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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 1,639 records · Page 91

Estimating and bidding for the Space Station Processing Facility

This new, unique Cost Engineering Report introduces the 800-page, C-100 government estimate for the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF) and Volume IV Aerospace Construction Price Book. At the January 23, 1991, bid opening for the SSPF, the government cost estimate was right on target. Metric, Inc., Prime Contractor, low bid was 1.2 percent below the government estimate. This project contains many different and complex systems. Volume IV is a summary of the cost associated with construction, activation and Ground Support Equipment (GSE) design, estimating, fabrication, installation, testing, termination, and verification of this project. Included are 13 reasons the government estimate was so accurate; abstract of bids, for 8 bidders and government estimate with additive alternates, special labor and materials, budget comparison and system summaries; and comments on the energy credit from local electrical utility. This report adds another project to our continuing study of 'How Does the Low Bidder Get Low and Make Money?' which was started in 1967, and first published in the 1973 AACE Transaction with 10 more ways the low bidder got low. The accuracy of this estimate proves the benefits of our Kennedy Space Center (KSC) teamwork efforts and KSC Cost Engineer Tools which are contributing toward our goals of the Space Station.

Brown, Joseph A.↗

Nonlinear structural analysis on distributed-memory computers

A computational strategy is presented for the nonlinear static and postbuckling analyses of large complex structures on massively parallel computers. The strategy is designed for distributed-memory, message-passing parallel computer systems. The key elements of the proposed strategy are: (1) a multiple-parameter reduced basis technique; (2) a nested dissection (or multilevel substructuring) ordering scheme; (3) parallel assembly of global matrices; and (4) a parallel sparse equation solver. The effectiveness of the strategy is assessed by applying it to thermo-mechanical postbuckling analyses of stiffened composite panels with cutouts, and nonlinear large-deflection analyses of HSCT models on Intel Paragon XP/S computers. The numerical studies presented demonstrate the advantages of nested dissection-based solvers over traditional skyline-based solvers on distributed memory machines.

Watson, Brian C.↗

Meteoroids and Orbital Debris: Effects on Spacecraft

The natural space environment is characterized by many complex and subtle phenomena hostile to spacecraft. The effects of these phenomena impact spacecraft design, development, and operations. Space systems become increasingly susceptible to the space environment as use of composite materials and smaller, faster electronics increases. This trend makes an understanding of the natural space environment essential to accomplish overall mission objectives, especially in the current climate of better/cheaper/faster. Meteoroids are naturally occurring phenomena in the natural space environment. Orbital debris is manmade space litter accumulated in Earth orbit from the exploration of space. Descriptions are presented of orbital debris source, distribution, size, lifetime, and mitigation measures. This primer is one in a series of NASA Reference Publications currently being developed by the Electromagnetics and Aerospace Environments Branch, Systems Analysis and Integration Laboratory, Marshall Space Flight Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Belk, Cynthia A.↗

A Web-Based Monitoring System for Multidisciplinary Design Projects

In today's competitive environment, both industry and government agencies are under pressure to reduce the time and cost of multidisciplinary design projects. New tools have been introduced to assist in this process by facilitating the integration of and communication among diverse disciplinary codes. One such tool, a framework for multidisciplinary computational environments, is defined as a hardware and software architecture that enables integration, execution, and communication among diverse disciplinary processes. An examination of current frameworks reveals weaknesses in various areas, such as sequencing, displaying, monitoring, and controlling the design process. The objective of this research is to explore how Web technology, integrated with an existing framework, can improve these areas of weakness. This paper describes a Web-based system that optimizes and controls the execution sequence of design processes; and monitors the project status and results. The three-stage evolution of the system with increasingly complex problems demonstrates the feasibility of this approach.

