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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 NTRS2004

Soft-Fault Detection Technologies Developed for Electrical Power Systems

The NASA Glenn Research Center, partner universities, and defense contractors are working to develop intelligent power management and distribution (PMAD) technologies for future spacecraft and launch vehicles. The goals are to provide higher performance (efficiency, transient response, and stability), higher fault tolerance, and higher reliability through the application of digital control and communication technologies. It is also expected that these technologies will eventually reduce the design, development, manufacturing, and integration costs for large, electrical power systems for space vehicles. The main focus of this research has been to incorporate digital control, communications, and intelligent algorithms into power electronic devices such as direct-current to direct-current (dc-dc) converters and protective switchgear. These technologies, in turn, will enable revolutionary changes in the way electrical power systems are designed, developed, configured, and integrated in aerospace vehicles and satellites. Initial successes in integrating modern, digital controllers have proven that transient response performance can be improved using advanced nonlinear control algorithms. One technology being developed includes the detection of "soft faults," those not typically covered by current systems in use today. Soft faults include arcing faults, corona discharge faults, and undetected leakage currents. Using digital control and advanced signal analysis algorithms, we have shown that it is possible to reliably detect arcing faults in high-voltage dc power distribution systems (see the preceding photograph). Another research effort has shown that low-level leakage faults and cable degradation can be detected by analyzing power system parameters over time. This additional fault detection capability will result in higher reliability for long-lived power systems such as reusable launch vehicles and space exploration missions.

Button, Robert M.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Thermal, mass, and power interactions for lunar base life support and power systems

A model has been developed for quantitative examination of the integrated operation of the lunar base power system, employing regenerative fuel cell technology, which would lead to incorporation into a lunar base life support system. The model employs methods developed for technology and system trade studies of the Life Support System configuration for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). This paper describes the power system and its influence on life support while comparing various technologies, including pressurized gas storage and cryogenic storage, and different operation conditions. Based on preliminary assumptions, the mass, power, and thermal requirement estimates are made at the level of major components. The relative mass contribution and energy requirements of the components in various configurations are presented. The described intractions between power and life support include direct influence, such as water and oxygen storage, and indirect influence, through reliability and maintenance considerations.

Jan, Darrell L.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Thermal, Mass, and Power Interactions for Lunar Base Life Support and Power Systems

A model has been developed for quantitative examination of the integrated operation of a lunar base power system, employing regenerative fuel cell technology, which would lead to incorporation into a lunar base life support system. The model employs methods developed for technology and system trade studies of the Life Support System configuration for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). This paper describes the power system and its influence on life support while comparing various technologies, including pressurized gas storage and cryogenic storage, and different operation conditions...

Prokopius, Paul↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Signal and Power Integrity Design Methodology for High-Performance Flight Computing Systems

Computing capabilities of space systems have in-creased onboard performance by orders of magnitude with the use of radiation-tolerant field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA)and processors. The incorporation of signal and power integrity analysis with printed circuit board (PCB) design in reliable computing architectures for space systems has become critical to enable future mission capabilities. Developers launch high-performance processors into a breadth of orbits and missions, running varying applications that create challenges for designing reliable computing hardware. Specifically, for these designs, academic and industry research has focused on component radiation performance, fault mitigation, and reliable architectures. How-ever, other design parameters including electromagnetic interference (EMI), PCB stackup, signal integrity (SI), voltage regulator module (VRM) design, and power distribution network (PDN)are often deprioritized or disregarded as the design matures. Since these characteristics are becoming more significant in high-performance processor designs, this research presents a hardware design and analysis methodology for high-performance, space-computing systems that focuses on a holistic design approach and PDN reliability. While these challenges exist across all space hardware, the reduced PCB dimensions imposed by SmallSats and CubeSats introduce additional hurdles, specifically to VRM and decoupling design. By examining the relationship between the PDN and radiation performance, an analytical relationship is developed that incorporates Total Ionizing Dose and Single-Event Transients to ensure reliability throughout the mission duration. The presented design methodology is applied to the SpaceCube v3.0 Mini, an FPGA-based on-board science data processing system developed at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

Advanced avionics↗
NASA NTRS1981

Control of new energy sources in an electric utility system

The addition of generators based on renewable resources to the electric power system brings new problems of control and communication if the generators are to be controlled as an integrated part of the power system. Since many of these generators are small, it will require a large number of them, connected to the distribution system, to represent an appreciable fraction of the total generation. This situation contrasts with present day generation control which typically involves only the control of a small number of large generators. This paper examines the system requirements for integrated control, and proposes a control arrangement in which the incremental cost of power is an important parameter.

