I'll edit this post as I develop more ideas for my outline
"Space, the final NanoPower frontier"
[Insert badly photoshopped picture of the Enterprise]
0)
Nanotech has potential in all areas of space exploration.
Nanotech will not immediately create new fields/devices, but rather, it has the potential to greatly improve existing devices. (especially in the near future)
0.1) Short overview of why we should be trying to use nanotubes (reference their positive charcteristics)
1) Existing use of nanotech in space
1.1) Space Nanotechnology laboratory at MIT (snl.mit.edu) has used nanotehc to build nanoscale components of NASA observers [Chandra X-Ray and others]
2) Nanoelectrical systems
2.1) Power systems, PMAD [Power Management and Distribution] systems
2.1.1) Applications in nuclear powersystems
2.1.2) Applications in solar powersystems
2.2) MEMS [Microelectromagnetic systems]: Combine microchips with electronics that would use them.
2.2.1) Important spacecraft electronics could be made smaller.
2.2.2) Micro-probes for imaging extraterrestrial objects
3) Nanocomposites as a spacecraft building material
3.1) "Armoring" against space debris
3.2) Useful in dealing with stresses of launch?
4) Types of space exploration; usage of nanotechnologies there
4.1) Deep-space travel
4.2) Colonization of extraterrestrial worlds
4.3) Surface exploration [using nanotech]
4.3.1) by humans
4.3.2) by probes/robots
4.3.2.1) Nanotechnology could enable you to build very small probes.
5) Use of nanotubes to transport stuff from Earth to low-Earth orbit
5.1) A space elevator?
5.1.1) Exciting theoretical possibility, but even the theory isn't completely ironed out yet.
* Many parts of this presentation will reference concepts discussed during Ryne Rafaelle's two presentations way back in Week 2. My notes are on this blog, and I still have access to the powerpoints, so memory of that material shouldn't be an issue.
Showing posts with label NanoPower. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NanoPower. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Personal Interest Presentation
This is the "final exam" for the Frontiers of Science class.
The idea here is to zoom on on sub-area(s) of any of the four topics covered, specifically sub-area(s) that especially interest you
I am focusing on the use of nanotechnology and NanoPower in current and future space exploration. To put it more lyrically,
"Space, the final NanoPower frontier"
To be honest, good sci-fi works can have quite a potential to be inspiring as to the course of scientific advancement.
A centerprice of our classroom is a widevision screen that, among other things, could display 4 PowerPoint-type slides at a time, and we have a PowerPoint template file designed to work with that.
The crux of my Personal Interest Presentation s going to be one of those, which is a process I've also used for the three topic summaries I've done to date.
The format is one I understand, and I'm also using it because I'll hopefully be able to focus on content rather on the logistical & production issues of a more exotic format
The idea here is to zoom on on sub-area(s) of any of the four topics covered, specifically sub-area(s) that especially interest you
I am focusing on the use of nanotechnology and NanoPower in current and future space exploration. To put it more lyrically,
"Space, the final NanoPower frontier"
To be honest, good sci-fi works can have quite a potential to be inspiring as to the course of scientific advancement.
A centerprice of our classroom is a widevision screen that, among other things, could display 4 PowerPoint-type slides at a time, and we have a PowerPoint template file designed to work with that.
The crux of my Personal Interest Presentation s going to be one of those, which is a process I've also used for the three topic summaries I've done to date.
The format is one I understand, and I'm also using it because I'll hopefully be able to focus on content rather on the logistical & production issues of a more exotic format
Friday, March 28, 2008
Tags
Tags
The Frontiers of Science class covers 4 topics: Viruses, NanoPower, Vision and the Mind, and Big Bang/Black Holes
Blogger's tag system is an excellent way to sort out which posts go with which topics:
http://alan-labbook.blogspot.com/search/label/Viruses
http://alan-labbook.blogspot.com/search/label/NanoPower
http://alan-labbook.blogspot.com/search/label/VisionAndMind
http://alan-labbook.blogspot.com/search/label/BBBH
http://alan-labbook.blogspot.com/search/label/Administrative
http://alan-labbook.blogspot.com/search/label/General
The Frontiers of Science class covers 4 topics: Viruses, NanoPower, Vision and the Mind, and Big Bang/Black Holes
Blogger's tag system is an excellent way to sort out which posts go with which topics:
http://alan-labbook.blogspot.com/search/label/Viruses
http://alan-labbook.blogspot.com/search/label/NanoPower
http://alan-labbook.blogspot.com/search/label/VisionAndMind
http://alan-labbook.blogspot.com/search/label/BBBH
http://alan-labbook.blogspot.com/search/label/Administrative
http://alan-labbook.blogspot.com/search/label/General
Friday, March 21, 2008
(3/21/08)
Electrolysis: Put 2 metal rods into a beaker and run current through. You will see bubbling on each. One is all-hydrogen, one is all-oxygen. Would come up with soem ort of metod to trap the respective gases.
