Electrified concrete
Dr. Emma Zhang and Professor Luping Tang designed this rechargeable cement-based battery by adding a twist to your classic concrete recipe. They added short carbon fibers to enhance conductivity and toughness, along with a metal-coated carbon fiber mesh, using iron and nickel as the anode and cathode, respectively.This is not the first time someone has tried to make concrete batteries, but this new design is a huge step up in terms of the energy density it provides. The new design’s performance is at least ten times better than previous demonstrations. In addition, it is also rechargeable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwDly9pjSJg
This is a 17+ minute video that introduces some of the folks behind the Antora battery.
I played the video without sound to try to get a sense of it.
For Calliban re heating ... I didn't see any evidence of induction heating. The heating appeared to be done by traditional resistive elements.
A detailed comparison of the two heating methods would be interesting. Each requires materials of various kinds to perform it's duty, as well as physical volume. It should be possible to compare the two methods.
This topic is available if anyone has the time to find out more about the Antora battery.
Update from investor web site:
Antora Energy company logo
Antora EnergyTotal Raised
$54M
Investors Count
18
Funding, Valuation & Revenue4 Fundings
Antora Energy has raised $54M over 4 rounds.Antora Energy's latest funding round was a Grant for $4M on November 15, 2023.
Date
Round
Amount
Investors
Valuation
RevenueSources
11/15/2023
Grant
$4M
ARPA-E, and The California Energy Commission1
2/16/2022
Series A
1/1/2020
Incubator/Accelerator - II
12/13/2018
Incubator/Accelerator
This sure looks like a textbook example of how to grow a company from a sketch on a napkin to an enterprise with 18 major investors.
(th)
]]>The New Hot Climate Investment Is Heat Itself
BlackRock, Saudi Aramco and Rio Tinto headline a group of financiers pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into startups making heat batteries. Also called thermal batteries, they use renewable energy to heat up blocks, rocks or molten salt. That heat is released on demand to power industrial processes.
Antora uses carbon blocks that glow red like a toaster coil or an electric stove when heated up. Antora’s batteries are unusual because heat is transferred using the light from the hot blocks, eliminating the need for air or fluid to transfer energy and making the product cheaper.
Interesting. As graphite is electrically conducting, the blocks could be heated using induction coils. This wouod eliminate the need for high temperature heating elements that have finite life. High temperature heat has plenty of direct applications, which the article makes clear.
]]>BlackRock, Saudi Aramco and Rio Tinto headline a group of financiers pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into startups making heat batteries. Also called thermal batteries, they use renewable energy to heat up blocks, rocks or molten salt. That heat is released on demand to power industrial processes.
Antora uses carbon blocks that glow red like a toaster coil or an electric stove when heated up. Antora’s batteries are unusual because heat is transferred using the light from the hot blocks, eliminating the need for air or fluid to transfer energy and making the product cheaper.
https://newmars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=10702
What is different about the report (from my perspective) is that for the first time, I have seen the idea of combining the two sides of the thermal energy storage concept in the same (hypothetical) system.
In the case of the maritime application, liquefied air is carried in an insulated tank, and a thermal energy supply is carried in another tank. The two are matched so that a supply of pressurized air is available to power an air motor or other pneumatic devices.
I would like to see this concept developed for the consumer market. The challenge I am offering our members is to design a practical energy storage system able to deliver 20 amps at 120 VAC for an hour in a mobile cart that can be transported to a job site.
A battery system able to provide that amount of stored energy is available in 2024 for ...
KILOVAULT
2.4 kWh KiloVault HLX+ Lithium LFP Solar Battery 12V
(No reviews yet)Write a Review
SKU:KLV2400HLXPLUSMPN:KLV2400HLXPLUSAVAILABILITY:SHIPS 1 - 2 WEEKSSHIPPING:$250.00 (Fixed Shipping Cost)
$1,995.00
The battery above would need to be combined with a converter ....
Previous
Next
3000 WATT PURE SINE POWER INVERTER 12 VDC to 120 VAC ETL LISTED
$567.00 $528.00
13 in stock (can be backordered)Subtotal $528.00
The AIMS Power pure sine inverter is capable of producing 3000 watts of clean power ideal for running your sensitive electronics. Great for use in vehicles, boats, camping and emergencies where back up power is needed. The inverter features dual outlets, along with a USB outlet and a direct connect terminal block for hard wiring the inverter’s full capacity. An optional wired remote is available for this unit, AIMS Power part number REMOTEHF.
