SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “prototype”

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.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 163 records · Page 9

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

DOE OSTI2019

Updated OpenStudio Small and Medium Office Prototype Models

The U.S. Department of Energy supports the development of commercial building energy codes and standards by participating in industry review, update processes, and providing technical analyses to support both published model codes and potential changes. In support of ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1 and International Energy Conservation Code, 16 commercial prototype building models were developed that cover 80% of the commercial building floor area in the United States for new construction, including both commercial buildings and mid- to high-rise residential buildings, across all U.S. climate zones. Of these, the small, medium, and large office buildings take about 12% of total commercial building floor area.Currently, small, medium, and large office prototype building models have simplified, single space type, while other building types includes more detailed space types. As such, the office prototype could not be easily used to properly assess changes (i.e. measures applied) to difference spaces commonly found in an office. This work has added new space types to the small and medium office, with properties based on several vintages of ASHRAE Standard 90.1 in different climate zones, and compared energy use of these newly-improved models with that of the original models.

Im, Piljae↗

DOE OSTI2012

Trade-off study on the power capacity of a prototype SFR in Korea

The major roles of a prototype SFR are to provide irradiation test capability for the fuel and structure materials, and to obtain operational experiences of systems. Due to a compromise between the irradiation capability and construction costs, the power level should be properly determined. In this paper, a trade-off study on the power level of the prototype SFR was performed from a neutronics viewpoint. To select candidate cores, the parametric study of pin diameters was estimated using 20 wt.% uranium fuel. The candidate cores of different power levels, 125 MWt, 250 MWt, 400 MWt, and 500 MWt, were compared with the 1500 MWt reference core. The resulting core performance and economic efficiency indices became insensitive to the power at about 400-500 MWt and sharply deteriorated at about 125-250 MWt with decreasing core sizes. Fuel management scheme, TRU core performance comparing with uranium core, and sodium void reactivity were also evaluated with increasing power levels. It is found that increasing the number of batches showed higher burnup performance and economic efficiency. However, increasing the cycle length showed the trends in lower economic efficiency. Irradiation performance of TRU and enriched TRU cores was improved about 20 % and 50 %, respectively. The maximum sodium void reactivity of 5.2$ was confirmed less than the design limit of 7.5$. As a result, the power capacity of the prototype SFR should not be less than 250 MWt and would be appropriate at {approx} 500 MWt considering the performance and economic efficiency. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

DOE OSTI2015

A Prototype {sup 212}Pb Medical Dose Calibrator for Alpha Radioimmunotherapy

AREVA Med, an AREVA group subsidiary, is developing innovative cancer-fighting therapies involving the use of {sup 212}Pb for alpha radioimmunotherapy. Canberra Industries, the nuclear measurement subsidiary of AREVA, has been working with AREVA Med to develop a prototype measurement system to assay syringes containing a {sup 212}Pb solution following production by an elution system. The relative fraction of emitted radiation from the source associated directly with the {sup 212}Pb remains dynamic for approximately 6 hours after the parent is chemically purified. A significant challenge for this measurement application is that the short half-life of the parent nuclide requires assay prior to reaching equilibrium with progeny nuclides. A gross counting detector was developed to minimize system costs and meet the large dynamic range of source activities. Prior to equilibrium, a gross counting system must include the period since the {sup 212}Pb was pure to calculate the count rate attributable to the parent rather than the progeny. The dynamic state is determined by solving the set of differential equations, or Bateman equations, describing the source decay behavior while also applying the component measurement efficiencies for each nuclide. The efficiencies were initially estimated using mathematical modeling (MCNP) but were then benchmarked with source measurements. The goal accuracy of the system was required to be within 5%. Independent measurements of the source using a high resolution spectroscopic detector have shown good agreement with the prototype system results. The prototype design was driven by cost, compactness and simplicity. The detector development costs were minimized by using existing electronics and firmware with a Geiger-Mueller tube derived from Canberra's EcoGamma environmental monitoring product. The acquisition electronics, communications and interface were controlled using Python with the EcoGamma software development kit on a Raspberry Pi Linux computer mounted inside a standard project box. The results of initial calibration measurements are presented. (authors)

