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National Combustor Code (NCC)–new software from NASA

Based on contacts made during the UFTO visit last year to NASA Lewis, we received an early notice about this soon-to-be announced Technology Opportunity. NASA has developed a major new combustion modeling code, and is looking for new areas that it can be applied. Private companies can submit problems. Terms and scope of an agreement would then be negotiated, giving the company a one year head start in evaluating the merits of seeking a commercial license.

(I have a full color acrobat pdf file of the notice that I can send you on request.)
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April 15, 1998

Ed,

It was a pleasure speaking with you today and thank you for agreeing to send your utility clients a copy of the attached NASA Technology Opportunity sheet which describes the National Combustion Code (NCC).

Please have interested clients contact me prior to contacting Nan-Suey Liu (NASA Lewis Combustion Branch ph: 216-433-8722). Nan-Suey is the NASA Lewis contact who will discuss technical features of the NCC with interested parties.

Please give me a call if you have any questions and thank you for your cooperation!

Dan DeMiglio
Great Lakes Industrial Technology Center
(Div of Battelle Memorial Institute)
NASA Midwest Regional Technology Transfer Center
440-734-1209 demiglio@battelle.org

—- text of the notice ———————————
Technology Opportunity National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Lewis Research Center Turbomachinery TOP3-00093

A new software program – the National Combustor Code (NCC) – has been developed for aerospace and non-aerospace engineers and designers to enhance their understanding of physical and chemical processes which occur during continuous combustion. The NCC provides insight – for the first time – to the entire combustion process using a versatile and comprehensive set of tools. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) seeks to transfer this multidisciplinary combustor design system to U.S. companies for advanced liquid and gaseous continuous combustion applications. The NCC utilizes computer-aided design (CAD) tools for geometry creation, advanced mesh generators for creating solid model representations, a common framework for fluid flow and structural analyses, and powerful tools for post and parallel processing. The National Combustion Code: A Multidisciplinary Combustor Design System

Potential Commercial Uses

• Evaluate the performance of current liquid and gas combustion systems leading to product improvement.

• Optimize the design of future liquid and gas combustion systems leading to increased performance and reliability.

• Examples of relevant liquid and gas combustion systems are:
– Aviation gas turbine engines
– Industrial/ground power gas turbines
– Industrial combustion devices involving continuous burning of liquids and gaseous fuels
– Hazardous waste incinerators
– Steel treating furnaces
– Domestic gas fired appliances

Benefits

• Product improvement for current combustion devices with respect to efficiency and durability
• Reduced time and costs for the design cycle of future combustion devices
• Optimized performance and reliability for future combustion devices

The Technology

The development of the National Combustion Code was pursued under a NASA/Department of Defense/ Department of Energy/U.S. industry partner-ship. Recent efforts have been focused on developing a computational combustion dynamics capability that meets combustor designer requirements for model accuracy and analysis turnaround time, incorporating both short–term and long–term technology goals. As a first step, a baseline solver for turbulent combustion flows was developed under a joint modeling and code development effort between the Aero-Industry and the NASA Lewis Research Center. This baseline solver is a Navier–Stokes flow solver based on an explicit four-stage Runge– Kutta scheme that uses unstructured meshes and runs on networked workstations. The solver can be linked to any computer-aided design system via the Patran file system. Turbulence closure is obtained via the standard k–e model with a high Reynolds number wall function. The following combustion models have been implemented into the code: finite– rate reduced kinetics for Jet–A and methane fuels, turbulence–chemistry interactions via an assumed probability density function for temperature fluctuations, and thermal emissions of nitrogen ox-ides. The solver can switch between a parallel virtual machine (PVM) interface and a message-passing interface (MPI) by using compiler flags. Its parallel performance on several platforms has been analyzed, and on the basis of the results, several improvements have been made. To date, the baseline solver has been used in the following applications: simulation of swirling flow experiments, computation of a generic swirling flow can combustor, computation of a multi-shear low NOx fuel nozzle and calculation of a multi-walled production fuel nozzle, and calculation of a flame holder/Cyclone 1-cup sector.

