Solar power lights are rather ingenious inventions that have many uses. Who would have thought you could use the sun to power a light, or a flashlight? Solar powered flashlights are pretty cool little gadgets. They generally look quite similar to a regular flashlight. They have a simple switch that turns them on and off. They have an area on one end that emits light...sufficient to allow to be used at night or in any dark area.
A solar powered flashlight uses sunlight energy, converted into electrical energy in a solar photovoltaic (PV) cell or panel that sits on the outside of the flashlight, that is then stored in a battery. Most solar powered flashlights use LED or Light Emitting Diode lamps rather than an incandescent light bulb, as LED's take less electrical current to operate, and they last longer. While an incandescent light lasts, on average, for about 1000 hours, an LED lasts for an average of 100,000 hours.
Similarly, solar charged batteries that are used in the solar powered flashlight, as compared to the normal, single use nickel, lithium, or cadmium batteries generally seen in flashlights, usually will not require replacement for about two years with steady use. The comparison rate is about 15 hours for a regular battery, compared to around 2500 hours for a solar rechargeable battery.
To maximize the usage of your solar charged batteries, you should leave the flashlight on for 15+ hours at least once a month to fully expend the charge. Rechargeable batteries have a memory effect. Therefore if you continually use the flashlight without ever fully discharging it, it will eventually only recharge to a lower (memory) level, and never return to 100 percent of its available power.
For best results, keep your solar powered flashlight on a window sill when it is not in use, where the solar panel is exposed to the maximum amount of sunlight. If you're not using it regularly, be particularly mindful to turn it on...and leave it on...as described above, at least once a month.
You can find solar powered flashlights in most hardware stores today. They're great for camping and emergency use. Every vehicle and every home should have one. If you wonder why...think about those times that you've needed a flashlight in a hurry only to find that the batteries were dead, and you had no spares...or didn't know where they were!
Some amazingly innovative designs are being created for solar flashlights...with add-ons like siren, flasher, cell phone charger, etc... in addition to the basic flashlight design. There are also any number of solar flashlight key chains are on the market today. The price range varies, depending on the uniqueness of the style, the outside casing, and additional functions.
If you're interested in "spreading the light" in a very solar way, you may want to visit bogolight.com. The name stands for "Buy One, Give One." SunNight Solar, the company that operates the BoGoLight Program is a Limited Liability Company founded by Mark Bent in 2006. Having served in the American Diplomatic Corps in a number of developing countries, Mark saw the need for light in many places, and found a way to provide it. When you purchase one solar flashlight at BoGoLight, or through one of its affiliates, such as InHabitat, an identical solar flashlight will be donated to a non-profit who collects and ships the lights to areas of need throughout the world.
What a unique and wonderful way to "shine a little" light...in a very solar way...and light the dark for those who cannot see. Solar powered lights are the wave of the future.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Romance of the plastic shell
Plastic shell:By the mid-1950s, the wound-paper shotgun case had reached the peak of its development. The folded crimp had replaced the roll-crimped shell with over-shot wad. Winchester-Western had introduced a highly efficient, bottle cap shaped, obturating over-powder wad and their Mark-V plastic shot wrapper that reduced shot deformation and improved patterns considerably. Yet, the problem was in the paper.
Whether the paper hull was waxed or lacquered, it still tended to absorb moisture. I can recall shells that could hardly be seated into the chamber of my gun and others, that upon firing, could hardly be extracted, particularly when shooting a pump or semi-auto. The wound-paper tube had to go, and the major manufacturers like Winchester-Western and Remington consequently spent millions of dollars developing plastic substitutes.
There were endless failures during early attempts to form cases using the injection-molded process. Working with the available plastics of the day, companies found that the resulting cases did not have the necessary tensile strength plus they became soft when heated and brittle when cooled. It took a German technique, the Reifenhauser process, to really bring plastic shotshells to the marketplace by the mid-1960s.
