On its web site, the company boasts, “OXIS Energy is leading the World with its latest cell Energy Density and Capacity,” and proceeds to announce that it’s “developed its largest Lithium Sulfur cell achieving in excess of 300 [Watt-hours per kilogram]. This outperforms Lithium ion technology that has dominated the performance battery market for many years. In addition OXIS has achieved an increase in cell capacity to a 25 Amp-hour (Ah) cell – a world first.” They’re working toward a 33Ah cell. Claiming a twelve-fold improvement in the last 18 months, OXIS, a British battery manufacturer, says it has the confidence to “achieve a cell capacity of 33Ah by mid 2015.” The firm has hopes of energy densities “in excess of 400Wh/kg by the end of 2016 and in excess of 500Wh/kg by the end of 2018.” This doubling of energy density over the best of available lithium-ion batteries now would make the 175-mile-range Nissan Leaf a reality, and bring …
A Billion-Hole Battery
Battery companies and academic researchers keep finding ways to make ions flow quickly and efficiently within batteries. One way is to reduce the size of a cell so that the ions don’t have to travel far. University of Maryland researchers may have achieved a miniaturization that boggles the mind. Their claim, that they’ve created a “single tiny structure that includes all the components of a battery that they say could bring about the ultimate miniaturization of energy storage components, comes from a story by Martha Heil in UMD Right Now. The structure is based on a nanopore, an incredibly tiny hole in a ceramic sheet 80,000 times thinner than a human hair. The holes can hold electrolyte that carries a charge between the top and bottom surfaces of the ceramic sheet. Millions of these holes poked through a postage stamp-sized sheet comprise a battery. Researchers think the uniformity of the holes allows them to be packed tightly and efficiently together. …
A Car (or Airplane) With That Cool Carbon Fiber Look
A research team at Australia’s Queensland University of Technology combined talents with scientists at Rice University in Houston, Texas to produce all-carbon structural panels that rival the best lithium-ion batteries for energy density, but can also be charged as quickly as supercapacitors. In fact, the panels are supercapacitors, “a ‘sandwich’ of electrolyte between two all-carbon electrodes,” made into “a thin and extremely strong film with a high power density,” according to researchers. These lightweight supercapacitor panels can be combined with “regular” batteries to “dramatically boost the power of an electric car.” This application would not be unlike Dr. Emile Greenhalgh and Volvo’s structural/electrical body panels. Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr Jinzhang Liu, Professor Nunzio Motta and PhD researcher Marco Notarianni, from QUT’s Science and Engineering Faculty – Institute for Future Environments, and PhD researcher Francesca Mirri and Professor Matteo Pasquali, from Rice University in Houston, in the United States, created this breakthrough. They think the film could be embedded in a car’s body panels roof, doors, bonnet …
Firefly Flies with New Motor and Who Knows What Else?
Jean-Luc Soullier and Roman Marcinowski forge ahead on two fronts to set electric flight records. Longer term, we hope to see first flights of their motorized Windward Performance Duckhawk, modified for long-distance flights and a crossing of the Atlantic Ocean – perhaps as early as next year. In the meantime, they are putting the finishing touches on their already record-setting Colomban MC-30 Luciole (Firefly), now with its third motor, significantly larger and more powerful than previous powerplants. Making an initial test flight on October 30, Jean-Luc managed an impressive climb rate, even at partial power. Last year, the team stated their hoped-for records to come. Our next targets are : Spring/Summer 2014 New FAI world records : – Speed : minimum 200 Km/h (124 mph) – Distance : minimum 2,000Km ( 1,250 miles ) (This will probably be accomplished with the Duckhawk.) – Altitude : minimum 10,000 meters ( 32,800 Ft ) (Again, probably with the Duckhawk, although Roman says, “let’s see what …
Gaining an Edge for Energy Production and Storage
Rice University scientists who want to gain an edge in energy production and storage report they have found it in molybdenum disulfide. From Wikipedia: “Molybdenum disulfide is the inorganic compound with the formula MoS 2. The compound is classified as a metal dichalcogenide. It is a silvery black solid that occurs as the mineral molybdenite, the principal ore for molybdenum. MoS 2 is relatively unreactive. It is unaffected by dilute acids and oxygen. In appearance and feel,molybdenum disulfide is similar to graphite. It is widely used as a solid lubricant because of its low friction properties and robustness.” Let’s break down one probably unfamiliar term (it was to your editor). A chalogen is one of the members of the Vla group in the periodic table and includes oxygen, sulfur, selenium, tellurium, and polonium. Add a more electropositive element to one of those and we get a chalogenide. Double down and make it a dichalogenide, in this case a material that looks similar to graphene, but more three-dimensional, with three layers because it has slab of molybdenum sandwiched between two …
H2, Where Are You?
