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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 1,189 records · Page 66
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

An experimental program to characterize confined explosions of hydrogen/oxygen mixtures in the context of radioactive material transport between CEA nuclear facilities - 15125

CEA, the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, carries out a variety of nuclear research programs in many research reactors and nuclear facilities, decommissioning and dismantling operations that require multiple transports of different type of radioactive material such as radioactive waste or experimental fuel rods using a wide range of transportation packages. Packages are designed, constructed and operated to meet safety and regulatory requirements and must be approved by the French Safety Authority. Application for package approval (e.g. type B package) requires a complete and thorough safety demonstration in which flammable gas generation like radiolysis has become a major issue in the last few years. To face these challenges, the CEA unit in charge of transport package construction and transport operations (CEA/STMR, Cadarache Center, France), has developed a many-sided approach based on one hand on a better knowledge of both hydrogen gas generation and oxygen consumption in waste materials, and on the other hand, on design of transport packages or waste containers capable of withstanding dynamic pressure loads due to an inner hydrogen/air mixture explosion. This paper describes the experimental program that CEA/STMR has decided to implement in order to better characterize confined space explosions of hydrogen/oxygen mixtures. It presents how pressure profiles were experimentally measured in various pressure and temperature conditions which are representative of normal and accident transport conditions. It describes how different experimental set-ups were designed and improved progressively so as to obtain reliable and reproducible detonation conditions, investigate the influence of water vapor and characterize pressure profiles (peak pressure, residual pressure, peak duration). This experimental data will be used to qualify computational models and tools that are used to calculate the structural response of waste containers or fuel canisters, and finally demonstrate the safety of transport packages following an inner hydrogen explosion. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2017

Los Alamos National Laboratory: Request for Information (RFI) – Call for Commercialization Partners on behalf of the Department of Energy’s Fuel Cell Technologies Office (FCTO) L’Innovator Pilot Program

The purpose of the L’Innovator is to assemble unique, state-of-the-art IP bundles developed at the national labs that aggregate synergistic technologies in furtherance of the emerging hydrogen and fuel cell market. The first L’Innovator IP bundle consists of Oxygen Reduction Reaction (ORR) Catalyst technology developed at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), combined with Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA) technology developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL).

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION↗
NASA NTRS1984

Regenerative Hydrogen-oxygen Fuel Cell-electrolyzer Systems for Orbital Energy Storage

Fuel cells have found application in space since Gemini. Over the years technology advances have been factored into the mainstream hardware programs. Performance levels and service lives have been gradually improving. More recently, the storage application for fuel cell-electrolyzer combinations are receiving considerable emphasis. The regenerative system application described here is part of a NASA Fuel Cell Program which was developed to advance the fuel cell and electrolyzer technology required to satisfy the identified power generation and energy storage need of the Agency for space transportation and orbital applications to the year 2000.

Sheibley, D. W.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Unitized Regenerative Fuel Cell System Development

Unitized Regenerative Fuel Cells (URFC) have recently been developed by several fuel cell manufacturers. These manufacturers have concentrated their efforts on the development of the cell stack technology itself, and have not up to this point devoted much effort to the design and development of the balance of plant. A fuel cell technology program at the Glenn Research Center (GRC) that has as its goal the definition and feasibility testing of the URFC system balance of plant. Besides testing the feasibility, the program also intends to minimize the system weight, volume, and parasitic power as its goal. The design concept currently being developed uses no pumps to circulate coolant or reactants, and minimizes the ancillary components to only the oxygen and hydrogen gas storage tanks, a water storage tank, a loop heat pipe to control the temperature and two pressure control devices to control the cell stack pressures during operation. The information contained in this paper describes the design and operational concepts employed in this concept. The paper also describes the NASA Glenn research program to develop this concept and test its feasibility.

