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Nobody thinks about batteries—until they've run out of juice, of course. But this humble and surprisingly ancient technology has done far more for human civilization than most people realize.
In fact, the modern world as we know it wouldn't exist were it not for batteries and the unique, utterly essential ability to store electrical energy that they provide. Without batteries, there is no such thing as mobile. Phones, computers, bio-medical devices, even the lowly flashlight: every single electronic device on Earth would have to compete for open an wall socket just to turn on.
So let's think about batteries for a minute. Or better yet, explain everything you could possibly want to know about what they are, where they come from, and—most importantly—how to get the most out of them.
A Brief History of Batteries
Baghdad Battery: Bringing Bling to Mesopotamia
It's like a scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark. In 1936, a number of small, oddly-anointed terracotta pots were discovered in in the ruins of a village near the modern-day town of Khuyut Rabbou'a on the outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq. Clearly from antiquity, their ages dated to either the Parthian era (248 BC - 226 AD) or Sassanid (224-640 AD), but without an obvious use, the curious jars were donated to the National Museum of Iraq. There they sat on a shelf for two years until the museum's German director, Wilhelm König, rediscovered them in the museum's archives around 1938. Upon König's return to the fatherland in 1940 due to illness, he published a speculative paper that the mysterious vessels may have been a lost precursor of the galvanic cell, one perhaps used to electroplate thin layers of gold onto the plated silver pieces he kept finding during excavations.
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Each clay jar measured roughly 5.5 inches tall and was outfitted with a small copper tube (constructed from a rolled copper sheet) surrounding an oxidized iron rod but separated by an asphalt plug. Were the vessel to be filled with an acidic or alkaline liquid, say, lemon juice, grape juice, or vinegar, many experts believe that it could well have generated a small but appreciable current (on the range of .8 to 2 volts if replica devices are any indication). Granted, this amount of voltage generally isn't powerful enough for the uses König imagined as the Mythbusters proved. Anthropologists now believe those pieces were fire-plated using mercury and some speculate that the Baghdad Battery could instead have served as a miracle device in ancient religious or healing ceremonies.
"The batteries have always attracted interest as curios," Dr Paul Craddock, a metallurgy expert of the ancient Near East from the British Museum, told the BBC. "They are a one-off. As far as we know, nobody else has found anything like these. They are odd things; they are one of life's enigmas."
Galvanic Cells: Darth Vader to the Modern Battery's Luke
Frog's legs are funny things. Not just good eatins, they exhibit a tendency to flail when exposed to an electrical charge. At least, that's what Luigi Galvani discovered in 1771 as a professor at the University of Bologna. As the legend goes, he was in the process of skinning a frog pinned via copper hooks to a table where he had just previously conducted various static electric experiments. Galvani's assistant picked up a metal scalpel from the table (which, unbeknownst to either man, carried a static electric charge) and accidentally touched an exposed sciatic nerve. With a small spark, the leg twitched and Galvani glimpsed that electric charge could actually transported by ions, not through fluids or the atmosphere as earlier theories posited.
He didn't actually figure that out, mind you, he incorrectly assumed that this "animal electricity" originated in the tissue itself, conducted by an "electrical fluid." This perverse notion would pervade for nearly thirty years, Galvani's discovery that two metals, when connected via a salt bridge and simultaneously touched to a nerve would cause such a reaction paved the way for the modern electric battery and the advent of the Galvanic cell.
Voltaic Pile: Were Yurtle the Turtle a Galvanic Cell
Galvani's misconceptions about the origin of electricity in living beings lasted for the rest of his life, believing that "animal electricity" was borne from a muscle within the hip. Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Volta, professor of experimental physics at the University of Pavia, was one of the first of Galvani's contemporaries to recreate his famous frog experiment and originally held the same views on animal electricity's hip-based origins. But what Volta realized, and Galvani did not, was that the frog leg was both capable of conducting and detecting electricity.
To prove this point, Volta built a a device he dubbed an "artificial electrical organ." Created by alternatively stacking silver and zinc discs separated by brine-soaked cloth, this arrangement created a circuit and would conduct a charge when connected by a wire. As Volta wrote to Sir Joseph Banks, the president of the Royal Society of London, on the 20th of March 1800:
... In this manner I continue coupling a plate of silver with one of zinc, and always in the same order, that is to say, the silver below and the zinc above it, or vice versa, according as I have begun, and interpose between each of those couples a moistened disk. I continue to form, of several of this stories, a column as high as possible without any danger of its falling.
While he had been attempting to mimic a perceived biological function, Volta had actually invented the Voltaic Pile, world's first electric battery. It also led him to discover Volta's Law of the electrochemical series—the electromagnetic force of a galvanic cell is dependent on the electrical potential difference of the electrodes. This is why stacking nothing but copper or silver discs will not generate a current.
Galvanic cells rely on a pair of half-cells, each with a differing electrode dipped in electrolytic solution to generate a RedOx reaction and, in turn, an electrical charge. Unlike an electrolytic cell that requires electrical input to get started, the galvanic cell's RedOx reaction is spontaneous. That is, it occurs without any outside impetus. As such, galvanic cells were originally found use powering telegraph lines and improved designs are now often found in batteries, pH meters, and fuel cells.
The Voltaic pile didn't just lead to batteries. It's invention directly led to numerous other major scientific discoveries. William Nicholson and his half-brother Anthony Carlisle built their own voltaic pile and passed the current through a trough of water, thereby discovering electrolysis as the H20 decomposed into its constituent elements. Humphry Davy in the UK used his own voltaic pile to demonstrate that Volta's Law was based on a chemical reaction, not just the electrode's difference in potential, as well as further Nicholson's and Carlisle's electrolysis work. William Hyde Wollaston proved that voltaic and static electricity were one and the same. And just two years after its creation, Vasily Petrov was using them to study electrical arcs.
While the Voltaic pile was a pioneering effort, it wasn't exactly practical—short circuits from leaking electrolyte were as common as hydrogen bubbles forming on the leads. These shortcomings spawned a raft of design improvements and re-imaginings. To solve the short circuiting issue, William Cruickshank, professor of chemistry at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, simply laid the pile on its side in an insulated rectangular box with pairs of zinc and copper plates welded together. These plates were evenly spaced throughout the box and created self-contained cells for the electrolyte mixture of dilute sulfuric acid.
The spillage issue was also addressed in 1812 with the invention of the Zamboni pile—also known as the Duluc Dry Pile—invented by Giuseppe Zamboni. Constructed from thousands of sheets of alternating silver and zinc foil, the Zamboni pile's manganese oxide electrolyte was held in place with honey and the entire affair was crammed into a long glass jar and insulated with pitch. This construction gives Zamboni piles potential outputs in the Kilowatt range, which makes modern versions very handy in a variety of military and scientific applications.
Perhaps the most momentous improvement upon Volta's original design came in 1866. Georges Leclanché found that a cell employing a zinc anode and manganese dioxide/carbon cathode dipped in a bath of ammonium chloride would produce 1.4 volts, a far cry from the original pile's .4V and equivalent to a modern alkaline battery. With a stronger electrical oomph, the dry Leclanché cell quickly found use powering early telephone systems. The only problem was that the chemical reaction that powered the phone also caused resistance to increase, causing the battery to quickly run down. The process would reverse when load was removed from the cell but you'd have to keep your conversations short. More importantly, Leclanché's cell laid the groundwork for the modern dry cell batteries that now power a majority of our gadgets.
[Smith University - Kenyon University - University of Houston - BBC - About - University of Wisconsin - Sparknotes - University of Rome - Wikipedia 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 - Baghdad Battery Image: Smith University, Frogs Legs Image: Monkey Business Images / Shutterstock, ]
How Many Different Kinds Are There?
Batteries on the whole are divided into two main classes: Primary cells, which are single-use disposables, and secondary cells, those that can be recharged. Primary cells are typically constructed from Alkaline, Zinc, or Lithium-based chemistry. They're relatively cheap to produce and are designed to be thrown away or recycled after dispensing their initial charge, however they are not exactly environmentally-sensitive. Secondary cells, on the other hand, are usually made from Lead-Acid, Nickel, Lithium-ion chemistry and tend to be more expensive up front than primaries. They can be reused over and over though, so are more economical and environmentally-friendly in the long run.
They're not divided simply by their reusability, mind you. Batteries can also be classified by their cell type into four main groups:
- Wet cell: Wet cells are the oldest type of battery and use a liquid electrolyte to transport ions. Some of the ealiest examples were simply open-top glass jars filled with electrolyte solution and a pair of electrodes sunk into it. While eventually replaced by dry cells in most energy storage applications, wet cells are still widely employed as car batteries, in home chemistry sets, and by a variety of public utilities. They can be utilized as either primary or secondary cells.
- Dry cell: Dry cells work like wet cells, except that the electrolyte solution exists in a paste form with just enough moisture to conduct a charge but not enough to go sloshing about when dropped. These cells, developed from the pioneering Leclanche cell, can also be used as either primary or secondary cells and are generally much safer to use than wets.
- Molten salt: You won't find molten salt powering your wristwatch any time soon. These specialized industrial batteries rely on salt, super-heated to the point of liquification, as an electrolyte. As terrifying as driving around with liquid hot magma under your hood, a molten salt battery's energy density is quite high, making it a potential power source for electric vehicles.
- Reserve: Reserves are all the battery with none of the electrolyte, which makes them perfect for short-term use after long-term storage. By separating the electrolyte from the rest of the battery assembly, the cell will not self-discharge while on the shelf. These are more commonly found in scientific and military applications than consumer.
What all battery types have in common—from the tiny button cells that power watches to multi-ton blocks that back up the local telephone exchange—is that they're the most common example of voltaic electrochemical cells (well, technically, they're a collection of multiple cells working in unison, but still). An electrochemical cell is a device that produces an electrical charge from a chemical reaction. Each such cell comprises three primary elements: two electrodes—one positive, one negative—and an electrolyte solution to transport ions between them during a reduction-oxidation reaction that actually frees electrons from their atoms. If a cell utilizes two kinds of electrolyte, salt bridges may also be used to provide ionic contact while preventing the two solutions from mixing.
