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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 163 records · Page 9
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1973

Heat pipe radiator

A 15,000 watt spacecraft waste heat rejection system utilizing heat pipe radiator panels was investigated. Of the several concepts initially identified, a series system was selected for more in-depth analysis. As a demonstration of system feasibility, a nominal 500 watt radiator panel was designed, built and tested. The panel, which is a module of the 15,000 watt system, consists of a variable conductance heat pipe (VCHP) header, and six isothermalizer heat pipes attached to a radiating fin. The thermal load to the VCHP is supplied by a Freon-21 liquid loop via an integral heat exchanger. Descriptions of the results of the system studies and details of the radiator design are included along with the test results for both the heat pipe components and the assembled radiator panel. These results support the feasibility of using heat pipes in a spacecraft waste heat rejection system.

Swerdling, B.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Liquid-Droplet Radiative Cooler

Large-area, low-mass radiative cooler applicable to industrial processes requiring non-contacting cooling of process fluids. Droplet-stream radiators are used to radiate away waste heat. Extensive development required to produce practical system for terrestrial use. Effects of gravity and atmosphere are to be evaluated.

Knapp, K. K.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Reduced Temperature Cesium Removal from AP-101 Using Crystalline Silicotitanate

The Tank Side Cesium Removal (TSCR) system, currently operational under Washington River Protection Solutions LLC (WRPS), sends initial low-activity Hanford waste tank supernate feed to the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) Low-Activity Waste (LAW) Facility. In addition to entrained solids removal from the supernate, the primary goal of TSCR is to remove cesium-137 ( 137 Cs) by ion exchange, allowing contact handling of the liquid effluent product at the WTP. Crystalline silicotitanate (CST) ion exchange media, manufactured by Honeywell UOP, LLC (product IONSIV™ R9140-B), was selected as the ion exchange media at TSCR. Laboratory-scale ion exchange processing using TSCR prototypic unit operations continues to contribute toward WRPS establishing accurate process flowsheets for the individual feed campaigns planned for TSCR. This report describes the small-scale ion exchange testing with 14.0 L of diluted and filtered supernate from tank 241-AP-101 (AP-101DF) at 16 °C (62 °F) to demonstrate processing at temperature conditions that are more prototypic of what the TSCR system could experience during colder seasons of the year. Since CST Cs capacity increases with decreasing contact temperature, testing at the lower operating temperature will help to predict the maximum 137 Cs loading onto the CST in the TSCR system. One of the waste acceptance criteria (WAC) for the WTP Low-Activity Waste Facility is that the waste must contain less than 3.18×10 -5 Ci 137 Cs per mole of Na. For the AP-101DF tank waste to meet this criterion, only 0.144% of the influent 137 Cs concentration may be delivered to the WTP; this requires a Cs decontamination factor of 694. Testing with AP-101DF matched TSCR prototypic operations where a lead-lag configuration was used until the lag column reached the WAC limit, then a polish column was brought online for continued processing in a lead-lag-polish column configuration. Feed was processed at 1.9 bed volumes (BVs) per hour; the flowrate, in terms of contact time with the CST bed, matched the expected flowrate at TSCR. The Cs-decontaminated product was retained for vitrification testing (to be reported separately). The lead column reached 62% Cs breakthrough after processing ~1400 BVs of feed; the 50% Cs breakthrough occurred at 1250 BVs. Testing compared to previous AP-107 testing at 16 °C showed ~80 BV increases in volume processed to reach the WAC limit for both lead and lag columns. A similar slope in breakthrough curves for both tests indicates similar kinetic behavior, with variations in feed matrices (Na and Cs concentrations) likely responsible for the deviations in reaching the WAC limit. The Cs effluent from the lag column reached the WAC limit after processing 875 BVs. Anticipating this breakthrough point, the polish column was preemptively installed at 770 BVs. Cs breakthrough from the lag column began at 300 BVs, reaching 5.32×10 0 µCi/mL, or 5.6 % Cs breakthrough, after processing all 1400 BVs of feed. Table S.1 and Figure S.1 summarize the observed column performance and relevant Cs loading characteristics.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
NASA NTRS1971

