hamilton: a new spin on energy storage - battery energy storage system

Jeff Veltri gives a new meaning to the phrase "broken legs!
"A compressor mechanic at the end of 1980, Veltri, in his mid-term
In his 20 s, he was helping a friend cut down a tree when the ladder was out of balance.
He instinctively threw the chainsaw in his hand into the air, decided to jump down, hit the ground with his right leg, and broke in four places.
"It turns out that this is the best thing I 've ever had, except to meet my wife," he half
Jokingly, roll up your trouser legs with a long surgical scar.
Without a broken leg, the three-month Veltri with crutch will never return to high school to complete Grade 13 math and physics.
Without Grade 13, he would not be admitted to the mechanical engineering program at Ryerson University.
Without a Ryerson degree in engineering, he would not be an inventor with five patents.
But it was in 2008,
After learning about the time the Ontario plan was introduced, claiming that the garage tinkerer heard his real callof-
Use the electricity bill.
He asked himself what would happen if homeowners could have an economical way to store electricity at the cheapest time and then use it as needed?
He studied many techniques. Batteries? Nope —
Too expensive and not long enough to last.
Super capacitor? Nope —
It's too expensive, and it's too fast.
However, Veltri was inspired by the idea of building a better flywheel system.
The concept of the flywheel is simple: the motor is used to rotate the rotor, which is usually composed of high-
Strength materials such as carbon composite materials or steel.
Usually in a vacuum case, the rotation speed of the cylinder can exceed 10,000 rpm, which gives it great power.
This momentum or kinetic energy is equivalent to storing electricity that rotates the mass in the first place.
When you want to convert the kinetic energy back to power, the flywheel will drive the motor and make it work as power
Generator production.
"How long has it been spinning (In standby mode)
This depends on the amount of friction in the system, "Veltri explains.
The more spin lasts, the more energy can be stored in a given time.
"So the name of the game is to minimize friction as much as possible.
To reduce the friction of the flywheel, many developers suspended the rotor on the maglev bearing.
The problem is that some external power supply is needed in order to keep these bearings magnetized.
Therefore, while this method greatly reduces friction, there is a "parasitic loss" to the demand for a small amount of power, which still limits the time for the system to store energy.
In fact, that's why most of today's flywheel systems are used for temporary backup power or for short time management
Term instability in the grid.
This is because if they keep the flywheel in standby storage mode for too long-
Anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours-
All energy will run out.
Veltri came up with a better, lower
It is based on the cost design of a permanent magnet that does not require electricity, which means zero parasitic loss.
He also came up with a way to integrate the various components of his system, including his magnets, to maintain a very low level of friction.
For example, he claims that his flywheel system will be able to maintain a charge of 95 for 8 hours or more.
The end result will be a system that offers twice as much power at half the cost of its closest competitor, MIT lighthouse power.
Breakthrough in energy storage?
It may be, but first Veltri must support his extraordinary claim through a commercial presentation.
He intends to do so.
His first prototype worked well, but was small in size and only stored enough power to power three bulbs in an hour.
In spring 2009, Veltri received $300,000 through the Ontario Electric Power Authority's technology development fund for the construction of a kW-hour prototype.
The third prototype, 20 times larger, is nearing completion.
Veltri no longer focuses on the home energy system.
Such a small scale is not economical at all.
Now the plan is to build 50 KW modules per unit.
Hourly size that can be used individually or in groups as part of a large utilityscale system.
The modules are one metre in diameter and nearly two metres in height.
They can do short, but they can also do long.
Regular storage functions such as storing wind energy at night for scheduling during the day.
"It doesn't look like rocket science, but there's a lot of engineering work to do in terms of configuring how all this is combined," says Cam Carver, a 2009 Fall local entrepreneur working with Veltri
Found Burlington-
His time power as chief executive.
For example, a permanent magnet must hang thousands of pounds of rotating steel with incredible precision, which means that the magnet must be manufactured and positioned with extremely high precision.
However, the maintenance cost of the final product is expected to be very low compared to the battery replacement.
"It has no antipathy to the temperature and no toxic ingredients, and the way we design them is to maintain them only once every 10 years," Carver said, adding that it would be a manufacturing-in-
Ontario Technology
"It's amazing how many machine stores we have within five kilometers to make parts for this.
"Hydro One may be the first project to test the system as part of a demonstration project recently funded from Canadian sustainable development technologies.
Temporal plans to deploy 10 freewheels on the distribution network of Hydro One, which will help the wind turbines in the region generate electricity smoothly.
Another demonstration was also conducted in the project.
I asked Veltri, how could a guy who was repairing in a garage do dozens of deep things
There is no big company yet.
"People always ask me this question," he replied . ".
"To be honest, I can't tell you why.
I personally have reviewed 120 patents for the flywheel and no one is doing what we are doing.
Maybe it's because I brought a new perspective.
I don't wear a blindfold.
"If the engineer looked at the design, I'm sure he 'd say, 'Well, why didn't I think of this?
Fortunately, no one has done so.
Fortunately for Veltri, he broke the leg.
Taylor Hamilton writes weekly articles on green energy and clean technology.
Contact him at tyler @ clean break.