The engineering design of the shock and vibration fixtures has been completed. Detail drawings of the individual components are now in progress, and fabrication of the fixtures is expected to begin in April 1976.

The objective of this program, Part 2 of the Silicon Materials Task, is to develop and define purity requirements for solar cell grade (SG) silicon material by evaluating the effects of specific impurities and impurity levels on the performance of silicon solar cells. The basic approach of the program is to establish, as unambiguously as possible, what concentrations of the impurities commonly found in silicon starting material (metallurgical grade silicon) can be tolerated in silicon crystals produced by both the standard Czochralski and the dendritic-web sheet (rapid growth) methods without degrading solar cell performance. The program is on schedule in all elements. Specifically the growth, evaluation, solar cell fabrication and testing are completed for the baseline boron-doped Czochralski material. Cell efficiencies are in the 11 to 13 percent range (AM1). The growth of six first generation Czochralski crystals (boron doping plus Cr, Mn, Cu, Ni, V, and Ti) is completed. Solar cell measurements on four of the first doubly-doped ingots indicate that Cr and Mn seriously degrade cell performance at the 10/sup 15/ cm/sup -3/ doping level while neither Ni nor Cu produce any significant reduction in cell efficiency. The results for Ni can be rationalized on the basis of …

The results of a study to evaluate the use of the General Atomic high-temperature gas-cooled reactor as a heat source for petroleum refining and other petrochemical processes requiring process temperatures up to 1050/sup 0/F are presented. The specific objective was to investigate methods of supplying and transporting steam and process heat from the primary reactor coolant to the refinery process heat exchangers. An evaluation of potential heat transfer fluids for transporting the heat from the reactor site to the refinery site was made and a promising fluid was selected for further investigation. A conceptual design of a secondary helium heat transfer loop with a heat exchanger located inside the prestressed concrete reactor vessel was established. Methods for providing minimum acceptable process heat and steam during reactor refueling and shutdown were investigated. A safety evaluation considering the possibility and consequences of radioactive contamination and petroleum contamination of the heat transfer fluid was conducted. The necessary modifications to the nuclear reactor system were identified and conceptual designs and economic estimates for these modifications were made.

A comprehensive listing is given of contracts and grants awarded by the Department of Transportation to colleges and universities during fiscal year 1975. The awards are categorized into seven different schemes. Subject areas include (1) carpooling; (2) problems of the elderly and the handicapped; (3) energy; (4) environment; (5) facilities and services; (6) Federal Government role; (7) freight movement; (8) human factors; (9) land use planning; (10) management; (11) materials; (12) motorcycles; (13) noise; (14) personal rapid transit; (15) rural planning; (16) safety; (17) systems development; (18) taxicabs; (19) technology; (20) traffic control; (21) training; (22) tunneling; and (23) urban planning. (PMA)

Honeywell Inc. is investigating the technical and economic feasibility of generating electricity from solar energy. During the first 6 months of the program (1 July--31 December 1975), a preliminary design baseline for a 10-MW(e) solar pilot plant was generated and analyzed. Subsequently, several changes were made to improve performance and/or reduce cost. Conceptual designs and research experiments were generated for three key subsystems--collector, steam generator, and thermal storage. Limited testing was done to study the problem of removing eutectic salts from vaporizer tubes in the thermal storage subsystem. The program was on schedule at the end of 1975. Plans for the first quarter of 1976 include ordering long-leadtime items for the subsystem research experiments, continuing analysis of the conceptual designs preparatory to detailing them, and continuing engineering model experiments.