Energy

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Fri 28 May 2010

Oil Spill Solution – Beer Can Version

Posted by John Burch under Energy , General
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Not exactly nano, but we can speculate on how to clean up such a problem.
For one possible solution today, I whipped up a short walk through of one way to approach this problem. Wish they had put five different teams on this oil slick and funded them so we had five totally independent solutions happening in parallel. A bit late now, but what the hey.

You can see my suggestion here.

Hopefully, in a decade or two, we will have nano tools that make such deep drilling less dangerous. Nano in this situation, means we have better robots down there that can work with as much dexterity as a human. They know what is going on, because they can send sensors into the pipes and measure anything that is important. They can build barriers or pipes in place and thereby control the flow of oil more easily then today. Now you have to figure it out first, build it and ship it to the well head. In the future, we hope they can make changes at the well head as needed.

In a way, it’s good to not drill now. Make this oil hungry civilization find something else to eat for a while. Save the resources for later when they can be drilled more safely.

 

Mon 14 Sep 2009

Hydrogen Storage

Posted by John Burch under Energy , General
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Hydrogen Storage

We need to use Hydrogen for energy, but it is hard to store or transport safely. This “invention” is a modification of one I did a few years back. It stores gaseous hydrogen in tiny balls that retain the gas under high pressure and release it on command ( applied external magnetic field).

I’m putting this into the public domain so that anyone can build it and use it. The idea is to create billions of tiny balls that flow in large numbers like fluid. They can be pumped, measured like water, stored in any container, used in cars safely, etc. You could probably drink the stuff as long as you stayed away from strong magnets.

The balls are around 1 mm in diameter. Of course with nanotechnology, they could be much smaller and have automated construction, but for the moment, lets use something large enough to see.


Outside, each ball is a perfect sphere of diamond (carbon) with one hole that allows gas to enter or exit. The hole is covered with a guard or screen to filter out dust and lint. Inside the ball, there is one moving part – a spring loaded lever that contains a flexible plug for the hole and a small disk of magnetic material (iron). Another bit of magnetic material is supported by a column so that there is small gap between the two magnetic disks. When an external magnetic field is applied to a ball, the two magnetic bits are attracted to one another, the lever bends and the plug is withdrawn from the hole. Gas escapes if the outside pressure is low. The ball is charged with gas if the outside pressure is high. Without a magnetic field, the plug seals the hole and gas is retained inside the ball.

This is a concept image of the ball.

Click the images to see a larger image.

Next to last image is for a different lever that attaches to the post or column. This prevents the
spherical shell from being weakened by the attachment of the lever. This is an “inside” view of the central column and valve.

And the last gray image with white lines is a cross section of the ball. Note the narrow exit tube and the flaring funnel on the outside of the ball. The filter covers that flared funnel.

Make them of diamond and they don’t wear out as they flow over one another. If they are small then you can treat them like a fluid. As the fluid moves past a magnet, the balls release hydrogen and the hydrogen gas is available for use. They would have a half life after which the gas would be half leaked out. Hopefully it would last several months, but that is a high technology to design the perfect valve for this thing. It needs to seal under high pressure yet, release easily. Some sort of plastic with the right characteristics seems like a solution. Maybe just another mating piece of diamond. The entire thing can be made of diamond except for the magnetic material.

I thought about sonic actuation, but that is dangerous since outside sounds can release gas. If the balls are stored inside an iron tank, then external magnetic fields are prevented from reaching the balls.

You have to be able to build these thing fast and accurately. Otherwise it will not work. You need billions of them. And diamond allows them to hold enormous pressure. The higher the pressure, the higher the storage capacity. Even if they leak out in a few weeks, they might be viable for short term storage like in a car or electrical plant. If you store them in a true pressure tank, they can hold the gas longer since they leak less at high ambient pressure.


Someone with money should do something with this. But deliver the technology for use, don’t restrict the use of the technology. Make your money by delivering product.