Purdue Flow Battery: Safer, Less Expensive

Dean Sigler Batteries, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Promising enough to catch NBC’s attention, new flow battery technology from Purdue University promises quick refueling and up to 3,000 miles range in the electric car of the future.  If volumetric and gravimetric factors can be brought into line, this could be a useful energy storage medium for future aircraft. John Cushman, Purdue University distinguished professor of earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences and a professor of mathematics and partner Eric Nauman, professor in mechanical engineering, biomedical engineering, and in basic medical sciences, co-founded IFBattery Inc.  The pair developed a “safe and affordable” patented technology that requires replacing fluids in their battery every 300 miles, and then swapping the anode material every 3,000 miles “taking less time than is needed to do and oil change” and costing about $65.  This calculates to about 2.167 cents per mile, considerably less than the 11 cents per mile your editor’s small econobox requires just for fuel. Cushman further explains the economics from the infrastructure perspective: “It’s a game-changer for the next generation …

Batteries Following Roads Less Taken

Dean Sigler Batteries, Solar Power, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

When you come to a fork in the road, take it.  Yogi Berra Technology and new products continue to enhance the development and realization of electric and solar aircraft.  Two approaches to batteries, both of which explore roads less taken, have some promise for aircraft use. Shine Some Light on It What if your battery could be recharged just by exposing it to light?  A team of South Korean researchers, affiliated with UNIST (Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology) has developed a single-unit, photo-rechargeable portable power source based on high-efficiency silicon solar cells and lithium-ion batteries (LIBs).  Rechargeable under solar or artificial light, the unit could power other electronic devices, “even in the absence of light.” Professor Sang-Young Lee and Professor Kwanyoung Seo of Energy and Chemical Engineering at UNIST have presented a new class of monolithically integrated, portable PV–battery systems (SiPV–LIBs) based on miniaturized crystalline Si photovoltaics (c-Si PVs) and printed solid-state lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Using a thin-film printing …