Oak Ridge Today

ORAU hosts STEM Stories evening for local students

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Lonnie Love speaking at STEM Stories. (Photo by ORAU)

 

Event aimed to inspire and educate possible STEM careers

ORAU recently hosted STEM Stories, an event aimed to inspire students of all ages to begin exploring the many careers available in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields.

Hosted at ORAU’s Pollard Technology Conference Center, the event featured live talks by Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Lonnie Love, pictured above, and Ian Anderson, pictured below. The two described the journey each had in achieving successful STEM careers. [Read more…]

Strunk named top scientist at ORNL’s Awards Night

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Bill Strunk

Bill Strunk

 

Bill Strunk of Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Nuclear Science and Engineering Directorate has received the ORNL Director’s Award for Outstanding Individual Accomplishment in Science and Technology.

ORNL Director Thom Mason presented the top researcher award to Strunk during Friday night’s annual Awards Night event hosted by UT-Battelle, the management and operating contractor of ORNL for the U.S. Department of Energy.

Strunk was recognized for exemplary leadership of ORNL’s uranium science and engineering programs, which has led to enhancements in the nation’s nuclear security, a press release said. He is also credited with the establishment of research and development capabilities and facilities that will enable ORNL to excel in vitally important areas of research. Strunk, who works in the Enrichment Science and Engineering Division, also earned the Division Level Research Leadership award.

Roderick Jackson of the Energy and Transportation Science Division received the Director’s Award for Outstanding Individual Accomplishment in Mission Support. [Read more…]

ORNL’s Green elected fellow of SAE International

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Johney-Green-Jr

Johney Green Jr.

Johney Green Jr., director of the Energy and Transportation Science Division of the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been elected fellow of SAE International, the professional society of automotive engineers, a press release said.

Green was awarded the organization’s highest membership grade for his work championing innovative research on advanced combustion applications, which has led to fundamental breakthroughs in more sustainable high-efficiency automotive transportation. He also promotes vehicle research nationally and internationally through his many speaking engagements at conferences and universities. [Read more…]

ORNL demonstrates first large-scale graphene composite fabrication

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ORNL Graphene

ORNL’s ultrastrong graphene features layers of graphene and polymers and is an effective conductor of electricity. (Image courtesy ORNL)

 

One of the barriers to using graphene at a commercial scale could be overcome using a method demonstrated by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Graphene, a material stronger and stiffer than carbon fiber, has enormous commercial potential but has been impractical to employ on a large scale, with researchers limited to using small flakes of the material.

Now, using chemical vapor deposition, a team led by ORNL’s Ivan Vlassiouk has fabricated polymer composites containing 2-inch-by-2-inch sheets of the one-atom thick hexagonally arranged carbon atoms.

The findings, reported in the journal Applied Materials & Interfaces, could help usher in a new era in flexible electronics and change the way this reinforcing material is viewed and ultimately used. [Read more…]

Six ORNL researchers receive SAE International awards

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ORNL SAE Award Recipients

ORNL award recipients at the SAE International World Congress are, from left, Derek Splitter, Sujit Das, Jim Szybist, Brian West, Scott Sluder, and Scott Curran. (Submitted photo)

 

Six researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory received awards at last week’s Society of Automotive Engineers International, or SAE, World Congress.

Scott Sluder received SAE’s Lloyd L. Withrow Distinguished Speaker Award, which recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding presentation skills. Recipients must have previously received SAE’s Outstanding Oral Presentation Award more than twice. Sluder was elected a fellow of SAE International in 2014.

Scott Curran, Sujit Das, and Derek Splitter were presented the Forest R. McFarland Award for their role in facilitating technical information dialogue by planning and organizing technical meetings, conferences, and professional development programs in adherence with the SAE engineering meetings board. [Read more…]

ORNL-led team demonstrates desalination with graphene membrane

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Nature Nanotech Pores

Researchers created nanopores in graphene (red, and enlarged in the circle to highlight its honeycomb structure) that are stabilized with silicon atoms (yellow) and showed their porous membrane could desalinate seawater. Orange represents a non-graphene residual polymer. (Source: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy)

 

By Dawn Levy

Less than 1 percent of Earth’s water is drinkable. Removing salt and other minerals from our biggest available source of water—seawater—may help satisfy a growing global population thirsty for fresh water for drinking, farming, transportation, heating, cooling, and industry. But desalination is an energy-intensive process, which concerns those wanting to expand its application.