What the Reifenhauser process did was to work the plastic in such a way that its tensile and radial strength were increased during the manufacturing process. In the simplest terms, melted polyethylene resin was extruded through a die to produce a heavy walled tube that was then stretched to six times its normal length, resulting in the resin's tensile strength increasing from 4,500 psi to about 18,000 psi.
The thin walled tube was then expanded in diameter through the use of air pressure, thereby increasing its radial strength. In industry terms, the end product was known as bi-axial oriented tubing. Cut in shotshell length segments, the tube and a separate base wad were then crimped securely into a metal head, producing a straight walled plastic case that was very strong indeed.
Related prouduct: silicone case
Whether the paper hull was waxed or lacquered, it still tended to absorb moisture. I can recall shells that could hardly be seated into the chamber of my gun and others, that upon firing, could hardly be extracted, particularly when shooting a pump or semi-auto. The wound-paper tube had to go, and the major manufacturers like Winchester-Western and Remington consequently spent millions of dollars developing plastic substitutes.
There were endless failures during early attempts to form cases using the injection-molded process. Working with the available plastics of the day, companies found that the resulting cases did not have the necessary tensile strength plus they became soft when heated and brittle when cooled. It took a German technique, the Reifenhauser process, to really bring plastic shotshells to the marketplace by the mid-1960s.
What the Reifenhauser process did was to work the plastic in such a way that its tensile and radial strength were increased during the manufacturing process. In the simplest terms, melted polyethylene resin was extruded through a die to produce a heavy walled tube that was then stretched to six times its normal length, resulting in the resin's tensile strength increasing from 4,500 psi to about 18,000 psi.
The thin walled tube was then expanded in diameter through the use of air pressure, thereby increasing its radial strength. In industry terms, the end product was known as bi-axial oriented tubing. Cut in shotshell length segments, the tube and a separate base wad were then crimped securely into a metal head, producing a straight walled plastic case that was very strong indeed.
Related prouduct: silicone case
Monday, October 10, 2011
Concentrating solar power
Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) systems use lenses or mirrors and tracking systems to focus a large area of sunlight into a small beam. The concentrated heat is then used as a heat source for a conventional power plant. A wide range of concentrating technologies exists; the most developed are the parabolic trough , the concentrating linear fresnel reflector, the Stirling dish and the solar power tower. Various techniques are used to track the Sun and focus light. In all of these systems a working fluid is heated by the concentrated sunlight, and is then used for power generation or energy storage.A parabolic trough consists of a linear parabolic reflector that concentrates light onto a receiver positioned along the reflector's focal line. The receiver is a tube positioned right above the middle of the parabolic mirror and is filled with a working fluid. The reflector is made to follow the Sun during the daylight hours by tracking along a single axis. Parabolic trough systems provide the best land-use factor of any solar technology.The SEGS plants in California and Acciona's Nevada Solar One near Boulder City, Nevada are representatives of this technology.Compact Linear Fresnel Reflectors are CSP-plants which use many thin mirror strips instead of parabolic mirrors to concentrate sunlight onto two tubes with working fluid. This has the advantage that flat mirrors can be used which are much cheaper than parabolic mirrors, and that more reflectors can be placed in the same amount of space, allowing more of the available sunlight to be used. Concentrating linear fresnel reflectors can be used in either large or more compact plants.
The Stirling solar dish combines a parabolic concentrating dish with a Stirling engine which normally drives an electric generator. The advantages of Stirling solar over photovoltaic cells are higher efficiency of converting sunlight into electricity and longer lifetime. Parabolic dish systems give the highest efficiency among CSP technologies.The 50 kW Big Dish in Canberra, Australia is an example of this technology.
A solar power tower uses an array of tracking reflectors (heliostats) to concentrate light on a central receiver atop a tower. Power towers are more cost effective, offer higher efficiency and better energy storage capability among CSP technologies.The Solar Two in Barstow, California and the Planta Solar 10 in Sanlucar la Mayor, Spain are representatives of this technology.
