Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “digital factory”

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.

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

At least 19 records

Low-cost sensors and analytics for a digital factory

ORNL Manufacturing Demonstration Facility and Perisense worked on a low-cost solution for machining process monitoring to enable a digital factory. Enabling machine connectivity for digital factors is expensive for many small to medium manufacturers. The hypothesis for the research project is that a lowcost sensor suite, which can be retrofitted to a legacy machine tool or a new machine tool, can effectively provide real-time, in-situ sensing for manufacturing processes, which can enable improvements in process performance and efficiency. The Perisense sensor node was installed on the Haas TM1 machine with a current sensor and an accelerometer. Cutting tests were performed at different process parameters and sensor data was recorded. Results show a correlation of the current sensor to the spindle load. The accelerometer, mounted on the machine base, showed a correlation to the spindle speed as well as the spindle load. The sensor data can be used to monitor the machining process and provide insights on the machine spindle load utilization.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Robust inference of ecosystem soil water stress from eddy covariance data

Eddy covariance data are invaluable for determining ecosystem water use strategies under soil water stress. However, existing stress inference methods require numerous subjective data processing and model specification assumptions whose effect on the inferred soil water stress signal is rarely quantified. These uncertainties may confound the stress inference and the generalization of ecosystem water use strategies across multiple sites and studies. In this research, we quantify the sensitivity of soil water stress signals inferred from eddy covariance data to the prevailing data and modeling assumptions (i.e., their robustness) to compile a comprehensive list of sites with robust soil water stress signals and assess the performance of current stress inference methods. To accomplish this, we identify the most prevalent assumptions from the literature and perform a digital factorial experiment to extract probability distributions of plausible soil water stress signals and model performance at 151 FLUXNET2015 and AmeriFlux-FLUXNET sites. Here, we develop a new framework that summarizes these probability distributions to classify and rank the robustness of each site’s soil water stress signal, which we display with a user-friendly heat map. We estimate that only 5%–36% of sites exhibit a robust soil water stress signal due to deficient model performance and poorly constrained ecosystem water use parameters. We also find that the lack of robustness is site-specific, which undermines grouping stress signals by broad ecosystem categories or comparing results across studies with differing assumptions. Lastly, existing stress inference methods appear better suited for eddy covariance sites with grass/annual vegetation. Our findings call for more careful and consistent inference of ecosystem water stress from eddy covariance data.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

Spinning the digital thread with hybrid manufacturing

Integrated process monitoring and feedback capabilities for hybrid manufacturing have shown potential as a test platform for the development and implementation of the digital thread. Additionally, hybrid manufacturing alleviates the implementation of the digital thread as fewer systems are involved for a broader base of manufacturing operations. Researchers have developed coordinated process monitoring architectures to capture and leverage various existing data streams in the hybrid manufacturing process and improve the quality of manufactured components. This work is fundamentally different because it shows how common communication structures that exist on any commercial CNC can be used to enhance CNC based manufacturing processes.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Myna

The additive manufacturing (AM) community has been developing digital factory tools over the past decade to better leverage the multi-modal process data coming out of the advanced manufacturing process. As a result, numerous databases of additive manufacturing process data exist in the literature and in the archival storage of disparate research groups. While some efforts have been made to create a standard ontology for storing and sharing AM data, in practice a variety of data structures are used to store AM build data, even within a single institution. This causes many problems for maintainability and extensibility when attempting to integrate computational modeling tools with experimental data to either validate models or to provide further insight into results and trends. Myna is a Python-based framework that aims to decrease the effort needed to connect individual computational models to the variety of AM process data that exist in different research groups and institutions. This type of software is sometimes referred to as "middleware" or “glueware,” in that it connects disparate databases and applications into a single computational ecosystem. Instead of maintaining unique interfaces between each application and each database, developers can create a single interface from each application to Myna and thereby gain access to the implemented database connections. Similarly, developing a database connection in Myna provides access to the developed simulation applications. This framework greatly simplifies the maintainability of model applications that rely on experimental data. Using external simulation tools, users will also be able to run pre-configured workflows using the built-in workflow manager. Several examples of input files are provided with Myna for different workflows, including melt pool geometry predictions and detailed melt pool and solidification microstructure predictions.