Kirkham, H.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Applications study of advanced power generation systems utilizing coal-derived fuels. Volume 1: Executive summary

The technology status of phosphoric acid and molten carbon fuel cells, combined gas and steam turbine cycles, and magnetohydrodynamic energy conversion systems was assessed and the power performance of these systems when operating with medium-Btu fuel gas whether delivered by pipeline to the power plant or in an integrated mode in which the coal gasification process and power system are closely coupled as an overall power plant was evaluated. Commercially available combined-cycle gas turbine systems can reach projected required performance levels for advanced systems using currently available technology. The phosphoric acid fuel cell appears to be the next most likely candidate for commercialization. On pipeline delivery, the systems efficiency ranges from 40.9% for the phosphoric acid fuel cell to 63% for the molten carbonate fuel cell system. The efficiencies of the integrated power plants vary from approximately 39-40% for the combined cycle to 46-47% for the molden carbonate fuel cell systems. Conventional coal-fired steam stations with flue-gas desulfurization have only 33-35% efficiency.

Robson, F. L.↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Lightweight Integrated Solar Array and anTenna (LISA-T)

LISA-T provides a compact, lightweight, efficient, and affordable power generation system with an integrated antenna for small spacecraft missions. LISA-T generates > 300% more power per mass and volume than state of the art options, vastly improving electrical power availability on small spacecraft. This will enable both highly capable near-earth small spacecraft as well as the capability for small spacecraft to venture deeper into space.

Darren Boyd↗
NASA NTRS2013

Lunar Simulants, Analogues, and Standards: Needs and Realities for Mission Technologies Development

Integration of In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) capabilities into missions present both challenges as well as benefits for future missions to the Moon and Mars. However, since ISRU systems and capabilities have not flown, mission planners have been hesitant to include ISRU capabilities in mission critical roles, thereby significantly reducing the benefits that ISRU can provide in mission mass and cost reductions. For ISRU systems to provide products and services to 'customers' such as life support, propulsion, and power systems, close development of requirements, hardware, and operations between ISRU and these systems are required. To address these development and incorporation challenges, NASA and csA initiated a series of analog field test demonstrations at sites in Hawaii. Two tests completed in November of 2008 and February of 2010 have demonstrate all the critical steps in operating ISRU systems on the lunar surface at relevant mission scales as well as integration with power and propulsion systems. The third field test planned for July 2012 will demonstrate that a mission to the lunar poles to locate and characterize ice and other volatiles is possible in a highly integrated mission with multiple space agencies. These analog field tests have shown that not only are ISRU systems feasible at relevant mission scales, that they can be successfully integrated into mission architectures.

Sibille, Laurent↗
NASA NTRS2020

Electric Aircraft Cooling with Bio-Inspired Exergy Management

Future air vehicles will increasingly incorporate electrical powertrains that require very tight system-level integration of power, propulsion, thermal, fault protection, and airframe technologies. This chapter provides an overview of a new category of thermal energy conversion technology and describes the development of the resulting Thermal Recovery Exergy Efficient System, TREES. TREES can be used to enable a fully solid-state integrated thermal and fault management electric aircraft protection system, while synergistically managing and recycling both the low-grade waste heat from electrical components and the high-grade waste heat from engine components. This is achieved with exergy amplification of the powertrain waste heat, a new class of fast flight-weight breakers, a new class of long variable-conductance heat pipes with multiple switchable condensers, a new class of turbofan-integrated heat exchangers, and a gradient-based powertrain system optimizer. This approach is like the human body’s thermal management system in which the heart, arteries, and veins are analogous to the turbofan, acoustic tubes, and heat pipes proposed herein.

