Re: Aluminum Battery?

From: Uncle Al (UncleAl0_at_hate.spam.net)
Date: 11/04/04 

Date: Thu, 04 Nov 2004 11:35:07 -0800

sanman wrote:
>
> Uncle Al <UncleAl0@hate.spam.net> wrote in message news:<41896D59.B2114BA@hate.spam.net>...
>
> > "The new, patented technology based on nanoscale electrochemistry will
> > allow production of rechargeable aluminium batteries providing up to
> > 20 times more capacity than current batteries."
> >
> > 1) Bull***, up to the "up to"
> >
> > 2) If "up to means "less than" and "not rechargeable," no problem.
> >
> > My Cable ISP gives me "up to" '100 times the speed of a 56K modem.'
> > They must have soem awsfully slow 56K modems.
>
> Hi Al,
>
> I forgot to include this link:
>
> http://www.batteriesdigest.com/id301.htm
>
> They seem to mention a little more about this, and cite some patent by
> Telcordia, formerly known as Bellcore Communications (spinoff of
> Bell/AT&T?)
>
> I surfed around looking for further links, and found
>
> http://www.arofe.army.mil/Conferences/Recent_Abstract/200th_Meeting/symposia/b1b/0203.pdf
>
> It mentions the idea of packing Al+++ into a vanadium pentoxide (V2O5)
> aerogel (ie. foamed metal oxide)
> Apparently, this "nanocrystalline" aerogel allows higher surface area
> contact with the Al+++ which means higher power output.
>
> My understanding is that the main obstacles for using batteries to
> power electric vehicles are the low power output of batteries relative
> to their size, and also number of times you can cyclically recharge
> the battery. Supercapacitors are good for power output (rapid
> discharge rate) and also cyclical recharging, but are still limited on
> energy density. Could this aerogel idea, with its high surface area,
> allow for batteries with higher discharge rate? The researchers talk
> about "reducing the diffusion path" in order to make discharge more
> efficient. Would this also help improve the rechargeability and thus
> the number of recharge cycles?

"Let’s assume we equip a large ship with 200 giant batteries, each
the size of a 40-foot shipping container. Each battery will weigh
about 220 tons, so a 50,000 BRT ship can carry these. The batteries
are charged fully in Iceland, making use of cheap electricity from
hydropower or geothermal power. The 200 batteries will contain about
50 GWh electricity when fully loaded. The ship – electrically powered
of course – sails to the west coast of Denmark or England, or to the
East coast of the USA. There it delivers its electrical charge into
the national grid, but it keeps some batteries charged for the return
trip to Iceland. It sails back and charges again. In one year, the
ship can make 60 return trips, delivering about 3 TWh electricity
annually. It can do so 3000 times before the batteries are worn out
and must be replaced. This is after about 40 years. A simple cost
calculation shows that the electricity can be delivered at the end
market for a rather low price, 25 to 30 Euro per mWh."

Either my calculator is broken or that is phenomenally stupid. How
does one cool a "40-foot shipping container" battery during fast
charge and discharge? Note that the costs of creating new batteries
and disposing of them when exhausted are not included in the pricing.
60 trips/year is charge/transport/discharge/transport every six days.
Then the things are claimed to survive 2400 deep discharge/sizzle
recharge cycles. "Ye canna break the laws of physics," Scotty.

It's interesting button and AA-battery technology if it can be mass
produced. As always, the first question is "at what price?" followed
by "how fragile is it?" to nominal operation. Lithium/thionyl
chloride batteries are quite spectacular. You would be a world class
fool to place them in any situation where they might meet physical
trauma (car crash) or thermal runaway (dense packing).

  

-- 
Uncle Al
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/
 (Toxic URL! Unsafe for children and most mammals)
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/qz.pdf