Rogers, James L.↗

A Study of Flexible Composites for Expandable Space Structures

Payload volume for launch vehicles is a critical constraint that impacts spacecraft design. Deployment mechanisms, such as those used for solar arrays and antennas, are approaches that have successfully accommodated this constraint, however, providing pressurized volumes that can be packaged compactly at launch and expanded in space is still a challenge. One approach that has been under development for many years is to utilize softgoods - woven fabric for straps, cloth, and with appropriate coatings, bladders - to provide this expandable pressure vessel capability. The mechanics of woven structure is complicated by a response that is nonlinear and often nonrepeatable due to the discrete nature of the woven fiber architecture. This complexity reduces engineering confidence to reliably design and certify these structures, which increases costs due to increased requirements for system testing. The present study explores flexible composite materials systems as an alternative to the heritage softgoods approach. Materials were obtained from vendors who utilize flexible composites for non-aerospace products to determine some initial physical and mechanical properties of the materials. Uniaxial mechanical testing was performed to obtain the stress-strain response of the flexible composites and the failure behavior. A failure criterion was developed from the data, and a space habitat application was used to provide an estimate of the relative performance of flexible composites compared to the heritage softgoods approach. Initial results are promising with a 25% mass savings estimated for the flexible composite solution.

Scotti, Stephen J.↗

Adapting New Space System Designs into Existing Ground Infrastructure

As routine space operations extend beyond earth orbit, the ability for ground infrastructures to take on new launch vehicle systems and a more complex suite of spacecraft and payloads has become a new challenge. The U.S. Vision for Space Exploration and its Constellation Program provides opportunities for our space operations community to meet this challenge. Presently, as new flight and ground systems add to the overall groundbased and space-based capabilities for NASA and its international partners, specific choices are being made as to what to abandon, what to retain, as well as what to build new. The total ground and space-based infrastructure must support a long-term, sustainable operation after it is all constructed, deployed, and activated. This paper addresses key areas of engineering concern during conceptual design, development, and routine operations, with a particular focus on: (1) legacy system reusability, (2) system supportability attributes and operations characteristics, (3) ground systems design trades and criteria, and (4) technology application survey. Each key area explored weighs the merits of reusability of the infrastructure in terms of: engineering analysis methods and techniques; top-level facility, systems, and equipment design criteria; and some suggested methods for making the operational system attributes (the "-ilities") highly visible to the design teams and decisionmakers throughout the design process.

ground system↗

Enabling Assurance in the MBSE Environment

A number of specific benefits that fit within the hallmarks of effective development are realized with implementation of model-based approaches to systems and assurance. Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) enabled by standardized modeling languages (e.g., SysML®) is at the core. These benefits in the context of spaceflight system challenges can include: Improved management of complex development, Reduced risk in the development process, Improved cost management, Improved design decisions. With appropriate modeling techniques the assurance community can improve early oversight and insight into project development. NASA has shown the basic constructs of SysML in an MBSE environment offer several key advantages, within a Model Based Mission Assurance (MBMA) initiative.

Evans, John W.↗

Recovering from On-orbit Anomalies on the Astrobee Free Flyers and its Systems

Since 2019, NASA has been operating three Astrobee free flying robots on board the International Space Station (ISS) providing an autonomous and flexible research platform for national and international payload developers in microgravity and serving as a robotic assistant for astronauts on the ISS. During its use on the ISS, in particular with over 750 hours of free-flyer operation as of March 2022, Astrobee and its Docking Station have encountered multiple software and hardware anomalies. These anomalies were either resolved remotely via software and firmware updates, or, where not possible, with hardware replacements on orbit or by the return of the faulty unit to NASA’s ground facilities for its repair. Despite being inherently designed to be repaired or replaced on orbit, Astrobee and its systems can still suffer anomalies that would be complex enough to disassemble, cause risks of hardware damage, or use excessive crew time to perform the repair in orbit. That was the case for the anomaly the Astrobee unit ‘Honey’ encountered, reason why it needed to be down-massed for repair. One of the most common points of failure was found to be the SD card, which is used for the different Astrobee processors and for the Dock Station. Other comparable SD card anomalies were found also on the Astrobee ground units, which provided useful data in the effort of upgrading their systems. This presentation will focus on 1) The overview of the different faults and anomalies on Astrobee and its systems on orbit and on the ground 2) The processes and procedures implemented to resolve the anomalies 3) The implementation of software updates and hardware upgrades in order to reduce the risk on returning anomalies 4) The lessons learned in increasing Astrobee’s robustness and resilience to such anomalies.

