Blog

Japan is aiming to replace coal with blue hydrogen

Catwell

Instead of shutting down coal-fired plants or switching to renewables, Japan plans to burn hydrogen or ammonia. (Image Credit: Adrian Olichon/Unsplash) Japan is facing immense pressure for its use of coal. Instead of switching to renewables or shutt...
- 21 Dec 2021
Energy sector crime and staying afloat

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A $110m lawsuit alleges that Iberdrola stores unused equipment in warehouses, making a profit from its customers. (Image Credit: qimono/pixabay) Security Limits Inc, a cybersecurity company, filed a $110m lawsuit against the Spanish global energy co...
- 17 Dec 2021
Basic Theory and Equations for a Buck Converter

kkazem

There's a lot of interest in DC-DC Converters these days with all the new Single IC converter ICs. But the app notes for these will rarely explain the theory very well or give many equations. To keep the blog reasonably short, I'll limit...
- 17 Dec 2021
Converting CO2 into rocket fuel

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Elon Musk tweeted that SpaceX plans to launch a program that collects CO2 from the atmosphere and converts it into rocket fuel. (Image Credit: IJRO/pixabay) On December 13th, Elon Musk tweeted that SpaceX plans to start a program that focu...
- 16 Dec 2021
Offline Cap Drop Power Supply Design Basics

kkazem

If you ever need a simple, low-cost, 5V to 12V, up to 100 mA with an input of 120 or 240 VAC, 60 Hz, the Cap Drop Power Supply is the circuit for you. But be warned, it is not isolated from the AC power line and it can therefore, be dangerous with a ...
- 11 Dec 2021
AC Inductor Design Basics

kkazem

Not all engineers are aware that there are two types of inductors, AC Inductors and DC (actually, DC+AC) Inductors. Typically, an AC inductor cannot take much DC current before saturating and effectively turning into a piece of wire with ne...
- 9 Dec 2021
Basics of Transformer Design

kkazem

I decided to write a Blog on the basics of transformer design as I believe there are a lot of members that may not have been exposed to it before. Some think it's a black art or black magic, but it's actually based on rock solid science. I'm going to...
- 9 Dec 2021
Simple Digital Sine-Wave Oscillator Implemented in A Few Lines of Code

kkazem

A simple, digital sine-wave oscillator can be made in a few lines of code. This can be used as a sine-wave reference for a sine-wave inverter or any other project needing a sine, or cosine reference. The accuracy will be proportional to the resolutio...
- 8 Dec 2021
GaN FET Reverse Conduction (Almost a Diode)

kkazem

GaN FETs have a conduction mode similar to a Silicon MOSFET's inherent reverse diode. In both cases (GaN and Silicon FETs), conduction typically happens when the Drain terminal's voltage is lower than the Source. In other words, when the Drai...
- 7 Dec 2021
5 renewable energy solutions for the future

Catwell

Around 290GW of renewable energy capacity generation has been deployed around the world in 2021. (Image Credit: RawFilm/Unsplash) According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), renewable energy set another record. That’s because approxima...
- 6 Dec 2021
GaN FETs Give DC-DC Converters Big Improvements

kkazem

I've recently designed a 650 Watt DC-DC Buck Converter for a satellite and I chose to use GaN FETs for both the series switch and for the synchronous rectifier. For this power range, I could not believe how small these new generation 5, chip-scal...
- 5 Dec 2021
Introduction to Power Inverter Design, 12/24 VDC Input, 120 or 240 VAC, 50/60 Hz Output

kkazem

I'd like to see a Design Challenge for a sine wave or modified sine wave inverter at perhaps 100 watts, with a 12 or 24 VDC input, 120 VAC or 240 VAC, and 50 or 60 Hz Output. It's a lot easier to design a modified-sine wave inverter (also called quas...
- 3 Dec 2021
Electric cars may rely on sodium batteries in the future

