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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

Pioneer WEC concept design report

The "Pioneer WEC" project is targeted at developing a wave energy generator for the Coastal Surface Mooring (CSM) system within the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) Pioneer Array. The CSM utilizes solar photovoltaic and wind generation systems, along with rechargeable batteries, to power multiple sensors on the buoy and along the mooring line. This approach provides continuous power for essential controller functions and a subset of instruments, and meets the full power demand roughly 70% of the time. Sandia has been tasked with designing a wave energy system to provide additional electrical power and bring the CSM up-time for satisfying the full-power demand to 100%. This project is a collaboration between Sandia and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), along with Evergreen Innovations, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), Eastern Carolina University (ECU), Johns Hopkins University (JHU), and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). This report captures Phase I of an expected two phase project and presents project scoping and concept design results.

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗
NASA NTRS2004

Power systems for ocean regional cabled observatories

Development of power systems is the most challenging technical issue in the design of ocean regional cabled observatories. ARENA and NEPTUNE are two ocean regional cabled observatory networks with aims that are at least broadly similar. Yet the two designs are quite different in detail. This paper outlines the both systems and explores the reasons for the divergence of design, and shows that it arose because of differences in the priority of requirements.

cabled subsea observatory↗
DOE OSTI2025

Hydrodynamic characterization of the coastal pioneer array ocean observing system

Ocean observation buoys require relatively small amounts of power, yet traditionally necessitate costly resupply trips for battery replacement. With the offshore location of the buoys and small power requirements, wave energy may be an effective solution for providing consistent and reliable power to support the buoy instrumentation. The US National Science Foundation Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) includes arrays of point absorber-like buoy systems used for ocean observation that have been deployed at multiple locations including the Southern Mid-Atlantic Bight. A study is currently underway to design a pitch resonator wave energy converter to supplement existing renewable energy generation for powering observation instrumentation. This paper details field measurements from surface moorings of the OOI Coastal Pioneer Array, which informs the subsequent development of a numerical model for the moored observation system. The model is developed in Wave Energy Converter Simulator (WEC-Sim), which leverages the Simscape multibody solver within the MATLAB/Simulink framework and linear potential flow theory to simulate the hydrodynamic interactions and multibody dynamics in 6 degrees of freedom. Multiple tuning variables are considered to produce a model for the system that matches well with empirical data (about 8% error). In conclusion, the WEC-Sim model will serve as a platform for integrating the pitch resonator wave energy converter concept and deployment preparation (detailed design including power take-off and control systems, response evaluation, etc.).

hydrodynamic modeling↗
DOE OSTI2024

Bench Testing Data and Report for an Early Prototype Pitch Resonator WEC

This dataset encompasses data and documentation from bench tests conducted on an early prototype of a "pitch resonator" wave energy converter (WEC). The testing aimed to validate numerical models and reduce risks associated with the pitch resonator concept, which is designed to convert the pitching and rolling motions of a buoy into electrical power. The project's goal is to provide supplementary power, in the range of 10-100 watts, to the National Science Foundation's Ocean Observatories Initiative Pioneer Array. Two distinct testing phases are documented: one using a single degree of freedom (1DOF) test rig, and another employing a six degree of freedom (6DOF) Stewart platform, known as the Large Amplitude Motion Platform (LAMP). These tests assessed various factors, such as system performance in different motion scenarios, the torque exerted by wave forces, and the impact of mounting configurations. The dataset includes raw test data in MATLAB (.mat) format, detailed metadata, and a report describing the experimental procedures and preliminary findings.

