Award Data

Hydrogen fueled PEMFC stack systems for powering automobiles offer an excellent opportunity for the United States to reduce its dependence on foreign oil and to reduce emissions- However, cost of the fuel cell power system is still too high compared to the 2020 DOE target of $40/kW- The achievable stack power density is the single most dominant factor affecting cost of automotive stacks and it is ...

The Department of Energy operates various linear particle accelerators that consume massive amounts of electricity- One of the key components of a particle accelerator is the radio frequency (RF) power amplifier- By increasing the efficiency of this amplifier while keeping its cost down, it is possible to save considerable amounts of energy and reduce operating costs- RF power amplifiers convert e ...

The United States depends on its fleet of nuclear facilities for the clean and reliable generation of electricity- With the increased and growing need of electricity, additional nuclear facilities can provide the solution Generation IV Reactors, such as Advanced Small Modular Reactors (SMR’s) are an upgraded means to nuclear thermal energy production- These SMR’s can provide up to 300 megawatt ...

Finding better ways to measure rhizosphere properties has the potential to transform agriculture. Better understanding of the root-microbe-soil interactions that characterize the rhizosphere will help reduce fertilizer, pesticide, and herbicide inputs, improve effective carbon dioxide sequestration, enhance biofuel crop production, and lead to more efficient farms with higher profitability. But th ...

A major problem facing the existing U.S. fleet of Light Water Reactor facilities is stress corrosion cracking of austenitic nickel and iron alloys, which comprise the bulk of wetted components in LWR facilities; up to 70% of wetted non-fuel areas in a typical facility, making this problem particularly widespread and especially prevalent with extended service life. Cold spray technology offers an e ...

Reducing the amount of carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels has been dentified as one of the most important and difficult problems facing our society. The post combustion CO2 capture from flue gas is particularly challenging due to the relatively low pressure (1 atm) and high temperature (~70 ºC) of flue gas, and its small CO2 concentration (

Increasingly stringent exhaust emissions and fuel economy legislation is forcing automotive engine designers to: 1) demand increased pressure ratios from turbocharger compressors to ensure complete fuel combustion, 2) use Exhaust Gas Recirculation for emission reduction, and 3) reduce engine displacement while maintaining or even increasing output power to reduce fuel consumption. These three chan ...

Groundwater has value and is a renewable natural resource. However, when contaminated by activities (military or economic), groundwater can become unusable, nonrenewable, and create a moving hazard to the public. Developing detailed information about contamination migration supports policy decision-making by cost-benefit analysis. The project will demonstrate the feasibility of integrating drone m ...

After the Daiichi nuclear disaster the US Congress placed emphasis on accident tolerant fuels for reactors. During accident events, voids in cooling fluid can cause cladding weakening, and it is important to measure these effects in a controlled test.The project will demonstrate the feasibility of constructing a fast void detector that can detect and localize voids, with a quantifiable detection l ...

Solar Photovoltaics is the fastest growing source of electric power. While overall solar array costs have fallen dramatically year after year helping drive solar growth to date, "Installation Costs" have grown as a percentage of total costs, with solar soft costs now over 40% in even the utility-scale market. Further, the Net Zero Energy Buildings market is unable to utilize the most cost-effectiv ...