Knapp, GerryL. [Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORN↗

Advanced Information Systems Technology for NASA Earth System Digital Twins (ESDT)

ESA and NASA have both started programs to design and develop Digital Twins of the Earth and/or Earth systems. Organized around interconnected, multi-domain, high-scale modeling capabilities, the three major components of an Earth System Digital Twin are a continuously updated Digital Replica of the Earth System of interest, dynamic Forecasting models, and Impact Assessment capabilities. Earth System Digital Twins integrate diverse Earth and human activity models, continuous observations, and information system capabilities to provide unified, comprehensive representations and predictions that can be utilized for monitoring the health of the Planet, as well as for developing actionable information to support decision making. More generally, Digital Twins will help researchers better understand the fundamental Earth systems that impact everything from wildfires to climate change. This Townhall will first provide a short description of ESA’s, NASA’s and CNES’s current efforts in Digital Twins: • Destination Earth (DestinE) is the first initiative of the European Union to create a Digital Twin of the Earth, particularly focused on weather and climate, and as a coordinated effort between the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), ESA and the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). • Additionally, ESA is developing several Digital Twin Earth Precursor Activities to study some of the key scientific and technical challenges associated with building a “Digital Twin Earth”. These include forests, hydrology, Antarctica, food systems, oceans, and climate hot spots Digital Twin prototypes. • NASA Earth Science Technology Office (ESTO)’s Advanced Information Systems Technology (AIST) Program has started an initiative in Earth System Digital Twins (ESDT), with 14 current projects in this area, developing various information systems technologies and prototypes that will help prepare the development of future NASA Digital Twins. • CNES is currently developing the concept of a Digital Twin Factory (DTF), which relies on a data lake, a high computing capability using clouds and/or HPC and has thematic algorithms and methodologies able to generate registered and coherent layers of information in order to enrich a datacube from which physical indicators can be computed spatially. NASA, ESA and CNES are also currently defining science use cases that will be presented during the townhall; those and a few short discussions of current projects will serve as a starting point to engage a dialogue about Digital Twins of the Earth with the IGARSS community.

earth science remote sensing; Information systems↗

The MOST Hosts Survey: Spectroscopic Observation of the Host Galaxies of ∼40,000 Transients Using DESI

We present the Multi-Object Spectroscopy of Transient (MOST) Hosts survey. The survey is planned to run throughout the 5 yr of operation of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) and will generate a spectroscopic catalog of the hosts of most transients observed to date, in particular all the supernovae observed by most public, untargeted, wide-field, optical surveys (Palomar Transient Factory, PTF/intermediate PTF, Sloan Digital Sky Survey II, Zwicky Transient Facility, DECAT, DESIRT). Science cases for the MOST Hosts survey include Type Ia supernova cosmology, fundamental plane and peculiar velocity measurements, and the understanding of the correlations between transients and their host-galaxy properties. Here we present the first release of the MOST Hosts survey: 21,931 hosts of 20,235 transients. These numbers represent 36% of the final MOST Hosts sample, consisting of 60,212 potential host galaxies of 38,603 transients (a transient can be assigned multiple potential hosts). Of all the transients in the MOST Hosts list, only 26.7% have existing classifications, and so the survey will provide redshifts (and luminosities) for nearly 30,000 transients. A preliminary Hubble diagram and a transient luminosity–duration diagram are shown as examples of future potential uses of the MOST Hosts survey. The survey will also provide a training sample of spectroscopically observed transients for classifiers relying only on photometry, as we enter an era when most newly observed transients will lack spectroscopic classification. The MOST Hosts DESI survey data will be released on a rolling cadence and updated to match the DESI releases.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

White Paper: Scalable Digital Twin Capabilities for Aging and Surveillance of Engineered Systems