International Space Station↗

Design Techniques for Lightweight Aircraft Motor Drives

Electric aircraft require a propulsion system with a high specific power. Designing electric motor drives for aeronautics applications is a multidisciplinary effort which requires complex design and construction techniques to achieve the desired performance metrics. This presentation explains some of the electrical, mechanical, thermal, and magnetics design techniques used in these motor drives. The presentation also shows how the techniques are used in two ongoing NASA EAP projects.

Aircraft Motor Drive↗

Gateway Autonomy for Enabling Deep Space Exploration

The Gateway spacecraft is an important stepping-stone to exploration of the solar system, integrating commercial and international partners into a tightly coupled system, enabling cislunar activities, and implementing key technologies for missions to Mars. Autonomy is a capability area necessary to handle long communication outages where intervention from Earth is impossible, to prepare to operate with long communication delays that will be common in interplanetary travel, and to make spaceflight more affordable and accessible by reducing sustaining operations costs. The Gateway Concept of Operations states that one of Gateway’s goals is to “focus on infrastructure and systems that will allow autonomous operations aboard the Gateway with robotics, automated systems, advanced communications, and distributed computing.” Gateway’s Vehicle Systems Manager (VSM) and associated Autonomous Spacecraft Management Architecture (ASMA) are key products towards delivering autonomous capability. The primary functions of the control architecture are Mission Management and Timeline Execution, Resource Management, Fault Management, and Vehicle Control and Operation (VCO). In each of these areas, there is an initial level of capability to be delivered at launch, with plans to continue development and grow to greater capability. The initial deployment of VSM will focus on maintaining vehicle safety by focusing on full fault management capabilities and deploying only enough resource and timeline planning functionality to support that. The final deployment of VSM will add significant planning and control optimization functionality to support nominal operations for up to 21 days without ground support, even accommodating fault and failure conditions. While the VSM is the vehicle-level representation of autonomous reasoning, distributed automation is essential to provide the right scope and abstraction of information to process. Module and system support of automation and simplicity of interfaces are two important design paradigms that Gateway is focusing on to garner a systems approach to autonomy. Distribution of reasoning can increase complexity, so Gateway is also taking a strict hierarchical approach to information flow and decision making. VSM is not the only capability necessary to achieve an autonomous spacecraft. Robotics support for maintenance of the spacecraft will be essential to provide continued vehicle functionality even when crew is not present. Technical and programmatic challenges exist when implementing autonomous robotics operations. These challenges include sufficient network flexibility to support data transfer to the rest of the vehicle to coordinate module-to-module robotic walk-offs and finding the proper interfaces to allow sufficient dexterity. Communication system upgrades planned for Gateway include Delay Tolerant Networking to best utilize the complex network of relays that will be part of mature cislunar operations. Distributed computing and management will provide failure tolerance, robustness, and growth of capabilities while still allowing significant reuse of heritage software on heritage systems as well as reuse of common applications across a spacecraft to minimize new development, but this requires adherence to key standards and interfaces. The Gateway program has demonstrated significant progress towards these capabilities and has identified challenges other spacecraft developers should be aware of from the start.

