DOE's HPC4Manufacturing program seeks industry proposals for energy advances

The Department of Energy (DOE) on Feb. 1 announced up to $3 million will be available to U.S. manufacturers for public/private projects aimed at applying high performance computing to industry challenges for the advancement of energy innovation.

The funding represents the latest round of solicitations for the High Performance Computing for Manufacturing (HPC4Mfg) program, led by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), in partnership with the Oak Ridge and Lawrence Berkeley national laboratories. The program provides manufacturers access to the DOE national laboratories’ supercomputing systems as well as the expertise of lab computing experts. This solicitation marks the fifth round of funding since the program began in 2015.  

"Since the inception of the program, we have worked with both large and small companies in a variety of industrial sectors to advance the use of high performance computing in U.S. manufacturing," said HPC4Mfg’s Director Lori Diachin of LLNL. "We are seeing some significant successes with orders of magnitude reduction in simulation times and higher fidelity simulations that more closely match the reality of the manufacturing process. With this solicitation, we plan to continue to expand the reach of our program to new companies to help solve new and different problems."

The HPC4Mfg program, funded out of the Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) within DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), is seeking proposals requiring intensive modeling and simulation to overcome manufacturing process challenges that could result in reduced energy consumption, increased productivity, improved clean energy technology design and clean energy manufacturing, with a potential for broad national impact.

DOE will award selected projects up to $300,000 to support compute cycles and work performed by the national lab partners. Selected industry partners will provide at least 20 percent of in-kind funding for the projects. Follow-on funding for previously awarded projects that have already been successfully demonstrated also will be considered. Selected follow-on projects will be awarded up to $300,000 with industry providing a 50 percent cost share, at least half of which must be cash.

The deadline for concept paper submissions for both types of projects is March 15. Final selections will be announced in July.  

To date, through the HPC4Manufacturing program, DOE has awarded approximately $15 million for 47 projects, ranging from improving energy efficiency in paper making and automobile engines to improving the reliability of wind turbines and reducing defects in 3D-printed parts. The program recently expanded to include projects to develop new or modified materials for extreme conditions under the High Performance Computing for Materials (HPC4Mtls) program, which is beginning its first round of solicitations.

HPC4Mfg’s computing resources are provided through a variety of mechanisms, including the Advanced Scientific Computing Research Program within DOE’s Office of Science Leadership Computing Challenge allocation program, as well as allocations at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the National Energy Technology Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories.

To find details on how to submit a concept paper or to register for an informational webinar, visit hpc4mfg. Free webinars are scheduled for Feb. 12 and Feb. 20.

Visit the web for more information on the HPC4Manufacturing program.