Now, a team of experimentalists led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has demonstrated an energy-efficient desalination technology that uses a porous membrane made of strong, slim graphene—a carbon honeycomb one atom thick. The results are published in the March 23 advance online issue of Nature Nanotechnology.

“Our work is a proof of principle that demonstrates how you can desalinate saltwater using free-standing, porous graphene,” said Shannon Mark Mahurin of ORNL’s Chemical Sciences Division, who co-led the study with Ivan Vlassiouk in ORNL’s Energy and Transportation Science Division.

“It’s a huge advance,” said Vlassiouk, pointing out a wealth of water travels through the porous graphene membrane. “The flux through the current graphene membranes was at least an order of magnitude higher than (that through) state-of-the-art reverse osmosis polymeric membranes.” [Read more…]

Simple driving tips can save gas, money, ORNL study says

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory Sign

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

People who pack their cars and drive like Clark Griswold in National Lampoon’s “Vacation” pay a steep penalty when it comes to fuel economy, according to a report by Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

For the study, researchers tested a sport utility vehicle and a compact sedan with various configurations, including underinflated tires, open windows, and rooftop and hitch-mounted cargo. The SUV, a 2009 Ford Explorer with a 4-liter V6 engine, was also tested while towing an enclosed trailer. The researchers tested the vehicles at a variety of speeds with the different configurations. While the findings were not unexpected, they serve as a reminder of how drivers can save money by taking simple measures.

“There is fuel economy information and advice available for vehicle maintenance and carrying loads that is quite good, but very little published data to back it up,” said John Thomas, a co-author of the study and member of ORNL’s Energy and Transportation Science Division. “Certainly, suitcases strapped to your car’s roof and trying to keep up with a speeding Ferrari will adversely affect your gas mileage.”

Among the more notable findings was that using a rooftop cargo box with the SUV decreased fuel economy from 24.9 mpg at 60 mph to 22.9 mpg—a drop of 9 percent. The compact sedan, a 2009 Toyota Corolla with a 1.8 liter four-cylinder engine, also suffered as its fuel economy dipped from 42.5 mpg at 60 mph to 33 mpg, or 22 percent, when hauling the rooftop cargo box. [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…]

ORNL’s Storey named fellow of Society of Automotive Engineers

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John Storey

John Storey

John Storey of Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been elected fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers.

He is recognized for pioneering new techniques in the characterization of exhaust emissions, his work for the diesel fuel sulfur rule, and for his multiple contributions to the development of lean exhaust emissions control.

Storey works in ORNL’s Energy and Transportation Science Division. He lives in Oak Ridge.

ORNL’s Stuart Daw elected chemical engineering fellow

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Stuart Daw

Stuart Daw

C. Stuart Daw of Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been elected fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

He was selected by AIChE for his numerous outstanding contributions to the chemical engineering profession.

Daw, a UT-Battelle Corporate Fellow, works in the U.S. Department of Energy lab’s Energy and Transportation Science Division. He lives in Knoxville.

Three ORNL staff members cited for vehicle technologies work

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Scott Curran

Scott Curran

Ron Graves

Ron Graves

Three Oak Ridge National Laboratory staff members—Scott Curran, Ron Graves, and Janet Hopson—were recognized following a U.S. Department of Energy Vehicle Technologies Office, or VTO, annual merit review.

Curran was recognized with a 2013 VTO Research and Development Award for “his leadership in transitioning reactivity controlled compression ignition combustion from a single cylinder to a multi-cylinder engine using bio-renewable fuels.” [Read more…]

ORNL leading study focused on afterlife of electric vehicle batteries

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Once they’ve finished powering electric vehicles for hundreds of thousands of miles, it may not be the end of the road for automotive batteries, which researchers believe can provide continued benefits for consumers, automakers, and the environment.

Five used Chevrolet Volt batteries are at the heart of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s effort to determine the feasibility of a community energy storage system that would put electricity onto the grid. During the next year, researchers from ORNL, General Motors, and the ABB Group will conduct studies and compile data using a first-of-its-kind test platform officially commissioned Tuesday. [Read more…]