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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 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Use of intrinsic hysteresis for the active control of internal transport barriers in magnetically confined fusion plasmas

In magnetically confined fusion devices, control of internal transport barriers (ITBs) is important both to enhance and suppress the turbulent transport to improve confinement control. Barrier control should allow for the improvement of confinement to aid in achieving the needed fusion criteria while also permitting the degradation of confinement to control profiles and clean the device by moving out the impurities accumulated near the core. In this work, we present a novel control scenario that takes advantage of the hysteresis intrinsic to transport barriers to easily cycle through enhanced and degraded confinement regimes. The control scenario is illustrated using a five-field simplified transport model for an ITB using typical parameters of a neutral beam injection-heated DIII-D tokamak discharge. Pellets and ion cyclotron resonance frequency power are used as control knobs for this active control scenario. These knobs adequately modify at will the local gradients and, therefore, the growth rates and shearing rates, allowing for easy and efficient control of the barrier by taking advantage of the barrier hysteresis. The result is a control cycle that could be operated with a relatively small amount of power in high performance regimes which, nowadays, typically require large power to control. It may also have advantages to avoid, or at least ameliorate, the appearance of magnetohydrodynamic instabilities in the barrier region.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Hardware-in-the-Loop Evaluation for Potential High Limit Estimation-Based PV Plant Active Control: Preprint

This paper validates the effectiveness of an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven PV plant control and optimization approach, namely, the Automated Learner for Intermittency Control by Extrapolation (ALICE), in empowering PV plant as a dependable grid reliability service provider. The validation is performed in a realistic laboratory controller-hardware-in-the-loop (CHIL) environment, leveraging accurate PV plant modeling and standard industrial communication protocol. Simulation results, considering both varying weather conditions and active control scenarios, demonstrate the superior performance of ALICE in improving the grid service delivery precision and reducing the over-curtailment compared to a state-of-the-art approach, i.e., reference-control grouping based approach. Such a work could help mitigate risks and provide practical guidance during the field deployment of ALICE, while establishing a standardized testing framework for evaluating various PV active control strategies.

hardware-in-the-loop↗
DOE OSTI2024

Hardware-in-the-Loop Evaluation for Potential High Limit Estimation-Based PV Plant Active Control

This paper validates the efficacy of an artificial intelligence (AI)-based photovoltaic (PV) plant control and optimization approach in enabling PV plants as accountable grid reliability service providers. The validation is performed in a realistic laboratory controller-hardware-in-the-loop environment, leveraging accurate PV plant modeling and standard industrial communication protocols. Through simulations that account for diverse weather conditions and active control scenarios, the results highlight the superior performance of the AI-based solution in comparison to a state-of-the-art reference-control grouping-based approach. Such a finding contributes to mitigating the risk of overcurtailment and uninstructed deviations of active PV plant controls, and offers practical guidance for its field deployment. Furthermore, it establishes a standardized testing framework for comparing various PV active control strategies.

hardware-in-the-loop↗
DOE OSTI2022

Achievements of actively controlled divertor detachment compatible with sustained high confinement core in DIII-D and EAST

The compatibility of efficient divertor detachment with high-performance core plasma is vital to the development of magnetically controlled fusion energy. The joint research on the EAST and DIII-D tokamaks demonstrates successful integration of divertor detachment with excellent core plasma confinement quality, a milestone towards solving the critical plasma–wall-interaction (PWI) issue and core-edge integration for ITER and future reactors. In EAST, actively controlled partial detachment with T et,div ~ 5 eV around the strike point and H 98 > 1 in different H-mode scenarios including the high β P H-mode scenario have been achieved with ITER-like tungsten divertor, by optimizing the detachment access condition and performing detailed experiments for core-edge integration. For active long-pulse detachment feedback control, a 30 s H-mode operation with detachment-control duration being 25 s has been successfully achieved in EAST. DIII-D has achieved actively controlled fully detached divertor with low plasma electron temperature (T et,div ≤ 5 eV across the entire divertor target) and low particle flux (degree of detachment, DoD > 3), simultaneously with very high core performance (β N ~3, β P > 2 and H 98 ~ 1.5) in the high βP scenario being developed for ITER and future reactors. The high-β P high confinement scenario is characterized by an internal transport barrier (ITB) at large radius and a weak edge transport barrier (ETB, or pedestal), which are synergistically self-organized. Both the high-β P scenario and impurity seeding facilitate divertor detachment. The detachment access leads to the reduction of ETB, which facilitates the development of an even stronger ITB at large radius in the high β P scenario. Thus, this strong large radius ITB enables the core confinement improvement during detachment. In conclusion, these significant joint DIII-D and EAST advances on the compatibility of high confinement core and detached divertor show a great potential for achieving a high-performance core plasma suitable for long-pulse operation of fusion reactors with controllable steady-state PWIs.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Active Suspension Parameters Identification: An Algebraic Approach and its Application to Suspension Travel Control