Reduction-Oxidation (RedOx) reactions are quite common throughout nature, including all chemical reactions wherein the oxidation state of an atom occurs (read: when electrons are transferred). This might be when the human body oxidizes glucose during the metabolic process, when carbon is reduced by hydrogen to create methane, or conversely, when methane reacts with oxygen oxidizing into carbon dioxide and water (The carbon is oxidized, giving electrons to the oxygen). RedOx reactions are essentially a pair of simultaneously-occurring half reactions that together form a whole reaction, similar to lead-acid reactions. During reduction, atoms gain an electron (lowering their oxidation state) and on the other hand, during oxidation, atoms lose electrons (increasing their oxidation state). In batteries, the two halves of the reaction are intentionally separated so that electrons generated at the positive electrode are forced to travel through a circuit—and power our gadgets—to reach the negative electrode.
With such a menagerie of cell types and applications, how can we accurately compare performance between batteries? The answer lies in the battery's capacity. Measured in milliamps per hour (mAh), a battery's capacity refers to its total available energy storage. So if a battery is rated at 2,500 mAh, as many AA alkaline batteries, it should deliver 2500 mA of energy for one hour. However comparing batteries on capacity alone only works when comparing batteries of equal size and composition. See, the chemistry of the battery and the type of device it is used in both play a significant role in how long a battery actually lasts. Alkaline-based primary batteries (ie. Duracell Copper tops) typically have higher capacity ratings (around 2500 mAh) but are far more likely to deliver their full rated capacity if the power is drawn slowly in devices like smoke alarms or children's toys. Lithium-based secondary batteries (ie. Duracell Stay Charged), on the other hand, are typically rated lower (2000 mAh) but perform better and last longer than their disposable counterparts when used in high-drain devices like digital cameras. The rule of thumb—your kids can get by with beat around disposables; keep the higher-priced rechargeables for your own toys.
[Kenyon - Wikipedia 1, 2, 3, 4 - Nuclear Power Training - Energizer 1, 2 - Battery University - All Battery]
Modern Era: Primary Batteries
Alkaline batteries, by which the family of zinc-chemistry primaries is commonly known, are the most widely used in the world, accounting for a whopping 70 percent of the primary battery market in 2011 with 10 billion individual units produced worldwide and expected to rise in value to $5.4 billion in the US alone by 2015. Not bad considering alkalines have only been around since the 1950s.
Granted, primary cells that utilize alkalines rather than acids for their electrolyte solution have existed since the turn of the 20th Century thanks to the independent discoveries and work of both Waldemar Jungner and Thomas Edison. However, it is Canadian engineer Lewis Urry, a researcher for the Union Carbide's EverReady Battery division, that is credited with inventing the now-ubiquitous chemistry. In alkaline batteries, the anode is made of zinc powder (which increases its surface area and aids in conducting a charge while the cathode is made of manganese dioxide mixed with carbon. Alkaline differ from other zinc-anode batteries on account of, and get their name from, their unique electrolyte which uses potassium hydroxide rather than ammonium chloride or zinc chloride. This difference grants alkaline a higher energy density, longer service life, and longer shelf-life while delivering the same voltage—1.55 to 1.7V initially, declining to about 0.8V—as their acidic counterparts. In all, alkaline typically have a 3-5 year shelf lif compared with just 2-3 for the zincs.
Zinc-Carbon and Zinc-Chloride are two such acid-based primaries. Zinc-carbon batteries have existed since 1886 when Dr. Carl Gassner patented a dry Leclanché cell utilizing a compressed block of manganese dioxide surrounded by a zinc can that also acted as the anode. For an electrolyte, Dr. Gassner dissolved ammonium chloride in water and mixed it the plaster of Paris to create a gel. Zinc-carbon batteries became the first commercial dry cell battery in 1900 when the EverReady battery company began selling them. They're still the least expensive primary battery to produce and are marketed for general use, however, they work best in low drain and intermittent use devices like remotes, flashlights, and clocks. Zinc-carbons are so cheap, they're still widely used as the batteries what come free with the gadget.
Between the three, the zinc carbons are by far the least powerful. While Zinc-chlorides, which replaces the ammonium chloride with a more conductive electrolyte for a steadier output, weigh 20 percent more than zinc-carbons, they offer 50 percent higher energy density, sustain high drain devices better, have a longer storage life of 2-3 years, and perform better at low temperatures. Alkalines are better than both of them, offering a 3-5 year shelf life, 500-700 percent energy capacity and operate without significant degradation in high temperatures.
Alkalines themselves are outclassed by another form of primary battery chemistry: non-rechargable Lithium. These batteries are constructed with anodes of lithium or lithium–iron disulfide and a cathode of manganese dioxide suspended in an electrolyte paste of dissolved lithium salt. It's also sometimes known as "voltage-compatible" lithium, since this sort of battery can produce produce voltages from the 1.5V charge of AA or AAA alkalines up to 3.7v, though unfortunately, these batteries use a metallic form of lithium for their electrodes that precludes their recharging. You can find them sold under brand names like Energizer Lithium and Rayovac Lithium Photo. They offer more than double the operational life of alkalines in high discharge devices, thanks to their higher capacity and lower internal resistance, and suffer from virtually zero self-discharge which allows them a 10 year shelf life. They are, however more expensive than conventional alkalines and cannot be recharged like NiMH cells.
[PR Newswire - Wikipedia 1, 2, 3 - Energizer - eHow - Radioshack - Battery University - Image: f-f-f-f / Shutterstock, Vladimir Arndt / Shutterstock]
How to Get the Most Out of Your Primary Batteries
While primary batteries only have a single charge in them, there's a lot you can do to ensure you wring every last volt from them. Storing batteries in the refrigerator is one such method, perhaps the most well known. The lower temperature in the fridge reputedly slows the chemical reaction occurring within the battery, reducing the self-discharge rate, and extending the battery's shelf life by about five percent. Be sure to keep the batteries in a moisture proof bag to avoid corrosion on the leads and warm the batteries back to room temperature before using them.
Battery manufacturers like Duracel and Energizer, however, frown on this practice citing potential corrosion or seal damage from the moisture without any additional battery life. Instead the company recommends storing batteries between 68 and 78 degrees F at 35 to 65 percent humidity. Under those conditions, alkalines should last between five and seven years, carbon zinc for three to five years, and lithium cells for 10 to 15 years on the shelf.
Conversely, primary batteries should never be stored at high temperatures above 80 degrees F as doing so will increase the self-discharge rate and drastically reduce their life expectancy. Nor should they, and this should go without saying, ever be recharged. Attempting to recharge a primary battery will likely cause it to fail and explode. And exploding batteries are about as fun to be around as exploding Xenomorphs.
[Wikipedia - Energizer - Duracell]
Modern Era: Rechargables
Secondary batteries have existed for nearly as long as their single-serving counterparts but are capable of reversing their ion-producing chemical reaction by oxidizing the cathode and reducing the anode in the presence of a reverse current. In a word, they recharge when you reverse the flow of electrons in the circuit. The three most common chemistries of secondary batteries—lead-acid, nickel-based, and lithium-ion-based—all play ubiquitous roles in modern society, powering everything from cell phones to laptops to cars to server farms.
Gaston Plante invented the oldest original rechargeable battery technology, the lead-acid wet cell, back in 1859. These batteries uses lead electrodes—one lead, one lead dioxide paste—submersed in a four mole 35/65 sulfuric acid/water concoction, known as electrolyte. Interestingly, unlike nickel- and lithium- based chemistry, the electrolyte in a lead-acid battery does more than just act as a buffer between the poles but actively contributes electrons to the process. As a lead-acid battery discharges current, the electrolyte and the plates oxidize, giving up electrons to produce water and lead sulfate. Reversing the current and dumping electricity back into the cell also reverses the reaction, producing electrolyte and lead, which reforms on the electrode.
Lead-acid batteries are not terribly efficient, in fact, they possess a staggeringly low energy capacity given their weight and volume. What they do have, however, is power. Lead-acid batteries are capable of delivering high voltage surges that other batteries cannot. This makes them a terrible choice for powering a Prius (just imagine all that sulfuric acid sloshing around, fun!) but terrific for jumping its starter motor when you turn the car on. That's why most of the automotive and marine batteries on the market today are of the lead-acid variety.
Lead-acid batteries also excel at holding a charge, which makes them ideally suited for intermittent utilities like railroad crossing signals where a single battery may be used for up to 25 years. and where weight is not an issue—say, as emergency backups for hospitals, telecommunications centers, and server farms—lead-acid batteries are routinely employed given their long shelf-life. The US Navy even employs enormous lead-acid batteries to drive the electric propulsion of its modern nuclear submarines.
In the 1970s, this technology underwent a significant change with the advent of the valve regulated lead-acid (VRLA)——aka "sealed"—battery, which uses an electrolyte suspended in gel rather than liquid, allowing it to be used in any position much like the Duluc Dry Pile before it. They aren't literally sealed, mind you. See, when VRLA batteries discharge they generate oxygen at the positive pole which combines with hydrogen produced at the negative to create water. Which is great because it frees you from needing to top off the water of conventional flooded lead-acids. And if they produce too much hydrogen, the cells are equipped with pressure sensitive valves to vent the excess pressure (as much as 40 PSI on some designs) caused by overcharging. However, if these valves are faulty or blocked by debris, they can explode.
VRLA batteries come in two varieties, Absorbed Glass Mat (AGM) and Gel. AGM batteries suspends the electrolyte in a fiberglass mat separator with the plates close on either side to improve the battery's cycle efficiency. These batteries, while twice the price of a premium flooded lead-acid, are often found in deep-cycle applications, solar energy storage,and vehicle starting. Their lack of liquid electrolyte makes them uniquely suited for cold weather applications—Arctic ice monitoring stations, for instance—as they will not freeze and crack as wet cells do. Gel cells, on the other hand, have their electrolyte mixed with silica dust to form an immobile gel. This allows them to be used in more adverse environments and withstand more extreme low temperatures, shock, and vibration than wet cells. They also boast long shelf lives and provide better reliability compared with the flooded variety.
