09-19-2011, 10:19 PM
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Banned
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Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Cape Cod Massachusetts
Posts: 1,427
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jim H
Yes, but there is not much energy stored in a capacitor - one quick,bright flash and it's gone... 
There is a lot more energy stored in a AAA battery, pound-for-pound, but that's storing electrical energy in a potential chemical reaction.
Electrons are hard to store in the huge volumes needed for power grid storage. |
Well I wasn't attesting to the practicality of capacitor storage given the state of today’s technology just remarking that the functional conversion-less storage of electrical power already exists.
As a young guy I worked repairing underwater flash units and the rule was to keep one hand in your pocket until you had personally verified the discharge of caps that powered the Xenon flash tube.
On a related note there has been some remarkable advancement in ultra caps, some of which are used in hybrids and electric vehicles. There is also an outfit that uses Russian manufactured ultra caps to parallel the lead acid batteries for cold starting diesel engines in extreme cold conditions.
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