Options for Commercialization

The executables of the National Combustor Code, Beta Version 2.0, and the corresponding nonproprietary source code will be available for release to the non-aerospace industry by summer 1999. Beginning in the summer of 1998, NASA would be willing to demonstrate the accuracy and reliability of the NCC by applying it to a wide range of areas where it would be helpful to have accurate predictions of the combustor process.

Contact

Gynelle Steele, Technology Utilization Engineer
NASA Lewis Commercial Technology Office
NASA Lewis Research Center
Cleveland, OH 44135
Phone: (216) 433-8258 FAX: (216) 433-5012 Gsteele@lerc.nasa.gov

Dan DeMiglio, Client Services
Great Lakes Industrial Technology Center
Phone: (440) 734-1209 (440) 734-0686 demiglio@battelle.org

NACE – Int’l Corrosion Society

NACE Annual Conference and Exposition — CORROSION/98
March 22 – 27, 1998 San Diego, CA

See website at http://www.nace.org

A brochure for this conference came in the mail recently.

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In the unlikely event that there could be people in your company who ought to be involved with NACE and aren’t, some background information is included below. (I checked with the NACE membership office, and several UFTO companies do have individuals who are members, though some have only one or two, and some have none.)

NACE is to corrosion what IEEE is to electrical engineering, and is one of those exceptional independent resources in a particular technical area of importance to the industry.

UFTO is developing information on other such resources as well.

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(excerpts from the NACE website)

NACE International – The International Corrosion Society
1440 South Creek Drive
Houston, Texas 77084
281-228-6200 fax 281-228-6300

Mission ——–
NACE International is a professional technical society dedicated to reducing the economic impact of corrosion, promoting public safety, and protecting the environment by advancing the knowledge of corrosion engineering and science. With more than fifty years of experience in developing corrosion prevention and control standards, NACE International has become the largest organization in the world committed to the study of corrosion.

Membership ——–
NACE’s membership has grown to more than 15,000 professionals from eighty nations representing virtually every major industry. NACE’s membership is comprised of: engineers, inspectors, and technicians; presidents, business owners, and consultants; managers, supervisors, and sales representatives; scientists, chemists, and researchers; and educators and students.

Organizational Structure ——–
NACE is organized into four Areas in North America and four Regions outside the continent. More than eighty sections within these Areas and Regions sponsor local programs to promote the exchange of corrosion information throughout the world.

Conferences ——–
Each year, NACE sponsors a number of conferences, regional symposia, and expositions. NACE’s annual conference is the world’s largest gathering dedicated to the control and prevention of corrosion. This event attracts more than 5,000 attendees each year and is comprised of technical symposia, research sessions, technical committee meetings, current issue presentations, informative lectures, and a comprehensive four-day exhibition.

Education Courses ——–
NACE offers education programs for both members and nonmembers in the US, Canada, and a variety of international locations. Intensive week-long courses are developed and taught by corrosion professionals with years of practical experience in the field. A variety of other corrosion topics are covered in short courses, TechEdge programs, in-house training programs, and video courses.

Coating Inspector Training and Certification Program ——–
NACE’s Coating Inspector Training and Certification Program was developed to meet the coatings industry need for recognized professional training standards and application guidelines.

Professional Recognition Program ——–
More than 4,500 individuals worldwide have been certified in corrosion science and technology

Public Affairs ——–
NACE raises the awareness of corrosion control and prevention technology among government agencies and legislators, businesses, professional societies, and the general public.

Standards ——–
NACE’s Technical Practices Committee oversees more than 300 technical committees that research, study, and recommend state-of-the-art corrosion technologies to both the public and private sectors. These committees produce consensus industry standards in the form of test methods, recommended practices, and material requirements. Industries and governments across the globe rely on NACE standards for materials preservation and corrosion control information.

Publications ——–
– Materials Performance, a monthly journal that publishes practical corrosion control applications and case histories for solving corrosion-related problems affecting all industries.

– Corrosion Journal, a monthly technical research journal devoted to taking a critical look at the causes and effects of corrosion processes and the protection of materials in corrosive environments.

– Corrosion Abstracts, a bimonthly reference periodical providing more than 500 abstracts of corrosion-related publications per issue from the world’s leading technical journals and book publishers.

Software ——–
NACE packages the latest in corrosion technology in easy-to-use desktop software programs. Data selection and reference software programs assist engineers with researching, analyzing, and developing advanced corrosion control systems.

