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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 1,693 records · Page 94
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2016

Atmospheric aerosols size distribution properties in winter and pre-monsoon over western Indian Thar Desert location

The first ever experimental results over Indian Thar Desert region concerning to height integrated aerosols size distribution function in particles size ranging between 0.09 to 2 µm such as, aerosols columnar size distribution (CSD), effective radius (R{sub eff}), integrated content of total aerosols (N{sub t}), columnar content of accumulation and coarse size aerosols particles concentration (N{sub a}) (size < 0.5 µm) and (N{sub c}) (size between 0.5 to 2 µm) have been described specifically during winter (a stable weather condition and intense anthropogenic pollution activity period) and pre-monsoon (intense dust storms of natural mineral aerosols as well as unstable atmospheric weather condition period) at Jaisalmer (26.90°N, 69.90°E, 220 m above surface level (asl)) located in central Thar desert vicinity of western Indian site. The CSD and various derived other aerosols size parameters are retrieved from their average spectral characteristics of Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT) from UV to Infrared wavelength spectrum measured from Multi-Wavelength solar Radiometer (MWR). The natures of CSD are, in general, bio-modal character, instead of uniformly distributed character and power law distributions. The observed primary peaks in CSD plots are seen around about 10{sup 13} m{sup 2} μm{sup −1} at radius range 0.09-0.20 µm during both the seasons. But, in winter months, secondary peaks of relatively lower CSD values of 10{sup 10} to 10{sup 11} m{sup 2}/μm{sup −1} occur within a lower radius size range 0.4 to 0.6 µm. In contrast to this, while in dust dominated and hot season, the dominated secondary maxima of the higher CSD of about 10{sup 12} m{sup 2}μm{sup −3} is found of bigger aerosols size particles in a rage of 0.6 to 1.0 µm which is clearly demonstrating the characteristics of higher aerosols laden of bigger size aerosols in summer months relative to their prevailed lower aerosols loading of smaller size aerosols particles (0.4 to 0.6 µm) in cold months. Several other interesting features of changing nature of monthly spectral AOT, R{sub eff}, N{sub t}, N{sub a} and N{sub C} (particles/m{sup 2}) have been discussed in detail in this paper.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2017

Interplay of electron and proton instabilities in expanding solar wind

Protons and electrons observed in the solar wind possess temperature anisotropies for which upper and lower bounds appear to be partially regulated by marginal conditions associated with various kinetic plasma instabilities. Such features are most clearly seen when a collection of measurements is plotted as a two-dimensional histogram in (β{sub ∥},T{sub ⊥}/T{sub ∥}) phase space. While the partial outer boundaries of such data distribution may well be explained by various instability threshold conditions, an outstanding issue is that the majority of data points are actually located sufficiently away from the boundaries and reside in near isotropic conditions. This implies that certain processes are operative that counteract the adiabatic effect in the radially expanding solar wind, without which solar wind plasma will inexorably be forced to proceed toward the marginal firehose condition. A number of physical processes have been proposed in the literature to explain such a feature. The present paper suggests yet another mechanism. It considers dynamic electrons and protons in the quasilinear evolution of anisotropy-driven instabilities, which is in contrast to previous studies where either protons or electrons are assumed to be stationary when considering the dynamics of the other particle species. It is shown that the dynamical interplay between the two species during the quasilinear development of parallel electron firehose and proton–cyclotron instabilities leads to a counter-balancing effect, which prevents the uniform progression of the solar wind protons toward the marginal firehose state.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Locational Sensitivity Investigation on PV Hosting Capacity and Fast Track PV Screening

A 15% PV penetration threshold is commonly used by utilities to define photovoltaic (PV) screening methods where PV penetration is defined as the ratio of total solar PV capacity on a line section to peak load. However, this method doesn't take into account PV locational impact or feeder characteristics that could strongly change the feeder's capability to host PVs. This paper investigates the impact of PV location and phase connection type on PV hosting capacity, and then proposes a fast-track PV screening approach that leverages various PV hosting capacity metric responding to different PV locations and types. The proposed study could help utilities to evaluate PV interconnection requests and also help increase the PV hosting capacity of distribution feeders without adverse impacts on system voltages.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Net-Zero Carbon Microgrids

