Dean Kamen's Magic Stirling Engine

...the Stirling, was invented in 1816 by Scottish clergyman Robert Stirling. He found that alternately heating and cooling gases in a closed system could create power to do work, such as drive a piston. But...the Stirling was mostly forgotten, even though its simple concept is “elegant, it’s brilliant,” Kamen says. But its time to shine might be now. All-electric cars still suffer from wimpy batteries that limit driving range and refuel slowly. “The energy you can carry around in a liter of gasoline is 100 times higher than you can carry in the same size and weight of a battery,” Kamen says. “And that’s going to be true for a long time.” _CSMonitor_via_Keelynet

The Stirling engine has long been a solution looking for a problem. But inventor Dean Kamen seems to have found more than one good use for the venerable heat engine.

Mr. Kamen, an inventor and entrepreneur perhaps best known for the two-wheel Segway Human Transporter, doesn’t want to get into the car business himself. He just wants to see the Stirling engine that helps power the REVOLT be mass produced for vehicles. That would drive down the price, he says, and allow it to be cost-effective in another role: as a miniature electric plant for villages in the developing world.

A Stirling can run on just about anything that creates heat, from gasoline, kerosene, and ethanol, to natural gas, propane, hydrogen, and, yes, the methane given off by animal manure.

In a recent test, two villages in Bangladesh ran Stirling engines to create electricity for 24 weeks – using only cow dung for fuel. “We’re pretty excited about that,” Kamen says. _CSMonitor

The best power plant for a hybrid automobile will be a fuel cell running on a simple liquid fuel like methanol. The next best power plant may very well be a Stirling engine -- which can be available in quantity now, unlike the fuel cell which will take a few more years of development to perfect. Hybrid cars need a constant power source for charging the batteries. Stirling engines can plug away at constant speed, day after day, year after year, without complaint.

Using a sophisticated internal combustion engine in a serial hybrid automobile is expensive and unnecessary. A turbine engine would be ideal except for the expense, the noise, and its sensitivity to teenage driving habits. The Stirling makes sense, until low cost methanol powered fuel cells are perfected for autos. Even then, cost factors may well favour the Stirling.

These issues will not be settled in the US auto market, due to the massive amount of regulation crushing the US auto industry. But the rest of the world may begin to gain confidence, as the Obama depression wears on, killing the US economy and US credibility in world markets.

30 Cents a Gallon Ethanol, Honda Co-Generates?

ZeaChem and Coskata are promising high volume bio-ethanol at US $1 a gallon, by 2012. New Canadian startup Syntec promises even cheaper bio-ethanol--40 cents a gallon.

The Syntec B2A technology, initially developed at the University of British Columbia, is focused on second-generation cellulosic ethanol production. The Syntec process parallels the low-pressure catalytic synthesis process used by methanol producers. Syntec's innovative technology uses any renewable waste biomass such as hard or soft wood, sawdust or bark, organic waste, agricultural waste (including sugar cane bagasse and corn stover), and switch-grass to produce syngas. This syngas, comprised of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, is then scrubbed and passed through a fixed bed reactor containing the Syntec catalysts to produce ethanol, methanol and higher order alcohols. The Syntec technology can also produce alcohols from biogas (sourced from anaerobic digestion of manure and effluent), landfill gas or stranded methane.__NextEnergy

Better information regarding the efficiencies of biofuels indicates that recent articles published in Science that were extremely critical of biofuels efficiencies, were highly misleading. The category of "biofuels" is too wide, varied, and inclusive to be susceptible to simplistic analyses such as were presented in the articles referred to by the link above.

The waste heat from internal combustion engines used in passenger and freight vehicles could be put to better use than heating the atmosphere. Honda is looking to put heat-mining technology in its hybrid vehicles.

Honda is exploring the use of a Rankine cycle co-generation unit to improve the overall efficiency of a hybrid vehicle by recapturing waste exhaust heat from the internal combustion engine and converting it to electricity to recharge the battery pack. Honda engineer Kensaku Yamamoto presented an overview of the work in a paper at the 2008 SAE Hybrid Vehicle Technology Symposium in San Diego.

