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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 1,747 records · Page 97

CAS Operator Training Simulator

SAND2022-1525 O The Central Alarm System (CAS) training simulator is a standalone application that will work on any Alarm Control and Display (AC&D) System. Designed to be used by an instructor in a classroom environment, this software plays back scenario alarms and videos usually exported out of Scribe3D or any software that can produce scenario-based videos. Users can select from an array of different scenarios to play. The alarms are sent to an AC&D controller and the videos are sent to a Video Management Server (VMS). Both alarms and associated videos displayed by the intended AC&D system. Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.

Le, Tam↗

Multibody system applications and simulations at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory

The historical development of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of generic computer programs for solving the H-M-H equations of motion of point-connected sets of rigid bodies in a topological tree is traced, as well as the application of these programs and the multibody modelling approach to the design of spacecraft control systems. These include thrust vector control and science instrument articulation on such vehicles as Mariner 9, Mariner 10, Viking Orbiter, and Voyager.

Fleischer, G. E.↗

Optimized Generator Designs for the DTU 10-MW Offshore Wind Turbine using GeneratorSE

Compared to land-based applications, offshore wind imposes challenges for the development of next generation wind turbine generator technology. Direct-drive generators are believed to offer high availability, efficiency, and reduced operation and maintenance requirements; however, previous research suggests difficulties in scaling to several megawatts or more in size. The resulting designs are excessively large and/or massive, which are major impediments to transportation logistics, especially for offshore applications. At the same time, geared wind turbines continue to sustain offshore market growth through relatively cheaper and lightweight generators. However, reliability issues associated with mechanical components in a geared system create significant operation and maintenance costs, and these costs make up a large portion of overall system costs offshore. Thus, direct-drive turbines are likely to outnumber their gear-driven counterparts for this market, and there is a need to review the costs or opportunities of building machines with different types of generators and examining their competitiveness at the sizes necessary for the next generation of offshore wind turbines. In this paper, we use GeneratorSE, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's newly developed systems engineering generator sizing tool to estimate mass, efficiency, and the costs of different generator technologies satisfying the electromagnetic, structural, and basic thermal design requirements for application in a very large-scale offshore wind turbine such as the Technical University of Denmark's (DTU) 10-MW reference wind turbine. For the DTU reference wind turbine, we use the previously mentioned criteria to optimize a direct-drive, radial flux, permanent-magnet synchronous generator; a direct-drive electrically excited synchronous generator; a medium-speed permanent-magnet generator; and a high-speed, doubly-fed induction generator. Preliminary analysis of leveled costs of energy indicate that for large turbines, the cost of permanent magnets and reliability issues associated with brushes in electrically excited machines are the biggest deterrents for building direct-drive systems. The advantage of medium-speed permanent-magnet machines over doubly-fed induction generators is evident, yet, variability in magnet prices and solutions to address reliability issues associated with gearing and brushes can change this outlook. This suggests the need to potentially pursue fundamentally new innovations in generator designs that help avoid high capital costs but still have significant reliability related to performance.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Earthbound applications for NASA's physician workstation

The dream of a space probe to Mars or an astronaut colony on the moon persists. Despite years of setbacks and delays, NASA continues to lay the foundation for a new frontier in space. The necessity of a self contained health maintenance facility is an integral part of this stellar venture. As a subsystem of this health maintenance facility, the physician or astronaut workstation was envisioned as the vehicle of interface between the computer resources of the space station and the care provider. Our efforts to define and build this interface have resulted in a series of programs which can now be tested and refined using earth-based applications. The modules which have dual-use application from the NASA workstation include: patient scheduling and master patient index, pharmacy, laboratory, medical library, problem list/progress notes, and digital medical records. Our current plan is to develop these tools as objects that can be assembled in a variety of configurations. This will allow the technology to be used by the private sector where each doctor can select the starting point of his outpatient office system and add modules as he makes progress in system integration and training.

NASA Discipline Number 70-30↗

High-resolution x-ray radiography with Fresnel zone plates on the University of Rochester’s OMEGA Laser Systems

Experiments performed at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics with a continuous-wave (cw) x-ray source and on the OMEGA and OMEGA EP Laser Systems have utilized a Fresnel zone plate (FZP) to obtain x-ray images with a spatial resolution as small as ~1.5 μm. Such FZP images were obtained with a charge-coupled device or a framing camera at energies ranging from 4.5 keV to 6.7 keV using x-ray line emission from both the cw source and high-intensity, laser-beam–illuminated metal foils. In all cases, the resolution test results are determined from patterns and grids backlit by these sources. Here, the resolutions obtained are shown to be due to a combination of the spectral content of the x-ray sources and detector resolution limited by the magnification of the images (14× to 22×). High-speed framing cameras were used to obtain FZP images with frame times as short as ~30 ps. Double-shell implosions on OMEGA were backlit by laser-irradiated Fe foils, thus obtaining a framing-camera–limited, FZP-image resolution of ~3 μm–4 μm.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