Molly Anderson↗

Gateway Autonomy for Enabling Deep Space Exploration

The Gateway spacecraft is an important stepping-stone to exploration of the solar system, integrating commercial and international partners into a tightly coupled system, enabling cislunar activities, and implementing key technologies for missions to Mars. Autonomy is a capability area necessary to handle long communication outages where intervention from Earth is impossible, to prepare to operate with long communication delays that will be common in interplanetary travel, and to make spaceflight more affordable and accessible by reducing sustaining operations costs. The Gateway Concept of Operations states that one of Gateway’s goals is to “focus on infrastructure and systems that will allow autonomous operations aboard the Gateway with robotics, automated systems, advanced communications, and distributed computing.” Gateway’s Vehicle Systems Manager (VSM) and associated Autonomous Spacecraft Management Architecture (ASMA) are key products towards delivering autonomous capability. The primary functions of the control architecture are Mission Management and Timeline Execution, Resource Management, Fault Management, and Vehicle Control and Operation (VCO). In each of these areas, there is an initial level of capability to be delivered at launch, with plans to continue development and grow to greater capability. The initial deployment of VSM will focus on maintaining vehicle safety by focusing on full fault management capabilities and deploying only enough resource and timeline planning functionality to support that. The final deployment of VSM will add significant planning and control optimization functionality to support nominal operations for up to 21 days without ground support, even accommodating fault and failure conditions. While the VSM is the vehicle-level representation of autonomous reasoning, distributed automation is essential to provide the right scope and abstraction of information to process. Module and system support of automation and simplicity of interfaces are two important design paradigms that Gateway is focusing on to garner a systems approach to autonomy. Distribution of reasoning can increase complexity, so Gateway is also taking a strict hierarchical approach to information flow and decision making. VSM is not the only capability necessary to achieve an autonomous spacecraft. Robotics support for maintenance of the spacecraft will be essential to provide continued vehicle functionality even when crew is not present. Technical and programmatic challenges exist when implementing autonomous robotics operations. These challenges include sufficient network flexibility to support data transfer to the rest of the vehicle to coordinate module-to-module robotic walk-offs and finding the proper interfaces to allow sufficient dexterity. Communication system upgrades planned for Gateway include Delay Tolerant Networking to best utilize the complex network of relays that will be part of mature cislunar operations. Distributed computing and management will provide failure tolerance, robustness, and growth of capabilities while still allowing significant reuse of heritage software on heritage systems as well as reuse of common applications across a spacecraft to minimize new development, but this requires adherence to key standards and interfaces. The Gateway program has demonstrated significant progress towards these capabilities and has identified challenges other spacecraft developers should be aware of from the start.

Molly Anderson↗

Prototype Demonstration of Solar-Carbothermal System to Extract Oxygen From Regolith

The Carbothermal Reduction Demonstration (CaRD) project was an effort to develop a prototype system to demonstrate the extraction of oxygen from simulated lunar regolith using concentrated solar energy and a carbothermal reaction. The prototype consisted of a deployable solar concentrator capable of tracking the sun, carbothermal reactor, fluid system, gas analysis, and a solar concentrator control system consisting of avionics and software. These subsystems were developed by multiple NASA centers and a private industry partner, Sierra Space. The various teams worked together to define requirements and interfaces to successfully assemble the complex system and demonstrate an integrated solar carbothermal process. The solar concentrator developed at Glenn Research Center (GRC) was designed to be stowed for a launch environment then deployed on the lunar surface. It utilized a crossed dragone configuration of composite mirrors to direct horizontal sunlight onto a target 90° from the incoming sunlight. The key performance parameters for the solar concentrator were efficiency and power density. The carbothermal reactor was developed by Sierra Space through a separate project called the Carbothermal Oxygen Production Reactor (COPR) where it successfully demonstrated a fully automated process in a thermal vacuum environment [1]. The fluid system needed for the carbothermal reaction was also developed by Sierra Space and successfully demonstrated in the same thermal vacuum test. The gas analysis system was developed at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and was required to determine the amount of oxygen extracted during each test. The gas analysis system was based on the Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSOLO) instrument. Avionics and software for the CaRD prototype were also developed at KSC and based on experience with MSOLO avionics and software. The control system was designed to stow, deploy, track the sun, and perform beam alignment of the concentrated light. The prototype subsystems were integrated and tested at Johnson Space Center’s (JSC) Energy Systems Test Area. A heliostat was used to direct sunlight toward the prototype in a way that is representative of the sunlight conditions at the south pole of the Moon. When concentrated sunlight was focused on simulated lunar regolith within the reactor, the gas analysis team confirmed the presence of carbon monoxide gas, which confirmed that a solar carbothermal reaction took place. The key performance parameter for the integrated prototype was grams of oxygen extracted per kilowatt hour of energy arriving at the concentrator primary mirror. The prototype design successfully demonstrated end-to-end capability and further steps to achieve a flight capable system have been defined. With lunar data, engineers would be able to design a scaled-up system capable of extracting oxygen from regolith at useful quantities for crew life support and rocket propellant. On the long term, this method of In-Situ Resource Utilization could be used to drastically reduce the cost and risk of a sustained human presence on the Moon by reducing the amount of oxygen that would have to be delivered.

