drive the emission of secondary electrons. This emission is capable of altering the fundamental structure of the sheath region, significantly changing the expected particle fluxes to the wall. The emission spectrum is separated into two major energy regimes, a peak of elastically backscattered primary electrons at the incoming energy, and cold secondary electrons inelastically emitted directly from the material. The ability of continuum kinetic simulations to accurately represent the secondary electron emission is limited by relevant models being formulated in terms of monoenergetic particle interactions which cannot be applied directly to the discrete distribution function. As a result, rigorous implementation of energy-dependent physics is often neglected in favor of simplified, constant models. We present here a novel implementation of semi-empirical models in the boundary of continuum kinetic simulations which allows the full range of this emission to be accurately captured in physically-relevant regimes.
Apolipoprotein A-I modulates HDL particle size in the absence of apolipoprotein A-II
Human high-density lipoproteins (HDLs) are a complex mixture of structurally related nanoparticles that perform distinct physiological functions. We previously showed that human HDL containing apolipoprotein A-I (APOA1) but not apolipoprotein A-II (APOA2), designated LpA-I, is composed primarily of two discretely sized populations. Here, we isolated these particles directly from human plasma by antibody affinity chromatography, separated them by high-resolution size-exclusion chromatography and performed a deep molecular characterization of each species. The large and small LpA-I populations were spherical with mean diameters of 109 Å and 91 Å, respectively. Unexpectedly, isotope dilution MS/MS with [ 15 N]-APOA1 in concert with quantitation of particle concentration by calibrated ion mobility analysis demonstrated that the large particles contained fewer APOA1 molecules than the small particles; the stoichiometries were 3.0 and 3.7 molecules of APOA1 per particle, respectively. MS/MS experiments showed that the protein cargo of large LpA-I particles was more diverse. Human HDL and isolated particles containing both APOA1 and APOA2 exhibit a much wider range and variation of particle sizes than LpA-I, indicating that APOA2 is likely the major contributor to HDL size heterogeneity. We propose a ratchet model based on the trefoil structure of APOA1 whereby the helical cage maintaining particle structure has two “settings”—large and small—that accounts for these findings. This understanding of the determinants of HDL particle size and protein cargo distribution serves as a basis for determining the roles of HDL subpopulations in metabolism and disease states.
A scalable Euler–Lagrange approach for multiphase flow simulation on spectral elements
Multiphase flow can be difficult to simulate with high accuracy due to the wide range of scales associated with various multiphase phenomena. These scales may range from the size of individual particles to the entire domain of interest. Traditionally, large scale systems can only be simulated using averaging approaches that filter out the locations of individual particles. In this work, the Euler–Lagrange method is used to simulate large-scale dense particle systems in which each individual particle is tracked. In order to accomplish this, the highly scalable spectral element code nek5000 has been extended to handle the multiple levels of multiphase coupling in these systems. These levels include what has been called one-, two-, and four-way coupling. Here, each level has been separated to detail the computational impact of each stage. A binned ghost particle algorithm has also been developed to efficiently handle the challenges of two- and four-way coupling in a parallel processing context. The algorithms and their implementations are then shown to scale to 65,536 Message Passing Interface (MPI) ranks in both the strong and weak limits. After this, validation is performed through simulation of a small-scale fluidized bed. Lastly, a large-scale fluidized bed is simulated with 65,536 MPI ranks and is able to capture the unique physics of the onset of fluidization.
Extended particle absorber for efficient modeling of intense laser-solid interactions
Here, an extended thermal particle boundary condition is devised to more efficiently and accurately model laser–plasma interactions in overdense plasmas. Particle-in-cell simulations of such interactions require many particles per cell, and a large region of background plasma is often necessary to correctly mimic a semi-infinite plasma and avoid electron refluxing from a truncated plasma. For long-pulse lasers of many picoseconds, such constraints can become prohibitively expensive. Here, an extended particle boundary condition (absorber) is designed that instantaneously stops and re-emits energetic particles streaming toward the simulation boundary over a defined region, allowing sufficient time and space for a suitably cool return current to develop in the background plasma. Tunable parameters of the absorber are explained, and simulations using the absorber with a 3-ps laser are shown to accurately reproduce those of a causally separated boundary while requiring only 20% the number of particles.
