This week we will investigate an Ink that can generate electricity to power wearable devices. We also examine an Air Conditioning system that uses artificial muscles rather than refrigerants to cool and heat air. We find out what and where Point Nemo is and we look at a car without traditional brakes.
Powering Wearables with Ink
Researchers in Sweden have developed a way to replace batteries for low power applications such as wearable monitoring devices. They have developed an ink coating that enables low levels of heat generated by the devices to be converted into electrical power.
The team from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm have developed a blend of thermoelectric coating for devices that will generate electricity in less than 100 degree celsius. When one end of a thermoelectric material is heated, charge carriers move from the hot end to the cold end resulting in an electric current.
The coating could be applied to any surface that dissipates heat to generate electrical power. The research may open the way to producing a low cost and sustainable way of producing power from thermoelectric coatings on a large scale. Initially it may replace batteries in wearable electronics.
Using Artificial Muscles for Air Conditioning
A few weeks ago we talked about new artificial muscles that have been developed for robotic applications. A team from Saarland University in Germany has now developed a cooling technology that does not require the use of refrigerants. The new technology makes use of shape memory materials that are known as “artificial muscles”.
The materials transport heat by loading and unloading nickel-titanium wires. The technology uses bundles of ultra fine shape memory wires. The wires have the ability to return to their earlier shape after being stretched. They can tense or relax just like human muscles. The reason for this capability is within the structure of the metal alloy. The atoms are arranged in a crystal lattice structure. The layers of the crystal move relative to each other, creating strain within the structure. This causes the wires to absorb or release heat.
Heat is released when the wires are loaded (stretched) and heat is absorbed when the wires return to their normal state. Pre-stressed wires will cool down by as much as 20 degrees when unloaded at room temperature.
The team has designed a cooling circuit which uses a cam drive that rotates in such a way that bundles of 200 micron thick wires are alternatively stretched and relaxed so that heat is transferred as efficiently as possible. As a result the machine can cool and heat.
The initial application is for use in electric vehicles. The process is up to 15 times more efficient than systems based upon conventional refrigerants. The overall system is more compact, lighter and more cost effective than current alternatives for electric cars. The team have developed a software package that allows them to simulate and plan cooling systems for different applications. They are now working with industrial partners to develop specific systems.
Point Nemo
Where is Point Nemo and what is there? We are not talking about a headland extending in the water that was named after the Clown Fish or Captain Nemo from Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Point Nemo is the place on earth that is farthest point from land. In Latin “Nemo” means “no one”.
Located in the South Pacific Ocean it is about 2,688 kilometers from the nearest land. It is not only in the middle of nowhere, it is also the Earth’s spacecraft graveyard. This is where NASA and other space agencies crash their de-orbited satellites, space stations and decommissioned spacecraft.
NASA started dumping satellites and spacecraft at Point Nemo in the 1970’s (before it was named Point Nemo). There are now more then 263 spacecraft of all types at the bottom of the sea at Point Nemo. This includes the Russian space station Mir, six stations from the Russian Salyut program and parts of NASA’s Skylab (the rest of Skylab landed in remote Western Australia, opps).
Point Nemo has no human life and strangely very little sea life as well. The location is at the center of the Southern Pacific Gyre. A rotating ocean current that keeps nutrients in the ocean away from there. There is also no run off from coastal areas to feed sea life. Researchers have only found bacteria and some small crabs living in the volcanic vents of the seafloor around Point Nemo.
Cars without Traditional Brakes
Cars traditionally have used disc brakes to slow down. French carmaker DS Automobiles (the luxury arm of Citroen) have developed an electric regenerative breaking system that removes the need for disc breaks.
In traditional breaking we step on the brake pedal which causes the discs and brake pads to create kinetic energy. That energy is lost to the air though heat. Electric vehicles have the capacity to decelerate which enables the car to stop without touching a brake pedal. This action causes the flow of electricity from the battery to the motor to stop however the rotor still turns along with the wheels. This enables the motor to act as a generator and create electricity to recharge the battery. Currently back up disc brakes act as back up in case the regenerative brakes don’t provide enough power.
The new cars from DS are built without disc brakes. Instead they use two onboard electric motors to slow the vehicle though regenerative braking (up to 600kW). This will make the car more efficient by recharging the battery every time the car brakes.
Removing friction based brakes will help to reduce air pollution. Up to 55% of roadside traffic pollution comes from non-exhaust particles. 20% is from brake dust which is mostly iron particles. This has a significant impact on respiratory health.
Paying it Forward
If you have a start-up or know of a start-up that has a product ready for market please let me know. I would be happy to have a look and feature the startup in this newsletter. Also if any startups need introductions please get in touch and I will help where I can.
If you have any questions or comments please comment below.
I would also appreciate it if you could forward this newsletter to anyone that you think might be interested.
Till next week.