A computerized data base program was developed and utilized to monitor corrosion of wheeled vehicles through on site inspection at three field locations over an 18 month period. Vehicle inspection guidelines with corrosion stage levels are discussed. Spar...

The Field Operations Program is an electric vehicle testing and evaluation program sponsored by US Department of Energy and managed by the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. The Program's goals are to evaluate electric vehicles in real-world applications and environments, support electric vehicle technology advancement, develop infrastructure elements necessary to support significant electric vehicle use, support increased use of electric vehicles in federal fleets, and increase overall awareness and acceptance of electric vehicles. This report covers Program activities from fiscal year 1997 through mid-fiscal year 1999. The Field Operations Program succeeded the Site Operator Program, which ended in September 1996. Electric vehicle testing conducted by the Program includes baseline performance testing (EV America testing), accelerated reliability (life-cycle) testing, and fleet testing. The baseline performance parameters include accelerations, braking, range, energy efficiency, and charging time. The Program collects accelerated reliability and fleet operations data on electric vehicles operated by the Program's Qualified Vehicle Testing (QVT) partners. The Program's QVT partners have over 3 million miles of electric vehicle operating experience.

This report describes the methodology for using a genetic programming model to develop tracking behaviors for autonomous, microscale robotic vehicles. The use of such vehicles for surveillance and detection operations has become increasingly important in defense and humanitarian applications. Through an evolutionary process similar to that found in nature, the genetic programming model generates a computer program that when downloaded onto a robotic vehicle`s on-board computer will guide the robot to successfully accomplish its task. Simulations of multiple robots engaged in problem-solving tasks have demonstrated cooperative behaviors. This report also discusses the behavior model produced by genetic programming and presents some results achieved during the study.

The Swedish Energy Agency is proposing a four-year demonstration and development program to support the market introduction of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids (electric vehicle applications). This in light of the uncertainties in the market introduction of vehicles, cost of key components such as batteries, the possibility of industrial development in Sweden and the uncertainty of how to complement to existing charging infrastructure in an socioeconomic way. In addition to this, the more general aid to electric cars and plug-in hybrids is to be reviewed. Today, electric vehicles, hybrids, ethanol vehicles, bio-gas vehicles and fuel-efficient vehicles, are supported by the green car definition and the environmental classification system. Furthermore, ethanol vehicles and biogas vehicles have support through tax reduction for biofuels. Overall, community support for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids is lower than for the introduction of ethanol vehicles and biogas vehicles which do not reflect the environmental benefits they have. The review of the general subsidies for electric vehicles and the support through a demonstration program represent a concerted strategy to overcome the initially very high additional cost of these vehicles

Highlights of program developments are discussed, and ETV-1 test results are described. The temperature effects on lead-acid battery performance from 27 to 55/sup 0/C are reported, and the status of demonstration electric vehicle orders and deliveries is summarized. The certification and testing status of demonstration project vehicles is outlined, and a personnel directory for the DOE Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Program is included. (WHK)

As a part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program to develop hybrid and electric vehicles, a specification for medium duty auxiliary power units (APUs) was developed. The scope of this work defines the interface requirements of an...

An Advanced Development Program (ADP) to develop and demonstrate effective Atmospheric Electricity Hazards Protection (AEHP) for the fighter, transport/bomber, helicopter and cruise missile classes of air vehicles is being conducted under an Air Force Wright Aeronautical Laboratories (AFWAL) contrac...

This paper summarizes the Next Generation Natural Gas Vehicle (NG-NGV) Program that is led by the U.S. Department Of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Heavy Vehicle Technologies (OHVT) through the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The goal of this program is to develop and implement one Class 3-6 compressed natural gas (CNG) prototype vehicle and one Class 7-8 liquefied natural gas (LNG) prototype vehicle in the 2004 to 2007 timeframe. OHVT intends for these vehicles to have 0.5 g/bhp-hr or lower emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) by 2004 and 0.2 g/bhp-hr or lower NOx by 2007. These vehicles will also have particulate matter (PM) emissions of 0.01 g/bhp-hr or lower by 2004. In addition to ambitious emissions goals, these vehicles will target life-cycle economics that are compatible with their conventionally fueled counterparts.

This paper focuses on the use of natural gas and propane as fuels for road vehicles in Canada. Details are given of the Federal government`s supported gaseous fuels program, fiscal measures and research and development in support of alternative transportation fuels (ATF), the current status of propane and natural gas as alternative vehicle fuels, and use of ATF in government fleets of vehicles. Emissions from ATF vehicles and the environmental impact of the vehicles are discussed, and life cycle emissions, cold start emissions, greenhouse gas emissions and the emissions of toxic compounds are examined. (UK)

Three shielded-cab vehicles were tested at the Nuclear Rocket Development Station, Mercury, Nevada, to determine their operational capabilities in radioactive fields. Testing was concentrated on the Beetle,'' a shielded- cab vehicle with manipulators. The Masher,'' a shielded T-51 Tank Recovery Vehicle, and the Bat,'' a shielded Coleman Tow Vehicle, were also tested. All three vehicles were tested for maneuverability, reliability of operation, operational uses, and radiation shielding integrity. The results of the tests, in general, were satisfactory. The complexity of the Beetle requires a continuous preventive maintenance program to ensure its reliability. (auth)

A discussion of the importance of transfer pricing and a review of the relevant literature are followed by a decomposition algorithm for quadratic programming, using the problem of transfer pricing with externalities as a vehicle for its development. A nu...

Apr 17, 2009 ... The Development Motor 1, or DM-1, is the Constellation Program's first ... After casting, each segment underwent an inspection process that included a thorough ... of the Ares I rocket and Ares V heavy cargo launch vehicle.

Supersonic Combustion Ramjet Test Complex (SCRAMJET) ..... The development, assessment, and optimization of aerospace vehicles can require testing in .... the Hyper-X Program, U.S. Missile Defense Agency, Japanese Defense Agency, ...

Environmental concerns are stimulating an increased interest in electric vehicles. Governments and car industries have launched new programs to accelerate technology progress. This study presents an overview of the current status of electric car and truck developments in IEA Member countries. The study examines prospects for technology advances in such areas as battery and vehicle performance and electric recharging systems.

OHVT Mission is to conduct, in collaboration with our heavy vehicle industry partners and their suppliers, a customer-focused national program to research and develop technologies that will enable trucks and other heavy vehicles to be more energy efficient and able to use alternative fuels while simultaneously reducing emissions.

As part of Rod Millen Special Vehicle's contract number MDA972-95-1-0011 (ARPA RA94-24 Program), effective April 1,1996, under the aegis of CALSTART's Propulsion System Development Project for Advanced Hybrid Reconnaissance Vehicles effort, the Joint Tact...

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and American automotive manufacturers General Motors, Ford, and DaimlerChrysler began a five-year, cost-shared partnership in 1993. Currently, hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) research and development is conducted by DOE through its FreedomCAR and Vehicle Technologies (FCVT) program. The mission of the FCVT program is to develop more energy efficient and environmentally friendly highway transportation technologies. Program activities include research, development, demonstration, testing, technology validation, and technology transfer. These activities are aimed at developing technologies that can be domestically produced in a clean and cost-competitive manner. Under the FCVT program, support is provided through a three-phase approach [1] which is intended to: • Identify overall propulsion and vehicle-related needs by analyzing programmatic goals and reviewing industry’s recommendations and requirements, then develop the appropriate technical targets for systems, subsystems, and component research and development activities; • Develop and validate individual subsystems and components, including electric motors, emission control devices, battery systems, power electronics, accessories, and devices to reduce parasitic losses; and • Determine how well the components and subassemblies work together in a vehicle environment or as a complete propulsion system and whether the efficiency and performance targets at the vehicle level have been achieved. The research performed in this area will help remove technical and cost barriers to enable technology for use in such advanced vehicles as hybrid electric, plug-in hybrid electric, electric, and fuel-cell-powered vehicles.

The Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity (AVTA), part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s FreedomCAR and Vehicle Technologies Program, has conducted testing of advanced technology vehicles since August, 1995 in support of the AVTA goal to provide benchmark data for technology modeling, and research and development programs. The AVTA has tested over 200 advanced technology vehicles including full size electric vehicles, urban electric vehicles, neighborhood electric vehicles, and hydrogen internal combustion engine powered vehicles. Currently, the AVTA is conducting significant tests of hybrid electric vehicles (HEV). This testing has included all HEVs produced by major automotive manufacturers and spans over 1.3 million miles. The results of all testing are posted on the AVTA web page maintained by the Idaho National Laboratory. Through the course of this testing, the fuel economy of HEV fleets has been monitored and analyzed to determine the "real world" performance of their hybrid energy systems, particularly the battery. While the initial "real world" fuel economy of these vehicles has typically been less than that evaluated by the manufacturer and varies significantly with environmental conditions, the fuel economy and, therefore, battery performance, has remained stable over vehicle life (160,000 miles).

K-State is presently working with Grumman Allied and Unique Mobility to establish a working agreement for the research and development of a pure electric postal vehicle. K-State has worked on the design of this vehicle for the past year and is working to establish the appropriate consortium to bring this vehicle to commercial realization. K-State is working to establish infrastructure support for electric vehicles. Presently, a Kansas company is working with K-State to bring its patented low-cost vehicle metering product to market. An anticipated second year DOE project would provide 100 electric metering stations to Southern California for a large scale electric vehicle infrastructure demonstration project. This project would allow a parking lot(s) to be made EV ready. K-State`s Site Operator Program continues to get the ``word-out`` about electric vehicles. From a personal visit by Senator Bob Dole, to Corporate Board of Director Meetings, to school classrooms, to shopping mall demonstrations; K-State Employees are increasing public access and awareness about the electric vehicle industry. As has been shown in this report, K-State`s G-Van has logged an average eighteen miles per day while maintaining a full schedule of public relations tours within the state of Kansas and Missouri. K-State has now been contacted by companies in Nebraska and Iowa requesting information and involvement in this program. Kansas and Kansas State will continue its work to contribute to the Site Operator Program effort. With the purchase of two additional electric vehicles and the pending request to purchase two more electric vehicles during the next contractual year, K-states`s program will grow. When vehicle development plans and infrastructure requirements are solidified, K-State`s program will be ready to participate and be a major contributor to the development and introduction of this technology.

Four-cylinder, Stirling-engine, transient-engine-simulation computer program developed. Program intended for control analysis. Associated engine model simplified to shorten computer calculation time. Model includes engine mechanical-drive dynamics and vehicle-load effects. Computer program also includes subroutines that allow acceleration of engine by addition of hydrogen to system and braking of engine by short circuiting of working spaces.

The report describes three specific scenarios for implementation of remote sensing to enhance inspection and maintenance programs for controlling motor vehicle emissions. Screening at centralized stations, mobile sensors, and modular fixed sensors scenarios describe the range of potential applications of a Fuel Efficiency Automobile Test (FEAT) remote sensor to motor vehicles emissions control. A combination of two or all three scenarios would be most effective in identifying high mileage gross polluting vehicles. The preliminary implementation framework of each scenario is described for the purpose of the work is to contribute to the development of acceptable plans for the further reduction of emissions from vehicles in the Chicago metropolitan area. Remote sensing of vehicle emissions to identify the small percentage of vehicles responsible for most of the motor vehicle pollution can contribute to an efficient and effective air pollution control strategy that can be implemented.

This fact sheet provides an overview of the U.S. Department of Energy's Vehicle Technologies Program. Today, the United States spends about $400 billion each year on imported oil. To realize a secure energy future, America must break its dependence on imported oil and its volatile costs. The transportation sector accounts for about 70% of U.S. oil demand and holds tremendous opportunity to increase America's energy security by reducing oil consumption. That's why the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) conducts research and development (R and D) on vehicle technologies which can stem America's dependence on oil, strengthen the economy, and protect the environment. Hybrid-electric and plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles can significantly improve fuel economy, displacing petroleum. Researchers are making batteries more affordable and recyclable, while enhancing battery range, performance, and life. This research supports President Obama's goal of putting 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015. The program is also working with businesses to develop domestic battery and electric-drive component plants to improve America's economic competitiveness globally. The program facilitates deployment of alternative fuels (ethanol, biodiesel, hydrogen, electricity, propane, and natural gas) and fuel infrastructures by partnering with state and local governments, universities, and industry. Reducing vehicle weight directly improves vehicle efficiency and fuel economy, and can potentially reduce vehicle operating costs. Cost-effective, lightweight, high-strength materials can significantly reduce vehicle weight without compromising safety. Improved combustion technologies and optimized fuel systems can improve near-and mid-term fuel economy by 25% for passenger vehicles and 20% for commercial vehicles by 2015, compared to 2009 vehicles. Reducing the use of oil-based fuels and lubricants in vehicles has more potential to improve the nation's energy security than any other action; even a 1% improvement in vehicle fuel efficiency would save consumers more than $4 billion annually.

In September 1986 a contract was signed between Chloride Silent Power Limited (CSPL) and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) entitled ``Sodium Sulfur Electric Vehicle Battery Engineering Program``. The aim of the cost shared program was to advance the state of the art of sodium sulfur batteries for electric vehicle propulsion. Initially, the work statement was non-specific in regard to the vehicle to be used as the design and test platform. Under a separate contract with the DOE, Ford Motor Company was designing an advanced electric vehicle drive system. This program, called the ETX II, used a modified Aerostar van for its platform. In 1987, the ETX II vehicle was adopted for the purposes of this contract. This report details the development and testing of a series of battery designs and concepts which led to the testing, in the US, of three substantial battery deliverables.

...vehicle I/M program. Diesel vehicles that are greater than 1,000 pounds gross vehicle weight (GVW) but less than...of tested but failing diesel vehicles will result in fewer emissions of particulate matter, and oxides of...

The Robotic Air Vehicle (RAV) system is described. The program's objectives were to design, implement, and demonstrate cooperating expert systems for piloting robotic air vehicles. The development of this system merges conventional programming used in passive navigation with Artificial Intelligence techniques such as voice recognition, spatial reasoning, and expert systems. The individual components of the RAV system are discussed as well as their interactions with each other and how they operate as a system.

