Luxon Energy Devices Corporation

Other

Industrial Technology Research Institute

Eco Watertech, Inc.

Advanced Desalination Inc.

Lih-Ren Shiue

Hsing-Chen Chung

Abel Sun

Yu-His Hsieh

Fei-Chen Hsieh

Wan-Ting Lo

Jiung-Jau Jou

Chia-Chann Shiue

Pei-Jen Wang

Li-Ping Li

Dien-Shi Wu

Nae-Lih Wu

Horng-Jee Wang

Shinn-Horng Yeh

Shu-Chin Chou

Ching-Wen Chao

Chum-Sam Hong

Chin-Hui Lee

S-Yen Wang

Jian-Peng Guan

Harumoto Nishikawa

Ying-Jen Lai

Zhen-Hua Fei

Ted Hung

Willis F Chen

Ming-Liang Chiu

Jsung-His Chang

Chun-Shen Cheng

Wen-Jin Lee

Min-Chu Chen

Mu-Fa Chen

Kun-Fu Huang

Jen-Chieh Cheng

Dzung-Shi Chang

Chieng-Wen Chao

Yi-Ping Lan

Oxygen from water can be efficiently and economically achieved via water electrolysis on antimony, nickel doped tin oxide (Sb,Ni&#x2014;SnO/Ti) anode using low DC power. As Ois evolved, it will be quickly reduced by adjacent cobalt oxide doped carbon nanofilm (CoO&#x2014;CNF/Ti) to hydrogen peroxide (HO) and electricity. In the said electricity generation, Ois first formed in Oevolution reaction (OER), then, electricity is generated in Oreduction reaction (ORR). Both of anode and cathode are shared by OER and ORR, yet, the former consumes energy and the latter yields electricity. It is the cathode, a load and the anode that form an electricity-forming circuit. The said circuit relies on clean water to supply the fuel, O, hence, it is designated as all-water fuel cell (AWFC). Supercapacitor is employed as the load for AWFC, and onboard purifiers are providers of clean water for AWFC.

System for generating electricity using oxygen from water

A chemical-free and no-microbe method for pre-treating a broad range of waste waters is presented. The said method involves electrocoagulation (EC) operated in synchronization with electrolytic ozone (EO). In the combinatory method, each technique not only applies its own treatments, they also create synergistic effects from real-time reactions among the reagents generated by electrolysis. Two refractory waste waters, seawater and tannery effluent, are tested by the combinatory method, EC+EO, to assess the viability of the said method. Without adjustment, each of the said waste waters is remedied by EC+EOfrom its raw state to a clean condition more effectively and more economically than that can be delivered by the respective prevailing processes of pretreatment for each of the said waste waters.

Method for treating waste waters

A plurality of supercapacitor elements is arranged in rows and columns within a single housing. The elements have no physical connection until they are configured into series, parallel or combinatory matrix by a configuration circuit composing of switches, a driver and a controller. Under the manipulation of the configuration circuit, the elements can be assembled in a broad voltage range to deliver the desired powers to automobiles, heavy machineries, power tools, appliances, or consumer electronics in real-time responses. When the loads present energy for recovery, the elements can also be immediately grouped in the voltage and capacity ranges corresponding to the power levels of the energy to be harvested. Using the present invention, the efficiency of DC and AC energy utilization can be significantly improved.

Configurable power tank

An integrated battery by incorporating battery elements, supercapscitors elements, and miniaturized electronic controllers within a single housing is devised. The supercapacitors provide a load leveling for the battery elements at both charging and discharging. So long as the rated working voltage of supercapacitor is complied, the capacitor can be charged with charging currents of any magnitude. Then, the energy stored in the supercapacitors can be transferred from the capacitors to the batteries resulted in fast charging and energy conservation. With load leveling provided by the supercapacitors, the batteries are set to constantly discharge at 1C or lower rates and their residual energy near the end of discharge cycle can become useful as well. Therefore, the service run time, cycle life, and energy utilization of the batteries integrated are improved. In addition, the supercapacitor can be a built-in actuator to provide powers to in-cell air management systems for generating air draft inside metal-air batteries and fuel cells to increase their shelf life and power density.

Battery with built-in load leveling

A power supply apparatus and a power supply method are described, wherein the non-polar characteristics of the electrodes of a capacitor is utilized to improve the energy utilization efficiency of a battery through reciprocating switches of polarity connection between the battery and the capacitor. The voltages of the capacitors can also stay at a near constant level using the polarity reversal mechanism.

Power supply apparatus and power supply method

A fully automatic deionizer comprising five sub-systems for removing ionic contaminants from various liquids at low energy consumption is devised. Based on the charging-discharging principle of capacitors, the deionizer conducts deionization through applying a low DC voltage to its electrodes for adsorbing ions, while more than 30% of the process energy is recovered and stored by discharging the electrodes. At the mean time of discharge, surface of the electrodes is regenerated on site and reset for performing many more cycles of deionization-regeneration till the desirable purification is attained. In one moment, both deionization and regeneration proceed simultaneously on different groups of electrode modules, and in the next moment the electrode modules quickly switch the two processes. Such swift reciprocating actions are engaged in synchronized coordination of sub-systems of electrode modules, energy management, fluid flow, and automatic control.

