Duke university professor of electrical and computer engineering Steven Cummer and his colleagues used metamaterials the combination of natural materials in repeating patterns to achieve unnatural properties.
which means batteries used for buildings, the grid and even homes. As wee reported before,
it could make energy grid storage much more economical. Batteries for the grid at current prices are largely too expensive for most projects.
There a handful of companies that are trying to innovate around using batteries for grid storage
but if Tesla could get the battery price low enough it can potentially disrupt grid storage, too.
Lower-cost lithium-ion batteries could make clean energy much more viable. Pairing battery farms with wind and solar panel farms would enable clean power to store energy
#Pointwise Adds Overset Grid Assembly to CFD Meshing Software Today Pointwise announced the latest release of its computational fluid dynamics (CFD) meshing software featuring direct integration with overset grid
The integration of grid generation and overset grid assembly represents a vast improvement over the hodge-podge of disparate tools typically employed by practitioners of overset CFD,
multi-block grids by allowing the component grid blocks to overlap. The price paid for that flexibility is need the to ensure a sufficient degree of overlap so the CFD solver can accurately share data between the component grids.
The overlap is computed using overset grid assembly software. Users of OGA software typically rely on a circuitous collection of homegrown tools that are patched together.
By integrating OGA (in the form of the PEGASUS and Suggar++software packages) with Pointwise the entire process is made more efficient.
long-time sponsor of and participant in the biannual Overset Grid Symposium, said John Chawner, Pointwise president. his release of Pointwise helps us continue our integral relationship with that community.
plasma-based unit to generate sodium cyanide at the mine itself. This technology eliminates the need to transport,
As a result of this technology and other developments, Imergy will be able to lower the cost of its flow batteries from $500 a kilowatt hour, already an industry benchmark, to under $300 per kilowatt hour.
because solar panels can return power to the grid and make your meter spin backwards. Japanese companies are fascinated with net-zero energy buildings,
The automaker has made a splash with its vehicle-to-grid technology but now it getting more serious with the Honda Smart Home on the campus of the University of California at Davis
reporting results by clicking on relevant numbers in a grid on the screen. Using brain imaging techniques, the scientists measured levels and locations of dopamine receptors in brain areas of interest in each participant before and after training.
For the latest study, the researchers turned to metamaterials#artificial structures patterned to interact with light in exotic ways.
the Duke system uses a stationary metamaterial aperture, a strip that guides microwaves to a single sensor.
The returning waves are collected then by the metamaterial aperture. As microwaves travel down the metamaterial strip,
they interact with patterns etched along its surface. These patterns prevent light from travelling down the strip depending on the direction it's coming from,
The group hopes to make a three-dimensional video system by using a metamaterial array rather than a strip.
He says that the metamaterial aperture could also be used to simplify radar systems and infrared imaging n
and would be the first plant to actually contribute power to an electric grid.""It is a very smart strategy to take advantage of the experience gained in constructing ITER
such as the insides of power-station turbines, where condensation reduces efficiency. As a result, engineers are eager to get their hands on tough materials that are intrinsically hydrophobic.
As steam passes through the turbines of a thermal power station water condenses onto the blades and forms droplets many micrometres across.
The rotating blades lose energy as they smash into these droplets, accounting for up to 30%of the inefficiency of the turbine,
and energy of the light (see Metamaterial TV). The device is sensitive enough to pick up a signal even from materials that are barely luminescent, such as metals.
The effect had been predicted in such layered structures, called metamaterials, but observing it required a higher-resolution map of light emission than earlier techniques could produce.
before chemical reactions convert the liquid back to hydrogen where it is needed#for example to provide power to off-grid villages,
is in communities that are isolated from the electricity grid but rely on harvesting renewable energy and storing it as hydrogen,
when the charged plasma cooled into neutral atoms, that those photons could fly freely. Today they make up the CMB,
and neutral atoms of hydrogen and helium were beginning to form from the seething mass of charged plasma.
and Technology, relies on engineered materials known as metamaterials and was used to create the tiny, 50-micrometer-wide Missouri S&t athletic logo seen above.
#Floating, Touchable'Fairy Lights'Unveiled A team of researchers from Japan has found a way to use a high-speed laser to create a touchable plasma display in mid-air.