Kansas State University, with funding support from federal, state, public, and private companies, is participating in the Department of Energy` s Electric Vehicle Site Operator Program. Through participation in this program, Kansas State is displaying, testing, and evaluating electric or hybrid vehicle technology. This participation will provide organizations the opportunity to examine the latest EHV prototypes under actual operating conditions. KSU now has two electric cars. Both are electric conversion vehicles from Soleq Corporation out of Chicago. KSU in conjunction with KEURP also initiated procurement for the purchase of four (4) Chevy S-10 pickup trucks. Since the supplier, GE-Spartan, canceled its effort concerning the production of vehicles other appropriate sources were sought. Today, K-State and the Kansas Utilities are working with Troy Design and Manufacturing (TDM), Redford, Michigan. TDM is working with Ford Motor Company and expects to become the first certified electric vehicle Quality Vehicle Modifier (QVM). Kansas State has entered into an agreement to assist TDM in supporting the infrastructure and technical manual development for these vehicles. The Soleq EVcorts have not been signed to illustrate to the public that it is an electric vehicle. Magnetic signs have been made for special functions to ensure sponsor support is recognized and acknowledged. As soon as TDM`s Ford Ranger electric vehicles are delivered they will be used throughout the state by utility companies that are participating with K-State`s Site Operator Program.

Goals of the site operator program include field evaluation of electric vehicles (EVs) in real-world applications and environments, advancement of electric vehicle technologies, development of infrastructure elements necessary to support significant EV use, and increasing the awareness and acceptance of EVs by the public. The site operator program currently consists of 11 participants under contract and two other organizations with data-sharing agreements with the program. The participants (electric utilities, academic institutions, Federal agencies) are geographically dispersed within US and their vehicles see a broad spectrum of service conditions. Current EV inventories of the site operators exceeds 250 vehicles. Several national organizations have joined DOE to further the introduction and awareness of EVs, including: (1) EVAmerica (a utility program) and DOE conduct performance and evaluation tests to support market development for EVs; (2) DOE, DOT, the Electric Transportation Coalition, and the Electric Vehicle Association of the Americas are conducting a series of workshops to encourage urban groups in Clean Cities (a DOE program) to initiate the policies and infrastructure development necessary to support large-scale demonstrations, and ultimately the mass market use, of EVs. Current focus of the program is collection and dissemination of EV operations and performance data to aid in the evaluation of real- world EV use. This report contains several sections with vehicle evaluation as a focus: EV testing results, energy economics of EVs, and site operators activities.

In this paper, a novel rollover prevention control algorithm is developed for application on vehicles with a high centre of gravity. The developed algorithm can be implemented on any vehicle equipped with an electronic stability program with or without an extra roll rate sensor. The vehicle rollover index is defined from the vehicle lateral kinetic energy and the new concept of virtual gravity. The algorithm is implemented on a production hydraulic control unit and tested using a typical medium size sport utility vehicle up to a speed of 110 km h-1. The test results show that the control algorithm prevents the vehicle rollover very successfully without any noticeable false activation or over correction resulting in severe under steer. Also, the controlled wheel speed shows a very...

The city of Stockholm has decided to exchange 300 of its gasoline-driven vehicles for vehicles which emit fewer hazardous pollutants. A vehicle exchange program is being developed based on analyses which describe the driving patterns of Stockholm's vehicles, alternative fuel technology status, and financing alternatives. This report comprises the first two analyses, that of Stockholm's fleet driving patterns and alternative fuel technology options. The report has four major sections: * a technical analysis of the status of certain fuels and vehicles, including prognoses of availability in Sweden and the future development potential of each. (electric, biogas, ethanol, RME), * a driving study, which identifies those vehicles currently in Stockholm's fleet which could be exchanged for alternatively-fueled vehicles, * an analysis of five purchase package alternatives, and * a location analysis, which describes the accessibility of vehicles in each alternative to alternative fuel refueling facilities in Stockholm. Given current prices and availability of the alternative fuels and vehicles studied, we recommend a high share of electric and biogas vehicles for purchases during 1997. The cost-effectiveness of different vehicle types in their reduction of various hazardous pollutants, may however change dramatically as prices and availability of vehicles changes and the market for alternative fuels develops. Accessibility to alternative fuel refueling facilities is adequate in Stockholm, though not always ideal. To improve the accessibility of biogas vehicles further, we suggest a third biogas refueling facility in the city's northeastern area (Ropsten, Vaertahamnen). If MFO chooses to purchase a significant number of diesel passenger vehicles to be driven on RME; we propose that a facility in the northeastern area would improve accessibility more than another facility in southern Stockholm.

The Office of Heavy Vehicle Technologies (OHVT) Technology Roadmap presents the OHVT multiyear program plan. It was developed in response to recommendations by DOE`s heavy vehicle industry customers, including truck and bus manufacturers, diesel engine manufacturers, fuel producers, suppliers to these industries, and the trucking industry. The technical plan is presented for three classes of trucks: (1) class 7-8 (large, on-highway trucks); (2) class 3-6 (medium duty trucks); and (3) class 1-2 (pickups, vans, and sport utility vehicles). The Roadmap documents program goals, technical targets, and technical approaches. Issues addressed include engine efficiency, fuel efficiency, power requirements, emissions, and fuel flexibility. 8 figs., 9 tabs.

In determining flight controls for launch vehicle systems, several things must be taken into account. Launch vehicle systems can be expendable or reusable, carry crew or cargo, etc. Each of these launch vehicles maneuvers through a wide range of flight conditions and different mission profiles. Crewed vehicles must adhere to human rating requirements which limit the angular rates. Reusable launch vehicle systems must take into account actuator saturation during entry. Wind disturbances and plant uncertainties are major perturbations to the nominal state of any launch vehicle. An ideal controller is one that is robust enough to handle these uncertainties and external disturbances with limited control authority. One major challenge that exists in the design of these vehicles is the updating of old autopilot technology to new robust designs while also taking into account the different type of launch vehicle system employed. Sliding mode control algorithms that are inherently robust to external disturbances and plant uncertainties are very good candidates for improving the robustness and accuracy of the flight control systems. This dissertation focuses on systematically studying and developing a 'toolbox' of classical and higher-order sliding mode attitude control algorithms for different types of launch vehicle systems operating in uncertain conditions, including model uncertainties, actuator malfunctions, and external perturbations such as wind gusts. The developed toolbox comprises of time-varying sliding variables, classical and higher-order sliding mode attitude control algorithms, and observer techniques that yield novel sliding mode attitude control architectures. The proposed control toolbox allows achieving even higher standards of performance, reliability, safety, operability, and cost for launch vehicles over the current state of the art. Case studies include controlling the X-33 and SLV-X Launch Vehicles studied under NASA's Space Launch Initiative (SLI) and a joint DARPA/Air Force program called the Force Application and Launch from CONtinental United States (FALCON) program. The intensive simulations demonstrate efficacy of the proposed control toolbox developed for launch vehicle attitude control.

During the last decade, automobile manufacturers have used computer simulations and are developing computer technology widely and more effectively to improve the crashworthiness of vehicles. Car manufacturers analyse the crashworthiness of vehicle designs in various crash scenarios, by means of advanced vehicle models, using finite element methods. This considerably reduces the number of costly crash tests performed with the designed vehicles in test labs. In this study, the deformation mechanism of vehicles was analysed in full frontal, offset frontal and side impact scenarios. The analyses used an explicit analysis algorithm within the 'ANSYS/LS-DYNA' program, using data models for various vehicles. The simulation results were compared with actual crash test data of the corresponding veh...

The United States Department of Energy’s (DOE) Field Operations Program tests advanced technology vehicles (ATVs) and disseminates the testing results to provide fleet managers and other potential ATV users with accurate and unbiased information on vehicle performance. The ATVs (including electric, hybrid, and other alternative fuel vehicles) are tested using one or more methods - Baseline Performance Testing (EVAmerica and Pomona Loop), Accelerated Reliability Testing, and Fleet Testing. The Program (http://ev.inel.gov/sop) and its nine industry testing partners have tested over 30 full-size electric vehicle (EV) models and they have accumulated over 4 million miles of EV testing experience since 1994. In conjunction with several original equipment manufacturers, the Program has developed testing procedures for the new classes of hybrid, urban, and neighborhood EVs. The testing of these vehicles started during 2001. The EVS 18 presentation will include (1) EV and hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) test results, (2) operating experience with and performance trends of various EV and HEV models, and (3) experience with operating hydrogen-fueled vehicles. Data presented for EVs will include vehicle efficiency (km/kWh), average distance driven per charge, and range testing results. The HEV data will include operating considerations, fuel use rates, and range testing results.

The main objective of this paper is to develop a 3D CFD program which can be used by the development engineer to analyze the performance of the vehicle cooling system.There is a demand for new vehicles to be made in shorter product development cycles while continuously improving the vehicle's performance and quality. These demands accelerate the use of Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) tools for vehicle test simulations. For engine cooling, it is very important to use CFD tools for the prediction of front end airflow pattern. However, the geometry of a vehicle's front end and underbody region are extremely complex. From this study, the performance of the automotive cooling system can be predicted and also compared with experimental data. That is, a method to predict the coolant inlet temper...

Performance testing of the AC Propulsion ELX electric vehicle is described. Test data are presented and analyzed. The ELX vehicle is the first of a series of electric vehicles of interest to the California Air Resources Board. The test series is being conducted under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) between the US Department of energy and the California Air Resources Board. The tests which were conducted showed that the AC Propulsion ELX electric vehicle has exceptional acceleration and range performance. when the vehicle`s battery was fully charged, the vehicle can accelerate from 0 to 96 km/h in about 10 seconds. Energy consumption and range tests using consecutive FUDS and HWFET Driving cycles (the all-electric cycle) indicate that the energy economy of the AC Propulsion ELX electric vehicle with regenerative braking is 97 W{center_dot}h/km, with a range of 153 km (95 miles). Computer simulations performed using the SIMPLEV Program indicate that the vehicle would have a range of 327 km (203 miles) on the all-electric cycle if the lead acid batteries were replaced with NiMH batteries having an energy density of 67 W{center_dot}h/kg. Comparisons of FUDS test data with and without regenerative braking indicated that regenerative braking reduced the energy consumption of the ELX vehicle by approximately 25%.

K-State has concluded the first quarter of the third year, demonstrating and evaluating electric vehicle technology. The G-Van has failed to operate during this period. Although plans are being made to install new batteries in the G-Van, the vehicle has little to prove or demonstrate in the way of advanced technologies. As such, there was an agreement by the Site Operator Users Task Force that no additional federal funding would be spent to maintain or operate the G-Vans. The DSEP van, received from DOE during the latter part of January remains idle. The DSEP vehicle may never be refurbished and used in the Site Operator Program as an operational vehicle. It may be used as a lab vehicle or in a special projects capacity. The cost of operating or maintaining this one-of-a-kind vehicle is high and the value of the vehicle to the program is questionable. Kansas State University is using and pleased with its first Soleq`s EVcort. The vehicle has been used on a routine basis around campus, at the Nebraska State Fair, the Kansas State Fair, and other specific functions. The vehicle continues to operate in an efficient manner, is well received by the public, and clearly demonstrates what is possible in EV technology. Professor Hague continued to serve as the Chairman of the Site Operator Users Task Force. As such, K-State is involved at all levels in promoting electric vehicle legislation and technology. The electric vehicle technology continues to be debated and discussed at all levels of government. The next year should bring incremental improvements for funding. The SOUTF has established an effort to ``push`` the EV technology forward with the development of a common specification to be used in the purchase of electric vehicles during the next year.

...Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS): Technical Corrections...Vehicle Title Information System Program...to make two technical corrections...For further information, see the NMVTIS...to make two technical...

Hawaii is an attractive proving ground for electric and hybrid vehicles (EHV) evaluation. Envisioning and embracing the needs for environmental-friendly advanced transportation technology developments, the Hawaii Center for Advanced Transportation Technologies (HCATT) and the Electrochemical Power Systems Laboratory (EPSL) at the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute (HNEI) of the University of Hawaii, are working together to promote and facilitate EHV development in Hawaii. This paper reports some of the recent activities in EHV evaluation, battery modeling, and fleet testing in the HCATT program. The fleet of EHV in this program includes battery-powered EV (BEV) and battery-fuel cell hybrid electric vehicles (HEV). We will present vehicle test results, battery modeling and simulation tool developments, and data analysis approaches that we developed and used in the program.   

In general, air pollution from mobile sources in Brazil affects mainly the large metropolitan areas. The continuous urbanization trend, observed in Brazil since the early 1960`s has led the major cities to traffic congestion and motor vehicle pollution. In an effort to address this problem, the federal government established, in 1986, the National Emission Control Program, called PROCONVE, to control emission, in such a way as to promote automotive technological development and fuel quality improvements. Initially, the emission control for new light duty vehicles (gasoline and alcohol) was emphasized. In 1993, the limits for new heavy duty vehicles (diesel) were established with the technical requirements of an inspection and maintenance program to control in-use vehicles. The paper will describe the PROCONVE requirements and the most important aspects related with the automotive technological developments, fuel characteristics and air quality. (author)

The Space Shuttle program is ending and elements of the Constellation Program are either being cancelled or transitioned to new NASA exploration endeavors. NASA is working diligently to select an optimum configuration for the Space Launch System (SLS), a heavy lift vehicle that will provide the foundation for future beyond LEO large ]scale missions for the next several decades. Thus, multiple questions must be addressed: Which heavy lift vehicle will best allow the agency to achieve mission objectives in the most affordable and reliable manner? Which heavy lift vehicle will allow for a sufficiently flexible exploration campaign of the solar system? Which heavy lift vehicle configuration will allow for minimizing risk in design, test, build and operations? Which heavy lift vehicle configuration will be sustainable in changing political environments? Seeking to address these questions drove the development of an SLS decisionmaking framework. From Fall 2010 until Spring 2011, this framework was formulated, tested, fully documented, and applied to multiple SLS vehicle concepts at NASA from previous exploration architecture studies. This was a multistep process that involved performing FOM-based assessments, creating Pass/Fail gates based on draft threshold requirements, performing a margin-based assessment with supporting statistical analyses, and performing sensitivity analysis on each. This paper discusses the various methods of this process that allowed for competing concepts to be compared across a variety of launch vehicle metrics. The end result was the identification of SLS launch vehicle candidates that could successfully meet the threshold requirements in support of the SLS Mission Concept Review (MCR) milestone.