Need atleast 1.3 volts of current for electrolysis to work
Example solar panels he showed: 3 panels, each with a 2-row, 5-per-row arrangement
pn junction = diode = current can flow in 2 ways.
Electrons moving through a pn junction = sledding-hill analogy
Electrons slide down the hill (go between either end of the gap), releasing energy. Need energy to get pack up and redo the process; this energy is provided by photovoltaic energy striking the solar cell
Stack a whole bunch of fuel cells in series, then put some fuel-cell-banks in paralell, since each individual cell provides
----
Regular electricity:
Hook up batteries or solar cells in paralell - no voltage increase, but a current increase
Hook up batteries or cells in series: no current increase, but a voltage increase
power = voltage * current
Voltage - kind of like how high you put your water tower (how much pressure)
Current - kind of like water flowing through a pipe (how much flow)
Different electric applications require primarily one or the other
10^19 charges = coulomb
1 coulomb per second = 1 amp
----
Solar cells expensive; pay back over the course of relatively few years
PROVIDED, that local municipality supports "net metering", where your electricity meter runs backward when your solar array pumps power into the grid; this makes the payoff time quicker
Utilities don't want this cutting into their business
How does NanoPower relate to space colonization?
* Most of our stuff is low-orbit, so that's what we focus on; so even when we go out of low-Earth orbit, we use similar equipment.
* Air-generation systems would be very important to longterm space exploration; a problem we're more worried about than power generation
----
Radioisotope problem: A lot of energy, but we have to work on the terms of that radioisotope's half-life.
Spontaneously emits; no need to trigger it.
Only way to improve current is to have more mass
Need to produce many of these radioisotopes in a reactor
May still be useful at the lower current-rates of the second half-life
Decay in a regular pattern, so we can design accordingly.
---
Nanotubes: Some are metallic (normally conductive); some are semiconductors (unless you dope them, or shine light on them, often aren;t incredibly conductive.)
If we could make a batch of exactly identical nanotubes; we'd reach the Holy Grail of nanotech.
----
Steam reforming: pump steam through a fossil fuel; liberates the hydrogen, with CO2 as the byproduct.
However, the CO2 is trapped and used for industrial processes rather than pumped into the air
---
How are solar cells produced?
Different method:
polymer, silicon, 3 5 (3rd +5th column of periodic table, like gallium arsenide)
--
silicon-type: a bunch of boron atoms on surface of silicion; put that into a furnace; this speeds up the diffusion of the other half of the pn junction; so it "bakes in" the pn junction.
--
polymer-type: paint a negative polymer and a positive polymer on in alternating layers
NanoPower's advantage comes in making these other technologies more efficient and cheaper
--
Ethical debates with nanomaterials: toxicity concerns are the big one
--
Aren't nanotubes expensive b/c they're a new technology
Some types are, some types aren't (You can use laser vaporization, or you can burn stuff). It depends on what quality you need for the application in question.
--
Problem: waste with drained batteries that need to be disposed of. This is a real problem.
Lots of military equipment that goes through batteries like crazy, for instance.
Are flammable materials in batteries, but you could be aerosoling dangerous chemicals that were in the battery.
quantum dot = nano-scale piece of a semiconducting material. Rule sof macroscopic materials no longer really explain what going on; so we have to use quantum mechanics
Need atleast 1.3 volts of current for electrolysis to work
Example solar panels he showed: 3 panels, each with a 2-row, 5-per-row arrangement
pn junction = diode = current can flow in 2 ways.