This white paper presents a multi-year initiative to develop practical, secure, and scalable digital twin capabilities for engineered systems in aging and surveillance contexts—an approach pioneered at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) that maps directly onto the needs and ambitions of the Navy for ship- and fleet-level digital twins. LLNL’s work in building part- and process-level digital twins for advanced manufacturing, with a vision to scale up to entire factory floors and, ultimately, enterprise-wide digital twins, offers an adaptable pathway for the Navy as it seeks to modernize lifecycle management, readiness, and predictive maintenance across ships and fleets. For our application, we integrate physics-based modeling with automated data ingestion, processing, and AI-driven calibration, creating hybrid models that are both interpretable and data responsive. We modernized legacy workflows, established centralized data infrastructure, automated experimental pipelines, and demonstrated end-to-end coupling of accelerated aging data with finite element simulations via optimization and surrogate modeling. The result is a generalizable framework that supports part-level digital twins today and lays the groundwork for future system-level twins suitable for Navy applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

How Can Construction Process Simulation Modeling Aid the Integration of Lean Principles in the Factory-Built Housing Industry?

New and existing factories that produce and deliver factory-built housing can benefit from construction process simulation modeling to explore the integration of Lean principles in their operations. Construction process simulation modeling provides digital or virtual recreations of the real-world factory environments to visualize, quantify, analyze, and optimize their underlying behavior, including factory productivity, material flow, labor dynamics, bottlenecks, and work scope. One of the key benefits of process simulation modeling is the ability to create and compare "what-if" scenarios, including integrating Lean principles such as reducing waste (for example, transportation, waiting), line balancing, and just-in-time concepts. In general, three process simulation methods are widely used: discrete event simulation (DES), agentbased modeling (ABM), and system dynamics (SD). Myriad process simulation software also is available, but depending on the industry, complexity of the system, and purposes of the simulation, some software might be more appropriate. Similar to how computer-aided design (CAD) software such as AutoCAD and Rhinoceros enable building design of modular or factory-built housing, process simulation modeling software such as jStrobe, ProModel, and AnyLogic can enable factory design of new and existing factories to deliver modular affordable housing at scale, as opposed to traditional site-built construction. Software with DES capabilities can help generate a process model that is a logical representation of resources and activities in a factory. Software with CAD-DES integration can leverage product-process data integration to help spatially visualize a DES model of the factory in the CAD environment. Software with multimethod simulation capabilities, widely used in the manufacturing industry, brings together DES, ABM, and SD in a single platform that allows visualization, quantification, analyses, and optimization at varying data fidelities. Near-real-time data from an existing factory can be directly plugged into multimethod simulation software so that the construction process simulation model is a near-accurate representation of the real-world factory conditions. This report provides insights into the use of simulation as an aid to integrate Lean concepts in factories, including guidelines for selecting the appropriate process simulation modeling method and software. These insights have been developed as part of ongoing process simulation modeling research, development, and demonstration projects at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory focused on how process simulation models can enable better integration of resilience, energy efficiency, and low-carbon design strategies.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Digital Twins for Data Centers

Fueled by an unprecedented adoption of AI (Artificial Intelligence), data centers are becoming the largest growing consumers of energy. Digital Twins provide living digital models of physical systems that enable data-driven analysis and application of AI to better manage selective aspects of the data center and drive efficiency for sustainability. Digital twins have emerged as a way to create virtual prototypes of physical artifacts, which may be used in a variety of contexts. Physical artifacts include airplanes, factories, or even static objects, such as bridges or dams. Digital twin helps monitor changes and assist in predicting planned or unplanned behaviors of physical objects. In this paper, we discuss digital twins for data centers.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Integrating Energy Efficiency Strategies with Industrialized Construction for Our Clean Energy Future: Preprint

