Award Data

There is no manufacturing solution available today that can achieve quick-turn production of spaceborne printed circuit boards while adhering to the rigidity requirements of industry standards and surviving the rigors of space launch and flight. To fulfill the production needs of the defense and aerospace industries, this program will develop an additive manufacturing process combining the ruggedn ...

CdTe photovoltaic (PV) module performance has room to improve and can help the DOE in achieving its SunShot initiative. Improving the p-type doping and carrier lifetime in polycrystalline CdTe absorber material is critical to achieving PV cell efficiency to 25%. The current industrial supply chain consists of CdTe feedstock that undergoes treatments to help improve the material properties in effor ...

A need persists for innovative sensor solutions to monitor the integrity and internal conditions of dry storage cask systems for spent nuclear fuel. Spent fuel is loaded in these dry storage cannisters (DSC) which are typically welded, 5/8-inch-thick stainless steel that are then inserted for long term storage in metal or concrete overpacks. The objective of this project is to design, fabricate, a ...

A quad-active-bridge (QAB) multiport converter will be developed based on an innovative circuit topology, a high-frequency planar magnetic transformer, and the latest generation of wide bandgap (WBG) transistors. The WBG-based QAB converter will provide a high-efficiency and ultra-compact interface capable of connecting with an array of photovoltaic (PV) panels, battery packs, electric vehicles (E ...

Successful deployment of water-splitting technologies to produce green hydrogen holds the potential to enable large-scale renewable energy storage on the grid and help decarbonize the chemical industry. Currently, every commercial green hydrogen technology uses pure water as the feedstock, which adds to the costs and energy requirements of these systems. If innovative technologies can be developed ...

C56-40v-272647Next-generation nuclear power plants can provide a large-scale source of environmentally benign power generation while improving safety and minimizing proliferation risks. For best performance, these reactors will require large numbers of uranium alloy fuel slugs produced with metallurgical properties that enable reliable, long-term operation. No method currently exists for high-volu ...

C56-41b-273026Welded stainless steel canisters at near-marine sites that contain spent nuclear fuel (SNF) have been found with salts on their outer surface that can produce an aggressive chemical environment. These conditions could lead to pitting, stress corrosion cracking (SCC), and potential release of radioactive materials. We propose to develop an innovative process and device for mitigating ...

Widespread utilization of smart inverters in the power grid with information exchange capability through cyber-physical networks poses the threat of cyberattack. The stability and reliability of the power grid can be jeopardized, resulting in economic loss to utility and consumers if inverters are hacked to perform malicious actions. Communication protocols have been developed focusing on the safe ...

Half of the world’s population lives in urban watersheds. In order to predict how these watersheds will behave under current and future weather dynamics (e.g. if , how and where flooding would occur due to intense rainfall), we need dense measurements of river stage and river velocity. Current instruments are too expensive to deploy in the quantities needed to provide these dense measurements. A ...

Half of the world’s population lives in urban watersheds. In order to predict how these watersheds will behave under current and future weather dynamics (e.g. if , how and where flooding would occur due to intense rainfall), we need dense measurements of river stage and river velocity. Current instruments are too expensive to deploy in the quantities needed to provide these dense measurements. A ...