Dialysis-At-Home Developer Quanta Raises £38m
The title of this post is the same as that of this article in today’s Sunday Times
Strangely, in my almost seventy-two years, I’ve never met anybody, who is undergoing dialysis, although one of my friends did give one of his kidneys to his brother.
But reading this article in The Sunday Times, I feel that for those undergoing dialysis, things may be improving.
- The £38m will launch Quanta’s machine with the NHS.
- More people will be able to have dialysis-at-home.
- The company hopes the machine will be launched in the US this year.
It is very much a good news article.
To me though, it shows how technology is increasingly being developed to improve healthcare.
Surprisingly, the machine uses the same technology as that used to mix soft drinks in bars.
Solar Panel Pilot For Aldershot
The title of this post is the same as that of an article in the August 2019 Edition of Modern Railways.
This is the two paragraphs.
Solar panels are to be installed on derelict land near Aldershot station as part of an experiment into whether renewable energy can be used to power trains.
A total of 135 discrete solar panels are being installed and are expected to go live in August. The Riding Subnbeams ‘First Light’ demonstrator project is a collaboration between climate change charity 10:10, Community Energy South and Network Rail, alongside a consortium of specialist consultants and university departments.
I wrote about the company and its ideas in Solar Power Could Make Up “Significant Share” Of Railway’s Energy Demand, which I posted in December 2017.
I won’t repeat myself, but I will say that since I wrote the original article, a compatible development has happened.
In Vivarail Unveils Fast Charging System For Class 230 Battery Trains, I wrote about Vivarail’s charging system for battery trains, which uses battery-to-battery power transfer to charge batteries on trains, through standard third-rail technology.
I do feel that the 10:10 and Vivarail ought to be talking, as I feel that between them, they could come up with some good joint ideas.
Will We See A Phase Out Of Diesel-Mechanical And Diesel-Hydraulic Multiple Units?
After writing My First Ride In A Class 195 Train, I started to think about the future of diesel multiple units.
The Class 195 trains are powered by one MTU diesel engine, with a rating of 390 kW in each car, that drives the wheels through a ZF Ecolife transmission.
It is all very Twentieth Century!
- Power comes from one diesel engine per car.
- There is pollution and carbon-dioxide generated outside the train.
- Noise is generated outside and inside the train.
- Braking energy is not captured and used to power the train, or stored for reuse.
We can do so much better than this.
The MTU Hybrid PowerPack
MTU have now developed the MTU Hybrid PowerPack.
This page on the MTU web site, is a document, which describes the PowerPack.
It describes the PowerPack as the next generation of railcar drive.
It lists these benefits.
- Saving fuel through braking energy recovery
- Significantly reduced emissions through load point optimization
- Optimizing travel times with the Boost Mode
- Significant noise reduction
- Flexible vehicle deployment and simple retrofitting
In some ways the last point is the most significant.
This is said in the document about deployment and retrofitting.
Naturally, rail vehicles with hybrid drive can also be powered
exclusively by the diesel engine. This also means great flexibility
for the operator: The trains can be deployed on both electrified
and non-electrified rail routes. In addition, upgrading to a trimodal*
power system – with an additional pantograph – is easy because
the system is already equipped with an electric motor. This gives
the operator considerable freedom with regard to deployment of
the vehicles – it‘s a big plus when they can respond flexibly in the
future to every route requirement or tender invitation.
It sounds like MTU have really done their thinking.
If you want to read more, there is this document on the Rolls-Royce web-site, which is entitled Hybrid Train Trials.
Note that Rolls-Royce are MTU’s parent company.
A Simple Trimodal Example
I will give one simple example of where the trimodal technology pf the MTU Hybrid PowerPack, could be used, to great advantage.
Southern have two routes, where they have to use diesel Class 171 trains
- Eastbourne and Ashford International (42% electrified)
- London Bridge and Uckfield (45% electrified)
Porterbrook are planning to fit MTU Hybrid PowerPacks to Class 170 trains, as I wrote about in Rolls-Royce And Porterbrook Launch First Hybrid Rail Project In The UK With MTU Hybrid PowerPacks.
As the Class 171 train is very similar to the Class 170 train, I would suspect that Class 171 trains can be converted to diesel hybrids using MTU Hybrid PowerPacks.
It would be very useful, if they could be converted into tri-mode trains, by the addition of third-rail shoe gear.
This would mean, that the two routes run by the Class 171 trains, could be run on electricity for st least 40-45 percent of the route.
I would also think, that adding third-rail shoe gear to a diesel multiple unit, like a Class 171 train, could be easier than adding a pantograph.
