Unlike this one, the Ice Bear is a refrigeration technology helping California energy companies store energy. [Image credit: Flickr user ]Posted February 18, 2015 Tags: , , , , , , , , , Meet the Ice Bear. No, it’s not a cousin of the polar bear living in the Arctic. It’s a big machine that uses a system of coils, 450 gallons of water and another evaporator coil. It was created by Ice Energy, tested by the energy provider Southern California Edison and can be added to a building’s air conditioner to store electrical energy as ice. And many of them may be moving to California. Last October, the California Public Utilities Commission ordered its three big investor-owned electric utilities — Pacific Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas and Electric — to start storing electricity. It’s the first energy storage mandate in the U.S., and it requires the companies to build enough capacity to store 1.3 gigawatts of electricity, enough to power one million homes, by the end of 2020.

Storing electricity is expensive and inefficient because of the energy lost in its conversion from storage to usable form. Design constraints also prevent large amounts of electricity from being stored. Big electric companies have turned to technologies to ease the process, and one of these is the Ice Bear. The Ice Bear works by freezing water during the night, when electricity is less expensive and in less demand. While the rest of the building is sleeping (or at least not using power) a refrigerant runs through the coils of the Ice Bear to freeze the water. what size wire for window ac unitThe next afternoon, when air conditioners are most likely at their peaks, a pump in the Ice Bear sends the refrigerant, cooled by the ice it created, into the air conditioner’s evaporator coil. package ac units floridaThis helps cool hot air that’s coming from the building. ac motor control drive

This newly chilled air is then pushed into the building, just as an air conditioner would normally do. Eventually, enough warmer room air reaches the Ice Bear’s intake vents to melt all the ice in the device, leaving it filled with liquid water. When that happens, the building’s air conditioning finally kicks on, and runs until the Ice Bear’s water supply is frozen again overnight. The California Public Utilities Commission mandated the storage plan as a way to smooth out the daily highs and lows of power production and consumption. “There are times during the day when we are producing more electricity than we need, and other times when demand exceeds what is on the grid. This will help us avoid blackouts without having to build new generation,” state assemblywoman Nancy Skinner told the San Jose Mercury News in 2013 when the project was first proposed. Now, electricity produced by power plants running at night when demand is low can be stored and used during the day when demand is much higher.

More storage capacity will be especially helpful in encouraging the installation of solar panels and wind turbines, which can provide power only when the sun is out and the breeze is blowing. Ice Energy estimates that one of its $10,000 units can “shift 72 kilowatt-hours of on-peak energy to off-peak hours.” That’s enough to keep 72 40-watt bulbs running for just over a day. So far, Southern California Edison is willing to buy 2,500 Ice Bears for the West Los Angeles Basin region, according to the press release announcing the decision. But this is only contributing to a small portion of California’s 1.3 gigawatt mandate. We’ll have to wait and see how much less weight the system will have to bear with these units in place. Although Deutsche Bundesbahn raised speeds and passenger standards with Class 103 hauled InterCity services from 1971, even with extensive track upgrading, 200km/h (124mph) would be the ceiling for reducing journey times. Domestic airline competition and high-speed developments in Japan and France encouraged an assessment of long-term strategy for rail travel in Germany.

From trials with the experimental ICE-V in 1985 and by 1991 opening the first new-build route, Neubaustrecke (NBS), Germany has continued to develop its high-speed rail network and the InterCity Express (ICE) product. A combination of ICE stock on NBS or the Ausbaustrecke (ABS) upgraded lines as well as on conventional track, ICE was an established format before German unification in 1990. Thereafter plans were reconfigured to take account of the resultant political, economic and social changes, with the merged Deutsche Bundesbahn and Deutsche Reichsbahn becoming Deutsche Bahn (DB) in 1994. Established as DB Fernverkehr's flagship, high-speed services are represented as ICE-Netz alongside InterCity and EuroCity. ICE rolling stock has extended operations to other EC countries and has been modified for export. From being a name adopted from a now-defunct British Rail classification, 15 years on from its inception DB claimed ICE/Inter City Express as having reached 100% brand recognition and being central to the favourable impressions of rail travel in the country.