Fully automatic and energy-efficient deionizer

The energy content of supercapacitor is determined by its capacitance value and working voltage. To attain a high capacitance and a high voltage, several pieces of electrodes and separators are spirally wound with edge sealing to form a bipolar supercapacitor in cylindrical, oval or square configuration. While the winding operation effectively provides a large surface area for high capacitance, the bipolar packaging instantly imparts a unitary roll a minimum working voltage of 5V on using an organic electrolyte. The bipolar roll is a powerful building block for facilitating the assembly of supercapacitor modules. Using containers with multiple compartments, as many bipolar rolls can be connected in series, in parallel or in a combination of the two connections to fabricate integrated supercapacitors with high energy density as required by applications.

Supercapacitor with high energy density

Using the combination of batteries and supercapacitors to provide impulse, various all-in-one power tools driven by the impulse are devised. The impulse may be utilized in three ways, namely, to launch an object, to create an impact force, and to form a peak current that can be greater than 100A. While the supercapacitors greatly enhance the power output of the power module, the supercapacitors are disposed in-parallel for charging and switched to series connection for discharging on depressing the triggers of the tools. Therefore, the batteries required to drive the portable power tools can be minimized & reduced, and the circuitry for conducting the parallel-to-series switch is simple and economical. Using interchangeable attachments or accessories, and power module of the invention, one tool body can be applied to many types of work and maintenance at homes and in the fields.

Power module for providing impulses of various levels by charging or discharging capacitors therewith

Iron oxide film directly grown on iron, steel, or other substrates by chemical or electrochemical oxidation is a promising material for energy storage through surface adsorption of static charges. As the electrode materials of energy-storage devices, the hydrated iron compound has a chemical composition of Fe O H , where 1.0&lE;x&lE;3.0, 0.0&lE;y&lE;4.0, and 0.0&lE;z&lE;1.0. An aqueous or organic solution of a metallic salt including sulfates, sulfites, hydroxides, chlorides, phosphates and nitrates is used as electrolyte for the electrochemical devices. Cyclic voltammetry indicates that the iron-oxide electrodes in the electrolytes can store charges as high as 0.5 F/cm or 320 F/g of the electrode materials. Electrochemical capacitors using the iron oxide as the electrode material is an economical and viable power source for use in portable electronics, power tools, and electrical vehicles.

Electrochemical capacitor with electrode material for energy storage

Deionizers using the electrode configurations of electrochemical capacitors are described, wherein the deionizing process is called capacitive deionization (CDI). During deionization, a DC electric field is applied to the cells and ions are adsorbed on the electrodes with a potential being developed across the electrodes. As electrosorption reaches a maximum or the cell voltage is built up to the applied voltage, the CDI electrodes are regenerated quickly and quantitatively by energy discharge to storage devices such as supercapacitors. In conjunction with a carousel or Ferris wheel design, the CDI electrodes can simultaneously and continuously undergo deionization and regeneration. By the responsive regeneration, the CDI electrodes can perform direct purification on solutions with salt content higher than seawater. More importantly, electrodes are restored, energy is recovered and contaminants are retained at regeneration, while regeneration requires no chemicals and produces no pollution.

Deionizers with energy recovery

The present invention provides a high current pulse generator for DC powered devices. The generator includes batteries as the power source that charges supercapacitors as well as provides power to the loads as required. During charging, the supercapacitors are connected in parallel, but they are switched to series connection by relays at the moment that the loads demand large currents. No other controlling means except for relays in the circuit is employed, so that the electric arrangement is simple, reliable, and cost-effective. As the batteries are designed to deliver currents at low discharge rates, the effective use-time of batteries is prolonged. Furthermore, due to the high power densities of supercapacitors, the readily available alkaline batteries can be utilized in the power unit for electric power tools.

High current pulse generator

A method of manufacturing a cylindrical high voltage supercapacitor. An anode and a cathode are provided. At least one bipolar electrode is interposed between the anode and the cathode, and a separator is intervened in each pair of the above electrodes. The anode, the cathode, the bipolar electrode and the separator, as placed in the above order, are wound concentrically into a roll, so as to form the cylindrical high voltage supercapacitor.

Cylindrical high voltage supercapacitor and method of manufacturing the same

Using thin-films of iron oxide as the active material of electrodes, supercapacitors are fabricated on various substrates in different shapes. By chemical oxidation the iron-oxide film is formed directly and conformably on the substrates in a short period of cooking. The iron oxide has a chemical composition of Fe O H , where 1.0&lE;x&lE;3.0, 0.0&lE;y&lE;4.0, and 0.0&lE;z&lE;1.0. Substrates, as the current collector, tested includes Al, Ti, Fe, Cu and Ni. Measurements by cyclic voltammetry indicates that the iron-oxide electrodes in a selected electrolyte can store charges as high as 0.5 F/cm or 417 F/g of the electrode materials. Supercapacitors as prepared are economical and can be used as enclosure housings for portable electronics, power tools, and batteries. The supercapacitors can also be integrated with the frames and chassis of electric vehicles.

Supercapacitors and method for fabricating the same

A method for fabricating cylindrical and prismatic rechargeable metal-air batteries is devised. The method includes using micro fans to control air flowing through the batteries via air pathways between the packs of electrodes and separator sheet. The air pathways are created by protrusions printed or molded on plastic spacer film. The air is used by the positive electrode for generating electricity when the metal-air battery is discharged. By conjunction of a second positive electrode and an energy storage device, the micro fans can be actuated as soon as the metal-air battery is demanded by a load. The in-cell air management can not only supply air for reactions but also shut the system to preserve materials when they are not in service.

Growing community of inventors

Hsinchu, Taiwan

Lih-Ren Shiue