Koorosh R Araghi↗

Prototype Demonstration of Solar Carbothermal System to Extract Oxygen from Regolith

The Carbothermal Reduction Demonstration (CaRD) project was an effort to develop a prototype system to demonstrate the extraction of oxygen from simulated lunar regolith using concentrated solar energy and a carbothermal reaction. The prototype consisted of a deployable solar concentrator capable of tracking the sun, carbothermal reactor, fluid system, gas analysis, and a solar concentrator control system consisting of avionics and software. These subsystems were developed by multiple NASA centers and a private industry partner, Sierra Space. The various teams worked together to define requirements and interfaces to successfully assemble the complex system and demonstrate an integrated solar carbothermal process. The solar concentrator developed at Glenn Research Center (GRC) was designed to be stowed for a launch environment then deployed on the lunar surface. It utilized a crossed dragone configuration of composite mirrors to direct horizontal sunlight onto a target 90° from the incoming sunlight. The key performance parameters for the solar concentrator were efficiency and power density. The carbothermal reactor was developed by Sierra Space through a separate project called the Carbothermal Oxygen Production Reactor (COPR) where it successfully demonstrated a fully automated process in a thermal vacuum environment. The fluid system needed for the carbothermal reaction was also developed by Sierra Space and successfully demonstrated in the same thermal vacuum test. The gas analysis system was developed at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and was required to determine the amount of oxygen extracted during each test. The gas analysis system was based on the Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSOLO) instrument. Avionics and software for the CaRD prototype were also developed at KSC and based on experience with MSOLO avionics and software. The control system was designed to stow, deploy, track the sun, and perform beam alignment of the concentrated light. The prototype subsystems were integrated and tested at Johnson Space Center’s (JSC) Energy Systems Test Area. A heliostat was used to direct sunlight toward the prototype in a way that is representative of the sunlight conditions at the south pole of the Moon. When concentrated sunlight was focused on simulated lunar regolith within the reactor, the gas analysis team confirmed the presence of carbon monoxide gas, which confirmed that a solar carbothermal reaction took place. The key performance parameter for the integrated prototype was grams of oxygen extracted per kilowatt hour of energy arriving at the concentrator primary mirror. The prototype design successfully demonstrated end-to-end capability and further steps to achieve a flight capable system have been defined. With lunar data, engineers would be able to design a scaled-up system capable of extracting oxygen from regolith at useful quantities for crew life support and rocket propellant. On the long term, this method of In-Situ Resource Utilization could be used to drastically reduce the cost and risk of a sustained human presence on the Moon by reducing the amount of oxygen that would have to be delivered.

