Method and Apparatus for Smart Battery Charging
Unlike most electric loads, electric vehicles are mobile. Consequently, one cannot necessarily know that an electric vehicle will be configured safely for any of the charging stations at which it might try to charge. Limitations might be imposed by any of the components, including battery packs, power electronic chargers, premise plug and wiring infrastructure. Furthermore, preferences (and perhaps hard limits) will be imposed by the electric utility, which might insist, for example, that electric vehicles charge off peak, or by vehicle owners, each of whom might wish to assert preferences that will affect charging costs and convenience. This invention describes a fuzzy approach for accommodating such limits and preferences from numerous sources.
Battery Charging Control Methods, Electric Vehicle Charging Methods, Battery Charging Apparatus and Rechargeable Battey Systems
The invention represents an algorithm to provide a form of regulation up and down services to the electric power grid using a plug-in electric hybrid vehicle (PHEV/EV) or electric vehicle (EV). The basis for this regulation will come from frequency measurements of the power grid. The actual charge rate of the PHEV/EV charger will be adjusted using this regulation signal and information about any charging constraints imposed upon the charger (such as a desired finish time).
Methods and Electrolytes for Electrodeposition of Smooth Films
Electrolytes which can effectively enhance the smoothness of deposited films during electroplating process are provided. The electrolyte contains a solvent, a metal (M1) salt containing a metal to be deposited, and an additive metal (M2) salt. The cations of the additive salt can be preferentially adsorbed, but cannot be deposited on the protruded region of the deposited film, therefore forms a positively charged electrical shield which covers the protruded region. This self-assembled electrical shield (SAES) will prevent further deposition of metal (M1) in the protruded region so metal (M1) will be preferentially deposited onto the non-protruded region. This self-smoothing process will effectively improve the smoothness of deposited films during electroplating process.
Medical Radioisotopes and Methods for Producing the Same (Incorporates 14348-B, 14402-B, 14398-B, 14399-B & 14795-B)
Methods for producing radioisotopes required for nuclear-medicine procedures using particle accelerators with small dimensions that can easily be located within a standard-sized laboratory are described. In particular, a method for producing Mo-99 from a target consisting of Zr-96 via an (a, n) reaction has several advantages over current methods used to produce Mo-99. The Zr-96 target contains a stable isotope and does not have the proliferation or RDD implications of the U-235 targets that are currently used. A nuclear reactor is not required to produce the Mo-99. The Mo-99 can be isolated from the target material without interference from multiple fission products. The separation of Mo-99 from Zr-96 is straightforward. In addition, rotation of a thin circular target disk or spooling of a metallic wire target that provides for maximum use of the a-particles and quick dissolution of the target material is novel, to the best of our knowledge. The method should be applicable to the production of many other medical radioisotopes by using the appropriate targets and separation procedures.
IN-SITU HEALTH MONITORING SYSTEM FOR REDOX FLOW BATTERIES (iEdison No. 0685901-22-0242)
We designed an acoustic monitoring system to detect hydrogen bubbles in the analyte solution of all-vanadium redox flow batteries (AVFBs). The system has a specially designed ultrasonic probing cell made of borosilicate glass that can be integrated into the flow system on the analyte side (Figure 1). The analyte solution firstly flows through the negative electrode, where the chemical reaction occurs and hydrogen bubbles are generated, and then flows into the ultrasonic probing cell. The ultrasonic transducer transmits signals into the probing cell and collects echoes that propagate through the electrolyte solution in the probing cell. Details about how the signals are transmitted and received are included in Appendix A. The echoes are collected by the ultrasonic receiver and sent to the computer for data analysis. The sound speed and the acoustic attenuation coefficient are calculated from these echoes, with the detailed methods given in Appendix B and C. Bubbles that flow through the acoustic path are reflected as abnormal values in the measurements of the sound speed and the attenuation coefficient. This method not only can detect bubbles in the analyte solution, but also can estimate the bubble flow speed. The monitoring system can continuously monitor bubble amounts in negative electrolytes without interrupting the battery operation, and thus provides a real-time noninvasive surveillance of the health status of flow battery systems. Figure 1. Schematic of the in-situ battery health monitoring system for hydrogen detection in an all-vanadium redox flow battery.
