Lightcell: An engine that uses light to make electricity

(www.lightcellenergy.com)

113 points curl-up | 1 comments | 14 Jan 25 13:36 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source

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ggm ◴[17 Jan 25 19:17 UTC] No.42742157[source]▶

less moving parts means it could work in contexts where moving parts demand lubrication, maintenance.

I felt it was a bit light on putting the system energy efficiency/losses up front. I am sure they're stated but it was hard to work out how it compared to normal PV efficiency, or steam turbine efficiency.

Heat exchangers are applicable to lots of things. I am skeptical that this is significant because almost any heat energy process does reclaim and preheat, and so the size of the thermal mass and efficiency here would be exceptionally well studied and if they have made improvements, they may be as, or more valuable as IPR overall. So while it looks amazing, unless they are spinning it out into wider industry it will be a small increment over things in deployment.

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enragedcacti ◴[17 Jan 25 20:08 UTC] No.42742711[source]▶

>>42742157 #

I don't think they are claiming an efficiency breakthrough on their heat exchanger, just that they've made a competitive heat exchanger that also blocks light very effectively.

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1. DaniFong ◴[18 Jan 25 01:59 UTC] No.42745132[source]▶

>>42742711 #

we're not aiming to break records with the absolute heat exchanger efficiency, which can get into the high 90s (%) if you're willing to devote a lot of space and mass, but we are innovating in the heat exchanger area. to capture more of the waste heat up to a higher temperature, and preheat the incoming air and possible fuel to a higher temperature, we have to exceed 1000 C and want to drive towards the 1600-1800C maximum working temperature of the high alumina 3d printed material we're using. Thankfully Formlabs has already done some of the preliminary development on the material, but it's bleeding edge both as a material and in use in heat exchangers.

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