Measurement of Optical Properties of Small Particles
We have measured the optical constants of montmorillonite and the separated coats and cores of B. subtilis spores over the wavelength interval from 200 nm to 2500 nm. The optical constants of kaolin were obtained over the wavelength interval from 130 nm to 2500 nm. Our results are applicable to the development of systems for detection of airborne biological contaminants. Future work will include measurement of the optical constants of B. cereus spores, B. sub tilts vegetative cells, egg albumin, illite, and a mixture (by weight) of one third kaolin, one third montmorillonite, and one third illite.
Phononic crystals of spherical particles: A tight binding approach
The vibrational dynamics of a fcc phononic crystal of spheres is studied and compared with that of a single free sphere, modelled either by a continuous homogeneous medium or by a finite cluster of atoms. For weak interaction among the spheres, the vibrational dynamics of the phononic crystal is described by shallow bands, with low degree of dispersion, corresponding to the acoustic spheroidal and torsional modes of the single sphere. The phonon displacements are therefore related to the vibrations of a sphere, as the electron wave functions in a crystal are related to the atomic wave functions in a tight binding model. Important dispersion is found for the two lowest phonon bands, which correspond to zero frequency free translation and rotation of a free sphere. Brillouin scattering spectra are calculated at some values of the exchanged wavevectors of the light, and compared with those of a single sphere. With weak interaction between particles, given the high acoustic impedance mismatch in dry systems, the density of phonon states consist of sharp bands separated by large gaps, which can be well accounted for by a single particle model. Based on the width of the frequency gaps, tunable with the particle size, and on the small number of dispersive acoustic phonons, such systems may provide excellent materials for application as sound or heat filters.
An Investigation of the Effects of Volume Fraction on Drag Coefficient of Non-Spherical Particles Using PR-DNS
Prediction of the drag coefficient is required in gas-particle multiphase flow modeling and simulation. Experimental data and correlations on the fixed-bed system of spherical particles with high volume fractions for various possible arrangements are available in the literature. However, the effect of volume fraction on the drag coefficient of non-spherical particles is not well studied. In solving the momentum equation, the volume fraction plays a vital role in determining the flow resistances. In this paper, we study the impact of volume fraction in the range of 0.069 to 0.65 on the drag coefficient using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of air for Reynold number in the range of 10 to 10000 using particle resolved direct numerical solution (PR-DNS). Regular non-spherical particles such as a cube, tetrahedron, and spheroids are used in this study since their single particle’s drag coefficient data are available in the literature for comparison. For this work, the simulations are carried out in the Ansys Fluent using polyhedral mesh, which consumes significantly less computational time and power. The study showed the sphericity and volume fraction have significant impact on the bed pressure drop and average drag coefficient of the particles in the bed especially in high Reynolds number regime. The bed of the spheroid experiences the lowest drag being the most streamlined particle, and the particles with the edges result in a large drag coefficient due to flow separation at the discontinuity. The vector plots verify this behavior where large wake regions are observed behind the tetrahedron particle.
Impact of electron lifetime on electromagnetic shower separation : Impacto do tempo de vida médio dos elétrons na separação de chuveiros eletromagnéticos
Neutrinos are superabundant particles in the universe but rarely interact with matter. Previous experiments noticed an excess of neutrinos in the low energy range that could be connected to the existence of a fourth type of neutrino: the sterile neutrino. This excess could be because of the new neutrino or just because of the incapacity of previous experiments on distinguishing electromagnetic showers initiated by electrons and photons. So, new experiments using liquid argon are being developed and bet on the liquid argon time projection chambers (LArTPCs) to find answers for these and other still open questions about these mysterious particles. LArTPCs represent today the future for neutrinos research. They have high spatial resolution and great calorimetric capacity. Many experiments are being planned using this technique; consequently, it is necessary to understand the particle’s interactions in liquid argon completely. The LArIAT experiment was created to help in the char acterization of this kind of detector’s response to charged particles that are expected to come out of neutrino interactions. The detector is exposed to a charged particle beam and receives a high number of electrons, making this a perfect experiment to help in the study of electromagnetic shower separation. To correctly identify the interactions and to collect the maximum information about them, the liquid argon that is utilized has to be ultra-pure. In this thesis, the process used on LArIAT to monitor the argon’s purity using cosmic muons is described, as well as the impact of this measurement on the separation of electromagnetic showers.
