B-roll video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story.

Video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story.

B-roll video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story.

Video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story.

An approach for the research effort required to meet the program objective is described, leading to an outline of nine tasks comprising the planned program. Results of effort applied to tasks during the first quarter effort are described. Highlights include fabrication and evaluation of cells in Mo foil substrates, a new chemical etch method which may allow easy, rapid determination of CdS grain diameters in films, and preparation and preliminary evaluation of cell structures on single crystal CdS substrates. Several problems will require special effort in the future: poor adhesion of CdS film to Zn-plated Cu foil substrates and a high incidence of film defects attributed to particle spatter from the CdS evaporation source.

A summation is presented of the drilling and testing activity in the four primary study areas and the USGS designated core sites of the Western Gas Sands Project (WGSP). Pertinent review information for April, May and June 1978, included for each study area, is divided into two sections. The core program section identifies industry activity within the USGS recommended core areas and relates the status of WGSP core acquisition developments. The second part, the activity section, details drilling and testing operations of interest to the WGSP throughout the entire basin or province. Newly staked or completed wells are listed in tabular form and shown on a map. Information is included on activities in the Northern Great Plains Province, the greater Green River Basin, the Uinta Basin, and the Piceance Basin.

Development effort has been applied to front junction and back surface field region formation and to high speed application of AR coatings to ribbon material. Effects on cell performance of various surface preparation procedures for web silicon material have also been studied. Ultrasonic seam bonding of foil interconnects to cell metallization has been identified as a potentially higher throughput, lower cost method of interconnection than producing discrete bonds. Collecting junctions have been made in wafer cells using reagent grade POCl/sub 3/, containing titanium at the 20 ppMa level, and in such material doped with Ti to the 100 and 500 ppMa levels using TiCl/sub 4/. No electrical effect of Ti doping was detected. Cells with boron diffusions made from boron-doped glasses deposited in a Silox reactor have shown back surface field action to that in cells using glasses formed in a cold wall horizontal reactor. Antireflection coatings of TiO/sub 2/ in the 600 A range of thickness have been prepared by pulling from liquid precursor solutions at speeds ranging to 40 ft/min. Speeds above 10 ft/min are considered necessary for high throughput processing of continuous ribbon silicon. At 25 ft/min, the contribution to selling price of this process is estimated …

B-roll video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story.

The application of conducting plastic mixtures to the fundamental problem of radiation Dosimetry is briefly reviewed. A particular approach to achieveing formulations with the necessary characteristics is decribed. A number of successful mixtures are defined for a number of different specific dosimetry situations. To obtain high quality stable materials requires intense blending·and working of the materials at elevated temperatures. One machine that succeeds in this task is the Shonka plastics mixer-extruder. The Shonka mixer is described in complete detail. The procedures used in preparing represeptative formulations with this device are presented. A number of properties of successful conducting mixtures so prepared are summarized. The conditions required for molding such material are given. Several special welding methods for specific application with these formulations have been devised and are described.

Video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story. This story aired at 5:00 P.M.

Weekly newspaper from Jacksboro, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with extensive advertising.

Daily newspaper from Sulphur Springs, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

B-roll video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story.

Video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story.

Video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story.

Video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story.

Video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story.

Video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story.

Video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story.

The electrical power output of photovoltaic solar cell modules is dependent upon the operating temperature of the cells, and decreases at a rate of approximately 0.5% per /sup 0/C with increasing cell temperature. Because of this temperature sensitivity, it is important to understand the thermal characteristics of modules so that modules and their supporting structures can be designed to reduce cell temperature to the extent that it is cost-effective. Thermal testing of photovoltaic modules is described. The bulk of the testing has been the characterization of twenty-nine modules according to their nominal operating cell temperature (NOCT) and the effect on NOCT of changes in module design, various residential roof mounting configurations, and dirt accumulation. Other tests, often performed parallel with the NOCT measurements, evaluated the improvement in electrical performance by cooling the modules with water and by channeling the waste heat into a phase change material (wax). Electrical degradation resulting from the natural marriage of photovoltaic and solar water heating modules was also demonstrated. Cost effectiveness of each of these techniques are evaluated in light of the LSA cost goal of $0.50 per watt.

This report summarizes the progress of government sponsored projects undertaken to increase gas production from low-permeability gas sands of the western United States during June, 1978. Background information is given in the September 1977 Status Report, NVO/0655-100. USGS is continuing geological and geophysical studies to characterize the resource base in the four primary study areas. Field work is under way at the following locations: Western Green River Basin, Sand Wash Basin, Central Montana, Southern Piceance Basin, and Uinta Basin near Price, Utah. The DOE funded National Laboratories are continuing their work directed toward the development of mathematical models, new tools and instrumentation systems, data analysis, and rock mechanics. Active field tests and demonstrations continue in the Piceance and Uinta Basins. CIGE Well No. 2 was fractured on June 22, 1978 with 170,500 lb sand and 203,000 gal of gel. 42 figures, 3 tables.

The objective of the Detroit Lakes Energy Systems Study is to determine the economic feasibility of alternative renewable energy system configurations in the northern latitudes. A forecast through both 1990 and the year 2000 is made of the demand for electrical energy in the Detroit Lakes area. An assessment of renewable energy resources including biomass, wind, and insolation is provided. A detailed analysis is made of system costs including biomass, wind, solar thermal, solar photovoltaic, selected hybrids, and conventional fuel systems. Lessons learned and recommendations for prototype fabrication are highlighted. (MHR)

The GRIPS (Geothermal Resources Impact Projection Study) Commission was established by a Joint Powers Agreement between the California Counties of Lake, Mendocino, Napa, and Sonoma. The objectives of GRIPS are primarily to develop and use a cooperative environmental data collection and use system including natural, social, and economic considerations to facilitate their independent decisions and those of State and Federal agencies related to the environmental effects of geothermal development. This GRIPS Plan was prepared from a wide range of studies, workshops, and staff analyses. The plan is presented in four parts: summary and introduction; environmental data status report; planned programs; and budget. (MHR)

The essence of the idea is as follows: One or more beams of energetic ions (or neutral atoms that will become ionized) are injected, parallel to the field lines, at radii where the instability electric field has maximum amplitude (say roughly halfway between the axis and the outer radius of the plasma). While in transit through the plasma these ions acquire transverse energy by resonant acceleration, thereby extracting energy from the wave. This imparted energy is then carried out of the confined plasma by the beam particles as they exit through the far mirror. In this way the ballistic damping process introduces a damping mechanism that can be used to inhibit the growth of unstable waves and/or to damp them out before they reach unacceptably high amplitude. It is also shown that the beam power required is substantially lower than the plasma powers involved, scaling in a favorable way with increase in the size of the mirror cell.