SBIR Phase II: Improved Cold Thermal Energy Storage for Refrigeration Applications

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目提出了一种新型工业制冷系统的商业化，用于冷却印度村庄的原料奶，而不使用备用柴油发电机。创新在于一种新颖的热电池组概念，由Promethean Power Systems开发，并获得了美国国家科学基金会的第一阶段资助。这种电池解决了长期存在的不可靠的电力问题，通过将电能以热能的形式转换和储存，并通过冻结和熔化材料的过程。这种电池只需要5小时的电网电力就能充电，一旦充电完毕，就能在电网关闭时按需提供持续的冷却电力。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是在制冷应用中引入清洁能源技术，消除昂贵的食品腐败，并为目前依赖化石燃料实现持续增长的发展中经济体提供清洁能源替代品。在发展中国家，由于冷链供应网络不足，每年浪费数十亿美元的易腐食品。建立冷链网络的一个主要障碍是缺乏可靠的电网电力来运行村庄和农业地区的制冷系统。在这种情况下，柴油发电机通常用作备用，这是一种成本高且对环境影响大的非理想解决方案。活尸？的热电池消除了柴油发电机，使农村制冷系统在经济上可行。这可能会使世界各地的乳制品行业发生革命性变化，特别是在印度，世界上最大的牛奶生产国和消费国，那里有近4亿人依赖牛奶获取日常蛋白质。虽然Promethean？美国的第一个商业化努力是在印度，那里最需要热电池，这些努力将有利于美国经济，为美国产品提供一个巨大的和不断增长的市场，并肯定美国？在世界范围内传播创新理念的领导作用。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project proposes the commercialization of anew type of industrial refrigeration system for cooling raw milk in Indian villages, without theuse of backup diesel generators. The innovation lies in a novel thermal battery pack conceptdeveloped by Promethean Power Systems with a Phase I grant from the National ScienceFoundation. The battery solves a chronic unreliable electricity problem by converting andstoring electrical energy in the form of thermal energy through a process of freezing and meltinga material. The battery needs just five hours of grid electricity to charge and, once charged,provides constant cooling power on demand when the grid is off.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be the introduction of clean energytechnologies in refrigeration applications, eliminating costly spoilage of foods and providingclean energy alternatives to developing economies that currently rely on fossil-based fuels fortheir continued growth. In developing countries, billions of dollars of perishable foods arewasted annually because of inadequate cold-chain supply networks. A major obstacle in settingup a cold-chain network is the lack of reliable grid electricity to run refrigeration systems invillages and farming areas. In such conditions, diesel generators are often used as backup, a nonidealsolution with high cost and environmental impact. Promethean?s thermal battery eliminatesdiesel generators and makes village refrigeration systems economically viable. This couldrevolutionize dairy industries around the world, especially in India, the largest producer andconsumer of milk in the world, where nearly 400 million people depend on milk for their dailyprotein. Although Promethean?s first commercialization efforts are in India where thermalbatteries are needed the most, these efforts will benefit US economy by providing a large andgrowing market to US products and affirming America?s leading role in spreading innovativeideas throughout the world.