Energy

Access our comprehensive library of technical briefs on energy, from engineering experts at NASA and major government, university, and commercial laboratories.

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Briefs: Energy
Grid-Tied Photovoltaic Power System
A grid-tied photovoltaic (PV) power system is connected directly to the utility distribution grid. Facility power can be obtained from the utility system as normal. The PV system is synchronized with the utility system to provide power for the facility, and excess power is provided to the utility.
Briefs: Energy
CgWind is a new, high-fidelity simulation tool designed to meet the modeling requirements of advanced wind energy resources. These new resources, targeting 20% of the US...
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Briefs: Energy
An enhanced thin-film silicon photovoltaic device with improved efficiency has been developed. Thin-film silicon solar cells suffer from low material absorption characteristics,...
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Briefs: Energy
Heat load is reduced by more than half. An active thermal control system architecture has been modified to include a regenerative heat exchanger (regenerator) inboard of...
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Briefs: Energy
Multi-Mission Power Analysis Tool
Multi-Mission Power Analysis Tool (MMPAT) Version 2 simulates spacecraft power generation, use, and storage in order to support spacecraft design, mission planning, and spacecraft operations. It can simulate all major aspects of a spacecraft power subsystem. It is parametrically driven to reduce or eliminate the...
Briefs: Energy
This report summarizes results from a three-year Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project. The collaborative effort of researchers from Sandia National Laboratories and Rensselaer...
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
The High Altitude Airship (HAA) has various application potential and mission scenarios that require onboard energy harvesting and power distribution systems. The power...
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Briefs: Energy
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Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
High-Resolution Wind Measurements for Offshore Wind Energy Development
A mathematical transform, called the Rosette Transform, together with a new method, called the Dense Sampling Method, have been developed. The Rosette Transform is invented to apply to both the mean part and the fluctuating part of a targeted radar signature using the Dense...
Briefs: Transportation
Strobe or rotating beacon-type emergency lighting is a requirement on all Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) maintenance and construction vehicles. There is an effort to...
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Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
Société de Conseil et de Prospective Scientifique (SCPS), located in Rosny-sous-Bois, France, developed a technology that allows the nickel-zinc battery system to work as close as possible to its...
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Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
Microwave Plasma Hydrogen Recovery System
A microwave plasma reactor was developed for the recovery of hydrogen contained within waste methane produced by Carbon Dioxide Reduction Assembly (CRA), which reclaims oxygen from CO2. Since half of the H2 reductant used by the CRA is lost as CH4, the ability to reclaim this valuable resource will simplify...
Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
A proposed plant-growth system takes advantage of the highly diffuse reflective surfaces on the interior of a sphere, hemisphere, or other nearly enclosed structure that is coated with highly...
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Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
Most wind farms consist of horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs), but an alternative paradigm for wind energy extraction is found in vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) designs. A single spatially-isolated VAWT has a significantly lower power coefficient.
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Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
In recent years, better stabilizer formulations for ethylene vinyl-acetate have been developed, giving more confidence in the long-term stability of PV packaging materials. Because of this, some manufacturers have stopped using Ce-doped glass. National Renewable Energy Laboratory researchers studied Ce-free glass.
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Briefs: Electronics & Computers
A circuit topology has been designed to guarantee the output of intrinsically safe power for the operation of electrical devices in a hazardous environment. This design...
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Briefs: Energy
Luminescent materials were developed using aerosol processes, for making improved LED devices for solid-state lighting. In essence this means improving...
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Briefs: Energy
Light Emitting Diode (LED) driver ICs associated with specific (uniquely operated) switching power supplies that optimize performance for High Brightness...
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Briefs: Energy
A proposed scheme for generating electric power from rivers and from ocean currents, tides, and waves is intended to offer economic and environmental advantages over prior such...
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Briefs: Energy
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Briefs: Materials
An improved class of formulations for PMR polyimide resins retards the imidization that undesirably occurs during handling and storage. While imidization is desired at the final...
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Briefs: Energy
Lattice-Matched Semiconductor Layers on Single Crystalline Sapphire Substrate
SiGe is an important semiconductor alloy for high-speed field effect transistors (FETs), high-temperature thermoelectric devices, photovoltaic solar cells, and photon detectors. The growth of SiGe layer is difficult because SiGe alloys have different lattice constants...
Briefs: Energy
A new cell designed to mimic the photosynthetic processes of plants to convert carbon dioxide into carbonaceous products and oxygen at high efficiency, has an...
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Briefs: Energy
Electrolytes comprising LiPF6 dissolved in alkyl carbonate/fluoroester mixtures have been found to afford improved low-temperature performance and greater high-temperature resilience in...
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Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
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Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
Quantum-Well Thermophotovoltaic Cells
Thermophotovoltaic cells containing multiple quantum wells have been invented as improved means of conversion of thermal to electrical energy. The semiconductor bandgaps of the quantum wells can be tailored to be narrower than those of prior thermophotovoltaic cells, thereby enabling the cells to convert energy...

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