Era of renewable energy (Part 2, April/May, 2008) – ERA 2

David M. Judbarovski
judbarovski@gmail.com
str. Giborei Sinai 30/23, Akko, 24307, Israel

A year passed after my booklet of “Era of renewable energy” (ERA 1) was published [1], but its topicality isn’t decreased. Here I suppose to describe several additional technologies.

Original author’s inventions will be demonstrated here. Each of the booklet topics mainly consist of a popular resume, and a detailed disclosure is intended for technical experts. I would hope to rouse their readers to realize renewable energy as urgent, but cheap and common energy source is at our door. The demonstration of the thesis is an aim of the booklet.

Table of contents

1. Perforated trough solar concentrator (PTSC) of record low material capacity and high durability
2. PTSC with photovoltaic module cooled by night ambient temperature
3. PTSC for thermal power station (STPS)
4. Combined PTSC & Tower STPS
5. High temperature tower STPS
6. Large-scale economical electricity storage
7. Solar dish concentrator (SDC) being ultra-light & rigid and excellent manufacturable
8. SDC beam down
9. 10-nm planar technology and its application for solar energy antenna receivers
10. Vacuum thermoelectric cell for solar, cars and other applications
11. Ammonia option of transport fuel (three variants)
12. Cheap crude oil from wood. Effective technology
13. Self-supporting cleaning technology for Great Pacific Garbage Patch
14. Unmanned craft (e.g. explorer, patrol, or military etc) moved by sea wave energy only
15. How put a curb on oil and gas prices? Trade bartering at first!

1. Perforated trough solar concentrator (PTSC) of record low material capacity and high durability

Popular introduction and resume
Traditional trough solar concentrator is entire curvilinear parabolic sheet of polished aluminium with protecting cover or curvilinear parabolic sheet of mirrored glass, and the both have a shape like a large sectioned trough. The parabolic form serves to focus solar beams being practically parallel, into small area of high power onto thermal or photovoltaic receiver. Sometimes the trough is backed by special supporting steel construction to prevent distorting the focusing parabolic form of the trough mirror, because of its own weight and wind pressure. Anyway such trough comes out quite heavy and needs in several kg of aluminium per sq. meter of its aperture. A protecting cover of the mirror isn’t able to save the mirror and its cover from their degradation for long-term perspective. Curvilinear form of the trough mirror crammed with the said receiver at its front side, makes difficult for its cleaning. The object of my invention is to save very much of material capacity, and prevent the mirror from its degradation for long-term perspective, and to simplify cleaning of the mirror and its manufacturing, transportation and assemblage.
Disclosure for technical experts
I offer the parabolic mirror to be made from aluminium base perforated and covered by thin aluminium foil as reflecting cover. The mirror backed by supporting construction consists of an array of thin perforated corner plates being in perpendicular to the mirror axis and joined by cross-bars slot-by-slot, and fixed into slots of spindle of tracing motor like a Lego construction. The aluminium base of the mirror is leant along its axis against the said spindle and fixed there by “pins”. At the edges the mirror is fixed to a flat glass sheet closing hermetically the mirror at its front side. From the back side all the construction are covered by aluminium foil, which served together with the front glass to protect the mirror from pollutant and ambient air oxidation and wind pressure. So the mirror can be extremely thin, but keeping its parabolic form, in spite of the influence of its own weight. The construction is quite rigid and couldn’t be self-disintegrated, because the PTSC front side looks always upward, when operating. The PTSC can be simply and quickly assembled of its simple and light components right at the solar power plant deployment.
If the mirror aperture being about 1.5 meter height, the trough concentrator would need in about 1.5 kg of aluminium per sq. meter of aperture to be made, i.e. ~ 400 gram for mirror base and ~ 1200 gram for its supporting construction, with 4 mm thickness of the front glass. It would be tenfold less of metal than for traditional trough concentrator. I suppose a depth of the mirror as a quarter of its height to do solar energy receiver to be placed right onto and under the front glass and made possible to clean the glass automatically by gadget analogous to a car windscreen-wiper. At the present prices such PTSC of 15 sq. m. of aperture would be about US $22 per sq. meter (i.e. 11.5 for materials and motor + 4.0 for tracing unit + 2.5 for assemblage and installation + ~ 20%).