VRLA batteries do have some significant drawbacks as well. There's their price—AGM batteries run roughly double the retail price of a premium wet cell, on average, and Gel batteries can fetch five times as much. They also recharge more slowly and at a lower voltage than wet cells due to the presence of calcium on the plates to reduce water loss. Being "sealed," there is no way to check the electrolyte concentration. And, compared to wet cells, these batteries are much less tolerant of high temperatures and over charging, both of which significantly shorten the battery's operational life.
[Wikipedia 1, 2, 3 - AZ Solar Center - Nuclear Power Training - AV8N - Image: Ensuper / Shutterstock]
How to Get the Most Out of Your Lead-Acid Batteries
Lead-acid batteries in vehicles lead a hard life and rarely last more than five or six years under even ideal conditions and there are plenty of ways a lead-acid can fail. But, with some basic maintenance, you can make sure your battery lasts the duration of your car's lease.
This sort of battery can suffer from corrosion of their external hardware—the cable ends, terminals, and connectors—caused by contact with electrolyte that has seeped from an over-filled wet cell (though hot weather can instigate the same effect due to natural fluid expansion) or by leaking acidic gasses. If you battery is serviceable (read: not sealed) take care to not overfill it and only use distilled water. If you notice a white or blue powdery substance forming on the battery connectors, disconnect the cell from the car's electrical system and clean the outside of the battery using a mixture of baking soda and water (two tablespoons per pint). After you set the battery back in its holder, be sure to re-secure it in place, then clean and tighten the cables ends and connectors leading to the terminals. A liberal application of high temperature grease or Vaseline coating the battery posts and cable ends will help minimize future corrosion.
Lead-acid batteries, for the most part, are designed to provide short bursts of high energy, not long periods of deep discharge cycles. The sulfate that forms on the battery's lead plates as it discharges (a process known as sulfation) is electrically insulating which increases the cells internal resistance and lowers its maximum current and shortens the battery's operational life. These batteries should be recharged whenever they drop to 70 percent capacity and never be allowed to drop below twenty percent, otherwise the heat generated from the increased resistance will damage the battery as it charges. To maximize the battery's life, especially if it is being stored for long periods of time (up to two years), you should routinely apply a "temperature-compensated float charge" to the battery using a maintenance charger.
If you've forgotten to check and recharge that stored battery for a few seasons, don't throw it away just yet. Applying an equalizing charge can reverse the sulfation process in some cases. As Battery University explains, you must first measure the charge of each individual cell:
One method is to apply a saturated charge and then to compare the specific gravity readings (SG) on the individual cells of a flooded lead acid battery. Only apply equalization if the SG difference between the cells is 0.030. During equalizing charge, check the changes in the SG reading every hour and disconnect the charge when the gravity no longer rises. This is the time when no further improvement is possible, and a continued charge would cause damage. The battery must be kept cool and under close observation for unusual heat rise and excessive venting. Some venting is normal and the hydrogen emitted is highly flammable. The battery room must have good ventilation. Equalizing VRLA and other sealed batteries involves guesswork. Good judgment plays a pivotal role when estimating the frequency and duration of the service. Some manufacturers recommend monthly equalization for 2 to 16 hours. Most VRLAs vent at 34kPa (5psi), and repeated venting leads to the depletion of the electrolyte that can lead to a dry-out condition.
[Wikipedia 1, 2 - Battery University]
Nickel Me This
The lead-acid wet cell reigned as the dominant—well, only—form of rechargeable battery for 40 years. In 1899, Swedish inventor, Waldemar Jungner, devised the Nickel-Cadmium cell. His Ni-Cd wet cells were more powerful and more sturdy than older lead-acid format. Unfortunately, very few people in America had ever heard of Jungner or his work (though he did eventually start his own battery company in 1906), so the discovery went widely unnoticed. It wasn't until 1902, when Thomas Edison created his own Nickel-cadmium cell, that the technology gained a foothold in the US.
By 1946, Ni-Cd cell technology had evolved from the original "pocket type" cell, which dipped the electrodes into nickel-plated steel pockets, into the modern sintered plate, "jelly roll" style battery. Sinter plates are created by compressing nickel powder into a cohesive, fused disc using immense pressures rather than melting it. This produces an extremely porous material that can then be soaked in aqueous nickel and cadmium to create the cathode and anode. NiCd batteries come in a variety of shapes and sizes, vented and sealed, from tiny button batteries in hearing aids, photographic equipment, R/C models, cordless power tools, uninterrupted power supplies—even the world's largest battery in Fairbanks, Alaska. And, by rolling these two plates together with a dry-cell electrolyte paste between them, they can be used in AA and AAA battery form factors while providing a much higher maximum current and lower internal resistance than similar alkalines.
Ni-Cd batteries (not to be confused with "NiCad" batteries which are a registered trademark of SAFT Corporation) utilize nickel oxide hydroxide and metallic cadmium electrodes. These batteries discharge at a lower voltage than alkaline or zinc primaries—1.2 versus 1.5 volts, respectively—however, their chemistry allows them to operate in low temperatures or in high discharge applications without sacrificing cycle life and capacity. On the other hand, NiCd batteries are more expensive than lead-acid, have a higher self-discharge rate, which cuts down on their storage times, and may cause some devices designed specifically for alkaline batteries to not operate properly on account of the lower terminal voltage and smaller ampere-hour capacity. And while they provided much more power than a lead-acid, disposing of cadmium in an expensive and environmentally damaging proposition. This is a large part as to why they are quickly being supplanted by Nickel Metal Hydride batteries.
Nickel-Metal Hydride batteries are very similar to their NiCd cousins in their construction with both using nickel oxyhydroxide cathodes and both producing a terminal voltage of 1.2V. NiMH batteries however replace the cadmium anode with one made from an hydrogen-absorbing alloy made from a mix of rare earths (either by combining lanthanum, cerium, neodymium, and praseodymium or by using an amalgamation of nickel, cobalt, manganese, and/or aluminium) and use an alkaline electrolyte, typically potassium hydroxide. This grants the NiMH both 200-300 percent the capacity of a NiCd and a current output close to that of a Lithium-ion cell. In some high-performance applications the anode may also be made from a titanium/zirconium compound which boost its capacity further.
Development on NiMH technology began in 1967 at the Battelle-Geneva Research Center (with significant funding from Daimler-Benz and Volkswagen) and went on for two decades before the first commercial NiMH battery hit the market in 1989. The technology also garnered significant interest in the 1970s as a means of cheaply and compactly storing hydrogen for use in satellites. From those disco-era designs grew the modern NiMH chemistry. Today, high-energy NiMH batteries power the world's two million or so hybrid vehicles, have completely replaced NiCd batteries in the EU for all consumer appliances, and are regularly used in high-drain, heavy-use applications that would smoke an average alkaline in seconds.
While NiMH cells hold up to 40 percent more charge, exhibit a weaker memory effect, relatively inexpensive, and more environmentally-friendly, they unfortunately self-discharge like mad. A stored NiMH battery may lose as much as 20 percent of its total charge the first day and up to 4 percent of its charge every week hence. Sure, some LSD (low self-discharge) variants of the NiMH formula are available but cut back capacity by 20 percent in order to do so. NiMH batteries also have a reputation for being heat sensitive which drastically shortens their operational lives.
[Wikipedia 1, 2, 3 - Solar Journey USA - Battery University - Image: Photo Intrigue / Shutterstock.com]
How to Get the Most Out of Your Nickel-Based Batteries
Sealed nickel batteries are the most common form for consumers and don't require much in the way of general maintenance to continue operating. However, there is still much you can do to keep it operating at peak performance. NiCd batteries, for example, can be charged at varying rates depending on the cell's construction, ranging from 14 hours down to just 10 minutes. However, as the amperehour rating increases, so too does the internal resistance (which generates heat and slows the electron transfer) and the chances of overcharging (which again generates heat and can actually damage the cell and shorten its operational life). Since NiCd batteries will heat up more as they near full capacity, you should invest in a compatible charger with an temperature gauge automatically shuts off the current flow when the battery heats to a certain degree, preventing an over-charge.
NiCd batteries also tend to self-discharge, though not to the degree of NiMH cells—typically just 10-20 percent a month, depending on the temperature. As such, if you need to store an NiCd battery for long periods, you'd do well to first run it down to below a 40 percent charge before placing it in a cool spot. Some battery makers even recommend fully expending the battery and then short circuiting the leads for long term storage as well, so make sure you check the mfg website for additional information before doing so. Even when they are not about to be packed away, NiCd batteries (and all dry cells for that matter) do well with the occasional full discharge in order to prevent memory effect—once every 30 cycles or so should do it. If these steps are followed, NiCd batteries can last as long as five years in storage. NiMH batteries, on the other hand, will last about three years but do require priming beforehand.
Lithium Ion: Tomorrow's Battery, Today
Most Lithium-ion batteries, such as those powering the laptop or tablet you're likely reading this on, employ a simple carbon anode and a highly-conductive electrolyte mix of ethylene carbonate or diethyl carbonate. They differ from their non rechargeable cousins, however, in that Li-ion batteries are capable of reversing their chemical reactions thanks to a cathode made from lithium cobalt oxide. Intercalation is defined as "to insert between or among existing elements or layers" by Merriam Webster. Essentially, the anode of a rechargeable Li-ion are made from many millions of microscopically thin sheets of carbon graphite, stacked atop one another. When these batteries discharge, the positive lithium ions are transported from the anode and deposited into the cathode's matrix while the cobalt is oxidized. When charging the battery, the process is reversed. The cobalt is reduced and lithium ions return to the anode.