Test results showed that in 100 kph (62 miles/hour) constant-speed driving, the use of the Rankine cycle improved the thermal efficiency of the engine by 3.8%. In the US highway cycle, the Rankine cycle system regenerated three times as much energy as the vehicle’s regenerative braking system.___GCC __via_Ecogeek

Hopeful discoveries in gas storage technology may make gas-phase powered vehicles more feasible.

In the case of gas storage, MOFs offer the crucial advantage of soaking up some of the gas pressure exerted by the molecules. This makes hydrogen derived from non-fossil energy sources such as biomass, or even genetically engineered plants, potentially viable as a fuel for cars while the alternative of pressurised canisters is not, says Ferey. The key difference is that the amount of gas stored in a conventional cylinder at say 200 atmospheres pressure could be accommodated in an MOF vessel of the same size at just 30 atmospheres, which is much safer...The porous nature of MOFs enables them to be exploited in quite another way as catalysts to accelerate chemical reactions for a wide variety of materials production and pharmaceutical applications, although this field, as Ferey noted, is still in its infancy. ____Source

This technology will likely require another ten or more years to become available for production model vehicles. By then, it is likely that series hybrids powered by bio:fuel cells will be common, incorporating a number of different ways of capturing waste heat to re-charge auxiliary batteries and super-capacitors.

Ultracapacitor -- Battery: Hybrid Electric Power

Combining the high energy density of batteries with the high power density of ultracapacitors, provides a better power profile than either alone. From Australia's CSIRO:

The UltraBattery combines a supercapacitor and a lead acid battery that, according to the CSIRO, creates a hybrid car battery that lasts longer, costs less and is more powerful than current technologies.

"Previous tests show the UltraBattery has a life cycle that is at least four times longer and produces 50 per cent more power than conventional battery systems," Mr Lamb said.

"It's also about 70 per cent cheaper than the batteries currently used in HEVs."

Australian Much more on CSIRO at Brian Wang's Blog

Or from the British Motor Show, a Mini-Coop conversion incorporated battery-ultracap hybrid power:

At the recent British Motor Show, PML Flightlink and its partner Synergy Innovations showed a MINI QED — an in-wheel, plug-in, series hybrid conversion of a MINI, which many would agree is a fun car to drive even before these developers achieved an ability to accelerate from 0-60 in 4.5 seconds.....PML Flightlink put 350V worth of 11 Farad ultra capacitors into its Mini QED prototype. The ultra capacitors accept power from regen braking and discharge when high current is required for acceleration.

Source

A Chinese hybrid car effort uses batteries with ultracaps:

For Maxwell Technologies and Tianjin Lishen Battery, hybrid describes a new sort of energy storage product that combines ultracapacitors with lithium-ion batteries. The two companies recently announced they would partner up to produce this hybrid power source, and samples should be available early next year, possibly in EVs....David Schramm, Maxwell's president and chief executive officer, said this hybrid tech "will give end-users the best of both worlds in terms of the long cycle life, rapid charge/discharge characteristics and low temperature performance of ultracapacitors and the large energy storage capacity of lithium-ion batteries."

Source

Secretive Texas startup EESTOR seems to be developing a combination battery/ultracapacitor that is attracting investment from Lockheed Martin, and intense investigation by GMC.

The combining of battery and capacitor attributes is quite exciting. Capacitors are very fast acting allowing very quick charge and discharge abilities that will dramatically improve the usefulness of devices that are self-storage powered. Whether a cell phone, laptop or automobile these attributes will have a strong positive impact in usefulness and consumer adoption.

New Energy

This is the basic idea behind the combination approach:

As a quick energy storage platform, a supercapacitor can charge or discharge in a time of mere microseconds to seconds, whereas batteries take minutes to hours. However, the energy density for batteries is much higher. Hence many believe that the ideal backup energy storage device would be a hybrid of battery and supercapacitor. To be useful in that role, however, supercapacitors must be easily made and integrated onto chips.

