Award Data

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 ...

The technology development for the supercritical CO2 (sCO2) power plant is well underway, and the first pilot plants are now under construction. The new pilot plants are sized for a 10 MW net power output; a good size to gain valuable data for larger utility scale power plants. This is also a very good size for the smaller, distributed power applications. The distributed power application is envis ...

A novel integrated inter-propellant seal and thrust bearing (IPS/TB) for rocket turbopump applications that uses the latest technology developments in seal coatings and additive manufacturing to advance the state-of-the-art. The IPS/TB has low propellant loss, requires little or no purge gas, and no continuous purge when the turbopump is not in operation. The thrust bearing portion can handle all ...

According to a 2014 study commissioned by the Department of Energy, hydropower from more than 3 million untapped streams in the United States could potentially generate 65 gigawatts of electricity and help to reduce greenhouse emissions and pollution. However, the development of hydropower has been limited by several obstacles, as described by the United States Geological Survey: most of the prime ...

Supercritical CO2 cycles have the potential to significantly improve efficiency and reduce emissions in power generation. However, the unique fluid dynamic properties of supercritical CO2 that enable these higher efficiencies also complicate the design and layout of the system, particularly its turbomachinery components. The problem stems specifically from the highly non-linear properties of CO2, ...

Letters from leading researchers of subsurface hydrobiogeochemical processes, including Department of Energy researchers, confirm the need for low-cost, rugged distributed temperature sensing. Temperature and thermal gradients are critical drivers and state variables in many important subsurface hydrobiogeochemical processes, as well as indicators of hydrologic phenomena. In addition to helping un ...

Tactical Air Control Party (TACP) personnel juggle disparate tasks simultaneously. Their task simultaneously require physically grueling output, instantaneous information processing, clear communication and instantaneous decision-making. The current system provides capabilities far beyond their predecessors but with drawbacks: an information-rich battlefield requires increased time looking at ches ...

There are imminent needs for improvements and advancements in the research and development of new sensor materials and measurements techniques for nuclear material control and accountability. Nuclear storage facilities for used fuel and electrochemical recycling facilities need more robust safeguards and security than ever. In addition, fuel monitoring must be done in a cost effective manner. How ...

Many contaminated DOE sites are located in arid regions where depth to groundwater is significant and/or contaminants were discharged into a vadose zone through which transport to the groundwater table is dominated by unsteady, unsaturated groundwater flow. The absence of an effective means to monitor vadose zone moisture content in profile has been a persistent impediment to developing and calibr ...

Increased use of Exhaust Gas Recirculation (EGR) combined with engine downsizing has pushed automotive turbocharger compressor operation towards and often beyond its efficient and stable operating boundaries. Much of the drive cycle is spent operating the compressor at low flow rates and low pressure ratios, near the compressor surge line, in an area which is usually of low efficiency. Our prelimi ...