NREL’s Industrialized Construction Innovation Team has developed an ambitious plan to accelerate the integration of energy efficiency (EE) strategies with Industrialized Construction (IC). The United States (U.S.) construction industry is beginning to use IC methods to build multifamily apartment buildings to address affordability and labor shortages. Apart from reducing cost of construction and delivery times, the IC method of permanent modular construction has the potential to facilitate the integration of a wide range of EE strategies and advanced controls into such buildings. While there may be unintended EE benefits to IC such as a tighter envelope due to higher construction quality, the process has not been leveraged specifically to enhance EE. NREL aims to claim this missed opportunity and integrate IC benefits with EE as well as advanced controls, distributed energy resources, and grid-friendly design strategies. The paper proposes an ‘IC Assessment Framework’ to achieve affordable zero-energy modular multifamily buildings. Through the selection criteria of Design for Manufacturing and Assembly, the framework aims to distill a broad range of proven EE strategies for site-built into a set of strategies that qualify as easy to integrate for off-site. The output is a Factory Information Model (FIM) that represents a process-based digital twin to enable advanced time-and-motion study, plugs into open source building energy modeling platform (EnergyPlus), and serves as a vital tool facilitating wider adoption of EE integration. Conclusively, the paper delineates next steps for upcoming pilots with NREL’s IC partners towards developing a transformational pathway for our Clean Energy Future.

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION↗

A Comparison of Properties of Quasars with and without Rapid Broad Absorption Line Variability

We investigate the correlation between rest-frame UV flux variability of broad absorption line (BAL) quasars and their variability in BAL equivalent widths (EWs) in a various timescale from <10 days to a few years in the quasar rest frame. We use the data sets of BAL EWs taken by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping project and photometric data taken by the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory in the g and R bands and the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System in grizy bands. Our results are summarized as follows: (1) the distributions of flux variability versus BAL variability show weak, moderate, or a strong positive correlation; (2) there is no significant difference in flux variability amplitudes between BAL quasars with significant short timescale EW variability (called class S1) and without (class S2); (3) in all timescales considered in this paper, the class S1 quasars show systematically larger BAL variability amplitudes than those of the class S2 quasars; and (4) there are possible correlations between BAL variability and physical parameters of the quasars such as black hole masses (moderate positive), Eddington ratios, and accretion disk temperature (strong negative) in the class S2 quasars. These results indicate that the BAL variability requires changing in the ionizing continuum and an ancillary mechanism such as variability in X-ray shielding gas located at the innermost region of an accretion disk.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

iPTF Discovery of the Rapid "Turn-On" of a Luminous Quasar

We present a radio-quiet quasar at z = 0.237 discovered ''turning on'' by the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF). The transient, iPTF 16bco, was detected by iPTF in the nucleus of a galaxy with an archival Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectrum with weak narrow-line emission characteristic of a low-ionization nuclear emission-line region (LINER). Our follow-up spectra show the dramatic appearance of broad Balmer lines and a power-law continuum characteristic of a luminous (L(sub bol) approx. equal 10(exp 45) erg/s) type 1 quasar 12 yr. later. Our photometric monitoring with PTF from 2009-2012 and serendipitous X-ray observations from the XMM-Newton Slew Survey in 2011 and 2015 constrain the change of state to have occurred less than 500 days before the iPTF detection. An enhanced broad H(alpha)/[O III] (lambda)5007 line ratio in the type 1 state relative to other changing-look quasars also is suggestive of the most rapid change of state yet observed in a quasar. We argue that the greater than 10 increase in Eddington ratio inferred from the brightening in UV and X-ray continuum flux is more likely due to an intrinsic change in the accretion rate of a preexisting accretion disk than an external mechanism such as variable obscuration, microlensing, or the tidal disruption of a star. However, further monitoring will be helpful in better constraining the mechanism driving this change of state. The rapid ''turn-on'' of the quasar is much shorter than the viscous infall timescale of an accretion disk and requires a disk instability that can develop around a approx. equal 10(exp 8)solar mass black hole on timescales less than 1 yr.

