Researchers at the University of Arizona—including Palusinski—have been developing a new capacitor technology designed to give hybrid cars the best of both worlds: the ability to rapidly convert mechanical energy into electricity and store that energy as well as to quickly charge and discharge energy to help cars accelerate or brake.
This new device is called a Digitized Energy Storage Device (DESD), which has a capacitance-to-volume ratio that is more than 10,000 times larger than a conventional parallel-plate capacitor of the same size. The researchers make DESD capacitors by using porous membranes as template platforms. The membranes have a pore diameter ranging from 15 nanometers to one micron and a hole density of 10 million to 100 trillion pores per square centimeter (0.16 square inch). DESDs will be able to provide 130 joules per gram (0.35 ounce), Palusinski says, adding that a chemical battery provides about 100 joules per gram. Lithium ion batteries, however, can provide as much as 600 joules per gram.
Palusinski envisions a day when DESDs will replace batteries in automobiles, although currently no carmakers are working with the technology he and his colleagues developed. It's more likely that near- term deployments of DESD technology would be used to power something much less demanding, such as sensors used to detect motion for alarms and lighting systems.
Despite Toyota's success with ultracapacitors, most automakers in recent years have been focused on new developments in the lighter, more stable lithium ion batteries, says Brett Smith, an alternative-fuel analyst at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich.
"Moving from the type of lithium battery used in laptops to a nanophosphate lithium ion battery may have been the invention or the paradigm shift that the industry was requiring," Smith says. "Now the challenge is can they get the cost down." That's the pivotal question that is likely to ultimately determine the fate of ultracapacitors used in hybrid cars.
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14 Comments
Add CommentThere have been many attempts to design an electric powered vehicle for as long as the the internal combustion engine has been around. Unfortunately, battery power was never a formidable contender to the present internal combustion engine, but it looks as though the future looks more pronising.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe Electric Vehicle: is It the Answer?
I believe that hybrid cars are the present best alternative. My wife has a hybrid and it really does what it says it does. There is no other current alternative to a conventional car. I have heard a lot of negatives. Small battery capacity etc.. The bottom line is that it works and it is here now.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere is an ultracpacitor electrode which stores 20 times more than the presently sold caps. It is called Reticle Carbon. It uses a patented process to consolidate activated carbon. It retains 90% of the surface area and actually improves the conductivity. It has not received the publicity that nano carbons have. This is probably because most people have the misconception that this is just a re-hash of what Maxwell and NessCap are doing. 20 times more storage is very significant in automotive applications.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisConcept wise neither electric car nor regenerative braking are new. But what TOYOTA has done in Prius is packaging a small IC engine and Ni-Mh battery & a small traction motor in an acceptable way for the customer. A small engine gives better mileage and this coupled with regenerative braking gives additional mileage making the vehicle most fuel efficient. Ever since the first electric car the need for high energy density battery was felt to make it viable alternative to IC engine powered vehicles. Ni-Mh battery development has made Prius successful. Li-ion batteries will take the hybrid vehicles to a higher level. Perhaps ultracapacitor in combination with moderately powered engine may give the same mileage as a hybrid. The bigger question with electric vehicles is how to dispose off the used batteries without affecting environment.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere is a recently announced electrode technology that can produce over 300 J/g. It is easy to produce and costs a fraction of what nano materials are costing now. It is called Reticle Carbon. An article appears on Ultracapacitors.org.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHow do any of these technologies handle high torque requirements or extra long distance requirements? There are still millions of people who can't switch to hybrid or any other electric alternative because they need heavy towing or hauling, or long distance travel abilities that just aren't handled by current or even future planned technologies. Until those issues are dealt with, fossil fuel requirements will still be with us. I truly hate my dependency on gas but as a farmer I can't make the switch. Not yet anyway.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThey say at first it's a combo of cap and battery then say it's not. They need to make up their minds.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisEven storing 10x's previous ultracaps is no where near good enough and way too costly.
A Lithium battery like A123 will beat the pants of this scam as all the other ultracaps have on the part. Nor do they mention the expensive electronics needed to extract the power of an ultracap as it's voltage goes down to zero.
And EV's have the range unless 300 miles is not enough for you with 15 minute recharge.
As for power A123's in the drag bike Killacycle hits 7.9sec and 168mph in the 1/4 mile. Let's see ultracaps beat that which should be their easiest thing to do. But they can't because they weigh way too much for the pitiful capacity they hold. Ultracaps like fool cells are for losers. Lithium batteries are so much better, cheaper.
The IC part of the hybrid deserves more attention. The Honda non-hybrid diesels sold in Europe deliver spectacular economy but haven't been offered in the US. The VW diesels previously sold in the US were withdrawn because they didn't satisfy US pollution regs, but new ones have come back.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA diesel-based hybrid with Lion batteries should be a great car.
You say you can't make the switch period. That is an absolute. You have to admit that current and planned technology does cover some of you needs and that you should be open to making teh switch for applications that can be viably serviced by non fossil or part fossil based energy. Part fossil is better that no fossil. the steam engine did not replace draught animals overnight and the gas engine did not replace teh steam engine overnight. There were overlaps and a priority driven by regulatory and market forces that determined the order of replacement. There is no room a precedent for absolutes, is there.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWon't diesels always noisily stink, be tough to start and weigh lots? For another approach to replacing the IC in a hybrid, take a look at Cyclone Technologies' little closed-cycle steam engine. Solves both the torque and pollution problems at a fraction of IC weight and complexity- in a most elegant design, running on diesel, cow methane, or whatever you've got.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is able to deliver more energy quickly, accelerate fast and use breaking generation fastly because of the capacitor technology that stores energy in the electric field. The drawback of this is it's unable to store as much energy as battery. The capacitors are lighter in weight so it will help in making hybrid trains more readily available.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is able to deliver more energy quickly, accelerate fast and use breaking generation fastly because of the capacitor technology that stores energy in the electric field. The drawback of this is it's unable to store as much energy as battery. The capacitors are lighter in weight so it will help in making hybrid trains more readily available.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUltra caps are well-suited for energy recuperation systems that can increase fuel efficiency and reduce emissions. “The contract provides for the development of a new BOOSTCAP ultracapacitor cell specifically designed to meet the energy storage and power delivery requirements of one of Mercedes’ torque assist and recuperative braking systems.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://www.greenautozone.net/category/hybrid-vehicles
Well, the promise of this technology must have faded. It is 2011 and nothing has come of it.
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