Sir Richard confirmed the purchase in an interview.
E
Elon Musk has bought a ticket on one of rival billionaire Sir Richard Branson’s spaceship flights, according to a newspaper report.
As Sir Richard prepares to fly on Virgin Galactic’s first fully crewed flight to the edge of space on Sunday from New Mexico, The Sunday Times says Mr Musk – who owns rival exploration company SpaceX – has paid for a seat on a future Virgin voyage.
Mr Musk paid a 10,000-dollar (£7,000) deposit to reserve a seat. No date for his flight has been specified.
Sir Richard confirmed the purchase in an interview with The Sunday Times, saying he might reciprocate by booking a ticket on a SpaceX flight in the future.
“Elon’s a friend and maybe I’ll travel on one of his ships one day,” he said.
Amid what has been dubbed the billionaires’ space race, SpaceX has launched dozens of rockets, including manned flights, but Mr Musk himself has not yet flown on any. The company is due to launch its first fully private spaceflight in the autumn.
Sir Richard will become the first owner-astronaut to take part in a mission, beating Amazon founder Jeff Bezos who plans to reach space in his own rocket – through his Blue Origin company – in nine days’ time.
Tourists are expected to pay some 250,000 dollars (£180,000) for a spaceflight on Virgin Galactic, which includes four minutes of zero gravity.
Banking in India in the mdern sense originated in the last decades of the 18th century . The first banks were Bank of Hindustan (1770-1829) and the General Bank of India established 1786. The largest bank and the oldest still in existence, is tge State bank of India, which originated in the Bank of Calcutta in June 1806 , which almost immediately became the bank of Bengal. This was one of the three presidency banks , the other two being The Bank of Bombay and The bank of Madras , all three of which were established under charters from the British East India Company. The three banks merged in 1921 to form the Imperial Bank of India , which , upon India’s independence became the State Bank of India in 1955. For many years the presidency banks acted as quasi-central banks , as did their successors until the reserve Bank of India was established in 1935 .
Reserve bank of India (RBI)
The Reserve Bank of India is India’s central banking institution, which controls the monetary policy of the Indian rupee. It commenced its operations on 1 April 1935 during the British Rule in accordance with the provisions of the Reserve Bank of India Act,1934 and in 1949 it was nationalized.The central office of the Reserve Bank was initially established in Calcutta but was permanently moved to Mumbai in 1937. The central office is where the Governor sits and where policies are formulated. Sir CD Deshmukh is the first Governor of RBI. The RBI has four zonal offices at Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and 20 regional offices mostly located in the state capitals and 11 sub-offices. Reserve Bank of India Act,1934 is the legislative act under which the Reserve Bank of India was formed. This act along with the Comapnies Act, which was amended in 1936, were meant to provide a framework for the supervision of banking firms in india.
Scheduled and non-scheduled banks
Scheduled banks in India refer to those banks which have been included in the second schedule of Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934. Banks not under this schedule are called non-scheduled banks. In other words, Banks with a reserve capital of less than 5 lakh rupees qualify as non-scheduled banks. Unlike scheduled Banks , they are not entitled to borrow from the RBI for normal banking purposes, except, in emergency or ‘abnormal circumstances’. Coastal local Area Bank Ltd. (Vijayawasa,AP), Capital Local Area Bank Ltd. (Phagwara, Punjab), Krishna Bhima Samrudhi Local Area Bank Ltd. (Mehbubnagar, Telangana), Subhadra Local Area Bank Ltd. (Kolhapur, Maharashtra) are the only non-scheduled banks in India.
Scheduled banks are further internally classified into commercial banks and cooperative banks.
Public Sector Banks
Public sector banks (PSBs) are banks where a majority state (ie., more than 50%) is held by a government . The shares of these banks are listed on stock exchange. There are a total of 21 PSBs in India and State Bank of India group.