Electrons moving through a pn junction = sledding-hill analogy
Electrons slide down the hill (go between either end of the gap), releasing energy. Need energy to get pack up and redo the process; this energy is provided by photovoltaic energy striking the solar cell
Stack a whole bunch of fuel cells in series, then put some fuel-cell-banks in paralell, since each individual cell provides
----
Regular electricity:
Hook up batteries or solar cells in paralell - no voltage increase, but a current increase
Hook up batteries or cells in series: no current increase, but a voltage increase
power = voltage * current
Voltage - kind of like how high you put your water tower (how much pressure)
Current - kind of like water flowing through a pipe (how much flow)
Different electric applications require primarily one or the other
10^19 charges = coulomb
1 coulomb per second = 1 amp
----
Solar cells expensive; pay back over the course of relatively few years
PROVIDED, that local municipality supports "net metering", where your electricity meter runs backward when your solar array pumps power into the grid; this makes the payoff time quicker
Utilities don't want this cutting into their business
Big Oil funding solar research; they want to get in on the "next big thing"
---How does NanoPower relate to space colonization?
* Most of our stuff is low-orbit, so that's what we focus on; so even when we go out of low-Earth orbit, we use similar equipment.
* Air-generation systems would be very important to longterm space exploration; a problem we're more worried about than power generation
----
Radioisotope problem: A lot of energy, but we have to work on the terms of that radioisotope's half-life.
Spontaneously emits; no need to trigger it.
Only way to improve current is to have more mass
Need to produce many of these radioisotopes in a reactor
May still be useful at the lower current-rates of the second half-life
Decay in a regular pattern, so we can design accordingly.
---
Nanotubes: Some are metallic (normally conductive); some are semiconductors (unless you dope them, or shine light on them, often aren;t incredibly conductive.)
If we could make a batch of exactly identical nanotubes; we'd reach the Holy Grail of nanotech.
----
Steam reforming: pump steam through a fossil fuel; liberates the hydrogen, with CO2 as the byproduct.
However, the CO2 is trapped and used for industrial processes rather than pumped into the air
---
How are solar cells produced?
Different method:
polymer, silicon, 3 5 (3rd +5th column of periodic table, like gallium arsenide)
--
silicon-type: a bunch of boron atoms on surface of silicion; put that into a furnace; this speeds up the diffusion of the other half of the pn junction; so it "bakes in" the pn junction.
--
polymer-type: paint a negative polymer and a positive polymer on in alternating layers
NanoPower's advantage comes in making these other technologies more efficient and cheaper
--
Ethical debates with nanomaterials: toxicity concerns are the big one
--
Aren't nanotubes expensive b/c they're a new technology
Some types are, some types aren't (You can use laser vaporization, or you can burn stuff). It depends on what quality you need for the application in question.
--
Problem: waste with drained batteries that need to be disposed of. This is a real problem.
Lots of military equipment that goes through batteries like crazy, for instance.
Are flammable materials in batteries, but you could be aerosoling dangerous chemicals that were in the battery.
quantum dot = nano-scale piece of a semiconducting material. Rule sof macroscopic materials no longer really explain what going on; so we have to use quantum mechanics
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
any way you burn carbon, you can make nanotubes.
Are made naturally with natural combustion of carbon, but we simply didn't know about them before
Nanotubes are almost to the scale of quantum mechanics
quantum confinement, how materials behave on those really small scales, is really important to nanotechnology
Laser vaporization: fire laser at graphite target with some metal.
Result is purified - boiling in acid (handles metal), burning (deals with soft carbon)
Electrical conductivity resistance of carbon nanotubes does not increase with temperature, whereas resistance of regular metals does
Are made naturally with natural combustion of carbon, but we simply didn't know about them before
Nanotubes are almost to the scale of quantum mechanics
quantum confinement, how materials behave on those really small scales, is really important to nanotechnology
Laser vaporization: fire laser at graphite target with some metal.