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗
DOE OSTI2020

An Intelligent Adaptable Monitoring Package. Final Report

The “Intelligent Adaptable Monitoring Package” project was a four-year effort that demonstrated the feasibility of integrated sensing packages at tidal and wave energy sites. Such integration is generally required by the breadth of sensors required to understand environmental effects at marine energy sites and the operational difficulty of deploying, maintaining, and recovering such sensors. Over the course of the project, the Adaptable Monitoring Package (AMP) was deployed in multiple settings, each corresponding to a project budget period: - Budget Period 1: Demonstration of cabled deployment at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Marine Science Laboratory. The deployment highlighted AMP hardware endurance over a 4-month deployment in a tidally-dominated environment and laid the groundwork for machine learning algorithms to detect and classify targets present in active sonar data. - Budget Period 2: Demonstration of an autonomous deployment at PacWave South off the coast of Newport, Oregon. The deployment highlighted the stability of AMP hardware and software, with the autonomous package collecting data on a duty cycle over a 1.5-month deployment. - Budget Period 3: Demonstration of an autonomous deployment powered by a wave energy converter at the U.S. Navy’s Wave Energy Test Site. The deployment highlighted the potential of wave energy to power ocean observatories and led to the development of machine learning algorithms to detect and classify targets in optical camera data. In aggregate, this project’s greatest success was demonstrating the AMP’s flexibility in a range of deployment scenarios. Each budget period represented a “first of a kind” demonstration of integrated instrumentation – cabled AMP, autonomous AMP, wave-energy powered AMP – and each deployment helped to identify and set goals for the next. Further, despite the exploratory nature of these deployments, each one achieved high system up-time and proved that flexible integration of multiple sensors in a single package represents a viable strategy for marine energy environmental monitoring. The key lessons learned from the project are: - Without continuous power, either from a shore cable or in situ source, many of the benefits of integration are lost (If continuous power is not available, the ability to detect rare events is lost, as is the ability to minimize the risk of behavioral changes through adaptive sensing. However, even on a duty cycle, there is still value in being able to acquire synchronous data from multiple sensors.); and - Observations from a moving platform present substantially greater data processing challenges than those from stationary platforms. Finally, these deployments also demonstrate an important truth: successful integration alone does not guarantee that relevant data are collected. To grow the knowledge base about environmental interactions with marine energy converters, integrated systems, like the AMP, need to include the right sensor mix and connect the data pipelines to effective processing algorithms. These deployments establish a strong foundation for future collaborations with the environmental research community: not only to understand the environmental effects of marine energy, but also to improve our general ability to study life in the sea.

16 TIDAL AND WAVE POWER↗
DOE OSTI2021

Initial testing of wave energy powered UV-C LED anti-biofouling system (CRADA 523)

3newable is requesting technical assistance for laboratory testing at the Marine and Coastal Research (MCRL) Laboratory of a UV-C LED anti-biofouling system. Ocean observing sensors provide critical data sources from deployed buoys and other platforms at sea. However, in addition to the availability of reliable power sources, biofouling of sensors and instruments is a limiting factor for operation and maintenance of deployed instruments. In collaboration with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute Ocean Observatories Initiative, 3newable has developed a novel solution to overcome these challenges and extend the deployment period of buoy-mounted sensors. The 3newable system co-locates wave energy converters to supply UV-C LED anti-biofouling units on powered buoy arrays. MCRL staff will implement an experiment to evaluate the efficacy of 3newable’s device under test for inhibiting growth of organisms on test coupons in a flow through seawater tank.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2026

Pioneer WEC v1 testing report

The “Pioneer WEC” project is tasked with developing a wave energy converter (WEC) to provide additional electrical power to the CeNtral Surface Mooring (CNSM) within the NSF-funded Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI) Pioneer Array. This report summarizes the design, testing, and deployment of the “Pioneer WEC v1 prototype.”

Coe, Ryan Geoffrey [Sandia National Laboratories (↗
NASA NTRS2006

Tools for Tomorrow's Science and Technology Workforce: MATE's 2006 ROV Competition Sets Students' Sights on Ocean Observing Systems

Teams participating in the 2006 ROV competition organized by the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center and the Marine Technology Society's (MTS) ROV Committee experienced first-hand the scientific and technical challenges that many ocean scientists, technicians, and engineers face every day. The competition tasked more than 1,000 middle and high school, college, and university students from Newfoundland to Hong Kong with designing and building ROVs to support the next generation of ocean observing systems. Teaming up with the National Office for Integrated and Sustained Ocean Observations, Ocean. US, and the Ocean Research Interactive Observatory Networks (ORION) Program, the competition highlighted ocean observing systems and the careers, organizations, and technologies associated with ocean observatories. The student teams were challenged to develop vehicles that can deploy, install, and maintain networks of instruments as well as to explore the practical applications and the research questions made possible by observing systems.