2. PTSC with photovoltaic module cooled by night ambient temperature

Popular introduction and resume
Trough concentrator with PV module as solar energy receiver is known (e.g. [2]). It is important to cool their PV cells as better as possible to enlarge their electric efficiency. A cooling media (CM) flow must be cycled to save the media. I offer to use two thermo-insulated storage tanks. The CM comes to the PV module from a cold tank, while sunshine times, and goes after the PV module to a warm tank. At the night time the CM of the warm tank is cooled by night ambient temperature, and after that the CM go to the cold tank. Even for very southern regions the average PV cells temperature can be sufficiently less 50 deg. C, and in the case of the water CM, it would need about one cubic meter of water per PTSC sq. meter.
Disclosure for technical experts
If the water CM, the water could be cooled at night time by a lot of small fountains made with small pressure through a lot of small holes in a thin steel sheet covering an inner tank placed inside an outer intermediate pond connected with cold and warm tanks. The said steel sheet is covered from above by a lattice for the sheet firmness.
In the case of mono-silicone PV-cells and deployment in Israel it would be about US $550/kWp of electricity (i.e. 157 for PTSC + 100 for inverter + 200 for PV cells, if flux 35x + 20% for others), so capital pay back would be about 4.5 years, if the electricity being 5 cent/kWh of grid exchange mode, and after that 4.5 years (7 years for moderate climate regions accordingly) the electricity would be practically gratuitous for the next 10-15 years.
The last economics calculations must be corrected by adding a costly “smart grid” expense and by adding some electricity storage (see chapter 6) being sufficiently expensive too.

3. PTSC for thermal power station (STPS)

Popular introduction and resume
Thermal power application of the STPS if the case of large system including 16-hours thermal storage to enlarge total system capacity factor up to 70%, would be well less expensive than PV application if the last being with energy storage. As thermal storage media, Na, K – nitrate eutectic had been elected, with a foregoing silicone heat transfer fluid as a mediator.
Disclosure for technical expert
The STPS would be about US$ 660/kW (170 for PTSC + 330 for thermal storage + 50 for turbo-generator + 20% for others) or 2.2 years of capital pay back, for southern region with 3000 sun hours in a year, or US$ 815/kW (300 +330 + 50 + 20% accordingly) for moderate climate with 1800 sun hours in a year or 2.7 years of pay back, and after that the electricity would be practically gratuitous for the next 15-20 years.

4. Combined PTSC & Tower STPS

Popular introduction and resume
The object of the chapter was to investigate economics of combination of both a relatively cheap PTSC subsystem, but having temperature range of its heat transfer fluid (HTF) very limited technologically, and tower concentrating subsystem is able to heat a turbine actuating media up to highest temperature to increase the total energy efficiency of the combined STPS.
It was made clear, such “interbreeding” of two technologies was sufficiently attractive economically than the trough technology itself, and slightly cheaper than the tower technology if the actuating media temperature less 650 deg. C. But if the said temperature would be higher than 650 deg. C up to ~900 deg. C admissible for a tower HTF technologically, the tower technology would be preferential sufficiently (see chapter 5).
Disclosure for technical experts
The said STPS comprises two separated circuits of the said two kinds of concentrators with their separated thermal storages, and two serial heat exchangers heating an actuating media, moving turbines. At first the heating is made by trough subsystem and then tower subsystem overheats the actuating media up to higher temperature. The said heat storages is made of two tanks technology each (see [1] chapter 2.1) to guarantee constant output temperature of the said actuating media. Sodium, potassium-nitrates eutectic with operating temperature range from 230 to 400 deg. C as the trough subsystem thermal storage media, and waterless caustic soda being liquid from 323 to 1403 deg. C range for tower subsysyem, were elected.
Hot waterless caustic soda is not so badly aggressive substance and could be kept into simple iron container for a long time. For comparison, if moderate climate deployment with 1800 sun hours in a year, and upper STPS temperature of 650 deg. C, the combined system would be US$ 516/kW (only the sum of concentrators and 16-hours heat storage) as against $ 568 if a tower system solely and ~$ 815 if a trough system accordingly.