In 1969, the Indira-Gandhi headed government nationalised 14 major commercial banks ( Allahabad Bank , Bank of Baroda , Bank of India , Bank of Maharashtra , Canara Bank , Central Bank of India , Dena Bank , Indian Bank , Indian Overseas Bank , Punjab and Sindh Bank , Punjab National Bank, Sindicate Bank , UCO Bank , United Bank of India)
In 1980 , a further 6 banks were nationalised (Andhra Bank , Cooperation Bank , New Bank of India , Oriental Bank of Commerce, Punjab and Sindh Bank , Vijay Bank )
IDBI Bank is an Indian government-owned financial service company, formarly known as industrial Development Bank of India , headquartered in Mumbai , India .It was established in 1964 and nationalised in year 2005 .
Private Sector Banks
The ‘Private- Sector’ banks are baks where greater parts of share or equity are not held by the government but by private shareholders . There are many Indian and Foreign Banks in India . HDFC Bank , ICICI Bank , Axis Bank , Kotak Mahindra Bank , Yes Bank , IDFC Bank , RBL Bank , Federal Bank , City Union Bank are the major private banks in India.
Regional Rural Banks
Regional Rural Banks were formed on October 2,1975 upon the recommendations of M. Narsimham working group during the tenure of Indira Gandhi’s government. The object behind the formation of RRBs was to serve large unserve population of rural areas and promoting financial inclusions . They have been created with a view to serve primarily the rural areas of India with basic banking and financial services. However, RRBs may have branches set up for urban operations and their area of operation may include urban areas too.
CooperativeBanks
The cooperative banks are furtger classified into:
State cooperative banks: These are small financial institutions which are governed by regulations like Banking Regulations Act , 1949 and Banking Laws Cooperative Socities Act ,1965 . At present there are about 33 state cooperative banks of which 19 are scheduled.
Urban/ Central cooperative banks: The term urban cooperative banks (UCB) refers to primary cooperative banks located in urban and semi-urban areas . These banks till 1996 , were allowed to lend money only for non-agricultural purposes. This distinction does not hold today . They essentially lent to small borrowers abd business . There are about 2,104 UCBs of which 56 were scheduled Banks. About 79 percent of these are located in 5states- Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu .
Primary credit Socities: Primary Credit Societies or primary agricultural credit society (PACs) is a basic unit and smallest cooperative credit institutions in India. It works on the grassroot level (Gram panchayat and village level ) . It virtually function like banks , but whose net worth is less than Rs. 1 lakh; who are not members of the payment system and to whom deposit insurance is not extended .
Replacing traditional sources of energy completely with renewable energy is going to be a challenging task. However, by adding renewable energy to the grid and gradually increasing its contribution, we can realistically expect a future that is powered completely by green energy.
– Tulsi Tanti
A way to live a new life . Without any destruction , without worrying about the future . Live a life where we can grow together , develop a life with renewable resources.
Introduction
A renewable resource, also known as a flow resource, is a natural resource which will replenish to replace the portion depleted by usage and consumption, either through natural reproduction or other recurring processes in a finite amount of time in a human time scale.
When such recovery rate of resources is unlikely to ever exceed a human time scale, these are called perpetual resources. Renewable resources are a part of Earth’s natural environment and the largest components of its ecosphere. A positive life-cycle assessment is a key indicator of a resource’s sustainability.
Renewable resources are an energy source that cannot be depleted and are able to supply a continuous source of clean energy.
Renewable resources also produce clean energy, meaning less pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to climate change.
Examples of renewable resources.
Biomass .
Biogas.
Tidal Energy.
Wind Energy.
Geothermal Energy.
Radiant Energy.
Hydro Electricity.
Compressed Natural Gas.
Types of renewable resources.
1) Solar energy. Sunlight is one of our planet’s most abundant and freely available energy resources. 2) Wind energy. Wind is a plentiful source of clean energy. 3) Hydro energy. 4) Tidal energy. 5) Geothermal energy. 6) Biomass Energy.
Impact of renewable resources.
Environmental impact
Renewable energy projects have also contributed in improving environmental impacts such as reduction of carbon dioxide gas, awakening community about the climate change. The study observed very small impacts on the people living in a particular area, tourism, cost of energy supply, and educational impacts. Significant impacts were observed in improvement of life standard, social bonds creation, and community development. They also observed that the renewable energy projects are complex to install and are local environmental and condition sensitive. Their forecasting, execution, and planning require more consideration and knowledge as compared to other projects.
