Showing posts with label power. Show all posts

2013-04-04

ARES Advanced Rail Energy Storage

Train-Based Energy Storage: Making Renewable Energy Reliable With Gravity

Jim Kelly, CEO of Advanced Rail Energy Services in California, is looking forward to testing out a means of storing electricity that is efficient, innovative and unexpected –– by moving trains.

Source: Train-Based Energy Storage: Making Renewable Energy Reliable With Gravity

Energy Storage - Grid Scale Energy Storage - Ares North America

During periods where excess energy is available on the grid, ARES shuttle-trains draw electricity from the grid, which powers their individual axle-drive motors, as they transport a continuous flow of masses uphill against the force of gravity to an upper storage yard. When the grid requires energy to meet periods of high demand, this process is reversed. The shuttle-trains provide a continuous flow of masses returning to the lower storage yard with their motors operating as generators, converting the potential energy of the masses elevation back into electricity in a highly efficient process.

Source: Energy Storage - Grid Scale Energy Storage - Ares North America

ARES-Technology on Vimeo

Source: ARES-Technology on Vimeo

Related

2012-02-24

Electricity Production by Use of Space Bacteria Found in British River

Space bacteria found in British river could be new power source for the world | Mail Online

Bacteria usually found orbiting high above the Earth have been found in a British river - and could be a new power source for the world.

The mysterious organisms, found in the the mouth of the River Wear, in Sunderland, can generate electricity using a special battery called a microbial fuel cell.

The Bacillus stratosphericus - usually found 20 miles above the Earth - is believed to have been brought to the surface by atmospheric cycling, which causes evaporated water rise into the stratosphere and then fall again.

Microbial fuel cell: How bacteria can generate electricity

Inside an MFC, the organisms produce carbon dioxide, protons and electrons when kept in a solution without oxygen.

Liberated electrons form a negatively charged anode while the protons create a positively charged cathode.This produces both charges necessary to produce an electric current.

Source: Space bacteria found in British river could be new power source for the world | Mail Online

Bugs from space offer new source of power - Press Office - Newcastle University

Publishing their findings today in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, Grant Burgess, Professor of Marine Biotechnology at Newcastle University, said the research demonstrated the “potential power of the technique.”

“What we have done is deliberately manipulate the microbial mix to engineer a biofilm that is more efficient at generating electricity,” he explains.

“This is the first time individual microbes have been studied and selected in this way. Finding B.Stratosphericus was quite a surprise but what it demonstrates is the potential of this technique for the future – there are billions of microbes out there with the potential to generate power.”

The use of microbes to generate electricity is not a new concept and has been used in the treatment of waste water and sewage plants.

Microbial Fuel Cells, which work in a similar way to a battery, use bacteria to convert organic compounds directly into electricity by a process known as bio-catalytic oxidation.

A biofilm – or ‘slime’ – coats the carbon electrodes of the MFC and as the bacteria feed, they produce electrons which pass into the electrodes and generate electricity.

Until now, the biofilm has been allowed to grow un-checked but this new study shows for the first time that by manipulating the biofilm you can significantly increase the electrical output of the fuel cell.

Source: Bugs from space offer new source of power - Press Office - Newcastle University

Source: Scientists Use Bacteria From Space To Generate Free Electricity - Tyne and Wear

Related

2011-08-12

Energy Bag -- Compressed air energy storage

‪Seamus and his energy bags‬‏ - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgvLvZHzJrE

Thin Red Line Aerospace - Capabilities
http://www.thin-red-line.com/press-release-05-03-11.html

Thin Red Line Aerospace completes first Undersea Energy Storage Structure
Canadian firm Thin Red Line Aerospace has completed the first structure specifically designed and built for undersea compressed air energy storage (CAES). The structure, also referred to as an “Energy Bag”, is to be anchored to the seabed off the coast of Scotland next month as part of a major renewable energy research project conceived and led by Professor Seamus Garvey of the University of Nottingham and supported by European renewable energy leader E.ON. The project is the first to investigate large scale offshore storage of wind, tidal and wave power as compressed air.

Compressed air energy storage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compressed_air_energy_storage

Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES) is a way to store energy generated at one time for use at another time. At utility scale, energy generated during periods of low energy demand (off-peak) can be released to meet higher demand (peak load) periods.^[2]

Conceptual representation of the compressed-air energy storage concept. Off-peak (low-cost) electrical power compresses air into an underground air-storage “vessel” (the Norton mine), and later the air feeds a gas-fired turbine generator complex to generate electricity during on-peak (high-price) times. A similar concept ^[1] uses wind powered air compressors.