5. High temperature tower STPS

Another picture would be if tower STPS upper temperature would be ~ 900 deg C to enlarge efficiency of the tower STPS (see chapter 3 and 4 for comparison). If 70% capacity factor and a region being with 3000 sun hours in a year for the tower STPS deployment, so such STPS capital cost would be US$ 540/kW (227 for concentrators + 55 for heat storage + 100 for turbo-generators + 20% for others) and payback would be 1.8 years. If moderate climate, the economics would be US$ 625/kW (365 + 55 + 100 + 20%) and 2.08 years accordingly.

6. Large-scale economical electricity storage

Popular introduction and resume
Traditionally, lead acid rechargeable batteries are considered as a most cheap technology of long storage of electric energy in huge amount, e.g. after solar, wind or other direct producer of electricity. [3].
Here I intend to show, that an indirect method to store of electricity could be more cheap and suitable, and it based on primary transforming of the electricity by resistance heating into warm energy of high temperature cheap heat transfer fluid (HTF) inside special twins storage tanks subsystem guaranteeing constant HTF output temperature, and on secondary transforming of the HTF warm by a heat exchanger into warm energy of actuating medium moving turbine of electric generator.
Disclosure for technical expert
Waterless caustic soda (CS) can be such HTF. The CS is US$ 450/ton, being fluid in temperature range from 323 deg. C up to 1403 deg. C. CS is aggressive chemical, but a simple iron could serve quite durable for the CS of high temperature. So the iron covered by quartz glass insulation inside an iron protecting tube can be elected as the resistor. A space between the iron tubes and the glass insulation can be filled in by sodium & potassium alloy.
(1) q + BC > q/n + CF
q – a capital cost of primary producer of the electricity, US$/kW
BC –a cost of lead acid batteries taking into account their limited lifetime, US$/kW
n – energy efficiency of the storage system
CF – a cost of the thermal storage subsystem offered, including a cost of the electric resistor, HTF, tanks, turbo-generator, labor, and + 20% for others.
If [q] – a cost level for competitiveness for the system offered, US$/kW,
hence
(2) [q] < (BC- CF)/ (1/n – 1)
BC ~ = 4400, if 5 Ct/kWh, 15 years of the power system lifetime. 67% of its capacity factor (4400 = 0.05 * 15 * 365.25 * 24 * 0.67)
n and CF and other the system’s parameters depend very much on output electric power chosen for the power system.
For hypothetic 50 MW of the power, n can be ~ = 0.55. Temperature regime inside a storage tank is controlled by varying a voltage and by varying Newton factor of convective heat exchange by intensive agitation. In that case the iron resistor is 10 cm diameter and 2 km total length, so
CF = 175 (i.e. 57 for heat storage +100 for turbo-generators + ~20 for others)
Hence [q] = 5200 $/kW, being higher than today’s cost of wind power generation and higher than perspective cost of solar power generation.
Hence my leitmotiv thesis of competitiveness of my storage system offered is proofed!

7. Solar dish concentrator (SDC) being ultra-light & rigid and excellent manufacturable

Let the dish concentrator to be mentally cross-sectioned by a number of parallel flat planes, forming N coaxial belts. Each of the belts named here as assemblage unit, is sectioned into M (N) identical parts named here as assemblage subunit. Each of the assemblage subunits has four flat ribs bent of its four edges. Two opposite ribs of the subunit serve to be joined with neighbouring pair of subunits of their assemblage unit. Other two opposite ribs of the subunit are bent at the same direction and serve to join the neighbouring belts to create the dish concentrator offered.
It’s clear that the dish can be very thin-walled, and simultaneously the ribs provide the any prescribed rigidity. It’s clear too, that a single small-dimensioned press can manufacture all assembling parts to assemble a dish of any dimensions even very large one, and the said parts are a small quantity of dimension-types (only N dimension-types).


