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IBM Models Human Blood System To Build Solar Power Prototype
coondoggie writes "IBM today said its researchers are developing a solar power system that concentrates solar radiation 2,000 times by using a human-blood supply modeled way of cooling and converting 80% of Sun's heat into useful energy. IBM says the system can also desalinate water and cool air in sunny, remote locations where such systems are often in short supply."
\subject
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Somehow I don't think that this has actually anything to do with solar power at all...if this stuff is actually "inspired by the hierarchical branched blood supply system of the human body", it's probably just something like street hierarchy, only applied to heat flow instead of car traffic. It doesn't matter where does the heat come from.
Ezekiel 23:20
How about non-remote sunny locations? I desperately want to ditch PG&E.
This development is soon to be delayed by politicians, warring factions in third world countries, corrupt governments, and corporate interests intent on developing the best method of monetizing the new prototype.
causes rust accumulation on components, so they substituted with copper. And the green-blooded IBM became very cold and inhuman.
But can you power a Cray 2 with it?
Actually, it applies to the function of blood to transfer excess heat out of the body. If you didn't have this function in your body, your insides would cook and your skin would be cold.
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
Actually, it applies to the function of blood to transfer excess heat out of the body.
You're repeating what I'm saying.
Ezekiel 23:20
"are often.. scarce". Sorry, but it's a pet peeve of mine. If I could count the number of times people say "in short supply" rather than "scarce" in a month, I'd be a rich man. Well, if someone would pay me to do that sort of thing, of course...
"The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes" - Winston Churchill
This being a slashdot story on a new technology, at least one comment of the type "I can't buy it right now, so it's useless BS" is pro forma.
You're welcome.
Coming soon in 3-5 years just like every other solar breakthrough. And where is my flying car?
"I say we take off, nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
Nothing to see here, move along. When they say useful energy, are they referring to a solar heater or a solar power producing electricity? Just a quick search on the internet leads me to believe that solar/water heating is already ~75% efficient.
If you feed the troll it'll take that much longer for it to fuck off back under its bridge. Please don't feed the trolls.
Do not feed the trolls.
This is really cool, pun intended, their cooling system really is similar to human blood flow (fractal capillary structure). See video here as the article just discusses the application to cooling solar cells (which is cool in its own right), but not how the cooling actually resembles bloodflow in humans.
Let me say I'm excited that IBM is building a Dyson sphere powered by human blood, first, to get 80% of the Sun's output is tremendously effective and secundly who knew the blueprints were somehow sitting in our DNA?
It comes at a surprise that IBM is so technologically advanced, now it ain't gonna easy to launch all that stuff and assemble it in heliocentric orbit.
The cost of energy with this system is " ... less than 10 cents per KWh ... cost at coal power stations is 5 - 10 cents per KWh ... "
And it will be on-line at most eight hours per day.
Other than that, it's a good deal.
Somehow I don't think that this has actually anything to do with solar power at all...if this stuff is actually "inspired by the hierarchical branched blood supply system of the human body", it's probably just something like street hierarchy, only applied to heat flow instead of car traffic.
It's a cooling system for a HCPV solar cell. Instead of just releasing the heat into the air, they made use of it, similar to CSP solutions. In doing so they've combined 2 products into one and they get more energy out of the same installation.
It doesn't matter where does the heat come from.
Try telling that to the guy who has to keep that HCPV cell running...
It's a cooling system for a HCPV solar cell. Instead of just releasing the heat into the air, they made use of it, similar to CSP solutions. In doing so they've combined 2 products into one and they get more energy out of the same installation.
You may not have noticed, but I know all that. I was just reacting to the GP's insinuation that this has anything to do with exposing anything blood-related to solar radiation.
Try telling that to the guy who has to keep that HCPV cell running...
The heat conductor actually doesn't care where the heat came from, or whether or not it passed through a PV cell on its way. In the same vein, the PV cell doesn't care how the heat is dissipated, as long as it is done somehow. Engineers usually call this "mix-and-match approach".
Ezekiel 23:20
Evolution is a very powerful force. I recall an evolutionary software design system that was used to create the most efficient antenna discussed here on Slashdot some years ago. It was a pretty cool concept and it worked pretty well as I recall. But to straight up model a system after the human circulatory system? Really? I would think there were far better systems than the human system. Humans have stopped evolving physically and one could say we are devolving as our survival is no longer so dependent on what is physically the most fit.
I would look to life which survives well in difficult climates to see what adaptations could be mimmicked.
Or scarce as another poster commented. The real reason these are scarce is because they're not cost effective. I mean hell, we have the technology to build solar panels all around the moon and set up a network of satellites to beam power down to earth via microwave lasers, but what good is the tech if it would bankrupt the entire world to do it?
So the real question is, does this new technology fulfill all it's promises in a cost effective manner? If not, it's FUD. If so, well then we have something here.
