A thyristor will stay conducting until the current through the device is zero (“current zero”) or perhaps slightly negative. LLNL’s approach is to use the opticondistor (“OTV”) to force this current zero in order to force the device into an “off” state. By combining a light-activated thyristor with an OTV, a noise-immune, high efficiency, high-power switching device can be constructed. The…
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![LLNL energy grid protection device](/sites/default/files/styles/scale_exact_400x400_/public/2023-10/LLNL%20energy%20grid%20protection%20device_0.png?itok=vpqzRY_R)
The approach is to leverage the fact that a momentary “load” equal to the power transmission line impedance, (Z0), during the transient can suppress its propagation. Z(0) is typically a fixed impedance of several hundred ohms based on the geometry of most single wire transmission lines.
So, an isolated self-powered opticondistor (OTV) system may provide an ultrafast method of…
![Boss Circuit Breaker](/sites/default/files/styles/scale_exact_400x400_/public/2023-09/Boss%20Circuit%20Breaker.png?itok=7XJ44vZ0)
LLNL’s novel approach to enable MVDC power systems to operate safely is to develop a wideband gap bulk optical semiconductor switch (WBG BOSS) circuit breaker. For higher power, efficiency and temperature operation, vanadium-doped silicon carbide (V-doped SiC) appears to be the most promising basis for WBG BOSS circuit breaker (other dopants like aluminum, boron and nitrogen may further…
![Sub-device integrated with Main device of the flow battery (A) and a cross-section of the sub-device (B)](/sites/default/files/styles/scale_exact_400x400_/public/2023-09/Sub-device%20for%20flow%20battery.png?itok=72VMgGtP)
LLNL researchers has developed an approach to mitigate HER on the ‘plating’ electrode, which uses a sub-device as a rebalancing cell to restore electrolyte properties, including pH, conductivity, and capacity across the main device of the flow battery. This sub-device, which may need to be powered externally, has three major physical components: (1) a cathode electrode, (2) an anode electrode…
![Electrical grid](/sites/default/files/styles/scale_exact_400x400_/public/2022-06/electricaGrid875x500px.jpg?itok=vKB8x1kB)
LLNL has developed a novel methodology for using commercially available automated sensors and actuators which can be deployed at scale in large appliances and plug-in EVs to provide as needed electric grid stabilization capabilities. The approach comprises of a population of voltage relays with a range of setpoints that would gradually reduce load as voltage falls. More severe voltage…
![Electrodeposition of Zn onto 3D printed copper nanowire (CuNW)](/sites/default/files/styles/scale_exact_400x400_/public/2023-07/ElectrodepositionofZnon3dprintedCuNW.jpg?itok=2G2D1kt9)
Improving the active material of the Zn anode is critical to improving the practicality of Zn-MnO2 battery technology. LLNL researchers have developed a new category of 3D structured Zn anode using a direct-ink writing (DIW) printing process to create innovative hierarchical architectures. The DIW ink, which is a gel-based mixture composed of zinc metal powder and organic binders, is extruded…
![Compared with conventional slurry-based film electrode manufacturing methods, dry laser powder bed fusion is promising in generating structured electrodes for high power, low cost lithium ion batteries](/sites/default/files/styles/scale_exact_400x400_/public/2023-06/conventional%20vs%20laser%20PBF%20for%20electrodes.jpg?itok=4KG4KLlE)
To address many of the aforementioned challenges of manufacturing LIBs and SSBs, LLNL researchers have developed a number of inventions that offer proposed solutions for their components:
![A digital twin (right) is the virtual representation of real-world objects and processes (left)](/sites/default/files/styles/scale_exact_400x400_/public/2023-06/DigitalTwin.jpg?itok=SkQtz1w4)
LLNL’s novel approach utilizes a number of techniques to improve reconstruction accuracy:
![A cold-spray chamber is shown during deposition, with the nozzle at the top of the image and a near-full density sample being fabricated in the center. Particles of the brittle thermoelectric bismuth telluride are accelerated to more than 900 meters per second, or almost Mach 3, in inert gas and directed onto a copper surface, laying down the strips that form the basis of a functioning thermoelectric generator to harvest waste heat. Graphic by Jacob Long/LLNL](/sites/default/files/styles/scale_exact_400x400_/public/2021-02/Cold%20Spray_875x500px.jpg?itok=hjM9UrWO)
![Intensification of laser in simulations and electrons being accelerated](/sites/default/files/styles/scale_exact_400x400_/public/2022-06/intensification%20of%20laser%20in%20simulations%20and%20electrons%20being%20accelerated_875x500px.jpg?itok=bdZS_mHA)
LLNL pioneered the use of tomographic reconstruction to determine the power density of electron beams using profiles of the beam taken at a number of angles. LLNL’s earlier diagnostic consisted of a fixed number of radially oriented sensor slits and required the beam to be circled over them at a fixed known diameter to collect data. The new sensor design incorporates annular slits instead,…
![Nanoporus gold](/sites/default/files/styles/scale_exact_400x400_/public/2022-06/nanoporus%20gold%20875x500.jpg?itok=A0gFmVPT)
By combining 3D printing and dealloying., researchers at LLNL have developed a method for fabricating metal foams with engineered hierarchical architectures consisting of pores at least 3 distinct length scales. LLNL’s method uses direct ink writing (DIW), a 3D printing technique for additive manufacturing to fabricate hierarchical nanoporous metal foams with deterministically controlled 3D…
![Electromechanical battery](/sites/default/files/styles/scale_exact_400x400_/public/2022-06/Electromechanical%20battery.jpg?itok=vgNlfBIu)
The design calculations that have been performed in exploring the potentialities of LLNL's new approaches to flywheel energy storage have been built on existing and past LLNL flywheel programs, including a program aimed at flywheel systems for the bulk storage of electricity at utility scale. To achieve the requirements of such systems, as mentioned above, LLNL has developed some key new…