Award Data

Mezzo and its partners will design, manufacture, and test a supercritical CO2 recuperator designed for high pressure of 275 bar and high temperature of 800 0C. The recuperator will incorporate a new manufacturing approach (laser welded micro tubes) that offers potential to reduce cost. It is well known that recuperator costs are currently very high for applications that involve high temperature an ...

Actionable understanding of watershed and ecosystem behavior is required for a wide spectrum of societal and engineering needs by both government entities and commercial entities. These needs include, for example, water resource management, precision agriculture and hydropower. Such actionable understanding requires the ability to numerically model various coupled processes and associated reaction ...

Welded stainless steel canisters that contain spent nuclear fuel (SNF) at near-marine sites have been found with salts on their outer surface that could lead to pitting, stress corrosion cracking (SCC), and potential release of radioactive materials.Welds that are most susceptible to SCC are difficult to reach because canisters are installed in concrete over-pack structures with limited access.Mit ...

Creare is developing a miniature power system for NOA weather monitoring stations in remote locations. This system can provide electric power continuously from naturally occurring temperature differences that exist between ambient air and water in environments such as the Arctic Ocean and the Great Lakes. Generating power directly from these temperature difference uses the atmosphere and ocean/lat ...

The United States has a vast network of pipelines used for fuel transport. This infrastructure, installed in 1950–1970, is one of the largest in the world. Yet poor/missing records of the materials used, combined with the overall age and associated environmental degradation effects, often results in unsafe operation. Current non-destructive inspection techniques are only capable of detecting mat ...

Contractor has completed all scheduled work and accomplished the Technical Objectives (milestones): (1) Finite Element Analyses (FEA), (2) Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)nbsp;analyses, as well as (3) Seal Design and Material Selection.nbsp; A 4th Technical Objective was added:(4)nbsp;Geometry Design and Material Selection, as critical to the successful design of a manufacturable valve.Technical ...

Refueling spacecraft in space offers tremendous benefits for increased spacecraft payload capacity and reduced launch cost. However, in a microgravity environment, acquiring vapor-free cryogenic liquid propellants from supply tanks and then transferring them to receiving tanks is very challenging. To address this challenge, Creare developed a robust, lightweight hybrid Liquid Acquisition Device (L ...

Future astrophysics missions require efficient, low-temperature cryocoolers to cool advanced instruments or serve as the upper-stage cooler for sub-Kelvin refrigerators. Potential astrophysics missions include Lynx, the Origins Space Telescope, and the Superconducting Gravity Gradiometer. Cooling loads for these missions are up to 300 mW at temperatures of 4 to 10 K, with additional loads at highe ...

The Phase I results have demonstrated the feasibility of using FDM, optimized feedstock combinations, and composite architecture to produce high strength parts. During Phase II, this initial success will be expanded on for this overall technology to become a feasible candidate for ISS accommodation. Accordingly, during Phase II the FDM unit will be modified to meet ISS compatibility standards and ...

Over the past decade the U.S. has experienced substantial growth in the number of new agri- food businesses launched. At the same time rural firms and farms face obstacles impeding theirabilities to fully capitalize on food startup opportunities. A significant barrier to entry is theability to navigate food laws and regulations and legal and regulatory resources for rural foodentrepreneurs are sca ...