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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 127 records · Page 7
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2016

SU-F-T-669: Commissioning of An Electronic Brachytherapy System for Targeted Mouse Irradiation

Purpose: The aim of this study was to commission the Xoft Axxent™ electronic brachytherapy (eBT) source and 10 mm diameter surface applicator with NIST traceability for targeted irradiations of mouse anal carcinomas. Methods: The Xoft Axxent™ electronic brachytherapy (eBT) and 10 mm diameter surface applicator was chosen by the collaborating physician as a radiation delivery mechanism for mouse anal carcinomas. The target dose was 2 Gy at a depth of 3 mm in tissue to be delivered in a single fraction. To implement an accurate and reliable irradiation plan, the system was commissioned by first determining the eBT source output and corresponding dose rate at a depth of 3 mm in tissue. This was determined through parallel-plate ion chamber measurements and published conversion factors. Well-type ionization chamber measurements were used to determine a transfer coefficient, which correlates the measured dose rate at 3 mm to the NIST-traceable quantity, air-kerma rate at 50 cm in air, for eBT sources. By correlating these two quantities, daily monitoring in the well chamber becomes an accurate and efficient quality assurance technique. Once the dose-rate was determined, a treatment recipe was developed and confirmed with chamber measurements to deliver the requested dose. Radiochromic film was used to verify the dose distribution across the field. Results: Dose rates at 3 mm depth in tissue were determined for two different Xoft Axxent™ sources and correlated with NIST-traceable well-type ionization chamber measurements. Unique transfer coefficients were determined for each source and the treatment recipe was validated by measurements. Film profiles showed a uniform dose distribution across the field. Conclusion: A Xoft Axxent™ eBT system was successfully commissioned for use in the irradiation of mouse rectal tumors. Dose rates in tissue were determined as well as other pertinent parameters to ensure accurate delivery of dose to the target region.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

SU-G-BRB-04: Automated Output Factor Measurements Using Continuous Data Logging for Linac Commissioning

Purpose: Linac commissioning is a time consuming and labor intensive process, the streamline of which is highly desirable. In particular, manual measurement of output factors for a variety of field sizes and energy greatly hinders the commissioning efficiency. In this study, automated measurement of output factors was demonstrated as ‘one-click’ using data logging of an electrometer. Methods: Beams to be measured were created in the recording and verifying (R&V) system and configured for continuous delivery. An electrometer with an automatic data logging feature enabled continuous data collection for all fields without human intervention. The electrometer saved data into a spreadsheet every 0.5 seconds. A Matlab program was developed to analyze the excel data to monitor and check the data quality. Results: For each photon energy, output factors were measured for five configurations, including open field and four wedges. Each configuration includes 72 fields sizes, ranging from 4×4 to 20×30 cm{sup 2}. Using automation, it took 50 minutes to complete the measurement of 72 field sizes, in contrast to 80 minutes when using the manual approach. The automation avoided the necessity of redundant Linac status checks between fields as in the manual approach. In fact, the only limiting factor in such automation is Linac overheating. The data collection beams in the R&V system are reusable, and the simplified process is less error-prone. In addition, our Matlab program extracted the output factors faithfully from data logging, and the discrepancy between the automatic and manual measurement is within ±0.3%. For two separate automated measurements 30 days apart, consistency check shows a discrepancy within ±1% for 6MV photon with a 60 degree wedge. Conclusion: Automated output factor measurements can save time by 40% when compared with conventional manual approach. This work laid ground for further improvement for the automation of Linac commissioning.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Negotiating Terms and Conditions: An Overview of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Hydropower Settlement Agreement Process

The process for obtaining, transferring, or surrendering a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) hydropower license or exemption from licensing can be a series of complex negotiations. In many instances, the process may include stakeholders with different and/or competing perspectives or objectives related to the original license, new license (i.e., relicense), transfer of a license, or surrender of a license. Divergent perspectives and objectives can lead to disputes among project participants, which may impact the development of FERC license terms and conditions. One mechanism to resolve disputes between project participants involving a FERC authorization is informal and formal settlement agreement conferences, which often result in settlement agreements addressing the disputed issues. This report provides hydropower stakeholders with a better understanding of the FERC settlement agreement process, including information on: How to initiate a settlement agreement. The procedural steps associated with the settlement agreement process. The legal standards the Commission must adhere to when determining whether settlement agreement provisions can become lawful and enforceable terms or conditions of a FERC authorization. Examples of settlement agreement provisions included as license terms and conditions or in off-license agreements from a collection of settlement agreements and Commission orders.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2010

