Energy, Power
The standard way to test new battery designs is time-consuming and expensive. A new research method from Stanford University, MIT, and the Toyota Research Institute aims to change that. Image courtesy: Chris Vavra, CFE Media
Energy, Power May 21, 2019

Battery solutions company acquires high-voltage battery systems from manufacturer

American Battery Solutions, Inc. (ABS) has signed an agreement to acquire manufacturing and testing assets for high-voltage battery systems from Robert Bosch Battery Systems.

By American Battery Solutions, Inc. (ABS)
Courtesy: CFE Media
Energy, Power May 18, 2019

Securing electric substations

Researchers at Georgia Tech have discovered that side channel signals and bolts of lightning from distant storms could one day help prevent hackers from sabotaging electric power substations and other critical infrastructure.

By Gregory Hale
Rice’s new design for creating security keys with a physically unclonable function (PUF) proved more reliable, more energy efficient and smaller than previously published PUF technologies. Courtesy: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University
Energy, Power May 16, 2019

Unclonable digital fingerprints developed for IoT devices

Rice University integrated circuit (IC) designers have developed unclonable digital fingerprints for Internet of Things (IoT) devices that allows their PUF to be more energy efficient than previously published versions.

By Jade Boyd
Schematics of the protection mechanism of boron nitride (BN) and characterizations of BN nanofilm. The left visual shows that a Lithium aluminum titanium phosphate (LATP) pellet that touches lithium metal will be immediately reduced. The severe side reaction between lithium and solid electrolyte will fail the battery in several cycles. The right shows that an artificial BN film is chemically and mechanically robust against lithium. It electronically isolates LATP from lithium, but still provides stable ionic pathways when infiltrated by polyethylene oxide (PEO), and thus enables stable cycling. Courtesy: Yang Cheng, Columbia University
Energy, Power May 15, 2019

Technique produces longer-lasting lithium batteries

A Columbia Engineering team announced they have developed a new method for safely prolonging lithium metal battery life, which could benefit portable devices and electric vehicles.

By Holly Evarts
An electron microscope image of the flexible dielectric alloy created at Rice University shows a layered structure of sulfur and selenium and a lack of voids. The material shows promise as a separator for next-generation flexible electronics. Courtesy: Ajayan Research Group/Rice University
Energy, Power May 14, 2019

Researchers develop technology for flexible electronics

Rice University scientists have developed a dielectric designed to help manufacturers looking to create flexible electronics.

By Mike Williams
Courtesy: Chris Vavra, CFE Media
Energy, Power May 5, 2019

Researchers working to improve battery density, safety

Penn State University researchers have developed a solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI) designed to increase energy density, performance, and safety for lithium batteries.

By Gregory Hale
A gel-like yield stress fluid, top, moves as a plug without shearing in a tube with the new surface coating. At bottom, the same fluid is seen shearing while it flows in an uncoated tube, where part of the fluid gets stuck to the tube while part of it continues to flow. Courtesy: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Energy, Power April 28, 2019

Engineered surface developed to reduce waste, improve efficiency

MIT researchers have developed a coating to get much thicker materials to slide without sticking or deforming, which may improve the quality of products ranging from bread to pharmaceuticals, and the efficiency of flow batteries.

By David L. Chandler
The standard way to test new battery designs is time-consuming and expensive. A new research method from Stanford University, MIT, and the Toyota Research Institute aims to change that. Image courtesy: Chris Vavra, CFE Media
Energy, Power April 11, 2019

Artificial intelligence used to accurately predict battery life

Researchers have developed a battery testing technique that could help bring new designs to the market more quickly and enable more efficient batteries for electric vehicles and other applications.

By Mark Golden
Image shows the rate of heat transfer from a metal surface, with red the highest and blue the lowest. The large blue areas show the beginning of a boiling crisis. Courtesy: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Energy, Power April 5, 2019

Efficient boiling research for power plants to improve energy efficiency

MIT research is looking to develop understanding of heat transfer in boiling water, which could lead to efficiency improvements in power plants and improved analytics.

By David L. Chandler
MIT researchers’ modified flash storage drives hold promise to cut in half the energy and physical space required to store and manage user data in power-hungry data centers. Courtesy: Chris Vavra, CFE Media
Energy, Power April 3, 2019

Researchers develop architecture to reduce data center energy and space constraints

MIT researchers have developer a flash-storage system designed to cut the energy and physical space required to store and manage data in data centers by half.

By Rob Matheson