Social impact
These resources also provide social benefits like improvement of health, according to choice of consumer, advancement in technologies, and opportunities for the work, but some basic considerations should be taken for the benefit of humans, for example, climate conditions, level of education and standard of living, and region whether urban or rural from agricultural point of view. Social aspects are the basic considerations for the development of any country. The following social benefits can be achieved by renewable energy systems: local employment, better health, job opportunities, and consumer choice.
Advantages of renewable resources.
Renewable energy won’t run out.
Maintenance requirements are lower.
Renewables save money.
Renewable energy has numerous health and environmental benefits.
Renewables lower reliance on foreign energy sources.
Higher upfront cost.
Intermittency.
Storage capabilities.
Conclusion
Renewable energy is becoming an important resource in all over the world . I do agree that people might exploit the resources for there own benefit . But the government is working on that aspect and trying to provide resources that can help our future households .
There are a lot of different ways of building a prosperous society, and some of them use much less energy than others. And it is possible and more practical to talk about rebuilding systems to use much less energy than it is to think about trying to meet greater demands of energy through clean energy alone.
Color is a communicator. It has a language all its own that we utilize, and culturally participate with, on a daily basis. Color can inspire moods from outside in interior designers and decorators know this. To initiate color choices, color professionals.Mere color,unspoiled by meaning,and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways.
It is used effectively color theory is one of the most powerful tools a designer can wield. Colors are a form of non verbal communication that can speak volumes in a fraction of second. They can instantly set a mood,convey an emotion,invoke a physiological reaction or inspire people to take action.when we harness the right color emotion to help tell a client’s story it can have a powerful effect. Below is a list of PMS colors and their associated moods.
Red :
Evokes strong emotions like passion or intensity, encourages appetite,symbolizes love and danger, Eyes look to red first, it draws attemtion,creates movement and exctiment, Too much red however,feels hostile. Use to stimulate quick decision making, shows to increase respiration rate ,raise blood pressure and enhance metabolism.
Yellow :
A spontaneous yet unstable color, associated with joy, intellect , energy, happiness, and food. Use to attract attention. When overused it can have a disturbing effects, studies have shown that babies cry more in yellow rooms. Cherrful, warm and symbolizes energy and increases metabolism. Yellow also causes the brain to seretonin, giving one a feeling of optismism . That is all well are good but if used wrongly on a brands graphics and especially on a website, and can strain eyes and cause eye fatigue.
Blue :
Number one color preferred by males. Symbolizes trust, loyality, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth. Use to promote cleaniness, stability and hi tech products. Shown to supress ones appetite and stimulate productivity.
Orange :
Highly accepted among the younger generation. Associated with tascination, creativity, determination, attraction, encouragement and stimualtion. Effective in promoting food products by stimulating, appetite. Increases oxygen to the brain amd stimulates mental activity.
Green :
The color of nature that involves a healing power. Symbolizes grown relaxation, harmony, freshness and fertility. Use to promote saftey and tranqullity. Stimulates harmony in the brain promoting balance between body and mind.
White :
A depiction of faith and purity. Associated with safety and cleanliness. Use to suggest simplicity and sterlitity in products. Acts as a clean state and helps to promote creativity.
Purple :
The color of royality. Associated with luxury, ambition, wisdom, dignity, independence, creativity and magic. Use when marketing toys to children. Surveys taken have shown that 3/4 of childen prefer that color purple.
Black :
A mysterious yet authoritative color, associated with elegance, formality, fear, death and evil. Use behind bright colors to make them pop. Know to create a slimming effect when worn.
Gray :
Gray is the perfect neutral to work with in a graphics environments and has less reflection than white. Evokes a sense of professionalism and calm. Seen a sleek and high-end and gives one a sense of stability. Too much evokes a feeling of aging, depression and loss.
Pink :
A calming and warm color that evokes love and romance. Pink is a clean and feminine color. Recently however, there has been a backlash against is overuse in product packaging, giving rise to the term ” pink- washed”.
Color Harmony :
Color is similar to musical notes in many ways, and there are certain combinations of colors that are pleasing when put together, approximately called color chords or color Harmonies.
Complementary :
Colors that are opposite of each other on the color wheel are called complementary colors. The high contrast between complementary colors when seen together causes them to stand out more and has a very vibrant look, but can be tricky to use in large doses without being too intense.