Rodger W Dyson↗
NASA NTRS2019

Electrical Power System Sizing Within the Numerical Propulsion System Simulation

Electrified aircraft propulsion seeks to address ambitious goals in the commercial airline industry, including significant decreases in fuel burn, emissions, noise, and takeoff field length. In order to move these electrified propulsion concepts forward, analysis tools are needed that can model propulsion systems containing both gas turbine and power system components. This work presents the definition of an electric port, a set of electrical power systems tools, and simulation examples for the Numerical Propulsion System Simulation (NPSS) software. NPSS is the industry standard modeling and simulation package for aircraft propulsion systems, and the ability to design, size, integrate, and analyze electric power systems will enable industry efforts towards the development of electrified aircraft propulsion.

aircraft electrification↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Electrified Aircraft Propulsion Integration Concepts: Primary Fuel Cells and Cryogenic Hydrogen Storage

This presentation leverages lessons learned from the multiple activities funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) to convey development paths for implementing an Electrified Aircraft Propulsion (EAP) system powered by primary fuel cells systems and fueled by cryogenically stored hydrogen. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with all aspects of hydrogen-fueled aviation, this work minimizes required energy and time per payload distance at take-off so as to reduce emissions associated with ground operations and the production, liquefaction, transfer, and storage of hydrogen. The approach targets efficient system integration, maximizing hydrogen utilization efficiency, maximizing power system efficiency, and viable operational concepts for delivered payload distances. The discussion outlines the performance and compliance challenges revealed by analyses of current fuel cell and cryogenic management technologies. The conclusion offers potential mitigation strategies to the identified the performance and compliance challenges.

Fuel Cell↗
NASA NTRS2016

Turbo-Electric Compressor/Generator Using Halbach Arrays

The present invention is a turbojet design that integrates power generation into the turbojet itself, rather than use separate generators attached to the turbojet for power generation. By integrating the power generation within the jet engine, the weight of the overall system is significantly reduced, increasing system efficiency. Also, by integrating the power generating elements of the system within the air flow of the jet engine, the present invention can use the heat generated by the power generating elements (which is simply expelled waste heat in current designs) to increase the engine performance.

Kloesel, Kurt J.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Lunar electric power systems utilizing the SP-100 reactor coupled to dynamic conversion systems

An integration study was performed by coupling an SP-100 reactor to either a Brayton or Stirling power conversion subsystem. The application was for a surface power system to supply power requirements to a lunar base. A power level of 550 kWe was selected based on the NASA Space Exploration Initiative 90-day study. Reliability studies were initially performed to determine optimum power-conversion redundancy. This study resulted in selecting three operating engines and one standby unit. Integratiaon-design studies indicated that either the Brayton or Stirling power conversion subsystem could be integrated with the SP-100 reactor. The Stirling system had an integration advantage because of smaller piping size and fewer components. The Stirling engine, however, is more complex and heavier than the Brayton rotating unit, which tends to offset the Stirling integration advantage. From a performance consideration, the Brayton had a 9-percent mass advantage and the Stirling a 50-percent radiator-area advantage.

Harty, Richard B.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Propulsion Control Technology Development Needs to Address NASA Aeronautics Research Mission Goals for Thrusts 3a and 4

The Commercial Aero-Propulsion Control Working Group (CAPCWG), consisting of propulsion control technology leads from The Boeing Company, GE Aviation, Honeywell, Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce, and NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Glenn Research Center, has been working together over the past year to identify propulsion control technology areas of common interest that we believe are critical to achieving the challenging NASA Aeronautics Research goals for Thrust 3a: Ultra-Efficient Commercial Vehicles - Subsonic Transports, and Thrust 4: Transition to Alternative Propulsion and Energy. This paper describes the various propulsion control technology development areas identified by CAPCWG as most critical for NASA to invest in. For Thrust 3a these are: i) Integrated On-Board Model Based Engine Control and Health Management; ii) Flexible and Modular Networked Control Hardware and Software Architecture; iii) Intelligent Air/Fuel Control for Low Emissions Combustion; and iv) Active Clearance Control. For Thrust 4a, the focus is on Hybrid Electric Propulsion (HEP) for single aisle commercial aircraft. The specific technology development areas include: i) Integrated Power and Propulsion System Dynamic Modeling for Control; ii) Control Architectures for HEP; iii) HEP Control Verification and Validation; and iv) Engine/Airplane Control Integration. For each of the technology areas, the discussion includes: problem to be solved and how it relates to NASA goals, and the challenges to be addressed in reducing risk.

