Wireless Electricity






Almost any road trip in Mexico, and perhaps in the world, is accompanied by large transmission lines. Those metal poles that carry electricity from power plants at high voltage to distribution substations —where the voltage is lowered— to take electricity to our homes through concrete or wooden poles, common in our neighborhoods, or, in some cases, through underground wiring.

The principle is simple, the electricity generated in large power plants travels long distances through cables, raising and lowering the electric voltage from the production center to the consumption center depending on the consumer. In your house everything comes from the domestic wiring that gives energy to lamps, blenders, televisions, videogame consoles, sound systems; hair dryer, razor, cellphone and others. Almost any device requires energy that flows through a cable.

Can you imagine that in this world of electric wiring there were wireless electricity? That by holding your cellphone in your hands near an energy source, it charged without cables; that just by holding a light bulb in your hands near the energy source it turned on or, that the television did not have cables to connect.

Well then, wireless electricity is real and can be produced by transferring electricity through the magnetic field.

Since the magnetic field is used, the flow that produces the primary energy must be of high density and high frequency, of which we will speak in another column. The success of developing this technology would imply the possibility of replacing cables as the main channels of energy flow.

Wireless electricity is not something new

This, however, is not new. It was part of the efforts that the scientist Nikola Tesla promoted in the decade of 1890, more than 130 years ago. For this he developed the so-called Tesla Coil, known in English as Tesla Coil, which is a transformer composed of a series of resonant electric circuits.

In the end, Tesla did not achieve a commercial advance of importance and lost JP Morgan’s financing. Since then, some efforts to continue the development of wireless electric energy transmission have been made, in more than 100 years, with very limited advances.

Clearly, the development of wireless transmission of electricity would have many advantages. Imagine that electric automobiles could recharge at every stop or without connecting them to a power outlet. Or being able to take electricity to remote places without having to build a wide infrastructure to attend a small demand. Or, even, to take renewable energy from remote places to important consumption centers.

However, many of the problems around transmitting and distributing electricity wirelessly are not solved and the advance is rather in a conceptual stage. The important thing, perhaps, is that as technology advances this is a field with great potential for application.

For now, wireless electricity technology has some applications inside homes on a smaller scale where disruptions are smaller and environments more controlled. At least, eventually, we could forget about cables to charge cellphones and laptops and perhaps also automobiles. Without a doubt, this would be a wonderful advance.

This article was originally published by Business Insider México.
Date: December 16, 2020
Original Link: https://businessinsider.mx/electricidad-inalambrica-opinion-energia-circular-paul-alejandro-sanchez/ [offline]
Archived Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20210517193607/https://businessinsider.mx/electricidad-inalambrica-opinion-energia-circular-paul-alejandro-sanchez/ [Archived]

The Hindenburg and Hydrogen






There was a time, before the Second World War, when air transport was dominated by zeppelins —which are basically self-propelled aerostats that remained in the air thanks to being filled with hydrogen, which, being lighter than oxygen, allowed aerostatic lift. Also known as dirigibles, zeppelins had as their basic principle a rigid structure that supported the walls of the balloon where the hydrogen was located.

Since the 1890s, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin began the development of the rigid dirigible that, finally, bore his name and was completed in 1900. The LZ-1, as the first zeppelin was called, measured 128 meters long.

The first airline in the world, DELAG, operated seven zeppelins in 1914. By then it had already transported almost 35,000 passengers on more than 1,500 commercial flights, accumulating more than 170,000 kilometers and more than 3,000 hours of travel. The First World War stopped the advance of commercial flights, since the German army took DELAG’s aircraft to use them in combat.

By the end of the war, the British developed their own zeppelins, with the R34 being the first to cross the Atlantic in July 1919. After several attempts, in 1931, DELAG —using the LZ-127 of the Zeppelin company— launched several national, regional and transatlantic routes; there was even a route between Germany and South America. At that time, zeppelins were far ahead of the capabilities of airplanes; by 1937, around 140 transatlantic trips and a complete trip around the world in an airship had been made.

However, in 1937 the future of zeppelins ended in tragedy with the Hindenburg disaster. On May 6, the German aircraft LZ-129 of the Hindenburg class caught fire in New Jersey, United States. Of the 97 people on board, among passengers and crew members, 35 died.

Although there are different theories regarding the cause of the tragedy, the dominant one indicates that a spark caused by static provoked a chain reaction that, due to the large amount of hydrogen inside the zeppelin, caused it to ignite and magnified the tragedy.