Nagoya Institute of technology and the University of Tokyo believe their laser-induced plasma, which they've dubbed"Fairy Lights,
Laser-induced plasma can also be controlled precisely. The researchers behind the project believe the technology has several applications,
thanks to tiny etchings made with oxygen plasma. Because of these slight differences, the stem cells developed into different types of cardiac tissue cells
as well as for producing distributed power systems not connected to the grid. But SOFCS also have their drawbacks.
Instead of forcing the units to stay in a rigid grid the team allowed them to shift making the simulation more accurate as well as more computationally efficient than previous ones.
An unexpected pattern has been glimpsed in the solar wind the turbulent plasma of charged particles that streams from the sun. It offers clues for handling plasmas that roil inside nuclear fusion reactors On earth.
These create energy in the same way as the sun by fusing a superheated plasma of hydrogen nuclei to form helium.
Though less dense and cooler than the hydrogen of a fusion reactor the wind is a plasma
By adding the fractal behaviour to their plasma models fusion scientists may be able to control turbulence
which can cause plasma to escape the magnetic field containing it in the reactor. They may also be able to use turbulence to disrupt high energy plasma blobs that can rip holes in the reactor.
These results look very promising says Todd Evans of nuclear energy firm General Atomics in San diego California.
#Earth raises a plasma shield to battle solar storms Earth can raise shields to protect itself against solar storms.
For the first time satellites and ground-based detectors have watched as the planet sends out a tendril of plasma to fight off blasts of charged solar matter.
and the resulting plasma becomes trapped by magnetic fields in a doughnut-shaped ring around the planet.
Theory had suggested that an extra-strong electric field from the sun can rip plasma away from the plasmasphere during reconnection triggering a plume.
and saw a tendril of increased electron density curling away from the north pole indicating that a plume of plasma was veering off towards the sun. At the same time three of NASA's THEMIS spacecraft
For the first time we were able to monitor the entire cycle of this plasma stretching from the atmosphere to the boundary between Earth's magnetic field
Not every solar storm generates a plasma plume which means ground-based observations will continue to be vital for understanding the phenomenon.
These are bright regions where hot plasma wells up surrounded by darker boundaries where it cools
Our solar system has a tail reminiscent of a four-leaf clover according to new observations of the plasma bubble that shields the solar system from the rest of the galaxy.
At the same time a stream of particles blowing out from the sun the solar wind inflates a bubble of plasma around the solar system called the heliosphere Astronomers have assumed long that the sun's motion through the galaxy squashes
These studies include technology policy reports focused on nuclear power coal natural gas and the smart electric grid.
#Bacteria become genomic tape recorders MIT engineers have transformed the genome of the bacterium E coli into a long-term storage device for memory.
Rather than treating each individual cell as a digital storage device Farzadfard and Lu treat an entire population of cells as an analog hard drive greatly increasing the total amount of information that can be stored
This means that in the United states, most towers for 2-or 3-megawatt turbines are limited to about 260 feet.
based on the force exerted on a turbine, you want something at least 20 feet in diameter at the base,
and other turbine makers, to plan out full-scale production, and is raising investments to construct the first commercial scale machine.
because trees block wind from the state shorter turbines. In the Midwest, wind energy has reached already grid-parity,
undercutting even today low-cost natural gas but in areas like New england and the Southeast, taller towers are needed to reach the strong winds that make wind energy economically feasible. nce youe at the heights wee looking at,
t really opens up the whole country for turbines to capture large amounts of energy. l
Then they expose the array to a plasma rich in carbon. The nanotubes grow up under the catalyst particles
a plasma then etches the material away according to the pattern. The recipe is the gases power pressure level time
#High-flying turbine produces more power For Altaeros Energies a startup launched out of MIT the sky s the limit
Proven to produce double the energy of similarly sized tower-mounted turbines the system called Buoyant Air Turbine
Power generated by the turbine travels down one of the tethers to the ground station before being passed along to microgrids.
But despite its efficiency the BAT is designed not to replace conventional tower-mounted turbines Rein says.
Instead its purpose is to bring wind power to remote off-grid areas where towers aren t practically or economically feasible.
Conventional turbine construction for instance requires tons of concrete and the use of cranes which can be difficult to maneuver around certain sites.
