US – Page 42 – TechConnect Briefs

Developing Novel All-Solid-State Li-Ion Batteries

Poyner M., Teeters D., Salsman L., Frontier Electronic Systems Corporation, US

Advances in technology continue to demand more capable power sources. Li ion batteries have emerged as a leading source of energy and is widely used in various applications. However, improvements in battery characteristics such as [...]

Electro Pulse Boring: An Experimental Rock-breaking Technology for Low-cost Access to Ubiquitous, Inexhaustible, Autonomous, Ultra-deep (5-10 km) Geothermal Heat

Leighty W.C., The Leighty Foundation, US

Deep geothermal heat is Humanity's only potential benign, baseload, inexhaustible, Earth-ubiquitous, and potentially-affordable energy source for all purposes. But we cannot afford to bore deep enough with today's prevailing rotary, abrasive, prevailing technology. "Electro Pulse [...]

Piezoelectric-Based Vibration Energy Harvester

Jeutten M., Iowa State University Research Foundation, US

A potential means of extending battery life is the use of miniature renewable self-contained power supply units, which can convert ambient vibrations from existing sources in their environment into electrical form, and use this harvested [...]

Southern Research Energy Storage Research Center

Taube B., Ringler E., Hansen T., Southern Research, US

Southern Research, with support from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the US Department of Energy (DoE), the State of Alabama and SE regional electric utilities, is developing a new Energy Storage Research Center (ESRC) [...]

Energy management strategies for Industrial facilities in the U.S.

Halbe A., Yeaman D., M+W Group, US

Cost efficiency and sustainability are the key drivers of innovation in energy supply and management for Industrial Facilities. Demand-side Energy Efficiency, PV, and Energy Storage are assets Industrial facilities can provide to the grid in [...]

Internet-of-Things Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation Testbed for Demand Response Ancillary Services

Thornton M., Smidt H., Schwarzer V., Motalleb M., Ghorbani R., University of Hawaii at Manoa, US

Demand response (DR) has proven to show capabilities of providing ancillary services (AS) to grid operators. Advances in high speed computing and the availability of widespread and efficient network infrastructure bring tools that were otherwise [...]

Evaluation of factory infrastructure for next-generation PV manufacturing

Halbe A., Yeaman D., M+W Group, US

The development of a cost and energy efficient PV cell and module manufacturing facility is crucial to manage overall factory CAPEX. PV module prices in 2016 have dropped to $0.35/W. Next generation module manufacturing requires [...]

Plasmonically Enhanced Thin-Film Amorphous Silicon Solar Cells

Sonsalla T., Louisiana Tech University, US

Hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) can absorb the visible part of the solar spectrum better than crystalline silicon. For this reason, a-Si:H solar cells can be much thinner than crystalline silicon solar cells. Thinner cells reduce [...]

Nanoscale charge transport properties of perovskite solar cells with WSe2 flakes as protective layer for stable performance

Adhikari N., Bandyopadhyay A., Kaul A.B., The University of Texas, US

Organic-inorganic perovskite solar cells have become a promising technology for next generation solar cells due to their superior optoelectronic properties such as tunable low bandgap, long charge diffusion length, low exciton binding energy and balanced [...]

Next Generation Photovoltaic Devices Leveraging Restricted Angular Emissions

Welser R.E., Sood A.K., Dhar N.K., Magnolia Optical Technologies, Inc., US

Thin-film III-V devices are an attractive technology for photovoltaic energy harvesting devices, capable of supplying portable and mobile power in both terrestrial and space environments. Single-junction III-V technologies can provide high levels of performance over [...]