Influit Going Commercial

Dean Sigler Batteries, Electric Aircraft Materials, Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation, Uncategorized Leave a Comment

Influit Energy, a spinoff from Illinois Institute of Technology, is going commercial in a big way.  They claim to have developed a “rechargeable electrofuel – a non-flammable, fast-refueling liquid flow battery that already carries 23 percent more energy than lithium batteries, at half the cost.”  Reporting by Loz Blain in New Atlas.com notes the company plans “to commercialize its ultra-high density liquid batteries.” The firm’s “nanoelectrofuel,” a motor-oil consistency liquid, would refuel a vehicle with a special four-point nozzle.  The process would allow users to be on the road or in the air in a few minutes, rather than a few hours as with batteries.  Like a battery, the liquid comes with a positive and negative component – two liquids – an anolyte and a catholyte instead of a more solid anode and cathode.  The system requires four tanks – one each for incoming positive and negative liquids and one each for spent liquids that return to the supply source …

Liquid Batteries for Aircraft?

Dean Sigler Batteries, Electric Aircraft Components, Electric Powerplants, Fuel Cells, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

NASA is investigating “the integration of nanoelectrofuel (NEF) flow batteries with rim-driven electric motors to produce a safe, clean and quiet propulsion system for aircraft,” according to Aviation Week. That is the promise of an early-stage rechargeable liquid battery technology under investigation by NASA. The agency is researching the integration of NEF flow batteries with rim-driven electric motors to produce a safe, clean and quiet propulsion system for aircraft.  The rim-driven motors are used on boats as thrusters, and may have applications on small unmanned aircraft, although researchers have seen disappointing results so far. Tying these motors to more promising research into” non-explosive energy storage technology” is part of NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center’s Aqueous Quick-Charging Battery Integration for Flight Research (Aquifer) project, along with NASA Glenn Research Center’s co-principal investigation.  A spin-off of research at Argonne National Laboratory and Illinois Institute of Technology, Influit Energy has “developed a novel type of rechargeable battery that features active energy-storing materials in …