8. SDC beam down

The dish described in chapter 7 can be simply assembled as a high-precision paraboloid, allowing for solar beams to be redirected and beam down. The last is important for simplifying and lightening of SDC itself and following equipments. Present’s computerized and measuring technologies allow a simple and cheap and exact positioning of mobile reflecting mirrors to receive a uniform focus spot at any place needed, because just after the second mirror solar beams could be made practically parallel and remain parallel and uniform after following reflections. The mirrors could be very thin and light and cheaply cooled by fans.

9. 10-nm planar technology and its application for solar energy antenna receivers

Popular introduction and resume
Idea of solar energy antenna receiver is known. Solar beams is a wide-band electro-magnetic irradiation and it could be caught by planar wide-band antennas with nano-scale dimensions of precision accuracy needed to enlarge the antenna efficiency up to 80-90% recovery of solar energy into electricity. Such antenna could receive both solar direct beams and diffused irradiation too, both at sunshine time and secondary irradiation when sunless period including nigh time. It can be well-known spiral antenna or flat bars antenna of a form of Israeli David Star. Recently it was a big problem to produce such tiny antennas with precision accuracy. The solar energy being received by such antenna further could be recovered into one-polar voltage by small planar diodes placed under each planar antenna and further summarized. I offer below a technology for mass production of such tiny antennas.
Disclosure for technical expert
A technology offered here is a variant of hard X-rays lithography with exposure through X-rays transparent mask substrate. A thin metallic alloy with relatively low evaporation point is placed on one side of the said substrate, and it serve to be transformed into a mask. Earlier being sputtered on the said substrate, the said alloy further is transformed into mask by the said alloy evaporation with a help of a heated needle of an atomic force microscope. The said needle can be heated up to 1000 Centigrade or more. It is slightly analogous to TCNL – technology (i.e. thermo-chemical nanolithography) newly being developed in Institute of Technology of Georgia (USA). I offer to name my technology as ENL, i.e. evaporation nanolithography.
For manufacturing of microelectronics, at first a thin film of photoresist is sputtered onto chip substrate, and further the mask substrate is laid onto the chip substrate with contacting its mask to the said photoresist. After X-rays exposure through the mask substrate, exposed places of the photoresist are avoided chemically. Thicknesses of mask and photoresist can me made as thin as some molecular sheets. So chip density is depended only on opacity of the mask and on mask density, which admittedly could by 10 nm or less.

10. Vacuum thermoelectric cell for solar, cars and other applications

A vacuum thermoelectric solar cell (VTEC) is placed in a focus of a solar trough concentrator. The VTEC comprises a sheet shaped anode, and a cathode of thermoelectric material placed on bulk steel base exposed for heating it by concentrated solar rays, and all the construction is vacuumed and has a form analogous to vacuum thermo-insulation with transparent selective reflecting cover from solar irradiation side. The 10-15 mm gap between the anode to the cathode is fixed by quartz rods by a technology described in my brochure of “Era of Renewable Energy” ([1], charter 13.1).
The anode can be protected by reflecting cover and cooled by ambient air.
Solar energy of about 0.1 watt/sq. cm is concentrated onto the base of the VTEC up to about 3-5 watt/sq. cm, heating the base up to 700 Centigrade. It is enough to produce solar electricity with supposed energy efficiency of ~ 50%. The VTEC can be reformed for powering of electric cars, houses and other applications.

