Oak Ridge Today

Thompson-Boling lights brighter, more efficient; use ORNL foam

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Thompson-Boling LED Lighting

The SuperSport installation at the University of Tennessee’s Thompson-Boling Arena. (Photo credit: LED North America)

KNOXVILLE—With the installation of LED fixtures, the Thompson-Boling Arena at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville is one of the first in the world to feature lights that are smaller, brighter, and up to 85 percent more efficient than conventional arena metal halide lights.

The technology—developed and manufactured by Oak Ridge-based LED North America at the Tech 20/20 incubator facility in Oak Ridge, incorporating an Oak Ridge National Laboratory technology, and installed by Knoxville-based Bandit Lites—is being “premiered” at the state’s research university inside the largest on-campus single-sport arena in the country.

The light-emitting diode fixtures use an ORNL-developed lightweight graphite foam that cools the LED, making them more efficient and reliable. This enables 90 400-watt LED fixtures to bathe the arena’s floor with 200 foot-candles per square foot, compared to the 130 foot-candles produced by the arena’s existing 110 1,100-watt fixtures.

LED North America’s SuperSport luminaires have the potential to revolutionize sports and entertainment venues worldwide. UT officials are looking forward to participating in this effort and to seeing the results—and the savings. [Read more…]

ORNL microscopy system delivers real-time view of battery electrochemistry

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ORNL Battery Electrochemistry

A new in situ transmission electron microscopy technique enabled ORNL researchers to image the snowflake-like growth of the solid electrolyte interphase from a working battery electrode. (Photo courtesy ORNL)

Using a new microscopy method, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory can image and measure electrochemical processes in batteries in real time and at nanoscale resolution.

Scientists at ORNL used a miniature electrochemical liquid cell that is placed in a transmission electron microscope to study an enigmatic phenomenon in lithium-ion batteries called the solid electrolyte interphase, or SEI, as described in a study published in Chemical Communications.

The SEI is a nanometer-scale film that forms on a battery’s negative electrode due to electrolyte decomposition. Scientists agree that the SEI’s formation and stability play key roles in controlling battery functionality. But after three decades of research in the battery field, details of the SEI’s dynamics, structure, and chemistry during electrochemical cycling are still debated, stemming from inherent difficulties in studying battery electrode materials in their native liquid environment.

“We’ve used this novel in situ method to understand the dynamics of how this layer forms and evolves during battery operation,” said Raymond Unocic, ORNL research and development staff scientist. [Read more…]

ORNL’s CASL, Westinghouse simulate neutron behavior in nuclear reactor core

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AP1000 Pressurized Water Reactor

CASL is developing and applying new modeling and simulation technology (Virtual Environment for Reactor Applications Core Simulator or VERA-CS) to resolve and predict the detailed neutron distribution of the power-generation reactor core residing in reactor vessels. (Image courtesy of Westinghouse)

Test run signals emergence of the next generation in nuclear power reactor analysis tools

Scientists and engineers developing more accurate approaches to analyzing nuclear power reactors have successfully tested a new suite of computer codes that closely model “neutronics”—the behavior of neutrons in a reactor core.

Technical staff at Westinghouse Electric Company LLC, supported by the research team at the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors, or CASL, used the Virtual Environment for Reactor Applications core simulator (VERA-CS) to analyze its AP1000 advanced pressurized water reactor. The testing focused on modeling the startup conditions of the AP1000 plant design. [Read more…]

ORNL, Ohio company work together on new large-scale 3-D printing system

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ORNL and Cincinnati Inc. CRADA

From left are David Danielson, DOE assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy; Johnny Moore; DOE site office manager, Andy Jamison, Cincinnati Inc. CEO; and U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann. (ORNL photo/Jason Richards)

Technology seeks to provide new capabilities for auto, aerospace, other U.S. industries

Oak Ridge National Laboratory is partnering with Cincinnati Inc., a manufacturer of high quality machine tools located in Harrison, Ohio, to develop a large-scale polymer additive manufacturing (3-D printing) system.

The partnership aims to accelerate the commercialization of a new additive manufacturing machine that can print large polymer parts faster and more cheaply than current technologies. The partnership agreement supports the U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative to increase the efficiency of the U.S. manufacturing sector and ensure that innovative clean energy technologies continue to be developed in America.

ORNL is a DOE lab. [Read more…]

ORNL’s Jack Fellows receives NCSE Lifetime Achievement Award

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Jack Fellows

Jack Fellows

The National Council for Science and the Environment has presented its Lifetime Achievement Award to Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Jack D. Fellows for his part in co-founding the U.S. Global Change Research Program, or USGCRP.

Fellows is director of ORNL’s Climate Change Science Institute at the U.S. Department of Energy national laboratory.

The USGCRP consolidates global change research across 13 federal departments and agencies to advance research on climate change in the United States and use that knowledge to inform policy and the public. The program cooperates with organizations such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. [Read more…]

ORNL, Local Motors agree to pave way to world’s first 3-D printed vehicle

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Local Motors and ORNL on 3-D Printing

A new partnership between Local Motors and ORNL will explore vehicle design and construction using 3-D printing technologies. The project will make use of equipment at DOE’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility, such as the large-scale additive manufacturing machine operated here by ORNL’s Peter LLoyd.

Local Motors Inc. and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have signed a new partnership to develop and deliver technology to produce the world’s first production 3-D printed vehicle.

The cooperative research and development agreement, or CRADA, between Local Motors and ORNL will explore ways to make vehicle construction more efficient—including by lower production time, costs, and part count—and raise standards for control, safety, aesthetics, and mechanical flexibility.

