Advanced Manufacturing & Industrial Decarbonization

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“We’ve Got the Power”: Sandia technology test delivers electricity to the grid

News Article, August 9, 2022 • First test of cutting-edge Brayton cycle technology put power into local grid For the first time, Sandia National Laboratories researchers delivered electricity produced by a new power-generating system to the Sandia-Kirtland Air Force Base electrical grid. The system uses heated supercritical carbon dioxide instead of steam to generate electricity and...
"Two men stand before a cabinet of power system controllers"

Algorithm could shorten quality testing, research in many industries by months

News Article, February 16, 2022 • Machine learning used to predict direction-dependent mechanical properties of metals A machine-learning algorithm developed at Sandia could provide auto manufacturing, aerospace and other industries a faster and more cost-efficient way to test bulk materials. The technique was published recently in the scientific journal Materials Science and Engineering: A. Production stoppages are...
Sandia researchers examine data generated by the machine-learning algorithm Material Data Driven Design.

American Chemical Society honors Sandia Labs scientist

News Article, July 2, 2024 • Sandia National Laboratories materials scientist Dorina Sava Gallis has been honored by the American Chemical Society with a 2024 Women Chemists Committee Rising Star Award, recognizing her excellence in the scientific enterprise demonstrating outstanding promise for contributions to her field. In her 14 years at Sandia, Sava Gallis has accumulated...
Sandia National Laboratories materials scientist Dorina Sava Gallis was recently recognized by the American Chemical Society Women Chemists Committee with a Rising Star Award. (Photo by Craig Fritz)

At Sandia Labs, a vision for navigating when GPS goes dark

News Article, October 25, 2022 • Words like “tough” or “rugged” are rarely associated with a quantum inertial sensor. The remarkable scientific instrument can measure motion a thousand times more accurately than the devices that help navigate today’s missiles, aircraft and drones. But its delicate, table-sized array of components that includes a complex laser and vacuum...
Sandia National Laboratories atomic physicist Jongmin Lee examines the sensor head of a cold-atom interferometer that could help vehicles stay on course where GPS is unavailable. (Photo by Bret Latter)

Back to the drawing board: Reinventing offshore wind turbines

News Article, August 16, 2022 • New Sandia software allows for design of innovative floating turbines Brandon Ennis, Sandia National Laboratories’ offshore wind technical lead, had a radically new idea for offshore wind turbines: instead of a tall, unwieldy tower with blades at the top, he imagined a towerless turbine with blades pulled taut like a...
An illustration of a vertical axis wind turbine

Boosting battery research

News Article, June 18, 2024 • Most Americans don’t leave home without at least one lithium battery-powered device, and someday, the house itself may have a battery back-up. Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories are working to make these large back-up batteries less expensive, hold more energy and be less prone to bursting into flame. One way...

Creating diamonds to shed light on the quantum world

News Article, September 26, 2022 • Diamonds are a scientist’s best friend. That much is at least true for physicist Andy Mounce, whose work with diamond quantum sensors at Sandia National Laboratories has earned him the DOE’s Early Career Research Award. As a scientist in Sandia’s Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, he specializes in making microscopic sensors...
Sandia National Laboratories’ Andy Mounce makes microscopic sensors to try to understand quantum materials at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies. He is one of four employees to earn DOE’s Early Career Research Award. (Photo by Bret Latter

Electric vehicle battery safety takes the front seat

News Article, April 27, 2023 • A Sandia-led team is working to test and predict the safety of advanced batteries, including solid-state and lithium-metal, while they are still under development. The goal is to create more affordable, convenient, efficient, and resilient electric vehicle batteries. The team, which includes UL Research Institutes, the University of Maryland and...
Two researchers stand in a lab, their faces lit by the screen and equipment in front of them

Exploring explosives for expanding geothermal energy

News Article, June 23, 2022 • Sandia researchers test explosives and propellants to create geothermal power sites Why are scientists setting off small-scale explosions inside 1-foot cubes of plexiglass? They’re watching how fractures form and grow in a rock-like substance to see if explosives or propellants, similar to jet fuel, can connect geothermal wells in a...
Technicians and students examine a plexiglass cube fractured by a small explosion

International team plans to transform battery databases

News Article, January 30, 2023 • A consortium of researchers, including Sandia battery experts Yuliya Preger and Valerio De Angelis, are working together to stimulate battery innovation by developing battery databases. Ultimately, they hope to expand the role of batteries in supporting the transformation of electric grid infrastructure including the integration of renewable energy resources and...
Two researchers stand by battery testing equipment

Labs researchers capture R&D 100 Awards

News Article, October 18, 2023 • Among the R&D 100 awards and nominations Sandia took part in this year, two awards featured innovations with implications for energy and manufacturing. R&D World magazine honors inventors by identifying the 100 most technologically significant products and advancements each year and recognizing the winning innovators and their organizations. Winners are...