Commissioning an Engineering Scale Coal Gasifier

This report explains the development, commissioning, and testing of an engineering scale slagging coal gasifier at PNNL. The initial objective of this project was to commission the gasifier with zero safety incidents. The commissioning work was primarily an empirical study that required an engineering design approach. After bringing the gasifier on-line, tests were conducted to assess the impact of various operating parameters on the synthesis gas (syngas) product composition. The long-term intent of this project is to produce syngas product for use by internal Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) researchers in catalyst, materials, and instrumentation development. Future work on the project will focus on improving the reliability and performance of the gasifier, with a goal of continuous operation for greater than 4 hours using coal feedstock. In addition, alternate designs that allow for increased flexibility regarding the fuel sources that can be used for syngas production is desired. Continued modifications to the fuel feed system will be pursued to address these goals. Alternative feed mechanisms such as a coal/methanol slurry are being considered.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2011

Commissioning results from the recently upgraded RHIC LLRF system

During RHIC Run 10, the first phase of the LLRF Upgrade was successfully completed. This involved replacing the aging VME based system with a modern digital system based on the recently developed RHIC LLRF Upgrade Platform, and commissioning the system as part of the normal RHIC start up process. At the start of Run 11, the second phase of the upgrade is underway, involving a significant expansion of both hardware and functionality. This paper will review the commissioning effort and provide examples of improvements in system performance, flexibility and scalability afforded by the new platform. The RHIC LLRF upgrade is based on the recently developed RHIC LLRF Upgrade Platform. The major design goals of the platform are: (1) Design a stand alone, generic, digital, modular control architecture which can be configured to satisfy all of the application demands we currently have, and which will be supportable and upgradeable into the foreseeable future; and (2) It should integrate seamlessly into existing controls infrastructure, be easy to deploy, provide access to all relevant control parameters (eliminate knobs), provide vastly improved diagnostic data capabilities, and permit remote reconfiguration. Although the system is still in its infancy, we think the initial commissioning results from RHIC indicate that these goals have been achieved, and that we've only begun to realize the benefits the platform provides.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2011

LARP LHC 4.8 GHZ Schottky System Initial Commissioning with Beam

The LHC Schottky system consists for four independent 4.8 GHz triple down conversion receivers with associated data acquisition systems. Each system is capable of measuring tune, chromaticity, momentum spread in either horizontal or vertical planes; two systems per beam. The hardware commissioning has taken place from spring through fall of 2010. With nominal bunch beam currents of 10{sup 11} protons, the first incoherent Schottky signals were detected and analyzed. This paper will report on these initial commissioning results. A companion paper will report on the data analysis curve fitting and remote control user interface of the system. The Schottky system for the LHC was proposed in 2004 under the auspices of the LARP collaboration. Similar systems were commissioned in 2003 in the Fermilab Tevatron and Recycler accelerators as a means of measuring tunes noninvasively. The Schottky detector is based on the stochastic cooling pickups that were developed for the Fermilab Antiproton Source Debuncher cooling upgrade completed in 2002. These slotted line waveguide pickups have the advantage of large aperture coupled with high beam coupling characteristics. For stochastic cooling, wide bandwidths are integral to cooling performance. The bandwidth of slotted waveguide pickups can be tailored by choosing the length of the pickup and slot spacing. The Debuncher project covered the 4-8 GHz band with eight bands of pickups, each with approximately 500 MHz of bandwidth. For use as a Schottky detector, bandwidths of 100-200 MHz are required for gating, resulting in higher transfer impedance than those used for stochastic cooling. Details of hardware functionality are reported previously.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2011

OPERATION AND COMMISSIONING OF THE JEFFERSON LAB UV FEL USING AN SRF DRIVER ERL

We describe the operation and commissioning of the Jefferson Lab UV FEL using a CW SRF ERL driver. Based on the same 135 MeV linear accelerator as the Jefferson Lab 10 kW IR Upgrade FEL, the UV driver ERL uses a bypass geometry to provide transverse phase space control, bunch length compression, and nonlinear aberration compensation necessitating a unique set of commissioning and operational procedures. Additionally, a novel technique to initiate lasing is described. To meet these constraints and accommodate a challenging installation schedule, we adopted a staged commissioning plan with alternating installation and operation periods. This report addresses these issues and presents operational results from on-going beam operations.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Commissioning of the IGp Feedback System at DAFNE