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2016

Surrogate materials options for single phase conjugate heat transfer scaled experiments of light water reactors at prototypical conditions

In light water reactors, the conjugate heat transfer between heating rods and cooling water is a problem of paramount importance that has been studied for decades. The design of nuclear reactors depends on correlations for the heat transfer coefficient between heat source and coolant, and experimental studies are needed to improve the existing correlations, develop new ones that are adapted to the new reactors designed and their components, and develop high fidelity turbulence models. No studies have been carried out yet at prototypical conditions where the liquid velocity and temperature fields are measured, because of the difficulty to find instruments that can resist the extreme operating conditions. Here, two surrogate gases, sulfur hexafluoride and cryogenic nitrogen, are proposed to conduct conjugate heat transfer experiments at prototypical conditions. Surrogate structural materials are also investigated to favorably reproduce conjugate heat transfer for steady and transient operations. The operating conditions are now less demanding than high-pressure, high-temperature water, which allows the deployment of many proven diagnostics. To demonstrate these surrogate materials, a sample scaling analysis is applied to one pressurized water reactor fuel rod under axial flow and vibrations, showing a very close matching between prototype and model for the conjugate heat transfer. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

DOE OSTI2018

A Prototype Dual Robot System to Perform Ultrasonic and Visual Inspection for the Bottom of Double-Shell Tanks - 18624

Up to this point, ultrasonic inspection-based condition data has only been available for double-shell tank (DST) sidewalls because direct inspection access to the primary tank bottom is limited to vent duct channels in an insulating refractory pad that the primary tank rests on. Probe access through the air slot would provide the opportunity to get information about the condition of the bottom of the primary tank, but it is a challenge to deploy a crawling robot that is capable of performing nondestructive ultrasonic and visual inspection through confined air slots. As such, a conceptual prototype of a deployable inspection robot system to enable ultrasonic and visual inspection for DST base through ventilation ducts was designed and fabricated. This prototype dual robot system consisting of the AnnulusBot and the MouseBot can be integrated with nondestructive evaluation (NDE) sensors to inspect and examine the physical properties of the underside of DSTs to enable status assessment. The AnnulusBot was designed to carry the MouseBot and to be deployed to the annulus space through a riser. To deploy the MouseBot to every ventilation channel in the annulus, the arm consisting of a boom and a forearm was used to place the MouseBot on the underside of the tank. The AnnulusBot used segmented wheels enable to traverse pipes and other potential obstacles. The cable management system utilized motorized wheels to feed the cable into the ventilation channel. This would reduce the amount of work that the MouseBot would have to do during inspection. This feeding mechanism would also be used to retrieve the MouseBot at the end of its inspection. Additionally, if the MouseBot fails, this mechanism would be used for retrieval. Once deployed, the MouseBot navigates to the center of the tank via the air ventilation channel beneath the inner shell (the primary tank) while inspecting the space. The MouseBot is then retrieved from the channel by a combination of its own drive power and the AnnulusBot retracting the attached umbilical cord. Compare with the AnnulusBot, the physical dimensional limitations of the MouseBot were a greater challenge. As the surface state of the concrete of the air channels could have variable texture, and may contain debris, it was decided not to travel along this surface. The ceiling of these channels is carbon steel and can be utilized throughout the channel. To use this travel surface, magnetic wheels were employed. A foreseeable problem with the use of magnets on this surface, is that they would preclude the use of eddy currents sensors. However, other technologies like ultrasonic technology sensors should be unaffected. Laboratory scale test was performed on a mock-up single wedge of the refractory pad to evaluate maneuverability of the MouseBot. The electronic components for the prototype would work in the ranges of 150-185 deg. F (65.6-85 deg. C). Both the AnnulusBot and MouseBot will be subject to constant radiation. All major printed circuit board (PCB) microcontroller components were designed to be situated outside of the annulus space and inside the main control panel to avoid radiation-induced failure. As future work, electronic components including the Arduinos that used Atmel commercial microcontrollers will be replaced with the high temperature rated Atmel microcontrollers so that the robots can be operated reliably at ambient temperatures up to 200 deg. F (93.3 deg. C). In addition, the robots will be service life tested to evaluate performance at elevated temperature and under gamma irradiation. (authors)