Prototype Slide Stainer

The prototype slide staining system capable of performing both one-component Wright's staining of blood smears and eight-step Gram staining of heat fixed slides of microorganisms is described. Attention was given to liquid containment, waste handling, absence of contamination from previous staining, and stability of the staining reagents. The unit is self-contained, capable of independent operation under one- or zero-g conditions, and compatible with Skylab A.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2010

Planetary Protection Considerations for Life Support and Habitation Systems

Life support systems for future human missions beyond low Earth orbit may include a combination of existing hardware components and advanced technologies. Discipline areas for technology development include atmosphere revitalization, water recovery, solid waste management, crew accommodations, food production, thermal systems, environmental monitoring, fire protection and radiation protection. Life support systems will be influenced by in situ resource utilization (ISRU), crew mobility and the degree of extravehicular activity. Planetary protection represents an additional set of requirements that technology developers have generally not considered. Planetary protection guidelines will affect the kind of operations, processes, and functions that can take place during future exploration missions, including venting and discharge of liquids and solids, ejection of wastes, use of ISRU, requirements for cabin atmospheric trace contaminant concentrations, cabin leakage and restrictions on what materials, organisms, and technologies that may be brought on missions. Compliance with planetary protection requirements may drive development of new capabilities or processes (e.g. in situ sterilization, waste containment, contaminant measurement) and limit or prohibit certain kinds of operations or processes (e.g. unfiltered venting). Ultimately, there will be an effect on mission costs, including the mission trade space. Planetary protection requirements need to be considered early in technology development programs. It is expected that planetary protection will have a major impact on technology selection for future missions.

Barta, Daniel J.↗
DOE OSTI2025

Overview on Current Activities of Conduction-Cooled SRF Accelerators and their Applications

When Nb3Sn was reintroduced to the SRF community as an alternative to pure niobium, one key motivation has been to reduce the cryogenic requirements of new and existing accelerators by shifting from 2 K to 4 K operation. Meanwhile, a variety of implementations beyond research machines are being explored. The combination of Nb3Sn with conventional cryocoolers, enabling cryogen-free operation, has paved the way for the development of compact, standalone systems suitable for applications far beyond research, such as enhancing the durability of synthetics via crosslinking or sterilizing food and medical equipment, as well as environmental cleanup when it comes to decontaminating liquid and solid waste material. So, while fundamental R&D continues to refine Nb3Sn resonators, exploring improvements such as replacing the niobium substrate with copper, parallel research efforts are investigating how the increased beam power provided by SRF could expand the commercial use of electron beams. This presentation aims to deliver a comprehensive overview of ongoing research efforts to harness the benefits of SRF through Nb3Sn and conduction cooling.

Vennekate, John [Thomas Jefferson National Acceler↗
NASA NTRS1992

Human life support during interplanetary travel and domicile. V - Mars expedition technology trade study for solid waste management

A model has been developed for NASA to quantitatively compare and select life support systems and technology options. The model consists of a modular, top-down hierarchical breakdown of the life support system into subsystems, and further breakdown of subsystems into functional elements representing individual processing technologies. This paper includes the technology trades for a Mars mission, using solid waste treatment technologies to recover water from selected liquid and solid waste streams. Technologies include freeze drying, thermal drying, wet oxidation, combustion, and supercritical-water oxidation. The use of these technologies does not have any significant advantages with respect to weight; however, significant power penalties are incurred. A benefit is the ability to convert hazardous waste into a useful resource, namely water.

