Smart switch: Indy Power Systems has developed the Multi-Flex Energy Management System, a laptop-size power converter. The system allows makers of plug-in electric vehicles to use a combination of power sources--including lead-acid and lithium-ion batteries and ultracapacitors--and optimizes the blend to increase battery life, improve performance, and reduce cost.
Steve Tolen
Combining different battery technologies could improve vehicle performance and reduce costs.
The race is on to find the ideal battery chemistry for plug-in hybrids and all-electric vehicles, but a startup in Indiana believes that a combination of different storage technologies might be the best way to improve vehicle performance and reduce cost. The company's technology allows vehicles to run on a combination of fuel cells, ultracapacitors, and old-fashioned lead-acid batteries.
Noblesville-based Indy Power Systems has developed an energy management system for vehicles that can quickly switch between two or more energy sources, even when their voltages are different. "It's basically a switch that directs energy in any amount and any direction," says Steve Tolen, chief executive officer and founder of Indy Power, which operates out of Purdue Research Park. "The hardware handles the switching, and the software handles the timing and amounts."
Tolen says that the power electronics package--called the Multi-Flex Energy Management System--is only slightly larger than a laptop computer. He describes it as a custom, software-controlled, DC-to-DC converter that's bidirectional and variable.
"Imagine adding hot and cold water to a tub. We can add a variable amount of hot and a variable amount of cold in different volumes to match the outflow of the drain, which can also be variable," Tolen explains. "In other words, the motor can ask for different amounts of current, and we can provide that, and in different ratios from the two (or more) power sources, regardless of the voltage of the power sources."
For example, an electric vehicle could have both lead-acid and lithium-ion battery packs. Advanced lead-acid batteries may be cheaper, but they are also heavier and deteriorate more quickly if subjected to regular depletion and recharging. Lithium-ion batteries are generally more robust and lighter but are far more expensive. Combining the two means that you can use less of each. And just as important, says Tolen, the two chemistries can be balanced against each other to optimize performance. For example, the lithium-ion battery can be used to relieve stress on the lead-acid battery and extend its life, and vice versa.
Reza Iravani, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Toronto, says that Indy Power's system is part of a trend toward greater emphasis on hybrid storage. For example, he says, Researchers in Australia have designed a car-battery system that combines lead-acid technology with supercapacitors, resulting in a fourfold increase in the life of the lead-acid batteries.
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Making it no More, but Less Difficult
Let's play around with the following paragraph:
"Tolen says that Indy Power has also been approached by utilities that would like to see the Multi-Flex system scaled up for grid-based applications. Iravani says that selling to the electricity sector will be more difficult given its aversion to risk, but he believes that the combination of power electronics and hybrid energy storage could increase grid reliability and allow utilities to use more renewable energy."
When Tolen writes about utilities, he means the investor owned utilities (IOUs), which let Iravani say "that selling to the electricity sector will be more difficult given its aversion to risk..." That is an essential construct of the IOUs paradigm, which is based on a state regulated price control business model. So, to make it less difficult, we need to change the paradigm to enable federal (not just at the state level) business model innovations (as it is done in the information industry) in a non risk averse paradigm.
This is how it plays out. Forget central generating stations for the moment. They can be added later to the non risk averse component. Under the IOUs paradigm has:
A very complex system combination with: 1) risk averse transmission system, 2) a risk averse state (physical distribution and retail) utility, and 3) a non risk averse fractured (at the meter), every one for himself, open market, where customers may invest in power gadgets (like gen-sets, cars, and the Multi-Flex system) with two independent electricity shopping places (customer's costs involve regulated utility and open market costs)
Under the electricity without price control (EWPC) paradigm, is restructured into:
A new simplified emergent whole, with 1) a risk averse transportation (transmission and distribution) only utility and 2) a non risk averse retail entity in the open federal market (where large savings are available) at one electricity shopping place. By design, "the combination of power electronics and hybrid energy storage" will be done through the grid, and not only at particular locations.
Once you do that, selling to the electricity sector can be made fairly easy. To learn about the opportunities for all stakeholders, see the insights of the EWPC paper Just as Pogo, IOUs Found the Enemy.
If you think there is something missing to get the "will be less difficult" point across, please help by asking.
Guest (DG624)
Re: Making it no More, but Less Difficult
Aren't utilities part of the problem with the great loss of power when circulating power in wires? I think cities should have their own power system generated by individual users and suppliers. Utilities are prone to make more power and more money so they have no interest in saving money or efficiency unless it helps their profit.
Cities should have an incentive to be efficient so residents will have lower taxes. All users will generate their own power and be part of the utility. No power lines in neighborhoods and no outages due to wind or snow.
Is this your power/utility model?
Re: Making it no More, but Less Difficult
WOW!!! This comment came almost one year later.
Since then "my model" has been refined even more. I suggest readers take a look at the EWPC article A Single System & the Enterprise War.
Getting different batteries will cause problem right? It will make it easy for us but damaging to the battery. Thats what I think. - kustomatic
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TimG
21 Comments
Removable Power Packs
This is yet another argument in favor of removable battery packs for vehicles. The electric vehicle industry will continue to be held back until power pack standards are in place. Whether lead-acid, lithium-ion, or some kind of fuel cell, there have to be standards in place for size, shape, weight and connections. Business will need this stability for us to really forge ahead.
Reply
IanLove
1 Comment
Re: Removable Power Packs
I understand electric vehicles are freezing in this cold weather and unbearable in really hot weather because they have no heating or airconditioning. Will removable power packs solve this problem? Is performance and reliability affected by cold weather?
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tlynnch
5 Comments
Re: Removable Power Packs
Heating and air conditioning is just a matter of power. The component weight is not significant. Heat can be salvaged from the motor, but it will be much less then gasoline engines.
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