Burke, Kenneth A.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Experiments in TREAT

This is a presentation for a dinner meeting for the Idaho section of the American Nuclear Society on April 13, 2023. It contains a summary of experimental work at TREAT in support of NASA's Nuclear Thermal Propulsion program.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
NASA NTRS2012

Manufacturing of 5.5 Meter Diameter Cryogenic Fuel Tank Domes for the NASA Ares I Rocket

The Ares I rocket is the first launch vehicle scheduled for manufacture under the National Aeronautic and Space Administration s (NASA s) Constellation program. A series of full-scale Ares I development articles have been constructed on the Robotic Weld Tool at the NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The Robotic Weld Tool is a 100 ton, 7-axis, robotic manufacturing system capable of machining and friction stir welding large-scale space hardware. This presentation will focus on the friction stir welding of 5.5m diameter cryogenic fuel tank components; specifically, the liquid hydrogen forward dome (LH2 MDA) and the common bulkhead manufacturing development articles (CBMDA). The LH2 MDA was the first full-scale, flight-like Ares I hardware produced under the Constellation Program. It is a 5.5m diameter elliptical dome assembly consisting of eight gore panels, a y-ring stiffener and a manhole fitting. All components are made from aluminum-lithium alloy 2195. Conventional and self-reacting friction stir welding was used on this article. Manufacturing solutions will be discussed including the implementation of photogrammetry, an advanced metrology technique, as well as fixtureless welding. The LH2 MDA is the first known fully friction stir welded dome ever produced. The completion of four Common Bulkhead Manufacturing Development Articles (CBMDA) will also be highlighted. Each CBMDA consists of a 5.5m diameter spun-formed dome friction stir welded to a y-ring stiffener. The domes and y-rings are made of aluminum 2014 and 2219 respectively. An overview of CBMDA manufacturing processes and the effect of tooling on weld defect formation will be discussed.

Jones, Ronald E.↗
DOE OSTI2017

Vehicle Technologies and Fuel Cell Technologies Office Research and Development Programs: Prospective Benefits Assessment Report for Fiscal Year 2018

Under a diverse set of programs, the Vehicle Technologies and Fuel Cell Technologies Offices of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy invest in early-stage research of advanced batteries and electrification, engines and fuels, materials, and energy-efficient mobility systems; hydrogen production, delivery, and storage; and fuel cell technologies. This report documents the estimated benefits of successful development and implementation of advanced vehicle technologies. It presents a comparison of a scenario with completely successful implementation of Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO) and Fuel Cell Technologies Office (FCTO) technologies (the Program Success case) to a future in which there is no contribution after Fiscal Year 2017 by the VTO or FCTO to these technologies (the No Program case). Benefits were attributed to individual program technology areas, which included FCTO research and development and the VTO programs of electrification, advanced combustion engines and fuels, and materials technology. Projections for the Program Success case indicate that by 2035, the average fuel economy of on-road, light-duty vehicle stock could be 24% to 30% higher than in the No Program case, while fuel economy for on-road medium- and heavy-duty vehicle stock could be as much as 13% higher. The resulting petroleum savings in 2035 were estimated to be as high as 1.9 million barrels of oil per day, and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions were estimated to be as high as 320 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year. Projections of light-duty vehicle adoption indicate that although advanced-technology vehicles may be somewhat more expensive to purchase, the fuel savings result in a net reduction of consumer cost. In 2035, reductions in annual fuel expenditures for vehicles (both light- and heavy-duty) are projected to range from $86 billion to $109 billion (2015$), while the projected increase in new vehicle expenditures in the same year ranges from $6 billion to $24 billion (2015$).

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS↗
DOE OSTI2019

THF Co-Solvent Biomass Fractionation to Catalytic Fuel Precursors with High Yields (Final Report)