Ferrall, Joe↗
NASA NTRS2006

Dehydrating and Sterilizing Wastes Using Supercritical CO2

A relatively low-temperature process for dehydrating and sterilizing biohazardous wastes in an enclosed life-support system exploits (1) the superior mass-transport properties of supercritical fluids in general and (2) the demonstrated sterilizing property of supercritical CO2 in particular. The wastes to be treated are placed in a chamber. Liquid CO2, drawn from storage at a pressure of 850 psi (approx.=5.9 MPa) and temperature of 0 C, is compressed to pressure of 2 kpsi (approx.=14 MPa) and made to flow into the chamber. The compression raises the temperature to 10 C. The chamber and its contents are then further heated to 40 C, putting the CO2 into a supercritical state, in which it kills microorganisms in the chamber. Carrying dissolved water, the CO2 leaves the chamber through a back-pressure regulator, through which it is expanded back to the storage pressure. The expanded CO2 is refrigerated to extract the dissolved water as ice, and is then returned to the storage tank at 0 C

Brown, Ian J.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Development of a gravity-independent wastewater bioprocessor for advanced life support in space

Operation of aerobic biological reactors in space is controlled by a number of challenging constraints, mainly stemming from mass transfer limitations and phase separation. Immobilized-cell packed-bed bioreactors, specially designed to function in the absence of gravity, offer a viable solution for the treatment of gray water generated in space stations and spacecrafts. A novel gravity-independent wastewater biological processor, capable of carbon oxidation and nitrification of high-strength aqueous waste streams, is presented. The system, consisting of a fully saturated pressurized packed bed and a membrane oxygenation module attached to an external recirculation loop, operated continuously for over one year. The system attained high carbon oxidation efficiencies often exceeding 90% and ammonia oxidation reaching approximately 60%. The oxygen supply module relies on hydrophobic, nonporous, oxygen selective membranes, in a shell and tube configuration, for transferring oxygen to the packed bed, while keeping the gaseous and liquid phases separated. This reactor configuration and operating mode render the system gravity-independent and suitable for space applications.

NASA Discipline Life Support Systems↗
NASA NTRS2005

Utilizing Radioisotope Power System Waste Heat for Spacecraft Thermal Management

An advantage of using a Radioisotope Power System (RPS) for deep space or planetary surface missions is the readily available waste heat, which can be used for a number of beneficial purposes including: maintaining electronic components within a controlled temperature range, warming propulsion tanks and mobility actuators, and maintaining liquid propellants above their freezing temperature. Previous missions using Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) dissipated large quantities of waste heat due to the low efficiency of the thermoelectric conversion technology. The next generation RPSs, such as the 110-Watt Stirling Radioisotope Generator (SRG110) will have higher conversion efficiencies, thereby rejecting less waste heat at a lower temperature and may require alternate approaches to transferring waste heat to the spacecraft. RTGs, with efficiencies of ~6 to 7 percent, reject their waste heat at the relatively high heat rejection temperature of 200 C. This is an advantage when rejecting heat to space; however, transferring heat to the internal spacecraft components requires a large and heavy radiator heat exchanger. At the same time, sensitive spacecraft instruments must be shielded from the thermal radiation of the RTG. The SRG110, with an efficiency around 22 percent and 50 C nominal housing surface temperature, can readily transfer the available waste heat directly via heat pipes, thermal straps, or fluid loops. The lower temperatures associated with the SRG110 avoid the chances of overheating other scientific components, eliminating the need for thermal shields. This provides the spacecraft designers more flexibility when locating the generator for a specific mission. A common misconception with high-efficiency systems is that there is not enough waste heat for spacecraft thermal management. This paper will dispel this misconception and investigate the use of a high-efficiency SRG110 for spacecraft thermal management and outline potential methods of waste heat utilization in several conceptual missions (Lunar Rover, Mars Rover, and Titan Lander). The advantages associated with the SRG110 as they relate to ease of assembly, less complex interfaces, and overall mass savings for a spacecraft will be highlighted.