When you consider that Southern have twenty Class 171 trains, with a total of fifty-six cars and conversion would therefore need fifty-six MTU Hybrid PowerPacks, this would not be a trivial order for MTU, that could bring substantial benefit to Southern.
I suspect new bi-mode or battery/electric trains would be less good value, than converting trains with MTU Hybrid PowerPacks, in many applications.
Other Technologies
Already other companies and research organisations are getting involved in developing affordable solutions to convert redundant diesel multiple units into more environmentally-friendly and energy efficient trains.
We have also seen train operating companies in a wider sense, buying trains that can easily be updated to zero-carbon trains.
Benefits Of Conversion To Diesel-Hybrid
I believe that conversion to diesel hybrid trains, using MTU Hybrid PowerPacks or similar technologies, could be advantageous in other ways, in addition to the obvious ones of less noise and pollution.
- Train operating companies would not need to greatly change their support infrastructure.
- Driver retraining would probably be a short conversion course.
- More partially-electrified routes would be possible with efficient modern trains.
I also feel, that if we can convert diesel-mechanical and diesel-hydraulic trains into trains with the ability to use either 25 KVAC overhead or 750 VDC third-rail electrification, this will open up possibilities to create new partially-electrified routes in places, where electrification is either too difficult, too expensive or is opposed by protests.
Trains That Could Be Converted
These trains are ones that can possibly be converted to diesel hybrid trains.
Turbostars
As I said earlier Porterbrook are already planning to convert some of their numerous Class 170 trains to diesel hybrid operation using MTU Hybrid PowerPacks.
Turbostars are a class of diesel trains.
The picture shows a Class 170 train in ScotRail livery, at Brough station, working a service for Northern.
- They have a 100 mph top speed.
- They come in two, three or four car sets.
- They were built between 1996 and 2011.
- They have a comfortable interior and passengers only complain, when say a Class 170 train is replaced by a Class 156 or even older train.
- There are a total of 196 Turbostars in various classes.
This description from Wikip[edia, details their drive system.
Much of the design is derived from the Networker Turbo Class 165 and Class 166 trains built by British Rail Engineering Limited’s Holgate Road carriage works. Notable features shared are the aluminium alloy frame and two-speed Voith T211r hydrodynamic transmission system. The diesel engine has changed to an MTU 6R 183TD. A cardan shaft links the output of the gearbox to ZF final drives on the inner bogie of each vehicle. The engine and transmission are situated under the body; one bogie per car is powered, the other bogie unpowered.
It is simple system and well suited to replacement with the MTU Hybrid PowerPack.
As I said earlier, some Turbostars run over partially-electrified routes.
I also said that two of Southern’s routes are partially-electrified with the 750 VDC third-rail system, so could we see some examples making use of this to create a trimodal version.
On the other hand fitting a pantograph for 25 KVAC overhead electrification could be difficult. Although, all British Rail designs and their derivatives were usually designed, so they could work with every type of K electrification.
Class 165 And Class 166 Trains
The Class 165 and Class 166 trains are the predecessors of the Turbostars, and the later trains share a lot of their features.
As with all British Rail train designs, they have Japanese Knotweed in their DNA and engineers continuously find profitable ways of not sending them to the scrapyard. So they’ll be around for a few years yet!
The owner of these trains; Angel Trains has started a development project to create the Class 165 Hydrive train, which I wrote about in Class 165 Trains To Go Hybrid.
Will we see another hundred or so diesel hydraulic trains in good condition converted to more environmentally-friendly diesel hybrid trains?
Class 195 And Class 196 Trains
The Class 195 and Class 196 trains are still in the process of being built and judging by my first experience of Northern’s Class 195 train, that I wrote about in My First Ride In A Class 195 Train, they would benefit from the fitting of a quieter hybrid drive, like an MTU Hybrid PowerPack.
I suspect that any follow on orders for CAF’s diesel trains could well be built as diesel hybrids.
- The MTU Hybrid PowerPack could be used to replace the MTU engine and ZF Ecolife transmission.
- A battery-electric transmission, perhaps even using bogies and traction motors from the Class 331 train, could be developed.
Consider.
- Building the train around a hybrid transmission, will be probably no more difficult, than building one with a mechanical transmission.
- The train would create less noise and pollution.
- Hybrid trains would probably be more marketable to prospective purchasers. See Hybrid Selling.
As CAF are the only manufacturer of new diesel trains in the UK, I don’t think, they will be bothered.
Class 175 Trains
Transport for Wales have a fleet of eleven two-car and sixteen three-car Class 175 trains and they are scheduled to be replaced by a series of new trains starting in 2021.