The proposed 21st Century Truck program selected three truck classes for focused analysis. On the basis of gross vehicle weight (GVW) classification, these were Class 8 (representing heavy), Class 6 (representing medium), and Class 2b (representing light). To develop and verify these selections, an evaluation of fuel use of commercial trucks was conducted, using data from the 1997 Vehicle Inventory and Use Survey (VIUS). Truck fuel use was analyzed by registered GVW class, and by body type.

This slide presentation reviews the requirement from an Anthropometric standpoint for the development of the Constellation's programs hardware, specifically the Orion crew exploration vehicle. The NASA JSC Anthropometry and Biomechanics Facility (ABF) provides anthropometry, strength, mobility, and mass properties requirements; gathers, interprets, manages and maintains the flight crew anthropometry database; and participates and provides input during crew selection. This is used to assist in requirements for vehicle and space suit design and for crew selection.

The 2006 NASA Seal/Secondary Air System workshop covered the following topics: (i) Overview of NASA s new Exploration Initiative program aimed at exploring the Moon, Mars, and beyond; (ii) Overview of NASA s new fundamental aeronautics technology project; (iii) Overview of NASA Glenn Research Center s seal project aimed at developing advanced seals for NASA s turbomachinery, space, and reentry vehicle needs; (iv) Reviews of NASA prime contractor, vendor, and university advanced sealing concepts including tip clearance control, test results, experimental facilities, and numerical predictions; and (v) Reviews of material development programs relevant to advanced seals development. Turbine engine studies have shown that reducing seal leakages as well as high-pressure turbine (HPT) blade tip clearances will reduce fuel burn, lower emissions, retain exhaust gas temperature margin, and increase range. Several organizations presented development efforts aimed at developing faster clearance control systems and associated technology to meet future engine needs. The workshop also covered several programs NASA is funding to develop technologies for the Exploration Initiative and advanced reusable space vehicle technologies. NASA plans on developing an advanced docking and berthing system that would permit any vehicle to dock to any on-orbit station or vehicle. Seal technical challenges (including space environments, temperature variation, and seal-on-seal operation) as well as plans to develop the necessary "androgynous" seal technologies were reviewed. Researchers also reviewed seal technologies employed by the Apollo command module that serve as an excellent basis for seals for NASA s new Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV).

This theoretical aerodynamics program, TAD, was developed to predict the aerodynamic characteristics of vehicles with sounding rocket configurations. These slender, axisymmetric finned vehicle configurations have a wide range of aeronautical applications from rockets to high speed armament. Over a given range of Mach numbers, TAD will compute the normal force coefficient derivative, the center-of-pressure, the roll forcing moment coefficient derivative, the roll damping moment coefficient derivative, and the pitch damping moment coefficient derivative of a sounding rocket configured vehicle. The vehicle may consist of a sharp pointed nose of cone or tangent ogive shape, up to nine other body divisions of conical shoulder, conical boattail, or circular cylinder shape, and fins of trapezoid planform shape with constant cross section and either three or four fins per fin set. The characteristics computed by TAD have been shown to be accurate to within ten percent of experimental data in the supersonic region. The TAD program calculates the characteristics of separate portions of the vehicle, calculates the interference between separate portions of the vehicle, and then combines the results to form a total vehicle solution. Also, TAD can be used to calculate the characteristics of the body or fins separately as an aid in the design process. Input to the TAD program consists of simple descriptions of the body and fin geometries and the Mach range of interest. Output includes the aerodynamic characteristics of the total vehicle, or user-selected portions, at specified points over the mach range. The TAD program is written in FORTRAN IV for batch execution and has been implemented on an IBM 360 computer with a central memory requirement of approximately 123K of 8 bit bytes. The TAD program was originally developed in 1967 and last updated in 1972.

The purpose of this report is to evaluate the effect of vehicle characteristics on vehicle performance and fuel economy. The studies were performed using the VEHSIM (vehicle simulation) program at the Transportation Systems Center. The computer simulation...

...Tier 2 program required vehicle manufacturers to reduce new vehicle emissions, primarily nitrogen oxide...organic compounds, and particulate matter. Included as...companies that convert gasoline vehicles to operate on...

As a part of the overall goal of developing Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) systems for aerospace vehicles, the NASA Faculty Fellowship Program (NFFP) at Marshall Space Flight Center has performed a pilot study on IVHM principals which integrates researched IVHM technologies in support of Integrated Intelligent Vehicle Management (IIVM). IVHM is the process of assessing, preserving, and restoring system functionality across flight and ground systems (NASA NGLT 2004). The framework presented in this paper integrates advanced computational techniques with sensor and communication technologies for spacecraft that can generate responses through detection, diagnosis, reasoning, and adapt to system faults in support of IIVM. These real-time responses allow the IIVM to modify the effected vehicle subsystem(s) prior to a catastrophic event. Furthermore, the objective of this pilot program is to develop and integrate technologies which can provide a continuous, intelligent, and adaptive health state of a vehicle and use this information to improve safety and reduce costs of operations. Recent investments in avionics, health management, and controls have been directed towards IIVM. As this concept has matured, it has become clear the IIVM requires the same sensors and processing capabilities as the real-time avionics functions to support diagnosis of subsystem problems. New sensors have been proposed, in addition, to augment the avionics sensors to support better system monitoring and diagnostics. As the designs have been considered, a synergy has been realized where the real-time avionics can utilize sensors proposed for diagnostics and prognostics to make better real-time decisions in response to detected failures. IIVM provides for a single system allowing modularity of functions and hardware across the vehicle. The framework that supports IIVM consists of 11 major on-board functions necessary to fully manage a space vehicle maintaining crew safety and mission objectives: Guidance and Navigation; Communications and Tracking; Vehicle Monitoring; Information Transport and Integration; Vehicle Diagnostics; Vehicle Prognostics; Vehicle mission Planning; Automated Repair and Replacement; Vehicle Control; Human Computer Interface; and Onboard Verification and Validation. Furthermore, the presented framework provides complete vehicle management which not only allows for increased crew safety and mission success through new intelligence capabilities, but also yields a mechanism for more efficient vehicle operations. The representative IVHM technologies for IIVH includes: 1) robust controllers for use in re-usable launch vehicles, 2) scaleable/flexible computer platform using heterogeneous communication, 3) coupled electromagnetic oscillators for enhanced communications, 4) Linux-based real-time systems, 5) genetic algorithms, 6) Bayesian Networks, 7) evolutionary algorithms, 8) dynamic systems control modeling, and 9) advanced sensing capabilities. This paper presents IVHM technologies developed under NASA's NFFP pilot project. The integration of these IVHM technologies forms the framework for IIVM.

This paper summarizes the results of a lightweight materials study. Various lightweight materials are examined and the most cost effective are selected for further analysis. Aluminum and high-performance polymer matrix composites (PMCS) are found to have the highest potential for reducing the weight of automobiles and passenger-oriented light trucks. Weight reduction potential for aluminum and carbon fiber-based PMCs are computed based on a set of component-specific replacement criteria (such as stiffness and strength), and the consequent incremental cost scenarios are developed. The authors assume that a materials R and D program successfully reduces the cost of manufacturing aluminum and carbon fiber PMC-intensive vehicles. A vehicle choice model is used to project market shares for the lightweight vehicles. A vehicle survival and age-related usage model is employed to compute energy consumption over time for the vehicle stock. After a review of projected costs, the following two sets of vehicles are characterized to compete with the conventional materials vehicles: (1) aluminum vehicles with limited replacement providing 19% weight reduction (AIV-Mid), and (2) aluminum vehicles with the maximum replacement providing 31% weight reduction (AIV-Max). Assuming mass-market introduction in 2005, the authors project a national petroleum energy savings of 3% for AIV-Mid and 5% for AIV-Max in 2030.

Researchers have developed a variety of computer-based models to estimate population exposure to air pollution. These models typically estimate exposures by simulating the movement of specific population groups through defined microenvironments. Exposures in the motor vehicle microenvironment are significantly affected by air exchange rate, which in turn is affected by vehicle speed, window position, vent status, and air conditioning use. A pilot study was conducted in Houston, Texas, during September 2000 for a specific set of weather, vehicle speed, and road type conditions to determine whether useful information on the position of windows, sunroofs, and convertible tops could be obtained through the use of video cameras. Monitoring was conducted at three sites (two arterial roads and one interstate highway) on the perimeter of Harris County located in or near areas not subject to mandated Inspection and Maintenance programs. Each site permitted an elevated view of vehicles as they proceeded through a turn, thereby exposing all windows to the stationary video camera. Five videotaping sessions were conducted over a two-day period in which the Heat Index (HI)-a function of temperature and humidity-varied from 80 to 101 degrees F and vehicle speed varied from 30 to 74 mph. The resulting videotapes were processed to create a master database listing vehicle-specific data for site location, date, time, vehicle type (e.g., minivan), color, window configuration (e.g., four windows and sunroof), number of windows in each of three position categories (fully open, partially open, and closed), HI, and speed. Of the 758 vehicles included in the database, 140 (18.5 percent) were labeled as "open," indicating a window, sunroof, or convertible top was fully or partially open. The results of a series of stepwise linear regression analyses indicated that the probability of a vehicle in the master database being "open" was weakly affected by time of day, vehicle type, vehicle color, vehicle speed, and HI. In particular, open windows occurred more frequently when vehicle speed was less than 50 mph during periods when HI exceeded 99.9 degrees F and the vehicle was a minivan or passenger van. Overall, the pilot study demonstrated that data on factors affecting vehicle window position could be acquired through a relatively simple experimental protocol using a single video camera. Limitations of the study requiring further research include the inability to determine the status of the vehicle air conditioning system; lack of a wide range of weather, vehicle speed, and road type conditions; and the need to exclude some vehicles from statistical analyses due to ambiguous window positions. PMID:12032818

Project CoMRoS has the goal to develop intelligent cooperating mobile robots. Several different vehicles are to solve a single task autonomously by exchanging plans without a central control. We use {open_quotes}Robuter II{close_quotes} vehicles from Robosoft France, adapted to our needs. The standard vehicle has very little local intelligence (VME bus system) and is controlled remotely by wireless Ethernet for sending steering commands and receiving sonar sensor data. A wireless video link is used to transmit camera images. Data exchange between vehicles is then performed among the corresponding workstations. The remote control is basically used to simplify testing and debugging of robot programs. However, each vehicle can also be driven completely autonomous by using a laptop PC.

This manual defines a series of tests to characterize aspects of the performance or life cycle behavior of batteries for hybrid electric vehicle applications. Tests are defined based on the Partnership for New Generation Vehicles (PNGV) program goals, although it is anticipated these tests may be generally useful for testing energy storage devices for hybrid electric vehicles. Separate test regimes are defined for laboratory cells, battery modules or full size cells, and complete battery systems. Some tests are common to all three test regimes, while others are not normally applicable to some regimes. The test regimes are treated separately because their corresponding development goals are somewhat different.

Partial Contents: Alternative Fuel Vehicle Programs: Applicability of Government Incentives; Transitional Alternative Fuels and Vehicles Model; Forecasting Cost Path of Electric Vehicle Drive System: Monte Carlo Experience Curve Simulation; Another Way to Go. Some Implications of Light-duty Diesel Strategy; Use of Episodic Controls to Reduce Frequency and Severity of Air Pollution Events; Conformity: Long-Term Prognoses for Selected Ozone Nonattainment Areas in California; Development of Comprehensive Modal Emissions Model: Operating Under Hot-Stabilized Conditions; and Implications of Transient Mode Duration for Spatially Disaggregated High-Resolution Emission Inventory Studies.

Composite structures are a key technology needed to develop future lightweight combat vehicles that are both deployable and survivable. The Composite Armored Vehicle Advanced Technology Demonstrator Program that started in fiscal year 1994 will continue through 1998 to verily that composite structures are a viable solution for ground combat vehicles. Testing thus far includes material characterization, structural component tests and full scale quarter section tests. Material and manufacturing considerations, tests, results and changes, and the status of the program will be described. The structural component tests have been completed successfully, and quarter section testing is in progress. Upon completion of the critical design review, the vehicle demonstrator will be Fabricated and undergo government testing.

The goal of DOE's Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Program is to advance technologies for electric and hybrid vehicles in order to enhance their potential as transportation options of national significance. Successful achievment of this goal will ultimately result in significant petroleum savings to the nation. However, the design, performance, and cost of propulsion components must be improved before commercially attractive electric vehicles can be built. This paper describes improved and advanced component technology developed under the NASA-managed propulsion portion of the DOE program. This includes electronically commutated permanent magnet motors of both drum and disk configurations, an unconventional brush-commutated motor, ac induction motors, various controllers, transmissions and complete systems. One or more of these new approaches to electric vehicle propulsion may eventually displace presently used controllers and brush commutated dc motors.

A computer program entitled "Marshall Aerospace Vehicle Representation in C II, (MAVERIC-II)" is a vehicle flight simulation program written primarily in the C programming language. It is written by James W. McCarter at NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center. The goal of the MAVERIC-II development effort is to provide a simulation tool that facilitates the rapid development of high-fidelity flight simulations for launch, orbital, and reentry vehicles of any user-defined configuration for all phases of flight. MAVERIC-II has been found invaluable in performing flight simulations for various Space Transportation Systems. The flexibility provided by MAVERIC-II has allowed several different launch vehicles, including the Saturn V, a Space Launch Initiative Two-Stage-to-Orbit concept and a Shuttle-derived launch vehicle, to be simulated during ascent and portions of on-orbit flight in an extremely efficient manner. It was found that MAVERIC-II provided the high fidelity vehicle and flight environment models as well as the program modularity to allow efficient integration, modification and testing of advanced guidance and control algorithms. In addition to serving as an analysis tool for techno logy development, many researchers have found MAVERIC-II to be an efficient, powerful analysis tool that evaluates guidance, navigation, and control designs, vehicle robustness, and requirements. MAVERIC-II is currently designed to execute in a UNIX environment. The input to the program is composed of three segments: 1) the vehicle models such as propulsion, aerodynamics, and guidance, navigation, and control 2) the environment models such as atmosphere and gravity, and 3) a simulation framework which is responsible for executing the vehicle and environment models and propagating the vehicle s states forward in time and handling user input/output. MAVERIC users prepare data files for the above models and run the simulation program. They can see the output on screen and/or store in files and examine the output data later. Users can also view the output stored in output files by calling a plotting program such as gnuplot. A typical scenario of the use of MAVERIC consists of three-steps; editing existing input data files, running MAVERIC, and plotting output results.