The overall goal of this project is to utilize the Co-Solvent Enhanced Lignocellulosic Fractionation (CELF) as a platform technology to realize transformation of real biomass feedstocks to fungible transportation fuels. CELF is a solvolysis method that seeks to break the cost barrier for biomass deconstruction so that high yield liquid intermediates from both sugars and lignin can be recovered for their subsequent catalytic conversion to fungible transportation fuels. It is important for the DOE EERE mission to focus on supporting platform technologies that enable greater end-to-end utilization of biomass whereby the co-development of both process and catalyst is streamlined. CELF is one of the most competitive platform technologies that uses multifunctional co-solvents THF and water to provide the cleanest intermediate product streams that can allow advanced catalysts to be developed on real feedstocks instead of model compounds. For this project, we developed a hybrid catalytic process that first applies CELF homogeneous catalysis to convert solid biomass to a liquid stream containing intermediate fuel precursors (FPs) such as furfural (FF) and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF). Afterwards, a second heterogeneous catalytic step was then applied to selectively hydrodeoxygenate (HDO) the FPs produced from biomass into gasoline blendstocks methylfuran (MF) and dimethylfuran (DMF). Concurrently, capitalizing on CELF’s efficient lignin extraction capabilities, we further explored production C9+ cyclic hydrocarbons from biomass lignin to improve overall process economics. For the first step, the CELF process was optimized to achieve yields of >95% for FF and >60% for HMF from the xylan and glucan fractions in poplar wood, respectively. For the second step, we created a patent-pending bifunctional Cu-Ni solid catalyst that is tolerant to real product streams from the CELF process and simultaneously produce MF and DMF blendstocks at >80% yields. To provide more market versatility, we further explored the production of 2-pentanol from MF and have achieved >70% yields. During this project’s three year period, we also developed a dynamically informed technoeconomic computer model that helped to guide key project decisions that allowed us to reach a final biofuel selling price (MFSP) of <$\$$3/GGE (gallon gasoline equivalent) and total biomass carbon utilization of 60%. We also determined that the MFSP in our model could be further reduced to below $\$$2/GGE if the value of the lignin-derived aromatic hydrocarbon fuels could be sold at diesel-range prices (>$\$$500/tonne). Our process model was designed to consume 288 tonnes per day of poplar wood chips with minor consumption of hydrogen to produce a range of fuel blendstocks suitable for use in the transportation sector. The project was successful in meeting DOE EERE program criteria for application of an all-catalytic biofuels process to achieve a biofuel selling price target of <$\$$3/GGE as well as to achieve a 60% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) compared to conventional fossil petroleum processes. At project completion, the outlined catalytic process reported total utilization of up to 60% of the carbon found in biomass, rivaling more mature biological cellulosic ethanol technologies at a fraction of the fixed and operating costs. This project also resulted in 7 peer-reviewed publications, 2 provisional inventions, and 1 patent pending. NOTE: This public version of the document contains redacted text, tables, and figures as indicated within the document.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗
NASA NTRS1973

The analysis of the transient pressure response of the shuttle EPS-ECS cryogenic tanks with external pressurization systems

An analysis of transient pressures in externally pressurized cryogenic hydrogen and oxygen tanks was conducted and the effects of design variables on pressure response determined. The analysis was conducted with a computer program which solves the compressible viscous flow equations in two-dimensional regions representing the tank and external loop. The external loop volume, thermal mass, and heat leak were the dominant design variables affecting the system pressure response. No significant temperature stratification occurred in the fluid contained in the tank.

Barton, J. E.↗
NASA NTRS1974

High speed hydrogen/graphite interaction

Various aspects of a research program on high speed hydrogen/graphite interaction are presented. Major areas discussed are: (1) theoretical predictions of hydrogen/graphite erosion rates; (2) high temperature, nonequilibrium hydrogen flow in a nozzle; and (3) molecular beam studies of hydrogen/graphite erosion.

Kelly, A. J.↗
NASA NTRS1977

A second-order closure analysis of turbulent diffusion flames

A complete second-order closure computer program for the investigation of compressible, turbulent, reacting shear layers was developed. The equations for the means and the second order correlations were derived from the time-averaged Navier-Stokes equations and contain third order and higher order correlations, which have to be modeled in terms of the lower-order correlations to close the system of equations. In addition to fluid mechanical turbulence models and parameters used in previous studies of a variety of incompressible and compressible shear flows, a number of additional scalar correlations were modeled for chemically reacting flows, and a typical eddy model developed for the joint probability density function for all the scalars. The program which is capable of handling multi-species, multistep chemical reactions, was used to calculate nonreacting and reacting flows in a hydrogen-air diffusion flame.

Varma, A. K.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Filling of orbital fluid management systems

A study was performed with three objectives: (1) analyze fluid management system fill under orbital conditions; (2) determine what experimentation is needed; and (3) develop an experimental program. The fluid management system was a 1.06m (41.7 in) diameter pressure vessel with screen channel device. Analyses were conducted using liquid hydrogen and N2O4. The influence of helium and autogenous pressurization systems was considered. Analyses showed that fluid management system fill will be more difficult with a cryogen than with an earth storable. The key to a successful fill with cryogens is in devising techniques for filling without vent liquid, and removing trapped vapor from the screen device at tank fill completion. This will be accomplished with prechill, fill, and vapor condensation processes. Refill will require a vent and purge process, to dilute the residual helium, prior to introducing liquid. Neither prechill, chill, nor purge processes will be required for earth storables.