OCEANOGRAPHERS↗
NASA NTRS1991

Study of geopotential error models used in orbit determination error analysis

The uncertainty in the geopotential model is currently one of the major error sources in the orbit determination of low-altitude Earth-orbiting spacecraft. The results of an investigation of different geopotential error models and modeling approaches currently used for operational orbit error analysis support at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) are presented, with emphasis placed on sequential orbit error analysis using a Kalman filtering algorithm. Several geopotential models, known as the Goddard Earth Models (GEMs), were developed and used at GSFC for orbit determination. The errors in the geopotential models arise from the truncation errors that result from the omission of higher order terms (omission errors) and the errors in the spherical harmonic coefficients themselves (commission errors). At GSFC, two error modeling approaches were operationally used to analyze the effects of geopotential uncertainties on the accuracy of spacecraft orbit determination - the lumped error modeling and uncorrelated error modeling. The lumped error modeling approach computes the orbit determination errors on the basis of either the calibrated standard deviations of a geopotential model's coefficients or the weighted difference between two independently derived geopotential models. The uncorrelated error modeling approach treats the errors in the individual spherical harmonic components as uncorrelated error sources and computes the aggregate effect using a combination of individual coefficient effects. This study assesses the reasonableness of the two error modeling approaches in terms of global error distribution characteristics and orbit error analysis results. Specifically, this study presents the global distribution of geopotential acceleration errors for several gravity error models and assesses the orbit determination errors resulting from these error models for three types of spacecraft - the Gamma Ray Observatory, the Ocean Topography Experiment, and the Cosmic Background Explorer.

Yee, C.↗
NASA NTRS2019

The Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) Mission and Its Polarimeters: An Overview

Key characteristics of the PACE observatory include: the Ocean Color Instrument (OCI), built at GSFC; the Hyper Angular Rainbow Polarimeter (HARP-2), contributed by the Earth and Space Institute at the University of Maryland Baltimore County; the Spectro-polarimeter for Planetary Exploration (SPEXone), contributed by a Netherlands-based consortium consisting of the Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON) and Airbus Defence and Space Netherlands; 676.5 km altitude and 13:00 local Equatorial crossing time; Sun synchronous, polar, ascending orbit with 98º inclination; and fall 2022 launch, three-year design life.

Cairns, Brian↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

PACE OCI Short-Wave Infrared Detection Assembly frequency-dependent linearity characterization and uncertainty analysis

The Ocean Color Instrument (OCI), the primary payload of the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE)observatory, will collect data to monitor the health of Earth’s oceans and atmosphere. The Short-Wave Infrared(SWIR) Detection Assembly (SDA) was built and characterized by the Utah State University Space DynamicsLaboratory (SDL) and is a subsystem of OCI. The SDA measures seven bands centered at 940, 1038, 1250, 1378,1615, 2130, and 2260 nm, with standard- and high-gain varieties for the 1250 and 1615 nm bands, resulting in nine total detection configurations in the SWIR. The delivery of high-quality science data is critically dependent upon accurately characterizing the linearity of the SDA. Two metrology techniques were employed to measure the linearity and characterize the frequency-dependent linearity uncertainty of the system. The first technique used superposition linearity measurements to determine the DC linearity, and the second technique involved an oscillating small-signal response at seven frequencies to determine the frequency-dependent linearity. Discrepancies between the DC and frequency-dependent linearities constrain the uncertainty between the two. Examining the difference between these two methods for all SDA channels, we find most channels experience an uncertainty below0.2% with a worst-case measurement uncertainty of 0.31%. Averaging SDA channels with similar detectors, optical filters, and electronics to simulate the flight-like data products yields a worst-case frequency-dependence linearity uncertainty of 0.12%, demonstrating minimal frequency dependence, implying an excellent linearity knowledge.Detailed performance knowledge, including linearity performance, verifies data quality and builds confidence in the success of the PACE mission.