I suspect the conversion to diesel hybrid will be possible, but even with a full interior refurbishment, will anybody have need for them, as there are already a lot of new 100 mph diesel trains on order, many of which could be delivered as diesel hybrids.
Class 180 Trains
There are fourteen five-car Class 180 trains.
They are 125 mph trains.
- Ten trains are used by Grand Central, who seem to have no announced plan to replace them.
- Four trains are used by Hull Trains and they will be replaced this year by new Class 802 trains.
The fact that Hull Trains are replacing their Class 180 trains with new Class 802 trains, probably says a lot about the limitations of Class 180 trains.
Conclusion
We will be seeing a lot of hybrid trains, made by updating diesel-mechanichal and diesel-hydraulic trains.
The Mathematics Of Fast-Charging Battery Trains Using Third-Rail Electrification
In Vivarail Unveils Fast Charging System For Class 230 Battery Trains, I talked about how Vivarail are proposing to fast-charge their Class 230 trains.
- The trains are fitted with special high-capacity third rail shoes.
- Third-rail electrification is laid in stations.
- The third rail is powered by a bank of bstteries, that are trickle-charged from the mains or perhaps even solar power.
- When the train connects to the rail, the rail is made live and a fast transfer takes place between third-rail and train.
So how much electricity could be passed to a train during a stop?
The most powerful locomotive in the UK, that can use 750 VDC third-rail electrification is a Class 92 locomotive.
According to Wikipedia, it can produce a power output of 4 MW or 4,000 kW, when working on third-rail electrification.
This means, that in an hour, four thousand kWh will be transferred to the train using conventional third-rail electrification.
Or in a minute 66.7 kWh can be transferred.
In Vivarail’s system, because they are transferring energy between batteries, enormous currents can be passed.
To illustrate how batteries can can deliver enormous currents here’s a video of a guy using two car batteries to weld things together.
These currents are possible because batteries have a low impedance and when the battery on the train is connected to the battery bank on the station, the two batteries will equalise their power.
If we take the example of the Class 92 locomotive and conventional electrification, this would be able to transfer 200 kWh in three minutes or 400 kWh in six minutes.
But I believe that battery-to-battery transfers could be at a much higher current
Thus in a typical one or two minute stop in a station, upwards of 200 kWh could be transferred to the train.
On this page of their web-site, Vivarail say this.
Due to the high currents required for the train Vivarail uses a carbon ceramic shoe able to withstand the heat generated in the process – without this shoe the charge time would make operational running unfeasible.
The devil is always in the details! From what I’ve seen and heard about the company, that would fit!
Class 710 Train Roofs At Blackhorse Road Station
I took these pictures at Blackhorse Road station.
I couldn’t spot any resistor banks on the roofs, that could be used to burn off excess energy, that is generated by regenerative braking.
Consider.
- The roofs do have a rather clean aerodynamic look.
- I’ve never seen resistor banks placed anywhere other than on the roof of a train.
- Regenerative braking must either return the energy through the electrification or store in in some form of onboard energy storage.
It looks to me, that Bombardier have designed a very efficient train.
Carbon Capture From Cement Manufacturing Nears Market Readiness
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Fifth Estate.
In Climate Change: The Massive CO2 Emitter You May Not Know About, I talked about the carbon dioxide that is released, by the manufacture of cement, mainly referring to this article on the BBC.
This is the first three paragraphs of the BBC article.
Concrete is the most widely used man-made material in existence. It is second only to water as the most-consumed resource on the planet.
But, while cement – the key ingredient in concrete – has shaped much of our built environment, it also has a massive carbon footprint.
Cement is the source of about 8% of the world’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, according to think tank Chatham House.
However, the article on The Fifth Estate, raises hopes that new processes for making cement may reduce the carbon footprint of this important material.
This is the first paragraph of tThe Fifth Estate article.
A consortium led by Australian firm Calix is now well on the way to completing a pilot plant for its breakthrough technology that will capture carbon emissions from the manufacture of lime cement. Other projects with similar aims to reduce the global warming impact of construction with concrete are also racing to the marketplace.
It certainly looks like the Australians are doing something concrete about climate change!
Engie Partners Innovate UK For £4 Million Energy Transition Competition
The title of this post is the same as this article on Current News.
- This is an interesting link-up between the UK Government Agency; Innovate UK and the French energy giant; Engie.
- Wikipedia defines energy transition as a long-term structural change in energy systems.
- It is the first time Innovate UK has secured overseas private funding.
- It aims to fund the very best of \british innovation in clean growth innovation.
- Grants of between £100,000 and £1.2 million will be awarded.