Types
Compression of air generates a lot of heat. The air is warmer after compression. Decompression requires heat. If no extra heat is added, the air will be much colder after decompression. If the heat generated during compression can be stored and used again during decompression, the efficiency of the storage improves considerably.
There are three ways in which a CAES system can deal with the heat. Air storage can be adiabatic, diabatic, or isothermic

Compressed air energy storage has bags of potential | In-depth | The Engineer
http://www.theengineer.co.uk/in-depth/the-big-story/compressed-air-energy-storage-has-bags-of-potential/1008374.article

’The overall process for adiabatic compression sounds simple, but the difficulty is how you handle the heat when you compress the air to 60 and 70 times atmospheric pressure,’ said Edward Barbour, a researcher in CAES at Edinburgh University. ’There are two main problems. One is that the heat is generated very quickly and that’s difficult for the machinery to handle, and the second is that your energy density suddenly becomes very low.’
At these pressures, the heat from compressed air can reach temperatures of 650°C. Seamus Garvey, a professor of dynamics at Nottingham University, believes he has come up with a solution that will allow for cost-effective heat storage. Garvey’s idea is to compress air in containments called Energy Bags held down on the sea bed in deep ocean water. ’Underwater bags are an attractive option because the sea acts as the pressure vessel,’ he said. ’You don’t have to pay for the full structure, just the structural material required to hold the bag down. No matter how full or empty your container is, the pressure stays the same, and that’s lovely for the machinery at the sea surface.’

Designed and developed for Garvey’s project by Canadian firm Thin Red Line Aerospace, the bags use a butyl rubber bladder and a polyester-reinforced fabric for the outer surface. Special coated steel or aramid straps provide the main structural strength. At depths of around 600m, there will be enough pressure in one 20m-diameter bag to store around 70MW hours of energy. That’s around the same as 14 hours of energy generation from the largest offshore turbines currently in operation.

As momentum picks up in CAES research, Garvey’s concept is gaining attention. It remains to be seen whether adiabatic compressed air energy storage will be viable, and whether Energy Bags are the right way forward. But without someone thinking outside the box, the concept of AA-CAES is likely to remain firmly on the drawing board.

Related

2010-03-15

The Bloom Box Energy Server

Clipped from: YouTube - Bloom Box Revealed

Bloom Box Revealed

The energy machine known as the "Bloom Box" was formally introduced to the public at eBay's headquarters in San Jose, Calif. Founder and CEO K.R. Sridhar addressed the audience.

Clipped from: Bloom Energy Server - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bloom Energy Server

The Bloom Energy Server is a solid oxide fuel cell made by Bloom Energy, of Sunnyvale, California, that uses liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons (such as gasoline, diesel or propane produced from fossil or bio sources) to generate electricity on the site where it will be used; Bloom Energy representatives assert that it is at least as efficient as a traditional large-scale coal power station. According to the company, a single cell (one 100mm × 100mm metal alloy plate between two ceramic layers) generates 25 watts.

Clipped from: The Bloom Box: An Energy Breakthrough? - 60 Minutes - CBS News

The Bloom Box: An Energy Breakthrough?

(CBS) In the world of energy, the Holy Grail is a power source that's inexpensive and clean, with no emissions. Well over 100 start-ups in Silicon Valley are working on it, and one of them, Bloom Energy, is about to make public its invention: a little power plant-in-a-box they want to put literally in your backyard.

You'll generate your own electricity with the box and it'll be wireless. The idea is to one day replace the big power plants and transmission line grid, the way the laptop moved in on the desktop and cell phones supplanted landlines.

It has a lot of smart people believing and buzzing, even though the company has been unusually secretive - until now.

Clipped from: YouTube - A Peek Inside the Bloom Box

A Peek Inside the Bloom Box

In the world of energy, the Holy Grail is a power source that's inexpensive and clean. Lesley Stahl gets an inside look at one inventor's "energy machine." 60 Minutes, Sunday, Feb. 21, 7 p.m. ET/PT.

Clipped from: Bloom Energy | Be The Solution

Clipped from: Bloom Energy | Be The Solution | Products - What is an Energy Server?

What is an Energy Server?

Built with our patented solid oxide fuel cell technology, Bloom's Energy Server™ is a new class of distributed power generator, producing clean, reliable, affordable electricity at the customer site.
Fuel cells are devices that convert fuel into electricity through a clean electro-chemical process rather than dirty combustion. They are like batteries except that they always run. Our particular type of fuel cell technology is different than legacy "hydrogen" fuel cells in four main ways:

Low cost materials – our cells use a common sand-like powder instead of precious
metals like platinum or corrosive materials like acids.
High electrical efficiency – we can convert fuel into electricity at nearly twice the
rate of some legacy technologies
Fuel flexibility – our systems are capable of using either renewable or fossil fuels
Reversible – our technology is capable of both energy generation and storage

Each Bloom Energy Server provides 100kW of power, enough to meet the baseload needs of 100 average homes or a small office building... day and night, in roughly the footprint of a standard parking space. For more power simply add more energy servers.