New technology found to turn old tyres into new rubber products
"Every year, a billion tyres are discarded worldwide following wear and tear, with the bulk going into landfills and placing a burden on the environment. But now, researchers have found a way to reuse them -- by creating rubber products.We have come up with a way of giving new life to old tyres that should eliminate the need for them to end up in a landfill,"" said study author Chris Skourtis from Deakin University Institute for Technology Research and Innovation.""Tyres simply dumped or placed in landfill are known to leach harmful chemicals into the environment; cause fires; and provide a perfect breeding ground for pests like mosquitoes and rats,"" said Chris Skourtis from Deakin University.our process does not rely on chemicals and uses less power -- making it more environmentally friendly,"" said Skourtis, according to a Deakin statement.
It also results in high quality ingredients that can replace virgin and synthetic rubbers in the manufacture of products such as new tyres, car parts, insulation materials, conveyor belts and asphalt additive for roads,"" said Skourtis.Deakin researchers, led by Qipeng Guo, developed a small-scale facility at the university's Waurn Ponds Campus to test and refine the recycling technology developed and patented by VR TEK Global.We now have a technology that is far better than any other tyre recycling processes,"" Skourtis explained.“First, the tyres are segmented in a way that allows for each part to be treated differently which eliminates impurities and results in a higher quality end product. For example, the steel reinforcement in the tyre is separated without fragmenting, which is not common in current tyre recycling.“We have then created an efficient means of devulcanising and activating the tyres into rubber powders for recycling into rubber products.“Devulcanisation essentially reverses the chemical process used to create the tyres. This is normally done using environmentally harmful chemicals.
We have developed a mechanical method that requires no chemicals.“We have also developed a way of using ozone gas to activate the rubber powder which makes it more compatible with other materials. This extends the usability of the powder for producing a wider range of rubber and plastic products than currently possible.”The statement added, “This breakthrough in tyre recycling technology is the result of four years of research and development between VR TEK Global and CSIRO and Deakin University. The project has been funded by the Federal Government (via the Advanced Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre) and the Victorian State Government (through the Victorian Centre for Advanced Materials Manufacturing).“In 2012, VR TEK will take the technology into commercial operation.” - IANS with additional inputs from TWL Bureau"
Further information: rubber sealing rings | rubber seal
It also results in high quality ingredients that can replace virgin and synthetic rubbers in the manufacture of products such as new tyres, car parts, insulation materials, conveyor belts and asphalt additive for roads,"" said Skourtis.Deakin researchers, led by Qipeng Guo, developed a small-scale facility at the university's Waurn Ponds Campus to test and refine the recycling technology developed and patented by VR TEK Global.We now have a technology that is far better than any other tyre recycling processes,"" Skourtis explained.“First, the tyres are segmented in a way that allows for each part to be treated differently which eliminates impurities and results in a higher quality end product. For example, the steel reinforcement in the tyre is separated without fragmenting, which is not common in current tyre recycling.“We have then created an efficient means of devulcanising and activating the tyres into rubber powders for recycling into rubber products.“Devulcanisation essentially reverses the chemical process used to create the tyres. This is normally done using environmentally harmful chemicals.
We have developed a mechanical method that requires no chemicals.“We have also developed a way of using ozone gas to activate the rubber powder which makes it more compatible with other materials. This extends the usability of the powder for producing a wider range of rubber and plastic products than currently possible.”The statement added, “This breakthrough in tyre recycling technology is the result of four years of research and development between VR TEK Global and CSIRO and Deakin University. The project has been funded by the Federal Government (via the Advanced Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre) and the Victorian State Government (through the Victorian Centre for Advanced Materials Manufacturing).“In 2012, VR TEK will take the technology into commercial operation.” - IANS with additional inputs from TWL Bureau"
Further information: rubber sealing rings | rubber seal
How can you identify Silicone and how about them?