But if winds get too high above the maximum capacity of the turbine there s no reason to operate in those very strong winds
enabling a pay-as-you-go electricity system for people off the grid. But the true novelty is in its connectivity:
an EECS Phd student studying power electronics, said during the team pitch. t empowers users to build their own grid, from the ground up,
Among other things, she is now studying the financing of small-scale distributed solar power in areas of Kenya without either a formal grid or established banking systems;
which collectively form a grid; each location in the grid corresponds to a pixel in the final image.
The technique known as raster scanning is how old cathode ray tube-tube televisions produced images illuminating one phosphor dot on the screen at a time.
The laser will generally fire a large number of times at each grid position until it gets consistent enough measurements between the times at
The MIT researchers system by contrast fires repeated bursts of light from each position in the grid only until it detects a single reflected photon;
For example, the turbine blades in electric power plants become less efficient if water builds up on their surfaces. f you can make the blades stay dry longer,
Knowing that about 82 percent of Tanzanians more than 35 million households live off-grid, GCS began going to the villages and selling solar-powered lamps, which also charge cellphones.
Light interaction with graphene produces particles called plasmons while light interacting with hbn produces phonons.
the plasmons and phonons can couple, producing a strong resonance. The properties of the graphene allow precise control over light,
an ion crystal essentially, a grid of charged atoms in order to study friction effects, atom by atom.
The company is initially focusing on grid-scale installations, used to help smooth out power loads
A similar effect can be realized at a much smaller scale by using arrays of metallic nanostructures since light of certain wavelengths excites collective oscillations of free electrons known as plasmon resonances in such structures.
The plasmon resonance wavelength varies sensitively with the dimensions of the nanostructures. Consequently by varying the diameter of the four aluminum nanodisks in a pixel (all four nanodisks having the same diameter) the scientists were able to produce about 15 distinct colors#a good start
Heterostructured nanoparticles can be used as catalysts and in advanced energy conversion and storage systems. Typically these nanoparticles are created from tiny seeds of one material on top of
The result was achieved by improving selective wire-growth processes to produce one nanowire of controlled diameter per mask-grid opening over a range of diameters from 100 nm to 200 nm.
They are used mostly in any type of device where rapid power storage and short but powerful energy release is needed.
Other applications of nanoporous metals include supporting the development of new metamaterials (engineered materials) for radiation-enhanced filtering
(or reflected light through the tunneling of surface plasmons a feature widely usable by light-emitting devices plasmonic lithography refractive-index-based sensing and all-optical switching.
When associate professor Qi Hua Fan of the electrical engineering and computer science department set out to make a less expensive supercapacitor for storing renewable energy he developed a new plasma technology that will streamline the production of display screens.
and plasma technologies Fan was named researcher of the year for the Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering.
Through this project Fan developed a faster way of treating the biochar particles using a new technology called plasma activation.
Treating means you use plasma to change the material surface such as creating pores Fan said.
The plasma treatment activates the biochar in five minutes and at room temperature Fan explained. Conventional chemical activation takes several hours to complete
Plasma processing is a very critical technology in modern optoelectronic materials and devices Fan explained.
The high-energy plasma can deposit highly transparent and conductive thin films create high quality semiconductors and pattern micro-or nanoscale devices thus making the display images brighter and clearer.
Fan will work with Wintek to develop a prototype plasma system. The activation method has the potential to improve production efficiency saving time and energy he noted d
#Method for symmetry-breaking in feedback-driven self-assembly of optical metamaterials (Phys. org) If you can uniformly break the symmetry of nanorod pairs in a colloidal solution you're a step ahead of the game toward achieving new and exciting metamaterial properties.
But traditional thermodynamic-driven colloidal assembly of these metamaterials which are defined materials by their non-naturally-occurring properties often result in structures with high degree of symmetries in the bulk material.
and his research group at the University of California (UC) Berkeley achieved symmetry-breaking in a bulk metamaterial solution for the first time.
The widely used method of metamaterial synthesis is top-down fabrication such as electron beam or focus ion beam lithography that often results in strongly anisotropic and small-scale metamaterials.
People build metamaterials using top-down methods that include light exposure and electron beam exposure which are inefficient and costly says Xingjie Ni another lead author on the paper.
If we want to use metamaterials we need to develop a way to build them cheaply and efficiently.
The bottom-up route fills these requirements. Starting with a solution of colloidal nanorods Yang and Ni built on the common self-assembly technique used to build nanoparticles.
to the system that is going to use it (thermal storage systems, steam generators, chemical reactors, etc..The most widely used thermal fluids are water, ethylene glycol, thermal oils and molten salts.