Gezari, S.↗

Concept of Operations Visualization in Support of Ares I Production

Boeing was selected in 2007 to manufacture Ares I Upper Stage and Instrument Unit according to NASA's design which would require the use of the latest manufacturing and integration processes to meet NASA budget and schedule targets. Past production experience has established that the majority of the life cycle cost is established during the initial design process. Concept of Operations (CONOPs) visualizations/simulations help to reduce life cycle cost during the early design stage. Production and operation visualizations can reduce tooling, factory capacity, safety, and build process risks while spreading program support across government, academic, media and public constituencies. The NASA/Boeing production visualization (DELMIA; Digital Enterprise Lean Manufacturing Interactive Application) promotes timely, concurrent and collaborative producibility analysis (Boeing)while supporting Upper Stage Design Cycles (NASA). The DELMIA CONOPs visualization reduced overall Upper Stage production flow time at the manufacturing facility by over 100 man-days to 312.5 man-days and helped to identify technical access issues. The NASA/Boeing Interactive Concept of Operations (ICON) provides interactive access to Ares using real mission parameters, allows users to configure the mission which encourages ownership and identifies areas for improvement, allows mission operations or spacecraft detail to be added as needed, and provides an effective, low coast advocacy, outreach and education tool.

Chilton, James H.↗

Immersive Industrialized Construction Environments for Energy Efficiency Construction Workforce

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory is actively developing and testing Immersive Industrialized Construction Environments (IICE) for construction automation and worker-machine interaction to investigate possible solutions and increase workforce productivity. At full scope and matured functionality, IICE allows us to accelerate the development of and better explore industrialized construction approaches such as prefabrication. IICE also enables wider adoption of energy-efficient products and Industry 4.0 construction automation through worker-machine interaction pilots. Industry 4.0 and industrialized construction approaches can encourage workforce specialization in energy efficiency construction, address the lack of multi-skilled workers, and increase workforce productivity with construction automation. However, recent attempts to integrate these concepts with the industry have only been moderately successful. To address this, focusing the pedagogy on using a digital twin, its digital models, and virtual reality could make the experience of continuing education on construction automation more affordable, accessible, scalable, immersive, and safer, and could greatly improve the efficiency and robustness of the building and construction industry. IICE accurately represents the realities of construction uncertainties without having to create full scale physical prototypes of machines. In this paper, we address the following research question: How can a digital twin and its models in virtual reality enhance the learning experience and productivity of energy efficiency construction workers to gain the skills in operating Industry 4.0 components such as construction automation and handling energy-efficient products in industrialized construction factories and on-site? We introduce original research on developing IICE and present preliminary findings from time and motion pilot studies.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗

Digital Twin Framework for the Resilient Remote Monitoring and Operation of Nuclear Microreactors

The nuclear industry is developing new advanced reactor technologies, and many companies are conceptualizing designs for microreactors, a class of nuclear reactor with a sub-20 MWth power output designed to be factory fabricated, easily transportable, and simple to control. Microreactors offer promising solutions to several use cases for which large-scale plants would not be suitable, and conventional power generation means, notably diesel electric generators, are expensive and logistically difficult. Many of the potential use cases are in isolated locations such as arctic communities, remote mines, and military installations. Therefore, the cost of microreactor deployment and traditional onsite operations pose a challenge that requires new technical solutions to address. One solution that has the potential to greatly improve economics is to operate and monitor microreactors remotely from a centralized location. Remote monitoring and operation are novel concepts to the nuclear industry and will greatly alter the tasks and responsibilities associated with current commercial nuclear power plant operators. As such, it is important to perform research on potential technological solutions and the impacts those solutions have on operations with end-goal of defining a safe and effective remote concept of operations. This paper proposes a framework for resilient remote operation of microreactors enabled by a novel digital twin implementation.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Development of Integrated Mechanical Pods

