Research Tools For The Nation
ORNL, industry, and university researchers collaborating at DOE national user facilities in Oak Ridge have helped improve nationwide energy efficiency.
The Bioprocessing R&D Center houses equipment for the investigation of advanced bioprocessing concepts, including stirred-tank and columnar bioreactors and fermentation plant for large-scale batch and columnar experiments. The range of equipment sizes accommodates both bench-scale experiments and large-scale demonstrations or process scale-up studies. Researchers produced small, uniform, immobilized biocatalysts in the demonstration of a scaled-up fluidized bed for production of ethanol from corn. Ethanol is used as automotive fuel, helping reduce the nation's dependence on imported oil for gasoline. The center has also collaborated with others to develop a bioreactor-based method of converting corn into succinic acid, demonstrating that renewable farm crops can be a cost-effective, environmentally friendly substitute for imported petroleum in the manufacture of chemicals.
Technology Center is the premiere U.S. research
facility devoted to the development of technologies that
improve the energy efficiency and environmental compatibility
of residential and commercial buildings. The BTC provides
access to a unique collection of testing and analysis
capabilities using state-of-the-art experimental equipment.
The centerpiece facility for building envelope research is the large-scale climate simulator, which sandwiches large roof sections between two environmental chambers. The upper climate chamber can simulate almost any outdoor weather condition, and the lower chamber typically models interior conditions. The rotatable guarded hot box is used to test full-size wall, window, roof, and floor systems; data from these tests have been entered into a whole-wall rating database. The roof thermal research apparatus has tested 24 different reflective roof coatings for low-slope roofs, to provide durability data for establishing the long-term thermal performance of the coatings. The envelope systems research apparatus is used to study energy and moisture flow through building envelopes. The complete apparatus tested simultaneously and defined the thermal performance of 40 different roof systems, accounting for changes in rooftop surface reflectivity over time. An indoor-outdoor environmental chamber simulates temperatures and humidity conditions for the development of cutting-edge air-conditioning, refrigeration, and heat pump technologies. A heat exchanger test facility helps researchers design, develop, and test the performance of novel air-to-refrigerant heat exchangers without lubricant additives.
Generation and Cooling, Heating, and Power (CHP) Integration
Laboratory encourages the use of energy-efficient
distributed energy generation systems, where users generate
electricity on site using microturbines, turbines or
This lab was one of the first facilities to test an integrated energy system (IES) for distributed generation (DG). Manufacturers could bring their equipment and evaluate its performance when coupled with any of the engines, heat exchangers, absorption chillers, or desiccant systems in the Lab. The manufacturers could also utilize ORNL-developed software to optimize the design and performance of advanced IES. New capabilities are being added to the laboratory to address the need for more efficient heat exchangers and chillers, and the challenge of generating and controlling reactive power from DG. Reactive power is increasing in importance and can be used to boost system efficiency, regulate voltage, and improve the power quality of the IES.
Temperature Materials Laboratory is a specialized
facility that houses a staff of materials experts and
unique materials characterization equipment, including
scanning transmission electron microscopes that can be
HTML's six user centers are devoted to materials analysis, mechanical characterization and analysis, diffraction, thermophysical properties, residual stress, and machining, inspection, and tribology. HTML staff have access to a new aberration-corrected electron microscope in ORNL's new advanced microscopy lab, enabling characterization of materials at the subatomic level.
Researchers at HTML are designing components for thermal management systems that will enable the efficient operation of fuel-cell-powered cars and many other devices where heat transfer is critical. These components are built by weaving graphite fibers with high thermal conductivity. The resulting structures possess thermal properties comparable to those of ORNL's revolutionary graphite foam, but they possess much higher damage tolerance and mechanical strength.
The Metals Processing Laboratory Users Facility is designed to assist researchers in key U.S. industries, universities, and federal laboratories in improving energy efficiency and enhancing the competitiveness of the U.S. metals and materials industry in the global market. MPLUS provides access to the specialized technical expertise and equipment needed to solve metals processing issues that limit the development and implementation of emerging metals processing technologies. Here's an example:
The National Transportation Research Center seeks to assist industry in using unique, state-of-the-art hardware and computing technologies to address problems of national and international significance, such as inefficient use of energy, dependence on foreign oil supplies, poor air quality, traffic congestion, and highway safety. The center has an array of unique testing equipment, including dynamometers to test diesel and other engines, as well as the Test Machine for Automotive Crashworthiness (TMAC), which measures the energy absorption properties of composites and metals when crushed in simulations of collisions between vehicles. NTRC houses centers and laboratories for the study of composite materials; fuels, engines, and emissions; photonics and remote sensing; and power electronics and electric machinery.
Web site provided by Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Communications and External Relations