- There appears to be no mention of Brexit!
It looks to me, like a very strong endorsement of British innovation and the British energy industry by the French.
I also think, that if there is one industry where the British and the French should be linked, it is energy.
The UK has the following energy sources and resources.
- Offshore and onshore oil and gas.
- Redundant gas fields for carbon capture and storage.
- Offshore and onshore wind.
- Large areas of sea for offshore wind.
- We have 8,183 MW of installed offshore wind capacity, which is the largest in the world.
- The possibilities of tidal and wave power from a long Western coast.
- Vast experience in building off-shore structures in some of the worst weather on the planet.
- Interconnectors to Norway and Iceland to import their surplus geothermal and hydroelectric energy.
Could we become a renewable-energy powerhouse?
The French have the following.
- Nuclear power, some of which will need replacing.
- Only 500 MW of offshore wind.
- More solar power than we have.
- Easy connection to North Africa for solar power.
But in some ways, most important is the several interconnectors between the UK and France, with more planned.
Conclusion
Between the UK and France, with help from Ireland, Spain and Portugal, can develop a massive Western European renewable energy powerhouse, backed by the following, non-renewable or external sources.
- French nuclear power.
- North African solar.
- Icelandic geothermal power
- Icelandic hydro-electric power
- Norwegian hydro-electric power
It should be noted that in a few years, the UK will have joined Iceland, Norway and North Africa outside of the European Union.
I believe that Sovereign Wealth Funds, Hedge Funds, Pension Funds, Insurance Companies and other individuals, groups and organisations will increasingly see renewable energy as good places for long-term investment of their funds.
The two big problems are as follows.
- What happens when all these renewable energy sources are producing more energy than we can use?
- What happens when there is an energy deficit?
Energy storage is the solution, but the amount needed is massive.
In Airport Plans World’s Biggest Car Parks For 50,000 Cars, I looked at the mathematics in using car parks for electric cars for energy storage.
These are a few figures.
- Electric Mountain is the UK’s largest electricity storage scheme with a capacity of 9.1 GWh.
- The largest battery in the world is the Bath County Pumped Storage Station with a capacity of 24 GWh, which works on similar principles to Electric Mountain.
- Building another Electric Mountain would cost £1350 million, if we could find somewhere to put it.
But supposing half the 35.5 million cars and light goods vehicles in the UK were replaced by new electric vehicles containing a battery of around 20 kWh, that would be a total storage of 355 GWh or nearly forty Electric Mountains.
Conclusion
Harnessing all of these batteries will be an enormous challenge, but it will be ideas like this, that will enable the world to go carbon neutral by 2050.
But I don’t think we’ll ever see Trump or Xi Jinping in an electric limousine..
Green Mini-Trains To Reverse Beeching’s Cuts
The title of this post is the same as an article in Saturday’s copy of The Times.
This is a paragraph.
The government is funding trials of an “ultra-light”, environmentally friendly train powered by gas from organic waste in place of a conventional diesel engine.
Members of the consortium developing the concept include Birmingham City University and Parry People Movers.
I wrote about the Parry People Mover in Stourbridge And The Parry People Mover.
It did the shuttling of people between Stourbridge Junction and Stourbridge Town stations in a professional manner and it can’t have done much wrong, as it still is.
The technology that drives the train is based on a flywheel and is innovative to say the least. This section in the Wikipedia entry for Parry People Movers is called Technology.
This is the first two paragraphs of the section.
PPMs utilise a rotating flywheel as a store of kinetic energy which is then used to power the vehicle. A typical PPM flywheel is made from steel laminates, approximately 1 m (39 in) in diameter and 500 kg (1,100 lb) in mass, designed to rotate at a maximum speed of 2,500 rpm.[8] The flywheel is mounted horizontally at the centre of the unit, beneath the seating area. The flywheel is driven by an internal combustion engine or an electric motor. The flywheel is connected to the rail wheels via a hydrostatic variable transmission system.
The flywheel allows the direct capture of brake energy (when slowing down or descending gradients) and its re-use for acceleration (called regenerative braking). When the vehicle brakes, the hydrostatic transmission feeds the energy back into the flywheel. Since the short-term power demand for acceleration is provided by the energy stored in the flywheel, there is no need for a large engine. A variety of small engine types can be used including LPG, diesel or electric traction.
I have done a calculation of the kinetic energy in the flywheel and it is surprisingly low at 0.6 kWh if it is a disc and 1.2 kWh if it is a ring.
A capacitor of the same mass would hold about the same amount of energy, but would probably need a more complicated transmission.
The Anonymous Widower 