The iGp (Integrated Gigasample Processor) is an innovative digital bunch-by-bunch feedback system developed by a KEK / SLAC / INFN-LNF joint collaboration. The processing unit can sample at 500 MHz and compute the bunch-by-bunch output signal for up to {approx}5000 bunches. The feedback gateware code is implemented inside just one FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) chip, a Xilinx Virtex-II. The FPGA implements two banks of 16-tap FIR (Finite Impulse Response) filters. Each filter is realtime programmable through the operator interface. At DA{Phi}NE, the Frascati {Phi}-Factory, two iGp units have been commissioned in the April 2007. The iGp systems have substituted the previous betatron feedback systems. This insertion has been very fast and has shown no problems involving just a substitution of the old, less flexible, digital systems, letting unchanged the baseband analog frontend and backend. The commissioning has been very simple, due to the complete and powerful EPICS operator interface, working well in local and remote operations. The software includes also tools for analyzing post processor data. A description of the commissioning with the operations done is reported.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2011

Using Whole-Building Electric Load Data in Continuous or Retro-Commissioning

Whole-building electric load data can often reveal problems with building equipment or operations. In this paper, we present methods for analyzing 15-minute-interval electric load data. These methods allow building operators, energy managers, and commissioning agents to better understand a building's electricity consumption over time and to compare it to other buildings, helping them to 'ask the right questions' to discover opportunities for electricity waste elimination, energy efficiency, peak load management, and demand response. For example: Does the building use too much energy at night, or on hot days, or in the early evening? Knowing the answer to questions like these can help with retro-commissioning or continuous commissioning. The methods discussed here can also be used to assess how building energy performance varies with time. Comparing electric load before and after fixing equipment or changing operations can help verify that the fixes have the intended effect on energy consumption. Analysis methods discussed in this paper include: ways to graphically represent electric load data; the definition of various parameters that characterize facility electricity loads; and a regression-based electricity load model that accounts for both time of week and outdoor air temperature. The methods are illustrated by applying them to data from commercial buildings. We demonstrate the ability to recognize changes in building operation, and to quantify changes in energy performance. Some key findings are: 1) Plotting time series electric load data is useful for understanding electricity consumption patterns and changes to those patterns, but results may be misleading if data from different time intervals are not weather-normalized. 2) Parameter plots can highlight key features of electric load data and may be easier to interpret than plots of time series data themselves. 3) A time-of-week indicator variable (as compared to time-of-day and day-of-week indicator variables) improves the accuracy of regression models of electric load. 4) A piecewise linear and continuous outdoor air temperature dependence can be derived without the use of a change-point model (which would add complexity to the modeling algorithm) or assumptions about when structural changes occur (which could introduce inaccuracy). 5) A model that includes time-of-week and temperature dependence can be used for weather normalization and can determine whether the building is unusually temperature-sensitive, which can indicate problems with HVAC operation.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2022

1.2.4.403 - Pumped Storage Hydropower FAST Commissioning Prize

The Pumped Storage Hydropower (PSH) FAST Commissioning Prize aimed to reduce the time, cost, and risk required to commission PSH projects by crowdsourcing ideas via a three-stage prize. Objectives were to reduce the time to commission PSH projects from 10+ years to less than 5 years and to develop a baseline analysis for PSH.

HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2018

Commissioning and Startup of a New Category 2 Nuclear Facility for RH TRU Sludge Packaging - 18614