Thermally conductive separator with hierarchical nano/microstructures for improving thermal management of batteries
Thermal management is critical to improving battery performance and suppressing thermal runaway. Besides developing external cooling technologies, it is important to understand and control thermal transport inside batteries. Heat transfer inside batteries is first analyzed and the thermal conductivity of each component is measured. The results show that low thermal conductivity of the separator is one major barrier for heat transfer in Li-ion batteries. To improve thermal conductivity of the separator, a hierarchical nano/micro-Al 2 O 3 /polymer separator is prepared with thermal conductivity of ~1 W m -1 K -1 , representing an enhancement of 5× compared to commercial polyethylene-based separators. Modeling has been performed to understand mechanism behind the enhancement of thermal conductivity, which suggests that addition of nanoparticles significantly reduces thickness of polymer coating on micron-sized Al 2 O 3 particles and thus increase the thermal conductivity of the composite separator. This Al 2 O 3 -based separator also has similar ionic conductivity with commercial polymer separators. Such composite separator may have potential applications in developing batteries with better performance and safety.
Apollo 14 coarse fines (4-10 mm) sample location and classification
The 4 to 10 mm sieve fraction from the soil samples collected during the Apollo 14 Mission was identified and described. Examination and description of the fines were carried out in nitrogen-filled, stainless steel cabinets during a general examination of the Apollo 14 sample collection. Each particle was held between forceps, dusted in a jet of N2, and placed on a teflon-covered stage. They were examined with a binocular microscope, separated by lithology, and the lithologic types described. Weights of individual particles in the fraction ranged from about 0.10 to 0.50 gm, large enough in size for studies of age, chemistry, and petrology to be accomplished.
Confocal Raman Microscopy for in Situ Detection of Solid-Phase Extraction of Pyrene into Single C 18 –Silica Particles
Solid-phase extraction (SPE) is a well known method for separating and pre concentrating analytes prior to ex-situ detection and quantification. Despite advances in miniaturization of solid-phase extraction, the technique has not evolved to meet the needs for detection in small scale microfluidic devices. While successful efforts have led to smaller scale extractors that allow preconcentration from small volumes, detection within correspondingly small volumes has remained out of reach because of analyte dilution during a post extraction transfer or “wash off” step prior to detection. In this work, successful extraction into sub-picoliter collection volumes is accomplished by using a single chromatographic particle as an extractor; wash off dilution is totally avoided by using confocal Raman microscopy for in-situ detection within the single-particle collection phase. Specifically, micromolar concentrations of pyrene in methanol water solution were equilibrated with an individual C 18 -functionalized silica particle, and Raman spectra were acquired from a small confocal sampling volume (~1 fL) within the particle interior. By comparing the Raman scattering intensity of the pyrene with that of the C 18 -chains in the stationary phase, it was possible to quantify the equilibrium coverage of pyrene relative to the C 18 chains. Spectroscopic isotherms were measured to determine the saturation surface coverage of pyrene relative to C 18 -chains and to study how the preconcentration equilibrium can be controlled by the source-phase solution composition. For extraction from aqueous solutions having the lowest methanol concentration (5% by volume), the preconcentration factor for pyrene into the particle was found to be 4.8 (±0.8) × 10 4 , which allowed detection of pyrene extracted from a 10 nM solution into a 0.52-pL particle volume.
Separation of granulocytes from whole blood by leukoadhesion, phase 1
Capillary glass tubes are investigated for the separation and retrieval of large quantities of viable granulocytes and monocytes from whole blood on a continuous basis from a single donor. This effort represented the feasibility demonstration of a three phase program for development of a capillary tube cell separation device. The activity included the analysis and parametric laboratory testing with subscale models required to design a prototype device. Capillary tubes 40 cm long with a nominal 0.030 cm internal diameter yielded the highest total process efficiency. Recovery efficiencies as high as 89% of the adhering cell population were obtained. Granulocyte phagocytosis of latex particles indicated approximately 90% viability. Monocytes recovered from the separation column retained their capability to stimulate human bone marrow colony growth, as demonstrated in an in vitro cell culture assay.
Measurement of ortho-positronium properties in liquid scintillators
Pulse shape discrimination in liquid scintillator detectors is a well-established technique for the discrimination of heavy particles from light particles. Nonetheless, it is not efficient in the separation of electrons and positrons, as they give rise to indistinguishable scintillator responses. This inefficiency can be overtaken through the exploitation of the formation of ortho-Positronium (o-Ps), which alters the time profile of light pulses induced by positrons. We characterized the o-Ps properties in the most commonly used liquid scintillators, i.e. PC, PXE, LAB, OIL and PC + PPO. In addition, we studied the effects of scintillator doping on the o-Ps properties for dopants currently used in neutrino experiments, Gd and Nd. Further measurements for Li-loaded and Tl-loaded liquid scintillators are foreseen. We found that the o-Ps properties are suitable for enhancing the electron-positron discrimination.