Pantano, David R.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Development of the Monolith Froth Reactor for Catalytic Wet Oxidation of CELSS Model Wastes

The aqueous phase oxidation of acetic acid, used as a model compound for the treatment of CELSS (Controlled Ecological Life Support System) waste, was carried out in the monolith froth reactor which utilizes two-phase flow in the monolith channels. The catalytic oxidation of acetic acid was carried out over a Pt/Al2O3 catalyst at temperatures and pressures below the critical point of water. The effect of externally controllable parameters (temperature, liquid flow rate, distributor plate orifice size, pitch, and catalyst distance from the distributor plate) on the rate of acetic acid oxidation was investigated. Results indicate reaction rate increased with increasing temperature and exhibited a maximum with respect to liquid flow rate. The apparent activation energy calculated from reaction rate data was 99.7 kJ/mol. This value is similar to values reported for the oxidation of acetic acid in other systems and is comparable to intrinsic values calculated for oxidation reactions. The kinetic data were modeled using simple power law kinetics. The effect of "froth" feed system characteristics was also investigated. Results indicate that the reaction rate exhibits a maximum with respect to distributor plate orifice size, pitch, and catalyst distance from the distributor plate. Fundamental results obtained were used to extrapolate where the complete removal of acetic acid would be obtained and for the design and operation of a full scale CELSS treatment system.

Fisher, John W.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Evolution of Radicals from the Photolysis of High Ionic Strength Alkaline Nitrite Solutions

Reactive nitrogen species (RNS), along with reactive oxygen species (ROS), are significant products from radiolysis in solution. While much research has been focused on biological systems, these species are also important products in the autoradiolysis that occurs in nuclear waste. In this work, we determine the correlation between solution constituents, particularly nitrite, and radical products in highly alkaline solutions relevant to liquid waste. Because these radicals tend to be very short-lived, we employ spin trapping in conjunction with electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) to detect them and quantify their production. Most spin traps do not function in these conditions (>1 M NaOH); however, nitroalkanes such as nitromethane will act as spin traps in their aci form, which is dominant at high pH. To restrict the products to those originating from nitrite, we use 280–480 nm UV light to generate radicals, avoiding products from the photolysis of water. Under these circumstances, nitric oxide, nitrite radicals, and hydroxyl radicals are detected, and the trends with the concentration of the constituents of the solutions are tracked. These include nitrite, nitrate, hydroxide, and carbonate. We find that, while the equilibrium shifts with increasing pH from hydroxyl radicals to the more slowly reacting oxide radicals, the production of nitrite radicals does not decrease.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2024

A Framework to Assess Advanced Reactor Spent Fuel Management Facility Deployment

Advanced nuclear reactors offer various operational advantages over existing light water reactors but could produce types of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) with a wide variety of forms and characteristics depending on how many different concepts are deployed. Each advanced reactor SNF type potentially poses unique management challenges. New planning efforts will be necessary to anticipate how the management requirements of advanced reactor SNF will affect the deployment of an integrated waste management system. This paper applies a framework of high-level facility deployment milestones to a generic SNF management system, reviewing them together with the advanced reactor SNF characteristics and management requirements. This allows for the investigation of factors that influence facility and system deployment, and ultimately, the identification of challenges facing the deployment of different kinds of SNF management facilities. Here, the back end of the once-through fuel cycle is examined for four advanced reactor system technology types: sodium-cooled fast reactors, high-temperature gas-cooled reactors, liquid-fuel molten salt reactors, and lead-cooled fast reactors. It is observed that milestones earlier in the facility deployment process (e.g., siting and facility design) are more impacted by the uniqueness of advanced reactor SNF characteristics than others (e.g., construction and testing). Ultimately, none of the differences are seen as fundamentally disqualifying in a technical sense; however, they should be considered early, potentially as part of reactor design, to avoid issues in the future.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
NASA NTRS2009

