by Jeff_Brown on 10/20/24, 5:02 PM with 55 comments
by Animats on 10/20/24, 7:31 PM
Electrolytic capacitors can have far more capacitance than air capacitors. That's the basic concept here.
Here's their patent.[1] Just scroll through the drawings and you'll see how it works.
Here's the key concept: "Numerous aspects of the present disclosure cooperate to increase the breakdown field strength 8406, and / or adjust (e.g. , flatten) the field strength trajectory such as : the permittivity of the dielectric fluid; a selection of fluid constituents to maintain a permittivity profile related to operating temperatures; protection of the dielectric fluid from impurities, presence of water, and / or presence of gases ; providing a surface smoothness of the electrodes 8402, 8404 (or portions thereof), related surfaces, and/ or a housing inner surface ; rinsing / removal of particles and / or impurities (e.g., from manufacturing residue, etc.); provision of a surface treatment on at least a portion of an electrode, and / or on a surface adjacent to the electrode, including varying surface treatments for different electrodes; provision of a coating on at least a portion of an electrode and / or on a surface adjacent to the electrode, including varying the coating for different electrodes; provision of a surface treatment and / or coating on a component at least selectively contacting the dielectric fluid (e.g., a housing inner surface, a packed bed, a side chamber, flow path, and / or eddy region ); protection of composition integrity of the dielectric fluid (e.g., managing materials of bearings, seals , plates , etc. to avoid material breakdown and / or introduction of degradation constituents that negatively affect the performance of the dielectric fluid ); introduction of a field disrupting additive into the dielectric fluid ( e.g., a coated metal oxide, a nano-particle, and /or a conductive particle having a conductor that isolate the conductive particle from physical contact with the dielectric fluid ); introduction of an ion scavenging additive into the dielectric fluid ( e.g., BHT, antioxidants, etc. ); management of gap distance (e.g., using bearings, magnetic separation, a separation assembly, etc.); and / or selected field weakening at certain operating conditions. The utilization of various field management aspects of the present disclosure allows for an increased average field strength in the gap, while maintaining a peak field strength below a breakdown threshold 8406, thereby increasing capacitive energy storage and consequent performance of the ESM 1002."
This thing is sort of like a high voltage electrolytic capacitor with moving parts. They go to a lot of trouble to deal with most of the problems that happen inside capacitors, plus the special problems from moving parts. They had to go all the way to a pumped fluid system with filters, to keep the dielectric fluid cool and clean. Many electric car motors have liquid cooling, so it's no worse than that. It does mean this is probably a technology for larger motors, because the motor requires some accessory systems.
It's not clear that this is a win over magnetic motors, but it's reasonable engineering.
[1] https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/cf/eb/f0/6d48f07...
by 01100011 on 10/20/24, 7:41 PM
by giantg2 on 10/20/24, 5:57 PM
If it's capable of up to about 3000 RPM, and it doesn't weigh too much it could be interesting as an ultralight aircraft power plant.
by mNovak on 10/20/24, 10:02 PM
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=919...
by karlkloss on 10/20/24, 5:53 PM
by milesvp on 10/20/24, 5:34 PM
by peter_d_sherman on 10/21/24, 5:37 AM
>"C-Motive has designed a sub-5 kW (7 hp) industrial motor platform designed for direct drive applications where high efficiency and high torque lead to substantial operational savings; a 1.5 kW (2 hp) C-Motive machine could save up to $1,400 a year in energy costs in a typical industrial application."
[...]
"A C-Motive electrostatic generator, however, can be connected directly to the hub of the wind turbine and driven directly without an efficiency-robbing gearbox. This can add 20% or more to the annual energy output of the wind turbine..."
That seems like very promising future technology!
Wishing the C-Motive team a lot of luck with their electrostatic generators and electrostatic motors!
by trebligdivad on 10/20/24, 11:28 PM
by lbourdages on 10/20/24, 5:47 PM
by scotty79 on 10/21/24, 12:58 AM
by amelius on 10/20/24, 5:45 PM
by raphman on 10/20/24, 5:55 PM
tl;dr: concept very old; C-Motive combined incremental improvements
by jacknews on 10/21/24, 12:17 PM