42 ENGINEERING↗

DOE OSTI2019

Safely Managing CNL's Shutdown Prototype Power Reactors - 30 years of Experience - 19157

Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) has over 30 years of experience managing three prototype power reactors from shutdown through storage with surveillance and into preparation from final decommissioning. CNL is responsible for the safe storage with surveillance of three prototype power reactors; Nuclear Power Demonstration (NPD), Gentilly-1(G1) and Douglas Point (DP). Each of the Canadian prototype power reactor sites have been maintained using different post shutdown management strategies, which were based on the site location, configuration, and intended designation of the respective sites. This paper will discuss the post shutdown strategies employed at the three sites, including details of their shutdown strategy, current conditions, and experience gained from the period of storage with surveillance. (author)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗

DOE OSTI2023

Design of a prototypical natural circulation water-based reactor cavity cooling system (RCCS) for a pebble-bed generic FHR

A prototypical natural circulation water-based reactor cavity cooling system (RCCS) for the UC Berkeley Mark-1 pebble-bed gFHR is designed based on one-dimensional thermal hydraulics modeling and optimization implemented in an in-house MATLAB code. The model employs a lumped core consisting of fuel pebble and graphite pebble regions, while the graphite reflector, vessel, and RCCS are represented as separate but energy-coupled regions. The model is derived based on steady state energy balance equations accounting for conductive heat transfer from the lumped core to the vessel and subsequent radiative heat transfer to the RCCS and convective heat transfer in the water. Further, mass flow rate is calculated based on momentum and thermal energy balance in the RCCS. Starting with ANL’s water NSTF as baseline, effects of RCCS design parameters such as size of the plate between pipes, pipe diameter, source-to-sink distance, surface emissivity, and pitch from the core are examined in an integral effects framework which accounts for subsequent variation of the mass flow rate, number of pipes, convection coefficient, mean region and surface temperatures, radiative view factors, and water outlet temperature. The importance of including a prototypical reactor design in RCCS design calculations is emphasized as the calculations show that temperature drops from the core to the RCCS fluid to transfer the heat tend to be the limitation not the heat removal capacity of the fluid. A closed-loop design is obtained with capability to safely remove up to 0.72% of the nominal reactor power at maximum estimated peak conditions and 0.40% at shutdown. The design is based on physics calculations and does not account for economic optimization.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

DOE OSTI2023

Establishing a versatile toolkit of flux enhanced strains and cell extracts for pathway prototyping

Building and optimizing biosynthetic pathways in engineered cells holds promise to address societal needs in energy, materials, and medicine, but it is often time-consuming. Cell-free synthetic biology has emerged as a powerful tool to accelerate design-build-test-learn cycles for pathway engineering with increased tolerance to toxic compounds. However, most cell-free pathway prototyping to date has been performed in extracts from wildtype cells which often do not have sufficient flux towards the pathways of interest, which can be enhanced by engineering. Here, in this study, to address this gap, we create a set of engineered Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains rewired via CRISPR-dCas9 to achieve high-flux toward key metabolic precursors; namely, acetyl-CoA, shikimate, triose-phosphate, oxaloacetate, α-ketoglutarate, and glucose-6-phosphate. Cell-free extracts generated from these strains are used for targeted enzyme screening in vitro. As model systems, we assess in vivo and in vitro production of triacetic acid lactone from acetyl-CoA and muconic acid from the shikimate pathway. The need for these platforms is exemplified by the fact that muconic acid cannot be detected in wildtype extracts provided with the same biosynthetic enzymes. We also perform metabolomic comparison to understand biochemical differences between the cellular and cell-free muconic acid synthesis systems (E. coli and S. cerevisiae cells and cell extracts with and without metabolic rewiring). While any given pathway has different interfaces with metabolism, we anticipate that this set of pre-optimized, flux enhanced cell extracts will enable prototyping efforts for new biosynthetic pathways and the discovery of biochemical functions of enzymes.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2019