Result is purified - boiling in acid (handles metal), burning (deals with soft carbon)
Electrical conductivity resistance of carbon nanotubes does not increase with temperature, whereas resistance of regular metals does
(3/19/08) NanoPower lecture
Reminder:
Specific Power: power per each unit of mass
Radioisotope batteries: Long-term, but a small amount of current (have to wait for the half-life)
If you go for a short, quicker half-life, the battery doesn't last as long.
PMAD = Power Management and Distribution
Starshine: Looks like disco ball; used to monitor near-Earth-orbit drag
Solar activity is related to this drag; solar wind particles (sort of), but also
Nickel-metal-hydride batteries: Heavy (not the best specific power or energy density), but easily rechargeable
Lithium-ion: Better specific-power and energy density, but not as rechargeable
Lithium-ion batteries used in Earth-based electronics; so there's more R&D going on
Hydrogen fuel cells like batteries in design, but instead of passing ions back and forth, new ions (fuel) are pumped in.
Now how can nonomaterials help us with all of these power tasks?
Carbon nanotubes are used to improve performance
Inadvertent uses of nanotechnology exist farther back in history - Lycurgus cup comes to mind
buckminsterfullerenes discovered in 1980s: New ball-like form of carbon
Rolling up a sheet of paper = analogous to nanotubes. Can roll up the paper in different ways, and as such, can make different nanotubes. Some are metallic; some have varying degress of conductivity
Typically about a nanometer in diameter; can be hundreds or thousands of microns long; thus an unbelievably high aspect ratio.
Also a very-good thermal conductor
Strongest material known to man under tensile force
Solid-state physics law - Veidelman and Franz
* examined various conductors (gold, lead, etc)
* Ratio of thermal conductivity to electrical conductivity was the same for various materials
* SOme materials do violate this law, nanotubes aren't one of those.
Binding polymers used in actual battery applications, to keep the carbon-nanotube powder from getting all over the place.
Need at least 30% graphite to have conductivity
Need only one or two percent nano
Kind of like crossing a creek (creating a conductive path): Either pile rocks in, or lay one log across
Stronger, smoother plastic when nanotubes are used
Nanotube usage would speed-up the charge rate
Nanotubes group via van der waals effect.
Can make multi-wall nanotubes: easier to produce
Specific Power: power per each unit of mass
Radioisotope batteries: Long-term, but a small amount of current (have to wait for the half-life)
If you go for a short, quicker half-life, the battery doesn't last as long.
PMAD = Power Management and Distribution
Starshine: Looks like disco ball; used to monitor near-Earth-orbit drag
Solar activity is related to this drag; solar wind particles (sort of), but also
Nickel-metal-hydride batteries: Heavy (not the best specific power or energy density), but easily rechargeable
Lithium-ion: Better specific-power and energy density, but not as rechargeable
Lithium-ion batteries used in Earth-based electronics; so there's more R&D going on
Hydrogen fuel cells like batteries in design, but instead of passing ions back and forth, new ions (fuel) are pumped in.
Now how can nonomaterials help us with all of these power tasks?
Carbon nanotubes are used to improve performance
Inadvertent uses of nanotechnology exist farther back in history - Lycurgus cup comes to mind
buckminsterfullerenes discovered in 1980s: New ball-like form of carbon
Rolling up a sheet of paper = analogous to nanotubes. Can roll up the paper in different ways, and as such, can make different nanotubes. Some are metallic; some have varying degress of conductivity
Typically about a nanometer in diameter; can be hundreds or thousands of microns long; thus an unbelievably high aspect ratio.
Also a very-good thermal conductor
Strongest material known to man under tensile force
Solid-state physics law - Veidelman and Franz
* examined various conductors (gold, lead, etc)
* Ratio of thermal conductivity to electrical conductivity was the same for various materials
* SOme materials do violate this law, nanotubes aren't one of those.
Binding polymers used in actual battery applications, to keep the carbon-nanotube powder from getting all over the place.
Need at least 30% graphite to have conductivity
Need only one or two percent nano
Kind of like crossing a creek (creating a conductive path): Either pile rocks in, or lay one log across
Stronger, smoother plastic when nanotubes are used
Nanotube usage would speed-up the charge rate
Nanotubes group via van der waals effect.