For many years the Department of Energy (DOE) has been executing a plan to eliminate all threats of Radiological release to the Columbia River from the Hanford site, in Richland, Washington. While the River Corridor Closure Project is nearing completion, one of the last remaining facilities along the Columbia River is the 100K reactor complex. Since the 1950's the 105KW fuel storage basin has contained varying levels of spent reactor fuel and products of the degradation of aging stored fuel. Having previously removed all of the distinguishable spent fuel components, CH2M HILL Plateau Remediation Company (CH2M) is now in the final stages of readiness review to commence removal of the residual sludge material that has accumulated in the basin throughout the years of operation. There is approximately 27 m3 of sludge in the 105KW basin currently. This sludge material exhibits a very high radiation dose rate with levels reaching 100 R/hr. It is also very difficult to mobilize and transfer due to its physical characteristics. CH2M engineers have developed a novel mechanical system for mobilization and transfer of the sludge to specially designed storage containers. Once transferred to these containers, the sludge will be moved away from the river and taken to T Plant, a decontamination and repair facility on site, for interim storage, while a project to treat and package the material for final disposition is established. The Sludge Removal Project (SRP) is a $309 M capital line item project that was established to achieve the goals of this mission. Part of the project is to develop and install the equipment needed to do the transfer, and part of the project is to construct a new Category 2 sludge packaging facility. Construction of the facility is now complete, all equipment is installed and the project is well into the commissioning phase. Over the final three months of 2017, the project progressed into the final stages of readiness to transition to operations. This will represent the first commissioning of a new Category 2 process and facility at Hanford in over 10 years. The SRP team has crossed over many hurdles in establishing a workable plan for the safety basis for installing, commissioning and transitioning to operations within the boundaries of an existing Facility Safety Analysis Report. The project team has also applied extensive use of a mockup facility in the development and execution of the path to readiness and commencement of operations. At the time of the conference, the project will have completed a DOE Operational Readiness Review and will be very near of just entering full operation. This paper will share the experiences of the project team through these final steps and lessons learned on making the project successful. (author)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2019

Commissioning of Robotic Inspection and Automated Analysis System for Assay of Gas Diffusion Piping - 19500

Robotic, in-pipe, nondestructive assay (NDA) is a revolutionary and important means for measuring, analyzing, and reporting radioactive holdup deposits in enrichment piping. This innovation promises vast advantages for efficiency, safety, and cost savings. Payoff, however, lies in utilization much more than innovation. Crossing that threshold from a technical capability to an everyday tool occurs only after rigorous commissioning, adoption, and infusion. This must meet the highest standard, and there can be no compromise. Certification of a new NDA technology must meet the highest standards for quality, safety, and efficacy. Prior to this work, there was no precedent of procedure and method for certification of a robotic methodology for this purpose. The best of robotics had not certified NDA. The best of NDA had not certified robotics. Hence, a great deal of discovery, resourcefulness, and collaboration contributed to this success. This paper chronicles the first-of-kind chartering, co-development, testing, documentation, and site integration that certified this trailblazing in-pipe, robotic NDA. Commissioning had to demonstrate and certify end-to-end NDA automation from robot traversal to computer analysis to report generation of contaminated process piping at the Portsmouth, Ohio gaseous diffusion facility. This was a rigorous campaign of tests, evaluations, and documentation. Highlights included multiple tests in four elevated pipes exercised the gamut of NDA and robotic capabilities. Each of the four test pipes presented a unique loading of U-235. The tests demonstrated operations in both 30- inch and 42-inch diameter pipes with varying lengths and terminated by a variety of valves and fittings. Tests in a fifth pipe at floor level demonstrated deployment and applicability for pipes at this ground height and robot recognition of another fitting type. All operations, calibration, deployment, auto-reporting, and analysis were handled by Portsmouth site personnel. These tests concluded a series of component-level acceptance tests which certified all constituent technologies and operational features. Test metrics included comparison of reported to ground truth results and assessment of data quality from quality assurance and replicate measurement comparison. Beyond the radiometry associated with any NDA method, this unique commissioning path exercised and evaluated all the robotic features that are intrinsic to automation. These include odometry, geometric modeling, autonomy, remote launch and recovery, and end-to-end data flow. Each of these required verification and certification. These evaluations were first-of-kind for the decommissioning community, requiring innovation and resourcefulness in their own right. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2016

Lessons learned from the commissioning of the THTR 300 - 18575

Although the commissioning of the THTR 300, the only large pebble bed High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (HTGR) power plant, occurred more than 30 years ago, many lessons could be learned that would directly benefit the design, construction and startup of future pebble bed HTGRs. This report includes a review of the THTR 300 design and an overview of the commissioning program utilized to bring the plant from initial criticality to full power. Selected plant test results are compared to predicted plant behavior from 40% to 100% plant load. Lessons learned from the commissioning of the THTR are also included. (author)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗
DOE OSTI2018