The metallic lithium battery that Whittingham developed in the 1970s provided an impressive energy density and, throughout the 1980s, many companies attempted to develop a rechargeable version based on the same chemistry. Unfortunately, lithium is an inherently unstable metal and is prone to thermal runaway—that's when flaming gasses forcefully exit the battery—when overcharged. The internal resistance would rise so quickly and generate so much heat that the lithium in the cell would melt and routinely exploded. During a thermal runaway, the intense heat of the venting cell will spread to the next cell, setting off a chain reaction. Recalls on these early cells were common throughout the 1980s, 1990s and first decade of the 21st century. As a result, researchers replaced the volatile metallic lithium with a more stable blend of material containing lithium ions. John Goodenough and K Mizushima are credited with creating the first rechargeable lithium in 1979 when they successfully demonstrated a cell using the same lithium cobalt oxide (LCO) formula that is primarily used today. Sony introduced the very first commercial Li-ion battery in 1991. Lithium ion batteries typically take one of four form factors: small cylinder, such as those powering your laptop; large cylinder, which are not widely available; pouch, which are soft-bodied and offer the highest energy density of the four (a big reason they're often found in cell phones); and prismatic, cells stored in semi-hard plastic cases and often employed in automotive electrical systems.
LCO batteries offer numerous advantages over nickel-based cells. Lithium cells are smaller, lighter, more energetically dense, and able to operate within a much wider temperature range than other rechargeable—essential features in high-tech, high-drain, gadgets and mobile devices. What's more, lithium-ion batteries have a much lower self-discharge rate than other secondary batteries. LCO's lose just 5-10 percent of their charge per month, compared to more than 30 percent a month for NiMH cells and 10 percent a month for NiCd batteries.
They do however suffer from some significant shortcomings as well. The rechargeable lithium chemistry is more expensive to make—and recycle—than NiCd. In addition, there is no shortage of ways that Lithium ion batteries can fail, especially LCOs—overcharging them results in thermal runaway and potentially catastrophic failure, deep discharging them causes short circuits. To combat this problem, all Lithium ion batteries are equipped with a protective heat-sensitive limiter circuit that prevents the battery from charging or discharging too quickly. Unfortunately, this circuitry also results in a relatively low discharge rate and continually draws a small amount of current which accelerates its self discharge rate. They also tend to build internal resistance as they age, rendering the battery useless after a few years or few hundred cycles.
Since the cobalt component of LCO lithium adds so much to the battery's production and recycling costs, John Goodenough's research group at the University of Texas in 1996 developed an alternate chemistry utlizing lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4 or LFP) as its cathode rather than cobalt oxide. While these batteries don't have quite the energy density of their cobalt cousins, LFP is an inherently more stable chemistry with stronger chemical bonds than those binding Cobalt and Oxygen. Its iron-rich composition makes for a more thermally stable cell with a longer operational lifespan and higher discharge rate than cobalt-based lithium. Plus, that its made from non-toxic, readily available materials, makes it easier and 14 percent cheaper to produce than sLCOs. As such, LFP batteries are more likely to be found in automobiles made by Aptera and QUICC as well as a host of boutique electric motorcycle manufacturers, industrial power applications than modern gadgets. One notable exception is the One Laptop per Child project which chose LFPs because their non-toxic nature complies with the European Union's Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive.
The third form of Li-Ion battery uses lithium manganese oxide for its cathode. Developed in 1996, this chemistry has an inherently high thermal stability—able to discharge at 20-30 amps without getting hot—and low internal resistance, which not only makes it the safest and most stable Lithium-ion chemistry, it is also ideal for fast recharging, high-current discharging applications—Power tools, e-bikes, electric vehicles, and medical medical devices—and eliminates much of the safety needed by cobalt-based cells. The main drawback of lithium manganese oxide is its paltry energy capacity compared to LCOs. A 18650 size manganese battery typically packs about 1200mAh of power—that's barely half of what a similarly sized LCO can hold.
[Wikipedia - BattCon - Battery University 1, 2 - EE Times - Solar Journey USA - Image: robert_s / Shutterstock]
How to Get the Most Out of Your Lithium-Ion Batteries
Under normal usage conditions, a Li-ion battery will last between three and five years before internal resistance builds high enough to render its cells useless. This aging effect is governed not only by the number of charging cycles but also the ambient temperature.
Luckily, minimizing this occurrence and extending the serviceable life of your battery requires little more than keeping it cool and fully charged. Since the resistance build-up gets worse the more the battery discharges and rapidly degrades the cell's capacity, regularly topping off the charge is the easiest way to maximize your battery's operational life. That's not to say the battery should perpetually be kept at its maximum charge voltage, quite the opposite in fact—all secondary batteries outside of the lead acid variety require a period of rest after charging to prevent undue stress.
Low power isn't the only condition that harms li-ion batteries, elevated temperatures can be even more damaging. In fact, leaving a cell phone on a hot dashboard or keeping a laptop plugged into the grid for extended periods of time will cause cell oxidation, drastically shrinking the battery's capacity and shortening its lifespan to as little as 48 months. Therefore, lithium ions should only be stored and used at room temperature.
For long-term storage a little charge goes a long way for li-ion batteries. Unlike lead-acid cells which demand a trickle charger to maintain their full voltage levels, lithium and nickel based batteries actually store better on a partial charge. Many manufacturers recommend draining the battery to 40 percent if you plan on leaving it on a shelf for more than a few months. This level allows for a reasonable degree of self-discharge while maintaining enough power in reserve to keep the protection circuit powered.
[Battery University - Wikipedia]
How to Drain a Battery Faster than a Shotgunned Beer
Like the open bar at your sister's wedding, devices slurping from the public power grid taps have little impetus to exercise restraint in their consumption. High-end gaming systems now sport 1600W power supplies driving walls of monitors and multiple multi-core processors, desktop towers never bother sleeping or darkening their displays or shutting down unused system components because, with an effectively unlimited resource supply, why bother conserving?
Battery-powered devices, on the other hand, must take a more miserly approach with their limited power supplies by activating hardware components like the GPS, Bluetooth, or Wi-Fi antenna only when needed and entering sleep mode whenever possible. At least that's how it's supposed to work. Problem is that if these components are left on, they'll regularly search for possible connections, preventing the device from sleeping and rapidly draining the battery. The device's display is also culpable in your battery's untimely demise. Left on the highest brightness setting, the screen can account for upwards of 80 percent (or more) of a device's power draw. Turning off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth when they aren't actively being used, using the CDMA protocol whenever possible (since LTE powers two antennae to boost throughput), and setting the screen to its lowest readable brightness and shortest available screen timeout will all help keep the device's power consumption in check.
The device hardware isn't solely to blame mind you, the same can be said for the installed software. Data auto-fetching, for example, be it a twitter stream, email client, or Facebook timeline, will draw power every time it pings for new data. Luckily, most apps allow you to determine the rate at which they check for updates, so set them for the longest interval available or turn off push notifications altogether and just manually sync when you're actually using the app.
Apps subsidized by third party ads may save you a few bucks, but they suck down an inordinate amount of power as they continually ping remote servers to download and refresh the displayed banners. In fact, a recent study conducted by Purdue University and Microsoft found that apps supported by third party ads can spend as much as 75 percent of their power draw driving ads—Angry Birds, inj some cases, allots as little as 20 percent of the electricity it draws on actual gameplay.
Streaming media—video especially—games, and other graphic-intensive functions are a huge power draw. When streaming, not only is the device expending energy to maintain its network connection to import the data, the CPU is going full-tilt to process the incoming information and simultaneously drive playback—while the display and speakers both draw additional power and processing resources. This is hard, labor-intensive work for a mobile device to be sure. So instead of streaming, download your media over a Wi-Fi connection to local storage. This not only demands less energy than a mobile data connection, it also preserves your monthly data allowance.
System applications—whether its the preinstalled email client, remote backup, or navigation apps—may also be guilty of excessive power use. You can find out which apps and processes are hogging power through your device's power manager. On Android systems, open Settings and select Battery for a comprehensive list of every feature currently drawing current. For iOS, select Settings on the Home screen and choose General, then Usage. WP owners can find the current status of their device's battery from the Battery Saver menu under Settings.
[About - Addictive Tips - Mashable]
The Future of Batteries
Lithium-ion has become the dominant chemistry of rechargeable batteries thanks to its relatively high energy density. But as emerging applications for li-ion, such as "smart" utilities and electric vehicles, continue to grow, the chemistries we use today won't be able to keep up tomorrow. As such, researchers are already hard at work developing exotic metallic mixtures like Lithium-Silicon whose volume swells 300 percent on a full charge and shrinks back as it drains. As Gao Liu of Berkeley Lab's Environmental Energy Technologies Division (EETD) explains in a statement,
"Most of today's lithium-ion batteries have anodes made of graphite, which is electrically conducting and expands only modestly when housing the ions between its graphene layers. Silicon can store 10 times more – it has by far the highest capacity among lithium-ion storage materials – but it swells to more than three times its volume when fully charged."
Lithium-air batteries, which oxidize lithium while reducing oxygen to generate current, were initially devised in the 1970s but have just recently become feasible thanks to recent advances in related material sciences. These batteries boast a massive energy density potentially able to rival internal combustion engines. Other researchers are already looking beyond the battery to alternative technologies such as ultracapacitors, which "store energy with a static charge that is resonant over a large surface area of material in the construct of the product," Ioxus CEO Mark McGough explained to Green Tech Media, and radically divergent chemistries like the PolyPlus battery which utilizes the oxygen in tap water to draw lithium ions across a circuit—it's a battery that only works when wet.
[NBC News - Business Week - Green Tech Media - The Atlantic - Dept of Energy - Wikipedia - IBM - Image: Foto-Ruhrgebiet / Shutterstock]


text:
Orleans France - Orléans is a city in north-central France, about 130 km (80 miles) southwest of Paris. It is the capital of the Loiret department.
Orleans is located on the Loire River. The Loire valley is a known wine producing region of France, and has many Chateaus.
The city of New Orleans in the United States is named after the Orleans.
Pictured here is Cathedral St. Croix, in Orleans.
Orleans France - Cathedral St. Croix.
Orleans France - This is the house Joan of Arc was born/grew up in.Joan of Arc is a national heroine of France and a Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, claiming divine guidance...