Prototype Coil Evaluation for NSTX-U Replacement Inner Poloidal Field Coils

The National Spherical Torus eXperiment Upgrade (NSTX-U) is an innovative magnetic fusion device constructed at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). In 2016, because of the failure of the PF-1a upper divertor coil, which experienced a coolant blockage, the NSTX-U operation was suspended. A postmortem investigation indicated that an undetected gradual deterioration of coil inductance preceded the coolant blockage leading up to the operational suspension. The project team decided that all inner poiloidal field (PF) upper and lower coil pairs, denoted PF-1a, PF-1b, and PF-1c, shall be replaced with new coils of improved design and manufacture. Here, the new prototype inner PF coils from four suppliers across the globe were evaluated at PPPL following a prototype technical evaluation procedure. Mechanical inspection and electrical testing were performed to qualify each supplier.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2014

Structural Divergence in Vertebrate Phylogeny of a Duplicated Prototype Galectin

Prototype galectins, endogenously expressed animal lectins with a single carbohydrate recognition domain, are well-known regulators of tissue properties such as growth and adhesion. The earliest discovered and best studied of the prototype galectins is Galectin-1 (Gal-1). In the Gallus gallus (chicken) genome, Gal-1 is represented by two homologs: Gal-1A and Gal-1B, with distinct biochemical properties, tissue expression, and developmental functions. We investigated the origin of the Gal-1A/Gal-1B divergence to gain insight into when their developmental functions originated and how they could have contributed to vertebrate phenotypic evolution. Sequence alignment and phylogenetic tree construction showed that the Gal-1A/Gal-1B divergence can be traced back to the origin of the sauropsid lineage (consisting of extinct and extant reptiles and birds) although lineage-specific duplications also occurred in the amphibian and actinopterygian genomes. Gene synteny analysis showed that sauropsid gal-1b (the gene for Gal-1B) and its frog and actinopterygian gal-1 homologs share a similar chromosomal location, whereas sauropsid gal-1a has translocated to a new position. Surprisingly, we found that chicken Gal-1A, encoded by the translocated gal-1a, was more similar in its tertiary folding pattern than Gal-1B, encoded by the untranslocated gal-1b, to experimentally determined and predicted folds of nonsauropsid Gal-1s. This inference is consistent with our finding of a lower proportion of conserved residues in sauropsid Gal-1Bs, and evidence for positive selection of sauropsid gal-1b, but not gal-1a genes. We propose that the duplication and structural divergence of Gal-1B away from Gal-1A led to specialization in both expression and function in the sauropsid lineage.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2025

Rapid Prototyping Techniques for Organic Direct-Bonded-Copper Power Modules

Organic Direct-Bonded-Copper (ODBC) is a novel packaging technology for power modules which allows higher flexibility in layout design. In this work, a set of rapid prototyping techniques are developed for ODBC modules based on a polyimide dielectric material. These techniques enable fast and low-cost fabrication of modules with 3-Dimensional (3D) layout features. An example half-bridge (HB) silicon carbide (SiC) metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) module is designed and prototyped using the proposed techniques aiming at ultra-low power loop inductance. Finite element analysis (FEA)-circuit co-simulations results and experimental results validate an approximately 0.71nH power loop inductance for the example module design.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2012

Development and Analysis of Desiccant Enhanced Evaporative Air Conditioner Prototype