Aaron Paz↗

Prototype Demonstration of an Integrated Solar Concentrator System and Carbothermal Reactor Using Solar Energy to Extract Oxygen from Regolith

The Carbothermal Reduction Demonstration (CaRD) project was an effort to develop a prototype system to demonstrate the extraction of oxygen from simulated lunar regolith using concentrated solar energy and a carbothermal reaction. The prototype consisted of a deployable solar concentrator capable of tracking the sun, carbothermal reactor, fluid system, gas analysis, and a solar concentrator control system consisting of avionics and software. These subsystems were developed by multiple NASA centers and a private industry partner, Sierra Space. The various teams worked together to define requirements and interfaces to successfully assemble the complex system and demonstrate an integrated solar carbothermal process. The solar concentrator developed at Glenn Research Center (GRC) was designed to be stowed for a launch environment then deployed on the lunar surface. It utilized a crossed dragone configuration of composite mirrors to direct horizontal sunlight onto a target 90° from the incoming sunlight. The key performance parameters for the solar concentrator were efficiency and power density. The carbothermal reactor was developed by Sierra Space through a separate project called the Carbothermal Oxygen Production Reactor (COPR) where it successfully demonstrated a fully automated process in a thermal vacuum environment. The fluid system needed for the carbothermal reaction was also developed by Sierra Space and successfully demonstrated in the same thermal vacuum test. The gas analysis system was developed at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and was required to determine the amount of oxygen extracted during each test. The gas analysis system was based on the Mass Spectrometer Observing Lunar Operations (MSOLO) instrument. Avionics and software for the CaRD prototype were also developed at KSC and based on experience with MSOLO avionics and software. The control system was designed to stow, deploy, track the sun, and perform beam alignment of the concentrated light. The prototype subsystems were integrated and tested at Johnson Space Center’s (JSC) Energy Systems Test Area. A heliostat was used to direct sunlight toward the prototype in a way that is representative of the sunlight conditions at the south pole of the Moon. When concentrated sunlight was focused on simulated lunar regolith within the reactor, the gas analysis team confirmed the presence of carbon monoxide gas, which confirmed that a solar carbothermal reaction took place. The key performance parameter for the integrated prototype was grams of oxygen extracted per kilowatt hour of energy arriving at the concentrator primary mirror. The prototype design successfully demonstrated end-to-end capability and further steps to achieve a flight capable system have been defined. With lunar data, engineers would be able to design a scaled-up system capable of extracting oxygen from regolith at useful quantities for crew life support and rocket propellant. On the long term, this method of In-Situ Resource Utilization could be used to drastically reduce the cost and risk of a sustained human presence on the Moon by reducing the amount of oxygen that would have to be delivered.

Oxygen from Regolith↗

Innovation in Radiological Security, Part 1 of 2 – Using a Cloud Solution to Compress the Timely Detection Model

The design and implementation of new security technologies must account for numerous and complex operational challenges. For example, traditionally isolated systems must now survive amid the proliferation of network connectivity and endure the dynamic environments created by organizations tolerating bring-your-own-device policies. When evaluating the cyber, physical, or cyber-physical security of an asset, a common practice in the security industry is to apply the Timely Detection Model (TDM)—a versatile concept that relates the security functions of detection, delay, and response to the progression of an oppositional force’s attack timeline. If implemented correctly, security enhancements can compress the TDM to offer efficiencies to the stakeholders responsible for adjudicating threat scenarios. The efficiencies gained by the response force allow for more effective protection strategies to be realized. One such enhancement, deployed within the radiological security domain—the Sentry-Remote Monitoring System (Sentry-RMS)—is a stand-alone security system that detects, assesses, and communicates priority alarms as a means of thwarting internal and external threats. The SEntry-RMS CommUnications and REsponse (Sentry-SECURE) platform—an optional feature of the Sentry-RMS—is being developed to facilitate more efficient alarm adjudication by site stakeholders and, if necessary, a faster response by law enforcement. This Cloud-hosted platform receives protected information from deployed Sentry-RMS units and relays it to stakeholders that have vested interests in maintaining an elevated level of situational awareness. Operationally, this enables real-time delivery of high-priority alarm and video imagery directly to an identified response stakeholder, such as local law enforcement or site management, via natively developed mobile applications or full platform integration. The Sentry-SECURE platform, as implemented by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Radiological Security, is an example of an innovative security technology that compresses the TDM by (1) enabling a more efficient time to target and (2) better informing a response force’s predetermined tactics, techniques, and procedures. This paper explores the platform’s operational roles, highlights its principal functions, and presents a use case that demonstrates how the platform provides enhanced situational awareness when adjudicating priority alarms.