How can we identify it in our daily life?Finding out if silicone is in your products is typically fairly simple. Most silicones end in the letters -cone or -cates. The following is a partial list of some commonly found silicones in hair products: Dimethicone (simethicone), Cyclomethicone, Trimethicone, Simethicone, cyclomethicone, cyclopentasiloxane, trimethylsilylamodimethic one, trimethylsiloxysilicates, amodimethicone, dimethiconol, beheonoxy dimethicone, phenyl trimethicone, dimethicone copolyol, lauryl methicone copolyol, hydrolyzed wheat protein, hydroxypropyl polysiloxane.
Silicone can either be “light” or “heavy”. Light silicones tend to be VERY water soluble and therefore are easily washed away and do not cause a buildup. However, these light silicones are very expensive, found in fewer products, and often evaporate as the hair dries, making them fairly ineffective. Other silicones are “heavy”. They are not nearly as water soluble and therefore they stay in place making your hair smooth and shiny. However, because they are not easily washed away, they typically cause buildup on the hair shaft over time weighing down your hair and causing it to look/feel greasy. This buildup can be washed away by using a stronger, clarifying-type shampoo. However, these shampoos also strip the hair and scalp of natural moisture and therefore damage and weaken it - requiring the use of conditioner which uses - can you guess what? - SILICONE to cover and mask the damage. This leads to a cycle of covering and stripping hair, which over time causes damage.
Silicone can either be “light” or “heavy”. Light silicones tend to be VERY water soluble and therefore are easily washed away and do not cause a buildup. However, these light silicones are very expensive, found in fewer products, and often evaporate as the hair dries, making them fairly ineffective. Other silicones are “heavy”. They are not nearly as water soluble and therefore they stay in place making your hair smooth and shiny. However, because they are not easily washed away, they typically cause buildup on the hair shaft over time weighing down your hair and causing it to look/feel greasy. This buildup can be washed away by using a stronger, clarifying-type shampoo. However, these shampoos also strip the hair and scalp of natural moisture and therefore damage and weaken it - requiring the use of conditioner which uses - can you guess what? - SILICONE to cover and mask the damage. This leads to a cycle of covering and stripping hair, which over time causes damage.
What is Silicone and which Products Use Silicone?
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People may know what is silicone,however they can't describe it in detailes,they only to know it wheny they but silicone products.Silicone is a synthetic (man-made) material. Basic properties which make it useful in hair products include water repelling (though not a complete hyrdophobe), smoothing, and resistance to oxygen, ozone, and UV rays. It is used in hair products to smooth the cuticle by coating the hair, thus masking damage, improving comb-ability, lessening frizz, and making hair feel silky.
It is said that silicone is contained in nearly every hair product on the market. The list of products NOT containing silicone would be far shorter than a list of those which do. Silicone is found in shampoos, conditioners, gels, smoothing products, de-tangling products, protective products, shine products and more. If we were to name specific lines, the list would be endless.
America Solar-Power Developer SunEdison Moves To California From Maryland
"We do think that California is the epicenter for solar," SunEdison President Carlos Domenech said in an interview.
California is on track to add about 6,000 megawatts of solar power over the next few years and SunEdison aims to snag a good-size piece of that, Domenech said.
SunEdison, which builds, owns and operates solar-power plants and rooftop generators using solar panels, does about half its business in the U.S. and Canada, and the rest in Europe and other regions, Domenech said. The group uses panels made by its parent company and also buys panels from other manufacturers for its projects.
SunEdison moved its headquarters from Beltsville, Md., to Belmont, Calif., a suburb of San Francisco. MEMC, which makes silicon wafers for the semiconductor and solar industries, is headquartered in St. Peters, Mo.
California Gov. Jerry Brown, who attended the opening of SunEdison's new headquarters, praised the company's move.
"California is open for business, we're the innovative state and we're going to invest in solar and make California not only the national leader, which it already is, we're going to make it the world leader, and we're going to do that with a company like this," Brown said.
In September, SunEdison bought San Francisco-based solar-farm developer Fotowatio Renewable Ventures Inc. for $112 million, plus repayment of $19 million of debt. That purchase added 1,400 megawatts of solar farms to SunEdison's project pipeline.
Futher information:Solar Power Flashlight | Solar Energy Electric Torch
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