Award Data

Natural gas, which is predominantly methane, is widely used by industry as a chemical feedstock and as a fuel for power generation. The increasing price and diminishing domestic supply of natural gas creates an incentive to develop a low-cost replacement for the fuel. Coal gasification is one approach to provide the alternative fuel. However, the dominant commercially available coal gasifiers are ...

79252 As environmental regulations become increasingly stringent, there is mounting pressure on automobile manufacturers to substantially lower unburnt hydrocarbon emissions. This will require monitoring the hydrocarbon content in the exhaust with more accuracy than currently possible using the two oxygen sensor system. This requirement is especially important during start-up conditions, which a ...

The preservation of experimental data gathered by the nuclear physics community is being compromised by the dramatic increase in the rate of data generation. Physicists need to be able to easily archive the data, along with its experimental context and their current analysis procedures, in order to prepare for future breakthroughs in analysis technology and/or potential changes of the group perfo ...

70558 The control and dynamic operation of Fuel Cell/Turbine Hybrid power plants will require a synergy of operation between subsystems, increased reliability of operation, and reduction in maintenance and downtime. Futhermore, the control strategy of the power plant will play a significant role in system stability and in ensuring the protection of equipment to promote maximum life. T ...

70814B02-II Measurements of atmospheric concentrations of CO2 and CO from aircraft and from remote sites play a central role in observational strategies intended to quantify the sources and sinks of carbon and to control global warming from greenhouse gas emissions. Improved measurement techniques that are highly sensitive, automated, and robust are needed to quantify changes in the carbon conte ...

This project will develop technolgy for integrating a high-temperature (400 to 700ºC), high-efficiency (greater than 90%) secondary battery with a 3 to 10 kW solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) system. The battery will be based on an alkali-metal-ion-conducting, highly refractory, beta alumina solid electrolyte (BASE) and a non corrosive metal salt. The battery is expected not only to meet or exceed w ...

In the transition from current gasoline-based vehicles, hydrogen home fueling systems will play an important role in the market adoption of hydrogen-based vehicles. This project will investigate the development of such a system for the tri-generation of hydrogen, electricity, and heat. The tri-generation system will utilize solid oxide fuel-assisted electrolysis cells and solid oxide fuel cells ...

76181-This project will develop a cost-effective, programmable signal processor for the triggering of nuclear and high energy physics experiments. Arrays of latest generation Field Programmable Gate Arrays(FPGAs) will be configured so as to efficiently solve for real-time vertex location in nuclear and high energy physics experiments. In Phase I, algorithms for vertex determination will be devel ...

75119-The achievement of high microwave fields in next-generation high-energy particle accelerators will require, among other things, that field emission and breakdown be held to within strict upper limits. One means to achieve this goal is to devise rugged thin-film coatings for vulnerable copper surfaces, providing a higher work function than copper alone. This project will evaluate a variety ...

75748-Cathodes have a dominant influence on the quality of the electron beams produced from laser photo-cathodes in radio frequency (rf) guns used as injectors in many electron accelerators. Similar limitations are also suffered by thermionic cathodes in diode guns used in high-power rf amplifiers for accelerator applications. These limitations could be surmounted by a field-emission cold cathod ...