Elon Musk publicly disdains hydrogen-powered automobiles, but then he has $5 billion riding on his battery megafactories and continued success with his Tesla line of automobiles. Others with a more disinterested point of view discuss H2’s difficulties – and its promise as a vehicle fuel. America, for instance, has a mere 128 hydrogen fueling stations, and the European Union only 143 as of February 2012. Even with planned expansion of this infrastructure (California is spending $180 million in private and public funds on a planned 46 stations), the landscape might not be ready for large numbers of fuel cell vehicles for a decade or more. For comparison, there are about 29,000 battery-charging stations in the U. S., with both government and private enterprise offering such services. The Kohls store and all Walgreens Pharmacies in my area have plug-in stations for EVs, for instance, and the I-5 freeway, from British Columbia to Baja, California, has stations every 25 to 50 miles. With battery-powered EV and …
Solar Flight SUNSTAR – a New High-Flyer
Eric Raymond has been designing and building solar-powered aircraft for 28 years, and flew Sunseeker 1 across the United State in 1990, Sunseeker 2 over the Alps in 2009, and has started touring Italy in the world’s first two-seat sun-powered aircraft, the Duo. After three such outstanding efforts, what direction will his new design take? He took away any mystery on that today by unveiling his fourth aircraft, an optionally manned, high altitude platform, SUNSTAR. Eric claims, “more performance potential than any of the other projects now under development. “Compared to other solar UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) being developed, the Sunstar promises higher flight speeds in a turbulence-tolerant design, for operation in real world conditions.” “Sunstar takes advantage of sailplane aerodynamic design philosophy to achieve the lowest possible power requirement to maintain flight at high altitudes.” It takes technology tested on the Sunseeker Duo “to a whole new level.” Capable of unmanned flight for months at a time, the airplane …
Graphene 3D Lab’s Graphene Filaments Work Magic
Graphene 3D Lab, Inc. has demonstrated that graphene can be easily mixed with thermoplastics commonly used in fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printers. The company has demonstrated a mixture of plastics and graphene that can be turned into nanocomposite material filament which can then be used within any standard FDM 3D printer. They have managed to craft a functioning battery which may be incorporated into a 3D printed object during printing. These filaments show good thermal and electrical conductivity and are shown in the video forming a 3D printed battery. Different components require separate “printings” at present, but company CEO Dr. Daniel Stolyarov explains that future iterations of the process will be able to simultaneously produce multiple material parts. His corporate biography lists significant accomplishments. “In his previous role at Energetiq, Dr. Stolyarov and his team won the 2011 Prism Award for the Laser-Driven Light Source they developed. He has also co-authored papers with Nobel and Kavli prize winners, as well …
Solar Impulse Wrapping Up Flight Tests before Heading to Abu Dhabi
Solar Impulse 2, HB-SIB, flying now for several months, is being readied for a trip to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates and host city for Solar Impulse’s around-the-world flight. From there, early in 2015, it will embark on its around-the-world flight, alternately flown by Bertrand Piccard and Andre’ Borschberg. The program continues the drive and immense logistical planning evidenced by Solar Impulse 1’s across-America flight last year. “What better way to demonstrate the importance of the pioneering, innovatory spirit than by achieving ‘impossible’ things with renewable energy and highlighting new solutions for environmental problems?” This attitude will be necessary to overcome the challenges of five-day, cross-ocean flights each pilot will face, and to meet the meteorological conditions following the equator much of the way. The bigger, heavier SI2 will cross deserts, the Great Wall of China, and repeat its journey across America on its five-month circumnavigation of the globe. Beginning in March, 2015 from Abu Dhabi, …
Chip Yates Awarded Louis Bleriot Medal by FAI
Chip Yates, founder and head of the Flight of the Century, has been honored by the Federation Aeronautique International for records set in 2013. Chip’s web site announced the honor last week. “Record-setting entrepreneur and pioneer Chip Yates will be honored on October 16 by the World Air Sports Federation (Federation Aeronautique Internationale) for changing the course of aviation history. “Yates has been selected to receive the FAI’s Louis Bleriot Medal for his record-setting flights in 2013, which established new international landmarks in speed, altitude and distance for electric flight. “The award will be presented at the Opening Ceremony of the FAI General Conference in Pattaya, Thailand, where Yates will become part of the distinguished list of honorees since 1936 who have made outstanding contributions to aeronautics and astronautics. Prior honorees include the inspirational Dick Rutan and other aviation greats from the US, Switzerland, Austria, Canada, Italy, Finland, Australia, the UK and elsewhere. “Yates paid tribute to those who have worked with him …