The microgrid concept has been effective in creating aggregations of distributed energy resources—generation, storage and loads—for resiliency, in the form of energy security. The success of microgrids in bringing energy security to a wide range of customers—from individual residences to commercial and industrial installations to military bases—has been exemplified during power disruptions and extended outages due to extreme weather events, cybersecurity attacks, and equipment failures. Now microgrids have an opportunity to meet the challenges of climate change and contribute to a carbon-free power delivery system. The transition to net-zero starts within microgrids themselves. In fact, today’s microgrids are largely dominated by generators using fossil fuels, natural gas and diesel, with high greenhouse gas emissions. In short, the transition to net-zero means replacing fossil fueled generators with renewable generation in microgrids. This transition is extended by including new dispatchable generation technologies that are 100% carbon-free and that offer additional advantage of a more-dependable and sustainable source of energy and power. Basically, the decarbonization of microgrids requires three elements: 1) maximizing generation from renewable energy resources, 2) management of storage and flexible loads to balance the variability and intermittency of renewable energy resources, and 3) introducing new clean power sources, including hydrogen-based generation and small modular reactors. This report affirms a need for specific focus by governmental agencies at national, regional, and local levels to establish technology, policy, and investment in this area. The intention of the Net-Zero Microgrid (NZM) Program is to inform these constituencies with cross-cutting research and tools for the reduction of GHG in microgrids – to net-zero in the near term eventually to zero in the longer term. The NZM Program is committed to achieving decarbonization for resiliency and for providing clean energy at the local or distribution level, from remote communities to underserved communities, and large industrial and military facilities. The NZM Planning and Design Platform is a core tool to be developed as an early deliverable of the NZM Program because only a fully integrated microgrid-design approach will ensure maximum carbon reduction in energy production.

13 HYDRO ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

High-Efficiency Modular SiC-based Power-Converter for Flexible-CHP Systems with Stability-Enhanced Grid-Support Functions

This project seeks to develop a modular, scalable MV power converter featuring stability-enhanced grid-support functions for future grid-interface applications in flexible combined heat and power (F-CHP) cogeneration plants, being fully compliant with the IEEE Standard 1547, category B—for operation in local areas with high aggregated distributed energy resource (DER) penetration, and also with the IEEE standard for the specification of microgrid controllers, namely IEEE Std 2030.7, with the goal to enable F-CHP systems for both microgrid and standalone applications. Further, the proposed converter will use a modular circuit topology, the MMC, which is scalable both in voltage and current by interconnecting power-cell building blocks, thus flexibly suiting the needs of F-CHP systems in the 1–20 MWe range. Furthermore, the use of 10 kV SiC MOSFET devices will minimize the number of power-cells needed to operate in 2–13.8 kV MV distribution systems, but more importantly, they will render feasible a power conversion efficiency > 98 %, and a power density > 10 kW/l. This is highly relevant given that these are two key performance metrics that will further increase the value of F-CHP systems by shortening the time required to recover their investment costs.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Atlas of solar hidden photon emission

Hidden photons, gauge bosons of a U(1) symmetry of a hidden sector, can constitute the dark matter of the universe and a smoking gun for large volume compactifications of string theory. In the sub-eV mass range, a possible discovery experiment consists on searching the copious flux of these particles emitted from the Sun in a helioscope setup à la Sikivie. In this paper, we compute in great detail the flux of HPs from the Sun, a necessary ingredient for interpreting such experiments. We provide a detailed exposition of transverse photon-HP oscillations in inhomogenous media, with special focus on resonance oscillations, which play a leading role in many cases. The region of the Sun emitting HPs resonantly is a thin spherical shell for which we justify an averaged-emission formula and which implies a distinctive morphology of the angular distribution of HPs on Earth in many cases. Low mass HPs with energies in the visible and IR have resonances very close to the photosphere where the solar plasma is not fully ionised and requires building a detailed model of solar refraction and absorption. We present results for a broad range of HP masses (from 0–1 keV) and energies (from the IR to the X-ray range), the most complete atlas of solar HP emission to date.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Scalable PETSc Implementation of the Three-Phase Unbalanced AC Power Flow Solver