Clipped from: Bloom Energy | Be The Solution | Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Fuel cells were invented over a century ago and have been used in practically every NASA mission since the 1960's, but until now, they have not gained widespread adoption because of their inherently high costs.

Click here to see how a SOFC works.

Clipped from: Bloom's power plant in a box? (FAQ) | Nanotech - The Circuits Blog - CNET News

Bloom's power plant in a box? (FAQ)

What is the Bloom box?
How much does it cost to "save" money?
What kind of fuel does it use?
Who is using Bloom boxes right now?

And subsidies or tax breaks?
Who is investing in Bloom Energy?
How economically feasible can it be?

Sources:

Related:

2010-01-05

Siemens Rapid Charging For EVs on Smart Power Grid

EDISON Project Would Rather Blow to Charge, Than G - Watch the best video clips here

clipped from rssnews.renewable-energy-sources.com

≡ Siemens to Test Six Minute Charging For EVs on 33% Wind Powered Grid

Sven Holthusen runs the EDISON project at Siemens’ Energy Sector in the Denmark branch of the international engineering giant. The EDISON project is working on raising charging power to as much as 300 kW so that batteries can be recharged on the go, in as little as six minutes.

clipped from w1.siemens.com

Tomorrow’s electric vehicles will redefine mobility. Not only will they recharge in only minutes at fast-charge stations. They will also function as mobile power storage units for the smart grid

clipped from w1.siemens.com

The range of today’s electric vehicles cannot yet compare to that of automobiles equipped with combustion engines, necessitating the strategic placement of charging stations. A Siemens energy management system routes drivers according to the charge status of their vehicles, so that they can adapt their routes to the location of, and the availability of energy at, the charging stations.

Sources:

World's First Osmotic Power Plant

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk

Norway's Statkraft opens first osmotic power plant

The world's first power project that generates energy by mixing fresh water with sea water has opened in Norway.

The Norwegian renewable power company Statkraft has built a prototype osmotic power plant on the Oslo fiord.

clipped from www.google.com

New Norway power plant uses salt to make electricity

TOFTE, Norway — Norway unveiled the world's first osmotic power plant on Tuesday, harnessing the energy-unleashing encounter of freshwater and seawater to make clean electricity.
"While salt might not save the world alone, we believe osmotic power will be an important part of the global energy portfolio," the head of state-owned power group Statkraft, Baard Mikkelsen, told reporters.
Statkraft, which claims to be the biggest renewable energy company in Europe, is running the osmotic power plant prototype in a former chlorine factory on the banks of the Oslo fjord, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) south of the Norwegian capital.

clipped from www.google.com

Statkraft claims to be the biggest renewable energy company in Europe

clipped from www.google.com

Statkraft hopes to start building the first commercial osmotic power plant in 2015

clipped from news.cnet.com

The plant is driven by osmosis that naturally draws fresh water across a membrane and toward the seawater side. This creates higher pressure on the sea water side, driving a turbine and producing electricity.

Once new membrane "architecture" is solved, Statkraft believes the global production capacity for osmotic energy could amount to 1,600 to 1,700 terawatt hours annually, or about half of the European Union's total electricity demand.

clipped from www.statkraft.com

HRH Crown Princess Mette-Marit arriving for the opening at Tofte.

Read more about Osmotic Power and the new plant

The oil- and energyminister's speech for the opening of the plant.
The Norwegian Government's article on osmotic power.
Statkraft's pages on osmotic power.

clipped from www.youtube.com

Statkraft - Osmotic Power Plant

clipped from www.youtube.com

Sources:

BioPower Ocean Power Systems

clipped from www.reuters.com

BioPower Systems Collaborates With City of San Francisco on Wave Energy Project

SYDNEY, Oct. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Australia's ocean energy company, BioPower
Systems, today announced that it had entered into a collaborative agreement
with the City of San Francisco to investigate the generation of wave energy
from the Pacific Ocean.

clipped from www.biopowersystems.com

BioPower Systems is commercialising ocean power conversion technologies. Through application of biomimicry, we have adopted nature's mechanisms for survival and energy conversion in the marine environment and have applied these in the development of our proprietary wave and tidal power systems.

clipped from www.biopowersystems.com

The wave power system, bioWAVE™, is based on the swaying motion of sea plants in the presence of ocean waves.

clipped from www.youtube.com

bioWave ocean wave power system BioPower Systems

clipped from www.biopowersystems.com

The tidal power conversion system, bioSTREAM™, is based on the highly efficient propulsion of Thunniform mode swimming species, such as shark, tuna, and mackerel.

clipped from www.youtube.com

bioSTREAM Tidal Power System

Sources:

Wireless Power

clipped from en.wikipedia.org

Wireless energy transfer

Wireless energy transfer or wireless power transmission is the process that takes place in any system where electrical energy is transmitted from a power source to an electrical load, without interconnecting wires. Wireless transmission is useful in cases where instantaneous or continuous energy transfer is needed, but interconnecting wires are inconvenient, hazardous, or impossible.

clipped from electronics.howstuffworks.com

How Wireless Power Works

Inductive Coupling

An electric toothbrush's base and handle contain coils that allow the battery to recharge.