The parameters of an active suspension need to be identified online, such that the suspension control system can be adapted to mechanical wear and load change. Recursive least squares and observer-based methods are frequently utilized to fulfill this purpose. However, they can yield slow parameter identification due to their asymptotic nature. We propose an algebraic identifier to estimate the parameters of an active suspension online, which does not maintain an asymptotic convergence phase. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algebraic approach.

Wang, Zejiang↗
DOE OSTI2022

Advances in the long-pulse steady-state high beta H-mode scenario with active controls of divertor heat and particle fluxes in EAST

Since the last IAEA-Fusion Energy Conference, the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) research program has been, in support of ITER and CFETR, focused on development in terms of the long-pulse steady-state (fully noninductive) high beta H-mode scenario with active controls of the stationary and transient divertor heat and particle fluxes. The operational domain of the steady-state H-mode plasma scenario has been significantly extended with ITER-like tungsten mono-block divertor, plasma control and heating schemes. EAST has achieved several important milestones in the development of high β p H-mode scenario and its key physics and technologies. A 60 s-scale long-pulse steady-state high β p H-mode discharge with the major normalized plasma parameters similar to the designed performance of the CFETR 1GW fusion power operation scenario has been successfully established and sustained by pure RF heating and current drive. Several feedback control schemes have been developed for a sustained detachment with good core confinement. This includes control of the total radiation power, target electron temperature, and particle flux measured using divertor Langmuir probes or a combination of the control of target electron temperature and AXUV radiation near the X point. The detachment feedback control schemes have been integrated with small-ELM regimes and high β p scenario via neon seeding, enabling a core and edge compatible integrated high-beta scenario applicable to long-pulse operations. ELM suppression has been achieved using various methods, including resonant magnetic perturbations and impurity seeding. Full suppression of ELMs by using n=4 RMPs has been demonstrated for ITER for the first time in low input torque plasmas in EAST. Finally, EAST has been operated with helium to support the ITER research requirements for the first time. For a long-pulse, high bootstrap current fraction operation, a new lower tungsten divertor with active water-cooling has been installed, along with improvements in the heating and current drive capability.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Active control of resistive wall mode via modification of external tearing index

Modification of the external tearing index, Δ ext ′ , by magnetic feedback is analytically investigated for the purpose of controlling the resistive plasma resistive wall mode (RP-RWM). The matching method is pursued by deriving expressions for the close-loop Δ ext ′ and by linking it to the counterpart from the inner layer. Various feedback coil configurations are found to generally reduce Δ ext ′ and stabilize the RWM, with either proportional or derivative control. Feedback modification of Δ ext ′ is found to be generally independent of the inner layer resistive interchange index D R , confirming that feedback action primarily modifies the solution in the outer ideal region for the RP-RWM. Exception occurs when either the inner layer favorable curvature effect becomes sufficiently large or the feedback action is sufficiently strong to introduce a rotating RP-RWM in the static plasma, leading to complex-valued close-loop Δ ext ′ . The perturbed magnetic energy dissipation in the outer region, associated with the eddy current in the resistive wall, is identified as the key physics reason for feedback induced complex Δ ext ′ . Similar results are also obtained for active control of the external kink instability, whose open-loop growth rate is significantly reduced by inclusion of the plasma resistivity. Within the single poloidal harmonic approximation, which is most suitable for the matching approach, external active coils combined with poloidal sensors are often found to be more efficient for feedback stabilization of the mode at large proportional gain values. This counter-intuitive result is explained as the lack of (non-resonant) poloidal harmonics for proper description of the feedback coil geometry.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Modeling active control of resistive wall mode with power saturation and sensor noise on HL-2M

