Ray Hilton’s Blog

I want an airship, basically a floating kombi van that can float indefinitely in the air using solar/wind power. There are a couple of companies out there trying to bring back the blimps, but using helium rather than the fatally combustible hydrogen used in the Hindenburg. Some of these craft are not actually lighter than air, but use assistive helicopters to lift the craft off the ground. This means that landing does not require tethering to the ground, and thus a largish ground support staff, allowing landing on land or water pretty much anywhere, cheaply and quickly.

• http://www.worldskycat.com/markets/skyyacht.html
• http://www.aerosml.com/galleryML866.htm

This is a potentially amazing technology, capable of not only supplying fuel, but consuming CO2 in the process. The fuel produced is, of course, a carbon-based fuel, so burning it will generate CO2 again, but the system consumes more CO2 than fuel produced due to a side product of carbon monoxide, which can be used to build other hydrocarbons.

One has to wonder that if this technology catches on, whether we will, in not too distant future, be consuming too much CO2, and an absence of it in the atmosphere causes the earth to go into another ice age.

Those scientists have worked out a mathematical model of bacteria in the fuel-cell, which will allow significant optimisations of the technology:

“Modeling the potential in the biofilm anode, we now have a handle on how the MFC is working and why. We can predict how much voltage we get and how to maximize the power output by tweaking the various factors,” said Marcus. For example, the team has shown that the biofilm produces more current when the biofilm thickness is at a happy medium, not too thick or thin.

“If the biofilm is too thick,” said Marcus, “the electrons have to travel too far to get to the anode. On the other hand, if the biofilm is too thin, it has too few bacteria to extract the electrons rapidly from the fuel.”

One step closer to marrying the backyard compost heap and off-grid power generation?

nsf.gov - News - Microbes Churn Out Hydrogen at Record Rate - US National Science Foundation (NSF)

Some school kids have built an auto-balancing unicycle(ish) electric bike. You turn and accelerate/brake by leaning forwards and backwards. I can’t quite visualize how this would actually feel, but it sounds pretty cool, and I want one:

http://technology.canoe.ca/Innovations/2007/05/22/4199470-ca.html

“An unmanned hydrogen fuel cell powered jet made history this week as it took to the skies over the hills of Bern, Switzerland. The Hyfish astonished its creators as it flawlessly performed vertical climbs, loops and other aerial acrobatics at speeds reaching 200 km/h.”

A 747 produces about 65MW or power, which at an energy density of 1.5W/g, would require a fuel cell of about 43 metric tonnes.  Given inevitable optimisation of this technology, they could perhaps, one day, be used in commercial airliners.

“Chemists at the University of California, San Diego have demonstrated the feasibility of exploiting sunlight to transform a greenhouse gas into a useful product.”

Device Uses Solar Energy to Convert Carbon Dioxide into Fuel

This article describes a breakthrough in using dyes in solar cells rather than silicon, mimicking the natural process of photosynthesis much more closely. This results in cheaper, more environmentally friendly and efficient solar cells, which work in low light conditions as well (so great for Blighty!).

Solar power breakthrough at Massey - New Zealand news on Stuff.co.nz

Hydrogen Solar also have some interesting tech. Direct solar electrolysis. Basically, their solar cells convert water directly to hydrogen and oxygen without the niggly middle step. The upshot is efficiency in energy conversion as well as efficiency in power storage (i.e. as hydrogen which can be converted into electricity via fuel cells). One would still need to implement hydrogen storage as well as a fuel cell stack, but its one step closer to an integrated solution for residential or mobile use.

An explanation of how geometric patterns emerge in water whirpools, and a likely explanation for the wierd patterns on Saturn.

news @ nature.com - Geometric whirlpools revealed - Recipe for making symmetrical holes in water is easy.

“An odd, six-sided, honeycomb-shaped feature circling the entire north pole of Saturn has captured the interest of scientists with NASA’s Cassini mission.”

JPL.NASA.GOV: News Releases