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"muscles" produce electricity : Novel way to produce renewable enrgy
:: 06 August, 2007
Artificial muscles are being used to turn the ocean's waves into electrical power in a novel pilot project off the coast of Florida, US.
The "muscles" produce electricity as they bob up and down attached to buoys. Although they only generate enough power to light a small light bulb currently, the scientists involved see it as a first step to implementing a new, cheap technology for harvesting renewable energy from the ocean.
The artificial muscles are made from electroactive polymers, a material that can be physically activated with a jolt of electricity.
Electroactive polymer artificial muscles (EPAMs) are heralded as a key technology for powering future robots and other machinery. The design is remarkably simple – essentially several sheets of specialised rubber sandwiched between two elastic, oppositely-charged electrodes. When an electric charge is applied the electrodes squeeze the rubber. When the charge is dropped, the rubber relaxes.
Crowded field
Roy Kornbluh of Stanford Research Institute International in California, US, and colleagues simply reversed the process. They rolled a sheet of EPAM into a cylindrical shape, and attached a weight to one end. They then fixed it to a weather and navigation buoy inside a watertight capsule.
As the buoy floats on the ocean surface, the force generated by the wave action stretches and relaxes the rubber, oscillating the distance between electrodes and generating electricity (see image, right, and a video animation showing the system in action).
With an average 0.8-meter wave, each stretch of the muscle can generate as much as 20 watts of power. Since waves tend to come about every 4 seconds, though, the sustained energy output is closer to 5 watts.
"Right now we're just powering lighting systems on a buoy," Kornbluh admits, "but we want to scale up by orders of magnitude, and you can imagine hundreds or thousands of these thing scattered in the ocean."
In the last year, nearly 40 applications were filed with the US Federal Energy Regulation Commission for installing the ocean energy systems along the US coastline. It is a crowded field, but Kornbluh believes the simplicity and low cost of his design could give it advantages over competitors.
No adverse affects
"Most wave systems are more complicated, they use flowing hydraulic fluid to turn a transmission, which then spins a turbine," Kornbluh says. "We're just stretching our generator. It's hard to imagine anything more simple."
The US energy market could welcome ocean energy technology with open arms. A recent report issued by the Electric Power Research Institute suggested that ocean energy could expand to meet 10% of the total electricity demands of the US without any measurable adverse effects on the environment.
"Either way it's encouraging that someone is working with artificial muscles and moving in a direction that is really our problem now – energy," says Yoseph Bar-Cohen of Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
News Inside News:
Meet . . .Roy Kornbluh
Title:
Senior Research Engineer, Engineering & Systems Division
Day in the Life @ SRI:
My daily routine includes a mixture of lab work, project leadership and program development. One minute I am running to the lab for some quick tests or experiments with a new artificial muscle device. Another minute I am preparing a report or presentation for a client or potential client. Sometimes there is a brainstorming or kickoff meeting to invent new applications or devices (and sometimes free pizza!). Many co-workers filter in and out of my office and lab during the day to discuss progress on individual projects and new ideas. For a break, I will get a good game of doubles volleyball going.
Academics:
BS in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University and an SM in Mechanical Engineering from MIT
About FERC-
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The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulates and oversees energy industries in the economic, environmental, and safety interests of the American public.
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Top Priorities are the most important issues pending at the Commission, among the thousands of filings made and orders issued each year. They also support key initiatives needed to achieve Commission goals.
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The Electric Power Research Institute collaborates with its members and stakeholders to address the challenges of maintaining coal as a viable energy option for power generation. These challenges include producing power more efficiently while achieving near-zero emissions, including the challenge to capture and sequester C02.
EPRI’s research in advanced coal generation technologies includes integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC), ultra-supercritical pulverized coal, supercritical circulating fluidized-bed combustion, and oxy-combustion.
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EPRI and its working groups are advancing these technologies to meet near- and long-term performance and environmental requirements for advanced coal generation.
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The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), with major locations in Palo Alto, California; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Knoxville, Tennessee, was established in 1973 as an independent, nonprofit center for public interest energy and environmental research. EPRI brings together members, participants, the Institute's scientists and engineers, and other leading experts to work collaboratively on solutions to the challenges of electric power. These solutions span nearly every area of electricity generation, delivery, and use, including health, safety, and environment. EPRI's members represent over 90% of the electricity generated in the United States. International participation represents nearly 15% of EPRI's total research, development, and demonstration program.
Release link: http://www.sri.com/news/video-broll/buoy.html
Tags: Artificial muscles , renewable energy , electroactive polymers , Electroactive polymer artificial muscles , future robots , electrodes , ocean energy , wave systems ,