PACE↗
NASA NTRS2022

A Radiative Transfer Simulator for PACE: Theory and Applications

A radiative transfer simulator was developed to compute the synthetic data of all three instruments onboard NASA’s Plankton Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) observatory, at the top of the atmosphere (TOA). The instrument suite includes the ocean color instrument (OCI), the HyperAngular Rainbow Polarimeter 2 (HARP2), and the Spectro-Polarimeter for Planetary Exploration 1 (SPEXone). The PACE simulator is wrapped around a monochromatic radiative transfer model based on the successive order of scattering (RTSOS), which accounts for atmosphere and ocean coupling, polarization, and gas absorption. Inelastic scattering, including Raman scattering from pure ocean water, fluorescence due to chlorophyll, and colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM), is also simulated. This PACE simulator can be used to explore the sensitivity of the hyperspectral and polarized reflectance of the Earth system with tunable atmosphere and ocean parameters, which include aerosol and cloud number concentration, refractive indices, and size distribution, ocean particle microphysical parameters, and solar and sensor-viewing geometry. The PACE simulator is used to study two important case studies. One is the impact of the significant uncertainty in pure ocean water absorption coefficient to the radiance field in the ultraviolet (UV) spectral region, which can be as much as 6%. The other is the influence of different amounts of brown carbon aerosols and CDOM on the polarized radiance field at TOA. The percentage variation of the radiance field due to CDOM is mostly for wavelengths smaller than 600 nm, while brown aerosols affect the whole spectrum from 350 to 890 nm, primarily due to covaried soot aerosols. Both case studies are important for aerosol and ocean color remote sensing and have not been previously reported in the literature.

PACE↗
NASA NTRS2020

Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem (PACE) Mission Integration and Testing

This paper describes the plans, flows, key facilities, components and equipment necessary to fully integrate, functionally test and qualify the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) Observatory. PACE is currently in the design phase of mission implementation. It is scheduled to launch in 2022, extending and improving NASA's twenty-year record of satellite observations of global ocean biology, aerosols and clouds. PACE will advance the assessment of ocean health by measuring the distribution of phytoplankton, which are small plants and algae that sustain the marine food web. It will also continue systematic records of key atmospheric variables associated with air quality and the Earth's climate. The PACE observatory is comprised of the spacecraft and three instruments, an Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) and two polarimeters, the Hyper-Angular Rainbow Polarimeter 2 (HARP2) and the Spectro-Polarimeter for Exploration (SPEXone). The spacecraft and the OCI, which is the primary instrument, are developed and integrated at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The OCI is a hyper-spectral scanning (HSS) radiometer designed to measure spectral radiances from the ultraviolet to shortwave infrared (SWIR) to enable advanced ocean color and heritage cloud and aerosol particle science. The HARP2 and SPEXone are secondary instruments on the PACE observatory, acquired outside of GSFC. The Hyper-Angular Rainbow Polarimeter instrument (HARP2) is a wide swath imaging polarimeter that is capable of characterizing atmospheric aerosols for purposes of sensor atmospheric correction as well as atmospheric science. The SPEXone provides atmospheric aerosol and cloud data at high temporal and spatial resolution. This paper will focus on the Integration and Test (I&T) activities for the PACE mission at NASA GSFC. This I&T phase consists of mechanical, electrical and thermal integration and test of all the spacecraft subsystems and the integration of the instruments with the spacecraft. The PACE observatory environmental tests include electromagnetic interference (EMI)/electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), vibration, acoustics, shock, thermal balance, thermal vacuum, mass properties and center of gravity. This paper will also discuss the observatory shipment to the launch site as well as the launch site processing.

