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Advances in technology across industry

Compact and flexible thermal storage

There’s a growing trend towards generating electricity from biogas. But roughly half of the total energy content of the fuel is released as heat, which typically dissipates into the atmosphere unused. Large quantities of heat likewise escape from combined heat and power plants, not to mention many industrial installations. The root of the problem lies in the fact that the heat is not generally used at the time it is generated – and options for storing it are limited.

Working together with industrial partners such as ZeoSys GmbH in Berlin, scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB in Stuttgart are currently developing a new type of thermal storage system. This new system can store three to four times the amount of heat that water can, so it only requires storage containers around a quarter the size of water tanks. Moreover, it is able to store the heat loss-free over lengthy periods of time and can even operate at temperatures well in excess of 100 degrees Celsius.

The new system contains zeolite pellets. Normally this material is used as an ion exchanger, for example to soften water. Because zeolites are porous, they have a huge surface area: A single gram of these pellets boasts a surface area of up to 1000m2. When the material comes into contact with water vapour, it binds the steam within its pores by means of a physicochemical reaction, which generates heat. The water is in reverse removed from the material by the application of heat and the energy is stored, but not as a result of the material becoming palpably warm – as when water tanks are used. What is stored is the potential to absorb water and in the process release heat; the term ‘sorptive thermal storage’ is frequently used to describe these systems. And provided the dried zeolite material is prevented from coming into contact with water, it can store the heat for an unlimited amount of time. Visit: www.fraunhofer.de

Tracking trucks in France

IN addition to the highways, bridges and tunnels already subject to toll payments, France plans to introduce a toll for the use of national roads and some country roads for trucks weighing 3.5 tons and more starting in mid-2013. The monitored road network comprises about 10,000 kilometres.

Siemens has received orders from Eurotoll and Total, two of the largest French electronic toll onboard unit issuers, to supply technology for this new toll collection system. The equipment comprises onboard units for the vehicles as well as the electronic detection system.

In contrast to conventional microwave systems, satellite-based tolling systems directly detect the position of the vehicles via the onboard units by using GPS satellite signals which are encrypted and transferred by GSM mobile telephony to the control centre for further processing. This satellite-based technology is therefore especially suitable for extensive road networks beyond the scope of the highways. Toll gantries are not required for data capture. The technology offers not only the accurate charging of distance and time-related tolls, but also flexible adaptation by means of software updates. Visit: www.siemens.com/mobility-logistics

World’s first liquid surfaces X-ray machine

The University of Nottingham will be the base for the world’s first Liquid Phase Photoelectron Spectroscopy (LiPPS) machine. LiPPS is a unique X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) machine which allows researchers to take atomistic measurements of the surface of liquids for the first time. Current instrumentation in the XPS field allows only for the analysis of solid substances.

The potential applications of this technique are vast. Solute composition and interfacial structure are dominant in a wide range of processes including catalysts and electrode-related systems. Insight into interfacial regions in these systems is crucial to the design of more efficient energy storage/ conversion devices. It underpins our knowledge of solution-based processes including electroplating and polishing which are key to high tolerance engineering processes throughout the automotive and aeronautics industries. Visit: www.nottingham.ac.uk/nnnc/index.aspx