Catwell

CATL says electric vehicles could run on a sodium-ion battery instead of lithium-ion. (Image Credit: CHUTTERSNAP / Unsplash) Wow... the new site looks great! First post coming up: Lithium-ion batteries power electric vehicles, but that could change ...
- 22 Nov 2021
Sydney-Sized Renewable Energy Hub to Generate Over 50 Gigawatts of Energy

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Photo by American Public Power Association on Unsplash A proposal by an international consortium details a renewable energy hub to be built in Western Australia, potentially soon to be the world’s largest. Named the Western Green Energy Hub, or ...
- 18 Nov 2021
Band-Aid-like Wearable Uses the Body to Charge Devices Even While You Sleep

Catwell

An exciting field of research is emerging around wearable devices that can be powered by human sweat, pushed forward by advances made by a team of engineers at UC San Diego. In the past, they have produced a temporary tattoo that worked as a sw...
- 18 Nov 2021
Northvolt claims it produced the first recycled nickel-manganese-cobalt cathode battery cell

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Northvolt says it produced the first battery cell cathode made of recycled battery waste and plans to build a new recycling plant to produce cells made of 50% recycling materials by 2030. (Image Credit: Northvolt) Northvolt, a Swedish battery st...
- 17 Nov 2021
Researchers provide bean plants with energy storage capabilities

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Linköping University researchers managed to make bean plants' roots electrically conductive. (Image Credit: Thor Balkhed/ Linköping University) Linköping University researchers demonstrated that bean plants' roots become conductive and store ene...
- 12 Nov 2021
This solar-powered aircraft could fly in the air for six months

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The Zephyr aircraft completed its test flight campaign on September 13th. (Image Credit: Airbus) Airbus successfully few the Zephyr on a 2021 test flight campaign and says the aircraft could soon stay in the air for six months. The solar-p...
- 27 Oct 2021
Rooftop solar panels could power the world

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Rooftop solar panels could potentially produce enough energy for worldwide consumers. (Image Credit: Vivinti Solar / Unsplash) Today’s rooftop solar panels are 79% cheaper compared to the ones in 2010. This led to home and business owners instal...
- 13 Oct 2021
New Solid-State Battery Designed with a Silicon Anode and Promises Shockingly Longer Life

Catwell

The new solid-state battery features a cathode composite layer, a sulfide solid electrolyte layer, and a carbon-free micro-silicon layer, making it energy-dense and suitable for electric vehicles and grid storage. (Image credit: UC San Diego via YouT...
- 4 Oct 2021
Superconducting Magnet Could Pave the way to Fusion Energy

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The large high-temperature superconducting electromagnet achieved a field strength of 20 tesla, making it the strongest magnate of its kind ever created on the planet. (Image credit: MIT) Engineers from MIT and Commonwealth Fusion Systems have ...
- 21 Sep 2021
SWG3 unveils plan to install BODY heat system to power its building through body heat

Catwell

(Image Credit: Antonie Julien/Unsplash) SWG3 recently announced that it plans to install an advanced renewable heating and cooling system, called BODYHEAT, which converts a crowd’s body heat into reusable energy. The collected heat can either be...
- 14 Sep 2021
Scientists Design Wooden Floor that Generates Energy

Catwell

The energy-harvesting flooring uses wood with a combination of a silicone coating and nanocrystals, which produces enough energy to power LED bulbs and small electronics. (Image credit: ETH Zurich) Scientists from ETH Zurich’s Wood Materials Sci...
- 13 Sep 2021
Offshore Wind Catching System Could Provide Energy for 80,000 Homes

Catwell

The Wind Catching System is equipped with small turbines, stands more than 1,000 feet tall, and is situated on a floating platform anchored to the ocean floor. (Image credit: Wind Catching Systems) Norway-based Wind Catching Systems (WCS) are d...
- 10 Sep 2021
Plastic Problems and Comically Large Wind Turbines

Catwell

(Image credit: Flickr) It's estimated there are about 8-million tons of plastic littering the world's oceans, and that number continues to grow. While some plastics remain floating once they enter the water, others get thrashed around a...
- 8 Sep 2021