A revolutionary transition of energy infrastructure, spanning across supply and demand sectors, is happening all around the world. Integration of renewable energy sources into our ever-complex power distribution networks is central to the infrastructure planning of the future. One step towards achieving this goal is to solve unbalanced transmission and distribution systems. Traditional approaches and software tools are not suitable because they assume a completely balanced 3-phase system, hence a single-phase equivalent can be solved. Renewable energy such as wind and solar power are intermittent and can pose a challenge when integrating into an already unbalanced power grid. Furthermore, these power grids can be quite large at scale consisting of potentially thousands of buses, which can be computationally demanding. This poster presents preliminary work on designing a robust and scalable 3-phase unbalanced AC power flow solver. The proposed power flow solver will eventually be built on top of the PETSc library and utilizes state-of-the-art parallel data structures like the DMNetwork as well as iterative solvers and preconditioners.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Preferential heating of oxygen 5{sup +} ions by finite-amplitude oblique Alfvén waves

Minor ions in the fast solar wind are known to have higher temperatures and to flow faster than protons in the interplanetary space. In this study we combine previous research on parametric instability theory and 2.5D hybrid simulations to study the onset of preferential heating of Oxygen 5{sup +} ions by large-scale finite-amplitude Alfvén waves in the collisionless fast solar wind. We consider initially non-drifting isotropic multi-species plasma, consisting of isothermal massless fluid electrons, kinetic protons and kinetic Oxygen 5{sup +} ions. The external energy source for the plasma heating and energization are oblique monochromatic Alfvén-cyclotron waves. The waves have been created by rotating the direction of initial parallel pump, which is a solution of the multi-fluid plasma dispersion relation. We consider propagation angles θ ≤ 30°. The obliquely propagating Alfvén pump waves lead to strong diffusion in the ion phase space, resulting in highly anisotropic heavy ion velocity distribution functions and proton beams. We discuss the application of the model to the problems of preferential heating of minor ions in the solar corona and the fast solar wind.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Prospective Out-of-ecliptic White-light Imaging of Interplanetary Corotating Interaction Regions at Solar Maximum

Interplanetary corotating interaction regions (CIRs) can be remotely imaged in white light (WL), as demonstrated by the Solar Mass Ejection Imager (SMEI) on board the Coriolis spacecraft and Heliospheric Imagers (HIs) on board the twin Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory ( STEREO ) spacecraft. The interplanetary WL intensity, due to Thomson scattering of incident sunlight by free electrons, is jointly determined by the 3D distribution of electron number density and line-of-sight (LOS) weighting factors of the Thomson-scattering geometry. The 2D radiance patterns of CIRs in WL sky maps look very different from different 3D viewpoints. Because of the in-ecliptic locations of both the STEREO and Coriolis spacecraft, the longitudinal dimension of interplanetary CIRs has, up to now, always been integrated in WL imagery. To synthesize the WL radiance patterns of CIRs from an out-of-ecliptic (OOE) vantage point, we perform forward magnetohydrodynamic modeling of the 3D inner heliosphere during Carrington Rotation CR1967 at solar maximum. The mixing effects associated with viewing 3D CIRs are significantly minimized from an OOE viewpoint. Our forward modeling results demonstrate that OOE WL imaging from a latitude greater than 60° can (1) enable the garden-hose spiral morphology of CIRs to be readily resolved, (2) enable multiple coexisting CIRs to be differentiated, and (3) enable the continuous tracing of any interplanetary CIR back toward its coronal source. In particular, an OOE view in WL can reveal where nascent CIRs are formed in the extended corona and how these CIRs develop in interplanetary space. Therefore, a panoramic view from a suite of wide-field WL imagers in a solar polar orbit would be invaluable in unambiguously resolving the large-scale longitudinal structure of CIRs in the 3D inner heliosphere.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Information theoretical approach to discovering solar wind drivers of the outer radiation belt

The solar wind-magnetosphere system is nonlinear. The solar wind drivers of geosynchronous electrons with energy range of 1.8–3.5 MeV are investigated using mutual information, conditional mutual information (CMI), and transfer entropy (TE). These information theoretical tools can establish linear and nonlinear relationships as well as information transfer. The information transfer from solar wind velocity ( V sw ) to geosynchronous MeV electron flux ( J e ) peaks with a lag time of 2 days. As previously reported, J e is anticorrelated with solar wind density ( n sw ) with a lag of 1 day. However, this lag time and anticorrelation can be attributed at least partly to the J e ( t + 2 days) correlation with V sw ( t ) and n sw ( t + 1 day) anticorrelation with V sw ( t ). Analyses of solar wind driving of the magnetosphere need to consider the large lag times, up to 3 days, in the ( V sw , n sw ) anticorrelation. Using CMI to remove the effects of V sw , the response of J e to n sw is 30% smaller and has a lag time < 24 h, suggesting that the MeV electron loss mechanism due to n sw or solar wind dynamic pressure has to start operating in < 24 h. n sw transfers about 36% as much information as V sw (the primary driver) to J e . Nonstationarity in the system dynamics is investigated using windowed TE. Here, when the data are ordered according to transfer entropy value, it is possible to understand details of the triangle distribution that has been identified between J e ( t + 2 days) versus V sw ( t ).