MATLAB/Simulink Framework for Modeling Complex Coolant Flow Configurations of Advanced Automotive Thermal Management Systems

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL's) CoolSim MATLAB/Simulink modeling framework was extended by including a newly developed coolant loop solution method aimed at reducing the simulation effort for arbitrarily complex thermal management systems. The new approach does not require the user to identify specific coolant loops and their flow. The user only needs to connect the fluid network elements in a manner consistent with the desired schematic. Using the new solution method, a model of NREL's advanced combined coolant loop system for electric vehicles was created that reflected the test system architecture. This system was built using components provided by the MAHLE Group and included both air conditioning and heat pump modes. Validation with test bench data and verification with the previous solution method were performed for 10 operating points spanning a range of ambient temperatures between -2 degrees C and 43 degrees C. The largest root mean square difference between pressure, temperature, energy and mass flow rate data and simulation results was less than 7%.

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION↗

PNNL OS3700 Tritium Monitoring System Software and Hardware Operations Manual (Rev.2)

The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) OS3700 Tritium Monitoring System Software and Hardware Operations Manual describes how to install and operate the software and hardware on a personal computer operating in conjunction with the Berthold Technologies LB110 flow-through proportional counter detector system. Included are operational details for the software functions, how to read and use the dropdown menus, how to understand readings and calculations, and how to access the database tables.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

PNNL OS3300 Alpha/Beta Monitoring System Software and Hardware Operations Manual (Rev.2)

The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) OS3300 Alpha/Beta Monitoring System Software and Hardware Operations Manual describes how to operate the software and hardware on a personal computer in conjunction with the Berthold Technologies LB150D continuous air monitor. Included are operational details for the software functions and information about how to read and use the dropdown menus and how to understand readings and calculations.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Providing Thermal Stability for an Exascale Supercomputer: A Case Study of Frontier's Cooling System

High performance computing (HPC) systems frequently produce large dynamic power swings, even under typical operating conditions, that can present a significant challenge for their direct-liquid cooling systems. Further, the primary cooling loops that must remove this waste heat have response times measured in minutes while the underlying HPC component thermal stress is measured in seconds. The per-socket power demand for both compute processing units (CPUs) and graphic processing units ( GPUs) continues to increase with each successive generation while case temperatures are declining. New HPC systems are expected to exacerbate the challenge of these dynamic power swings and the impact on effective and timely cooling systems. This paper describes the cooling and controls system for Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Frontier Supercomputer, the first sustained exascale system, as a case study for this situation. The cooling and control system for Frontier demonstrates specific success, but with a number of trade-offs and decisions that suggest further design and operating optimizations for the community at large to consider.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Quality Guidelines for Energy System Studies: Detailed Coal Specifications

Specifications for selected feedstocks that are commonly found in the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL)-sponsored energy system studies are summarized in NETL’s “Quality Guidelines for Energy System Studies” (QGESS). The purpose of this companion section is to document default QGESS specifications for coal compositions reflecting a spectrum of seven coal ranks: North Dakota (ND) lignite; Texas (TX) lignite; “super-compliance” subbituminous, ~0.2 percent sulfur (as-received weight percent); subbituminous, > 0.5 percent sulfur(as-received weight percent); high volatile bituminous; medium volatile bituminous; low volatile bituminous.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗

Techno-Economic Analysis of Integrated Gasification Fuel Cell Systems

This National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) study describes the results of a pathway study for coal-based integrated gasification and solid oxide fuel cell (IGFC) power systems with and without carbon capture and storage. Two pathway scenarios are considered, based on the operating pressure of the SOFC. Three gasification technologies, including a conventional technology, differing in the syngas methane content, which has a significant effect on the IGFC system performance, were considered. The performance and cost benefits were estimated for a series of projected gains made through the development of advances in the component technologies or improvements in plant costs and availability. The objective of the study is to provide targeted research and development guidance to the FECM SOFC Program and SOFC commercial developers.

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION↗

Digitally Optimized Autonomous Robotic System for Hanford Waste Tank Handling [Slides]

Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is developing a robotic system and digital twin to perform monitoring, inspection, and mapping of underground tank pits at the Hanford Site, operated by the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE). The Autonomous Pit Exploration System (APES) will consist of four primary components: an electric vehicle truck with a robotic system developed by INL to deploy payloads into the tanks through small diameter preexisting risers, a robotic arm developed by Florida International University (FIU) for the purposes of deploying a variety of payloads into the tank pit environment, and a small robotic COTS crawler platform for examining the bottom of the pits.

