New concept turns battery technology upside-down

www.sciencedaily.com ^ | May 25, 2016 | Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

[norwaypinesavage]

"You’re not going to get more energy out then it takes to flip the battery. I cant see this producing enough power to do anything other than power a pocket calculator."

Pocket calculator??? It wouldn't even power a pocket watch for a couple of seconds. If the battery weighed half an ounce (an AAA cell) and you flipped it over a distance of 3 inches, you would add 1/128 ft-lb of energy to it. Since 1 ft-lb is 4x10^-7 kWh, it would take 8 million of these flips to get 1 kWh - a dime's worth of electricity.

[cuban leaf]

If it takes less power to flip it than the amount of power generated between flips, it is the equivalent of a perpetual motion machine and all that that implies.

[Heart-Rest]

[Garth Tater]

I wonder how frequently it must be flipped.

I'd guess the flipping is just to keep the fluid flowing past the membrane. It probably still has to be charged like any other lithium-ion battery (but I didn't read the article.) Flipping does remove the need for the pumps and valves though and being able to 3-D print the thing is big.

Great possibilities for bio-mechanical devices.

[zeestephen]

Thanks for posting on the Bad Creek hydroelectric station.

I spent a lot of the 1960s and 70s in western South Carolina.

I had no idea that was up there.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Great possibilities for bio-mechanical devices.

...if you enjoy standing on your head for half of the day.

[Ozark Tom]

Tilting for gravity flow just replaces a pump. The chemicals flow through a reaction chamber to generate power. How it recharges is a better question.

[Larry Lucido]

That’s how my tablet is powered. You have to shake it up before using it.

Oh wait, never mind. That’s my Etch-a-Sketch.

[AndyJackson]

figure out a way to incorporate this battery flipping technology into the wheels of a car

It's called dynamic braking - the resistance from a generator charging the battery slows the car down.

[roadcat]

Seriously, figure out a way to incorporate this battery flipping technology into the wheels of a car so that they store electricity and then feed the energy back into the motor as needed.

My daughter's Altima Hybrid has regenerative braking. When you go downhill, it automatically transfers electricity back to the batteries. There's a gear you can shift into where the wheels act as a brake on a downhill grade, generating electricity that shows on a power meter on the dash. This stuff is standard practice for all hybrid cars.

[Red Badger]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/361025412843?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_noapp=true

You may have been right the first time............

[Red Badger]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_battery

[wgmalabama]

Cars need to go to inductive powered / charged. Huge infrastructure but way cooler than running around with both ICE and batteries. Build nuke, coal and natural gas power plants. He’ll just keep the ones we have running instead ok killing all the jobs.