New Patent Reveals Details of EEStor’s Ultracapacitor Technology
A newly-granted US patent (PDF) for the upcoming ultracapacitor technology from secretive Texas-based EEStor contains a ton of detailed information about their near-mythical Electrical Energy Storage Unit (EESU), which has the potential to revolutionize transportation and our energy infrastructure.
Apparently one EESU weighs 281 pounds, has a volume of 2.63 cubic feet, can be fully charged in 3-6 minutes, is completely unaffected by temperature, will not explode or catch fire in an accident, and provides 52 kWh of electricity (nearly the same amount of energy the Tesla Roadster battery can hold, which reportedly takes the Roadster about 240 miles).
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The speed at which an EESU can be charged is fully dependent on the type of power source used to charge it. Ultracapacitors, in general, can accept a near-instantaneous charge, so, if you want to take advantage of the super fast recharge time, you’ll need to get a heavy-duty circuit installed. For instance, if you are trying to charge it from a regular US 110V/15A outlet, it could take you up to 30 hours to get a full charge.
Continuing on with the Tesla Roadster comparison (why the hell not?), we find that one Tesla lithium-ion battery pack (PDF), containing 6800 small batteries, weighs almost 1000 pounds and takes up about 4-5 cubic feet of space. The Tesla Battery can be charged in about 3.5 hours, again given a high enough voltage and amperage. Given this comparison, you can clearly see how the EESU, if it ever comes to market, would truly be a game-changer.
I spent a couple hours last night combing through the detailed EEStor patent (PDF) looking for other clues and made some minor discoveries of my own. The EESU consists of thousands of tiny “components,” each consisting of 10 “elements.” In turn, each element has 100 alternating screen-printed dielectric layers of barium-titanate ceramic powder (94%) mixed with PET plastic (4%) and screen-printed layers of an aluminum electrode.
EEstor says the volume of each dielectric layer is 0.0005651 cubic centimeters and the volume of each electrode layer is 0.00005806 cubic centimeters. Given that there are a thousand of each layer in each component (10 elements X 100 layers), the total volume of each component would be: 0.5651 cubic centimeters + 0.05806 cubic centimeters = 0.62316 cubic centimeters.
To get to a capacity of 52 kWh of electricity, EEStor calculates that each EESU would need about 31,351 of these components. Therefore, the total volume of an EESU’s charge holding parts with a capacity of 52 kWh, according to my calculations, would be: 31,351 X 0.62316 cubic centimeters = 19,537 cubic centimeters, or roughly 0.7 cubic feet.
What’s odd about this is that, according to the patent, the volume of a 52 kWh EESU plus its “box, connectors and associated hardware” is 2.63 cubic feet. So, almost 2 cubic feet of the EESU is devoted to the “box, connectors and associated hardware”? I find this hard to believe. Maybe somebody else should check my calculations (look at column 5, Table 1, and columns 9 and 10 of the patent for the details).
If you were to combine two of these EESUs in one vehicle, it would still weigh roughly half as much as a Tesla battery pack, but take the car twice as far (almost 500 miles). Additionally, because of the nature of ultracapacitors, it would still only take 3-6 minutes to charge both packs (again, only if you have a powerful enough outlet).
I’ve still got my fingers crossed that EEStor is really making progress on the EESU. The fact that they’re backed by ZENN Motors and Lockheed Martin lends some credence to their claims, but I’ll believe it when I see it.
Source: GM-Volt
Image Credit: EEStor Patent
highway2dangerzone…
here’s my honest answer - first off, I’m not seeing a whole lot of people here accepting the claims of Eestor as fact, they are merely discussing the hypotheticals of Eestors claims - nothing wrong with that. They are not naive minds being fooled by Eestor, they are intelligent and curious minds exploring the hypothetical possibilities and limitations of this technology. Secondly, faith in ideas like this, and sometimes even blind faith, has been a major driver of technological innovation in our history…a guy like Tesla wouldn’t have done anything without a little blind faith, and a lot of now successful companies wouldn’t be so without the startup capital provided people who posessed…faith…so, even if people here were exhibiting this (which they’re not), what’s the big deal?
Like most of us, I have major doubts about Eestor’s claims.
However…
If their product ever gets produced, even if it only has half the energy density they claim for it, will still be a game changer. No batteries? No chemical reactions? No power loss in storage? No effect due to temperature?
I won’t do these calculations, but for those who do (and like squabbling over figures), I see no issue with the apparent energy density disparity. IF this thing works, it will be like containing a lightning bolt in a box. Extra space for extra insulation.