Providing Oxygen for the Crew of a Lunar Outpost

Oxygen (O2) is obviously essential for human space missions, but it is important to examine all the different ways it will be used and the potential sources that it may come from. This effort will lead to storage and delivery requirements and help to determine the optimum architecture from an overall systems engineering point of view. Accounting for all the oxygen in a Lunar Outpost mission includes meeting the metabolic needs of the crew while in the surface Habitat, leakage through the Habitat or Pressurized Rover walls, recharge of the space suit backpack and emergency situations. Current plans indicate that both primary and secondary O2 bottles for the space suit will be filled to a pressure of 20.7 MPa (3000 psia). Other uses of O2 require much lower pressure. Sources of O2 at a Lunar Outpost include compressed or liquefied O2 brought along specifically for life support, scavenged O2 from the Lander propulsion system, recovered O2 from waste water or exhaled carbon dioxide and O2 mined from the moon itself. Previously, eight technology options were investigated to provide the high pressure space suit O2. High pressure O2 storage was treated as the baseline technology and compared to the other seven. The other seven were cryogenic storage followed by high pressure vaporization, scavenging liquid oxygen (LOX) from Lander followed by vaporization, LOX delivery followed by sorption compression, low pressure water electrolysis followed by mechanical compression, high pressure water electrolysis, sharing a high pressure electrolyzer with a regenerative fuel cell power system, and making use of In- Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU). This system-level analysis was conducted by comparing equivalent system mass of the eight technologies in open and closed loop life support architectures. The most promising high pressure O2 generation technologies were recommended for development. Updates and an expansion of the earlier study have been made and the results are reported in this paper. Examples of recent analyses include feasibility of recovering space suit purge O2 in a Pressurized Rover and using sub-critical LOX for primary supply while using high-pressure gaseous O2 as the secondary supply for the space-suit. Preliminary analysis on scavenging LOX from the Lander and delivering it to the Habitat has also been incorporated into this integrated lunar fluids analysis

Ewert, Michael K.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Planning for Material Control and Accountancy at Liquid Fueled Molten Salt Reactors

The purpose of this report is to provide molten salt reactor (MSR) developers and future US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) license applicants with recommendations for developing an effective and practical material control and accounting (MC&A) plan, focused primarily on MSR designs that use circulating liquid fuel. Because of the breadth of MSR designs, there is no single, generic, detailed MC&A plan that will work for every design. The wide variation of fresh fuel salts, the method and frequency of loading fresh fuel, the reactor system design components (e.g., tanks, filtration systems, chemical processing streams), and waste streams will determine the specific measurement locations and instrumentation that can best meet MC&A objectives throughout an MSR facility. Additionally, MSR designs are rapidly evolving, and new design features and deployment scenarios that will affect MC&A are being explored and pursued. This report defines a generic MC&A approach that was developed for terrestrial (as opposed to maritime) deployments to meet the intent of NRC domestic safeguards and MC&A. MSR license applicants should consider nuclear safeguards (both domestic and international) and security throughout the design, as early as the preconceptual design phase. MC&A of special nuclear material (SNM) is an aspect of the NRC’s domestic safeguards program, alongside physical protection. Because liquid-fueled MSRs are reactors with SNM in nondiscrete (or item) form, it is likely that the NRC may require liquid-fueled MSR license applicants to submit a formal MC&A plan as a part of their license application. Currently, the NRC licensing protocol presents a challenge because the NRC MC&A regulations have not been updated to accommodate advanced reactors, including types of MSRs. Because no liquid-fueled MSR has been licensed for operation at the time of this report, no template or precedence for a successfully licensed MSR MC&A plan exists. However, the MSR license applicant can take advantage of the NRC’s published commitments to performance-based regulations. The authors recommend that the license applicant, or MSR designers, develop an MC&A plan throughout the design lifecycle and plan to submit a detailed MC&A program description, or MC&A plan, to the NRC as a part of a license application. No MC&A plan template or guidance exists that is specific to liquid-fueled MSRs. The authors recommend that license applicants discuss the topic of MC&A during preapplication engagement. Because of the uniqueness of MC&A for liquid fueled MSRs, the authors recommend that liquid fueled MSR developers engage with the NRC on the topic of MC&A in the early phases of its design development and follow up any time there are significant modifications in design plans that would affect MC&A. For example, topics like modifications in fuel handling processes, changes in uranium enrichment, or additional chemical processing streams added to the design could be discussed with the NRC specifically on the topic of MC&A.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
NASA NTRS1986