11. Ammonia option of transport fuel (three variants)

Popular introduction and resume
Ammonia is the stuff being friendly ecologically, high compact, cheap, mass produced, high energetic fuel containing 17.64% hydrogen, could be used instead of traditional hydrocarbons and other greenhouse fuels. Ammonia is not more toxic as against natural gas, but having very specific and very strong smell even if in very small concentration allowing a consumer to be alarmed about its leakage. It is much less inflammable than natural gas and petrol. Besides its usage as a fuel could be well safety by reliable mechanics and strong control and insurance measures.
Disclosure for technical expert
1st variant
Car power system with high temperature fuel cell is fueled by fuel unit comprises NH3 storage tank, high temperature (500-780 Centigrade) decomposer, NH3-sensor, separator. NH3 storage tank of 11 kg of liquid ammonia is enough for 250 km mileage. The said tank can be duplicated for 500 km mileage. The said high-temp decomposer comprises small preliminary decomposer equipped by about 2 kW-warm heater as "ignition", and more large finish decomposer, and return circuit between them. The decomposer fully decomposes ammonia into a mix of nitrogen and hydrogen. The said separator (e.g. membrane one) separates both nitrogen as exhaust and hydrogen for high temperature fuel cell with another clean exhaust being distilled water. At the presently prices of ammonia being about 275 euro per ton, the clean fuel would cost only 0.20 euro per liter of gasoline equivalent.
2nd and 3rd variants
Car power system with combustion engine is fueled by fuel unit comprises NH3 storage tank, middle temperature (250-350 Centigrade) decomposer, NH3 and H2-sensors, separator.
NH3 storage tank of 23 kg of liquid ammonia is enough for 250 km mileage. The said tank can be duplicated for 500 km mileage. The said middle-temp decomposer comprises small preliminary decomposer equipped by about 4 kW-warm heater as "ignition", and more large finish decomposer, and return circuit between them. The decomposer decomposes liquid ammonia into a mix of nitrogen and gaseous mix of a not disintegrated part of ammonia and hydrogen. The said separator (e.g. membrane one) separates nitrogen as exhaust from a mix of hydrogen and ammonia as fuels for combustion engine with another clean exhaust being nitrogen and distilled water. At the presently prices of ammonia being about 275 euro per ton, the clean fuel would cost only 0.40 euro per liter of gasoline equivalent.
As a possible another variant of the power system, its decomposer would be high temperature one (550-780 Centigrade), which decomposes ammonia fully into hydrogen and nitrogen. In that case a separator provides pure hydrogen as a fuel for a combustion engine with only distilled water as its exhaust. It could be added some water to the engine hydrogen, and it must diminish the engine temperature, and increase efficiency of the power system and so diminish expenses for the fuel.
Note: the larger share of the said warm "igniting" could be recuperated warm.

12. Cheap crude oil from wood. Effective technology

Popular introduction and resume
I have estimated a share of today’s level of crude oil consume can be substituted by the technology offered below, for some northern countries, and following result was.
Sweden (5% territory - 56%), Finland (7% - 100% consume), Estonia (7.5% gives 100%). For Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Lithuania, 5% of their territory could provide about the third of their needs in crude oil. For USA it is 23% given from 5% the country area. And really fantastic figure it would be for Russia. Only 0.17% Russian area for the willow farming would provide 150 million ton of oil from wood. That is 100% of the Russian today's consume.
Disclosure for technical experts
CnHmO (wood) + 0.5 C (charcoal) = CnHm (crude oil) + 0.5 CO2
If willow yield being 20 ton/hr of dry biomass, it produce 500 gram of crude oil per sq. meter of forest farm annually. (Here I suppose 75% share of conversion for the wood. and 40% as yield of charcoal from the wood). More traditional way is to add a little wood to fossil coal for the coal liquidizing.
If one ton of the willow being US$ 15.0, and factory overpay being US$ 80.0, so the said crude oil would be about US$ 120.0/ton, or fantastic only US$ 17.5 /bbl.

