Award Data

DoEs recent emphasis on increasing fuel economy requires electrification of the vehicle powertrain, thus leading to extended range electric vehicles (EREVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), battery electric vehicles (BEV) and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV). All electric propulsion systems require high current, high-voltage (600 V-1200 V), low-loss power semiconductor switches. Present electri ...

This SBIR/STTR project delivers an ultra-low power structural health monitoring (SHM) system that uses autonomous, wirelessly embedded sensors to monitor and assess structural integrity in wind turbine blades. EASE features impedance-based active SHM, which is highly sensitive to damage like cracks, delimitations, mass variations, fastener failures and stiffness changes. Blades are the only wind t ...

An enormous amount of energy from burning hydrocarbon fuels is wasted as heat in vehicle exhaust gas. The goal of this project is to improve vehicle efficiency and reduce fuel consumption by converting some of this heat into electric power. We will develop a solid state thermoelectric generator (TEG) that can efficiently produce electric power from high-temperature exhaust heat. The approach is to ...

The Department of Energy’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences has identified a need for new proton conducting membranes for solar fuel generator applications. Specifically, development of block copolymers with good proton conductivity at ambient temperatures and low gas diffusion and ionic transports are needed. There are currently no commercially available proton conducting membranes which possess ...

The DOE has identified a need for thin and durable proton conducting membranes that offer enhanced energy efficiency to power zero emission vehicles. Specifically, a cost effective hydrocarbon-based alternative to expensive commercial perfluorosulfonic acid ionomers are sought. Current hydrocarbon membranes do not meet the performance or durability needed in the conditions for transportation fuel ...

Understanding the genomic basis of economically important plants for growth time, crop yield, responses to drought and disease resistance is of critical importance to sustaining and improving food supplies for humans and livestock, as well as insuring sufficient raw material availability for industries that depend on plant materials, such as biofuel manufacture. Current computational methods for a ...

There is significant opportunity for energy efficiency improvements in the industrial and manufacturing sectors in the U.S., both from the production and consumption perspective. Higher energy density battery materials will play a role in both, through improved storage of electricity from renewable sources, the enabling of electric vehicles, and through the development of longer lasting, higher po ...

Nuclear fusion has great potential for supplying global energy needs with a clean, abundant energy source. Advanced superconducting magnets will be used to contain the plasma at the center of the reactor. To operate these magnets, new sensors are needed to monitor the superconductors in real-time to detect the signs that the superconductor may quench (lose superconducting properties), so that corr ...

Clinicians have recognized that the nature of diseases can be highly individual resulting in different patterns of onset and progression. In turn, the response of an individual to drugs is also unique and governed by a variety of factors. Pharmacokinetic models represent the movement of a drug through the body, and personalized pharmacokinetic models aim to capture the unique responses of specific ...

Improved ignition methods are needed for advanced vehicle combustion systems, in particular those that allow reliable ignition of lean mixtures in gasoline engines at elevated pressures. Laser ignition is a candidate technology having the potential to address these needs. However, despite more than 40 years of laser ignition research, the technology is not yet in commercial use. A critical proble ...