Application of mathematical programming techniques to power system optimization

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Optimal Designs of Mobile Nuclear Engines to Power Manned Vehicles On Mars

This work develops original conceptual designs for compact nuclear fission reactor engines to power robust mobile equipment operating on the surface of the planet Mars. This is a nuclear application area not well explored in previous publications. Some novel analytical approaches are developed herein, including the application of optimal control theory to minimize radiation shielding mass. This work also provides the first study of using another planet\u27s atmosphere to implement open-cycle thermal conversion systems. To power equipment on Mars for extended durations at sustained power levels ranging from one hundred horsepower to several thousand horsepower, there is no practical alternative to a nuclear fission heat source. Design difficulties arise from mobility\u27s need to restrict engine size and mass, each of which is, in turn, determined by the schemes chosen for thermal conversion waste heat rejection and for neutron and gamma radiation shielding. The conceptual design solutions pursued herein entirely avoid a large waste heat rejection radiator or low pressure heat exchanger by instead using the martian air directly as the thermal conversion fluid. This Open Brayton Cycle implementation unconventionally employs large-diameter radial-flow compressor/turbine designs for the lower pressure air-flow stages in order to obtain sufficient efficiency from the low pressure martian air. Design prescriptions and analyses for these rotating components are included. The radiation shielding mass has been minimized by numerical algorithms developed as part of this work to solve the Euler-Lagrange equations for a minimum mass shield meeting stated radiation leakage requirements. In addition, a risk-balancing approach is taken to setting those radiation requirements in order to avoid excessive conservatism

Energy. A continuing bibliography with indexes, issue 18

This issue of Energy lists 1038 reports, journal articles, and other documents announced between April 1, 1978 and June 30, 1978 in Scientific and Technical Aerospace Reports (STAR) or in International Aerospace Abstracts (IAA). The coverage includes regional, national and international energy systems; research and development on fuels and other sources of energy; energy conversion, transport, transmission, distribution and storage, with special emphasis on use of hydrogen and of solar energy. Also included are methods of locating or using new energy resources. Of special interest is energy for heating, lighting, for powering aircraft, surface vehicles, or other machinery

Electric power unit commitment scheduling using a dynamically evolving mixed integer program

Prepared in association with Electric Power Systems Engineering Laboratory and Dept. of Civil Engineering, M.I.T.A quasi-optimal technique ('quasi' in that the technique discards unreasonable optimums), realized by a dynamically evolving mixed integer program, is used to develop regional electric power unit commitment schedules for a one week time span. This sophisticated, yet computationally feasible, method is used to develop the hourly bulk dispatch schedules required to meet electric power demands at a given reliability level while controlling the associated dollar costs and environmental impacts. The electric power system considered is a power exchange pool of closely coupled generation facilities supplying a region approximately the size of New England. Associated with a tradeoff between a given cost of production and the relevant ecological factors, an optimum generation schedule is formulated which considers fossil, nuclear, hydroelectric, gas turbine and pumped storage generation facilities; power demands, reliabilities, operating constraints, startup and shutdown factors, geographic considerations, as well as various contracts such as interregional power exchanges, interruptible loads, gas contracts and nuclear fuel optimum batch utilization. A prerequisite of the model was that it be flexible enough for use in the evaluation of the optimum system performance associated with hypothesized expansion patterns. Another requirement was that the effects of changed scheduling factors could be predicted, and if necessary corrected with a minimal computational effort. A discussion of other existing and potential solution techniques is included, with an example of the proposed solution technique used as a scheduler. Although the inputs are precisely defined, this paper does not deal with the explicit fabrication of inputs to the model, such as e.g. river flow prediction or load forecasting. Rather, it is meant as a method of incorporating those inputs into the optimum operation scheduling process

Large space structures and systems in the space station era: A bibliography with indexes

Bibliographies and abstracts are listed for 1372 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system between January 1, 1990 and June 30, 1990. Its purpose is to provide helpful information to the researcher, manager, and designer in technology development and mission design according to system, interactive analysis and design, structural and thermal analysis and design, structural concepts and control systems, electronics, advanced materials, assembly concepts, propulsion, and solar power satellite systems

Generalized averaged Gaussian quadrature and applications

A simple numerical method for constructing the optimal generalized averaged Gaussian quadrature formulas will be presented. These formulas exist in many cases in which real positive GaussKronrod formulas do not exist, and can be used as an adequate alternative in order to estimate the error of a Gaussian rule. We also investigate the conditions under which the optimal averaged Gaussian quadrature formulas and their truncated variants are internal

MS FT-2-2 7 Orthogonal polynomials and quadrature: Theory, computation, and applications

Quadrature rules find many applications in science and engineering. Their analysis is a classical area of applied mathematics and continues to attract considerable attention. This seminar brings together speakers with expertise in a large variety of quadrature rules. It is the aim of the seminar to provide an overview of recent developments in the analysis of quadrature rules. The computation of error estimates and novel applications also are described