I'm not convinced of that. There's more to temperature regulation than merely cooling things off. There's also the portion of the system which generates the heat in the first place. Reducing the systems and functions which create the heat can also be used to regulate body temperature... think metabolic variations and the roles dietary content play in this. I have been all through hacking my metabilism to get the results I was after and it worked quite well.
In bother approaches, there are limits to the results which can be achieved in the human body. There are limits to the what can be achieved through metabolic controls and limits to what can be achieved through respiratory, perspiratory and circulatory controls. As I said in another comment, I'm not sure modeling a system after human systems are a great idea. In the end, humans adapt best through the use of his brain rather than through his body.
Why not model it after mammalian blood system?
Any such system had better be damn simple to operate, maintain, and service if it's to be used in remote areas.
You do realize that every time your dumb ass posts we can use the laws of physics to narrow down where you live/post from to within a 2km radius, right?
I suggest you stop shitting up the board before I show you other neat things physics can do. Like what high-velocity flying metal can do to soft tissue.
Both you and the MyCleanPC people are targets.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
One pet idea of mine is we should generate ammonia (NH3) from water, air, electricity and heat. You would need nuclear power or efficient renewables for that ; it's wasteful as you need electrolysis of water, then use the Haber process to combine hydrogen and nitrogen into ammonia but the end result is a non carbonated liquid fuel you can easily enough handle, with about a third the energy density of diesel fuel by volume - that's way better energy storage than H2 and batteries!
Ammonia can be burnt in converted internal combustion engines or more specific engines, and used in fuel cells.
HCPVT would be very useful, as it provides both electricity and heat, needed by the Haber process.
Another great fuel to make would be CH4, which is already widespread, burns clearly and used in transportation (mainly city buses) as well as flexible power generation. The process here is methanation, but requires CO2 which you can't easily get from the air, barring "artificial trees" that are questionable for now. You would use this on industrial sites (e.g. cement factory), taking waste CO2 as input.
Any idea if we should do this, and especially on a major scale? We badly need to get rid of all fossil fuels and even "bio"fuels (palm oil, ethanol) IMO and that's why I favor nuclear fission too (though we can't have terawatts of it it seems), anyway I don't want to leech off the current biosphere and past ones.
Simple fact. There is no heat engine that can convert heat to mechanical energy with 80% efficiency (with reasonable source/sink temperatures). They must be playing fast and loose with the definition of "usable energy".
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Like what high-velocity flying metal can do to soft tissue.
Say that to my face, not online, and see what happens.
I read TFA. I don't trust it, because it contains statements like: "each 1x1 centimeter chip can convert 200-250 watts, on average, over a typical eight hour day in a sunny region" - the author doesn't appear to understand what a Watt is.
Can Kevin Costner save us from Big Blue?
In this house we obey the laws of thermodynamics.
Also, in case anyone is wondering why this is better than normal water cooling, the basic advantage is that the boundary layer is eliminated by forcing the water through very small capillaries. A possible disadvantage is that this likely requires relatively high pressures, although I haven't looked too far into it to find out.
IBM has no intention of making a solar powered anything. Just as they don't have any plans to make lithium air batteries
http://newenergyandfuel.com/http:/newenergyandfuel/com/2012/01/10/ibm-says-it-now-has-a-working-lithium-air-battery/
They're the worlds biggest patent troll, they 'research' in an area that might result in future income (whether its solar or batteries). There's no intention to solve the real problems, or make any actual products, because that's hard and expensive. The output from that research is plausible sounding patents backed by marketing buzzwords, non commercial partial solutions that don't work well are fine for patents.
Ten years from now, they'll be demanding money for their fluffy patents for things they never invented, and pointing to the marketing headlines are evidence that a jury will find in their favor. They are a troll. Nothing more nothing less.
A very successful troll, but a patent troll nevertheless.
The solar power system using human blood works much better at Twilight.
No left turn unstoned.
That leads to nothing as it is too expensive or unrealistic to work. With silly claims of efficiency etc... How many of these do we get on slashdot per year, for how many years. You would think by now we would all be running 100% solar power by now.
So put me down for skeptical.
You may not have noticed, but I know all that. I was just reacting to the GP's insinuation that this has anything to do with exposing anything blood-related to solar radiation.
Your fault for responding to AC without quoting. He got down-modded below most of our filters.
Try telling that to the guy who has to keep that HCPV cell running...
The heat conductor actually doesn't care where the heat came from, or whether or not it passed through a PV cell on its way. In the same vein, the PV cell doesn't care how the heat is dissipated, as long as it is done somehow. Engineers usually call this "mix-and-match approach".
...and you miss at sarcasm too.
Hello Paul.
p.s. What do you make of this?
Forty Two Tenfold has Jeremiah Cornelius = "friend" in his account on slashdot = obvious he's a sockpuppet/alternate registered 'luser' account Jeremiah Cornelius (you) use along with your anonymous coward posts you blew it on accidentally submitting one of them by your registered username here Jeremiah Cornelius http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3581857&cid=43276741 and you failed badly giving yourself away troll.
Shut up, Paul.