Split- Complementary:
Split – complementary is a variation on complementary. It uses one color and the two adjacement colors to its complement to bring the same strong contrast as complementary color combinations,but with less tension.
Analogous :
Using colors next to each other on the color wheel tend to give designs a feeling of unity and serenity. Because these colors are similar in hue, having constrating values is important when using analogous combinations to keep colors distinct from each other.
Triadic :
Triadic combinations are made with three colors located equal distance from each other on the color wheel, such as red, yellow, and blue making a triangular pattern. This harmony has a tendency to be vibrant despite satuartion, and is often more impacting when one color is used more than the others.
Asymmetric information, also known as “information failure,” occurs when one party to an economic transaction possesses greater material knowledge than the other party. This typically manifests when the seller of a good possesses greater knowledge than the buyer; however, the reverse dynamic is also possible. Almost all economic transactions involve information asymmetries. Asymmetric information can also be viewed as the specialization and division of knowledge, as applied to any economic trade. Asymmetric information examples are everywhere. In the financial world, consider a situation where a lending firms enters into an agreement with a borrower. The lender establishes the terms and agreements that the borrower must stipulate to, and, usually, background checks are done.
Moral hazard is a situation in which one party gets involved in a risky event knowing that it is protected against the risk and the other party will incur the cost. It arises when both the parties have incomplete information about each other.
In a financial market, there is a risk that the borrower might engage in activities that are undesirable from the lender’s point of view because they make him less likely to pay back a loan. It occurs when the borrower knows that someone else will pay for the mistake he makes. This in turn gives him the incentive to act in a riskier way. This economic concept is known as moral hazard.
Adverse Selection describes a situation in which one party in a deal has more accurate and different information than the other party. The party with less information is at a disadvantage to the party with more information. This asymmetry causes a lack of efficiency in the price and the number of goods and services provided. Most information in a market economy is transferred through prices, which means that adverse selection tends to result from ineffective price signals.
MEPAP(MULTIPURPOSE ELECTRICITY PRODUCER INTEGRATED WITH AIR PURIFIER)
WHAT MADE ME TO DO THIS PROJECT
I was from a lower middle class family. We suffered many months without electricity and our area is prone to traffic so our area is filled with smoke and dust. Many were suffering from several respiratory disorders due to this dust and smoke. These made me to think of inventing a low cost electricity generator
The growing demand for electrical energy and increasing air pollution around the globe is the main factor that driven my research.
More than 80 percent of our energy today comes from burning fossil fuels, which is both harmful to our environment and unsustainable as well. My invention will help to solve the energy crisis by improving the efficiency of electromagnetic energy-harvesting systems, vibration energy-harvesting systems , wind energy-harvesting systems, thermal energy harvesting system and air cleanser all in a single project.
Due to increase in the carbon dioxide level and other harmful gases specially which are contributing in increase in pollution and global warming, our automobile industries are one of the easy and clear target therefore many researches has been undertaken in this field . Globally, it is estimated that about 1/3 of the total energy is utilized while remaining is rejected as waste heat. The maximum efficiency of an engine is around 25% which means that 75 % of the energy left is wasted in the form of heat from parasitic losses and friction which causes 30% waste in the engine coolant and 40% in the form of gases in exhaust.
The given figure shows the energy distribution in an Internal Combustion Engine.
MEPAP’S AIR PURIFIER
FEATURES AND WORKING
MEPAP AIR CLEANSER IS AN AIR PURIFIER WHICH PURIFIES AIR FROM THE SOURCE (VEHICLES AND FACTORIES EXHAUST) WHERE IT IS PRODUCED.
IT IS MADE TO REDUCE THE AIR POLLUTION
The compact purifier is an apt solution for the increasing pollution. The Active Oxidization Cell with its self-cleaning abilities keeps the purification process on, while the 360º air flow guards us from harmful impurities by distributing healthy air.
Active shield
The purification process eliminates sub-micron respirable particles and infection carrying microbes in the air.
Active Carbon Filter
The most advanced technology filters out bad odor, toxic gases and other harmful gases including VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) from the air you breathe in. The carbon filters have excellent absorbent qualities to soothe respiratory discomforts by eliminating irritants in the air.
