Aenert news. Invention analysisLiquid organic hydrogen carriers (LOHC) are considered a promising technology for hydrogen transport and storage applications. They include a variety of compounds that can be bound with hydrogen (hydrogenation) so that it can be transported or stored in liquid state without the use of sophisticated compression or cryogenic equipment and released (dehydrogenation)...
Aenert news. Invention analysisVarious options of energy storage are described in patented solutions in the field of solar energy. They include such technologies as those using latent heat, molten materials, compressed air, and chemical reactions. In the pool of collected patent documents on solar energy storage, technical solutions disclosing the use of latent heat form the largest group of...
Scientists have always been looking for ways to improve our daily lives. One of their focus areas undoubtedly is materials engineering, where they are trying, among other tasks, to improve or develop new devices which can be used for harvesting energy. Superconductors are one group of such devices, which have zero electrical resistance and thus allow electrons to flow unimpeded. It also means that they do not lose energy or create...
After superconductivity was discovered at the beginning of the 20th century, scientists around the globe have taken great pains to unravel the mysteries of this phenomenon in materials physics. The insights they have gained are profound. However, the exact mechanisms that lie at the bottom of this phenomenon have yet to be fully discovered. A superconductor is a material with no electrical resistance, which does not allow magnetic...
Hydrogen is increasingly becoming one of the major players in achieving independence from fossil fuels. However, making out the perfect material for storing hydrogen either in gaseous or liquid form has brought along its own set of problems. When in gaseous form, hydrogen requires high-pressure tanks (350–700 bar [5,000–10,000 psi] tank pressure), whereas storage as a liquid needs cryogenic temperatures, as the boiling point of...
The current problems on the European gas market, accompanied by large-scale changes in the natural gas supplies are certainly a central topic of the global energy industry today, and for several years to come. Today the world's natural gas production exceeds 4 Tcm, but the geographical distribution of deposits is uneven. For example, the European Union produces slightly over 1% of the world's total. This requires an enormous effort to...
When we read about photovoltaic cells, the first thing that comes to mind is seemingly endless rows of solar panels converting sunlight into electricity. However, energy cannot only be harnessed from sunlight, but also from hot objects which, unlike the sun, emit light at a longer wavelength and lower energy. In order to utilis e the energy contained within these objects, thermophotovoltaics (TPV) are used. They are usually made of...
For many years, scientists around the world have been looking for means to efficiently produce and store energy in a climate-friendly manner. Among the most promising materials for this task is sulphur, as it can not only fuel steam or gas turbines, but also be used for energy storage in solar thermal power plants. When employed in a thermal power cycle, it can absorb, transport and store solar energy as high-temperature heat, since...
Ferroelectric bubbles constitute a fairly new scientific area which is concerned with the conservation of electric bubbles for advanced microelectronic and energy storage devices. These bubbles are very fragile and require specific materials as well as conditions to create a film which can hold and preserve them inside. The electric bubbles develop in a three-layer extremely thin structure having alternating electrical properties –...
Nowadays, many homes use solar collectors to provide them with warm water. During summer, when heating demand is not high, this works quite well. However, in winter more heating is needed, which is why thermal storage was designed to store a part of the excess heat for later use. Up until now, the excess heat was stored in large water tanks filled with hot water. The disadvantage of this method is that tanks have to be large as well as...