This report documents the design of a desiccant enhanced evaporative air conditioner (DEVAP AC) prototype and the testing to prove its performance. Previous numerical modeling and building energy simulations indicate a DEVAP AC can save significant energy compared to a conventional vapor compression AC (Kozubal et al. 2011). The purposes of this research were to build DEVAP prototypes, test themto validate the numerical model, and identify potential commercialization barriers.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

DOE OSTI2019

DE-FE0031180 Final Report - LGFCS Prototype System Testing - R0

In the project, LGFCS assembled and tested its modular SOFC Power System that incorporates all critical technology improvements identified for its “product-like” demonstration. This product demonstrator is expected to meet customer and LGFCS performance expectations for operation, availability, durability and serviceability. The principal technology improvements are aimed at increasing the fuel cell power output and reducing the stack degradation rate. Improvements were also made for added system robustness and increased reliability. The objective of this program is to test a 250kWe thermally self-sustaining modular solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) Power System for a minimum of 5,000 hours while advancing this commercial prototype product demonstrator to a Technical Readiness Level (TRL) 7. The SOFC system was tested on a site provided by Stark State College in North Canton, Ohio. System performance and degradation as well as cost estimates were compared to established SOFC Program performance metrics to assess progress. The major achievements were to assemble, and QA qualify 70 fuel cell strips for 12 integrated blocks into a fuel cell vessel and install it into a generator module with the fuel and power electronics modules on the test site. Performance to date included over 1800 hours on load at 250 KW-AC to the grid with a DC efficiency of 61% and AC efficiency of 55%. Power degradation was less than 0.4% per 1000 hours and NOx emissions met standards. The LGFCS SOFC Prototype System (GEN0) was demonstrated in an operational environment and therefore achieving Technical Readiness Level 7. The work presented here represents the efforts of all the employees of LG Fuel Cell Systems. Their dedication and hard work made GEN0 possible and successful.

03 NATURAL GAS↗

DOE OSTI2019

LGFCS Prototype System Testing (Final Report)

In the project, LGFCS assembled and tested its modular SOFC Power System that incorporates all critical technology improvements identified for its “product-like” demonstration. This product demonstrator is expected to meet customer and LGFCS performance expectations for operation, availability, durability and serviceability. The principal technology improvements are aimed at increasing the fuel cell power output and reducing the stack degradation rate. Improvements were also made for added system robustness and increased reliability. The objective of this program is to test a 250kWe thermally self-sustaining modular solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) Power System for a minimum of 5,000 hours while advancing this commercial prototype product demonstrator to a Technical Readiness Level (TRL) 7. The SOFC system was tested on a site provided by Stark State College in North Canton, Ohio. System performance and degradation as well as cost estimates were compared to established SOFC Program performance metrics to assess progress. The major achievements were to assemble, and QA qualify 70 fuel cell strips for 12 integrated blocks into a fuel cell vessel and install it into a generator module with the fuel and power electronics modules on the test site. Performance to date included over 1800 hours on load at 250 KWAC to the grid with a DC efficiency of 61% and AC efficiency of 55%. Power degradation was less than 0.4% per 1000 hours and NOx emissions met standards. The LGFCS SOFC Prototype System (GEN0) was demonstrated in an operational environment and therefore achieving Technical Readiness Level 7. The work presented here represents the efforts of all the employees of LG Fuel Cell Systems. Their dedication and hard work made GEN0 possible and successful.

