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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 1,117 records · Page 62

Enabling Interoperable SCADA Communications for PV Inverters through Embedded Controllers

The percentage integration of photovoltaic (PV) inverters in the field has increased significantly in the past 5 years. Regardless of the size of the PV plants and the inverters (residential vs. commercial), it is becoming crucial that these devices have the capability to communicate with peers (other smart devices) and with components that are at a hierarchy above the inverters (e.g., supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, distributed controllers, and data managers). This project aims to develop a standard SCADA software code for inverters’ embedded controllers that will enable interoperability with other components in the system. To achieve this, the code will be developed using two different protocols: Distributed Network Protocol 3 and International Electrotechnical Commission 61850. The developed code is aimed to be deployed in simple embedded controllers. It will be tested in the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL’s) Energy Systems Integration Facility. The tested code will then be made available through Triangle MicroWorks’s (TMW’s) software platform. The primary objectives of this project include training the NREL team with TMW’s embedded controller libraries, developing an interoperable communication code for embedded controllers, successfully testing and deploying the code, and demonstrating the newly developed code in a conference.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Enabling Realistic Communications Evaluations for ADMS

Increasing penetration levels of inverter-based distributed energy resources (DERs) in distribution systems are creating challenges in system operation. Currently, wired or proprietary wireless communications are used by advanced distribution management systems (ADMS) to detect the state of the system and control the DERs for optimal operation. Wireless communications are an alternative solution that can enable connectivity between the dispersed assets used in distribution system applications. As demand for the seamless integration of distributed energy resources (DERs) continues to increase, proper networking and communications systems are becoming important to support the DER infrastructure. This report summarizes validation of a private wireless LTE network in a laboratory environment. The purpose of this work is to 1) demonstrate the effectiveness of private wireless LTE communication for grid applications and 2) provide a means of evaluating latency and overall performance of wireless communication in grid applications. First, private wireless LTE communication was validated in a direct transfer trip relaying scenario as an example of one-way communications using grid equipment. This study provided a baseline understanding of the variation in latency for seven different kinds of wireless scenarios shown in Figure A below. As expected, weak (attenuated) wireless signal-based communication yielded the widest ranges in latency. When higher priority was set for the trip signal communication, this resulted in lower latency in communication timing. In the final phase of this project, the private wireless LTE network was validated using two-way communications in an advanced distribution management system (ADMS) testbed which was developed in the ESIF at NREL. The purpose of this was to study the impact of wireless communication on grid performance.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Improvements in High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor Modeling Capabilities in the Pronghorn Code

This report details the improvement of pebble bed reactor modeling capabilities in the Pronghorn code in fiscal year 2022. The following accomplishments are reported: Deployment of weakly compressible finite volume formulation to the HTR- PM reference plan model; Enable modeling of stagnant gas gaps in the finite volume formulation; Enable using all Pronghorn correlations available in the finite element version in the finite volume version; Modeling of decay heat in pebble bed reactors; Simplifying the input for multiphysics equilibrium core calculations and significant reduction of execution time; Implementation of advanced correlations developed by the Center of Excellence for Thermal-Fluids Applications in Nuclear Energy . In addition, this report includes a development plan for Pronghorn and associated NEAMS tools for prismatic gas-cooled reactors.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Deployment of the Finite Volume Method in Pronghorn for Gas and Salt cooled Pebble Bed Reactors

This report summarizes the activities related to ”Complete FHR and HTGR pebble bed simulator, including initial validation” funded by the NEAMS thermal-hydraulics focus area. The activity revolves around the coarse-mesh thermal-hydraulics code Pronghorn and its application to gas and salt cooled Pebble bed reactor (PBR). The main difference between gas and salt cooled PBR from a thermal-hydraulics perspective is the fluid. To address the difference in fluid behavior, two separate approaches are implemented in the MOOSE Navier Stokes module: 1) a Boussinesq approximation and 2) a fully compressible formulation. The developed finite volume method capabilities are used for improving pre-existing gas-cooled and salt-cooled pebble-bed reactor models. A steady-state, multiphysics gas-cooled pebble-bed reactor model is created that couples the equilibrium core depletion capability developed in previous work, and the finite volume method capability developed for this report. The salt-cooled pebble-bed reactor model is upgraded to use the incompressible finite volume method capability and then extended to three spatial dimensions. Finally, several verification-and-validation exercises performed with Pronghorn are documented using the verification-and-validation report of the MooseDoc system. The goal of this effort to document the verification-and-validation level of Pronghorn and improve stakeholder confidence in the results obtained with Pronghorn.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Improvement of Numerical Methods in Pronghorn