The resistive wall mode (RWM) control on the HL-2M tokamak is simulated with the MARS-F code (Liu et al 2000 Phys. Plasmas 7 3681), aiming at quantifying control current and voltage requirements when more realistic issues are taken into account, i.e. the control power saturation and the sensor signal noise. The fluid model predicts a narrow stability region for the n = 1 RWM without magnetic feedback, in the 2D parameter space of the plasma pressure versus the toroidal flow speed. Magnetic feedback can fully stabilize the RWM on HL-2M. Without considering the voltage limitation and the sensor signal noise, it is found that plasma flow helps active control of the mode, by reducing the required critical feedback gain for both flux-to-current and flux-to-voltage control schemes. In the absence of the sensor signal noise, the lowest control voltage saturation level, below which the RWM control is lost, is found to roughly satisfy a linear relation to the plasma flow frequency, indicating that subsonic plasma flow is effective in relaxing the control power requirement for the RWM feedback stabilization. The presence of the sensor signal noise substantially modifies the feedback results. A statistical study finds that the sensor signal noise, with the standard deviation of 0.1 G on HL-2M, roughly doubles the required control voltage for successful mode control. The synergistic stabilization effect due to plasma flow is somewhat weakened by the presence of the sensor signal noise. At a given rotation, the tolerable voltage limit generally increases with increasing feedback gain due to the sensor signal noise.

Physics↗
DOE OSTI2023

Characterization of mApple as a Red Fluorescent Protein for Cryogenic Single-Molecule Imaging with Turn-Off and Turn-On Active Control Mechanisms

Single-molecule superresolution microscopy is a powerful tool for the study of biological structures on size scales smaller than the optical diffraction limit. Imaging samples at cryogenic temperatures (77 K) reduces the quantum yield of photobleaching for many fluorescent labels, yielding localization precisions below 10 nm. Cryogenic imaging further enables correlation with cryogenic electron tomography. A key limitation in applying methods such as PALM and STORM to samples maintained at 77 K is the limited number of fluorophores known to undergo efficient turn-on and turn-off mechanisms necessary to control the sparsity of active emitters. Here we find that mApple, a red-emitting fluorescent protein, undergoes a novel turn-off mechanism in response to simultaneous illumination with two colors of light. This turn-off mechanism enables localization of many individual molecules in initially bright samples, but the final density of localizable emitters is limited by relatively inefficient turn-on (photoactivation). Bulk excitation and emission spectroscopy shows that mApple has access to two distinct emissive states as well as dark states accessible optically or through changes in pH. The bright and stable emission of mApple enables widefield collection of single-molecule emission spectra, which highlight the complex nature and environmental sensitivity of states observed in red fluorescent proteins.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2025

Active control of laser beam pointing for the Zettawatt-Equivalent Ultrashort pulse laser System: a proof-of-principle study with 16-inch optics

We present a proof-of-principle study of active beam-pointing control for the Zettawatt-Equivalent Ultrashort pulse laser System (ZEUS) using a piezo-actuated 16-inch mirror. To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest actively controlled mirror reported in a high-power laser system. A simple proportional feedback control was implemented based on a field-programmable gate array, which reduced the standard deviation of beam-pointing fluctuations by 91% to 0.075 μrad in the horizontal direction and by 78% to 0.25 μrad in the vertical direction. We also demonstrated the elimination of long-term pointing jitter caused by temperature drift using the same apparatus.

laser pointing control↗
DOE OSTI2026

CTRL-STEER: Closed-Loop Neuron Activation Control in Vision-Language-Action Models

Vision-Language-Action (VLA) models enable test-time behavioral steering via neuron-level interventions, but existing methods use fixed strengths and operate in open loop. This static modulation fails under evolving task dynamics, leading to overcorrection, oscillations, and reduced task success—especially for temporal attributes like speed. We propose CTRL-STEER, a control-theoretic framework that casts activation steering as closed-loop feedback with adaptive, time-varying interventions. Instead of assuming neurons encode temporal concepts, we steer along motion-aligned residual directions and regulate intervention magnitude via feedback. We instantiate this with both PID and reinforcement learning controllers that jointly optimize concept adherence and task success. Experiments on fine-tuned OpenVLA policies across four LIBERO suites show improved stability and a better steering–success trade-off over fixed-coefficient baselines, without retraining the base model.

