Solar Super Capacitor (SSC) Demo in Asphalt Road (Small Scale)

An ordinary 10-cent ceramic capacitor is buried in the asphalt of a small-scale roadway. Before the sun rises, this capacitor is charged to 3 volts. (That is, we "invest" x joules of energy, in order to charge this capacitor). Next, the "sun" heats the asphalt and the capacitor, causing the capacitor's voltage to triple and its electric energy to rise to y joules.




Thus, our "return on investment" is y - x joules, which is the electric energy converted (and stored) from the solar-powered temperature change.
Next, imagine what amazing things are possible when we scale up from 3 volts to 3000 volts, from 0.1 microfarad to 10 Farads, and from low-tc to high-tc capacitors (i.e. optimized SSCs).
Valuable renewable energy applications can utilize SSCs invisibly buried in roads, in rooftops (e.g. in-or-under durable concrete roof tiles), in concrete walls, sidewalks, mountains, deserts, etc.
A note on SSC's novelty: Whereas, virtually all other thermoelectric converters require both hot and cold surfaces be available simultaneously, the SSC systems can operate from one surface that experiences non-simultaneous cold phases and hot phases, (alternating in TIME). It is the capacitor's storage property that enables this novel ability.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• supercapacitor
• solar-energy
• SSC
• renewable
• sustainable
• thermoelectric
• pyroelectric
• heat
• cold
• ceramic
• capacitor
• ultra-capacitor
• super