Orthogonal Ion Injection Apparatus and Process
An orthogonal ion injection apparatus and process are described in which ions are directly injected into an ion guide orthogonal to the ion guide axis through an inlet opening located on a side of the ion guide. The end of the heated capillary is placed inside the ion guide such that the ions are directly injected into DC and RF fields inside the ion guide, which efficiently confines ions inside the ion guide. Liquid droplets created by the ionization source that are carried through the capillary into the ion guide are removed from the ion guide by a strong directional gas flow through an inlet opening on the opposite side of the ion guide. Strong DC and RF fields divert ions into the ion guide. In-guide orthogonal injection yields a noise level that is a factor of 1.5 to 2 lower than conventional inline injection known in the art. Signal intensities for low m/z ions are greater compared to convention inline injection under the same processing conditions..
SEPARATOR ASSEMBLIES AND METHODS (iEdison No. 0685901-18-0025)
Here we disclose a device that filters large particles out of a mixture of particles of multiple sizes without the addition of "clean" liquid streams. Using the device in a cascade pair produces a stream of particles with a narrow and well defined particle distribution of large particles. The distinguishing features include separation without any moving parts, without the addition of a mass separating agent, and without the addition of energy (other than the energy provided by an external pump to drive fluid flow). Further distinguishing features include but are not limited to operation at Reynolds numbers high enough to be turbulent in configurations commensurate with pipe flow with a unique express lane structure. No clean (particle free stream) is necessary because the device takes one mixed input stream and provides two separated outlet streams, one of which has the large particles of interest. Cascades and arrays of the device may be used to tune the output for desired applications.
ORGANISM MONITORING DEVICES AND ORGANIXM MONITORING METHODS
We successfully demonstrated a transmitter with intelligent ON/OFF mechanisms and quasi-location awareness. The prototype transmitter has (1) the ability (RF-enabled ON/OFF) to turn the tag on and off when it passes through a PIT antenna (i.e. installed at a hydroelectric dam); and (2) the ability (Salinity-enabled ON/OFF) to discern significant salinity changes (i.e. from freshwater to sea water and vice versa) and turn itself off and on, respectively.Such a device would greatly enhance the capabilities of the JSATS or other acoustic telemetry-based fish tracking systems by: (1) significantly extending the monitoring period for both anadromous and catadromous aquatic species, which could be up to their entire life cycles; and (2) introducing the quasi-location-aware functionality to acoustic tags, which, if combined with data-archiving sensor tags such as PNNL's Lab-on-a-fish that is currently in development, would enable users to associate the sensor data with specific aquatic locations and potentially gain insight on fish behavior characteristic to individual habitats.
SEPARATOR ASSEMBLIES AND METHODS (iEdison No. 0685901-18-0025)
Here we disclose a device that filters large particles out of a mixture of particles of multiple sizes without the addition of "clean" liquid streams. Using the device in a cascade pair produces a stream of particles with a narrow and well defined particle distribution of large particles. The distinguishing features include separation without any moving parts, without the addition of a mass separating agent, and without the addition of energy (other than the energy provided by an external pump to drive fluid flow). Further distinguishing features include but are not limited to operation at Reynolds numbers high enough to be turbulent in configurations commensurate with pipe flow with a unique express lane structure. No clean (particle free stream) is necessary because the device takes one mixed input stream and provides two separated outlet streams, one of which has the large particles of interest. Cascades and arrays of the device may be used to tune the output for desired applications.
NIMS
We developed a real-time processing system for sonar to detect and track animals, and to extract water column biomass statistics in order to facilitate continuous monitoring of an underwater environment. The Nekton Interaction Monitoring System (NIMS) extracts and archives tracking and backscatter statistics data from a real-time stream of data from a sonar device. NIMS also sends real-time tracking messages over the network that can be used by other systems to generate other metrics or to trigger instruments such as an optical video camera. A web-based user interface provides remote monitoring and control. NIMS currently supports three popular sonar devices: M3 multi-beam sonar (Kongsberg), EK60 split-beam echo-sounder (Simrad) and BlueView acoustic camera (Teledyne). Figure 1 shows the operational configuration using an M3. To our knowledge, there is no other real-time sonar processing software that is not sonar vendor-specific and that extracts track data and echo metrics in real time.
ACTIVE MAGNETIC REGENERATIVE PROCESSES AND SYSTEMS EMPLOYING HYDROGEN AS HEAT TRANSFER FLUID AND PROCESS GAS
A process for liquefying a hydrogen process gas comprising: introducing a hydrogen heat transfer fluid into an active magnetic regenerative refrigerator apparatus that comprises (i) a high magnetic field section in which the hydrogen heat transfer fluid flows from a cold side to a hot side through at least one magnetized bed of at least one magnetic refrigerant, (ii) a first no heat transfer fluid flow section in which the bed is demagnetized, (iii) a low magnetic field or demagnetized section in which the hydrogen heat transfer fluid flows from a hot side to a cold side through the demagnetized bed, and (iv) a second no heat transfer fluid flow section in which the bed is magnetized; continuously introducing the hydrogen heat transfer fluid from the cold side of the low magnetic field or demagnetized section into the cold side of the high magnetic field section; continuously diverting a portion of the hydrogen heat transfer fluid flowing from the cold side of the low magnetic field or demagnetized section into an expander; and isenthalpically expanding the diverted portion of the hydrogen heat transfer fluid to produce liquefied hydrogen.