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2015

A different approach to solar cell simulation

Highlights: • A new simulation program has been developed and operated for the Au/n-GaN device. • Device inhomogeneity is introduced to program via fluctuation factor term. • The barrier height fluctuation factor strongly affects the device characteristics. - Abstract: Zero barrier height inhomogeneity in the device is generally assumed to conform to Gaussian distribution in the literature. In this study, zero barrier height inhomogeneity has been adopted to obey random distribution. Cell was divided into elementary diodes, which were connected in parallel to each other. The current–voltage characteristics of the cell were obtained by developed device modeling program for various zero barrier height inhomogeneity levels at room temperature in dark and under light conditions. The cell parameters were then calculated by using simulated current–voltage data. It is displayed that increase in zero barrier height inhomogeneity results in Schottky barrier height enhancement and decrease in the diode factor of the cell. Fill factor and V{sub oc} values showed a decreasing trend with increasing zero barrier height inhomogeneity. Also, random distribution of zero barrier height effect on interface state density was examined. Interface state density increases with increasing zero barrier height inhomogeneity.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2016

CONSTRAINING THE SOLAR CORONAL MAGNETIC FIELD STRENGTH USING SPLIT-BAND TYPE II RADIO BURST OBSERVATIONS

We report on low-frequency radio (85–35 MHz) spectral observations of four different type II radio bursts, which exhibited fundamental-harmonic emission and split-band structure. Each of the bursts was found to be closely associated with a whitelight coronal mass ejection (CME) close to the Sun. We estimated the coronal magnetic field strength from the split-band characteristics of the bursts, by assuming a model for the coronal electron density distribution. The choice of the model was constrained, based on the following criteria: (1) when the radio burst is observed simultaneously in the upper and lower bands of the fundamental component, the location of the plasma level corresponding to the frequency of the burst in the lower band should be consistent with the deprojected location of the leading edge (LE) of the associated CME; (2) the drift speed of the type II bursts derived from such a model should agree closely with the deprojected speed of the LE of the corresponding CMEs. With the above conditions, we find that: (1) the estimated field strengths are unique to each type II burst, and (2) the radial variation of the field strength in the different events indicate a pattern. It is steepest for the case where the heliocentric distance range over which the associated burst is observed is closest to the Sun, and vice versa.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

2015 South Carolina PV Soft Cost and Workforce Development Part 2: Six Month Confirmation of Anticipated Job Growth

In 2015, a program was initiated to carefully track and monitor the growth of the solar industry in SC. Prior to then, little information was available on the costs associated with distributed photovoltaic (PV) installations in the Southeastern US. For this report, data were collected from businesses on the number of hires they had at the end of 2014 and compared with data for 2015 and June 2016. It was found that the percentage of installers within the state who serve the residential sector increased to 82% from 67%. During the same time period, the average size of initiated installations for residential, commercial, and utility scale installations all trended upwards. Where residential installations were typically 5 kW-DC in 2014, they were typically 10 kW-DC by late 2015 and in mid-2016. For commercial installations, the average size grew from 84 kW-DC in 2014 to between 136-236 kW-DC in 2015 and then 188-248 kWDC in mid-2016. An exception was seen in utility scale installations where a 2.3 MW-DC system was common in 2014, the size grew to be 5-15 MW-DC in late 2015. The average size dropped 3.1-4.4 MWDC in mid-June 2016, though individual averages up to 20 MW-DC were reported.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Demonstrating SolarPILOT’s Python API Through Heliostat Optimal Aimpoint Strategy Use Case