Too bad powerlines obstructed the view....
Orleans France - Part of a monestary erected behind Joan of Arc's house.
Orleans France - Children playing a game of soccer in a square.
Lourdes France - basilica dome.
Lourdes France - top of the basilica dome and towers.
Lourdes France - Top of the basilica dome.
The château fort de Lourdes is a historic castle located in Lourdes. It is strategically placed at the entrance to the seven valleys of the Lavedan. It has been listed since 1933 as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture.
The château fort de Lourdes .
Lourdes - Grotto. Many faithful visit for many different reasons. A very powerful place.
Flowers left by visitors.
Lourdes - Guy hanging on a balcony....
Lourdes - kid hanging on a balcony....
Evening view of the Pyrenees.
Sunset over château fort de Lourdes
Bordeaux - This city in Aquitaine, in western France, is famous worldwide for its wines, but also has many gothic cathedrals and historic mansions.
Bordeaux - What would a visit to france be without a Citroen 2CV sighting. I do not like this car, but it has quite a cult following across Europe.
Bordeaux - St. Michel Church, built at the end of the 15th century.
Bordeaux - St. Michel Church.
Bordeaux - A vendor sells pastries and sandwiches in a square. The "parisiene" sandwiches were great (whereever you bought them). Nobody can match the french at bread making. Wherever you went, the bread was unbelievable.
Bordeaux - One of the many pedestrian zones in the city. Many people walk, and bike for transportation. The stories you hear about how trim the French people are, are true.
Bordeaux - One of the many old buildings.
La Rochelle is a city in southwestern France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department.
The Knights Templar had a strong presence in La Rochelle since before the time of Eleanor of Aquitaine, who exempted them from duties and gave them mills in her 1139 Charter. La Rochelle was for the Templars their largest base on the Atlantic Ocean, and where they stationned their main fleet. From La Rochelle, they were able to act as intermediaries in trade between England and the Mediterranean.
La RochelleFrance
La Rochelle - One of the many back streets lined with shops and cafes where one can wander.
La Rochelle - The centuries old buildings stretch for as far as the eyes can see.
La Rochelle - Basilica.
La Rochelle - Fortification walls for the city.
La Rochelle - Entrance to the bay in the fortification walls.
La Rochelle - fortification walls.
La Rochelle - Remains of a cathedral brought down by fire in one of the cities religious conflicts.
Paris - What a wonderful city. The city has beautiful old buldings are far as the eye can see.
Paris - the many parks are filled with people, and artwork. The surrounding buildings also add to the atmosphere.
Paris - The Champs Elysees is the most famous avenue in Paris, stretching from the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde.
Paris - one of the many sculptures in the parks.
Paris - bridge over the Seine.
Paris - evening in St. Germaine. The city does not wake up till about 4pm, and really comes alive at night. Most of the streets are lined with cafes/restaurants with sidewalk service.
Paris - Notre Dame Cathedral.
Paris - street view along the Seine.
Paris - Many steet artists work on paintings of the beautiful city. They have booths along the Seine, and sell their art.
Paris - The Eiffel tower can be seen from almost anywhere in Paris.
Paris - Arc de Triomphe.
Paris - Arc de Triomphe. An impressive structure.
Paris - The Eiffel tower. A truely manificent struture in it's intricate beauty. I was overwhelmed.
Underneath the Eiffel Tower.
More Eiffel Tower...
One cannot imagine the size of the Eiffel tower until you actually approach it.

subset: commoncrawl


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Reporter's Note: President Obama runs the country. I write letters. That is where we intersect.
Dear Mr. President,
The economy is slowly growing. Plenty of indicators seem to say so. But the emphasis in on "slowly." Glacially. And lately I've been thinking about how that is part of the problem in more ways than one.
The obvious problem is that slow growth delays all the things we need: More hiring, more purchasing, higher home values, more business expansion, yada, yada, yada.
The somewhat less obvious problem is that when growth is slow enough, almost everyone can delay responding to that growth until tomorrow, or next week, or next month. What I mean is, if I am a small business person (or heck, even a large company) who had to lay off some workers a year ago, I need to see solid signs of a recovery before I will risk hiring them back…certainly before I will do that and go even further, creating more jobs. How do I see those signs? I look for a clear surge; an unmistakable uptick in the indicators.
As long as the indicators are just creeping along, I'm not seeing the kind of "confidence trigger" I need to act. Furthermore, the slowness of the changes may very well give me time to simply adjust and stretch my current staff, so I don't need to hire at all.
See what I'm driving at here?
It's kind of a variation on that old story of the frog in the pot. Drop a frog into boiling water and he'll hop out. Put him into cool water and slowly heat it up, he'll stay there until he is cooked. (Not that I'm encouraging anyone to go cooking any frogs…)
Part of what I think you and other leaders must do, even if you can't fix everything in the economy, is create some sense of real movement that makes people want to react…because what we're getting right now is just making them want to hunker down, and wait.
Hope all is well. Call if you can.
Filed under: Letters to the President • Opinion • President Barack Obama • T1 • Tom Foreman
Anderson Cooper goes beyond the headlines to tell stories from many points of view, so you can make up your own mind about the news. Tune in weeknights at 8 and 10 ET on CNN.
Questions or comments? Send an email
Want to know more? Go behind the scenes with AC361°


text:
Fast Food Deer Short-Sleeve T-Shirt
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text:
Story highlights
A fake tweet can spread across the social network and into the real world quickly
One tweet from a hacked AP account resulted in a dip in the stock market
There is no way to edit or take back a tweet and deleting is ineffective once it is in the wild
Misinformation can spread quickly on Twitter, each retweet exposing it to wider audiences and even resulting in real world impacts.
On Tuesday, hackers took over the Associated Press Twitter account and falsely claimed that there had been explosions at the White House and that the president was hurt. The tweet was up for a few minutes and retweeted more than 3,000 times before Twitter took the account offline.
The AP immediately confirmed the news was not true, but the tweet was up long enough to send a shudder through the stock market, which plunged 143 points before recovering.
Real tweets have the power to end careers, cause diplomatic tensions, fuel a revolution and find a kidney. Fake tweets can have the same ripple effects, and damage control is difficult. There is no way to edit or append a correction to a tweet, and once it has been retweeted, those 140 characters take on a life of their own. A follow-up tweet with the correct information might not be seen by the same people.
"You want to respond as quickly as possible. Deleting the tweet is a good approach, but even if you delete it it's obviously already out there," said social media expert Krista Neher.
The AP incident is not the first time a tweet has influenced markets. In August 2012, an Italian journalist set up a fake Twitter account for a member of Russia's government and tweeted that the president of Syria had been killed, causing brief fluctuations in the oil markets. The journalist was an experienced Twitter hoaxer, having previously posted fake tweets about the death of the pope and Fidel Castro and established a number fake accounts for world leaders. He claimed he did it to prove how unreliable social media is for getting accurate news.
A tweet doesn't just trigger financial panic, it can also strain diplomatic relations, as the U.S. Embassy in Cairo found out in April when the official Twitter account posted a link to a Daily Show segment critical of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi.
In March, someone posing as the U.S. ambassador to Moscow tweeted a criticism of the Russian presidential election process, which was picked up by the news media in Russia before it was revealed as a hoax. The U.S. government responded with official statements in both incidents.
"The speed at which information spreads is so much quicker than it used to be, and Twitter is such a big part of that," said Neher.
That was painfully evident late Thursday night during the manuhunt in Boston. A tweet mistakenly named a missing Brown University student as one of the suspects. Twitter latched on to the name and many users assumed it was true even though it hadn't been confirmed by authorities.
A faulty tweet also can have a negative impact on community or a family. Late last year a New Jersey teenager posted a plea for help on Twitter saying there was an intruder in her house and asking people to call 911. The tweet went viral as friends and strangers expressed genuine concern for her safety (though no one on Twitter actually called 911).
But it was quickly discovered that there was no home invasion. The teen had run away from home and was later spotted on security cameras buying a train ticket to New York City.
The fast-moving, viral nature of Twitter has its perils, but it can also be used for good. Twitter highlights the impact of single tweets in its Twitter Stories series, tracking Tweets that go viral and result in positive impacts and happy endings.


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By Stephen Gabriel Rosenberg
W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research
September 2011
Also submitted to:
Anglo-Israel Archaeological Society of London
See Also Strata:
Boundary stone found in Lower Galilee
A local visitor to the small community of Timrat, which lies a few kilometres west of Nazareth, happened to come across a large stone inscribed in black with the three Hebrew letters reading "Shabbat." According to Mordechai Aviam, head of Archaeology at the nearby Kinneret College, this will have been a marker for the Shabbat boundary around the village, marking the extent allowed for walking beyond the village on the Sabbath in the Mishnaic period. The letters are large and clear and extend over a length of half a meter. Boundary markers have been discovered at other locations but are inscribed in Greek and, according to Aviam, this is the first one to be found in Hebrew. The stone is dated to the Roman/Byzantine period when the village would have been inhabited, and volunteer teams are now being sent to the area to search for more examples.
Ancient Shechem to be opened to the Public
A team from Holland and the Palestinian Authority has been working since 1997 at Tel Balata, the site of the ancient city of Shechem, and they plan to open the site to the public next year. It is hoped that the remains uncovered, and in some cases reconstructed, by the Drew-McCormick Expedition directed by G.E.Wright in the early 1960s, will soon be available to be seen by visitors. Tel Balata, just east of modern Nablus, has been the site of a Palestinian refugee camp and in the last few years has become the center of old car sales and a dumping ground for second-hand and stolen vehicles. All this is being cleared away by the present expedition, supported by a team from UNESCO, and it is hoped that the site can be presented next year in a form useful to scholars and attractive to tourists.