I’m surprised Tesla has an at-home charging station. Lithium ion batteries can’t take a lot of juice (or let a lot loose) without producing lots of heat. Remember those laptop fires? I should think the Tesla wouldn’t be able to take all the juice than I can push through a 220v, thirty amp circuit 6600Kwh), which is still a lot of juice to push into a battery.
A capacitor will require a charging station, another capacitor that can hold twice the charge of the mobile one (the charging capacitor could also be mobile, once charged). Basically, the two capacitors would be jumpered together (with one honking fat harness) and linked for the couple of minutes it would take for the capacitor charges to equilibrate.
A capacitor equipped car should also be able to supply a jump-charge to another like vehicle, assuming portable harnesses are developed, which means that stranded motorists may not need to wait for a specially-equipped charging truck (which other folks will doubtless start developing if this technology hits the street).
But it’s the temperature thing that I like. I live in a cold climate, and a battery that might get 100 miles on a charge in warm climes might only get thirty (or less) at zero degrees. The capacitor doesn’t rely on chemistry, hence no slowing reactions to hamper cold climate operation.
I’m highly skeptical, but there are many reasons why I sure hope this works.
Obviously, you would have an ultracapacitor at home on a trickle charge (solar panels sound good). When you arrive at home, you can recharge from the Ultracapacitor to the Ultracapacitor in 3-5 minutes. In a smart world, you could have a small connection in your driveway and a card reader for debit cards, charge people for the recharge from your home and make a few extra bucks a month being the local energy station.
So, for those of you who are believers, buy Zenn Stock. For those of you who are skeptical, short the stock. In either case you can make money if you believe in your case enough.
Me? I was long the stock, but sold out for a decent profit. I think the stock will continue its short term rise here, and possibly hit $3 or $4 if convincing enough news releases come out. I am not sure how patient investors will be, but EEstor is now 1 year past its original debut deadline (according to Zenn). I think investors have about another 12 months of good will left in them. After that, if EEstor cannot produce a prototype, the game will be over and the short sellers will win. If a prototype is made and publicly demonstrated, the stock will be up at $15.00.
“What’s odd about this is that, according to the patent, the volume of a 52 kWh EESU plus its “box, connectors and associated hardware” is 2.63 cubic feet. So, almost 2 cubic feet of the EESU is devoted to the “box, connectors and associated hardware”? I find this hard to believe. ”
No, that’s probably about right. The microprocessor in your PC is about the size of the nail on your little finger but the chip package is 2″ x 2″ or so - not to mention the mainboard, memory, hard drive, and chassis. A battery is compact because everything happen on the molecular scale. Ultracapacitors are made up of tens of thousands of discrete elements.
Isn’t 220V what we have for larger appliances like electric stoves and electric clothes dryers?
Whenever we do get some sort of electric car or plug-in hybrid you would want both outlets on the car.
Certainly in your house you would want the 220V set up, 3 or 4 hours isn’t much to ask. And if you are driving to grandmas you can recharge, maybe not fully, but a healthy enough percentage to get home.
And lets not forget the really smart folks with shops like restaurants on the highway when they install HIGHSPEED-High power lines to recharge even faster. You’ll enjoy a short meal and get your car filled as you load up on yummy food. Electricity is cheap while prepared food is where you make your money!
This is all bullshit…sorry folks. If they could have done it it would have been done a long time ago. Same with all the “fusion” reactors. If you can’t make a small demo model, you can’t make a gigantic billion dollar model work. Think about it.
EEstor is ready to next phase that is volume production, they still are waiting for other patents app.
a 440V line (common in industry) could do the trick, problem is the way the charge is handle into the box, as any high energy retention device the way of administering in and out the flow is complex. Valence batteries has a sophisticated firmware for this and A123 says the will have this problem solved for GM Volt…(which I doubt).
EEstor is going to transform the world.
Sal, C’mon man, do you have any idea how long it took to invent the light bulb, the telephone, the tv??? In your world the world is probably still flat.
A few facts to counter some of the astroturfing being done here.
1. EEStor did meet at least two milestones this year. The most important one was related to the purity of pre-cursor materials and was independently certified in October.
2. Lockheed Martin have just patented a combat body vest using EEStor technology and mention EEStor specifically in that patent.
3. Several interviews and articles have already explained that the ideal charging at home arrangement would be a static EESU in your home charging 24/7 off the mains or solar/wind etc. You then use the static EESU to charge the one in your car. Easy.