Can make multi-wall nanotubes: easier to produce
Monday, March 17, 2008
(lecture 3/17/2008) - NanoPower introduction
Nanopower is power in space.
You can get this in two ways:
1 - Take fuel with you
2 - Scavenge (Scavenging includes solar power, and mining extraterrestrial environments)
When using solar, have batteries for when your craft isn't directly in the sun
Fuel cells were used on Apollo missions - they created electricity and water
Nuclear reactors can be used in space - a lot of power in a small weight; a lot of energy emitted in radioactive decay particles
Take forever to decay;so a long-life battery
Solar arrays - a lot of them are heavy,fragile silicon
90 % of current solar cells are silicon
SOlar cells only 30% efficient; you need heat dispersion
Chandra - X-ray observatory - X-ray astronomy can only be performed in space (too many X-rays get interfered with by Earth's atmosphere)
Mirror assembly had to be aligned with exacting precision.
Space SOlar Power
1) Convert solar photons into electricity
2) Efficiency
3) Mass Specific Power (power/mass)
4) Areal Specific Power (power/area)
Solar wind, v. small amount of drag, UV rays,micrometeoroids, space debris still a problem
Heavy glass currently necessary to shield solar cells
Anti-reflection coating
n-type semiconductor and p-type semiconductor - one has extra electrons, one has a deficiency of electrions.
pn junction - these two together; electrons bounce between them (that's the photovoltaic effect).
You need enough energy to kick the electron(s) between the levels.
SOme wavelengths have too much energy for this (that wastes heat).Some wavelengths have too little (not do enough). Some are just right [ Goldilocks Principle]
Concentrators concentrate the light,but they heat up the solar cell assembly. Generally aren't used
Space-power people very conservative
MOCVD
Metal organic chemical vapor deposition
OMVPE
How the semiconductors used in electronics are grown
If you drive electricity into a solar cell or other semiconductor thingies, you get light.
This is the basis for LASERs and LEDs.
If you connect batteries in series, the voltage adds, but the current is the same.
Small increases in efficicienty, even fractions of a percent, are a huge deal.
When semiconductor reduced to the nano-scale, its band gap changes based on the size.
Gets into quantum mechanics
You can get this in two ways:
1 - Take fuel with you
2 - Scavenge (Scavenging includes solar power, and mining extraterrestrial environments)
When using solar, have batteries for when your craft isn't directly in the sun
Fuel cells were used on Apollo missions - they created electricity and water
Nuclear reactors can be used in space - a lot of power in a small weight; a lot of energy emitted in radioactive decay particles
Take forever to decay;so a long-life battery
Solar arrays - a lot of them are heavy,fragile silicon
90 % of current solar cells are silicon
SOlar cells only 30% efficient; you need heat dispersion
Chandra - X-ray observatory - X-ray astronomy can only be performed in space (too many X-rays get interfered with by Earth's atmosphere)
Mirror assembly had to be aligned with exacting precision.
Space SOlar Power
1) Convert solar photons into electricity
2) Efficiency
3) Mass Specific Power (power/mass)
4) Areal Specific Power (power/area)
Solar wind, v. small amount of drag, UV rays,micrometeoroids, space debris still a problem
Heavy glass currently necessary to shield solar cells
Anti-reflection coating
n-type semiconductor and p-type semiconductor - one has extra electrons, one has a deficiency of electrions.
pn junction - these two together; electrons bounce between them (that's the photovoltaic effect).
You need enough energy to kick the electron(s) between the levels.
SOme wavelengths have too much energy for this (that wastes heat).Some wavelengths have too little (not do enough). Some are just right [ Goldilocks Principle]
Concentrators concentrate the light,but they heat up the solar cell assembly. Generally aren't used
Space-power people very conservative
MOCVD
Metal organic chemical vapor deposition
OMVPE
How the semiconductors used in electronics are grown
If you drive electricity into a solar cell or other semiconductor thingies, you get light.
This is the basis for LASERs and LEDs.
If you connect batteries in series, the voltage adds, but the current is the same.
Small increases in efficicienty, even fractions of a percent, are a huge deal.
When semiconductor reduced to the nano-scale, its band gap changes based on the size.
Gets into quantum mechanics
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