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is actively supporting the development and commercialization of advanced electric vehicles, and advanced batteries and propulsion systems. As part of this effort, the DOE Field Operations Program is performing commercial validation of electric vehicles. These efforts have included on-board data acquisition of electric vehicle operations and baseline performance testing. The baseline performance tests focus on parameters such as range, acceleration, and battery charging. This testing, performed in conjunction with EV America, has included the baseline performance testing of 14 electric vehicles will also be baseline performance tested. The baseline performance testing has documented annual improvements in performance. This and additional information is made available to the public via the internet homepage (http://ev.inel.gov). The Field Operations Program continues to support the development of electric vehicles and infrastructure in conjunction with its new qualified vehicle test partners: Electric Transportation Application of Phoenix, and Southern California Edison. The Field Operations Program is managed by the Lockheed Martin Idaho Technologies Company, at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. 4 refs., 5 figs., 2 tabs.

Vehicles powered by fuel cells operate more efficiently, more quietly, and more cleanly than internal combustion engines (ICEs). Furthermore, methanol-fueled fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) can utilize major elements of the existing fueling infrastructure of present-day liquid-fueled ICE vehicles (ICEVs). DOE has maintained an active program to stimulate the development and demonstration o fuel cell technologies in conjunction with rechargeable batteries in road vehicles. The purpose of this study is to identify and assess the availability of data on FCVs, and to develop a vehicle subsystem structure that can be used to compare both FCVs and ICEV, from a number of perspectives--environmental impacts, energy utilization, materials usage, and life cycle costs. This report focuses on methanol-fueled FCVs fueled by gasoline, methanol, and diesel fuel that are likely to be demonstratable by the year 2000. The comparative analysis presented covers four vehicles--two passenger vehicles and two urban transit buses. The passenger vehicles include an ICEV using either gasoline or methanol and an FCV using methanol. The FCV uses a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell, an on-board methanol reformer, mid-term batteries, and an AC motor. The transit bus ICEV was evaluated for both diesel and methanol fuels. The transit bus FCV runs on methanol and uses a Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cell (PAFC) fuel cell, near-term batteries, a DC motor, and an on-board methanol reformer. 75 refs.

Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs), including battery electric, plug-in hybrid electric, and extended range electric vehicles, are under evaluation by the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity (AVTA) and other various stakeholders to better understand their capability and potential petroleum reduction benefits. PEVs could allow users to significantly improve fuel economy over a standard hybrid electric vehicles, and in some cases, depending on daily driving requirements and vehicle design, PEVs may have the ability to eliminate petroleum consumption entirely for daily vehicle trips. The AVTA is working jointly with the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) to assist in the further development of standards necessary for the advancement of PEVs. This report analyzes different methods and available hardware for advanced communications between the electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) and the PEV; particularly Power Line Devices and their physical layer. Results of this study are not conclusive, but add to the collective knowledge base in this area to help define further testing that will be necessary for the development of the final recommended SAE communications standard. The Idaho National Laboratory and the Electric Transportation Applications conduct the AVTA for the United States Department of Energy's Vehicle Technologies Program.

With the retirement of the Space Shuttle looming, a series of new spacecraft is under development to assist in providing for the growing logistical needs of the International Space Station (ISS). Two of these vehicles are being built under a NASA initiative known as the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. These visiting vehicles ; Space X s Dragon and Orbital Science Corporation s Cygnus , are to be domestically produced in the United States and designed to add to the capabilities of the Russian Progress and Soyuz workhorses, the European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) and the Japanese H-2 Transfer Vehicle (HTV). Most of what is known about the COTS program has focused on the work of Orbital and SpaceX in designing, building, and testing their respective launch and cargo vehicles. However, there is also a team within the Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) at NASA s Johnson Space Center working with their operational counterparts in these companies to provide operational safety oversight and mission assurance via the development of operational scenarios and products needed for these missions. Ensuring that the operational aspect is addressed for the initial demonstration flights of these vehicles is the topic of this paper. Integrating Dragon and Cygnus into the ISS operational environment has posed a unique challenge to NASA and their partner companies. This is due in part to the short time span of the COTS program, as measured from initial contract award until first launch, as well as other factors that will be explored in the text. Operational scenarios and products developed for each COTS vehicle will be discussed based on the following categories: timelines, on-orbit checkout, ground documentation, crew procedures, software updates and training materials. Also addressed is an outline of the commonalities associated with the operations for each vehicle. It is the intent of the authors to provide their audience with a better understanding of the mission assurance that MOD brings to commercial ventures to the ISS

...2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Use of alternative fueled vehicle credits. 490.504 Section...DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ENERGY CONSERVATION ALTERNATIVE FUEL TRANSPORTATION PROGRAM Alternative Fueled Vehicle Credit Program §...

In this pamphlet, program goal, description, vehicles/fuels tested, and selected emissions results are given for light-duty and heavy-duty vehicles. Other NREL R&D programs and publications are mentioned briefly.

During the onset of the energy crisis in 1973, concern developed regarding the energy consumption of NASA's space launch vehicles and the potential impact of increasing energy costs on future space programs. Work done as a result of this concern is reviewed and methodology which has been applied in estimating the total energy required when using NASA space launch vehicles is described. Energy calculations for past (some phased out), present, and future NASA vehicles provide insight into energy required per unit mass delivered to orbit. A brief assessment of the total energy requirements for NASA's projected traffic model (1978--1991) indicates that the space program is not expected to have any significant impact relative to the nation's total energy needs. It is contended that similar analyses should become an integral part of the evaluation process in considering other future large U.S. programs, both space and nonspace.

This report describes the tasks accomplished as part of Northrop Grumman's TRP $2000 Electric Powertrain Option-1 program. Northrop Grumman has strived to achieve technology advances and development considered as high priority to the success of future electric vehicles. Northrop Grumman has achieved the intent of the program by taking several steps toward reducing the cost of the electric vehicle powertrain, demonstrating technologies in the form of hardware and introducing enhancements into production that are consistent with the needs of the market.

Launched from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) Pad 01B on August 22, 2008, the ATK Launch Vehicle (ALV-X1) provided an opportunity to measure liftoff acoustic noise data. Predicted lift-off acoustic environments were developed by both NASA MSFC and ATK engineers. ATK engineers developed predictions for use in determining vibro-acoustic loads using the method described in the monograph NASA SP-8072. The MSFC ALV-X1 lift-off acoustic prediction was made with the Vehicle Acoustic Environment Prediction Program (VAEPP). The VAEPP and SP-8072 methods predict acoustic pressures of rocket systems generally scaled to existing rocket motor data based upon designed motor or engine characteristics. The predicted acoustic pressures are sound-pressure spectra at specific positions on the vehicle. This paper presents the measured liftoff acoustics on the vehicle and tower. This data is useful for the ALV-X1 in validating the pre-launch environments and loads predictions.

Battery development and liquid fuel availability and cost are still the pacing factors in wide scale electric vehicle introduction. Propulsion systems also require technical development, however, if electric vehicles are to be acceptable in the marketplace in competition against ICE vehicles. Eaton Corporation has undertaken a program designed to identify and investigate three broad types of propulsion systems in identical test vehicles on the same test track under conditions as similar as possible. Characteristics of dc, ac and advanced systems are compared to date, and projections of anticipated results and further work are provided. The compelling advantages of multiple mechanical ratios in EV propulsion systems are reviewed. An emerging, but less obvious, advantage is higher overall system efficiency.

The parallel-vision algorithm design and implementation project was established to facilitate vision programming on parallel architectures, particularly low-level vision and robot vehicle-control algorithms on the Carnegie Mellon Warp machine. To this end, the author have (1) demonstrated the use of the Warp machine in several different algorithms; (2) developed a specialized programming language, called Apply, for low-level vision programming on parallel architectures in general, and Warp in particular; (3) used Warp as a research tool in vision, as opposed to using it only for research in parallel vision; and (4) developed a significant library of low-level vision programs for use on Warp.

Launch environments, such as lift-off acoustic (LOA) and ignition overpressure (IOP), are important design factors for any vehicle and are dependent upon the design of both the vehicle and the ground systems. LOA environments are used directly in the development of vehicle vibro-acoustic environments and IOP is used in the loads assessment. The NASA Constellation Program had several risks to the development of the Ares I vehicle linked to LOA. The risks included cost, schedule and technical impacts for component qualification due to high predicted vibro-acoustic environments. One solution is to mitigate the environment at the component level. However, where the environment is too severe for component survivability, reduction of the environment itself is required. The Ares I Scale Model Acoustic Test (ASMAT) program was implemented to verify the Ares I LOA and IOP environments for the vehicle and ground systems including the Mobile Launcher (ML) and tower. An additional objective was to determine the acoustic reduction for the LOA environment with an above deck water sound suppression system. ASMAT was a development test performed at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) East Test Area (ETA) Test Stand 116 (TS 116). The ASMAT program is described in this presentation.

The US Department of Energy`s Office of Propulsion Systems provides support for an Electrochemical Energy Storage Program, that includes research and development (R&D) on advanced rechargeable batteries and fuel cells. A major goal of this program is to develop electrochemical power sources suitable for application in electric vehicles (EVs). The program centers on advanced systems that offer the potential for high performance and low life-cycle costs, both of which are necessary to permit significant penetration into commercial markets. The DOE Electrochemical Energy Storage Program is divided into two projects: the Electric Vehicle Advanced Battery Systems (EVABS) Development Program and the Exploratory Technology Research (ETR) Program. The general R&D areas addressed by the program include identification of new electrochemical couples for advanced batteries, determination of technical feasibility of the new couples, improvements in battery components and materials, establishment of engineering principles applicable to electrochemical energy storage and conversion, and the development of air-system (fuel cell, metal/air) technology for transportation applications. Major emphasis is given to applied research which will lead to superior performance and lower life-cycle costs. The ETR Program is divided into three major program elements: Exploratory Research, Applied Science Research, and Air Systems Research. Highlights of each program element are summarized according to the appropriate battery system or electrochemical research area.

The International Space Station s (ISS) largest crew and cargo resupply vehicle, the Space Shuttle, will retire in 2011. To help augment ISS resupply and return capability, NASA announced a project to promote the development of Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) for the ISS in January of 2006. By December of 2008, NASA entered into space act agreements with SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corporation for COTS development and ISS Commercial Resupply Services (CRS). The intent of CRS is to fly multiple resupply missions each year to ISS with SpaceX s Dragon vehicle providing resupply and return capabilities and Orbital Science Corporation s Cygnus vehicle providing resupply capability to ISS. The ISS program launched an integration effort to ensure that these new commercial vehicles met the requirements of the ISS vehicle and ISS program needs. The Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) requirements cover basic cargo vehicle needs including maintaining atmosphere, providing atmosphere circulation, and fire detection and suppression. The ISS-COTS integration effort brought unique challenges combining NASA s established processes and design knowledge with the commercial companies new initiatives and limited experience with human space flight. This paper will discuss the ISS ECLS COTS integration effort including challenges, successes, and lessons learned.

In a major earth orbital program involving the placing into orbit of approximately 72 million pounds between 1970 and 1999, it is more economical to use the current expendable Saturn IB and Saturn V launch vehicles than to develop and operate either a con...

Computer programs used to calculate the performance of an electric vehicle must contain a battery model. A simple mathematical model is developed and evaluated. The model is based on time averaged current or power required from a battery during the operat...

It was used as a vehicle for the first minibus appropriations package, with the associated conference report (R. Rept. 112-284) incorporating spending directives for the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and related programs for FY2012.

This essay analyzes the 1996 decision by the California Air Resources Board to revise its program for promoting the development and sale of electric vehicles. The essay does not aim primarily to explain the causes of the decision, but to assess the implications for democratic politics of the reasons...

design criteria guidelines in space vehicle development programs. ... and ionospheric properties, radiation, solar cycle predictions, geomagnetic field, .... 4.2.2 Thermal and Electrical Properties. ..... A solar flare is a bright eruption of the sun's chromosphere ...... is calculated by the method given in Figure 11-6 and applies to ...

The work of electric-vehicle development at both national and international levels was covered at the conference, which was divided into general, technical, and user sessions and covered the entire spectrum of the industry. A general review of the papers presented on the program is introduced. Abstracts of six papers presented are included separately.

This paper deals with the interface-relevant activity of a vehicle integrated intelligent safety system (ISS) that includes an airbag deployment decision system (ADDS) and a tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS). A program is developed in LabWindows/CVI, using C for prototype implementation. The pr...

This article analyzes the potential for reducing vehicle atmospheric pollutant emissions as a result of the implementation of Accelerated Vehicle Retirement and Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance Programs. Application of both programs, together and individually, is simulated for the period 2003-2010, targeting the light-duty vehicles of the largest Brazilian urban agglomeration. This article also quantifies the impact of implementing the Brazilian Motor Vehicle Air Pollution Control Program (PROCONVE) on the emissions. Results of simulations indicate that these programs can contribute significantly to the reduction of vehicle emissions. (Author)

This report highlights progress achieved during FY 1999 under the Light-duty Fuels Utilization R and D Program. The program is comprised of two elements: the Advanced Petroleum-Based APB Fuels Program which focused on developing and testing advanced fuels for use with compression-ignition direct-injection (CIDI) engines and fuel cells and the Alternative Fuels Program which focused on Natural gas and natural gas derived fuels. The report contains 17 summaries of industry and National Laboratory projects. Fuel efficient vehicles with very low emissions are essential to meet the challenges of climate change, energy security, and improved air quality. The authors anticipate cooperative efforts with the auto and energy industries to develop new and innovative technologies that will be used to make advanced transportation vehicles that are fuel efficient, clean, and safe.