Forward Looking Transactive Pricing Schemes for Use in a Market-Based Resource Allocation System
This is an extension of the Invention Disclosure for the Olympic Peninsula Demonstration Project. In this project, a rolling window of 24 hours was used to determine average price and standard deviations. The new method uses day ahead pricing to calculate similar values.
Novel Composite Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Anode Based on Ceria and Strontium Titanate
Rare earth-doped ceria possesses mixed ionic and electronic conductivity and is considered to be a promising anode material for SOFCs operating on methane. They exhibit excellent activity for hydrogen oxidation and high resistively to carbon deposition when exposed to hydrocarbons. It has been reported that gadolinia-doped ceria anodes are able to tolerate redox cycling without degradation in their performance. At the same time, an electronic conductivity of gadolinia- and samaria-doped cerates of 0.1 S/cm is rather low and limits their use to the electrolyte-based SOFCs only. Doping with the pentavalent V2O5 showed a slight increase in Oe compared to pure CeO2. This suggested to be attributed to the introduction of cation vacancies, which react with oxide vacancies and shift Eq. 1 to the right. Consequently, this increases electronic and decrease ionic conductivity.
COORDINATION OF THERMOSTATICALLY CONTROLLED LOADS WITH UNKNOWN PARAMETERS
Apparatus and methods are disclosed for coordination of a population of Thermostatically Controlled Loads (TCLs) with unknown parameters to achieve group objectives including bidding and market clearing strategies designed to motivate self-interested users to realize efficient energy allocation subject to a peak power constraint. In one examples of the disclosed technology, a method of operating a load includes estimating a set of values for unmeasured parameters of the load's thermal environment based on output measurements of the thermal environment, determining an energy response based on the estimated set of values for the unmeasured parameters, and transmitting a bid for power for a finite time period based on the determined energy response to the coordinator. A clearing price is received from the coordinator responsive to the transmitted bid and power is sent to the load responsive to the received clearing price.
All-vanadium sulfate acid redox flow battery system
All-vanadium sulfate redox flow battery systems have a catholyte and an anolyte comprising an aqueous supporting solution including chloride ions and phosphate ions. The aqueous supporting solution stabilizes and increases the solubility of vanadium species in the electrolyte, allowing an increased vanadium concentration over a desired operating temperature range. According to one example, the chloride ions are provided by MgCl2, and the phosphate ions are provided by (NH4)2HPO4.
HYDROTHERMAL LIQUEFACTION SYSTEM WITH HEAT EXCHANGER NETWORK (iEdison No. 0685901-22-0139)
This invention segregates the heat integration in a hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) process to reduce the design pressure and temperature requirements for piping, pumps, and heat exchanger equipment. Reducing the design conditions reduces the equipment cost and size and allows for multiple heat exchange technology options to be simultaneously utilized. The vapor pressure of water sets the system operating pressure. Water is very volatile, so the vapor pressure increases rapidly with operating temperature. Areas of the process that require high temperatures, such as the reactor, must be designed for a high operating pressure. However, areas of the process that do not operate at high temperatures can in principle be designed for lower operating pressure. The HTL process requires heating a slurry feed from ambient temperature to 600-700 degF. The large temperature change requires a significant investment in heat exchangers. Heat exchangers are responsible for > 70% of the capital cost of HTL. The design pressure of the heat exchangers has a major influence on the cost. The thickness of the heat exchanger shell is proportional to the design pressure. Therefore, reducing the design pressure by half will reduce the mass of metal required to make the shell by approximately half. In addition to heat exchangers being cheaper, lowering the design pressure allows additional styles of heat exchangers to be used. For example, spiral heat exchangers have many advantages over shell and tube heat exchangers for slurry service. However, the relatively low design pressure limitations of spiral heat exchangers have prevented their utilization for HTL. This invention separates the feed/product heat exchanger train into multiple sections operating at different pressures. Sections earlier in the heat exchanger train (operating at lower temperature) can operate at lower pressure, allowing them to be manufactured cheaper. Staging pumps are used to increase the pressure between the different heat exchanger sections. This invention allows for different heat exchanger technologies to be used between the multiple sections. One configuration proposed is to use a spiral heat exchanger design in the earlier, low pressure stages and shell and tube in the later, high pressure stages. This configuration could be advantaged because spiral heat exchangers perform very well in the HTL application due to their fouling resistance and reasonably good heat transfer with viscous fluids, but can be expensive to manufacture at high design pressures.