WCA July 2019

From the Americas

The material has been calculated to have a very high figure of merit as a thermoelectric, meaning it can convert waste heat into electricity, and its flexibility means it could be used to power wearable devices, he said. Among the properties of the nano-ribbons is the capacity to split water into oxygen and hydrogen on exposure to light, and they could also be used in optoelectronics and nano-electronics. 1,000km on a single charge Electric vehicles could travel 1,000km on a single charge using a new type of lithium-based battery. The device is the world’s first 1,000Wh/kg rechargeable battery, developed by Switzerland-based company Innolith. According to the company’s chairman, Alan Greenshields, and reported by The Engineer , the Innolith energy battery is based on an inorganic electrolyte. Unlike the organic electrolyte used in conventional lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, the inorganic electrolyte is non-flammable. In this way it could eliminate the main cause of battery fires that plague electric vehicle manufacturers, Mr Greenshields said. “The core of what we’re doing is to [eliminate] the undesirable properties of lithium-ion batteries, in that they catch fire, or even explode, and don’t last very long.” In traditional intercalation-based batteries, the lithium ions shuttle back and forth between the two electrodes, but do not chemically react with the material: instead the lithium ions slide into gaps within the crystalline structure. “When you charge a lithium-ion battery, you force lithium ions out of the positive electrode, through the electrolyte, and they intercalate into the negative electrode. When you discharge it the reverse happens,” Mr Greenshields said. In contrast, in a conversion reaction system the lithium reacts with a material at the electrode to form a compound, storing energy in the process. When this compound dissolves into its constituent parts it releases energy again, explained Mr Greenshields. “As a result, at the electrode level you have at least ten times higher [energy] storage per unit of mass, because you’re using an actual chemical reaction, rather than the intercalation storage of lithium ions.” Innolith plans to commercialise the high energy density battery through an initial pilot production in Germany, followed by licensing partnerships with battery and car companies, said Sergey Buchin, CEO of Innolith. The company anticipates development and commercialisation of the battery will take between three and five years. “We believe this battery will be suitable for all sorts of transport applications, including electric cars and buses, and with its high energy density we can also use it in drones and other aircraft,” said Mr Buchin. The company has already developed a grid-scale non-flammable, inorganic rechargeable power battery that is used in the PJM grid in the USA.

Aerospace Tackling the aero-fuel challenge

Aerion, together with fellow supersonic plane makers Spike Aerospace and Boom Supersonic, is working to reintroduce ultra-fast passenger planes for the first time since the Anglo-French Concorde retired in 2003. Tom Vice, CEO of supersonic jet developer Aerion Corp, confirmed the company is designing an aeroplane to fly entirely on biofuels. The $120 million AS2 business jet will run on synthetic paraffinic kerosene (SPK) biofuel. Existing subsonic aircraft use a blend of biofuels and conventional jet kerosene to ensure that the fuel does not harm the engine but, Mr Vice said, the AS2 will have an engine designed with seals that can handle the biofuel, adding: “We believe that running biofuels will reduce our CO 2 emissions by at least 40 per cent.” Aerion, which recently secured an undisclosed investment from US manufacturer Boeing Co, has said the AS2 is designed to fly at speeds of up to Mach 1.4, or about 1,000 miles (1,610km) per hour, 70 per cent faster than conventional business jets. The plane’s first flight is scheduled for 2023. Today’s supersonic jets, while quieter and more fuel-efficient than the Concorde, have difficulty meeting noise levels and carbon emissions standards for conventional planes due to engine constraints and higher fuel burn. The United States has been pushing for the creation of new global rules on noise for supersonic jets, but faces opposition from Europe where the aircraft are expected to meet the same standards as existing planes. The United Nations’ aviation agency, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which sets global standards that are usually adopted by its 192 member countries, has said it would study supersonic jets, but was not committed to creating new standards for them. “We definitely want to see differences between subsonic and supersonic standards,” Mr Vice said. “There are differences between the airplanes. For CO 2 they haven’t set the standard for supersonic, so all we have is the subsonic standard. AS2 has a higher fuel burn so we won’t meet that standard.” Aerion’s AS2 would meet noise levels for subsonic planes, but not the carbon standard for emissions. Mr Vice added that an engine capable of running on biofuels would lower emissions, but fuel supply is limited. Automotive Latest developments at the historical heart of the industry Alphabet Inc’s self-drive subsidiary, Waymo, has chosen a factory in Detroit to mass-produce self-driving cars.

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Wire & Cable ASIA – July/August 2019