Sentry-RMS, Timely Detection Model, Sentry-SECURE↗

Localized High-Concentration Electrolytes Get More Localized

Liquid electrolytes in batteries are typically treated as macroscopically homogeneous ionic transport media, despite having complex chemical composition and atomistic solvation structures, thus leaving a knowledge gap of microstructural characteristics. A promising electrolyte system design has recently been developed with the title of a localized high-concentration electrolyte (LHCE). These electrolytes are a summation of three components – a charge-carrying salt, a solvent that solvates the salt, and a diluent that is sparingly interactive with the salt in terms of ion solvation. This creates the perception of a high-concentration electrolyte (HCE) with high anion-cation interactions that supports a salt-derived, stable solid-electrolyte interphase, while an LHCE improves bulk electrolyte properties, such as ionic conductivity and viscosity, when compared to an HCE. Much trial by error design of this LHCE concept has been supported by simulations to confirm ionic interactions, cycling data to confirm cell stability, and post-mortem analysis to provide evidence of mechanisms. However, a systematic design to extend the capabilities of LHCEs is still to be desired. Here, we analyzed a specific LHCE mixture to dictate the best viable mixture that extends the localization of solvation structures while maintaining viable cell-level capabilities. We seek to observe and understand solvent-to-salt interactions that impact electrolyte performance. These interactions range from single-ion solvation, multidentate interactions (i.e., solvation-driven clustering), to more widespread network-level interactions. With the support of both experimental and computational analysis of different electrolyte features, we have begun a methodology of formulating the most ideal LHCE mixtures for improving the cyclability of high-capacity battery chemistries.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

Technoeconomic Analysis of Discrete and Unitized Reversible Fuel Cells for Energy Storage Applications

Reversible Fuel Cell (RFC) systems offer promising characteristics for stationary long duration energy storage applications. Two main configurations of RFC systems exist: discrete RFC systems and unitized RFC systems. While discrete RFC systems combine independent fuel cell and electrolyzer systems for energy storage, unitized RFC systems utilize a single electrochemical stack and might share balance of plant (BOP) components for both charging and discharging processes. While this configuration reduces upfront capital costs, challenges of unitized RFC designs include potential performance trade-offs due to dual-mode stack design and operational complexities across varying loads and operating conditions. Furthermore, these tradeoffs might be different for low-temperature PEM RFCs than for high-temperature reversible solid oxide cell systems. The goal of this project is to assess unitized RFC system potential in the context of long duration grid energy storage and HFTO's technical targets for different discrete fuel cell and electrolyzer technologies. This presentation presents preliminary review of state-of-the-art unitized RFC cells and assesses how they perform relative to HFTO's technical targets. It also presents literature-derived system configurations worth investigating. This review indicates that lab-scale unitized RFCs are making good progress towards meeting HFTO's technical targets.

HYDROGEN↗

Software and System Health Management with R2U2

R2U2 (Realizable, Responsive, Unobtrusive Unit) is a hardware-supported tool and framework for the real-time system and software health management of cyber-physical systems. R2U2 continuously monitors properties about safety, performance, and security of the vehicle and can perform diagnostic reasoning. Efficient observers for past-time and future-time Metric Temporal Logic, reasoners for Bayesian Networks, and model-based prognostics algorithms are major components of R2U2. Their combination makes it possible to design powerful models for system runtime monitoring, diagnostics, software health management, prognostics, and security monitoring. The R2U2 monitoring engine is designed for minimal runtime overhead and is available as Simulink block or as a software component for integration into the flight software stack, and enables R2U2 to monitor complex cyber-physical systems without any instrumentation of the flight software. In this presentation, we give an overview of R2U2 architecture and reasoning algorithms, present its features, and give a life demo of the tool.

Schumann, Johann↗