13. Self-supporting cleaning technology for Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Popular introduction and resume
Ocean researcher Charles Moore was sailing in the North Pacific Gyre, the great circular current between California and Japan gathering flowing pollutants into Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
Moore: We were completely shocked, we found 6 lbs of (toxic) plastic for every 1 lbs of zooplankton in the surface water. [4]
Plastic never biodegrades, but sunshine breaks it down into microscopic particles.
Moore believes the stuff never goes away. Nevertheless a most of the plastic pollutions could be gathered and recovered into crude oil by not expensive way.
Disclosure for technical expert
I suppose to place across a towing a fence being a polyamide lattice (primary net) stabilized with tow velocity less 1 m/c by two mini-cutters towing two sides of the net. The primary net is about 1000 m width and 10 m depth with polyamide gauze of about 0.3 mm mesh fixed onto the primary net, and it would stop and could collect plastic trashes up to about 10 ton. After that the cutters are kept closer together gathering the trashes in a small area to decrease resistance to tow the trashes to the floating factory to recover them into crude oil.
It would need some hundreds thousands dollar only to proof preliminary all aspects of the technology before its full-scaling. The cleaning would be self-supported and even profitable.

14. Unmanned craft (e.g. explorer, patrol, or military etc) moved by sea wave energy only

Popular introduction and resume
In each small area of sea, sea waves accumulate wind and tidal energy from much larger area of the sea. So by a small device it could be extracted sufficient energy from the sea waves to move an unmanned vessel of research or patrol or other application during some years without any fuels.
Disclosure for technical expert
I suppose a following wave energy extractor [5] could be offered for the said purpose. It is device named by me as Rattle, and the Rattle comprises a cylinder containing a heavy steel load inside it, and a long hand fixed under the middle of the said cylinder, and containing electric generator moved by the said load by a rope, when the cylinder is shaken by the waves. Electricity produced by the said electric generator is passed by cable to a board of an unmanned vessel and stored there for its voyage, with acceleration as possible, when the Rattle is loaded by another rope on the board of the craft with the Rattle hand off the water to decrease hydrodynamic resistance. Such Rattle of 4 meter length and one squire meter of inside cross section and 6 ton of the load could produce 75 kW of electricity, while a small Rattle with 20 cm diameter and 200 kg load could produce about 2.5 kW. The Rattle has an empennage self-orienting the Rattle perpendicular to a wave front to produce maximum power.

15. How put a curb on oil and gas prices? Trade bartering at first!

It is known present oil and gas prices serve as dangerous political weapon and as express profit of many kinds of traders and speculators destabilizing world economy by towing of prices up around the all kinds of markets. The last extremely hits now on a more poor people rather then rich people and businessmen are raising the prices on their products and serves. It could destabilize especially economics of democratic world rather than dictators. The first step on the problem isn’t the galloping the prices, but a bartering of goods, food and serves. Dictators with persons in attendance want a best medication can offer their oil and gas buying partners only, and want to buy high quality cars and other exclusive things… It is right, that the dictators spit upon their people interests, nevertheless their regime stability depends on food and other goods import and engineering support import. It is right too, that West world is up to the ears in the market economics concept and liberalism and the own prosperity is their only God. West world people, wake up! Mobilize your human resources. And I isn’t only man can offer real alternatives to oil and gas business providing the main financial support for your enemies, and your own traitors, and international terror.
The next day after I had finished my booklet, I received article informing about breakthrough practical solar achievements of Sungri (USA) being 5 cent per kWh, 37.5% of efficiency [6]
Quite pretty news!

References

[1] David Judbarovski, “Era of renewable energy”, Q3 2007, http://www.inauka.ru/blogs/article77781.html.
[2] J.S. Coventry at. al, “Thermal and electrical performance of concentrating PV/thermal collector results from the ANU CHAPS collector”,
http://solar.anu.edu.au/level_1/pubs/papers/thermal_electrical_perform.pdf
[3] Prof. Dirk Uwe Sauer, prof. Andreas Jossen, conference report, 2006, http://www.eurosolar.org/new/pdf_neu/electric/IRES2006_Sauer_lf.pdf
[4] Captain Charles Moore, “Plastic Pollutant and its Impact on our Ocean”, 2007,
[5] David Judbarovski, «Новый подход к использованию энергии волн океанов», Q1 2004, http://www.inauka.ru/blogs/article40312.html
[6] Tyler Hamilton, ”Focusing on Solar’s Cost”, MIT Technology review, May 7, 2008, http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/20737

Tags: renewable energy, urgent technologies