Source

Here is an interesting combination of fuel cell, supercapacitor, and battery (my favoured approach):

A fuel cell system that employs a super capacitor and battery electrically coupled in series with each other and in parallel with a fuel cell stack on a power bus line. As the voltage on the power bus line changes over the operating requirements of the system, the super capacitor is charged and discharged over a relatively large voltage swing, such as an 85% SOC swing. The super capacitor equalizes or voltage matches the voltage variation on the power bus line as set by the stack voltage to the voltage of the battery. Therefore, the battery, while providing the majority of the energy and power during charge and discharge, has a relatively small defined SOC swing, which acts to maintain the battery life.

Source

Here is a combo hybrid for delivery vans:

Azure Dynamics is perhaps the best example; they have built delivery vans with electric drives that included super capacitors. With the decreasing size of such energy storage, there even has been a “proof-of-concept” car. But, such an approach, sending “regen” from brakes and suspension into the “power-rich”,ultra capacitor module1, which then gets depleted before any additional charge is drawn from the battery module

Source

These are just a few examples of various attempts to achieve the electrodynamic "sweet spot" that will painlessly replace internal combustion engines with electric drive. We still need some breakthroughs in nano-materials, nano-assembly, and nano power electronics. But it is happening.

Energy Links ++

One of the more interesting themes in the age of higher oil prices, is the move to turn garbage into energy. The latest effort to do this is a partnership between startup Coskata and General Motors. Coskata aims to produce ethanol from garbage, waste, and old tires.

The new US Geothermal Inc. Idaho geothermal power plant utilises a binary cycle technology.

The Raft River project employs binary cycle technology, in which the geothermal fluid is pumped through a heat exchanger to vaporize isopentane, an organic compound that vaporizes at lower temperatures than water. The isopentane vapor drives a turbine, which spins a generator to produce power. The vapor that exhausts from the turbine is then condensed and returned to the geothermal heat exchanger, forming a closed loop....A new report from the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA) claims that binary cycle technology revolutionized the geothermal power industry by allowing power production from medium-temperature geothermal resources.

Source
GM announced the 2009 Saturn "pluggable hybrid" with "two-mode" transmission. The design incorporates regenerative braking, and the ability to combine electric drive with gasoline engine drive for extra power. With a 3.6 liter V6, it should leave other hybrids in the dust.

This ultracapacitor hybrid may turn out to be an example of wishful thinking (150 mpg), but it is clear that the only way to replace internal combustion engines with electric power at this time, is to use batteries + ultracapacitors, with the possible addition of fuel cells.

What is the sound of a banana farting? Vrrroooom! Methane from banana peels and stems may be just the ticket for the methane moon rocket.
With the possibility of a little ice age appearing on the near horizon, it may be time to learn to live with ice--a lot of ice. You may want to schedule your next vacation in one of the ice hotels above.

But just because we will be living in ice is no reason to accept ice crystals in our ice cream. This edible antifreeze may be what we need to keep our frozen desserts nice and creamy.

New Volvo Pluggable Concept Car Has No Driveshaft or Transmission--60 Miles on a 3 Hour Charge

Before you get too excited, you should know that this car will not see production before 2015 at the soonest. The four independent electric motors are built into the wheels, and the only power connection to the wheels is a power cable from the battery. The 1.6 liter flex-fuel engine is only there to keep the batteries charged.

When fully charged the Volvo ReCharge Concept can be driven approximately 62 miles on battery power alone before the car's four-cylinder 1.6 Flexifuel engine1 is needed to power the car and recharge the battery. The concept car also retains the Volvo C30's lively and sporty drive thanks to an acceleration figure of 0-62mph in 9 seconds and a top speed of 100mph.

"This is a groundbreaking innovation for sustainable transportation. This plug-in hybrid car, when used as intended, should have about 66 percent lower emissions of carbon dioxide compared with the best hybrid cars available on the market today. Emissions may be even lower if most of the electricity comes from CO2-friendly sources such as biogas, hydropower and nuclear power. A person driving less than 60 miles per day will rarely need to visit a filling station.

