Battery With 25kW ! -A Record

Source: EFY Magazine

Redox flow batteries offer an effective way to balance out fluctuations in the supply of renewable energy and thus guarantee its constant availability.
Researchers all over the world are working towards finding alternate sources of generating electricity such as solar and wind energy. It is important to have powerful electric energy storage devices to level out corresponding irregularities in the power supply. Fraunhofer scientists have recently made an important breakthrough with their development of a redox flow battery that reaches stack power up to 25 kW, with a cell size of 0.5 square meters. This is eight times larger than the previous A4-sized systems. The new battery will be presented for the first time at the Hannover Messe trade show from April 8–12.

 Redox flow batteries offer an effective way to balance out fluctuations in the supply of renewable energy and thus guarantee its constant availability. The batteries store electrical energy in chemical compounds, the liquid electrolytes. The electrolytes are charged and discharged in small reaction chambers. Several of these cells are lined up in stacks.

Solar-Powered Electric Aircraft

The sunlight absorption by solar cells is more at high altitudes than on the ground or earth stations. This makes solar systems suitable for powering small aircrafts

Elektra One—single-seat solar-powered aircraft by SolarWorld (Image courtesy: questpointsolarsolutions)

Single- and two-seater aircrafts are now flying in Germany, China and Switzerland. In fact, Germany and USA are planning a whole line of aircrafts powered by solar cells. For propulsion, these aircrafts rely on electric engines (brushless DC motors)

Zero Pollution Motors

Zero Pollution Motors is working on an "air car" for its entry in the X Prize competition. According to the group's Web site, the car is a six-seater that runs on "compressed air technology" developed by Motor Development International (MDI), a French company headed by inventor and Formula One race car engineer, Guy Negre.
The car currently gets a 106 mpg equivalent, reaches a maximum speed of 96 miles per hour, gets 75 horsepower, and has a range of 848 miles.