As we progress into the future, more and more stress will be placed on our energy storage capacity. In order to adequately prepare for the surge in power usage, new technologies need to emerge to effectively store large amounts of energy for timely consumption. US Patent 7,251,118 or simply put, the Non-Planar Super Capacitor will revolutionize our power storage capacity and address our growing demand for consumption.

Currently, there are few ways to store large amounts of charge for use at a later time or date. For example, power plants must constantly alter their output to address the ever-changing needs of customers and solar harvesting peaks at 2PM - three hours before the maximum demand for energy. The Super Capacitor will directly address these problems and many more.

By instituting this technology, we will now be able to harvest the energy produced by the sun and store it for use at the times when we are in most need of power. And power plants will be able to store their energy in large amounts to meet the future demands of customers. If we use this patent to construct super capacitors at the delivery end of power lines, establishing a constant power flow, we will decrease maximum capacity requirements. This will save in weight and cost of copper lines and support towers – essentially saving you, the taxpayer, money on construction and maintenance costs. Any application that utilizes electrical energy will benefit from this newly created technology. The options are virtually limitless.

The patent is fundamental to the development of a special class of capacitors, sometimes called “Supercapacitors”. Such capacitors have the potential to store large amounts of electricity in very small physical volumes.

The most inconvenient property of electricity is that it is very difficult to store. This particularly results in generation inefficiencies in which supply and demand are not matched.

For example let us say we are trying to “harvest” the abundant solar energy available in Southern California. The energy input (insolation) peaks at about 2PM. However the maximum demand for the power does not occur until 5PM. Storage of that power for the 3 hours is very difficult. Batteries, pumped storage, flywheels are very inefficient and waste up to 70% of the stored energy.

Similarly power plants, whether coal, oil or gas fired, are most efficient when operated at constant output. Instead it is necessary to design them to accept the maximum load. If there were an effective way to store the output less fuel would be burned and the masses of copper used in transmission lines would be considerably less.

The capacitor technology developed by Mr. Nevin may well be an answer to this dilemma. Large amounts of electricity can be stored on non-planar conformal plates allowing unheard of energy densities.

Parties wishing to learn more about this technology can contact Mr. Nevin at Nonplanar Nanostructures.