A former BP engineer has been granted a delay in his sentencing on an obstruction of justice charge related to the 2010 Gulf oil spill. The sentencing hearing for Kurt Mix had been set for late April. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval granted a delay until Aug. 6. Defense lawyers had asked for […]
Power Electronic Tips
Strain can alter materials’ properties
In the ongoing search for new materials for fuel cells, batteries, photovoltaics, separation membranes, and electronic devices, one newer approach involves applying and managing stresses within known materials to give them dramatically different properties. This development has been very exciting, says MIT associate professor of nuclear science and engineering Bilge Yildiz, one of the pioneers […]
DC/DC converter available in ultra-compact SIP-8 package
[[{“fid”:”39014″,”view_mode”:”default”,”fields”:{“field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:””,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:””},”type”:”media”,”attributes”:{“height”:300,”width”:300,”style”:”float: right; margin: 5px;”,”title”:”DC\/DC converters”,”class”:”media-element file-default”}}]]XP Power (Sunnyvale, CA) today announced the ITX series of 6 Watt DC/DC converters encapsulated in an industry standard SIP 8-pin package measuring just 0.86 x 0.44 x 0.36 inches (21.85 x 11.1 x 9.2 mm). Delivering a power density of up to 46 Watts per cubic inch, the ITX […]
Wind energy: On the grid, off the checkerboard
WASHINGTON D.C. — As wind farms grow in importance across the globe as sources of clean, renewable energy, one key consideration in their construction is their physical design — spacing and orienting individual turbines to maximize their efficiency and minimize any “wake effects,” where the swooping blades of one reduces the energy in the wind […]
Wind Energy: On the Grid, Off the Checkerboard
As wind farms grow in importance across the globe as sources of clean, renewable energy, one key consideration in their construction is their physical design — spacing and orienting individual turbines to maximize their efficiency and minimize any “wake effects,” where the swooping blades of one reduces the energy in the wind available for the […]
Extreme Wind Test Facility Pushes Turbines to the Max
Mark Johnson is no Don Quixote humbled by windmills. He makes wind turbines beg for forgiveness. Johnson is in charge of engineering and testing GE wind turbines, including the largest ones that generate the same thrust at the world’s powerful jet engine and have their blade tips flying at 190 mph, faster than the takeoff […]
World’s First Completely Autonomously-Cleaned Solar Energy Park
Ecoppia, a developer of autonomous water-free photovoltaic solar panel cleaning solutions, announced today that the Ketura Sun solar park in Israel’s Negev desert, jointly owned by Siemens AG and solar energy pioneer Arava Power, is now an autonomously-cleaned solar energy production facility. The 8-hectare facility, producing 9 million kilowatt hours per year, is cleaned nightly […]
Rainbow-Catcher Could Revolutionize Energy Technologies
More efficient photovoltaic cells. Improved radar and stealth technology. A new way to recycle waste heat generated by machines into energy. All may be possible due to breakthrough photonics research at the University at Buffalo. The work, published March 28 in the journal Scientific Reports, explores the use of a nanoscale microchip component called a […]
New Solar Cells Double as Lasers
Commercial silicon-based solar cells – such as those seen on the roofs of houses across the country – operate at about 20% efficiency for converting the Sun’s rays into electrical energy. It’s taken over 20 years to achieve that rate of efficiency. A relatively new type of solar cell based on a perovskite material – […]
Photos of the Day: A solar-powered toilet
The Sol-Char Toilet is a solar-powered toilet that turns waste into power and, surprisingly, is 100% sanitary. Read: Solar…toilet?! Zap waste into fuel The Sol-Char Toilet was a product of the Reinvent the Toilet initiative, launched by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The goal was to “develop waterless, hygienic toilets that do not require […]