This presentation highlights early wins, updated progress, and upcoming developments on ‘national-scale shared development platform’ for rapid prototyping, testing and validation of various integrated Mechanical Pod solutions and form factors. Such pod solutions consist of a set of all-electric heat pump mechanical equipment that have integrated functionalities through built-in controls, with heating, cooling, hot water, ventilation (including energy recovery), electrical management, and battery storage within a single package. The presentation draws inspiration from the success of bathroom pods in the US modular construction industry, UK’s efforts with unitizing mechanical systems as ‘utility cupboards’, and VEIC’s early wins in design-build of all-electric Mechanical Pod solutions in Vermont. The presentation includes researchers and partners involved with NREL in Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA), Virtual Design and Construction (VDC), and digital twin based process optimization modeling of integrated Mechanical Pod solutions. The presentation aims to highlight early wins from such a platform and how various physical and virtual tools are currently being employed as part of NREL’s ongoing multi-year project funded by US DOE. Streamlined procurement, coordination, installation, and O&M of Mechanical Pods such that the majority of work is delegated to the off-site modular factory implies monetary savings. Such a seemingly basic shift in location of the construction process leads to great reduction in complexity, first cost, lead time, and waste, and greater opportunities for innovative compartmentalization and integration of mechanical systems appropriately sized for each apartment or hotel guest room. However, past studies on unitized combination systems show that high installation costs, maintenance issues, challenges with system integration, limitations in existing electrical infrastructure, and lack of architecturally appealing solutions are key barriers. NREL and partners aim to address key barriers through DfMA approach, rapid prototyping and testing, and digital twin process optimization modeling. The presentation is also a call for interested entities to partner with NREL as part of the national-scale development platform, help drive both product and process innovation, and encourage open source sharing of learnings. Learning objectives include (1) learn about the vision of national-scale shared development platform for process-product innovation on integrated mechanical pod solutions and how to get involved, (2) gain an understanding of the components of an all-electric, high performance home, design characteristics and equipment included in an all-electric mechanical pod, integration of mechanical systems within a modular factories’ assembly line, and the system’s commissioning, operation and maintenance. The pre-planning and coordination with the factory and sub-contractors are also highlighted, (3) gain an understanding of using process modeling tools to quantify resource-constrained performance of operations (such as integration of energy efficiency strategies) to manufacture modules of varying design, (4) gain insights on virtual design, rapid prototyping, and emulated testing of various form factors across different climatic conditions. The need for such preliminary testing with open source sharing of learnings will also be highlighted.

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION↗

Comparison of simulator fidelity model predictions with in-simulator evaluation data

A full factorial in simulator experiment of a single axis, multiloop, compensatory pitch tracking task is described. The experiment was conducted to provide data to validate extensions to an analytic, closed loop model of a real time digital simulation facility. The results of the experiment encompassing various simulation fidelity factors, such as visual delay, digital integration algorithms, computer iteration rates, control loading bandwidths and proprioceptive cues, and g-seat kinesthetic cues, are compared with predictions obtained from the analytic model incorporating an optimal control model of the human pilot. The in-simulator results demonstrate more sensitivity to the g-seat and to the control loader conditions than were predicted by the model. However, the model predictions are generally upheld, although the predicted magnitudes of the states and of the error terms are sometimes off considerably. Of particular concern is the large sensitivity difference for one control loader condition, as well as the model/in-simulator mismatch in the magnitude of the plant states when the other states match.

Parrish, R. V.↗

A framework for challenges and solutions in biodesign research

The bioeconomy represents an advanced economic paradigm that builds upon previous agricultural, industrial, and digital economic models. It seeks to tackle critical global challenges such as resource scarcity, escalating healthcare demands, and environmental degradation. At the heart of the bioeconomy is biomanufacturing, which uses natural or engineered enzymes or cell factories built from ​biological components like promoters, terminators, regulatory sequences, reporters, and functional genes into various chassis hosts (including animal, microbial, plant, and de novo systems) to create products such as food, energy, medicine, materials, chemicals, and engineered tissue/organs. An enabler of biomanufacturing is biodesign – also known as biosystems design and closely related to synthetic biology or engineering biology. This interdisciplinary field aims to understand and predictably modify existing life forms or create entirely new biological entities/systems using rational engineering strategies and automated design tools. Through these capabilities, biodesign supports the discovery, optimization, and creation of efficient platforms for biomanufacturing.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