Propulsion Control↗
NASA NTRS2006

Fuel Cell Airframe Integration Study for Short-Range Aircraft: Aircraft Propulsion and Subsystems Integration Evaluation - Volume 1

The objective of this study is to define the functionality and evaluate the propulsion and power system benefits derived from a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) based Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) for a future short range commercial aircraft, and to define the technology gaps to enable such a system. United Technologies Corporation (UTC) Integrated Total Aircraft Power System (ITAPS) methodologies were used to evaluate a baseline aircraft and several SOFC architectures. The technology benefits were captured as reductions of the mission fuel burn, life cycle cost, noise and emissions. As a result of the study, it was recognized that system integration is critical to maximize benefits from the SOFC APU for aircraft application. The mission fuel burn savings for the two SOFC architectures ranged from 4.7 percent for a system with high integration to 6.7 percent for a highly integrated system with certain technological risks. The SOFC APU itself produced zero emissions. The reduction in engine fuel burn achieved with the SOFC systems also resulted in reduced emissions from the engines for both ground operations and in flight. The noise level of the baseline APU with a silencer is 78 dBA, while the SOFC APU produced a lower noise level. It is concluded that a high specific power SOFC system is needed to achieve the benefits identified in this study. Additional areas requiring further development are the processing of the fuel to remove sulfur, either on board or on the ground, and extending the heat sink capability of the fuel to allow greater waste heat recovery, resolve the transient electrical system integration issues, and identification of the impact of the location of the SOFC and its size on the aircraft.

Gummalla, Mallika↗
NASA NTRS1990

A hybrid approach to space power control

Conventional control systems have traditionally been utilized for space-based power designs. However, the use of expert systems is becoming important for NASA applications. Rocketdyne has been pursuing the development of expert systems to aid and enhance control designs of space-based power systems. The need for integrated expert systems is vital for the development of autonomous power systems.

Gholdston, E. W.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Integrated Power Source Grant

Traditional spacecraft power systems incorporate a solar array energy source, an energy storage element (battery), and battery charge control and bus voltage regulation electronics to provide continuous electrical power for spacecraft systems and instruments. Dedicated power conditioning components provide limited fault isolation between systems and instruments, while a centralized power-switching unit provides spacecraft load control. Battery undervoltage conditions are detected by the spacecraft processor, which removes fault conditions and non-critical loads before permanent battery damage can occur. Cost effective operation of a micro-sat constellation requires a fault tolerant spacecraft architecture that minimizes on-orbit operational costs by permitting autonomous reconfiguration in response to unexpected fault conditions. A new micro-sat power system architecture that enhances spacecraft fault tolerance and improves power system survivability by continuously managing the battery charge and discharge processes on a cell-by-cell basis has been developed. This architecture is based on the Integrated Power Source (US patent 5644207), which integrates dual junction solar cells, Lithium Ion battery cells, and processor based charge control electronics into a structural panel that can be deployed or used to form a portion of the outer shell of a micro-spacecraft. The first generation Integrated Power Source is configured as a one inch thick panel in which prismatic Lithium Ion battery cells are arranged in a 3x7 matrix (26VDC) and a 3x1 matrix (3.7VDC) to provide the required output voltages and load currents. A multi-layer structure holds the battery cells, as well as the thermal insulators that are necessary to protect the Lithium Ion battery cells from the extreme temperatures of the solar cell layer. Independent thermal radiators, located on the back of the panel, are dedicated to the solar cell array, the electronics, and the battery cell array. In deployed panel applications, these radiators maintain the battery cells in an appropriate operational temperature range.

Source record↗