Babu, Abhijith [Florida International University, ↗
DOE OSTI2024

Quench protection for high-temperature superconductor cables using active control of current distribution

Superconducting magnets of future fusion reactors are expected to rely on composite high-temperature superconductor (HTS) cable conductors. In presently used HTS cables, current sharing between components is limited due to poorly defined contact resistances between superconducting tapes or by design. The interplay between contact and termination resistances is the defining factor for power dissipation in these cables and ultimately defines their safe operational margins. However, the current distribution between components along the composite conductor and inside its terminations is a priori unknown, and presently, no means are available to actively tune current flow distribution in real-time to improve margins of quench protection. Also, the lack of ability to electrically probe individual components makes it impossible to identify conductor damage locations within the cable. In this work, we address both problems by introducing active current control of current distribution between components using cryogenically operated metal-oxide-semiconductor-field-effect transistors (MOSFETs). We demonstrate through simulation and experiments how real-time current controls can help to drastically reduce heat dissipation in a developing hot spot in a two-conductor model system and help identify critical current degradation of individual cable components. Finally, prospects of other potential uses of MOSFET devices for improved voltage detection, AC loss-driven active quench protection, and remnant magnetization reduction in HTS magnets are also discussed.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

Atomically Precise Single Metal Oxide Cluster Catalyst with Oxygen–Controlled Activity

Single cluster catalysts (SCCs) consisting of atomically precise metal nanoclusters dispersed on supports represent a new frontier of heterogeneous catalysis. However, the ability to synthesize SCCs with high loading and to precisely introduce non-metal atoms to further tune their catalytic activity and reaction scope of SCCs have been longstanding challenges. In this work, a new interface confinement strategy is developed for the synthesis of a high density of atomically precise Ru oxide nanoclusters (Ru 3 O 2 ) on reduced graphene oxide (rGO), attributed to the suppression of diffusion-induced metal cluster aggregation. Ru 3 O 2 /rGO exhibits a significantly enhanced activity for oxidative dehydrogenation of 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroquinoline (THQ) to quinoline with a high yield (≈86%) and selectivity (≈99%), superior to Ru and RuO 2 nanoparticles, and homogeneous single/multiple-site Ru catalysts. In addition, Ru 3 O 2 /rGO is also capable of efficiently catalyzing more complex oxidative reactions involving three reactants. The theoretical calculations reveal that the presence of two oxygen atoms in the Ru 3 O 2 motif not only leads to a weak hydrogen bonding interaction between the THQ reactant and the active site, but also dramatically depletes the density of states near the Fermi level, which is attributed to the increased positive valence state of Ru and the enhanced oxidative activity of the Ru 3 O 2 cluster for hydrogen abstraction.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Numerical investigation of active control of tearing mode by magnetic coils and the role of Δ'

Magnetic feedback stabilization of the tearing mode (TM) is numerically investigated, utilizing the MARS-F code (Liu et al 2000 Phys. Plasmas 7 3681) for toroidal tokamak equilibria. With control coil configurations assumed in this study, magnetic feedback partially or fully stabilizes the TM, with either vanishing or finite equilibrium pressure. The best control is achieved by the combination of internal active coils and internal poloidal sensors. The internal and external tearing indices are evaluated for the close-loop system, based on the MARS-F computed mode eigenvalue and eigenfunction, respectively. In the absence of the favorable curvature effect, these two indices are real-valued and quantitatively agree well with each other. For the equilibrium with finite pressure gradient at the mode rational surface, the favorable average curvature effect becomes important and the close-loop tearing index also becomes complex-valued, partly due to interaction of the feedback system with the dissipative wall eddy current response. Isolating the inner layer and outer region response to magnetic feedback, with either proportional or proportional-derivative actions, allows to establish that feedback stabilization of the TM occurs mainly due to modification of the behavior of the external ideal solution, further confirming the analytic result reported in He et al 2021 Phys. Plasmas 28 012504.

Physics↗
DOE OSTI2025

Edge-localized mode mitigation enabled by active control of pedestal density gradient with new EAST tokamak divertor

