Super Battery

sciencentral.com ^ | 6/8/06 | Victor Limjoco

[listenhillary]

Could revolutionize our energy systems if it pans out.

[RightWhale]

A house could be powered with these Leyden jars, and in case of UFO attack they could be discharged all at once in an intense beam that would vaporize the space aliens.

[GSlob]

Electrode surface is one problem, dielectric and the self-discharge [leakage] is another. If one gets a compact capacitor with really high density energy storage, a serious leak could be catastrophic. Try to short-circuit a NiCad, and watch how hot it will become, and how rapidly.

[listenhillary]

Batteries = stored energy
Most weapons = stored energy

[maine-iac7]

Could revolutionize our energy systems if it pans out.

The capacity for independent power sources, even to power all our home needs - has been available for some time - but will it ever be possible to get it past the power-producing monoliths - unless the new guys on the block have deeps pockets to line the deeper pockets in DC

[seastay]

[El Gato]

Most weapons = stored energy

Gasoline or hydrogen == stored energy.

Get the right fuel air mixture above the fluid add spark, big boom. Hydrogen a bit harder to get the boom, even the old tech Hindenburg didn't explode, but parts did burn pretty quickly.

[Bogey78O]

It'd be nice to see a hybrid AC/DC home. So many people use DC current in so many items it's horribly inefficient to transform so much of it in literally dozens of individual transformers.

The phobne company has almsot everything in their buildings wired for 48VDC which makes it extremely reliable during power outages and fluctuations.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

I thought you would find this of interest.
It has been awhile since I was a regular FR visitor but I see that you are still posting on a regular basis.

[guitar4jesus]

"It'd be nice to see a hybrid AC/DC home . . ."

There are quite a few of those in San Francisco already.

[operation clinton cleanup]

Flux Capacitor? Back to the future?

[supercat]

Electrode surface is one problem, dielectric and the self-discharge [leakage] is another. If one gets a compact capacitor with really high density energy storage, a serious leak could be catastrophic. Try to short-circuit a NiCad, and watch how hot it will become, and how rapidly.

Some applications size batteries and capacitors primarily for energy capacity, while others size them for power output. A battery or capacitor of a given size optimized for power output will hold less energy than one optimized for energy capacity. Capacitors generally hold a lot less energy, but can output a lot more power, than batteries of comparable size.

I would be surprised if the capacitor technology quickly overtakes the energy capacity of batteries that are optimized for that. For things like laptops where energy capacity is what matters, batteries will probably remain superior. On the other hand, in a hybrid car, the biggest benefit is obtained from having enough capacity to store the kinetic energy of travelling at highway speed; capacity beyond that is far less useful. Batteries with enough power to quickly get a vehicle up to highway speed will have a lot of capacity beyond that. But capacitors that can store the energy needed to reach highway speed might be smaller than such batteries. Even though their capacity would be much smaller, that wouldn't really matter.

[HiTech RedNeck]

A capacitor being a capacitor, if one storing this much power shorts out the result will be quite a devastating kablooie.

[SauronOfMordor]

He aims to achieve an energy density of 60 Wh/kg

Current Lithium-ion batteries deliver 115 to 183 Wh/Kg

So, his ultracaps charge real fast, but only pack half to a third of the energy of a battery. Which in many applications is just fine. I would think that many people would prefer a laptop which could be fully recharged with just a few seconds at any handy outlet, even if you had to charge it 2 or 3 times as often

An issue of potential concern is that if an ultracap is damaged, it may be possible that it will liberate all its stored energy rather suddenly (as in "bang"). For comparison purposes, dynamite has an energy density of 4,300 KJ/kg versus about 200 KJ/kg for the ultracap, but you still would not to have that going off in your lap

[SauronOfMordor]

On the other hand, in a hybrid car, the biggest benefit is obtained from having enough capacity to store the kinetic energy of travelling at highway speed; capacity beyond that is far less useful. Batteries with enough power to quickly get a vehicle up to highway speed will have a lot of capacity beyond that. But capacitors that can store the energy needed to reach highway speed might be smaller than such batteries. Even though their capacity would be much smaller, that wouldn't really matter.

I could see this being a big application. Most of the time, you are using the full power of your engine for only a few seconds at a time, namely when you are accelerating. Having an ultracap providing a power boost at such times would make a small-engined car seem to have much more "pep"

[oyez]

Something like that caused the fire on the USS Oriskany. A joint between to dissimilar metals with the corrosion had set up an unintentional battery. It discharged on a A4's arming circuit, firing a 5" rocket down the flight deck.

[Robert A Cook PE]

Lettuce see if it works.

MIT get royalties off this? Or, since its taxpayer money they're researchin' with, do we get rebate on taxes from these guys?


(Don't bet on it.)

[AntiGuv]

FutureTechPing!

An emergent technologies list covering biomedical research, fusion power, nanotech, AI robotics, and other related fields. FReepmail to join or drop.

[strategofr]

"Could revolutionize our energy systems if it pans out."

Yeah, but in cases like this the "if" is the biggest part of the statement.