Petro, Susanna↗
NASA NTRS2019

Ocean Color Instrument Integration and Testing

This paper describes the plans, flows, key facilities, components and equipment necessary to fully integrate, functionally test, qualify and calibrate the Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) on the Plankton, Aerosols, Clouds, and oceans Ecosystem (PACE) observatory. PACE is currently in the design phase of mission development. It is scheduled to launch in 2022, extending and improving NASA's twenty-year record of satellite observations of global ocean biology, aerosols and clouds. PACE will advance the assessment of ocean health by measuring the distribution of phytoplankton, which are small plants and algae that sustain the marine food web. It will also continue systematic records of key atmospheric variables associated with air quality and the Earth's climate. PACE's primary sensor, the OCI, is a highly advanced optical spectrometer that will be used to measure properties of light over portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. It will enable continuous measurement of light at finer wavelength resolution than previous NASA satellite sensors, extending key system ocean color data records for climate studies. The color of the ocean is determined by the interaction of sunlight with substances or particles present in seawater such as chlorophyll. By monitoring global phytoplankton distribution and abundance with unprecedented detail, the OCI will contribute to a better understanding of the complex systems that drive ocean ecology and it's impacts on global fisheries. This paper will focus on the Integration and Test (I&T) activities for OCI while it is at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The OCI integration consists of assembly and alignment of the rotating telescope, electronics box integration, fixed deck assembly integration, thermal systems integration and the final assembly and testing. This I&T phase will be followed by the OCI calibration and characterization, environmental tests which include electromagnetic interference (EMI)/electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), vibration with sine sweep, acoustics, shock, thermal balance, thermal vacuum, mass properties and center of gravity. This paper will briefly discuss OCI shipment and delivery to the spacecraft vendor for observatory level I&T as well as some launch preparation activities.

Petro, Susanna↗
NASA NTRS2005

Lessons learned from the NEPTUNE power system and other deep-sea adventures

The development of underwater science systems presents some challenging technical issues. It seems that the best efforts of the engineers and scientists involved are sometimes inadequate, and projects that once seemed straightforward end up being late, or overbudget, or cancelled. This paper will review some of the lessons that may be learned from the examples of three science projects in the deep ocean: the DUMAND neutrino detector, the H20 observatory, and the power system part of the NEPTUNE regional cabled observatory.

ocean science↗
NASA NTRS2006

Promoting Lifelong Ocean Education: Shaping Tomorrow's Earth Stewards and the Science and Technology Workforce

The coming ocean observing systems provide an unprecedented opportunity to change both the public perception of our oceans, and to inspire, captivate and motivate our children, our young adults and even our fellow adults to pursue careers allied with the oceans and to become stewards of our Planet's last unexplored environment. Education plans for the operational component, the Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS), and for the research component, Ocean Research Interactive Observatory Networks (ORION), are designed to take advantage of this opportunity. In both cases, community recommendations were developed within the context of the following assumptions: 1. Utilize research on how people learn, especially the four-pronged model of simultaneous learner-centered, knowledge-center, assessment-centered and community-centered learning 2. Strive for maximum impact on national needs in science and technology learning 3. Build on the best of what is already in place 4. Pay special attention to quality, sustainability, and scalability of efforts 5. Use partnerships across federal, state and local government, academia, and industry. Community recommendations for 100s and ORION education have much in common and offer the opportunity to create a coherent education effort allied with ocean observing systems. Both efforts focus on developing the science and technology workforce of the future, and the science and technology literacy of the public within the context of the Earth system and the role of the oceans and Great Lakes in that system. Both also recognize that an organized education infrastructure that supports sustainability and scalability of education efforts is required if ocean observing education efforts are to achieve a small but measurable improvement in either of these areas. Efforts have begun to develop the education infrastructure by beginning to form a community of educators from existing ocean and aquatic education networks and by exploring needs and issues associated with using ocean observing information assets in education. Likewise efforts are underway to address workforce issues by a systematic analysis of current and future workforce and educational needs. These activities will be described as will upcoming opportunities for the community to participate in these efforts.

Meeson, Blanche↗
DOE OSTI2021

Comparison of X1 (OLD) and X3 (NEW) Aerosol Observing Systems at the North Slope of Alaska NOAA Observatory

This report describes a comparison of the overlapping X1 and X3 Aerosol Observing Systems (AOS) at the North Slope of Alaska (NSA) observatory. Due to structural issues with the original observatory building, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) funded the design and construction of a new observatory building. Construction began in 2019 and was completed in 2020. The now decommissioned old NOAA Barrow Observatory (BRW) housed the AOS referred to as an NSA external site X1 from October 1997 through August 2021. A new observatory building next door housed the AOS referred to as an NSA external site X3 starting in October 2020. In this document we will refer to the original observatory system measurements as 'OLD' and the measurements in the new building as 'NEW'.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