This summary denotes the progress made by the Exploratory Technology Research (ETR) Program for Electrochemical Energy Storage during calendar year 1992. The primary objective of the ETR Program, which is sponsored by the US Department of Energy (DOE) and managed by Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL), is to identify electrochemical technologies that can satisfy stringent performance, durability and economic requirements for electric vehicles (EVs). The ultimate goal is to transfer the most-promising electrochemical technologies to the private sector or to another DOE program (e.g., SNL`s Electric Vehicle Advanced Battery Systems Development Program, EVABS) for further development and scale-up. Besides LBL, which has overall responsibility for the ETR Program, LANL and BNL have participated in the ETR Program by providing key research support in several of the program elements. Program consists of three major elements: Exploratory Research; Applied Science Research; and Air Systems Research. The objectives and the specific battery and electrochemical systems addressed by each program element are discussed. Financial information that relates to the various programs and a description of the management activities for the ETR Program are described.

The Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE Education Program conducted education and outreach activities and used the competition's technical goals and vehicle demonstrations as a means of attracting students and the public to learn more about advanced vehicle technologies, energy efficiency, climate change, alternative fuels, and the science and math behind efficient vehicle development. The Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE Education Program comprised three integrated components that were designed to educate the general public and create a multi-tiered initiative to engage students and showcase the 21st century skills students will need to compete in our global economy: teamwork, creativity, strong literacy, math and science skills, and innovative thinking. The elements included an Online Experience, a National Student Contest, and in person education events and activites. The project leveraged online connections, strategic partnerships, in-classroom, and beyond-the-classroom initiatives, as well as mainstream media. This education program supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) also funded the specification of vehicle telemetry and the full development and operation of an interactive online experience that allowed internet users to follow the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE vehicles as they performed in real-time during the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE competition events.

This paper explores application of the L1 adaptive control architecture to a generic flexible Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV). Adaptive control has the potential to improve performance and enhance safety of space vehicles that often operate in very unforgiving and occasionally highly uncertain environments. NASA s development of the next generation space launch vehicles presents an opportunity for adaptive control to contribute to improved performance of this statically unstable vehicle with low damping and low bending frequency flexible dynamics. In this paper, we consider the L1 adaptive output feedback controller to control the low frequency structural modes and propose steps to validate the adaptive controller performance utilizing one of the experimental test flights for the CLV Ares-I Program.

An unmanned vehicle systems test-bed has been developed. The test-bed has been designed to accommodate hardware changes and various vehicle types and algorithms. The creation of this test-bed allows research teams to focus on algorithm development and employ a common well-tested experimental framework. The ArduPilotOne autopilot was developed to provide the necessary level of abstraction for multiple vehicle types. The autopilot was also designed to be highly integrated with the Mavlink protocol for Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) communication. Mavlink is the native protocol for QGroundControl, a MAV ground control program. Features were added to QGroundControl to accommodate outdoor usage. Next, the Mavsim toolbox was developed for Scicoslab to allow hardware-in-the-loop testing, control design and analysis, and estimation algorithm testing and verification. In order to obtain linear models of aircraft dynamics, the JSBSim flight dynamics engine was extended to use a probabilistic Nelder-Mead simplex method. The JSBSim aircraft dynamics were compared with wind-tunnel data collected. Finally, a structured methodology for successive loop closure control design is proposed. This methodology is demonstrated along with the rest of the test-bed tools on a quadrotor, a fixed wing RC plane, and a ground vehicle. Test results for the ground vehicle are presented.

Development of electric-powered vehicles in Sweden is discussed. The present growing interest in electric vehicles has resulted in establishment of a new company, SETU, with the objective to develop electric vehicles for large fleet owners. The company has received an order from the Swedish Telecommunication Board for 14 vehicles. Features of the fleet vehicles to be used are described.

A vehicle`s in-use or on-the-road fuel economy often differs substantially from the miles-per-gallon estimates developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as part of its emissions certification program. As a result, the certification values are routinely adjusted by a set of correction factors so that the resulting estimates will better reflect in-use experience. Our analysis investigated how well the correction factors replicated the shortfall experience of all household vehicles on the road in 1985 and of those vehicles held by different population groups. Using data from the Residential Transportation Energy Consumption Survey conducted by the Energy Information Administration of the US Department of Energy, our analysis showed that fleetwide, the shortfall is larger than the EPA correction factors, and that light trucks are experiencing larger shortfalls than automobiles. Controlling for vehicle age and size class, shortfalls did not appear to differ by population group. However, African-American households appeared to select vehicles with systematically lower fuel economy (both EPA-test and on-the-road) within individual vehicle age and size class categories.

The NASA Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR) program has developed an external store flight-test article for repeat pass interferometry missions aboard an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Most of the UAVSAR pod flight instrumentation, structure, and outer shell were developed and designed from scratch in collaboration with Total Aircraft Services (TAS) (Van Nuys, California), Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) (Pasadena, California), and NASA Dryden Flight Research Center giving the uncommon opportunity to compare the computer aided design (CAD) model mass properties with the results of a final product measurement.

The H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) is an unmanned transfer vehicle launched by an H-IIB rocket. It will support the International Space Station (ISS) program alongside the space shuttle, Soyuz, Progress, and ATV. JAXA is conducting pre-launch operations of the first HTV with its cargo at Tanegashima Space Center now and preparing its Control Center at Tsukuba Space Center. It is the final phase of 10 years of HTV development. This paper presents the development status and operation preparation for the HTV Launch in September 2009, then mentions future missions built upon HTV technical heritage.   

In Japan, The National Vehicle Project was started in 1971 and closed in 1977 with an investment amounting to about 5700 M yen. During the first three years of this project, studies were carried out in parallel on components such as batteries, motors, chassis, etc. In the following three years, suitable combinations of these components were selected, and experimental electric vehicles were manufactured and tested. This paper reports in detail on: 1. electric batteries under development, 2. EV battery development program, 3. battery performance data, 4. national battery energy storage system project, and 5. Japanese EV organizations.

CleanFleet is a demonstration of panel vans operating on five alternative motorfuels in commercial package delivery operations in the South Coast Air Basin of California. The five alternative fuels are propane gas, compressed natural gas (CNG), California Phase 2 reformulated gasoline (RFG), methanol (M-85 with 15 percent RFG), and electricity. Data were gathered on in-use emissions, operations, and fleet economics. This volume of the final report summarizes the maintenance required on these vans from the time they were introduced into the demonstration (April through early November 1992) until the end of the demonstration in September 1994. The vans were used successfully in FedEx operations; but, to varying degrees, the alternative fuel vehicles required more maintenance than the unleaded gasoline control vehicles. The maintenance required was generally associated with the development state of the fuel-related systems. During the demonstration, no non-preventive maintenance was required on the highly developed fuel-related systems in any of the unleaded gasoline production vehicles used either as controls or as RFG test vehicles. The maintenance problems encountered with the less developed systems used in this demonstration may persist in the short term with vehicles featuring the same or similar systems. This means that fleet operators planning near-term acquisitions of vehicles incorporating such systems should consider the potential for similar problems when (1) selecting vendors and warranty provisions and (2) planning maintenance programs.

Recently, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Heavy Vehicle Technologies (OHVT) prepared a Technology Roadmap describing the challenges facing development of higher fuel efficiency, less polluting sport utility vehicles, vans, and commercial trucks. Based on this roadmap, a multiyear program plan (MYPP) was also developed, in which approaches to solving the numerous challenges are enumerated. Additional planning has been performed by DOE and national laboratory staff, on approaches to solving the numerous challenges faced by heavy vehicle system improvements. Workshops and planning documents have been developed concerning advanced aerodynamics, frictional and other parasitic losses, and thermal management. Similarly, the Heavy Vehicle Propulsion Materials Program has developed its own multiyear program plan. The High Temperature Materials Laboratory, a major user facility sponsored by OHVT, has now developed its program plan, described herein. Information was gathered via participation in the development of OHVT's overall Technology Roadmap and MYPP, through personal contacts within the materials-user community, and from attendance at conferences and expositions. Major materials issues for the heavy vehicle industry currently center on trying to increase efficiency of (diesel) engines while at the same time reducing emissions (particularly NO{sub x} and particulates). These requirements dictate the use of increasingly stronger, higher-temperature capable and more corrosion-resistant materials of construction, as well as advanced catalysts, particulate traps, and other pollution-control devices. Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) is a technique which will certainly be applied to diesel engines in the near future, and its use represents a formidable challenge, as will be described later. Energy-efficient, low cost materials processing methods and surface treatments to improve wear, fracture, and corrosion resistance are also required.

This report documents the second phase of the Remote Operated Vehicle with CO{sub 2} Blasting (ROVCO{sub 2}) Program. The ROVCO{sub 2} Program`s goal is to develop and demonstrate a tool to improve the productivity of concrete floor decontamination. The second phase integrated non-developmental subsystems on to the ROVCO{sub 2} system and performed quantitative decontamination effectiveness, productivity, and reliability testings. The report documents these development activities and the analysis of cost and performance. The results show that the ROVCO{sub 2} system is an efficient decontamination tool.

This report describes the work of NREL's Energy Storage group for FY2011. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) supports energy storage R&D under the Vehicle Technologies Program at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The DOE Energy Storage program's charter is to develop battery technologies that will enable large market penetration of electric drive vehicles. These vehicles could have a significant impact on the nation's goal of reducing dependence on imported oil and gaseous pollutant emissions. DOE has established several program activities to address and overcome the barriers limiting the penetration of electric drive battery technologies: cost, performance, safety, and life. These programs are: (1) Advanced Battery Development [through the United States Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC)]; (2) Testing, Design and Analysis (TDA); (3) Applied Battery Research (ABR); and (4) Focused Fundamental Research, or Batteries for Advanced Transportation Technologies (BATT). In FY11, DOE funded NREL to make technical contributions to all of these R&D activities. This report summarizes NREL's R&D projects in FY11 in support of the USABC, TDA, ABR, and BATT program elements. In addition, we continued the enhancement of NREL's battery testing facilities funded through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA) of 2009. The FY11 projects under NREL's Energy Storage R&D program are briefly described below. Each of these is discussed in depth in the main sections of this report.

This program relates to demonstration use of electric-powered vehicles. KSU has two electric cars (conversion vehicles) from Soleq. Corp., and is purchasing 4 Chevy trucks for conversion. This document discusses the participating groups, program plan, events, vehicles and components, operations, and procurement.

The Alternative Fuels for Vehicles Fleet Demonstration Program (AFV-FDP) was a multiyear effort to collect technical data for use in determining the costs and benefits of alternative-fuel vehicles in typical applications in New York State. During 3 years of collecting data, 7.3 million miles of driving were accumulated, 1,003 chassis-dynamometer emissions tests were performed, 862,000 gallons of conventional fuel were saved, and unique information was developed about garage safety recommendations, vehicle performance, and other topics. Findings are organized by vehicle and fuel type. For light-duty compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles, technology has evolved rapidly and closed-loop, electronically-controlled fuel systems provide performance and emissions advantages over open-loop, mechanical systems. The best CNG technology produces consistently low tailpipe emissions versus gasoline, and can eliminate evaporative emissions. Reduced driving range remains the largest physical drawback. Fuel cost is low ($/Btu) but capital costs are high, indicating that economics are best with vehicles that are used intensively. Propane produces impacts similar to CNG and is less expensive to implement, but fuel cost is higher than gasoline and safety codes limit use in urban areas. Light-duty methanol/ethanol vehicles provide performance and emissions benefits over gasoline with little impact on capital costs, but fuel costs are high. Heavy-duty CNG engines are evolving rapidly and provide large reductions in emissions versus diesel. Capital costs are high for CNG buses and fuel efficiency is reduced, but the fuel is less expensive and overall operating costs are about equal to those of diesel buses. Methanol buses provide performance and emissions benefits versus diesel, but fuel costs are high. Other emerging technologies were also evaluated, including electric vehicles, hybrid-electric vehicles, and fuel cells.

The Vehicle Safety Communications Applications (VSC-A) Project was a three-year project (December 2006 - December 2009) to develop and test communications-based vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) safety systems to determine if Dedicated Short Range Communications (...

The Vehicle Safety Communications Applications (VSC-A) Project was a three-year project (December 2006-December 2009) to develop and test communications-based vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) safety systems to determine if Dedicated Short Range Communications (DS...

The Vehicle Safety Communications Applications (VSC-A) Project was a three-year project (December 2006-December 2009) to develop and test communications-based vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) safety systems to determine if Dedicated Short Range Communications (DS...

International cooperation in the field of Space Transportation has become an accepted norm as companies and countries have come to understand the necessity of lower costs for launch services. Many different approaches have been attempted, some of which are more successful than others. This paper discusses the history of McDonnell Douglas Aerospace (MDA) launch vehicle cooperation with Japan, as well as how MDA developed Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) as a supplier for the Delta III program, and how MDA became a supplier for the Japanese H-2 vehicle.

A development history and current status evaluation are presented for nuclear-thermal rocket propulsion systems applicable to interplanetary flight. While the most advanced current chemical rocket engines, such as the SSMEs of the Space Shuttle, produce specific impulses of the order of 450 secs, a nuclear-thermal rocket engine tested at Los Alamos in 1969 generated 845 secs; such specific impulse improvements could represent weeks or months of interplanetary travel time. Attention is given to the achievements of the historical Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application, Helios, and Orion design programs, as well as to the current Vehicle for Interplanetary Space Transportation Applications, which is fusion-based.

The Falcon family of launch vehicles, developed by Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX), are designed to provide the world's lowest cost access to orbit. Highly reliable, low cost launch services offer considerable opportunities for risk reduction throughout the life cycle of satellite programs. The significantly lower costs of Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 as compared with other similar-class launch vehicles results in a number of new business case opportunities; which in turn presents the possibility for a paradigm shift in how the satellite industry thinks about launch services.