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Energy Technology Committees

Corrosion and materials degradation control in the generation, conversion, and utilization of energy.

— T-2-4 Material Performance in Power T&D Systems
To facilitate identification and resolution of corrosion-related problems with components of power transmission and distribution systems. The components to be considered are: hardware, conductors, insulators, structures, stations, and other aboveground equipment.

— T-2A Nuclear Systems
To provide scientific and engineering information concerning the performance of materials exposed to environments related to any phase of the generation of energy originating from a nuclear source, and of materials used for disposal of spent nuclear fuels and radioactive wastes.

— T-2A-2 Interim Storage of Radioactive Liquid Waste
To examine corrosion of radioactive liquid waste storage and transfer systems. This assignment includes material selection, corrosion monitoring, control, and research activities associated with the interim storage of radioactive liquid wastes and their impact on safety and the environment. Specific areas of interest include: life prediction, corrosion surveillance, corrosion control, degradation mechanisms, and tank structural integrity.

— T-2E Geothermal Systems
To identify methods and materials for the control of degradation proceses in the extraction, conversion, and utilization of geothermal resources.

— T-2F Fossil Fuel Combustion and Conversion
Materials performance in the generation and utilization of energy derived from combustion of fossil fuels and in systems converting fossil fuels into gaseous and liquid products. Areas of coverage are fireside combustion systems, including waste incineration. In the synfuels sector, areas covered are coal conversion (gasification; liquefaction) and extraction of oil from tar sands (bitumens) and shale.

T-2F-1/T-5-1 Materials Problems in Waste Incinerator Fireside and Air Pollution Control Equipment
To provide a forum for exchange of information on the performance of materials in incineration facilities for chemical, municipal, and toxic wastes, and combustion facilities for low-grade and biomass fuels. Scope encompasses associated energy recovery and emission control systems.

New combustion system MERIT

Subject: UFTO Note — New combustion system MERIT
Date: Thu, 15 May 1997
From: Ed Beardsworth <edbeards@ufto.com>

(this is a news item, right off the web. The only additional info I could find is a brief mention on the NIRE web site..the address appears below.)
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| ** UFTO ** Edward Beardsworth ** Consultant
| 951 Lincoln Ave. tel 415-328-5670
| Palo Alto CA 94301-3041 fax 415-328-5675
| http://www.ufto.com edbeards@ufto.com
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New combustion system MERIT has smooth burn

Nikkei English News via Individual Inc. : (Nikkei Industrial Daily, May 6, 1997)

The Agency of Industrial Science and Technology’s National Institute for Resources and Environment reports progress in the design of a next-generation combustion system dubbed MERIT, for Mediator Recirculation Integrating Technology.

MERIT combines oxidation and reduction steps to minimize energy loss and the release of polluting emissions during fuel combustion. Fuel is not burned directly, but exposed to a circulating metallic mediator.

The method is said to be as much as 10% more energy efficient than conventional combustion systems which directly burn fuel. Moreover, no nitrogen oxides are released and pure carbon dioxide is easily recovered.

In the latest development, the institute succeeded in running smooth continuous combustion reactions in a small prototype system. The next step is to design larger facilities, with the aim of eventually introducing the technology to power-generating turbines and boilers.

The prototype system comprises a pair of reaction columns connected at the top and bottom. Metal particles are exposed to air in the first column and undergo a sudden oxidation reaction, generating heat of 1,000 C.

The now-oxidized metal particles are then moved to the second column, where they mix with fuel and undergo a reduction reaction. Once reduced, they can be transferred back to the first column and oxidized again. In this way, the circulating metal particles act as a mediator for an overall combustion reaction.

In the tests, nickel was used as the metal mediator, and both the oxidation and reduction reactions were completed in less than one-tenth of a second. By circulating the nickel particles at a high enough speed it was possible to run a continuous oxidation-reduction reaction.

The challenge now is to find metals with higher durability and to develop a way to control the oxidation reaction. With these research topics in mind, the institute said it plans to work with other research institutes and private concerns to develop a practical technology.

<<Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc. — 05-07-97>>
see also: http://www.etl.go.jp:8080/aist/NIRE/nire_WWW/eco_tec/new_kort/koritu_e.htm