ION EXTRACTION AND FOCUSING FROM A FIELD-FREE REGION TO AN ION MOBILITY SPECTROMETER AT ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE (iEdison No. 0685901-21-0100)
This invention was developed to improve ion movement at atmospheric pressure to enhance ion signal and reduce ion loss for mass spectrometry (MS) and ion mobility spectrometry (IMS). This invention is demonstrated with the atmospheric flow tube (AFT) and involves ion manipulation (e.g., extraction, focusing, and confinement) at atmospheric pressure. There are two components that have been observed to increase ion signal and reduce ion loss. The first is associated with combining the AFT with IMS, in which adjusting electric field gradients between the AFT and IMS improves ion extraction or focuses ions at atmospheric pressure. The second is by modifying the AFT to place a wire down the center of the length of the tube and applying either an AC or a DC voltage to this wire. Placing a square wave voltage on the wire increases ion throughput down the AFT to the detector compared to when the wire is at the same DC potential as the tube. The ability to manipulate ions is more pronounced at slower flows down the tube. Detailed description, figures, and data are provided in the attachment (Figures 1-7).
PowerDrone Simulation Framework
PowerDrone Simulation Framework has been developed using Matlab program and uses some of the dynamic simulation coding from the Power System Toolbox (http://www.etk.ee.kth.se/personal/vanfretti/pst/Power_System_Toolbox_Webpage/PST.html) package. It also leverages the model of Automatic Generation Control (AGC) that we received from Alejandro Dominguez-Garcia, Professor at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (link to his page: https://aledan.ece.illinois.edu/). PNNL team integrated all of the above-mentioned components, developed additional coding and added wrappers in order to develop this simulation. It is possible to select from pre-loaded power system topologies, enable different grid controls (like AGC, power system stabilizer), add faults, tweak different parameters, add pre-modeled attack scenarios, and run batch simulations to generate data needed for research. Currently, we are focused on two classes of cyber-attacks which can impact the system stability - ramp or step or random attacks, and the program allows the user to select the type, location, magnitude and time of the attack.
ACTIVE MAGNETIC REGENERATIVE PROCESSS AND SYSTEMS EMPLOYING HYDROGEN AS HEAT TRANSFER FLUID AND PROCESS
A process for liquefying a hydrogen process gas comprising: introducing a hydrogen heat transfer fluid into an active magnetic regenerative refrigerator apparatus that comprises (i) a high magnetic field section in which the hydrogen heat transfer fluid flows from a cold side to a hot side through at least one magnetized bed of at least one magnetic refrigerant, (ii) a first no heat transfer fluid flow section in which the bed is demagnetized, (iii) a low magnetic field or demagnetized section in which the hydrogen heat transfer fluid flows from a hot side to a cold side through the demagnetized bed, and (iv) a second no heat transfer fluid flow section in which the bed is magnetized; continuously introducing the hydrogen heat transfer fluid from the cold side of the low magnetic field or demagnetized section into the cold side of the high magnetic field section; continuously diverting a portion of the hydrogen heat transfer fluid flowing from the cold side of the low magnetic field or demagnetized section into an expander; and isenthalpically expanding the diverted portion of the hydrogen heat transfer fluid to produce liquefied hydrogen.
Combinatorial Evaluation of Systems Including Decomposition of a System Representation Into Fundamental Cycles
We construct an algebraic-combination model of networks-of-networks. A Petri net is used to construct an initial representation of the decision-making network, which in turn defines a hyperdigraph. We observe that the linear algebraic structure of each hyperdigraph admits a canonical set of algebraic-combinatorial invariants that correspond to the information flow conservation laws governing a kinetic network. The linear algebraic structure of the hyperdigraph and its sets of invariants can be generalized to define a discrete algebraic-geometric structure, which is referred to as an oriented Matroid. Oriented matroids define a polyhedral optimization geometry that is used to determine optimal subpaths that span the nullspace of a set of kinetic equations. Sets of constrained submodular path optimizations on the hyperdigraph are objectively obtained as a spanning tree of minimum cycle paths. This complete set of subcircuits is used to identify the network pinch points and invariant flow subpaths. We demonstrate that this family of minimal circuits also characteristically identifies additional significant pattern features. We used several applications (including the biochemistry of the Krebs Cycle, the SOS Compartment A of the EGFR biochemical pathway, and economics-driven electric power grids) to develop and demonstrate the application of our algebraic-combinatorial mathematical modeling methodology.