Salt Water Car

Technological innovation is, without doubt, the major force for change in modern Society. These innovations have shaken core of the motor world. Quant e-Sportlimousine has to come up with some new innovative cars to compete with its competitors. The unusual flow cell technology used in lieu of a conventional battery pack is, along with the salt water it uses as a power source. It seats four, has full-length gull-wing doors that grant access to both front and rear seats, and stunning super car looks. It is 5.25 metres (0.4ft) long, 2.2 metres wide (7.2ft), the 1.35 metre (4.4ft).  22-inch wheels sit just beneath impressive double gull-wing doors.With a claimed 0-62mph time of 2.9 seconds and a top speed of over 217 mph, The Quant e-Sportlimousine could become the next big thing in the automotive world if it successfully passes testing and enters into production. Yet it isn’t the e-Sportlimousine’s claimed 372 mile range or four-wheel drive capabilities that make this car stand apart from others. The technology something Quant calls ‘nanoFLOWCELL’. The car tank capacity 200 Lts and total weight approxmately 2,300 Kgs (5,070lbs) wih 920 horse power (680 kW). After making a debut at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show, The Quant e-Sportlimousine has received approval from German road safety authority known as Technischer Uberwachungsverein (TUV for short). Price and sale date yet to be confirmed, but may cost more than £1m  ($1.7 million). The car, which uses an electrolyte flow cell power system, is now certified for use on German and European roads. Modern, fast, and innovative, the  Quant e-Sportlimousine is powered by two tanks of liquid electrolyte which pass through a specially-designed membrane, generating electric current and powering the car’s powerful motors.The Quant hitting the headlines as a car which could change the way we think about batteries forever. Flow cells or flow batteries as they are sometimes called work by passing two liquids (electrolytes) containing different chemical components either side of a specially-designed membrane. While the two liquids do not mix and stay in their own closed system, an electrical reaction takes place between the two liquids as they pass over either side of the membrane, inducing an electrical current. Essentially then, flow cells operate in a similar way to a traditional battery, but instead of the electrolyte living inside the battery, flow cells store their electrolyte outside of the battery in discrete storage tanks.The unusual gull wing doors give access to the front and rear of the car.This makes it possible for discharged electrolyte to be pumped out of the tank and replenished with fresh, fully charged electrolyte in the same time it takes to fill a car with gasoline. Spent electrolyte can then be recovered and recharged away from the vehicle, allowing for a quick refill without worrying about damage due to rapid recharging. In the case of the e-Sportlimousine, salt water is used as an electrolyte, something that’s abundant around the world. Quant says the e-Sportlimousine has a 120 kilowatt-hour storage capacity, made possible by ultra-high density flow cells and two large electrolyte tanks taking the place of traditional, heavy battery pack materials. Some back of the napkin maths suggests that the Quant e-Sportlimousine will have an energy efficiency of around 3.1 miles per kilowatt-hour. 

Brain To Brain

Will one person or a machine be able to read exactly what another person is thinking? In the not too distant future it appears extremely likely that. Humans will face the distinct possibility of being able to directly upgrade their mental capabilities by means of implant technology. Extra senses and multi-dimensional thought present themselves as intriguing options. It is called `Thought communication`. That it means is a new language of thought. Ultimately transmitting ideas, concepts, picture sequences and abstract theorems. In a sense it will be an evolutionary milestone, potentially a billion times more effective than the introduction of the telephone. Technology is now becoming available which is opening up the realistic possibility of thought communication between individuals being achieved in the forthcoming decade. Spanish researchers proved the same recently. They claim to be the first to have demonstrated direct brain-to-brain communication between humans. The researchers, led by Giulio Ruffini, CEO of Starlab in Barcelona, successfully transmitted the Spanish and Italian words `hola`(hi) and `ciao`(hello) in binary code from the brain of a person in India to the brain of a person in France. Electroencephalography (EEG), which monitors electric currents in the brain, was used to record the information from the sender's brain, and robotized transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), which causes neurons to fire from an electric current that is generated by a rapidly changing magnetic field, was used to deliver the message to the brains of the receivers in France. Researchers have for years been developing noninvasive systems for translating information directly from the human brain to the computer. These systems, called brain-computer interface, often involve brain activity-sensing tools such as EEG, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (FNIRS), and functional magnetic resonance imagine (FMRI). Researchers have also, to a lesser extent in the recent days, experimented with translating information from the computer to the brain, using brain stimulating tools such as TMS — variations of which have also been used to treat depression — and transcranial focused ultrasound (FUS). The Starlab experiment integrates two of these existing technologies to move a message from human brain to computer to human brain.New technical methods presently being looked into speed up the rate of progress in this `brain-to-brain interface`.

