Blog

Vortex Bladeless Unveils Bladeless Wind Turbines

Catwell

The bladeless wind turbines rely on vortex-induced vibration rather than spinning blades to generate electricity. (Image Credit: Vortex Bladeless) Vortex Bladeless has introduced an innovative renewable energy solution: bladeless wind turbines. Inst...
- 29 Jul 2025
Aliaro’s Battery Cell Simulator Increases EV Efficiency and Range

Catwell

(Image credit: Aliaro) Swedish firm Aliaro is sparking innovation with its Battery Cell Simulator (BCS), which provides engineers with a new tool for optimizing EV and eVTOL battery systems, without requiring an actual battery. The BCS accurately si...
- 18 Jul 2025
Japan and Indonesia Launch a $500 Million Initiative to Expand Geothermal Capacity

Catwell

(Image Credit: WikiImages/pixabay) Indonesia and Japan have launched a $500 million initiative to add a second unit to the geothermal facility in West Sumatra, expanding capacity at the Muara Laboh site. Former Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ...
- 17 Jul 2025
Japan Wirelessly Transmits Power from the Air to the Ground

Catwell

Flying 3.1 miles above the ground at 700km/hr, the jet transmitted power to ground-based antennae. (Image Credit: Japan Space Systems) Japan Space Systems (JSS) successfully achieved a breakthrough: wirelessly transmitting power from an in-flight je...
- 15 Jul 2025
OrangePi Power write up

obones

Last year, I asked a question on how to best maintain power long enough to allow my 3D Printer SBC to power off properly: /technologies/power-management/f/forum/54285/maintain-power-long-enough-for-sbc-to-power-down The easiest solution was simply to...
- 12 Jul 2025
The State of Solar Power in 2025

Catwell

Global solar power is growing by the day. (Image Credit: Bru-n0/pixabay) Solar power is growing at a rapid pace that humanity hasn't seen before. For instance, global solar grew tenfold over the last ten years, which saw installations doubling...
- 10 Jul 2025
6K6 Tube Amp

dang74

It feels funny posting about tubes on a site called element14. After all silicon was the great disrupter that pushed vacuum tubes to the sidelines. Setting all that aside I know the e14 community will welcome this blog... but it still beg...
- 6 Jul 2025
At 12 Years Old, Jackson Oswalt Built a Fusion Reactor in His Bedroom

Catwell

Jackson Oswalt and his fusion reactor that he built in his bedroom at 12 years old. (Image Credit: Guinness World Records) Like something out of a sitcom or movie. Every kid dreams big, and some turn those dreams into reality. In 2018, 12-year-old J...
- 2 Jul 2025
The United States Delivered the (Big) Central Solenoid to France

Catwell

The US recently delivered the central solenoid to the ITER site in France. (Image Credit: General Atomics) The ITER project, an international partnership, is getting closer to achieving nuclear fusion, an effort that involves the replication of the ...
- 13 Jun 2025
Arcela Unveils Machine That Turns the Air into Gasoline

Catwell

Aircela demonstrated its compact machine that turns CO2 into gasoline for vehicle use. (Image Credit: Aircela) New York-based fuels company Aircela built a compact machine capable of collecting carbon dioxide, converting it into clean, usable gasoli...
- 11 Jun 2025
AI Discovers a Large Lithium Deposit Beneath Arkansas

Catwell

Map showing highlighted areas of the Smackover Formation and the sampling area. (Image Credit: USGS) The USGS used water testing and machine learning to discover approximately 5 to 19 million tons of lithium beneath southwestern Arkansas from the Sm...
- 3 Jun 2025
China’s Survey Estimates That a One-Million-Ton Deposit of Thorium Could Produce Limitless Energy

Catwell

An experimental thorium-based nuclear reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the 1960s. (Image Credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory/US DOE) In 2020, China conducted a national geological survey in 233 thorium-rich zones across the nation, find...
- 30 May 2025
CalTech Progresses with Making The Mini Lightsail a Reality