The package cost is about $2500 at this point. A complete system would include a mobile platform for the energy storage system, suitable to move the system on a reasonably flat solid surface with just one worker.
The web site offering the Inverter also carries miscellaneous items such as cables.
I think a reasonable outlay for a complete system would be $3000.
I'd like to see a thermal storage energy supply system come in under that level.
The energy supply system will need a LOX tank, a hot supply tank, an air motor and control electronics, and the same mobile platform.
Hopefully one or more NewMars members are able to show a design for a thermal energy storage system able to function at this level for under $3000 USD.
(th)
]]>This is all within the realm of what my home needs.
]]>On Mars, there are plenty of locations where daytime soil temperature exceeds 0°C.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate … emperatureIf we can gather that heat using flat plate collectors, it could be stored by melting ice contained in tanks. The latent heat of melting of ice is 334KJ/kg.K. That means that 1m3 of water will store some 93kWh of heat through phase change. The tank could contain a heat exchanger coil for a heat pump. A heat pump supplying heat at 30°C from a cold source at 0°C, will have a theoretical COP of 9.1. The lower the temperature rise the better the COP. If the pump supplies heat at a temperature of 20°C, the theoretical COP will be 13.65. When we build structures on Mars, we should embed plastic water pipes within the floors and walls. By doing that, all surfaces can be turned into heat transfer surfaces and the water we use to heat spaces can be supplied at close to the desired air temperature. Than way, we get the most heating value out of each unit of power supplied to the heat pump.
Heat pumps could be used at higher and lower lattitudes where temperatures are lower. But COP declines rapidly. If daytime temperatures are -20°C and we are supplying heat at 20°C, the COP can be calculated accordingly:
COP = Tc/(Th-Tc) = 253/40 = 6.33
This tells us that a heat pump drawing heat from a -20°C cold side will need twice as much mechanical energy as a heat pump drawing from a 0°C source.
If the base is equipped with a nuclear power source producing waste heat at a temperature of 30°C, we might use this for heating without need for heat pumps at all. But to heat using water at such low temperature, heat transfer surfaces must be large. Which is why I think Martian buildings should have heating pipes in their walls and floors.
On Mars, fine regolith has about the same thermal conductivity as rockwool on Earth. This makes it a very good thermal insulator. Our flat plate solar collector could be an area of flat ground that has been excavated to a depth of 6" and then filled with sieved regolith. A plastic hose pipe would be coiled in rows on top of the regolith and then covered with a thin layer of flat rocks. These will absorb heat and conduct it into the pipe. The pipe would contain methanol. This has a low vapour pressure at 0-20°C, and a low freezing point of -97°C.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MethanolThis means that close to the equator, even the cold Martian night will not be sufficient to freeze it. During the day, the methanol temperature will rise above freezing. Natural convection will cause it to rise into coils within the ice tank. This allows the ice tank to gather heat by natural convection, without any moving parts. The ice tank can be made from compacted soil or adobe bricks, with a polymer membrane to contain the liquid. The bottom of the tank will be cone shaped. As water freezes and ice expands, the ice is pushed upward, rather than exerting pressure on the walls of the tank.
Nice design
Top down view:
Cross section of collector:
The heat storage tank:
Warm methanol flows up the header pipe to the top of the tank and then descends through the coiled pipe embedded within the tank walls, teansfering heat into the tank melting the ice. Cold methanol then returns to the collector panels. The heat pump cold side heat exchanger is at the bottom of the tank. This withdrawns heat at 0°C.
for cold areas you design a mixture of 30% propylene glycol and 70% water is often used as insurance against catastrophic system failure.
Drainback Solar Thermal System Design
]]>
The device, essentially a glass box with metal water pipes running through it, converted sunlight into hot water. By trapping solar energy like a greenhouse, it heated the water to a scorching 180 degrees Fahrenheit. It furnished much of the hot water for a family of four.
Water in these solar collectors routinely reaches temperatures around 180 degrees Fahrenheit and can soar as high 400, before being mixed and stored in a standard water heater tank.Nearly 20 percent of an average home’s energy is used to heat water, and nearly 50 percent globally, according to MIT. By adopting solar water heaters, the average household can keep 2 tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, the equivalent of not driving your car for four months, estimates the Environmental Protection Agency.
Thanks for your reply with the link to temperatures around/near Alaska.
I forwarded a link to post #163 to our correspondent there.