Making materials more durable through science

News Article, September 12, 2023 • A team at Sandia National Laboratories developed a molecule that helps change the way some materials react to temperature fluctuations, which makes them more durable. It’s an application that could be used in everything from plastic phone cases to missiles. Polymers, which include various forms of plastics, are made up...
A researcher holds a vial of a new batch of a new, more durable material

New Microgrid Design Toolkit tutorial site

News Article, April 30, 2024 • Sandia National Laboratories developed the Microgrid Design Toolkit (MDT), a decision support software for microgrid designers that is publicly available for download. Intended for use in the early stages of the design process, MDT uses powerful search algorithms to identify and characterize alternative microgrid designs in terms of user-defined inputs and...
Digital graphic wave

New tool models viability of closed-loop geothermal systems

News Article, November 20, 2023 • Web tool looks belowground for an economically viable renewable energy source ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Geothermal power has a lot of promise as a renewable energy source that is not dependent on the sun shining or the wind blowing, but it has some challenges to wide adoption. One of these challenges is...
Illustration of a closed-loop geothermal system with various important factors labeled.

Powering the moon: Sandia researchers design microgrid for future lunar base

News Article, May 17, 2022 • Reliable, resilient microgrid to sustain astronauts, mining and fuel processing Sandia National Laboratories is well-known for designing reliable and resilient microgrids for military bases and vital city services. Now, Sandia researchers are working with NASA to design one for the moon. This is not the first time Sandia has partnered...
An artistic rendering of what a resilient microgrid for a lunar base camp might look like. Sandia National Laboratories engineers are working with NASA to design the system controller for the microgrid. (Illustration by Eric Lundin)

PR100 Final Results Public Webinar

News Article, January 23, 2024 • Puerto Rico has committed to 100% renewable energy by 2050—and the new Puerto Rico Grid Resilience and Transition to 100% Renewable Energy (PR100) Study results can help them get there. Join the U.S. Department of Energy on Feb. 7 at 2:30 ET for a presentation of final results from PR100....
aerial photo of Puerto Rico city

Propelling 3D printing into the future

News Article, April 17, 2024 • 3D printing has changed the world. It’s allowed the aerospace, medical, automotive, manufacturing and many other industries to customize parts and prototypes in ways they never could before. It has drastically increased flexibility and cost effectiveness while reducing waste and production time. But many 3D-printed materials aren’t the strongest. A...

Record-Breaking, Ultrafast Devices Step to Protecting the Grid from EMPs

News Article, April 6, 2022 • New Sandia diode can shunt excess electricity in a few billionths of a second Scientists from Sandia National Laboratories have announced a tiny, electronic device that can shunt excess electricity within a few billionths of a second while operating at a record-breaking 6,400 volts — a significant step towards protecting...
Two Sandia engineers examine a wafer will an array of diodes

Sandia addresses barriers to hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engines

News Article, November 18, 2024 • Pre-ignition is one of the key barriers preventing hydrogen-fueled combustion engines from achieving efficiency and power-density parity with current diesel powertrains. To address this issue, Sandia has developed an experimental framework to isolate and study various sources of pre-ignition. The research team recently updated the framework with a new methodology...
Conceptual schematic of the pre-ignition mechanisms in a hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engine (left). A multi-camera, high-speed system for testing and visualizing oil pre-ignition using Sandia's optical engine (right).

Sandia studies vulnerabilities of electric vehicle charging infrastructure

News Article, November 17, 2022 • Review of vulnerabilities helps prioritize grid protections, informs policy makers With electric vehicles becoming more common, the risks and hazards of a cyberattack on electric vehicle charging equipment and systems also increases. Jay Johnson, an electrical engineer at Sandia National Laboratories, has been studying the varied vulnerabilities of electric vehicle charging...
Kaedi Sanchez plugs in her car at a City of Albuquerque electric vehicle charger before heading to work. Sandia National Laboratories researchers have been studying the vulnerabilities of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, including public chargers, to better inform policymakers. (Photo by Craig Fritz)

Sandia’s Grid Modernization team for PR100 report receives Secretary’s Honor Award

News Article, March 28, 2024 • A multi-laboratory research team, including members from Sandia’s Grid Modernization group, received a 2023 Secretary’s Honor Award for its contributions to the Puerto Rico Grid Resilience and Transition to 100% Renewable Energy Study (PR100).The prestigious award recognizes the Department of Energy’s employees and contractors who make positive, lasting impacts on...

Scientists chip away at a metallic mystery, one atom at a time

News Article, September 28, 2022 • Gray and white flecks skitter erratically on a computer screen. A towering microscope looms over a landscape of electronic and optical equipment. Inside the microscope, high-energy, accelerated ions bombard a flake of platinum thinner than a hair on a mosquito’s back. Meanwhile, a team of scientists studies the seemingly chaotic...
In this photo from 2020, Christopher Barr, right, a former Sandia National Laboratories postdoctoral researcher, and University of California, Irvine, professor Shen Dillon operate the In-situ Ion Irradiation Transmission Electron Microscope. Barr was part of a Sandia team that used the one-of-a-kind microscope to study atomic-scale radiation effects on metal. (Photo by Lonnie Anderson)
Results 1–25 of 31