...During a journey the combustion engine starts up automatically when 70 percent of the battery power has been used up. However, the driver also has the option of controlling the four-cylinder Flexifuel engine manually via a button in the control panel. This allows the driver to start the engine earlier in order to maximise battery charge, for instance when out on a motorway in order to save battery capacity for driving through the next town.

* The battery pack integrated into the boot uses lithium-polymer battery technology. The batteries are intended to have a useful life beyond that of the car itself.
* Four electric motors, one at each wheel, provide independent traction power.
* Four-cylinder 1.6-litre Flexifuel engine drives an advanced generator that efficiently powers the wheel motors when the battery is depleted.

...The central electrical components in the Volvo ReCharge Concept – the generator for the APU and the wheel motors – were developed together with British electromagnetic specialists PML Flightlink.

With an individual electric motor at each wheel, weight distribution as well as mechanical efficiency and traction are maximised and the friction in mechanical gears is eliminated. Since the car does not have the transmission found in ordinary cars, there is no need for a gear lever.

...The energy that is generated during braking is transmitted to the battery pack. When the system is ultimately developed, traditional wheel brakes will be completely replaced by electrical brakes with minimal energy wasted through friction. To ensure reliable operation of the drivetrain and braking system, driver inputs are fed into a quadruple-redundant electronic control system.

Source
Hat tip Gizmag

Energy No-Brainer: Pluggable Hybrid Automobiles

First of all, what is a pluggable hybrid? Also called a Plug-in Hybrid, a pluggable hybrid is a car that can be powered by either internal combustion engine or electric motor--but it has larger batteries than conventional hybrids, and you can plug it in overnight to use inexpensive power grid energy for your daily commute. That constitutes a major shift in energy use from petrol to grid electricity. If the grid electricity comes from renewables (or nuclear), you can commute to work all week in a pluggable hybrid, without burning fossil fuel.

Among those who follow energy trends, the pluggable hybrid has become quite popular. Which makes many people wonder, why has Toyota gone to great lengths to distance itself from the pluggable hybrid concept?

On Tuesday, a Toyota representative wrote to an individual, "we do not currently have any announced plans to introduce a plug-in hybrid Toyota vehicle in the U.S." Find an expert who could say if that's intentionally evasive. (See our chronology of all automakers comments in the past year at http://www.calcars.org/carmakers.html .)

In a story broadcast today on NPR All Things Considered, you can hear spokeswoman Cindy Knight say, "You can certainly make a vehicle that will run, but you can't necessarily make a vehicle that people will buy.... Toyota went to great lengths to address the drawbacks of battery vehicles so that people do not have to plug our hybrids in, and our customers tell us that that is one of the features they like about the vehicle, they don't have to plug it in."

If the big carmakers distance themselves from this obviously winning concept, smaller players will rush in to fill the gap. Jim at the Energy Blog keeps close track of developments in pluggable hybrids, and he has a full array of energy links. Jim's place is an excellent site for following the progress in this war of the vehicular power plants.

Check out this Al Fin post for some of the underlying energy issues involved in the transition from internal combustion engines to fuel cell/supercapacitor/battery powered electric motor vehicles. The pluggable hybrid is a very useful intermediate step in the transition. No matter what the big auto manufacturers do, they cannot stop it from happening.

OBVIO! From the San Francisco Intl. Auto Show

Gizmag has a feature about a new Brazilian "trybrid" automobile that can run on gasoline, ethanol, any combination of the two, or electric motor. Realistically, it is a hybrid with an internal combustion engine and an electric motor. But the ICE can run on gasoline, ethanol, or any combination. So please excuse them for calling it a "trybrid."

Brazil has made ethanol a signature technology for the national economy. Sugar cane produced ethanol is more efficient than corn produced ethanol. Many economists believe the yield is not economical, even with cane. Time will tell.

Regardless, the automobile itself has many interesting features, including a continuously variable transmission, which might attract some buyers, and certainly will attract curiosity seekers.

My point of view is that pluggable hybrids (using any number of ICE fuels) are the most logical technology for driving automobiles at this time. Fossil fuels are an excellent mobile store of energy, but they do contribute to pollution, and the hydrocarbons could probably be better used as chemical feedstocks.