This is a community that lives on fishing and other natural resources, so I'm guessing the up-front costs will prove insurmountable, but we'll see.
(th)
]]>If we are using a salt water main as a heat source for multiple heat pumps, then warmer temperatures allow a better COP. But 5.9°C is still comfortably above freezing point. A heat pump drawing energy from a cold source at 0°C and pumping heat at 60°C, would have an ideal COP of 4.55.
]]>My purpose here is ** not ** disagreement, or anything even remotely of the sort.
You said (in Post #161) that:
Alaska doesn't seem to be a good candidate for heat extraction from sea water.
I am surprised ... I have no way of knowing one way or the other, so am depending upon you to clarify what appear to be two ways of looking at potential sites for this technology.
In an earlier post, you spoke of a 5 degree difference of inflowing water compared to what is returned to the ocean.
I'll go look for the citation and hopefully bring it back to this post.
I would have thought that if water that has come all the way from the equator (as all water in Alaska surely does) it would contain thermal energy collected along the way, and that Alaska residents could harvest without difficulty.
However, one of the many benefits of participation in this forum is the learning process, so one way or the other, that is about to happen.
*** a bit later ... the post I remembered was linked from this topic to another... here it is in entirety:
TH, if the town is located on the coast, then a fairly minimal system could be provided using piped sea water. The temperature of sea water varies by <10°C throughout the year.
https://www.seatemperature.org/europe/united-kingdom/I would suggest pumped sea water through a concrete pipe running beneath main streets in the town. Branching roads would be served by heat pumping stations, which would draw heat out of the flowing sea water and heat piped water to maybe 60°C. Lets say we have a 1m diameter pipe with water flowing through it at 3m/s. Initial temperature is 10°C upon entering the town and heat withdrawal reduces this to 5°C upon exit. How much heat is available?
Q = [0.25 x Pi x D^2] x 3 x 1000 x 4200 x 5 = 49,480,000W. That is enough to heat roughly 10,000 detatched houses at peak winter heat demand.
We could supplement this further by drawing on heat stored in boreholes to preheat and reheat the water main. This doesn't need to be high heat. Temperatures between 10-20°C would be quite adequate.
Further inland, the system would be similar. But in this case, we are relying entirely on heat that the piped water is drawing out of the ground.
If we assume a cokd temperature of 10°C (283K) and a hot temperature of 60°C (333K), the ideal COP of a heat pump would be:
COP = Tc/(Th - Tc) = 283/50 = 5.66.
If we can achieve 2/3 of the Carnot efficiency, then this system will heat the town using less than one third of the electrical energy used by resistance heaters. If the town can access waste heat with a temperature of 30°C, then the electricity needed by the heat pumps can be roughly halved again.
So! the paragraph I remembered was this one:
I would suggest pumped sea water through a concrete pipe running beneath main streets in the town. Branching roads would be served by heat pumping stations, which would draw heat out of the flowing sea water and heat piped water to maybe 60°C. Lets say we have a 1m diameter pipe with water flowing through it at 3m/s. Initial temperature is 10°C upon entering the town and heat withdrawal reduces this to 5°C upon exit. How much heat is available?
I can ask my correspondent in Alaska to take readings of the temperature of the nearby ocean (more accurately the waterway between islands) and report back. It is possible the State of Alaska already has weather reading sensors around the state, and that data may be available from those.
As a related concern .... electricity will be required to move all this water, and to pull thermal energy out by using heat pumps. The question that I'm sure will occur to the reader is how the electricity used to perform all that processing compares to just heating the town with electric heaters.
(th)
]]>If the average residence has plenty of space around it, there are options for storing heat for an individual household within the ground. If heat can be stored down a deep well at temperatures of 10-20°C, say, then the well water can provide the cold source for a house heatpump. I notice as well that Alaska has good wind energy resources:
https://globalwindatlas.info/en
How about wind driven heat pumps? A small mechanical wind machine could be coupled to a positive displacement compressor.
Some 10-20m beneath the land surface at any location on Earth, the temperature of the ground will be constant, as the effect of air temperature fluctuations are dampened by the thermal inertia of the ground above. If a well is dug 30m deep, then it should be possible to extract heat from the well in winter and replace it in summer. Temperatures in Anchorage are above 15°C for 3 months of the year.
https://www.climatestotravel.com/climat … /anchorage
Maybe a system of near surface pipes can harvest summer heat during those 3 months and dump the heat into the well?
]]>