© Copyright Splashpower 2006
A Splashpower mat uses induction to recharge multiple devices simultaneously.

clipped from electronics.howstuffworks.com

Resonance and Wireless Power

The MIT wireless power project uses a curved coil and capacitive plates.

According to the theory, one coil can recharge any device that is in range, as long as the coils have the same resonant frequency.

clipped from www.tfcbooks.com

MIT WITRICITY
NOT SO ORIGINAL AFTER ALL

For those who believe the 2006 MIT “Witricity” demonstration was the first of its kind, look at this illustration from “Tesla Apparatus and Experiments—How to Build Both Large and Small Tesla and Oudin Coils and How to Carry On Spectacular Experiments With Them,” by H. Winfield Secor, Practical Electrics, November 1921.

clipped from www.witricity.com

Imagine a future in which wireless electricity makes everyday products more convenient, reliable, and environmentally friendly.

WiTricity Corp.’s vision is to develop a family of wireless electric power components that will enable OEM’s in a broad range of industries and applications to make their products truly “wireless.” Wireless electric power delivered over room scale distances, and with high efficiency. Wireless electric power that is safe for people and animals. Wireless electric power—imagine no more… it’s here!

clipped from www.witricity.com

WiTricity Prototype System

This WiTricity prototype system demonstrates wireless powering of an LCD TV. In this demonstration system, a WiTricity power source is positioned on the floor. It is connected to AC power and converts AC current to an oscillating magnetic field. The WiTricity capture device (to the right of the LCD TV), converts the magnetic energy to alternating current and powers the LCD TV. The WiTricity power source and capture devices are highly resonant magnetic systems that can exchange energy in a very efficient manner. WiTricity Corp. is miniaturizing and packaging the technology so that it can be built directly into a wide variety of products and systems—with no need for an external power capture device as shown in this prototype configuration.

clipped from electronics.howstuffworks.com

Long-distance Wireless Power

The Stationary High Altitude Relay Platform (SHARP) unmanned plane could run off power beamed from the Earth.

Stations on Earth can receive energy from the moon via microwaves.

clipped from www.msfc.nasa.gov

Imagine providing the Earth or a moon base with harnessed solar power, or traveling in space without returning to Earth for fuel. That’s the idea behind space-based solar power generators such as this SunTower. Depending upon size, two small panels on a tall tower could power a communications satellite, four panels might power a robotic interplanetary probe, six a manned spacecraft, while 20 panels might supply energy down to Earth or for a lunar base.

clipped from www.msfc.nasa.gov

This giant disk floating in space isn’t a UFO. It’s a power generator, harvesting energy from the Sun for a variety of uses back on Earth.

clipped from www.msfc.nasa.gov

Sources:
Eric Giler demos wireless electricity | Video on TED.com
Wireless energy transfer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
HowStuffWorks "How Wireless Power Works"
MIT Witricity — Not So Original After All
WiTricity Corp. Home — Wireless Electricity Delivered Over Distance
WiTricity Corp. — Basics of WiTricity Technology
File:Suntower.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Marshall Space Flight Center News Photos
Related:
Wireless Power Consortium
Wireless Electricity, Explained | Design & Innovation | Fast Company
Wireless Electricity Is Here (Seriously) | Page 3 | Fast Company

Pages

2013-04-04

2012-02-24

2011-08-12

Thin Red Line Aerospace completes first Undersea Energy Storage Structure

Types

2010-03-15

Bloom Box Revealed

Bloom Energy Server

The Bloom Box: An Energy Breakthrough?

A Peek Inside the Bloom Box

What is an Energy Server?

Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Bloom's power plant in a box? (FAQ)

2010-01-05

≡ Siemens to Test Six Minute Charging For EVs on 33% Wind Powered Grid

2009-11-25

Norway's Statkraft opens first osmotic power plant

Read more about Osmotic Power and the new plant

Statkraft - Osmotic Power Plant

2009-10-23

BioPower Systems Collaborates With City of San Francisco on Wave Energy Project

bioWave ocean wave power system BioPower Systems

bioSTREAM Tidal Power System

2009-09-01

Inductive Coupling

Resonance and Wireless Power

MIT WITRICITYNOT SO ORIGINAL AFTER ALL

Imagine a future in which wireless electricity makes everyday products more convenient, reliable, and environmentally friendly.

WiTricity Prototype System

Long-distance Wireless Power

MIT WITRICITY
NOT SO ORIGINAL AFTER ALL