Hydrogen is highly flammable and is considered a high-power fuel that burns at high speed and with great force. It is normally used in industries that require high power, such as aerospace, particularly in rocket launches.

Despite the fact that incidents related to hydrogen, such as that of the Hindenburg, have had great relevance, in reality hydrogen as a fuel is potentially safer than petroleum derivatives such as gasoline and diesel. When these petroleum products spill and ignite, it is highly probable that the fire will last a considerable time. In contrast, in an accident related to hydrogen, it tends to disperse quickly, rising at a speed of 72 kilometers per hour into the atmosphere; in case of fire, the fire generated has less heat because of the absence of carbon, so it goes out quickly.

The lesson of the Hindenburg was not the colossal impact for the time derived from its fire, but rather that, in reality, it demonstrated that hydrogen, although more unstable, can be safer. In that sense, there remains an important area of opportunity before speaking of hydrogen service stations and hydrogen automobiles: increasing the safety associated with its storage and distribution, much of which has been learned thanks to the development of the conventional automobile industry.

This article was originally published by Business Insider México.
Date: December 9, 2020
Original Link: https://businessinsider.mx/hindenburg-accidentes-hidrogeno-combustible-opinion-energia-circular/ [offline]
Archived Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20240424101358/https://businessinsider.mx/hindenburg-accidentes-hidrogeno-combustible-opinion-energia-circular/ [Archived]

Electric Cars in Flames






Those who follow Formula 1 will have seen that last Sunday at the Bahrain Grand Prix, the French driver Romain Grosjean suffered a spectacular accident. To his good fortune, he did not suffer serious injuries, but the flames of the accident inspired me for this column.

In one maneuver, Grosjean crashes into the containment wall, splitting the car in half and immediately causing an explosion. The flames were impressive; however, in seconds the F1 team was trying to put out the fire and open a space so that the driver could get out from among the flames. No more than 30 seconds passed between the impact and Grosjean’s exit.

We are used to seeing these scenes: after an accident, a conventional car runs the risk of catching fire. Normally, we see that water or chemical extinguishers are used to put out the fire. What this seeks is to isolate the fuel to control the fire and prevent another one from starting. But electric cars bring their own challenges and this works differently.

A conventional electric car could require up to 1,125 liters of water per minute and up to 24 hours to be extinguished. Why? Well, basically, because the fire of a lithium battery in electric cars cannot be extinguished; it will continue until all the cells are consumed.

The batteries of electric cars are composed of many cells that are grouped into modules and, in turn, into packs. The batteries of electric cars can have one or several packs and, in the event of a short circuit, the fire can reach a temperature of 2,700 degrees Celsius. To give you an idea, the fire of a conventional car is 800 degrees Celsius, that is, a fire of an electric car is three times more intense.

Once at the place, the protocol changes. What is sought is not to put out the fire but to reduce the heat enough to be able to activate the mechanisms that separate the modules and avoid a chain reaction and, at the same time, remove other objects at risk, for example, nearby cars in a parking lot. If this is not possible, the car will continue burning for approximately 24 hours.

Water extinguishers are the tool of choice because of the way the chain reaction of the fire in the battery pack works. However, it must be used following certain precautions because, given the heat, water can separate into its components, oxygen and hydrogen, causing a violent flare-up by providing the combustion with more oxidizing agent.

But it does not end there; there are other associated risks: electric shock, heat burns, chemical burns, toxic smoke. The worst? If the dismantling protocols are not followed to stop the chain reaction, the battery could catch fire again in a period no longer than 24 hours.

The accident in Formula 1 demonstrates the technological, safety and protocol advances that we have in fires of conventional cars. But electric cars change the game; if the car that Grosjean crashed had been electric, perhaps the result would not have been so favorable.

As electric cars become widespread and become the rule, the challenge of electric car fires will increase, but this period represents the most complicated learning curve for all countries. In Mexico, we are still in time to begin designing the necessary protocols to prepare ourselves for this new reality and include the large batteries of mass transport.

This article was originally published by Business Insider México.
Date: December 2, 2020
Original Link: https://businessinsider.mx/autos-electricos-accidentes-llamas-opinion-energia-circular-paul-sanchez/ [offline]
Archived Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20240715042612/https://businessinsider.mx/autos-electricos-accidentes-llamas-opinion-energia-circular-paul-sanchez/ [Archived]