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This issue...
Brieflies
View from the Inside
Shocking Rocks
PubSCIENCE
Working
Science
People
About
Subscribe Free
This issue...
Brieflies
View from the Inside
Shocking Rocks
PubSCIENCE
Working
Science
People
About
Subscribe Free
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Brieflies...
Another R&D 100 Award by Sallie Ortiz, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
The PowerModTM Solid-State Switch Module received an award from R&D Magazine as one of the top 100 significant new technologies of 1999. Until now, vacuum-tube-based switches have been indispensable to high-voltage power systems, but are costly, complex systems with short mean time between failures. The PowerModTM Solid-State Switch Module offers an efficient, low-cost, and reliable alternativefor the first time, very high voltage and very fast switching times are available in a compact, low cost, solid state device.
The PowerModTM switch can turn on or off in less than 100 nanoseconds, and it can cycle the on-off switching up to 400,000 times per second, a combination of switching speeds and frequencies that has not been available previously in any high voltage switching device. Using readily available solid-state components, PowerModTM switches have a switching frequency many times faster than vacuum tubes. They are also 10 to 100 times more efficient than vacuum tubes because they dissipate only 0.2 percent of input energy, compared to vacuum tubes that dissipate 10 to 40 percent. Cooling circuitry becomes much simpler because there is significantly less waste heat energy. The PowerModTM Solid-State Switch Module was developed by Diversified Technologies, Inc., and in part under a Small Business Innovation Research grant from SC's Office of High Energy and Nuclear Physics.
Contact: Michael Kempkes, Diversified Technologies, Inc., Bedford, MA (781) 275-9444 ext. 111, kempkes@DIVTECS.com
Other 1999 R&D 100 Award-winning technologies supported by the Office of Science are profiled in the September/October issue of Energy Science News.
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Graphic Art Goes Nanoscale
by Sallie Ortiz, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
The world's smallest national lab logo was created by Nestor Zaluzec for Argonne National Laboratory to demonstrate the concept of working with nanoscale and nanotechnology beam writing methods with a 300 kV field emission electron microscope. Each dot on the perimeter of the logo is actually a tiny (~1-nanometer-diameter) hole in a thin sample of silicon oxide. The whole logo, which Zaluzec has dubbed the "NanoLogo" is only about 50 nanometers wide. How small is that? Small enough to pack 100 million copies of the Argonne NanoLogo inside the area of the period at the end of this sentence.
Contact: Nestor J. Zaluzec, ANL, zaluzec@aaem.amc.anl.gov
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Splats and the Art of Thermal Plasma Spraying by Mary Beckman, Idaho National Environmental Engineering Laboratory
A water balloon will make a different splat depending on how hard it is thrown and how big and full it is. Engineers who spray ceramic and metallic droplets to coat surfaces need consistent splats to ensure strong, durable coatings. James Fincke, INEEL engineer, is identifying sources of particle variation in a spray coating process by studying particles' in-flight behavior and the splats they make on impact. His state-of-the-art laser-based system can simultaneously gauge the size, velocity and temperature of 10,000 particles in the spray per second. They are investigating what particle characteristics yield splats that bond into the best coatings. They are also creating graded coatings with two or more materials, such as one that is metallic inside with a ceramic crust outside. This work is supported by the Department of Energy's Office of Basic Energy Sciences.
Contact: James Fincke, INEEL, jf1@inel.gov
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A Crack in Time by Mary Beckman,
Idaho National Environmental Engineering Laboratory
No one would ever think to throw milk out before the expiration date, but many metal components of our country's infrastructure are thrown out while they are still useful. Pipes, bridges, and storage tanks may crack normally with age. Since little is known about how long they will last after a crack has formed, or what conditions are necessary for failure, current conservative estimates result in many structural components being taken out of service earlier than necessary.
Researchers at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL), in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, are developing a Fitness for Service predictive technology that can be used to more accurately figure "expiration dates" for metal structures within both the civil and industrial realms. INEEL materials engineer Walter G. Reuter and colleagues are using data from nondestructive testing on full-scale metal structures to develop Fitness for Service standards and predictions for surface cracks and welds. Accurate Fitness for Service predictions will likely extend the lifetimes of many structures. This work is supported by the Department of Energy's Office of Basic Energy Sciences.
Contact: Walter Reuter, INEEL, (208) 526-1708, wgr2@inel.gov
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Global Energy Trends by Michaela Mann, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
A small group of advanced industrialized countries has been responsible for about 95% of the world's energy R&D investments. Their energy R&D policies and enterprises set the stage for future technological and administrative changes in the world's energy systems. Research conducted through the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory indicates that reductions in energy R&D fundingin some cases, by as much as 70%are forcing firms and governments in these countries to make difficult tradeoffs between technology areas and between long- and short-term research projects. The consequences of these changes will play a role in global efforts to address climate change, and in international and country-specific energy technology development efforts. A new website, Energy Research & DevelopmentGlobal Trends in Policy and Investment, documents results of this on-going research including cross-cutting reports and country-by-country analyses (http://energytrends.pnl.gov/). This work is sponsored by SC's Office of Planning and Analysis.
Contact: James J. Dooley, PNNL, jj.dooley@pnl.gov
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