Publications

The purpose of the project was to facilitate joint Sandia/ExxonMobil collaborative research activities of mutual interest in the area of atomistic simulation of materials behavior using Sandia's LAMMPS molecular dynarnics software package. Work began in late 2013 and ended in early 2017. Initially, the main focus was on the development of a spatially-dependent hybridization capability for interatomic potentials in LAMMPS. Later, attention shifted to modeling and simulation of phase transformation kinetics in iron. Other research activities involved a variety of LAMMPS functionality, including interatomic potentials, Monte Carlo sampling, and energy minimization.

Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) and Carestream Health, Inc. (CHI) collaborated on the development of a grating-based X-ray Phase Contrast Imaging (XPCI) system at Sandia. The purpose of the agreement was to share research and development knowledge, resources, and capabilities in the advancement of XPCI that would be mutually beneficial to CHI and Sandia. In the course of this agreement Sandia designed and built an XPCI apparatus including opto-mechanical design, source and x-ray detector selection, software interface, hardware assembly, and system alignment. Data acquisition and image reconstruction were demonstrated at both CHI and Sandia. XPCI is a new imaging modality that enables non-destructive inspection of low density materials not previously possible with conventional x-ray. The technique fills a capability gap valuable to both the industry partner in their technical portfolio and in national security applications important to Sandia and the DOE mission space.

The major goal of this project was to develop an ionization-based detector that could be integrated into the portable gas chromatography systems currently produced by Defiant Technologies. This new detector would allow Defiant to analyze a broader range of analytes and enter new markets. There was also an interest in testing the new ionization source in an ion mobility spectrometer (IMS) that is produced by Sandia National Laboratories. Not only could this eliminate the need for a radioactive material in the IMS, it would offer Defiant the opportunity to add a whole new product line to their chemical analysis systems. Significant progress was made in the development of a thermionic ionization source (TIS) and detector. Using a MEMs heater was an attractive concept, but it proved to be an unfruitful approach because of the fragility of the devices at elevated temperatures. A rugged alternative heater was developed using nichrome wire and alumina tubes. These heaters are simple to make, and, for low quantity production, will be considerably cheaper to construct than MEMs devices. This work has provided a firm basis for follow-on projects. There is now a solid concept for constructing heater elements where, prior to this work, there was only the hope that MEMs heaters would work. In addition, the electrometer that was developed works better than the commercial rack-mounted system that was originally used in this study. Overcoming these two obstacles provides a clear technical approach for product development. There will be follow on efforts at Defiant Technologies to refine the development of the thermal ionization detector. Designs are being made to combine the TIS and electrometer electronics into a single package with a simple-to-replace TIS element. Further work will also focus on integrating this new detector into portable gas chromatography products and testing to optimize the performance.

The purpose of this PTS was to conduct work with ASU, specifically to further develop Spectroradiometricbased technology that has potential to function as early warning of the active presence of predators and pathogens in outdoor algal ponds. Chlorella sorokiniana and the pathogen, Vampirovibrio chlorellavorus were selected for investigation because they had previously been implicated in several pond crashes at ASU's Arizona Center for Algal Technology and Innovation (AzCATI). Sandia conducted small-scale laboratory experiments comparing control and infected cultures of C. sorokiniana. Spectrally-resolved reflectivity data, as well as optical density, and pulse amplitude modulated fluorescence (PAM) were collected and analyzed to identify the spectral response of active V. chlorellavorus infection. The results of this limited, yet robust, experiment confirmed the initial hypothesis that signature V. chlorellavorus infection of C. sorokiniana could be identified based on the presence of a chlorophyll metabolites generated when the algal chlorophyll is degraded by the pathogen.

The purpose of this PTS was for Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) to conduct collaborative research with Arizona Board of Regents for and on behalf of Arizona State University (ASU) to further develop algae growth and computational fluid dynamics (CFO) models that can predict and optimize pond design and cultivation methods to improve algal yield in outdoor algal ponds.

Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and the Procter and Gamble Company (P&G), which eventually spun off The Duracell Company (Duracell) to Berkshire Hathaway, collaborated to develop a computational tool that predicts the in-use and manufacturing-process performance of consumer electrical energy storage devices. This computational tool was particularly useful in exploring the effects of material microstructure, device configuration/geometry, manufacturing and manufacturing defects on product performance.

Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) and Cool Earth Solar, Inc. (CES) collaborated to evaluate and validate a new Concentrating Photovoltaic (CPV) technology for the utility-scale power market. Project goals included demonstration of CES's tracking and energy production mechanism and operation in a realworld configuration to validate and evaluate mechanical reliability, uptime, operations and maintenance, and energy production models. The test facility was located at Sandia California’s Livermore Valley Open Campus (LVOC). The collaboration allowed CES to quickly move from design concept to system prototype deployment in an operational environment, with approximately 17kW of engineering samples deployed. However, economic pressure from inexpensive flat panel photovoltaic modules caused a major contraction in the broader CPV market. CES was ultimately unable to overcome this economic pressure and discontinued efforts to develop their novel CPV product.

Abstract not provided.