Portfolio Analysis with General Commission

The well-known problem of finding explicit formulas for the expected return and risk of portfolios with general commission is completely solved. It is assumed that the commission depends on the asset and the asset position, and on whether the given position is opened or closed. For portfolios with only the budget constraint and initial commission, we prove that the function of expected portfolio return and portfolio variance function are bounded.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Commissioning of the Advanced Rare Isotope Separator ARIS at FRIB

The Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) at Michigan State University (MSU) consists of a newly constructed linear accelerator and fragment separator that are designed for enhanced production rates of rare isotopes for use in research and other societal applications. Recent activities through to August 2022 took place to commission the Advanced Rare Isotope Separator (ARIS) and carry out the first experiments. This followed commissioning of the newly constructed linac that is designed to provide orders of magnitude higher beam power than the previously coupled cyclotrons. This required that more advanced target, beam dump, and collimation systems of the new separator be designed and constructed to sustain unprecedented conditions by heavy ion beams. Commissioning with ~1 kW beams began recently and results from activities that began in late 2021 are reported here. Comparisons between the previous and current facilities are provided.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2025

First on-line commissioning experiments at the St. Benedict facility

Nuclear beta decays provide an excellent probe of fundamental symmetries due to their mediation by the weak interaction. In particular, precise measurements of these decays provide constraints on the unitarity of the Cabbibo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) quark-mixing matrix. While superallowed pure Fermi decays currently set the most precise limits, the alternative suite of superallowed mixed mirror decays has been ill-studied. These nuclei can provide an important consistency check of calculation and measurement methods employed for the pure Fermi decays, more critically needed now in the wake of a 2.4σ deviation from unitarity of the CKM matrix. In order to remedy the gap in data for mirror decays, the Superallowed Transition Beta-Neutrino Decay Ion Coincidence Trap (St. Benedict) facility is being commissioned at the University of Notre Dame’s Nuclear Science Laboratory (NSL). In this paper, we present first results of the commissioning of the St. Benedict facility on-line at the TwinSol radioactive beam facility. The results of initial commissioning experiments involving the St. Benedict gas catcher, RF carpet, RFQ ion guide and RFQ cooler-buncher will be presented.

beta decay↗
DOE OSTI2022

Commissioning of a replacement subatmospheric cold box for Jefferson Lab’s Central Helium Liquefier

Jefferson Lab’s Cryogenics Department has designed, fabricated, installed, and commissioned a new subatmospheric cold box to replace one of the two existing units within our Central Helium Liquefier (CHL). The replacement cold box, dubbed SC1R, pumps saturated helium vapor at 0.0385 atm from Jefferson Lab’s continuous electron beam accelerator facility (CEBAF) cryomodules to maintain an operating temperature of nominally 2.1 K. This is accomplished using a five-stage cryogenic centrifugal compressor (cold compressor) system and a brazed aluminum plate-fin heat exchanger operating between 2.1 K and 4.5 K. In this paper we will describe our experience commissioning the SC1R cold box. We will discuss pump-down of the system to 2.1 K and steady-state operation at the cold compressor design flow rates of 170, 200, and 250 g/s. Performance of the heat exchanger and cold compressors has been mapped across a range of flow rates and optimized for CEBAF operations. This commissioning data will be used to monitor future performance and adapt to changing load requirements.

Mastracci, B.↗
DOE OSTI2026

Commissioning of the large-scale lead tungstate scintillating calorimeter

Here, we report on the installation and initial commissioning of a large-scale lead tungstate (PbWO4) scintillating crystal calorimeter developed for high-rate photon detection and precise energy measurement. The calorimeter comprises 1596 high-granularity, high-resolution scintillating crystals optimized for electromagnetic-shower detection over a wide energy range. Scintillation light from each crystal is read out by Hamamatsu R4125 photomultiplier tubes equipped with a custom voltage divider and front-end amplifier to ensure stable gain at high rates. All calorimeter modules were fabricated and characterized using a light-emitting diode–based optical test system prior to installation to verify uniformity and photodetector performance. After installation, the electromagnetic calorimeter was fully integrated into the experiment data acquisition and energy-based trigger systems. The optical response of the modules was equalized using the light-monitoring system, cosmic-ray muons, and photons from Compton-scattering events. Commissioning results demonstrate a reliably calibrated optical response and stable detector performance during the first run. These results validate the calorimeter design and commissioning methodology for large-scale scintillator-based photonic instrumentation.

Analog to digital converters↗