Then they expose the array to a plasma rich in carbon. The nanotubes grow up under the catalyst particles
a plasma then etches the material away according to the pattern. The recipe is the gases power pressure level time
If we keep the electrical machine design parameters unchanged and only replace copper with future carbon nanotube wires it is possible to reduce the Joule losses in the windings to half of the present-day machine losses.
For this reason the Joule losses are referred often to as copper losses. The carbon nanotube yarn does not have a definite upper limit for conductivity (e g. values of 100 MS/m have already been measured.
Researchers seek broadband/multiband electromagnetic absorbers based on plasmonic and metamaterial structure r
#'Stealth'nanoparticles could improve cancer vaccines Cancer vaccines have emerged recently as a promising approach for killing tumor cells before they spread.
similar to the collagen grid that naturally supports the cells in the heart. Over time, the cells come together to form a tissue that generates its own electrical impulses
According to Dr. Dvir, recent efforts in the scientific world focus on the use of scaffolds from pig hearts to supply the collagen grid
Particle size and chemical composition are determined by dynamic light scattering, analytical centrifugation, electron microscopy and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS),
The light whizzing past generates plasmons: collective oscillations of electrons.""The plasmons pull the light wave a little further out of the glass microsphere,
"Vollmer explains. This amplifies the field strength of the light wave by a factor of more than a thousand.
"The Greer lab is now aggressively pursuing various ways of scaling up the production of these so-called metamaterials a
Using a laser to excite electromagnetic waves called plasmons at the surface of the wire the researchers found that the Mos2 flake at the far end of the wire generated strong light emission.
Going in the other direction as the excited electrons relaxed they were collected by the wire and converted back into plasmons
We have found that there is pronounced nanoscale light-matter interaction between plasmons and atomically thin material that can be exploited for nanophotonic integrated circuits said Nick Vamivakas assistant professor of quantum optics and quantum physics at the University of Rochester and senior author of the paper.
Typically about a third of the remaining energy would be lost for every few microns (millionths of a meter) the plasmons traveled along the wire explained Kenneth Goodfellow a graduate student at Rochester's Institute of Optics
K. Goodfellow R. Beams C. Chakraborty L. Novotny A n. Vamivakas Integrated nanophotonics based on nanowire plasmons and atomically-thin material Optica Vol. 1 Issue
The graphene gel provides the same functionality as porous carbon a material currently sourced from coconut husks for use in supercapacitors and other energy conversion and storage technologies but with vastly enhanced performance.
The color photodetector resulted from a $6 million research program funded by the Office of Naval Research that aimed to mimic cephalopod skin using metamaterials compounds that blur the line between material and machine.
The metallic nanostructures use surface plasmons waves of electrons that flow like a fluid across metal surfaces.
Light of a specific wavelength can excite a plasmon and LANP researchers often create devices where plasmons interact sometimes with dramatic effects.
With plasmonic gratings not only do you get color tunability you can also enhance near fields Zheng said.
the new holograms could have applications in 3d displays and information storage devices, among others.""This experiment is inspired by the very unique optical properties shown by the Lycurgus cup,
Current state-of-the-art ECS generally use porous activated carbon electrodes with energy densities much lower than lead acid batteries to 5 watt hours per kilogram vs. 25 to 35 watt hours per kilogram (5
to 7 watt hours per liter vs 50 to 90 watt hours per liter. In their study, published online August 8 in the journal Nature Communications, the CNSI researchers led by Duan used a highly interconnected 3d holey graphene framework as the electrode material to create an EC with unprecedented performance.
and ions and enabling the highest gravimetric energy densities of 127 watt hours per kilogram and volumetric energy density of 90 watt hours per liter.
Furthermore, the team has shown that a fully packaged EC exhibits unparalleled energy densities of 35 watt hours per kilogram (49 watt hours per liter) bout five to 10 times higher than current commercial supercapacitors and on a par
UC Berkeley professor of mechanical engineering, has found a way to dramatically increase the sensitivity of a light-based plasmon sensor to detect incredibly minute concentrations of explosives.
"The ability to magnify such a small trace of an explosive to create a detectable signal is a major development in plasmon sensor technology,
Unstable and hungry for electrons The nanoscale plasmon sensor used in the lab experiments is much smaller than other explosive detectors on the market.
