A new patent has been developed that provides a solution to one of the main inconveniences with current energy storage.  The proposed solution involves the use of a special class of capacitors, called supercapacitors, which have the potential to store large quantities of energy in a small volume.  Electricity is difficult to store which can cause energy generation inefficiencies.  This often results in situations where the supply of electricity does not meet the demand. 

Current energy storage solutions do not eliminate the disparity between supply and demand.  This can be seen, for example, by considering the harvesting of solar energy in Southern California.  In such a situation, peak energy input occurs close to 2PM but maximum demand for power does not occur until 5PM.  Storing the energy for these three hours is very difficult.  Conventional storage methods, such as batteries, pumped storage, and flywheels, are insufficient and can waste up to 70% of the stored energy. 

Power plants experience similar efficiency problems.  All power plants, whether they uses coal, oil, or gas, achieve maximum efficiency when they are operated at constant output.   These plants, however, are designed to accept the maximum load.  By developing an effective way to store the output, less fuel would be burned and the amount of copper used in transmission lines could be reduced. 

A solution to this energy storage problem may lie in the development of the supercapacitors described in this patent.  These devices have the potential to store large amounts of energy in a small volume.  The technology proposed in this patent allows for large amounts of electricity to be stored on non-planar conformal plates.  These nonplanar nanostructures would result in significantly higher energy storage densities than existing methods. 

For more information on this cutting edge technology and U.S. Patent 7,251,118,
please contact Mr. Don Nevin at Nonplanar-Nanostructures.