Catwell

Artist's concept of a lightsail propelled by a laser and blasting off through space. (Image Credit: Credit: Breakthrough Starshot / Breakthrough Initiatives) The Breakthrough Starshot Initiative isn't a new concept. Introduced by Stephen H...
- 19 Mar 2025
Building a 4 x AA Battery Pack Charger for Nickel-Metal Hydride (Ni-MH) Cells

shabaz

Table of Contents Introduction Circuit Current Limit Voltage Limit Building and Testing the Charger Summary Disclaimer Introduction Modern Nickel-Metal Hydride (Ni-MH) cells pack a lot of power, are low-cost, easily available, and are relativ...
- 12 Feb 2025
3D-Printed Fungi Battery Consumes Sugar to Power Temperature Sensors

Catwell

Empa’s 3D-printed biodegradable fungal battery can supply power to temperature sensors for days. (Image Credit: Empa) Researchers at Empa’s Cellulose and Wood Materials laboratory developed a 3D-printed fungal battery that doesn’t ...
- 7 Feb 2025
China’s East Fusion Reactor Breaks a New Record

Catwell

China's EAST fusion reactor achieved a steady state high-confinement plasma operation for 1,066 seconds. (Image Credit: HFIPS) Humanity is inching closer to an artificial sun, unlocking breakthroughs along the way. For the first time, rese...
- 28 Jan 2025
Building a Smart Electronic Load | DAC and Initial Firmware (#2)

Attila Tőkés

Hi E14 Community! Quick update on the Smart Electronic Load project: Previous blog posts: Building a Smart Electronic Load | Introduction (#1) I started testing the stages of the load one-by-one, startin...
- 8 Jan 2025
Researchers Develop Carbon-14 Battery That Could Outlive Humans

Catwell

Sample of a diamond battery. (Image Credit: University of Bristol) Engineers at the University of Bristol developed the world's first nuclear-powered battery, which they claim can generate electricity via the reaction of a radioactive isotope pl...
- 8 Jan 2025
LabView process to measure DC:DC converter efficiency

Jan Cumps

I'm evaluating a Vishay microBRICK switch mode converter. The converter is Vishay's Reference Design for a 4.5 V to 60 V Input, 6 A, DC/DC Synchronous Buck Module SIC967 . One of my lab tests is to validate efficiency sp...
- 4 Jan 2025
DC-DC Converters Take Advantage of the Latest Transformer Tech for Next-Gen Applications

Catwell

(Image credit: Bourns) Isolated DC-DC converters are electronic circuits or electromechanical devices that convert electrical energy from one DC voltage level to another while being electrically isolated between the input and output. That isolation...
- 31 Dec 2024
Building a Smart Electronic Load | Introduction (#1)

Attila Tőkés

It happens that I had a couple of LGA775 coolers laying around from an old PC. The PC these cooler belonged to was discarded a long time ago, but I kept the coolers to be used in future power electronic projects. Back in November I decided to tr...
- 30 Dec 2024
Researchers Develop Triboelectric Generator for Wearables

Catwell

The created the GPE-TENG by sandwiching a gel electrode between two triboelectric ecoflex layers. (Image Credit: Dongguk University-Seoul) We're seeing a growing demand for wearables, like medical sensors, trackers, and smartwatches, and these r...
- 12 Dec 2024
Building a Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMH) Charger

shabaz

Table of Contents Introduction Charging Principle and Features Circuit Description A Worked Example: 4 x AA Cells Building It Tests Summary Introduction There was a recent discussion regarding thoughts on a circuit for charging NiMH batteries. I...
- 22 Nov 2024
Today’s Smart Infrastructure Rely on the Latest Environmental and HVAC Systems to Maintain Peak Efficiency

Catwell

(Image credit: Pixabay) Smart buildings are characterized as a modern structure that uses advanced technologies to automate, connect, analyze and optimize performance across a multitude of devices, systems and platforms. In today’s world, sma...
- 12 Nov 2024
Oxford Researchers Develop a Droplet Battery for Medical Devices

Catwell

The researchers developed a tiny soft rechargeable lithium-ion battery for minimally invasive medical devices. (Image credit: Yujia Zhang) University of Oxford researchers have recently developed a tiny lithium-ion battery made of biocompatible hydr...
- 12 Nov 2024