03 NATURAL GAS↗

DOE OSTI2021

Uranium Prototype Glovebox and Furnace Design and Build (SPC-2954)

This specification contains the requirements for design, analysis, fabrication, testing and delivery of the Uranium Prototype Glovebox (UPG) and Furnace, and the associated equipment as described herein. The UPG will be primarily used for the containment of uranium and the prototyping of equipment to be used in higher hazard category gloveboxes. This will allow complex pieces of equipment to be tested in a less hazardous environment prior to fabrication and installation in other gloveboxes.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

DOE OSTI2022

1.2.4.404 - Data-Driven Approach for Hydropower Plant Controller Prototyping Using Remote Hardware in the Loop (DR-HIL)

Real-time prototyping of hydropower plant controls is important for reducing the cost and the risk of field deployment. This project will 1) collect design and operational data from actual hydro plants and 2) use a physics-informed machine learning approach for real-time emulation of hydropower plants, including hydro turbine and hydrodynamics. The data-driven models will be interfaced with digital real-time simulation at NREL’s Flatirons campus for hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing of the governor hardware device or controller-HIL (CHIL). The proposed approach will also establish the connectivity based remote CHIL testing capability using real-time data streams from an actual hydro plant. This integrated hydro-plant emulation with CHIL will be used to prototype hydro-governor controls and eventually provide an opportunity to test hydropower integrated with various technologies (e.g. conventional and renewable generation, energy conversion, etc.) as HIL.

controls prototyping↗

DOE OSTI2023

Analysis of an optical imaging system prototype for autonomously monitoring zooplankton in an aquaculture facility

Traditional approaches to biomonitoring in aquatic systems, such as sample collection, sorting, and identification, require significant time and effort, thereby limiting the spatiotemporal resolution of sample collection. Additionally, collection and preservation of samples for subsequent taxonomic identification and enumeration leads to mortality of organisms. Recent advances in technologies that utilize optical imaging and machine learning have provided new opportunities to expedite biomonitoring and lead to significant cost savings. These technologies can be advantageous to scientists or managers that conduct routine biomonitoring to inform operations, as in the case of aquaculture facilities. The Small Aquatic Organism optical imaging system (SAO) is a high-throughput optical imaging and classification prototype system that relies on computer vision and machine learning (Support Vector Machines, or SVMs) to autonomously identify and enumerate aquatic organisms. The SAO provides a more sustainable method of collecting large volumes of data and has the benefit of being used in situ. In this study, we tested the performance of the SAO in providing comparable results to manual zooplankton community monitoring in ten ponds at an aquaculture facility. We performed a side-by-side study comparing the sampling methods of plankton tow nets, where major zooplankton taxonomic classes were manually identified and enumerated, to sampling with the SAO. Vouchered samples were used to develop a training library for the SAO, where classes consisted of water boatman and zooplankton groups: cladocerans, copepod adults, copepod nauplii, and rotifers. SAO imagery was manually classified and compared with predicted results for validation. Accuracy for the SVM classifier of the SAO was 37.4 %. Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) and Random Forest classifiers were also applied to SAO imagery and image features for comparison. The best CNN model and our Random Forest model had accuracies of 80.4 % and 46.6 % respectively. Challenges faced included the small size of copepod nauplii and rotifers and the limited resolution of the imaging camera, although there are tradeoffs between imaging resolution and the sample processing rate. Furthermore, our comparison shows that advancement in both optical imaging and ML are needed in order for the SAO prototype to yield comparable results to manual community monitoring in an aquaculture facility.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2024

Development and experimental evaluation of an acoustic flow meter prototype for measuring air flow

Here, this study outlines the development and testing of a flow meter prototype specifically designed for use in nuclear reactor environments. The meter uses flow-induced vibration to measure flow rates and is designed for remote monitoring in harsh environments where radiation can damage electronics. The device generates a vibration signal produced by a feedback system when fluid flows out of an orifice and interacts with a downstream wedge. The frequency of the vibration signal corresponds directly to flow rate and velocity. The study investigates geometric parameters intrinsic to the prototype, such as orifice height, width, edge distance, and chamber length. Different configurations were also tested, including a bypass loop with variable cross-sections around the device. The investigation results reveal the impact of these geometric parameters on the vibration signal output, providing valuable insights for future design improvements and enhancing the effectiveness of flow metering systems used in nuclear reactor applications.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