—by Richard Mandel

Produced through what is designated the “depletion process,” Dynaglass offers a potential to inexpensively market a variety of structural and electrical products. Patented by Dynelec Corp, a technology company founded in Columbus, Ohio in 1994, Dynaglass has been under development during the last seven years in Russia and the United States. Along with being a high-strength glass, experiments indicate that the material could be used to store energy — during processing, the glass-forming melt acquires a positive charge when electrons are extracted from it. Therefore, Dynaglass is neither a dielectric, semiconductor nor conductor. “It will be the enabling technology for many, many products,” said Roy Baldwin, president and CEO of the company. “There are thousands of uses for this.” Under development is a Dynaglass Battery, which may offer a energy storage capacity 5-to-30 times greater than a conventional lead-acid battery, with unlimited recharging cycles, light weight, and be inexpensive to produce and environmentally safe. “It's very attractive to pursue a battery that has no chemical in it,” Baldwin said. “You can get rid of sulfuric acid, lead and all the negative characteristics of a normal battery. As far as we know, it's rechargeable through an infinite number of cycles.” Dynelec Corp, or connect at www.rsleads.com/204df-152

A line of flexible photovoltaic modules is offered by the Sunovation Gesellschaft für regenerative Energiesysteme mbH in Klingenberg, Germany. Initial applications have included industrial construction, self-sufficient lighting systems with built-in power-supplies, shade installations, roofing, sun roofs, ventilation systems for automobiles and illuminated displays. In the Rhine-Main area of Germany, for example, these self-generating power sources are now found at many bus stops. Because the modules are resistant to salt water, they also may serve a wide field of boat-building applications. The modules are constructed by flexibly encapsulating highly sensitive silicon wafers between two Makrolon sheets, a Bayer polycarbonate. As the plastic sheets are embedded using floating joints, solar modules can be produced that meet any design requirements. The sheets can be specially treated to make them scratchproof and resistant to ultraviolet radiation and the effects of chemicals and weathering. The line includes transparent and tinted solar modules in almost any arrangement, in sizes up to 3x1 meters, with a bending radius capability of up to 1600mm. Sunovation connect at www.rsleads.com/204df-153  Bayer Corp connect at www.rsleads.com/204df-154