RHP

The Solar ship

MS Turanor PlanetSolar, known under the project name PlanetSolar, is the largest solar-powered boat in the world.The vessel was designed by LOMOcean Design, built by Knierim Yachtbau in Kiel, Germany, and launched on 31 March 2010. In May 2012, it became the first ever solar electric vehicle to circumnavigate the globe. The huge ship length is 31 m (35 m with flaps), Beam 15 m (23m with flaps) and its Speed 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) (max) 7.5 knots (13.9 km/h; 8.6 mph) (cruising).

Technical characteristics

The 31-meter boat is covered in over 500 square meters of solar panels rated 93 kW,which in turn connect to one of the two electric motors in each hull. There are 8.5 tons of lithium-ion batteries in the ship's two hulls. The boat's shape allows it to reach speeds of up to 14 knots. The hull was model tested in wind tunnels and was tank tested to determine its hydrodynamics and aerodynamics. The boat has been designed to be used as a luxury yacht after the record attempt is finished. It is currently being used as a floating marine research laboratory by Geneva University. View of the bow, showing the three hulls.The boat is registered in Switzerland and was financed by a German entrepreneur. Construction cost was € 12.5 million. The name Turanor, derived from J.R.R. Tolkien's novel The Lord of the Rings, translates to `The Power of the Sun`.

 

Around the world

On 27 September 2010, Turanor PlanetSolar set off from Monaco to circumnavigate the globe solely with the aid of solar power. One aim of the project was to focus public awareness on the importance of renewable energies for environmental protection. The boat had a crew of six. The captain of the expedition was Frenchman Patrick Marchesseau, but at the midpoint of the circumnavigation (in New Caledonia in mid-May 2011) the French Canadian Erwann Le Rouzic took over as captain, to share the master's responsibility with Captain Marchesseau. Other participants were Christian Ochsenbein (Bern, Switzerland) and Jens Langwasser (Kiel, Germany); as well as the project initiator, president and expedition leader Raphaël Domjan (Neuchatel, Switzerland).

A significant stopover was Cancun, Mexico, during the 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference held there from 29 November to 10 December 2010. During the expedition, Turanor PlanetSolar broke two records: the fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by solar boat and the longest distance ever covered by a solar electric vehicle.Technical problems with the propeller system forced the vessel to stay in an Asian port for two weeks of maintenance.Turanor PlanetSolar returned to Monaco on 4 May 2012 after 584 days sailing around the globe. The vessel was then scheduled for a refit so it could be chartered to tourists in the Mediterranean Sea. Cruises are planned with 12 passengers and four crew on board.

Voyage and transatlantic record

After an engine refit, Turanor PlanetSolar broke its own record, crossing the Atlantic ocean from Las Palmas to Saint Martin in the Caribbean in only 22 days, four days faster than on the circum navigation trip. The boat left Las Palmas on April 25 and arrived in Marigot on Saint Martin on May 18. The trip led to Miami, Florida, and then continued as a scientific expedition along the Gulf Stream. On the return trip the boat reached St John's, Newfoundland, 1 August 2013 before heading back across the Atlantic.