During the fiscal year of 2021, the finite-volume method (FVM) was deployed in Pronghorn to provide improved efficiency, stability, and accuracy for coarse-mesh, thermal-hydraulics problems. While the main goals of fiscal year 2021 were met, several issues emerged from the early deployment of the finite-volume method in Pronghorn. These issues were: The compressible and incompressible formulations that were implemented are inadequate for many nuclear reactor flow problems; Omission of terms accounting for the porosity and Darcy-Forchheimer body force discontinuities in the Rhie-Chow interpolation lead to oscillations in pressure and velocity at these discontinuities; The FVM lacks a correction for non-orthogonal grids for computing accurate pressure gradient leading to loss of accuracy in regions with skewed elements; The FVM currently uses a monolithic solver. Monolithic solvers have issues dealing with the saddle-point nature of the discretized fluid equations. The result are bad convergence if direct factorization is not used and large memory consumption when direct factorization is used. These four issues are addressed in this report. In particular, we report the completion of the following task: Implementation of a weakly compressible formulation in the MOOSE Navier-Stokes module; Implementation of Moukalled’s method for including body forces in the RCI. Additionally, we identified the need to smooth the porosity using Moukalled’s face-cell smoothing operator; Implementation of a non-orthogonal correction for the Green-Gauss gradient computation; Preliminary implementation of a SIMPLE segregated solver.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

TIC 168789840: A Sextuply Eclipsing Sextuple Star System

We report the discovery of a sextuply eclipsing sextuple star system from TESS data, TIC 168789840, also known as TYC 7037-89-1, the first known sextuple system consisting of three eclipsing binaries. The target was observed in Sectors 4 and 5 during Cycle 1, with lightcurves extracted from TESS Full Frame Image data. It was also previously observed by the WASP survey and ASAS-SN. The system consists of three gravitationally bound eclipsing binaries in a hierarchical structure of an inner quadruple system with an outer binary subsystem. Follow-up observations from several different observatories were conducted as a means of determining additional parameters. The system was resolved by speckle interferometry with a 0.″42 separation between the inner quadruple and outer binary, inferring an estimated outer period of ∼2 kyr. It was determined that the fainter of the two resolved components is an 8.217 day eclipsing binary, which orbits the inner quadruple that contains two eclipsing binaries with periods of 1.570 days and 1.306 days. Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) analysis of the stellar parameters has shown that the three binaries of TIC 168789840 are “triplets,” as each binary is quite similar to the others in terms of mass, radius, and T {sub eff}. As a consequence of its rare composition, structure, and orientation, this object can provide important new insight into the formation, dynamics, and evolution of multiple star systems. Future observations could reveal if the intermediate and outer orbital planes are all aligned with the planes of the three inner eclipsing binaries.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Minor planets and related objects. XIX - Shape and pole orientation of /39/ Laetitia

Results are reported for analyses of UBV photoelectric photometric data and light curves of the asteroid Laetitia. The pole orientation is determined using a technique for reducing the scatter in the magnitude-phase relation. No significant variations in color are found over the surface, and the light curves are found to indicate topographic elements (peaks, scarps, or depressions) approximately 10 km in radius. It is shown that the light-curve amplitudes as well as the wide scatter in observed magnitude and phase relation can be explained by a triaxial ellipsoidal figure with a dimensional ratio of about 15:9:5. It is concluded that the size, shape, and composition of this asteroid are highly suggestive of a major collisional fragment from a substantially more massive differentiated parent body.