Rotating bubble membrane radiator for space applications

An advanced radiator concept for heat rejection in space is described which uses a two-phase working fluid to radiate waste heat. The development of advanced materials and the large surface area per mass makes the Bubble Membrane Radiator an attractive alternative to both conventional heat pipes and liquid droplet radiators for mid to high temperature applications. A system description, a discussion of design requirements, and a mass comparison with heat pipes and liquid droplet radiators are provided.

Webb, Brent J.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Utilizing Radioisotope Power System Waste Heat for Spacecraft Thermal Management

One of the advantages of using a Radioisotope Power System (RPS) for deep space or planetary surface missions is the readily available waste heat, which can be used to maintain electronic components within a controlled temperature range, to warm propulsion tanks and mobility actuators, and to gasify liquid propellants. Previous missions using Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) dissipated a very large quantity of waste heat due to the relatively low efficiency of the thermoelectric conversion technology. The next generation RPSs, such as the 110-watt Stirling Radioisotope Generator (SRG110) will have much higher conversion efficiencies than their predecessors and therefore may require alternate approaches to transferring waste heat to the spacecraft. RTGs, with efficiencies of approx. 6 to 7% and 200 C housing surface temperatures, would need to use large and heavy radiator heat exchangers to transfer the waste heat to the internal spacecraft components. At the same time, sensitive spacecraft instruments must be shielded from the thermal radiation by using the heat exchangers or additional shields. The SRG110, with an efficiency around 22% and 50 C nominal housing surface temperature, can use the available waste heat more efficiently by more direct heat transfer methods such as heat pipes, thermal straps, or fluid loops. The lower temperatures allow the SRG110 much more flexibility to the spacecraft designers in configuring the generator without concern of overheating nearby scientific instruments, thereby eliminating the need for thermal shields. This paper will investigate using a high efficiency SRG110 for spacecraft thermal management and outline potential methods in several conceptual missions (Lunar Rover, Mars Rover, and Titan Lander) to illustrate the advantages with regard to ease of assembly, less complex interfaces, and overall mass savings.

Pantano, David R.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Water for Two Worlds: Designing Terrestrial Applications for Exploration-class Sanitation Systems

At the United Nations Millennium Summit in September of 2000, the world leaders agreed on an ambitious agenda for reducing poverty and improving lives: the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a list of issues they consider highly pernicious, threatening to human welfare and, thereby, to global security and prosperity. Among the eight goals are included fundamental human needs such as the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, the promotion of gender equality, the reduction of child mortality and improvement of maternal health, and ensuring the sustainability of our shared environment. In order to help focus the efforts to meet these goals, the United Nations (UN) has established a set of eighteen concrete targets, each with an associated schedule. Among these is Target 10: "By 2015, reduce by half the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water." A closely related target of equal dignity was agreed at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg, September 2002): "By 2015, reduce by half the proportion of people without access to basic sanitation." One of the greatest successes in the development of Exploration-class technologies for closed-loop, sustainable support of long-duration human space missions has been the work both ESA and NASA have done in bioregenerative water reclamation (WRS), and secondarily, in solid-waste management. Solid-waste and WRS systems tend to be combined in the commercial world into the field of sanitation, although as we will see, the most essential principles of sustainable terrestrial sanitation actually insist upon the separation of solid and liquid excreta. Seeing the potential synergy between the space program ALS technologies developed for Mars and the urgent needs of hundreds of millions of people for secure access to clean water here on Earth, we set out to organize the adaptation of these technologies to help the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) meet Target 10. In this paper, we will summarize the issues and results of the first "Water for Two Worlds" summit held in January of this year, describe,the status of the sustainable sanitation systems that are on the table for adaptation to widespread terrestrial use, and present fundamental strategies for forward work.

Adams, Constance↗