FY2010 - Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Director’s R&D Fund—
Advanced Energy Systems
Mission Relevance
This research is directly aligned with the mission of the DOE Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy
Reliability and, recently, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to understand,
develop, and promote smart grid technologies. The research undertaken in this project can support DOE
and NIST as they develop technical standards and assess the impact of new technologies on power system
reliability and security. The ability to conduct large-scale evaluations of proposed smart grid technologies
is also of interest to electric power utilities such as the Tennessee Valley Authority as they build
infrastructure to incorporate new sources of generation, load as a resource, and other smart-grid concepts.
Results and Accomplishments
Key accomplishments in the project’s first year include (1) the development of a new, accurate, and
robust method for calculating frequency at a load from state variables used in standard models of
electromechanical dynamics in generation and transmission; (2) the implementation of a web-based
system for the dynamic, geo-referenced visualization of frequency in large power systems; and (3) a
proof-of-principle demonstration showing how high-performance computing resources can be applied
effectively and incrementally to simulate distributed control in a smart electrical power system.
05470
Microelectromechanical Systems–Based Pyroelectric Thermal Energy
Scavengers and Coolers
Scott R. Hunter, Panos Datskos, Slobodan Rajic, and Nickolay V. Lavrik
Project Description
The project focuses on developing of a new type of high-efficiency, low-grade waste-heat energy
converter that can be used to actively cool electronic devices, solar concentrator photovoltaic cells,
computers, and larger waste-heat-producing systems, while generating electricity that can be used to
power monitoring sensor systems, or recycled to provide electrical power. The project objectives are to
demonstrate the feasibility of fabricating high-conversion-efficiency, microelectromechanical systems–
based pyroelectric energy converters that can be fabricated into scalable arrays using well-known
microscale fabrication techniques and materials. The aim of the project is to demonstrate that overall
electrical energy conversion efficiencies in the range of 20–30% and efficiencies up to 80% of the Carnot
efficiency limit are achievable with scaled arrays (up to 106 converter elements). These energy
conversion efficiencies are greater than those previously demonstrated, or proposed, for any other type of
waste-heat energy recovery technology. This will result in large reductions in waste-heat production (and
subsequent cooling requirements) and the generation of high-quality electrical energy from a wide range
of waste heat sources.
Mission Relevance
Energy scavenging and improved systems-level electrical efficiencies are of considerable interest to DOE
and other federal agencies such as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), as well as
industry. During the first year (FY 2010) our project development efforts focused on teaming with
industrial partners (L3 and Lockheed Martin) that have already expressed interest in this technology and
will help us secure funding from programs at DOE and at DARPA. The ORNL Technology Transfer
Office has also decided to pursue patents of a fundamental nature in this technology. We expect the first
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