This is an artist's conception of the NASA/Lockheed Martin Single-Stage-To-Orbit (SSTO) Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) in orbit high above the Earth. NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, expected to play a key role in the development and flight testing of the X-33, which was a technology demonstrator vehicle for a possible RLV. The RLV technology program was a cooperative agreement between NASA and industry. The goal of the RLV technology program was to enable significant reductions in the cost of access to space, and to promote the creation and delivery of new space services and other activities that would improve U.S. economic competitiveness. The X-33 was a wedged-shaped subscale technology demonstrator prototype of a potential future Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) that Lockheed Martin had dubbed VentureStar. The company hopes to develop VentureStar early this century. Through demonstration flight and ground research, NASA's X-33 program was to provide the information needed for industry representatives such as Lockheed Martin to decide whether to proceed with the development of a full-scale, commercial RLV program. A full-scale, single-stage-to-orbit RLV was to dramatically increase reliability and lower costs of putting a pound of payload into space, from the current figure of $10,000 to $1,000. Reducing the cost associated with transporting payloads in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) by using a commercial RLV was to create new opportunities for space access and significantly improve U.S. economic competitiveness in the world-wide launch marketplace. NASA expected to be a customer, not the operator, of the commercial RLV. The X-33 design was based on a lifting body shape with two revolutionary 'linear aerospike' rocket engines and a rugged metallic thermal protection system. The vehicle also had lightweight components and fuel tanks built to conform to the vehicle's outer shape. Time between X-33 flights was normally to have been seven days, but the program had hoped to demonstrate a two-day turnaround between flights during the flight-test phase of the program. The X-33 was to have been an unpiloted vehicle that took off vertically like a rocket and landed horizontally like an airplane. It was to have reached altitudes of up to 50 miles and high hypersonic speeds. The X-33 program was managed by the Marshall Space Flight Center and was to have been launched at a special launch site on Edwards Air Force Base. Due to technical problems with the liquid hydrogen tank, and the resulting cost increase and time delay, the X-33 program was cancelled in February 2001.

This is an artist's conception of the proposed NASA/Lockheed Martin Single-Stage-To-Orbit (SSTO) Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) docking with the International Space Station. NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, expected to play a key role in the development and flight testing of the X-33, which was a technology demonstrator vehicle for the proposed RLV. The RLV technology program was a cooperative agreement between NASA and industry. The goal of the RLV technology program was to enable significant reductions in the cost of access to space, and to promote the creation and delivery of new space services and other activities that would have improved U.S. economic competitiveness. The X-33 was a wedged-shaped subscale technology demonstrator prototype of a potential future Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) that Lockheed Martin had dubbed VentureStar. The company had hoped to develop VentureStar early this century. Through demonstration flight and ground research, NASA's X-33 program was to have provided the information needed for industry representatives such as Lockheed Martin to decide whether to proceed with the development of a full-scale, commercial RLV program. A full-scale, single-stage-to-orbit RLV was to have dramatically increased reliability and lowered the cost of putting a pound of payload into space, from the current figure of $10,000 to $1,000. Reducing the cost associated with transporting payloads in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) by using a commercial RLV was to have created new opportunities for space access and significantly improved U.S. economic competitiveness in the world-wide launch marketplace. NASA expected to be a customer, not the operator, of the commercial RLV. The X-33 design was based on a lifting body shape with two revolutionary 'linear aerospike' rocket engines and a rugged metallic thermal protection system. The vehicle also was to have lightweight components and fuel tanks built to conform to the vehicle's outer shape. Time between X-33 flights was normally to be seven days, but the program had hoped to demonstrate a two-day turnaround between flights during the flight-test phase of the program. The X-33 was to be an unpiloted vehicle that took off vertically like a rocket and landed horizontally like an airplane. It was to have reached altitudes of up to 50 miles and high hypersonic speeds. The X-33 program is managed by the Marshall Space Flight Center and was to have been launched at a special launch site on Edwards Air Force Base. Due to problems with the liquide hydrogen fuel tank, and the resulting cost increase and time delay, the X-33 program was cancelled in February 2001.

This program was established to develop and commercialize new high-strength steel-lined, composite hoop-wrapped compressed natural gas (CNG) cylinders for vehicular applications. As much as 70% of the cost of natural gas vehicles can be related to on-board natural gas storage costs. The cost and weight targets for this program represent significant savings in each characteristic when compared to comparable containers available at the initiation of the program. The program objectives were to optimize specific weight and cost goals, yielding CNG cylinders with dimensions that should, allowing for minor modifications, satisfy several vehicle market segments. The optimization process encompassed material, design, and process improvement. In optimizing the CNG cylinder design, due consideration was given to safety aspects relative to national, international, and vehicle manufacturer cylinder standards and requirements. The report details the design and development effort, encompassing plant modifications, material selection, design issues, tooling development, prototype development, and prototype testing. Extenuating circumstances prevented the immediate commercialization of the cylinder designs, though significant progress was made towards improving the cost and performance of CNG cylinders. A new low-cost fiber was successfully employed while the weight target was met and the cost target was missed by less than seven percent.

The report pertains to tests conducted by an independent contractor as part of the National Highway Safety Bureau's compliance testing program to determine whether or not motor vehicles and items of motor vehicle equipment comply with applicable Federal M...

The report pertains to tests conducted by an independent contractor as part of the National Highway Safety Bureau compliance testing program to determine whether or not motor vehicles and items of motor vehicle equipment comply with applicable Federal Mot...

The report pertains to tests on brakes conducted by an independent contractor as part of the National Highway Safety Bureau compliance testing program to determine whether or not motor vehicles and items of motor vehicle equipment comply with applicable F...

X-33 Program: Vehicle Design and Flight Demonstration ... The vehicle would takeoff in a vertical position and use conventional ... lake bed, northeast of Barstow, California; and China Lake Naval Weapons Center, near Ridgecrest, California.

...DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ENERGY CONSERVATION ALTERNATIVE FUEL TRANSPORTATION PROGRAM Alternative Fuel Provider Vehicle Acquisition Mandate ...including flexible fuel); and (v) Type of alternative fuel the vehicle is capable of operating...

The goal of this program was to expand the database of particulate emissions measurements from motor vehicles to include larger numbers of representative in-use vehicles. For this work, FTP particulate mass emission rates were determined for gasoline and ...

The report pertains to tests conducted by an independent contractor as part of the National Highway Safety Bureau compliance testing program to determine whether or not motor vehicles and items of motor vehicle equipment comply with applicable Federal Mot...

The report pertains to tests conducted by an independent contractor as part of the National Highway Safety Bureau compliance testing program to determine whether or not motor vehicles and items of motor vehicle equipment comply with applicable Federal Mot...

The report pertains to tests conducted by an independent contractor as part of the National Highway Safety Bureau compliance testing program to determine whether or not motor vehicles and items of motor vehicle equipment comply with applicable Federal Mot...

The report pertains to tests conducted by an independent contractor as part of the National Highway Safety Bureau compliance testing program to determine whether or not motor vehicles and items of motor vehicle equipment comply with applicable Federal Mot...

The report pertains to tests conducted by an independent contractor as part of the National Highway Safety Bureau compliance testing program to determine whether or not motor vehicles and items of motor vehicle equipment comply with applicable Federal Mot...

Advancing the technology of compressed natural gas (CNG) storage is a critical path for NGVs. This paper discusses the 3-year development effort of a CNG storage system called the Integrated Storage System (ISS). The ISS incorporates multiple hybrid overwrapped, all-composite `pressure-cells` encapsulated with an impact-absorbing foam in a fiberglass shell having an external appearance similar to a conventional gasoline tank All associated valves, lines and safety devices are integrated into a unit that is safeguarded from physical impact. The ISS promises to reduce the cost, weight, and complexity of CNG storage; improve safety in a collision, and expand potential NGV applications. In addition to NGVs, the ISS also has potential in other vehicle technologies such as CNG/electric hybrids and hydrogen storage for fuel cell powered vehicles. The ISS was developed as part of The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory`s (JHU/APL`s) Advanced Natural Gas Vehicle (ANGV) Program. The ANGV Program is a multi-year task funded by the US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Transportation Technologies and the Gas Research Institute. The goal of the ANGV Program is to advance the technology of compressed natural gas storage systems and to apply the improved storage technology in practical natural gas vehicle (NGV) prototypes. The effort is a partnership of the Government, the University, and private industry. Industrial partners in this effort currently include Lincoln Composites, Chrysler Corporation, Goodyear Tire, Siemens Corporation, and Chesapeake Automotive Enterprises. (orig.)

This battery test procedure manual was prepared for the United States Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Vehicle Technologies Program. It is based on technical targets established for energy storage development projects aimed at meeting system level DOE goals for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV). The specific procedures defined in this manual support the performance and life characterization of advanced battery devices under development for PHEV’s. However, it does share some methods described in the previously published battery test manual for power-assist hybrid electric vehicles. Due to the complexity of some of the procedures and supporting analysis, a revision including some modifications and clarifications of these procedures is expected. As in previous battery and capacitor test manuals, this version of the manual defines testing methods for full-size battery systems, along with provisions for scaling these tests for modules, cells or other subscale level devices.

This battery test procedure manual was prepared for the United States Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Vehicle Technologies Program. It is based on technical targets established for energy storage development projects aimed at meeting system level DOE goals for Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV). The specific procedures defined in this manual support the performance and life characterization of advanced battery devices under development for PHEV’s. However, it does share some methods described in the previously published battery test manual for power-assist hybrid electric vehicles. Due to the complexity of some of the procedures and supporting analysis, a revision including some modifications and clarifications of these procedures is expected. As in previous battery and capacitor test manuals, this version of the manual defines testing methods for full-size battery systems, along with provisions for scaling these tests for modules, cells or other subscale level devices.

In the past five years, vehicle technologies have advanced on a number of fronts: power-train systems have become more energy efficient, materials have become more lightweight, fuels are burned more cleanly, and new hybrid electric systems reduce the need for traditional petroleum-fueled propulsion. This report documents the trends in market drivers, new vehicles, and component suppliers. This report is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy s (DOE s) Vehicle Technologies Program, which develops energy-efficient and environmentally friendly transportation technologies that will reduce use of petroleum in the United States. The long-term aim is to develop "leap frog" technologies that will provide Americans with greater freedom of mobility and energy security, while lowering costs and reducing impacts on the environment.

The Centre for Environmental Monitoring of the Vietnam Environment Administration in Hanoi launched a 2-year emissions monitoring program which aimed at determining the emission factors and emission inventories for two typical types of vehicle in Hanoi. To achieve these objectives, developing driving cycles representative of the local driving conditions are of essential tasks before any emission testing can be conducted. Therefore, this paper presents the results of the development of two driving cycles for a motorcycle and a light-duty vehicle (LDV) in Hanoi. On-road speed-time data were collected by two test vehicles along 10 routes in the urban areas of Hanoi. The collected data were analysed to characterise the typical driving patterns and characteristics. A unique driving cycle was th...

This report summarizes the results of a comparative systems analysis of various alternative fuels for use in the buses, mid-size vehicles, and automobiles that make up the vehicle fleet at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL). The study was performed as part of the Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program for EG&G Idaho, Inc. Regulations will require the INEL to reduce total gasoline and diesel fuel use 10% by 1995 compared with 1991 levels, and will require that 50% of all new vehicles be fueled by some type of alternative fuel by 1998. A model was developed to analyze how these goals could be achieved, and what the cost would be to implement the goals.

A multi-disciplinary research project is being undertaken at NPS to develop a semi-autonomous robotic system to detect and clear land mines and Unexploded Ordnance (UXO). The robotic system under development consists of a land vehicle, an aerial vehicle, and a ground-based control station. Reliable communication between these three stations is needed. A traditional wire-based network requires that the vehicles be tethered and severely limits the mobility of the vehicles. A wireless Local Area Network (LAN) is proposed to provide communications between the control station and the vehicles. The objective of this thesis is to develop the physical (hardware) and logical (software) architecture of a wireless LAN that accommodates the needs of the mine/UXO project. Through an analysis of wireless modulation techniques, a market survey of wireless devices, and a field testing of wireless devices, a wireless LAN is designed to meet the technological, performance, regulation, interference, and mobility requirements of the mine/UXO project. Finally, the wireless communication protocols and the development of an error-free application protocol (specified by a FSM model and implemented in ANSI C code using Windows socket network programming) completes the wireless LAN implementation.

Commonly used EV battery tests are not very suitable for testing hybrid vehicle batteries, which may be primarily intended to supply vehicle acceleration power. The capacity of hybrid vehicle batteries will be relatively small, they will typically operate over a restricted range of states-of-charge, and they may seldom if ever be fully recharged. Further, hybrid propulsion system designs will commonly impose a higher regeneration content than is typical for electric vehicles. New test methods have been developed for use in characterizing battery performance and life for hybrid vehicle use. The procedures described in this paper were developed from the requirements of the government-industry cooperative Partnership for A New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV) program; however, they are expected to have broad application to the testing of energy storage devices for hybrid vehicles. The most important performance measure for a high power battery is its pulse power capability as a function of state-of-charge for both discharge and regeneration pulses. It is also important to characterize cycle life, although the {open_quote}cycles{close_quote} involved are quite different from the conventional full-discharge, full-recharge cycle commonly used for EV batteries, This paper illustrates in detail several test profiles which have been selected for PNGV battery testing, along with some sample results and lessons learned to date from the use of these test profiles. The relationship between the PNGV energy storage requirements and these tests is described so that application of the test methods can be made to other hybrid vehicle performance requirements as well. The resulting test procedures can be used to characterize the pulse power capability of high power energy storage devices including batteries and ultracapacitors, as well as the life expectancy of such devices, for either power assist or dual mode hybrid propulsion system designs.