Sather, R. E.↗

Shuttle structural dynamics characteristics: The analysis and verification

The space shuttle introduced a new dimension in the complexity of the structural dynamics of a space vehicle. The four-body configuration exhibited structural frequencies as low as 2 hertz with a model density on the order of 10 modes per hertz. In the verification process, certain mode shapes and frequencies were identified by the users as more important than others and, as such, the test objectives were oriented toward experimentally extracting those modes and frequencies for analysis and test correlation purposes. To provide the necessary experimental data, a series of ground vibration tests (GVT's) was conducted using test articles ranging from the 1/4-scale structural replica of the space shuttle to the full-scale vehicle. The vibration test and analysis program revealed that the mode shapes and frequency correlations below 10 hertz were good. The quality of correlation of modes between 10 and 20 hertz ranged from good to fair and that of modes above 20 hertz ranged from poor to good. Since the most important modes, based on user preference, were below 10 hertz, it was judged that the shuttle structural dynamic models were adequate for flight certifications.

Modlin, C. T., Jr.↗

Space environment robot vision system

A prototype twin-camera stereo vision system for autonomous robots has been developed at Goddard Space Flight Center. Standard charge coupled device (CCD) imagers are interfaced with commercial frame buffers and direct memory access to a computer. The overlapping portions of the images are analyzed using photogrammetric techniques to obtain information about the position and orientation of objects in the scene. The camera head consists of two 510 x 492 x 8-bit CCD cameras mounted on individually adjustable mounts. The 16 mm efl lenses are designed for minimum geometric distortion. The cameras can be rotated in the pitch, roll, and yaw (pan angle) directions with respect to their optical axes. Calibration routines have been developed which automatically determine the lens focal lengths and pan angle between the two cameras. The calibration utilizes observations of a calibration structure with known geometry. Test results show the precision attainable is plus or minus 0.8 mm in range at 2 m distance using a camera separation of 171 mm. To demonstrate a task needed on Space Station Freedom, a target structure with a movable I beam was built. The camera head can autonomously direct actuators to dock the I-beam to another one so that they could be bolted together.

Wood, H. John↗

The 4-D approach to visual control of autonomous systems

Development of a 4-D approach to dynamic machine vision is described. Core elements of this method are spatio-temporal models oriented towards objects and laws of perspective projection in a foward mode. Integration of multi-sensory measurement data was achieved through spatio-temporal models as invariants for object recognition. Situation assessment and long term predictions were allowed through maintenance of a symbolic 4-D image of processes involving objects. Behavioral capabilities were easily realized by state feedback and feed-foward control.

Dickmanns, Ernst D.↗

Design Tool Developed for Probabilistic Modeling of Ceramic Matrix Composite Strength

Ceramic matrix composites are being evaluated as candidate materials for many high temperature applications such as engine combustor liners for the High-Speed Civil Transport (HSCT). They are required to have an assured life of several thousand hours. Estimating the reliability of these components is quite a complex process and requires knowledge of the uncertainties that occur at various scales. The properties of ceramic matrix composites (CMC) are known to display a considerable amount of scatter due to variations in fiber/matrix properties, interphase/coating properties, bonding, amount of matrix voids, and many geometry- and fabrication-related parameters such as ply thickness and ply orientations. The objective of this research effort is to account for these uncertainties in a formal way by probabilistically analyzing both the stiffness- and strength related properties of CMC's. In current deterministic approaches, uncertainties are usually accounted for by safety factors. This approach often yields overly conservative designs, thereby reducing the potential of many advanced composite materials.

Murthy, Pappu L. N.↗

A Multithreaded Scheduler for a High-Speed Spacecraft Simulator

The Cassini Spacecraft will soon journey to Saturn to perform a close-up study of the Saturnian system; its rings, moons, magneto-sphere, andf the planet itelf. Sequences of commands will be sent to the spacecraft by ground personnel to control every aspect of the mission. To validate and verify these command sequences, a bit-level, high-speed simulator (HSS) has been developed.

deadlock multiprocessing multithreaded object-orie↗