Jerusalem sewage ditch yields up more treasures
From the waste water channel that runs from the Temple Mount to the Siloam Pool, in which the small golden bell was recently found, a Roman sword with part of an attached belt and a small inscribed stone were recently uncovered in the silt by Eli Shukron, working for the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). The sword had a two-foot iron blade and is a military type that Shukron believes may have been stolen from the Roman garrison by a rebel Jew and then abandoned in the escape passage. The inscribed stone, from the same period, of the Roman destruction of the City in 70 CE, shows a menorah of five branches on a triple leg base. It is a fairly rough rendition and unclear why only five branches are shown though it may be that the artist did not want to reproduce the exact form of the menorah, which would have been considered sacrilegious outside the Temple. The sword was found fused to its leather scabbard, badly decayed but with two ring buckles that had attached it to a soldier's belt.
Phaesalis City Unvovered
At a site 20 km. north of Jericho, Hananiah Hizmi, working for the Archaeolgical Department of the Authority for Judaea and Samaria, uncovered the 15 acres of a town planned by Herod the Great and started in the year 8 BCE, according to Josephus. It was the last of Herod's great projects (he died in 4 BCE) and was being built as an agricultural complex in the name of his brother Phasael. In this desert area, water was a problem and Herod's engineers managed to bring it in by a thousand-meter long ground-level aqueduct from the springs now called Petzael. The site had been covered by Palestinian and Bedouin shacks and, as alternative accommodation has been provided, the huts have been cleared and the remains of the city uncovered. They include a water basin of 40m by 30m and 6m deep which was used to store the spring water and distribute it to adjoining fields. So far only two months of work have been spent on site and it is clear that much more time needs to be expended, as it is hoped to uncover all the residential and public buildings of this "new town" in the desert. If the remains come up as expected, this will be anther example of an Herodian miracle, the building of a viable community in desert surroundings. The site continued in occupation for some time, as the excavators found the remains of a Byzantine Church with a mosaic floor. Today the name is preserved as the location goes under the title of El Fasayil and there is a small Jewish village at the springs called Petzael.
Bathhouse Hercules in the Jezre'el Valley
In preparation for the building of a railway connection between Bet Shean and Haifa (partly for the benefit of Jordanian access to that port), a rescue dig at Horvat Tarbanet, west of Afula, has uncovered a bright white marble torso and two fragments that are clearly part of a statue of the Greek hero Hercules. It is headless and portrays a highly muscular body with a lion's pelt draped over the left arm (the animal's head is visible), similar to the well-known Hercules Farnese statue of the Roman period. The find was made by Walid Atrash of the IAA, who claims it to be of exceptional artistic quality. The torso stands about half-a-meter high and it was found near a bathhouse pool that had two rows of benches and a water-pumping system, and where the statue probably stood in a niche. It is dated to the late Roman period and appears that it was later deliberately smashed, hence the fragments.


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(L-R) Triathlete Gwen Jorgensen, members of the women's 4x400-meter relay team and Paralympic track & field athlete Raymond Martin earn United States Olympic Committee Athlete and Team of the Month honors.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Top performances throughout May earned Gwen Jorgensen (St. Paul, Minnesota) and Raymond Martin (Jersey City, New Jersey) Athlete of the Month recognition, while the U.S. women's track & field 4x400-meter relay team received Team of the Month honors, the United States Olympic Committee announced today.
Jorgensen is currently ranked No. 1 in the world following back-to-back titles in the International Triathlon Union World Triathlon Series. She won in Yokohama, Japan, on May 17, connecting with the lead pack on the 1,500-meter swim and 40-kilometer bike before running a 33:43 in the 10K run portion to win by nearly 40 seconds. On May 31, Jorgensen raced to her best finish in London's Hyde Park, earning her fifth ITU World Triathlon Series title.
Martin won five events and set a world record at the International Paralympic Committee Grand Prix Desert Challenge, held May 10 in Mesa, Arizona. Martin bested his own T52 200-meter world record by sixteen-hundredths of a second, finishing in 30.02. His success continued with wins in the T52 100, 400, 800 and 1500 events.
The U.S. women's 4x400-meter relay team of Dee Dee Trotter (Cedar Grove, Georgia), Sanya Richards-Ross (Austin, Texas), Natasha Hastings (Brooklyn, New York) and Joanna Atkins (Stone Mountain, Georgia) clinched first place with a time of 3:21.69 at the inaugural International Association of Athletics Federations World Relays, held May 25 in Nassau, Bahamas. The relay team played a large part in Team USA's golden baton victory, which is awarded to the best overall team.
Paralympic cyclist Shawn Morelli (Leavenworth, Kansas) finished runner-up and cyclist Alison Powers (Pinecliffe, Colorado) claimed third in the female vote. On the men's side, Paralympic cyclist Will Groulx (Portland, Oregon) and fencer Gerek Meinhardt (San Francisco, California) earned second and third place. The U.S. national quad wheelchair tennis team finished second, while the diving pair of Amy Cozad (Indianapolis, Indiana) and Katrina Young (Shoreline, Washington) finished third in the team category.
Each National Governing Body may nominate one female, one male and one team per discipline. A voting panel selects the winners from the pool of nominees with online fan voting via Twitter accounting for 10 percent of the total vote.
1. Gwen Jorgensen, Triathlon
2. Shawn Morelli, Paralympic Cycling
3. Alison Powers, Cycling
1. Raymond Martin, Paralympic Track & Field
2. Will Groulx, Paralympic Cycling
3. Gerek Meinhardt, Fencing
1. U.S. 4x400-meter Women's Relay Team, Track & Field
2. U.S. National Quad Team, Wheelchair Tennis
3. Amy Cozad and Katrina Young, Diving


text:
Abraham Alex Tanuseputra, Alex, Alex Abraham, asia conference, Bernal, Bethany, Bethany Church, c3 church, c3 church international, ccc, ccci, CHC, Chew, Cho, City Harvest Church, city news, Dr. Paul Kim, Eldred, Guneratnam, Indonesia, itinerary, Ken Eldred, Pastor Abraham Alex, Pastor Abraham Alex Tanuseputra, Phil Pringle, Prince Guneratnam, Pringle, Richard Bernal, Rp 4.7 trillion, Sharon Chew, The Memory Of The Cross
Pastor Phil Pringle of C3 Church Oxford Falls, is on the 'Church Growth International' (CGI) board with Pastor Kong Hee of City Harvest Church. Alongside other CHC staff or members, Kong Hee is facing charges of mishandling church funds of up to S$50 million. The CGI was founded by David Yonggi Cho (of Yoido Full Gospel Church). David Yonggi Cho is under investigation for mishandling church funds of up to US$14.72 million. Also on this board is Pastor Alex Abraham of Bethany Church, Indonesia.
City News reported in 2010,
"To introduce Cho, Dr. Paul Kim, executive director of CGI, took to the stage to introduce the Korean pastors and disciples of Cho, calling them his spiritual children. He introduced the board members from CGI who were present, among them Phil Pringle, Prince Guneratnam, Richard Bernal and Ken Eldred. Kim also announced that Alex Abraham from Indonesia had been invited to join them as the newest board member." – By Sharon Chew, Asia Conference, The Memory Of The Cross, City News, http://www.citynews.sg/2010/06/the-memory-of-the-cross/, Posted on 05/05/2010. (Accessed 06/05/2013.) (Emphasis ours.)
As a new member of CGI, it appears Phil Pringle decided to speak at Pastor Abraham Alex Tanuseputra's church.
30th May 2010
Ps Phil speaking for Dr. Alex Abraham's
Bethany Graha Nginden, Surabaya Indonesia
6.30am, 9.30am, 1.30pm, 5.00pmJl.Nginden Intan Timur I/29
Surabaya Jawa Timur Indonesia
Ph: +62 31 5936880
– My Itinerary, http://philpringle.wordpress.com/my-itinerary/, 2010. (Accessed 06/05/2013.)
So why are we looking at Pastor Abraham Alex Tanuseputra of Bethany Church?
Recently IndoBoom reported the following about Pastor Alex Abraham,
Church Pastor Embezzles 4.7 Trillion from Church Offerings
From Kompas and Surabaya Pagi:
Pastor Abraham Alex Reported for Embezzling Rp 4.7 Trillion [~US$ 500 million]
Who could have guessed and predicted that a priest's great name could be held as a guarantee for being free of financial problems? Pastor Abraham Alex Tanuseputra, who has recently been glorified as the founding father of Bethany Church, allegedly embezzled Rp 4.7 trillion from Bethany's congregation. "I have consulted at the Indonesian National Police Headquarters level. From the data that I have already presented to the investigator, Pastor Abraham Alex is not only suspected of embezzling the church's funds, but there is also a strong indication that he's involved in money laundering," expressed George Handiwiyanto, SE, SH, MH, to the Special Police Criminal Investigation Directorate for the East Java area.
George predicts that this criminal report against Pastor Abraham Alex will take the public by storm because that person is a pastor. "The congregation's money is given to God and not for personal expenses or even distributed to family members," expressed the lawyer who is also a Christian. He emphasizes that this criminal report is to remind all those who manage the finances for congregations of any religion to be trustful and to not use it for business or family purposes. Asked whether the evidence related to these embezzlement and money laundering allegations were already prepared, George replied emphatically, "I am a servant of the Lord who demands truth and justice. So I do not mess around. Moreover, in the judicial system, the evidence must be prepared completely and accurately. Insha Allah, I'll officially submit it soon to the investigators," added the man who is known to enjoy entertainment, sports and social activities.
According to George Handiwiyanto, the scandal regarding the mismanagement of Bethany Indonesian Church's funds, which is located in the residential area of Nginden Intan Timur, Surabaya, has been going on for quite some time. "In 2007, there were some rumors about it but my clients wanted to settle it internally as it was related to the church and its congregation. Since there had been no good faith from Pastor Abraham Alex, therefore to seek justice and the truth, in the end my client who is also a pastor reported this to the Ministry of Religious Affairs. However, Pastor Abraham Alex was not present during the arbitration. So now I escalate this to both the criminal and civil courts so people can learn that one can't hide the truth regardless of how smart a person is" added this middle-aged man.