This was a two-part study effort. In the first part, an evaluation was made of vehicle simulation computer programs to determine and select the best program for EPA use in conducting various analyses of automobile fuel economy and emissions effects. The programs considered were (1) a DOT simulation routine called VEHSIM, (2) a program developed by the University of Wisconsin, and (3) a program developed by The Aerospace Corporation. The DOT VEHSIM program was picked primarily because it provides exceptional flexibility and ease of operation, and because it appeared to be readily adaptable to modifications required for the analysis of timing and carburetion calibrations in part two of this study. The latter effort entailed the determination and calculation of factors representing the fuel economy influence of ignition timing and carburetor calibration differences in certification test vehicles. Using the VEHSIM program with auxiliary programs VSIMI and VSIMII, specific calculations were made for distributor and carburetor calibration curves representing equipment in 1976 model year cars. (Portions of this document are not fully legible)

This report presents the methodologies and results of a study conducted by Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne) to assess the benefits and costs of several membrane-based technologies. The technologies evaluated will be used in automotive emissions-control and performance-enhancement systems incorporated into light-duty diesel vehicle engines. Such engines are among the technologies that are being considered to power vehicles developed under the government-industry Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV). Emissions of nitrogen oxides (NO{sub x}) from diesel engines have long been considered a barrier to use of diesels in urban areas. Recently, particulate matter (PM) emissions have also become an area of increased concern because of new regulations regarding emissions of particulate matter measuring 2.5 micrometers or less (PM{sub 2.5}). Particulates are of special concern for diesel engines in the PNGV program; the program has a research goal of 0.01 gram per mile (g/mi) of particulate matter emissions under the Federal Test Procedure (FTP) cycle. This extremely low level (one-fourth the level of the Tier II standard) could threaten the viability of using diesel engines as stand-alone powerplants or in hybrid-electric vehicles. The techniques analyzed in this study can reduce NO{sub x} and particulate emissions and even increase the power density of the diesel engines used in light-duty diesel vehicles.

A vehicle's in-use or on-the-road fuel economy often differs substantially from the miles-per-gallon estimates developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as part of its emissions certification program. As a result, the certification values are routinely adjusted by a set of correction factors so that the resulting estimates will better reflect in-use experience. Our analysis investigated how well the correction factors replicated the shortfall experience of all household vehicles on the road in 1985 and of those vehicles held by different population groups. Using data from the Residential Transportation Energy Consumption Survey conducted by the Energy Information Administration of the US Department of Energy, our analysis showed that fleetwide, the shortfall is larger than the EPA correction factors, and that light trucks are experiencing larger shortfalls than automobiles. Controlling for vehicle age and size class, shortfalls did not appear to differ by population group. However, African-American households appeared to select vehicles with systematically lower fuel economy (both EPA-test and on-the-road) within individual vehicle age and size class categories.

In the United States, recent shale gas discoveries have generated renewed interest in using natural gas as a vehicular fuel, primarily in fleet applications, while outside the United States, natural gas vehicle use has expanded significantly in the past decade. In this report for the U.S. Department of Energy's Clean Cities Program - a public-private partnership that advances the energy, economic, and environmental security of the U.S. by supporting local decisions that reduce petroleum use in the transportation sector - we have examined the state of natural gas vehicle technology, current market status, energy and environmental benefits, implications regarding advancements in European natural gas vehicle technologies, research and development efforts, and current market barriers and opportunities for greater market penetration. The authors contend that commercial intracity trucks are a prime area for advancement of this fuel. Therefore, we examined an aggressive future market penetration of natural gas heavy-duty vehicles that could be seen as a long-term goal. Under this scenario using Energy Information Administration projections and GREET life-cycle modeling of U.S. on-road heavy-duty use, natural gas vehicles would reduce petroleum consumption by approximately 1.2 million barrels of oil per day, while another 400,000 barrels of oil per day reduction could be achieved with significant use of natural gas off-road vehicles. This scenario would reduce daily oil consumption in the United States by about 8%.

This program, in cooperation with industry, is conducting research, development, testing, and evaluation activities to develop the technologies that would lead to production and introduction of low-and zero-emission electric and hybrid vehicles into the Nation`s transportation fleet. This annual report describes program activities in the areas of advanced battery, fuel cell, and propulsion systems development. Testing and evaluation of new technology in fleet site operations and laboratories are also provided. Also presented is status on incentives (CAFE, 1992 Energy Policy Act) and use of foreign components, and a listing of publications by DOE, national laboratories, and contractors.

The X-33 was a suborbital reusable spaceplane demonstrator, in development from 1996 to early 2001. The intent of the demonstrator was to lower the risk of building and operating a full-scale reusable vehicle fleet. Reusable spaceplanes offered the potential to lower the cost of access to space by an order of magnitude, compared with conventional expendable launch vehicles. Although a cryogenic tank failure during testing ultimately led to the end of the effort, the X-33 team celebrated many successes during the development. This paper summarizes some of the accomplishments and milestones of this X-vehicle program, from the perspective of an engineer who was a member of the team throughout the development. X-33 Program accomplishments include rapid, flight hardware design, subsystem testing and fabrication, aerospike engine development and testing, Flight Operations Center and Operations Control Center ground systems design and construction, rapid Environmental Impact Statement NEPA process approval, Range development and flight plan approval for test flights, and full-scale system concept design and refinement. Lessons from the X-33 Program may have potential application to new RLV and other aerospace systems being developed a decade later.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Council for Automotive Research (composed of automakers Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler) announced in January 2002 a new cooperative research effort. Known as FreedomCAR (derived from 'Freedom' and 'Cooperative Automotive Research'), it represents DOE's commitment to developing public/private partnerships to fund high-risk, high-payoff research into advanced automotive technologies. Efficient fuel cell technology, which uses hydrogen to power automobiles without air pollution, is a very promising pathway to achieve the ultimate vision. The new partnership replaces and builds upon the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles initiative that ran from 1993 through 2001. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory's (ORNL's) Advanced Power Electronics and Electric Machines (APEEM) subprogram within the Vehicle Technologies Program provides support and guidance for many cutting-edge automotive technologies now under development. Research is focused on understanding and improving the way the various new components of tomorrow's automobiles will function as a unified system to improve fuel efficiency. In supporting the development of advanced vehicle propulsion systems, the APEEM effort has enabled the development of technologies that will significantly improve efficiency, costs, and fuel economy. The APEEM subprogram supports the efforts of the FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership through a three-phase approach intended to: (1) identify overall propulsion and vehicle-related needs by analyzing programmatic goals and reviewing industry's recommendations and requirements and then develop the appropriate technical targets for systems, subsystems, and component research and development activities; (2) develop and validate individual subsystems and components, including electric motors and power electronics; and (3) determine how well the components and subsystems work together in a vehicle environment or as a complete propulsion system and whether the efficiency and performance targets at the vehicle level have been achieved. The research performed under this subprogram will help remove technical and cost barriers to enable the development of technology for use in such advanced vehicles as hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in HEVs (PHEVs), all electric vehicles, and fuel-cell-powered automobiles that meet the goals of the Vehicle Technologies Program. A key element in making these advanced vehicles practical is providing an affordable electric traction drive system. This will require attaining weight, volume, and cost targets for the power electronics and electrical machines subsystems of the traction drive system. Areas of development include these: (1) novel traction motor designs that result in increased power density and lower cost; (2) inverter technologies involving new topologies to achieve higher efficiency, with the ability to accommodate higher-temperature environments while achieving high reliability; (3) converter concepts that employ means of reducing the component count and integrating functionality to decrease size, weight, and cost; (4) new onboard battery charging concepts that result in decreased cost and size; (5) more effective thermal control and packaging technologies; and (6) integrated motor/inverter concepts. ORNL's Power Electronics and Electric Machinery Research Center conducts fundamental research, evaluates hardware, and assists in the technical direction of the DOE Vehicle Technologies Program, APEEM subprogram. In this role, ORNL serves on the FreedomCAR Electrical and Electronics Technical Team, evaluates proposals for DOE, and lends its technological expertise to the direction of projects and evaluation of developing technologies. ORNL also executes specific projects for DOE. The following report discusses those projects carried out in FY 2009 and conveys highlights of their accomplishments. Numerous project reviews, technical reports, and papers have been published for these efforts, if the reader is interested in pursuing details of the work.

Existing robotic rover and space satellite technologies at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), coupled with existing launch vehicles and converted military Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicle (MIRV) technologies, can be applied towards the realization of a robotic lunar rover mission in the near term. SNL's Advanced Vehicle Development Department has been designing, producing, and operating prototype rover systems at the Robotic Vehicle Range facility since 1984, and has extensive experience with teleoperated and semiautonomous mobile robotic systems. SNL's Space Systems Directorate has been designing, producing, and operating satellite systems and subsystems in earth orbit for national security missions since the early 1960's. The facilities and robotic vehicle fleet at SNL's Robotic Vehicle Range (SNL-RVR) have been used to support technology base development in applications ranging from DoD battlefield and security missions, to multi-agency nuclear emergency response team exercises and the development of a prototype robotic rover for planetary exploration. Recent activities at the SNL-RVR include the Robotic All Terrain Lunar Exploration Rover (RATLER) prototype development program, exploratory studies on a Near Term Lunar Return Mission scenario for small robotic rovers based on existing space hardware technology, and demonstrations of the utility of existing rover technologies for performing remote field geology tasks similar to those envisioned on a robotic lunar rover mission. Specific technologies demonstrated include low data rate teleoperation, multi-vehicle control, remote site and sample inspection, and standard bandwidth stereo vision. The paper describes Sandia National Laboratories' activities in the Space Robotics area, and highlights the laboratory's supporting technical capabilities.

Automobiles of the future will be forced to travel fi.uther on a tank of fuel while discharging lower levels of pollutants. Currently, the United States uses in excess of 16.4 million barrels of petroleum per day. Sixty-six percent of that petroleum is used in the transportation of people and goods. Automobiles currently account for just under two-thirds of the nation's gasoline consumptio~ and about one-third of the total United States energy usage. [1] By improving transportation related fiel efficiency, the United States can lessen the impact that emissions have on our environment and provide a cleaner environment for fiture generations. In 1992, The Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Transportation Materials completed a comprehensive program plan entitled, The Lightweight MateriaIs (LWko Multi-Year Program Plan, for the development of technologies aimed at reducing vehicle mass [2]. This plan was followed in 1997 by the more comprehensive Office of Advanced Automotive Technologies research and development plan titled, Energy Eficient Vehicles for a Cleaner Environment [3] which outlines the department's plans for developing more efficient vehicles during the next ~een years. Both plans identi~ potential applications, technology needs, and R&D priorities. The goal of the Lightweight Materials Program is to develop materials and primary processing methods for the fabrication of lighter weight components which can be incorporated into automotive systems. These technologies are intended to reduce vehicle weight, increase fuel efficiency and decrease emissions. The Lightweight Materials program is jointly managed by the Department of Energy(DOE) and the United States Automotive Materials Partnership (USAMP). Composite materiak program work is coordinated by cooperative research efforts between the DOE and the Automotive Composites Consortium (ACC).

The authors of this report, under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Weatherization and Intergovernmental Program, have investigated the possible application of Energy Star ratings to passenger cars and light trucks. This study establishes a framework for formulating and evaluating Energy Star rating methods that is comprised of energy- and environmental-based metrics, potential vehicle classification systems, vehicle technology factors, and vehicle selection criteria. The study tests several concepts and Energy Star rating methods using model-year 2000 vehicle data--a spreadsheet model has been developed to facilitate these analyses. This study tests two primary types of rating systems: (1) an outcome-based system that rates vehicles based on fuel economy, GHG emissions, and oil use and (2) a technology-based system that rates vehicles based on the energy-saving technologies they use. Rating methods were evaluated based on their ability to select vehicles with high fuel economy, low GHG emissions, and low oil use while preserving a full range of service (size and acceleration) and body style choice. This study concludes that an Energy Star rating for passenger cars and light trucks is feasible and that several methods could be used to achieve reasonable tradeoffs between low energy use and emissions and diversity in size, performance, and body type. It also shows that methods that consider only fuel economy, GHG emissions, or oil use will not select a diverse mix of vehicles. Finally, analyses suggest that methods that encourage the use of technology only, may result in increases in acceleration power and weight rather than reductions in oil use and GHG emissions and improvements in fuel economy.

With the passage of the 2010 NASA Authorization Act, NASA was directed to begin the development of the Space Launch System (SLS) as a follow-on to the Space Shuttle Program. The SLS is envisioned as a heavy lift launch vehicle that will provide the foundation for future large-scale, beyond low Earth orbit (LEO) missions. Supporting the Mission Concept Review (MCR) milestone, several teams were formed to conduct an initial Requirements Analysis Cycle (RAC). These teams identified several vehicle concept candidates capable of meeting the preliminary system requirements. One such team, dubbed RAC Team 2, was tasked with identifying launch vehicles that are based on large stage diameters (up to the Saturn V S-IC and S-II stage diameters of 33 ft) and utilize high-thrust liquid oxygen (LOX)/RP engines as a First Stage propulsion system. While the trade space for this class of LOX/RP vehicles is relatively large, recent NASA activities (namely the Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle Study in late 2009 and the Heavy Lift Propulsion Technology Study of 2010) examined specific families within this trade space. Although the findings from these studies were incorporated in the Team 2 activity, additional branches of the trade space were examined and alternative approaches to vehicle development were considered. Furthermore, Team 2 set out to define a highly functional, flexible, and cost-effective launch vehicle concept. Utilizing this approach, a versatile two-stage launch vehicle concept was chosen as a preferred option. The preferred vehicle option has the capability to fly in several different configurations (e.g. engine arrangements) that gives this concept an inherent operational flexibility which allows the vehicle to meet a wide range of performance requirements without the need for costly block upgrades. Even still, this concept preserves the option for evolvability should the need arise in future mission scenarios. The foundation of this conceptual design is a focus on low cost and effectiveness rather than efficiency or cutting-edge technology. This paper details the approach and process, as well as the trade space analysis, leading to the preferred vehicle concept.

The incorporation of knowledge capture and knowledge management strategies early in the development phase of an exploration program is necessary for safe and successful missions of human and robotic exploration vehicles over the life of a program. Following the transition from the development to the flight phase, loss of underlying theory and rationale governing design and requirements occur through a number of mechanisms. This degrades the quality of engineering work resulting in increased life cycle costs and risk to mission success and safety of flight. Due to budget constraints, concerned personnel in legacy programs often have to improvise methods for knowledge capture and management using existing, but often sub-optimal, information technology and archival resources. Application of advanced information technology to perform knowledge capture and management would be most effective if program wide requirements are defined at the beginning of a program.