42 - ENGINEERING↗

Identification of Leakage Spectra from Neutron Activation in Glass/Cherenkov Detectors - Paper 96

Oak Ridge National Laboratory has developed a new detector system concept that can be deployed in major US cities to identify the leakage spectrum of a nuclear weapon detonation. The detector is based on a small piece of glass that has been doped with an element that has a high activation cross section and creates a radioactive activation product with a reasonable length half-life. The decay of the activation product(s) after exposure creates Cherenkov light which can propagate to a photomultiplier and can be turned into a count-rate signal. The signal from each glass in each detector in a city can be individually analyzed to determine the amount of activation products produced in the initial exposure. Several activation products can be determined in a single glass if the half-lives are not the same. With a known source location and a detailed 3D model of a city, neutron transport simulations can be made by using a library of known sources to predict the activation amounts each source would have made in the glass detectors. A simple comparison of the measured activation amounts and the predicted activation amounts can identify the source spectrum contained in the library that is the best match. Choosing dopants with a large range in the threshold energy for the activation reactions can help to differentiate the spectra in the library. The method of matching the measured activation amounts to the predicted activation amounts to identify the source spectrum is similar to the analysis used for the passive Activation Foil Integrated Detector System (AFIDS), also developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In AFIDS, wires or foils of known mass and isotopic composition are deployed before and then collected after exposure. Counting gammas in a nearby laboratory determines the activation amounts. The glass/Cherenkov system is active - it uses a battery-powered detector to count flashes of Cherenkov light and to communicate its count rates to a remote location for further analysis. Work has been performed in several areas, including glass making, automated detection and communication systems and software tools for analysis of the signal and source spectrum identification. Bell and Boatner have developed phosphate glasses that incorporate elements with high capture cross sections, and Hayward has simulated the response with Geant4 and measured the response with isotopic gamma sources. This paper will focus on the software tools for determining the activation amounts from the Cherenkov count-rate signal and finding the best matching source spectrum. A test problem in an urban environment is used to demonstrate the potential of a spectrum identification system using neutron activation. The analysis methods developed to identify the neutron leakage spectra from Cherenkov light given off by neutron activation in doped glasses work well. The calculation used to unfold the count-rate information into the number of actual activation products uses robust algorithms that can also compute associated uncertainties. These uncertainties and the known uncertainties of the glass tube material compositions are incorporated into the matching analysis to determine which of the source spectra in the library best matches the measured activation data. Any measurement method used to identify a neutron source spectrum relies at some point on a comparison against known sources; no identification method is definitive. Detection systems measure some physical aspect of the source, not its serial number. Many systems measure the physical aspect to determine that the source has some property, and then leave it to experts to determine which potential sources share that property. The analysis system presented here incorporates the comparison into the analysis itself. The statistical tests show which of the known library sources match the measured data the best and whether that match is a good match. If the best match still does not fit the measured data well (a very high χ{sup 2} value), that indicates the true source is not one of the sources in the library. This is still valuable information for decision makers. (authors)

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Non-Venting Thermal and Humidity Control for EVA Suits

Future EVA suits need processes and systems to control internal temperature and humidity without venting water to the environment. This paper describes an absorption-based cooling and dehumidification system as well as laboratory demonstrations of the key processes. There are two main components in the system: an evaporation cooling and dehumidification garment (ECDG) that removes both sensible heat and latent heat from the pressure garment, and an absorber radiator that absorbs moisture and rejects heat to space by thermal radiation. This paper discusses the overall design of both components, and presents recent data demonstrating their operation. We developed a design and fabrication approach to produce prototypical heat/water absorbing elements for the ECDG, and demonstrated by test that these elements could absorb heat and moisture at a high flux. Proof-of-concept tests showed that an ECDG prototype absorbs heat and moisture at a rate of 85 W/ft under conditions that simulate operation in an EVA suit. The heat absorption was primarily due to direct absorption of water vapor. It is possible to construct large, flexible, durable cooling patches that can be incorporated into a cooling garment with this system. The proof-of-concept test data was scaled to calculate area needed for full metabolic loads, thus showing that it is feasible to use this technology in an EVA suit. Full-scale, lightweight absorber/radiator modules have also been built and tested. They can reject heat at a flux of 33 W/ft while maintaining ECDG operation at conditions that will provide a cool and dry environment inside the EVA suit.

Izenson, Mike↗

National Laboratory of the Rockies: Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission/ Technical Utility Services Bureau Distribution System Resilience Deep Dive 2025

The following is a summary of the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR) - Pennsylvania PUC/ Technical Utility Services Bureau (TUS) Distribution System Resiliency Deep-Dive project. This is work that NLR performed to provide the support that the TUS requested under the Resources and Support for State Energy Offices & Regulators (RASOR) program.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