SolarPILOT is a software package that generates solar field layouts and characterizes the optical performance of concentrating solar power (CSP) tower systems. SolarPILOT was developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) as a stand-alone desktop application but has also been incorporated into NREL’s1 System Advisor Model (SAM) in a simplified format. Prior means for user interaction with SolarPILOT have included the application’s graphical interface, the SAM routines with limited configurability, and through a built-in scripting language called “LK.” This paper presents a new, full-featured, Python-based application programmable interface (API) for SolarPILOT, which we hereafter refer to as CoPylot. CoPylot provides access to all SolarPILOT’s capabilities to generate and characterize power tower CSP systems seamlessly through Python. Supported capabilities include (i) creating and destroying a model instance with message reporting tools; (ii) accessing and setting any SolarPILOT variable including custom land boundaries for field layouts; (iii) programmatically managing receiver and heliostat objects with varied attributes for systems with multiple receiver or heliostat types; (iv) generating, assigning, and modifying solar field layouts including the ability to set individual heliostat locations, aimpoints, soiling rates, and reflectivity levels; (v) simulating solar field performance; (vi) returning detailed results describing performance of individual heliostats, the aggregate field, and receiver flux distribution; and, (vii) exporting Python-based model instances to multiple file formats. CoPylot enables Python users to perform detailed CSP tower analysis utilizing either the Hermite expansion technique (analytical) or the SolTrace ray-tracing engine. In addition to CoPylot’s functionality, Python users have access to the over 100,000 open-source libraries to develop, analyze, optimize, and visualize power tower CSP research. This enables CSP researchers to perform analysis that was previously not possible through SolarPILOT’s existing interfaces. This paper discusses the capabilities of CoPylot and presents a use case wherein we demonstrate optimal solar field aiming strategies.

41 EE - Solar Energy Technologies Office (EE-4S)↗
DOE OSTI2016

Rapid synthesis of flower shaped Cu{sub 2}ZnSnS{sub 4} nanoparticles by microwave irradiation for solar cell application

Single phase Cu{sub 2}ZnSnS{sub 4} (CZTS) nanoparticles have been synthesized by the microwave-assisted solution method in a one step process. Structural, morphological and optical characterizations of the CZTS nanoparticles have been carried out. X-ray diffraction confirms the single phase formation of CZTS nanoparticles with kesterite structure. SEM confirms the homogenous distribution of CZTS nanoparticles flower like assemblies. High resolution TEM image confirms the good crystallinity of the CZTS nanoparticles with the average grain size ~20 nm. The CZTS nanoparticles have strong optical absorption in the visible region with direct band gap as ~1.6 eV which is optimal for photovoltaic application.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Forecasting Distributed PV Adoption in Barranquilla, Colombia [Slides]

The objective of the dGen Colombia project is to provide projections to 2050 on distributed PV deployment by sector for a range of scenarios for Barranquilla, Colombia. NREL used the open-source Distributed Generation Market Demand Model (dGen) adapted for international projects for this analysis. As part of this analysis, technical potential, economic potential, and adoption projections of rooftop and groundmount PV for the city of Barranquilla are presented. Five main scenarios and their combinations were modeled to provide insight on the impact of increased demand from electric vehicles, air conditioning, and time-of-use tariffs.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

PLASMA HEATING INSIDE INTERPLANETARY CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS BY ALFVÉNIC FLUCTUATIONS DISSIPATION

Nonlinear cascade of low-frequency Alfvénic fluctuations (AFs) is regarded as one of the candidate energy sources that heat plasma during the non-adiabatic expansion of interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs). However, AFs inside ICMEs were seldom reported in the literature. In this study, we investigate AFs inside ICMEs using observations from Voyager 2 between 1 and 6 au. It has been found that AFs with a high degree of Alfvénicity frequently occurred inside ICMEs for almost all of the identified ICMEs (30 out of 33 ICMEs) and for 12.6% of the ICME time interval. As ICMEs expand and move outward, the percentage of AF duration decays linearly in general. The occurrence rate of AFs inside ICMEs is much less than that in ambient solar wind, especially within 4.75 au. AFs inside ICMEs are more frequently presented in the center and at the boundaries of ICMEs. In addition, the proton temperature inside ICME has a similar “W”-shaped distribution. These findings suggest significant contribution of AFs on local plasma heating inside ICMEs.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Image-based solar estimates

An example device is configured to determine, based on a sky image of a portion of sky over a power distribution network and using a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based image regression model, an estimated global horizontal irradiance (GHI) value and manage or control the power distribution network using the estimated GHI value. The device may also be configured to determine, based on GHI values and aggregate load values for at least a portion of the power distribution network, using a Bayesian Structural Time Series model, an estimated photovoltaic power output value for the at least a portion of the power distribution network. The device may manage or control the power distribution network using the estimated photovoltaic power output value.

Bernstein, Andrey↗