“The primary tool in this drive for efficiency is a combination of material science and cutting-edge advanced manufacturing techniques that are both additive and subtractive,” an ORNL press release said. ORNL is part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s national laboratory system.

“By invoking the principle of open-source, this partnership—and future efforts like it—will drive a true paradigm shift in hardware product development and automotive manufacturing technologies,” said Jay Rogers, co-founder and chief executive officers of Local Motors. “Just as exciting as the vision of delivering the first direct digital manufactured car is that we will be engaging future consumers to contribute and evangelize its creation. We are living in a time when speed to market trumps slow-going protectionism. Local Motors’ open development platform is what delivers this very speed.” [Read more…]

Free Science Saturdays offered in Knoxville by ORAU, ORNL

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ORAU and ORNL Science Saturdays

Oak Ridge Associated Universities has partnered with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to bring students and scientists together through a weekly program called Science Saturdays that will feature engaging science topics taught through interactive presentations and hands-on activities. (Photo courtesy ORAU)

Oak Ridge Associated Universities has partnered with Oak Ridge National Laboratory to bring students and scientists together through a weekly program called Science Saturdays. Students in grades 8-12, along with their parents, are invited for three Saturday morning presentations in February, when they will learn about a variety of engaging science topics through interactive presentations and hands-on activities.

“Science Saturdays provide a unique opportunity for students to have direct interaction with scientists from ORNL,” said Marie Westfall, interim associate director for ORAU’s Center for Science Education. “Through this program, we hope to excite students about the subject of science by introducing subjects and activities not found in their daily education.” [Read more…]

ORNL study advances quest for better superconducting materials

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Superconductivity Pan Defects

Minghu Pan’s image of “clover-like” atomic defects—an example is circled—that result in strong superconductivity. (Photo courtesy ORNL)

Nearly 30 years after the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity, many questions remain, but an Oak Ridge National Laboratory team is providing insight that could lead to better superconductors.

Their work, published in Physical Review Letters, examines the role of chemical dopants, which are essential to creating high-temperature superconductors—materials that conduct electricity without resistance. The role of dopants in superconductors is particularly mysterious as they introduce non-uniformity and disorder into the crystal structure, which increases resistivity in non-superconducting materials.

By gaining a better understanding of how and why chemical dopants alter the behavior of the original (parent) material, scientists believe they can design superconductors that work at higher temperatures. This would make them more practical for real-world wire applications because it would lessen the extreme cooling required for conventional superconducting material. Existing “high-temperature superconductors” operate at temperatures in the range of negative 135 degrees Celsius and below. [Read more…]

DOE commits to three-year, $4.5 million groundwater study in Oak Ridge

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Daniel Goode and SSAB Groundwater Strategy Presentation

Daniel J. Goode, a research hydrologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, briefs members of the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board on a new groundwater strategy for the Oak Ridge Reservation.

The U.S. Department of Energy has agreed to spend $4.5 million during the next three years to study groundwater contamination on the Oak Ridge Reservation.

The reservation includes three federal sites—East Tennessee Technology Park, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Y-12 National Security Complex—that have been involved in missions ranging from scientific research to uranium enrichment to nuclear weapons work. That work has sometimes included the use of hazardous substances such as mercury and technetium-99, a slow-decaying radioactive metal.

The $4.5 million in funding will help implement a new groundwater strategy developed by DOE with help from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The strategy, which was presented to the Oak Ridge Site Specific Advisory Board in November, will help guide future cleanup decisions, said Sue Cange, deputy manager for environmental management in DOE’s Oak Ridge Office. [Read more…]

Knoxville man dies in crash on Bethel Valley Road

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A Knoxville man died in a Wednesday night crash on Bethel Valley Road east of Spallation Drive at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, authorities said.

John Kirkpatrick was driving eastbound in a 2001 Honda CRV when it apparently went off the south side of Bethel Valley Road and hit a tree, the Oak Ridge Police Department said after an initial investigation. Kirkpatrick was the vehicle’s only occupant, and he was found dead at the scene, a press release said. [Read more…]

ORNL deputy director to discuss lab’s sustainability program Tuesday

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Melissa Voss Lapsa

Melissa Voss Lapsa

A deputy director at Oak Ridge National Laboratory will discuss the lab’s award-winning sustainability program during a Tuesday luncheon lecture.

The presentation by Melissa Voss Lapsa, deputy director of ORNL’s Building Technologies Research and Integration Center, starts at noon Tuesday at the University of Tennessee Resource Center on Oak Ridge Turnpike.

Lapsa has more than 18 years of experience conducting market research, policy analysis, and institutional and consumer behavior research aimed at deploying cost-effective energy-efficient technologies, a press release said. In addition, Lapsa leads the ORNL Sustainable Campus Initiative. The goal of that initiative is to integrate energy and resource efficiency, cutting-edge technologies, operational and business processes, and institutional behavior to achieve sustainability at work, home, and in the community, the release said. [Read more…]

Christen leads ORNL’s Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences

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Hans M. Christen

Hans M. Christen

Hans M. Christen of Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been named director of ORNL’s Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, one of the five DOE Nanoscale Science Research Centers.

Christen joined ORNL in 2000 and led the Thin Films and Nanostructures group from 2006 to 2013. In 2013, he became associate director within the Materials Science and Technology Division and has managed the DOE Materials Sciences and Engineering Program since 2011.

His research has focused on the effects of epitaxial strain, spatial confinement, and interfacial mechanisms on the properties of complex-oxide thin films, in particular ferromagnetic, ferroelectric, and multiferroic perovskites. He has authored more than 150 scientific publications and several patents, is a fellow of the American Physical Society, and has served on a number of National Science Foundation and DOE review panels. [Read more…]