Pastor Alex Abraham Joint Sermon with Benny Hinn in Bethany Church Nginden Surabaya:
Source: By Ted, Church Pastor Embezzles 4.7 Trillion from Church Offerings, Pastor Abraham Alex Reported for Embezzling Rp 4.7 Trillion [~US$ 500 million], http://www.indoboom.com/2013/stories/church-pastor-embezzles-4-7-trillion-from-church-offerings.html, Thursday, February 21, 2013. (Accessed 06/05/2013.)
Edit (07/05/2013):
"Pastor Kong Hee of City Harvest Church preached at Bethany on 27 January 2013. After the service, Pastor Kong Hee invited Pastor Abraham Alex to pray a prayer of blessing over him. In that prayer, Pastor Abraham Alex prophesied 2 things over Pastor Kong:
1) He will be delivered in September 2013
2) He will fully own (100%) Suntec, paid in full."
– REAL Truth Disclosed TLC, https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=348358431936702&id=301569623279202, 24/02/2013. (Accessed 06/05/2013.) [Prophecy was referred to this now removed link at 1:54:00 onwards:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_pflSzX780, "Bethany Nginden 01 27 20…"]
We have noticed similar behaviour between Pastor Abraham Alex Tanuseputra and Phil Pringle. Both Pringle and Abraham prophesied over Kong Hee that he will completely own SunTec City and that he would be 'delivered' from his current circumstances.
Kong Hee To Phil Pringle: "You created this mess! You've Got To Come And Help Us Fix It"
Prophet Pringle Plundering People's Pockets For Kong Hee's Cause
Since Phil Pringle said he preaches at CHC so Kong Hee can travel to other churches to explain his circumstances and gain 'support', this should make Christians question if Kong Hee also gained financial support from Alex Abraham's church.


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South Dakota Department of Health
Office of Disease Prevention Services - 605-773-3737 — (1-800-592-1861 in South Dakota only)
This material is provided for informational purposes only and is not a substitute
for medical care. We are not able to answer personal medical questions. Please see your
health care provider concerning appropriate care, treatment or other medical advice.
What is typhoid fever?
Typhoid fever is a bacterial infection of the intestinal tract and occasionally the bloodstream. Most of the cases are acquired during foreign travel to underdeveloped countries. The germ that causes typhoid is a unique human strain of salmonella called Salmonella typhi.
Who gets typhoid fever?
Anyone can get typhoid fever but the greatest risk exists to travelers visiting countries where the disease is common. Occasionally, local cases can be traced to exposure to a person who is a chronic carrier.
How is the germ spread?
Typhoid germs are passed in the feces and, to some extent, the urine of infected people. The germs are spread by eating or drinking water or foods contaminated by feces from the infected individual.
What are the symptoms?
Symptoms may be mild or severe and may include fever, headache, constipation or diarrhea, rose-colored spots on the trunk and an enlarged spleen and liver. Relapses are common. Fatalities are less than 1 percent with antibiotic treatment.
How soon do symptoms appear?
Symptoms generally appear one to three weeks after exposure.
For how long can an infected person carry the typhoid germ?
The carrier stage varies from a number of days to years. Only about three percent of cases go on to become lifelong carriers of the germ and this tends to occur more often in adults than in children.
How is typhoid treated?
Specific antibiotics such as chloramphenicol, ampicillin and amoxicillin are often used to treat cases of typhoid.
Should infected people be isolated?
Because the germ is passed in the feces of infected people, only people with active diarrhea who are unable to control their bowel habits (infants, certain handicapped individuals) should be isolated. Most infected people may return to work or school when they have recovered, provided that they carefully wash hands after toilet visits. Children in day care and other sensitive settings must obtain the approval of the local or state health department before returning to their routine activities. Food handlers and health care workers may not return to work until three consecutive negative stool cultures are confirmed.
Is there a vaccine for typhoid?
A vaccine is available but is generally reserved for people traveling to underdeveloped countries where significant exposure may occur. Strict attention to food and water precautions while traveling to such countries is the most effective preventive method. Household members residing with a chronic carrier of Salmonella typhi may benefit from vaccination.


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We are taking a less strenuous approach to the whole business, however, and are settling ourselves in for major sessions of armchair athletics. To make ourselves as comfortable as possible I have been busy with my own contribution to the Olympic effort!
If you want to get yourself comfortable too here is what you will need to do.
To make a cover to fit a 16" / 40cm cushion inset you will need
2 pieces of fusible fleece 16" by !6"
Squares of felt in 4 different colours
Freezer paper sheets
1 zip 16"
2 yards covered piping cord. (you can buy this ready-made as I did or make your own with piping cord and bias tape)
piping cord foot for sewing machine (optional)
Seam allowances are 1/4" throughout
Step 1Sew your 4 strips of material together lengthwise to make a 16.5" by 16.5" square. Iron one fusible fleece square to the back of your pieced square and the other fusible fleece square to the back of your 5th colour fabric square.
Step 2Trace or draw the letters for your applique on to the dull side of the freezer paper. For the small letters on the front of the cushion I used an alphabet template from here and drew the larger letters out freehand. Make sure that you reverse the letters so that they will be the right way round when you applique them.
Cut out the letter shapes and apply to the felt using a hot iron.
Arrange the letters to your satisfaction on the striped front and plain back of the cushion.
Once you are happy with the layout remove the freezer paper from the back of the letters and pin them to your cushion ready for applique.
Step 3
With the letters attached it is time to attach the piping. Leaving a length of piping free pin the covered piping cord to the outside of the cushion front matching up the raw edge of the piping with the raw edge of the cushion.
When you have pinned back to the beginning of the piping cord, unpick the seam for an inch or so at the unpinned end and cut the piping leaving a length of bias covering with no cord inside.
If you have a piping foot use this to stitch the piping to the cushion front, if not a zipper foot will do just as well.
Step 4Measure your zip and shorten, if necessary, by hand-stitching over the zip teeth several times at the open end to create a new closure at the appropriate length. Attach the zip to the top raw edge of the cushion back right sides together, then repeat for the cushion front using the piping seam as your guide for the zipper seam.
Step 5OPEN THE ZIP HALFWAY
I have lost count of the number of times I have forgotten to open the zip for the next step and believe me it is not easy to open a zip from the wrong side!
Pin the cushion front and back together right sides facing each other and stitch together from one zipper end, down the side, across the bottom and back up to the other zipper end.
Turn the cushion cover right sides out through the open zip.
Press the cushion cover and insert your cushion pad.
Grab the remote control, pour yourself something refreshing and sit back and enjoy :)
Well that is my plan.
May the best men and women win!
Let me know if you make one of these for the armchair athletes in your life. I can already see another one in the colours of my sons' rugby clubs with appropriate (clean!) phrases. Would love to see what you come up with.
Linking this up to TGIFF


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Pakistani Taliban move closer to Islamabad
The militants have extended their reach into a district just 60 miles from Pakistan's capital.
• A daily summary of global reports on security issues.
The Pakistani Taliban is moving closer to Islamabad, the capital, according to news reports. This week the militants advanced to within 60 miles of the capital, sparking concerns that their reach is growing.
A Pakistani Taliban-aligned group came to power in the Swat district of the North West Frontier Province in February, striking a controversial peace deal with Pakistani authorities. The deal allows, among other things, rule by a conservative interpretation of sharia law.
The terms of the sharia deal encompass Swat's neighboring districts, including Buner, which borders Punjab Province. However, the militants' power is more firmly established in Swat than in Buner. Reuters reports that militants arrived in Buner this week:
In a development that will deepen the West's concerns, scores of Taliban have moved into Buner district, 100 km (60 miles) northwest of Islamabad, from the Swat valley....
"About 20 vehicles carrying Taliban entered Buner on Monday and started moving around the bazaar and streets," said senior police officer Israr Bacha.
The locals in Buner district opposed the arrival of the militants, writes the Pakistani newspaper the Daily Times:
The officials told Daily Times that when tribal elders heard that Taliban had entered Buner, a grand jirga was held in the office of the Buner district coordination officer to devise a strategy to tackle the Taliban.
The jirga decided that prompt action must be taken against the Taliban and called on the people of Buner to take up arms to evict them from the district. They gave the Taliban one day deadline to leave the district, warning that the residents would otherwise be compelled to take action against them.
The police and armed civilians took up positions at Bhangra area to stop the Taliban from moving further into the district.
The insurgents refused to leave, so the locals decided to resist. They organized a type of tribal militia known as a lashkar and clashed with the Taliban, reports the Pakistani daily Dawn:
Three police officials, two Lashkar (militia) men and sixteen militants were killed in overnight clash between Taliban and Qaumi Lashkar in Buner district.... Following the battle, the Taliban took possession of the bodies of two Lashkar men and three police constables and even opened fire on Lashkar men when they tried to rescue the bodies early on Tuesday morning.
Dawn later reported that the Taliban intend to stay in the area and ensure that their version of sharia law is implemented.
The insurgents have steadily moved deeper into Pakistan's Punjab district, where Islamabad and some other major cities are located, over the past few months. In February, the Long War Journal, an online outlet that follows insurgencies in Pakistan and elsewhere, reported:
The Pakistani Taliban has expanded its insurgency beyond the Northwest Frontier Province after its forces assaulted a police checkpoint in a district in Punjab province.
Seven policemen were killed in the complex attack on a police checkpoint in the district of Mianwali in Punjab. The attack took place in the early morning when Taliban fighters detonated a bomb outside of what was described as an "an important checkpoint" in the region. The Taliban assault force then opened fire on the policemen, killing all seven manning the outpost.
In early March, militants attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team in the Punjabi city of Lahore, hundreds of miles from the North West Frontier Province. Later in the month they struck a police compound near Lahore, leaving eight dead and more than one hundred wounded. The Christian Science Monitor reported at the time that the militants are growing more sophisticated as they reach into the Pakistani interior, away from the North West Frontier Province and tribal areas:
The two Lahore attacks suggest the police are outgunned and outwitted by an increasingly sophisticated breed of militants. Monday's attack suggests careful planning, down to the blue uniforms and timing during a parade of unarmed trainees.