The design of an ac propulsion system for an electric vehicle includes a three-phase induction motor, transistorized PWM inverter/battery charger, microprocessor-based controller, and two-speed automatic transaxle. This system was built and installed in a Mercury Lynx test bed vehicle as part of a Department of Energy propulsion system development program. An integral part of the inverter is a 4-kw battery charger which utilizes one of the bridge transistors. The overall inverter strategy for this configuration is discussed. The function of the microprocessor-based controller is described. Typical test results of the total vehicle and each of its major components are given, including system efficiencies and test track performance results.

This paper focuses on assessing the benefits of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication in high incident cases resulting from extreme conditions, such as adverse weather conditions. V2V capabilities are simulated and tested through the use of two Paramics Applications Programming Interfaces (APIs). One API randomly creates incidents, and the API simulates the dissemination of V2V communication between individual V2V vehicles. The developed APIs are rigorously evaluated on an urban arterial network by comparing various scenarios with and without V2V. The results of all experiments demonstrate the overall effectiveness of V2V in improving safety and improving network travel time for high and moderate congestion level scenarios.

A pioneer of America's space program, Dr. von Braun stands by the five F-1 engines of the Saturn V launch vehicle. This Saturn V vehicle is an actual test vehicle which has been displayed at the U.S. Space Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Designed and developed by Rocketdyne under the direction of the Marshall Space Flight Center, a cluster of five F-1 engines was mounted on the Saturn V S-IC (first) stage. The engines measured 19-feet tall by 12.5-feet at the nozzle exit and burned 15 tons of liquid oxygen and kerosene each second to produce 7,500,000 pounds of thrust. The S-IC stage is the first stage, or booster, of a 364-foot long rocket that ultimately took astronauts to the Moon.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced in May 2011 a new cooperative research effort comprising DOE, the U.S. Council for Automotive Research (composed of automakers Ford Motor Company, General Motors Company, and Chrysler Group), Tesla Motors, and representatives of the electric utility and petroleum industries. Known as U.S. DRIVE (Driving Research and Innovation for Vehicle efficiency and Energy sustainability), it represents DOE's commitment to developing public-private partnerships to fund high risk-high reward research into advanced automotive technologies. The new partnership replaces and builds upon the partnership known as FreedomCAR (derived from 'Freedom' and 'Cooperative Automotive Research') that ran from 2002 through 2010 and the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles initiative that ran from 1993 through 2001. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory's (ORNL's) Power Electronics and Electric Machines (PEEM) subprogram within the DOE Vehicle Technologies Program (VTP) provides support and guidance for many cutting-edge automotive technologies now under development. Research is focused on developing revolutionary new power electronics (PE), electric motor (EM), and traction drive system technologies that will leapfrog current on-the-road technologies. The research and development (R&D) is also aimed at achieving a greater understanding of and improvements in the way the various new components of tomorrow's automobiles will function as a unified system to improve fuel efficiency. In supporting the development of advanced vehicle propulsion systems, the PEEM subprogram has enabled the development of technologies that will significantly improve efficiency, costs, and fuel economy. The PEEM subprogram supports the efforts of the U.S. DRIVE partnership through a three phase approach intended to: (1) identify overall propulsion and vehicle related needs by analyzing programmatic goals and reviewing industry's recommendations and requirements and then develop the appropriate technical targets for systems, subsystems, and component R&D activities; (2) develop and validate individual subsystems and components, including EMs and PE; and (3) determine how well the components and subsystems work together in a vehicle environment or as a complete propulsion system and whether the efficiency and performance targets at the vehicle level have been achieved. The research performed under this subprogram will help remove technical and cost barriers to enable the development of technology for use in such advanced vehicles as hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in HEVs (PHEVs), battery electric vehicles, and fuel-cell-powered automobiles that meet the goals of the VTP. A key element in making these advanced vehicles practical is providing an affordable electric traction drive system. This will require attaining weight, volume, efficiency, and cost targets for the PE and EM subsystems of the traction drive system. Areas of development include: (1) novel traction motor designs that result in increased power density and lower cost; (2) inverter technologies involving new topologies to achieve higher efficiency with the ability to accommodate higher temperature environments while achieving high reliability; (3) converter concepts that use methods of reducing the component count and integrating functionality to decrease size, weight, and cost; (4) new onboard battery charging concepts that result in decreased cost and size; (5) more effective thermal control through innovative packaging technologies; and (6) integrated motor-inverter traction drive system concepts. ORNL's PEEM research program conducts fundamental research, evaluates hardware, and assists in the technical direction of the VTP Advanced Power Electronics and Electric Motors (APEEM) program. In this role, ORNL serves on the U.S. DRIVE Electrical and Electronics Technical Team, evaluates proposals for DOE, and lends its technological expertise to the direction of projects and evaluation of developi

This report contains brief descriptions of projects involved in the urban Consortium Energy Task Force (UCETF). The Consortium is a special network which helps to define urban problems, and commercialize technologies which could help solve those problems. Research and Development priorities within the program are transportation, energy, environment, and economic development and energy efficient facilities. The Consortium has established partnerships with US DOE on energy utilities, alternative vehicle fuels, waste management, and electricity management. A technology transfer committee was established to build a marketing program.

The U.S. Vision for Space Exploration guides NASA's challenging missions of scientific discovery.' Developing safe, reliable, and affordable space transportation systems for the human and robotic exploration of space is a key component of fulfilling the strategic goals outlined in the Vision, as well as in the U.S. Space Policy. In October 2005, the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate and its Constellation Program chartered the Exploration Launch Projects Office, located at the Marshall Space Flight Center, to design, develop, test, and field a new generation of launch vehicles that would fulfill customer and stakeholder requirements for trips to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The Ares I crew launch vehicle is slated to loft the Orion crew exploration vehicle to orbit by 2014, while the heavy-lift Ares V cargo launch vehicle will deliver the lunar lander to orbit by 2020 (Fig. 1). These systems are being designed to empower America's return to the Moon to prepare for the first astronaut on Mars. The new launch vehicle designs now under study reflect almost 50 years of hard-won experience gained from the Saturn's missions to the Moon in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and from the venerable Space Shuttle, which is due to be retired by 2010.

While Japan is becoming a advanced aged and few children society, besides the welfare vehicles for public use and for various institutions, needs for home care, namely the personal use, increases rapidly. Therefore, it is expected that in the near future various welfare vehicles having different structures will be developed to meet to different uses and different needs. The welfare vehicles are roughly divided into two kinds as physically handicapped person self-operating vehicle, and nursing person operating and physically handicapped person boarding on vehicle. In this paper, the later, namely the nursing care vehicles, is introduced. As the nursing care vehicles used at present, transportation vehicles as wheelchair and stretcher, rotary sheet or a vehicle with a sheet lift, movable bath vehicle and other kind of care vehicles are explained respectively. At last, the functions which are required strictly for these nursing care vehicles are mentioned. 5 refs., 9 figs., 2 tabs.

This artist's rendering depicts the Lockheed Martin X-33 for a technology demonstrator of a Single-Stage-To-Orbit (SSTO) Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV), as submitted in the aerospace company's original proposal. NASA selected Lockheed Martin's design on 2 July 1996. NASA's Dryden Flight research Center, Edwards, California, was to have had a key role in the development and flight testing of the X-33. The RLV technology program was a cooperative agreement between NASA and industry. The goal of the RLV technology program was to enable significant reductions in the cost of access to space, and to promote the creation and delivery of new space services and other activities that was to have improved U.S. economic competitiveness. The X-33 was a wedged-shaped subscale technology demonstrator prototype of a potential future Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) that Lockheed Martin had dubbed VentureStar. The company had hoped to develop VentureStar early this century. Through demonstration flight and ground research, NASA's X-33 program was to have provided the information needed for industry representatives such as Lockheed Martin to decide whether to proceed with the development of a full-scale, commercial RLV program. A full-scale, single-stage-to-orbit RLV was to have dramatically increased reliability and lowered the costs of putting a pound of payload into space, from the current figure of $10,000 to $1,000. Reducing the cost associated with transporting payloads in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) by using a commercial RLV was to have created new opportunities for space access and significantly improve U.S. economic competitiveness in the world-wide launch marketplace. NASA expected to be a customer, not the operator, of the commercial RLV. The X-33 design was based on a lifting body shape with two revolutionary 'linear aerospike' rocket engines and a rugged metallic thermal protection system. The vehicle also had lightweight components and fuel tanks built to conform to the vehicle's outer shape. Time between X-33 flights was normally to have been seven days, but the program hoped to demonstrate a two-day turnaround between flights during the flight-test phase of the program. The X-33 was to have been an unpiloted vehicle that took off vertically like a rocket and landed horizontally like an airplane. It was to have reached altitudes of up to 50 miles and high hypersonic speeds. The X-33 program was managed by the Marshall Space Flight Center and was to have been launched at a special launch site on Edwards Air Force Base. Due to technical problems with the liquide hydrogen fuel tank, and the resulting time delay and cost increase, the X-33 program was cancelled in February 2001.

Several commercial telecommunication ventures together with a well funded US military program make it a likely possibility that an autonomous, high-altitude, light-than-air (LTA) vehicle which could maneuver and station-keep for weeks to many months will be a reality in a few years. Here I outline how this technology could be used to develop a high-altitude astronomical observing platform which could return high-resolution optical data rivaling those from space-based platforms but at a fraction of the cost.

With increased enviroment concern electric vehicle programs are more viable now than ever before, but the most critical obstacle to practical EV use is short cruising range. In this paper a mathemetical for estimation of cruising ranage between charges of electric motorcycle is developed. As the depth of discharge can be expressed as a function of discharge output which depends on oprating modes, the cruising range can be estimated preciously. (author)

Numerous technologies developed by the DOD within the SDI program are now available for adaptation to the requirements of commercial spacecraft; SDI has accordingly organized the Technology Applications Information System data base, which contains nearly 2000 nonproprietary abstracts on SDI technology. Attention is here given to such illustrative systems as hydrogen arcjets, ammonia arcjets, ion engines, SSTO launch vehicles, gel propellants, lateral thrusters, pulsed electrothermal thrusters, laser-powered rockets, and nuclear propulsion.

A miniature solid-propellant rocket motor has been developed to impart a specific motion to an object deployed in space. This rocket motor effectively eliminated the need for a cold-gas thruster system or mechanical spin-up system. A low-energy igniter, an XMC4397, employing a semiconductor bridge was used to ignite the rocket motor. The rocket motor was ground-tested in a vacuum tank to verify predicted space performance and successfully flown in a Sandia National Laboratories flight vehicle program.

A small, desk-top model of Orbital Sciences Corporation's Pegasus winged rocket booster. Pegasus is an air-launched space booster produced by Orbital Sciences Corporation and Hercules Aerospace Company (initially; later, Alliant Tech Systems) to provide small satellite users with a cost-effective, flexible, and reliable method for placing payloads into low earth orbit. Pegasus has been used to launch a number of satellites and the PHYSX experiment. That experiment consisted of a smooth glove installed on the first-stage delta wing of the Pegasus. The glove was used to gather data at speeds of up to Mach 8 and at altitudes approaching 200,000 feet. The flight took place on October 22, 1998. The PHYSX experiment focused on determining where boundary-layer transition occurs on the glove and on identifying the flow mechanism causing transition over the glove. Data from this flight-research effort included temperature, heat transfer, pressure measurements, airflow, and trajectory reconstruction. Hypersonic flight-research programs are an approach to validate design methods for hypersonic vehicles (those that fly more than five times the speed of sound, or Mach 5). Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, provided overall management of the glove experiment, glove design, and buildup. Dryden also was responsible for conducting the flight tests. Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, was responsible for the design of the aerodynamic glove as well as development of sensor and instrumentation systems for the glove. Other participating NASA centers included Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California; Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland; and Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Orbital Sciences Corporation, Dulles, Virginia, is the manufacturer of the Pegasus vehicle, while Vandenberg Air Force Base served as a pre-launch assembly facility for the launch that included the PHYSX experiment. NASA used data from Pegasus launches to obtain considerable data on aerodynamics. By conducting experiments in a piggyback mode on Pegasus, some critical and secondary design and development issues were addressed at hypersonic speeds. The vehicle was also used to develop hypersonic flight instrumentation and test techniques. NASA's B-52 carrier-launch vehicle was used to get the Pegasus airborne during six launches from 1990 to 1994. Thereafter, an Orbital Sciences L-1011 aircraft launched the Pegasus. The Pegasus launch vehicle itself has a 400- to 600-pound payload capacity in a 61-cubic-foot payload space at the front of the vehicle. The vehicle is capable of placing a payload into low earth orbit. This vehicle is 49 feet long and 50 inches in diameter. It has a wing span of 22 feet. (There is also a Pegasus XL vehicle that was introduced in 1994. Dryden has never launched one of these vehicles, but they have greater thrust and are 56 feet long.)

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory`s (LLNL) Laser Programs ES&H policy is established by the Associate Director for Laser Programs. This FMP is one component of that policy. Laser Programs personnel design, construct and operate research and development equipment located in various Livermore and Site 300 buildings. The Programs include a variety of activities, primarily laser research and development, inertial confinement fusion, isotope separation, and an increasing emphasis on materials processing, imaging systems, and signal analysis. This FMP is a formal statement of responsibilities and controls to assure operational activities are conducted without harm to employees, the general public, or the environment. This plan identifies the hazards associated with operating a large research and development facility and is a vehicle to control and mitigate those hazards. Hazards include, but are not limited to: laser beams, hazardous and radioactive materials, criticality, ionizing radiation or x rays, high-voltage electrical equipment, chemicals, and powered machinery.

...DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ENERGY CONSERVATION ALTERNATIVE FUEL TRANSPORTATION PROGRAM Alternative Fuel Provider Vehicle Acquisition Mandate ...unit which is substantially engaged in the alternative fuels...

...DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ENERGY CONSERVATION ALTERNATIVE FUEL TRANSPORTATION PROGRAM Alternative Fuel Provider Vehicle Acquisition Mandate ...acquisition requirements in this part. Alternative Fuels Business means activities undertaken...