2. History
Dr. K.R. Sridhar, Bloom founder and Chief
Executive Officer, in connection with
creating a technology to convert
atmospheric gases to oxygen for life
support.
Dr. Sridhar and his team built a fuel cell
capable of producing air and fuel from
electricity generated by a solar panel.
3. In 2001, when their project ended, the team decided to
continue their research and start a company. Originally
called Ion America, Bloom Energy, was founded with the
mission to make clean, reliable energy affordable for
everyone on earth.
In early 2006 Bloom shipped its first 5kW field trial unit to
the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga. After two
years of successful field trials in Tennessee
, California, and Alaska, to validate the technology, the
first commercial (100kW) products were shipped to
Google in July 2008.
eBay is reportedly using the100 Kilowatt boxes for
powering 15 percent of its headquarters.
5. ENERGY SERVER
It is built with patented solid oxide fuel cell
technology.
Bloom's Energy Server is a new class of distributed
power generator, producing
clean, reliable, affordable electricity at the customer
site.
Fuel cells are devices that convert fuel into
electricity through a clean electro-chemical process
rather than dirty combustion.
They are different from hydrogen fuel cell in three
6. 1 . Low cost materials –
This cells use a common sand-like powder
instead of precious metals like platinum or corrosive
materials like acids.
2.High electrical efficiency –
we can convert fuel into electricity at nearly
twice the rate of some legacy technologies
3. Fuel flexibility –
This system are capable of using either
renewable or fossil fuels
7. Each Bloom Energy Server provides 200kW of
power, enough to meet the needs of 160
average homes or an office building... day and
night.
8. How a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell
Works?
A fuel cell is like a battery that always runs. It
consists of three parts : an electrolyte, an
anode, and a cathode.
For a solid oxide fuel cell, the electrolyte is a solid
ceramic material. The anode and cathode are
made from special inks that coat the electrolyte.
Unlike other types of fuel cells, no precious
metals, corrosive acids, or molten materials are
required.
Next, an electrochemical reaction converts fuel and
9. A solid oxide fuel cell is a high temperature fuel cell.
At high temperature ,warmed air enters the cathode
side of the fuel cell and steam mixes with fuel to
produce reformed fuel… which enters on the anode
side.
Next, the chemical reaction begins in the fuel cell.
As the reformed fuel crosses the anode, it attracts
oxygen ions from the cathode. The oxygen ions
combine with the reformed fuel to produce
electricity, water, and small amounts of carbon
dioxide.
The water gets recycled to produce the steam
needed to reform the fuel. The process also
10. As long as there's fuel, air, and heat, the process
continues producing clean, reliable, affordable
energy.
11. Energy Server Architecture
Each Energy Server consists of thousands of
Bloom's fuel cells. Each cell is a flat solid ceramic
square made from a common sand-like "powder.“
Each Bloom Energy fuel cell is capable of
producing about 25W... enough to power a light
bulb.
For more power, the cells are sandwiched, along
with metal interconnect plates into a fuel cell
"stack“.
12. In an Energy Server, multiple stacks are
aggregated together into a "power module’’
,and then multiple power modules, along with a
common fuel input and electrical output are
assembled as a complete system.
13.
14. Benefits
1. Clean Energy: Bloom Energy delivers Better
Electrons.
All electrons are not created equal. Only Bloom Energy
delivers clean energy i.e electrons that are clean and
reliable and affordable…
2 Reduce Energy Costs: Lower & Lock-In
Energy Costs
15. 3 save money & environment
◦ Bloom allows you to save money first. The efficiency built into
Bloom's fuel cell systems allows a typical customer to achieve a
3-5 year financial payback making it an easy and economically
sound choice.
◦ Customers can also reduce their CO2 emissions by 40%-100%
compared to the U.S. grid
◦ References
www.bloomenergy.com
www.google.com
Digit Magazine