Mitigation of large edge-localized modes (ELMs) has been achieved by actively reducing the pedestal density gradient with the EAST new right-angled lower divertor through changing the strike point position from the vertical target to the horizontal target. A series of dedicated experiments in the 2021–2024 EAST campaigns demonstrate that this ELM control solution is highly reproducible in a broad parameter space of edge safety factor q 95 = 4.7–7.1, heating power P total = 2.3–5 MW, and pedestal collisionality $ν_{e,ped}^{*}$ = 1–6, under both favorable and unfavorable magnetic configurations. Higher plasma density could facilitate the achievement of this ELM control solution. Statistical results indicate that the ELM mitigation effect can be observed at relatively larger Greenwald density fraction of f GW > 0.47. In addition, this ELM mitigation effect can be achieved with both lithium-coated and boronized metal walls. The pedestal density gradient is systematically lower in the horizontal target case than that of the vertical target case when the ELM mitigation effect can be observed. SOLPS-ITER simulation results indicate that the pedestal fueling from divertor recycling is significantly lower in the horizontal target case. This could contribute to the formation of a flattened pedestal density profile with small ELMs.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution at Full Atomic Utilization over ITO-Supported Sub-nano-Pt n Clusters: High, Size-Dependent Activity Controlled by Fluxional Pt Hydride Species

A combination of density functional theory (DFT) and experiments with atomically size-selected Pt n clusters deposited on indium-tin oxide (ITO) electrodes was used to examine the effects of applied potential and Pt n size on the electrocatalytic activity of Pt n (n = 1, 4, 7, 8) for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Activity is found to be negligible for isolated Pt atoms on ITO, increasing rapidly with Pt n size, such that Pt 7 /ITO and Pt 8 /ITO have roughly double the activity per Pt atom compared to atoms in the surface layer of polycrystalline Pt. Both DFT and experiment find that hydrogen under-potential deposition (H upd ) results in Pt n /ITO (n = 4, 7, 8) adsorbing ~2 H atoms/Pt atom at the HER threshold potential, equal to ca. double the Hupd observed for Pt bulk or nanoparticles. Here, the cluster catalysts under electrocatalytic conditions are hence best described as a Pt hydride compound, significantly departing from a metallic Pt cluster. The exception is Pt 1 /ITO, where H adsorption at the HER threshold potential is energetically unfavorable. Theory combines global optimization with grand canonical approaches for the influence of potential, uncovering that several metastable structures contribute to HER, changing with the applied potential. It is hence critical to include reactions of the ensemble of energetically accessible Pt n H x /ITO structures to correctly predict the activity vs. Pt n size and applied potential. For the small clusters, spillover of H ads from the clusters to the ITO support is significant, resulting in a competing channel for loss of H ads , particularly at slow potential scan rates.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2023

Active Control of Alfvén Eigenmodes by Externally Applied 3D Magnetic Perturbations

The suppression and excitation of Alfvén eigenmodes have been experimentally obtained, for the first time, by means of externally applied 3D perturbative fields with different spatial spectra in a tokamak plasma. The applied perturbation causes an internal fast-ion redistribution that modifies the phase-space gradients responsible for driving the modes, determining, ultimately their existence. Hybrid kinetic-magnetohydrodynamic simulations reveal an edge resonant transport layer activated by the 3D perturbative field as the responsible mechanism for the fast-ion redistribution. Finally, the results presented here may help to control fast-ion driven Alfvénic instabilities in future burning plasmas with a significant fusion born alpha particle population.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Nanoscale Spatial Distribution of Supported Nanoparticles Controls Activity and Stability in Powder Catalysts for CO Oxidation and Photocatalytic H 2 Evolution

Here we discuss, supported metal nanoparticles are essential components of high-performing catalysts, and their structures are intensely researched. In comparison, nanoparticle spatial distribution in powder catalysts is conventionally not quantified, and the influence of this collective property on catalyst performance remains poorly investigated. Here, we demonstrate a general colloidal self-assembly method to control uniformity of nanoparticle spatial distribution on common industrial powder supports. We quantify distributions on the nanoscale using image statistics and show that the type of nanospatial distribution determines not only the stability, but also the activity of heterogeneous catalysts. Widely investigated systems (Au–TiO 2 for CO oxidation thermocatalysis and Pd–TiO 2 for H 2 evolution photocatalysis) were used to showcase the universal importance of nanoparticle spatial organization. Spatially and temporally resolved microkinetic modeling revealed that nonuniformly distributed Au nanoparticles suffer from local depletion of surface oxygen, and therefore lower CO oxidation activity, as compared to uniformly distributed nanoparticles. Nanoparticle spatial distribution also determines the stability of Pd–TiO 2 photocatalysts, because nonuniformly distributed nanoparticles sinter while uniformly distributed nanoparticles do not. This work introduces new tools to evaluate and understand catalyst collective (ensemble) properties in powder catalysts, which thereby pave the way to more active and stable heterogeneous catalysts.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