The cricket attacks caught police flatfooted, despite official promises there would be top-notch security for the game. Instead, nearby police failed to respond in time to prevent the gunmen from casually getting away, though police on the scene did manage to protect the cricketers.
"It's a new generation of terrorists – better equipped with better planning and better coordination," says Pakistani security expert Ayesha Siddiqa. The attack "makes a case for better equipping the police and training them."
The Long War Journal writes that militant influence has spread throughout the country. A map of militant influence on the website shows that all of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, which borders Afghanistan, and most of the North West Frontier Province, are under "Taliban control."


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Lo Conte's Restaurant is located at 114-116 Salem St in the heart of Boston's historic North End.
Welcome to Lo Conte's Italian Restaurant !
Gracious. Warm. Welcoming.
Lo Conte's Restaurant is located at 114-116 Salem St in the heart of Boston's historic North End.
We invite you to join us for a pleasing and satisfying dining experience.
We feature a whole selection of traditional Italian dishes, carefully prepared, generously portioned and attentively served.
Authentic Italian Cuisine
Try anything with Lo Conte's pesto sauce–it explodes with fresh basil in a light garlicky base. Artichoke orata, a sizable appetizer of fried artichoke hearts dusted with lemon juice, is zesty and crunchy. Stuffed veal bracciolettini succulent combines veal with prosciutto, mushrooms, peppers and mozzarella in a bold white wine sauce and arrives with a huge side of ziti. Cheese tortellini pesto is studded with roasted pine nuts. Appetizers, salads and especially entrees are enormous.


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Virginia Beach is no generic beach town. It's the largest city in Virginia, which means there are plenty of things to do throughout the year for free.
The city caters to tourists at the oceanfront resort area, but the cost-conscious traveller can find a variety of activities to do without opening a wallet at the oceanfront and elsewhere in the city.
Virginia Beach is home to two distinct sets of beaches. The city has beaches at the oceanfront and beaches at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. The oceanfront beaches are wide, but become packed with tourists in summer. The bay beaches are narrow and attract locals who live nearby and prefer calmer waters. Parking can be a challenge at both sets of beaches, but free spaces are available on side streets and in residential areas on the north end of the city away from the oceanfront resort area.
A 34-foot (10-meter) statue of King Neptune, the mythical sea god, stands watch over the oceanfront and is a popular selfie spot.
Town Center is Virginia Beach's version of a downtown. The city is mostly suburban in nature, but in recent years it has created a downtown vibe in the heart of the city with a concentrated set of new offices, apartments, shops, bars and restaurants. During the summer, there are frequent outdoor musical performances at no cost. Parking in one of Town Center's garages is free.
Virginia Beach took a former landfill and turned it into one of its most popular parks. Mount Trashmore is just off Interstate 264 and has two man-made mountains, two lakes, two playgrounds, a skate park and multi-use paths. The main mountain, Mount Trashmore, is 60 feet (18 metres) high and is a popular spot to fly kites. Badminton equipment, boards and bags for corn hole (played by tossing bags in a hole), footballs, Frisbees, horseshoes, rubber playground balls, soccer balls, volleyballs and volleyball nets can all be checked out for free?
Virginia Beach is a proud Navy town that is home to Naval Air Station Oceana, where the Navy's East Coast-based fighter pilots do their training. F-18s regularly fly overhead at the oceanfront, and just off the city's boardwalk is a monument commemorating the history of naval aviation.
You can visit the place where English settlers first landed in Virginia in 1607 at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. Upon landing, settlers erected a wooden cross and gave thanks for their safe voyage. A replica of the cross sits on a park commemorating the landing. Also on the site is the oldest government-built lighthouse in America, although climbing to the top of it requires an admission fee. Today, Cape Henry is behind the gates of a fortified military installation, but visitors can still gain access to Fort Story with identification and a vehicle search.


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Plant tour: Gaining efficiencies in mechanical drives
Look for operating and energy efficiencies and how to add customer value throughout the product lifecycle. These were among bits of advice for manufacturers gleaned from Siemens Mechanical Drives plant tours.
Manufacturers need to seek ways to lower operating costs, energy use, and downtime; increase reliability and quality; and seek improvements throughout a product's lifecycle. Also, look at the advantages of upgrades before parts wear out. Go to customers' sites, and if you run into challenges, improve based on what you've learned.
These were bits of advices gleaned before, during, and after a March 22 Siemens Mechanical Drives plant tour in Elgin, Ill. Siemens Industry hosted a media event, where Aarnout Kant, general manager of the mechanical drives unit, and other experts offered advice. Peter Herzhoff and Jacob Schiff, mechanical drives plant managers for the Tollgate and Madeline plants, respectively, in Elgin, Ill., also offered advice for manufacturers, including the following.
– Listen to customers, visit their sites, and improve products and services throughout the product lifecycles. (Click here to see a video that explains how a screwdriver resulted in several design changes that reduced future downtime.)
– Simplify and integrate systems, cutting out components and even unneeded features where practical, to improve reliability and energy efficiency. In motion systems, fewer points of power transfer increase overall system efficiency. And an integrated system eliminates any possibility of finger-pointing in the rare case of a failure, adding customer confidence. Using 3-D modeling software speeds development.
– Look for features and functions that reduce downtime in the long term; though they may add to initial capital costs, they almost always result in a "yes" from end users interested in maximizing productivity.
– Use long-time employees with more experience to contribute, mentor, and teach younger team members.
– Ask plant-floor personnel for their ideas to improve safety, eliminate waste, and improve efficiency, and reward them for their efforts.
– Invest in local manufacturing expertise in ways that logistic costs and lower lead times for customers, which helps add market share. Use sensors to take critical measurements, and invest in new computers and new software to monitor and processes to keep quality high.
– Especially with expansions, renovations, and new plants, find ways to ensure products keep moving from design through manufacturing and shipping, limiting travel time and distance.
– Expand markets by adapting or scaling systems larger, when practical, to add efficiencies, and then seek new markets for those new designs. (Siemens found that wind gear units are very similar to those needed for the emerging market of tidal power generation. Taconite seals allow gear-reducing packages to be used in large-equipment mining applications.)
– Shift toward service or upgrades in mature markets and consider leaving or selling lower efficiency product lines. (Siemens sold its worm-drive business; helical or bevel helical gear designs offer 25%-30% greater efficiency.)
– Re-examine markets you left, because there might be good reasons to reinvest and return.
– Look for opportunities to add throughput and energy efficiencies with replacements. (A Siemens customer with a large concrete-crushing mill that's worked since 1969, retrofit the gearbox in a higher-power upgrade.)
– For critical parts (in these plants, all are critical), track the origin, number the parts with serial numbers or data matrix codes, and inspect everything, at multiple stages of production. Ensure suppliers provide parts or materials that are tested. (Video shows a finished gear being tested for size with an automated machine that compensates for temperature. A difference of 1 F can translate into a 10-micrometer size difference.)
– Line up agreements from multiple suppliers, especially in tight markets like specialty steel, to lower lead times for customers.
– Use natural lighting where practical and retrofit to high-efficiency lighting, where high-efficiency tubular fluorescent (T5) lighting can be 50% more efficient than old T12 fixtures. [The Madeline plant was among the first manufacturing plants with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, with attributes well beyond lighting, such as wise use of water—there are only two floor drains in the whole place, and those are for snow runoff from trucks that come inside.]
– Set up key metrics for each area of the plant, display them, and discuss anomalies (yellow or red, instead of green) daily—or more often, if needed. (Only one gear was found to be off-spec from grinding damage in 2.5 years, with throughput of more about 1,000 gears monthly, since start-up.) Light trees give visual cues on workcell status. Siemens uses the 5S strategy, among others. (5S is sort, simplify, shine, standardize, and sustain. Safety is often included for good measure.)
– Reconsider processes, even ones deemed efficient, when brought from other plants. (One process at the Madeline plant was reduced from 180 hours to 125, with local employee input.)
– Use models to help people remember strategies. The Siemens manufacturing strategy is represented by a house with a foundation, four pillars, and a roof. The foundation is people and continuous improvement, pillars are target and performance measurement (TPM), product lifecycle management (PLM), supply chain management (SCM), and customer relationship management (CRM), covered by a roof of production strategy.
– Take advantage of local and federal programs where it makes sense. (Local to the Siemens plants, the Elgin Chamber of Commerce promotes more efficient hiring by promoting a national career-readiness certificate.)
– Mark T. Hoske is CFE Media content manager, Control Engineering, Plant Engineering, Consulting-Specifying Engineer
Think Again: Improve Processes, Then Automate Think Again: Improve processes, then automate
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Physcial Sciences Division
Staff Awards & Honors
August 2012
Team Wins 2012 Innovation Award
Congratulations to the team from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Hummingbird Scientific on receiving a Microscopy Today 2012 Innovation Award. The award honors groundbreaking imaging products and methods. The honorees are Jun Liu, Chongmin Wang, Don Baer, Suntharampillai (Theva) Thevuthasan, Wu Xu and Jiguang (Jason) Zhang from PNNL; and Daan Hein Alsem and Norman Salmon from Hummingbird Scientific.
The innovation is a multimodal electrochemical probe for transmission electron microscopy, or TEM. It enables versatile in situ electrochemical experiments inside a TEM column while imaging at high resolution. The innovative feature of this probe is the removable chip machined from "cheap" printed electronic boards that can be modified into miniaturized electrochemical devices. The relatively large size of the chip and the ease of machining different configurations allow a wide range of electrochemical devices to be implanted on the chip.
Much of the development work was to study battery components in real time in their native environment, during charging and discharging cycles. The team has used the probe at EMSL to build a lithium-ion nanobattery on the chip for in situ TEM observation of the electrode during dynamic charging and discharging of the battery. Findings from this study were featured in Nano Letters.
Researchers from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Hummingbird Scientific built a multimodal electrochemical probe for transmission electron microscopy.
"I'm very proud of the imaging advances the team has achieved," said Dr. Lou Terminello, lead of the Chemical Imaging Initiative at PNNL.