Because of this, the researchers are hopeful that their plasmon laser sensor could detect pentaerythritol tetranitrate, or PETN, an explosive compound considered a favorite of terrorists.
Latest generation of plasmon sensors The sensor represents the latest milestone in surface plasmon sensor technology,
By coupling electromagnetic waves with surface plasmons the oscillating electrons found at the surface of metals,
The new device builds upon earlier work in plasmon lasers by Zhang's lab that compensated for this light leakage by using reflectors to bounce the surface plasmons back and forth inside the sensor similar to the way sound waves are reflected across the room
Zhang said the amplified sensor creates a much stronger signal than the passive plasmon sensors currently available
"Halas, the Stanley C. Moore Professor in Electrical and Computer engineering and a professor of biomedical engineering, chemistry, physics and astronomy at Rice, said the potential applications for SECARS include chemical and biological sensing as well as metamaterials research.
During the 1990s'researchers found that plasmons, tiny waves of electrons in metallic surfaces that appear
the plasmons in the nanoparticles enhance the Raman signal coming from the molecules that have to be detected with several orders of magnitude.
whose lab created the study's crystalline magnetic carbon nanoparticle using an electric plasma discharge inside a toulene solution.
meaning they could lead to new acoustic metamaterials, Fang says, that could help control how waves bend over a curved surface.
such as optical coatings and photovoltaic and magnetic storage devices, require planar geometry, "said Sunita Srivastava, a Stony Brook University postdoctoral researcher and the lead author on the paper.
carbon nanotube clusters architecture via chemical vapor deposition and inductively coupled plasma treatment. Lithium ion batteries based on this novel architecture demonstrate a high reversible capacity and excellent cycling stability.
New nanotech may provide power storage in electric cables clothes Imagine being able to carry all the juice you needed to power your MP3 PLAYER, smartphone and electric car in the fabric of your jacket?
and releasing electrical charge while subject to stresses or pressures up to 44 psi and vibrational accelerations over 80 g (significantly greater than those acting on turbine blades in a jet engine).
In 2010 they successfully obtained funding for the project called SPEDOC (Surface Plasmon Early Detection of Circulating Heat shock proteins and Tumor Cells) under the 7th Framework Program (FP7) of the European commission.
A tile got hit on launch allowing reentry heat to go through one of the wings like a plasma torch!
and the liquid hydrogen to run a closed cycle helium turbine. The turbine powers a compressor takes the cooled air
and compresses it to rocket chamber pressure. It takes 20 kwh/kg to liquefy hydrogen.
Its energy harvesting capabilities come courtesy of a metamaterial a synthetic material engineered with characteristics not found in nature like the ability to bend light the wrong way
In this case the microwave-harvesting metamaterial that acts kind of like a solar panel converting microwaves into up to 7. 3 volts of electricity enough to charge small electronics.
and sound energy harvestingâ#according to Duke graduate student Alexander Katko one of the inventors. â##Until now a lot of work with metamaterials has been theoretical.
State-run news agency Ria Novosti has said that it will carry dust monitors and plasma sensors to sense high-energy cosmic rays as well.
The fully autonomous lighter-than-air BAT (short for buoyant airborne turbine) will climb as high as 2000 feet where winds blow stronger and steadier.
A The body or shroud of Altaeros's Buoyant Airborne Turbine (BAT) is kept aloft by 1000 cubic meters of helium.
B The first commercial BAT will house a 30-kilowatt turbine which could power roughly a dozen homes.
A larger version will fly a 200-kilowatt turbine. The BAT can also carry radio and cellular antennae
One contains copper conductors that transmit power collected as high as 2000 feet down to a battery or the grid.
communities around the world too remote to access an electrical grid. Often they must rely on diesel generators--one of the least-efficient power sources
Altaeros is also in talks with potential customers in Brazil and India where listless ground winds scuttle conventional turbines.
Whereas Makani and others aim to develop utility-scale turbines capable of powering hundreds to thousands of homes Altaeros plans to sell modest units that fill an immediate niche.
Eventually Altaeros also hopes to produce a utility-scale turbine--one tailored for offshore power.
It solves a lot of the headaches that offshore developers have today in putting these big turbines out there says Glass the company's CEO and CTO.
For now Altaeros is concentrating fully on the turbine in Somerville the one whose fin has finally finished inflating before me.
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