Merino, F.↗
NASA NTRS1990

The NASA research and technology program on batteries

The NASA research and technology program on batteries is being carried out within the Propulsion, Power and Energy Division (Code RP) of NASA's Office of Aeronautics, Exploration and Technology (OAET). The program includes development of high-performance, long-life, cost-effective primary and secondary (rechargeable) batteries. The NASA OAET battery program is being carried out at Lewis Research Center (LeRC) and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). LeRC is focusing primarily on nickel-hydrogen batteries (both individual pressure vessel or IPV and bipolar). LeRC is also involved in a planned flight experiment to test a sodium-sulfur battery design. JPL is focusing primarily on lithium rechargeable batteries, having successfully transferred its lithium primary battery technology to the U.S. Air Force for use on the Centaur upper stage. Both LeRC and JPL are studying advanced battery concepts that offer even higher specific energies. The long-term goal is to achieve 100 Wh/kg.

Bennett, Gary L.↗
NASA NTRS2010

Thermographic Methods of Detecting Insulation Voids in Large Cryogenic Tanks

Four very large (900Kgal) cryogenic liquid hydrogen and oxygen storage tanks at Kennedy Space Center's LC-39 launch pads were constructed in 1965 to support the Apollo/Saturn V Program and continue to support the Space Shuttle Program. These double-walled spherical tanks with powdered insulation in the annular region, have received minimal refurbishment or even inspection over the years. As the Shuttle Program comes to an end we now have the time to perform limited refurbishment. Thermography has been used to monitor the state of insulation as one of the four tanks was drained of cryogen and warmed to ambient temperatures. An anomalous region of insulation detected previously with thermography was confirmed by visual inspections during this period. Thermal models and a comparison of images from the cold and warm tanks suggests that the anomalous region can be detected even without cryogen in the tank. The ability to detect and correct probable insulation voids prior to filling with cryogenic fluid can provide significant cost savings by reducing commodity boil-off over many years of use.

Arens, Ellen↗
NASA NTRS2010

Thermographic Methods of Detecting Insulation Voids in Large Cryogenic Tanks

Four very large (900Kgal) cryogenic liquid hydrogen and oxygen storage tanks at Kennedy Space Center's LC-39 launch pads were constructed in 1965 to support the Apollo/Saturn V Program and continue to support the Space Shuttle Program. These double-walled spherical tanks with powdered insulation in the annular region, have received minimal refurbishment or even inspection over the years. Intrusively inspecting these tanks would mean a significant down time to the program as the cryogenic liquid and the perlite insulation would have to be removed which would be a significant task and long-term schedule disruption. A study of the tanks was performed to determine the extent to which performance and structural information could be revealed without intrusive inspection. Thermal images of the tanks were taken over a variety of environmental conditions to determine the best conditions under which to compare and use thermography as a health monitoring technique as the tanks continue to age. The settling and subsequent compaction of insulation is a serious concern for cryogenic tanks. Comparison of images from the tanks reveals significant variations in the insulation in the annual regions and point to the use of thermography as a way to monitor for insulation migration and possible compaction. These measurements, when combined with mathematical models of historical boil-off data provide key insight to the condition of the vessels. Acceptance testing methods for new tanks, before they are filled with cryogenic commodity (and thereby thermally cycled), are needed and we explore how thermography can be used to accomplish this.

Arens, Ellen↗
NASA NTRS2013

Testing and Analytical Modeling for Purging Process of a Cryogenic Line

The purging operations for cryogenic main propulsion systems of upper stage are usually carried out for the following cases: 1) Purging of the Fill/Drain line after completion of propellant loading. This operation allows the removal of residual propellant mass; and 2) Purging of the Feed/Drain line if the mission is scrubbed. The lines would be purged by connections to a ground high-pressure gas storage source. The flowrate of purge gas should be regulated such that the pressure in the line will not exceed the required maximum allowable value. Exceeding the maximum allowable pressure may lead to structural damage in the line. To gain confidence in analytical models of the purge process, a test series was conducted. The test article, a 20-cm incline line, was filled with liquid hydrogen and then purged with gaseous helium (GHe). The influences of GHe flowrates and initial temperatures were evaluated. The Generalized Fluid System Simulation Program, an in-house general-purpose computer program for flow network analysis, was utilized to model and simulate the testing. The test procedures, modeling descriptions, and the results will be presented in the final paper.

Hedayat, A.↗