With building begun in 1973, the first NBS considerably pre-dated ICE stock. Envisaged as accommodating high-speed freight as well as passenger flows, early NBS are relatively level compared to later builds which allow for the ICE3's better power: weight ratio. To restrict gradients, routes like Hanover-Würzburg feature a high incidence of tunnels and bridges. Dedicated rescue trains are stationed to deal with NBS incidents. Environmental considerations have affected the routing, construction and construction times of the lines. To concentrate adverse visual and noise aspects into already affected areas, NBS frequently accompany alignments of autobahns. All lines are 1,435mm (4ft 8½in) gauge and electrified at 15kV ac 16.7Hz. NBS line speeds vary, some 250km/h (155mph) with 280km/h (174mph) allowed for later running. Later lines are passed for service speeds of 300km/hour (186mph). The lines have hosted world rail speed records, including that of the ICE-V in 1988 and a Siemens production OBB Class 1216 locomotive in September 2006.

Although actual NBS do not normally enter established main stations, lines are referred to according to cities at either end of the route: DB launched new direct services from Thuringia/ Saxony to Frankfurt Airport and to Mainz/ Wiesbaden; from Bonn/ Koblenz to Stuttgart and from Karlsruhe/ Stuttgart to Dresden. The extension of the Dresden-Leipzig-Frankfurt ICE line to Wiesbaden via Frankfurt Airport and Mainz is underway. Direct services to Frankfurt Airport from various German regions and additional IC services are also in the pipeline. Zublin International carried out the construction of several sections of the New ICE railway line Cologne-Rhine/Main. Zublin's contract included redevelopment of the German motorway interchange and construction of two ICE railway tunnels crossing underneath the site. The two ICE tunnels, 1,900m and 1,640m long, accommodate up to four tracks each. These tunnels were dug using open-cut tunnelling, cut-and-cover construction and mining techniques.

The project also includes two bridges 420m and 750m long and installation of non-ballasted track. The product of DB working in concert with Germany's main mechanical and electrical railway suppliers, the ICE fleet has seen significant developments since production versions entered fleet service in 1991: ICE 1 (Class 401) Max speed 280km/h (174mph) introduced 1991. Two power cars plus 10–14 coaches with distinctive taller 'Bord Restaurant'. Wheel modifications were made following the Eschede disaster in June 1998. There has been internal refurbishment to match the standards of later stock. ICE 2 (Class 402) introduced 1995. Max speed 280km/h (174mph). One power car plus seven coaches including driving trailer. Two such formations allow for splitting services for separate destinations after joint running over core routes. ICE 3 (Class 403) introduced 1998. Max speed 330km/h (205mph). Eight coach multiple unit. This is part of the Siemens Velaro family that has attracted export orders from Spain, Russia and China.

Improvements introduced on ICE3 include bogie skirts and fairings to screen brake discs and axleboxes aimed at a 10% reduction in rolling resistance. Each ICE3 has three types of braking equipment (regenerative, disc and eddy-current) with axle-mounted disc brakes on unpowered bogies and wheel-mounted discs on each powered axle. Internal innovations include the first air-conditioning system not to use chemicals in the cooling process. ICE3M (Class 406) Four voltage version for international operation. The units bought by NS link Amsterdam with Köln, Frankfurt Main and Basel. ICE-T (Classes 411 and 415) introduced 1998. Max speed 230km/h (143mph). Seven and five coaches respectively. Visually similar to ICE3, but with less sharply raked ends. The T2 series has increased seating capacity and reduced catering provision. Tilt capability lends itself to demanding conventional routes such Stuttgart–Zürich and parts of the former DDR. ICE-TD (Class 605) introduced 2001.

Max speed 200km/h (124mph). Four coach tilting diesel multiple unit intended to bring extend the ICE network to non-electrified low-density routes. All withdrawn by 2003, these troublesome units were offered for sale abroad but have been re-introduced intermittently in Germany. Launched in 2009, the new ICE Sprinter was designed to reduce travel times and crowding on the Dortmund-Cologne-Stuttgart-Munich line. A new high-speed ICE rail line project is set to undergo construction in Thuringia. It includes the construction of three tunnels with a total length of around 10km. DB has approved Bilfinger Berger, a German construction and services company, to lead the consortium for constructing the tunnel. Out of the total investment of €290m, Bilfinger Berger's contribution will be 40%. The project mainly focuses on reducing travel times between Nuremberg and Berlin. ContiTech Railway Engineering - Railway Suspension Systems The ContiTech Group as one of the world's leading development partners...

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