South Australian company CCT Energy Storage has unveiled the Thermal Energy Device (TED), the “world’s first” working thermal battery. According to CCT Energy Storage, “the battery accepts any form of electrical input to convert and store energy as latent heat—making it versatile, affordable, and long lasting.” Heating and melting a phase change material allows TED […]
Onboard battery charger revs up HEV and EVs
Bel Power Solutions today announced the BCN25-700-8, a 25 kW onboard battery charger that converts 3-phase AC voltage to DC voltage. The enclosure is made of aluminum alloy and is liquid-cooled. Providing 25 kW of output power for a single unit, and up to 100 kW of output power for 4 units, the BCN25 has […]
How to properly size a battery system
By John Connell, VP of Crown Battery’s SLI Products Group Oversize your solar panels, inverters and batteries and you’ll waste money. Undersize your system and you’ll compromise battery life or run out of power — particularly on cloudy days. But if you find the “Goldilocks zone” of ample battery capacity, your solar-plus-storage project will work…
Astronauts Continue Battery Replacements on the International Space Station
NASA’s Anne McClain and Nick Hague swapped out aging nickel-hydrogen batteries with a set of more powerful lithium-ion batteries during a spacewalk March 22, 2019. A week later, and another spacewalk took place outside the International Space Station (ISS). The second spacewalk, featuring Hague and flight engineer Christina Koch, continued the work of the first, installing…
FPL is retrofitting a solar array with a 409-MW capacity battery system
Florida Power & Light announced a plan to build the world’s largest solar-powered battery system — four times the capacity of the largest battery system in operation — as part of an innovative modernization plan that will accelerate the retirement of two fossil fuel generation units. The future FPL Manatee Energy Storage Center will have…
Ingeteam hybrid inverter now compatible with BYD HV battery
Ingeteam and BYD have tested and certified at their respective R&D laboratories the compatibility of BYD’s high voltage Battery-Box H 5.1 and 6.4, and Ingeteam’s INGECON SUN STORAGE 1Play hybrid solar-plus-storage inverter. The coupling of Ingeteam’s inverter and BYD’s batteries is a complete hybrid system to capture and maximize the use of the solar resource.…
Considerations for battery-powered designs
How can you make your resume really stand out? This has been the topic of books, articles, class assignments, and blogs for decades. It came up in conversation one day, and a friend of mine had a unique story. I’ve included it below, with some edits. “With so much written on the topic, there is […]
Non-Toxic Salt Water Battery Prototype Can Charge in Seconds
A battery prototype has been designed using salt water and materials that are non-toxic and charge quickly, paving the way for new types of battery. The design principles behind the new prototype, which changes colour as it charges, could also be applied to existing battery technologies to create new devices for energy storage, biological sensing, and smart colour-changing materials.…
Astronauts Venture Outside Space Station for a Battery Swap
To take care of ailing batteries on the International Space Station (ISS), two astronauts embarked on a spacewalk Friday, March 22, according to the Associated Press (AP). NASA’s Anne McClain and Nick Hague swapped out the three aging nickel-hydrogen batteries with a set of lithium-ion batteries, which are more powerful. The ISS’ robotic arm handled much…
EV charger reference design employs GaN for 3 kW/L power density
VisIC Technologies, Ltd announced the availability of its On-Board-Charger (OBC) reference design for the fast-growing Electrical Vehicle (EV) market. The 6.7kW OBC features a size and weight of only 2.3L and 4.5kg respectively, providing close to 3kW/L power density and proving the disruptive capability of GaN switches. This is 3 x better power density compared […]