Friday, February 26, 2010

Patent 12/161,289 Review- Dye Sensitized Solar Cell and Dye Sensitized Solar Cell Module

      On January 21, 2010, a new patent was approved in the United States for a new type of dye sensitized solar cell and module that aims at improving performance, enhance short circuit current and reduce costs. This patent was filed by Ryohsuke Yamanaka, Nobuhiro Fuke and Atsushi Fukui on December 12, 2006.  
      Prior to filing for their patent, Yamanaka, Fuke and Fukui looked into the reasons why Dye Sensitized Solar Cells were inefficient. They were able to conclude that all of of the current solar cells consumed a lot of energy during their drawn out processes while not giving enough output, and were not able to be created on a larger scale. They also noticed that their heavy weight restricted its usage. Their new patent focuses on fixing all of these problems.
      Yamanaka et. al were able to pinpoint where the flaws in the current DSSC's were. In dealing with large scale replication, a solar cell that is created with a surface area as large as 1 m would highly reduce in efficiency due to an increase in solar resistance. This, in turn, reduces the fill factor and the short circuit current conversion. In order to counter this, the new patent proposes to have multiple DSSC's that can be connected into a series. Secondly, DSSC's were believed to be made in a very costly manner by utilizing a large amount of varying and expensive components, thereby having an intricate process in which to manufacture the cells. Yamanaka et. al were able to fix this problem by using by using less materials, such as thinner photoelectric conversion layers, as well as better manufacturing processes, such as firing furnaces, and therefore, use less energy to combine these materials.
      In doing this, the combined efforts of Yamanaka, Fuke and Fukui were able to create a new patent for a more cost effective and efficient dye sensitized solar cell. Although no official statistics have been claimed yet, we look forward to seeing how much of an improvement these changes can actually create.

Friday, February 19, 2010

The Green Machine- HengLi Creates a More Environmentally Friendly Furnace

      As the cost for crude oil and energy consumption increases, many companies are looking for ways to cut down on their costs. One way to do so is to focus on taking their highest energy intensive equipment, such as furnaces, and making them more environmentally, as well as wallet, friendly. In order to tackle this challenge, HengLi devised a simple math problem to not only to reduce energy consumption, but reduce the amount of materials used as well.
HengLi's Green Furnace- HSK 3505-0711 
      In order to evaluate a problem as large as high energy consumption, one must step back and take a more holistic view of the problem. One must consider not only how much energy is being used but why that much is being used. For that reason, the idea reducing energy consumption in furnaces gets broken down into two separate categories- dealing with materials and processes, or changing the equipment itself. 
      The material used and processes to create them highly depend on the end product's desired qualities and well as quantity. The process used within a furnace itself varies. Two of the most common processes include low firing temperature techniques and a fast fire method, each with their own benefits. The low firing technique is able to use less heat, and therefore less energy and resources in order to create a product. The fast fire furnaces ad able to decrease the time materials spend in the furnace and are able to conserve energy in that manner. The materials themselves can be altered in order to decrease furnace time. For example, using a glass powder and clay mix can reduce energy consumption by up to 40%!
      The manufacturers of HengLi furnaces have also looked into ways of improving energy efficiency within the furnace. Improvements in their furnaces are based off of the Simplified Model of Furnace Heat Loss that they developed which consists of the following variables:
          P: energy consumption of the furnace
          T: relative temperature of the heating elements to the surrounding environment
          T1: relative surface temperature of the furnace body to the surrounding                        environment 
          R1: insulation layer’s thermal resistant
          R2: thermal resistance between furnace body and the surrounding environment
          C: system thermal capacity, which includes all the insulation and construction           material
          I1: heat loss due to the load and its fixture or carrier
          I2: other heat losses besides I1, like those from insulation layers, door and T.C           holes etc. 
      Through manipulating these variables in a series of simple mathematical equations, HengLi was able to develop a series of principles for energy saving. One of the many equations is:
P=T(T/(R1+ R2)+ I1+I2) + f(C,t)= (T-T1)2/R1+T12/ R2+T(I1+I2)+f(C,t)
where f(C,t) is the rate of energy absorption of the furnace system and is set to approach zero over time. This also relays the information that R2 is directly proportional to the furnace's surface area and inversely proportional to the air's thermal conductivity. Another equation that was derived using these variables is one determining the difference between the energy consumptions of various furnaces, as follows:
Ps-Pc=(T-T1)2/R1+T1 2(R2s+T(I1+I2)+f(Cs, t)-(T-T1)2/R1+T1 2(R2s+T(I1+I2)+f(Cc, t)
=T12(1/R2s-1/R2c)+f(Cs,t)-f(Cc, t)
where the subscript s refers to the green furnace while the subscript c refers to a conventional furnace. After plugging in value for various models, the total equals a value below zero, inferring that the energy consumption of the green furnaces are lower than those of e furnace that are not.
      These resulted in a few main goals- to reduce the the total surface area (by increasing insulation) and to reduce the heat capacity of the furnace as well as the energy needed for each furnace to reach working temperature. After applying these principles, on-site testing proved that the new furnaces could save up to 20% energy for continuous furnaces and up to 40% for batch furnaces. 
 Sectional view of the mouth of the improved furnaces
      In addition to these main factors, one must also pay close attention to the specific furnace they are working with. For example, in larger furnaces, one must also look at variables such as heat lost from between insulation layers, the furnace door and the T.C. hole and therefore efficiency can be increased based on specific sizes and models. 
     Contact your nearest HengLi representative for more specific details on how to obtain or update your furnace to a more environmentally friendly furnace. 

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Kyocera's Kazuo Inamori Takes Over Japan Airlines

     Last month, the highly esteemed entrepreneur Kazuo Inamori was asked by the Japanese government to take over the position of Chief Executive of Japan Airlines and save it from potential bankruptcy as well as threatening buy outs from other companies. The Japanese government bestowed this exciting opportunity upon him in hopes to revive the company and essentially stimulate the economy of the country.
     Kazuo Inamori is one of the most well known businessmen in the industry. He has already built many successful companies up from the ground, including the well known Kyocera Corporation and KDDI Corporation that serve in a variety of industries and employ over 66,000 people.
 
 
Kazuo Inamori of Kyocera (left) and Ken Kuang (right) CEO of Torrey 
Hills Technologies at Kyocera's 40th anniversary celebration

     Inamori was born on Januray 30, 1932 in Kagoshima, Japan. By 1955, he had graduated from Kagoshima University with a Bachelors of Science degree in applied chemistry. By the age of 27, he had already set up Kyoto Ceramics Co., Ltd, the company that later became known as Kyocera. 
     In addition be being a successful business man, Inamori is also well known for his generous philanthropic efforts. In 1984, he set up the non-profit Inamori Foundation that offers the Kyoto Prize, a distinguished prize that honors significant contributors in the fields of Basic Science, Advanced Technology, and Arts and Philosophy.
     By the time he retired from Kyocera in 1997, Inamori was ordained as a Zen Buddhist priest in the Rinzaishu sect of the Myoshinji lineage. He was given the title of “Daiwa” meaning “great harmony”.
     Although he is 77 years old and retired, he is still very active and holds many posts outside of his company as well as running Seiwajyuku, a prestigious private management school. Overall, we wish Kazuo Inamori good luck on this magnanimous endeavor he has undertaken and hope for his continued success in all of his ventures.