ICC (Improved Catalytic Converter): Catalytic converters, having expensive metals namely platinum-palladium and rhodium as the catalysts, are fitted into automobiles for reducing emission of poisonous gases. As the exhaust passes through the catalytic converter, unburnt hydrocarbons are converted into carbon dioxide and water, and carbon monoxide and nitric oxide are changed to carbon dioxide and nitrogen gas, respectively. To overcome from cost and reducing the rare metal usage the project made the drive to develop an alternate source of oxidation catalyst for oxidation reaction and thus reduces the NOx and HC emissions. The substrate selected in this project is wash coat technology employed by using the silicon dioxide and alumina with silica. The catalytic converter is constructed with inner/outer shell construction supported with cones and flanges. The initial emission readings are conducted in the experimental engine. This catalytic converter reduces the harmful pollutant more efficiently and at a lower cost than the conventional catalytic converter.
Honeycomb Active Carbon Filter
The carbon filters have excellent absorbent qualities to eliminate repulsive smell, toxic gases and other odor, leaving behind fresh and pure air to breathe.
HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air Filter) Type Filter
The HEPA type filter removes airborne pollutants and eliminates ultra-fine particles like bacteria, pollen, and mould, which cannot be done by other air purifiers.
Anion Generator
The technology ensures that the air you breathe has no positive ions, leaving you rest assured of living in a no impurities zone. Negative ions produced by purifier bind themselves with airborne pollutants and removes them from the air thereby creating a fresh and cleaner environment
Air pollution sensors
Air pollution sensors are devices that detect and monitor the presence of air pollution in the surrounding area. They can be used for both indoor and outdoor environments. These sensors can be built at home, or bought from certain manufactures. Although there are various types of air pollution sensors, and some are specialized in certain aspects, the majority focuses on five components: ozone, particulate matter, carbonmonoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrous oxide.
FUTURE PLAN FOR AIR PURIFIER PART
Carbon Separator and Collector: Carbon dioxide is considered a major reason for global warming. The element jeopardizes people’s health, threatens national security, and endangers basic human needs. Yet, it also holds great promise as a fuel of the future.
The carbon dioxide splitter, which consists of copper and tin.
The splitter has an atomic layer of tin in order to trap the energy that would be lost if copper is utilized as an electrode. It also has a thin membrane between the cathode and anode to improve the reaction.
The splitter can open windows to solving the problem of storing energy from renewable sources by turning it straight into liquid fuel.
The process of splitting is efficient and carbon-neutral. It is already a well-known method of producing fuel without increasing the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. CO2 is split into oxygen and carbon monoxide.
Carbon monoxide can be incorporated with hydrogen to create synthetic carbon-based fuel. CO2 is taken out of the atmosphere without being put back in, which produces clean fuel.
MEPAP ELECTRICITY GENERATOR GENERATES ELECTRICITY WITH THE HELP OF VIBRATRION(Piezoelectric Materials) AND ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION(with the help of MetaMaterials) ELECTROMAGNETIC induction [inductive coupling(power density is proportional to d, q, 1/d^3)] and wind energy( from purifier where mini turbine is connected with dynamo) AND ALSO THERMOELECTRIC ENERGY (power density=25µW/cm^2).
ELECTRICITY from VIBRATRION
MEPAP ELECTRICITY GENERATOR could produce enough electricity from random, ambient vibrations to power a wristwatch, pacemaker, wireless sensor , phones etc..,
MEP are highly efficient at providing renewable electrical power from arbitrary, non-periodic vibrations. This type of vibration is a byproduct of traffic driving on bridges, machinery operating in factories and humans moving their limbs.
In two of the sub generators present in PFIG (Parametric Frequency Increased Generators), the energy conversion is performed through electromagnetic induction, in which a coil is subjected to a varying magnetic field. This is a process similar to how large-scale generators in big power plants operate. It also uses piezoelectric material, which is a type of material that produces charge when it is stressed. This version has applications in infrastructure health monitoring. The generators could one day power bridge sensors that would warn inspectors of cracks or corrosion before human eyes could discern problems.
Power Density= 4 µW/cm^2
MECHANISM AND APPLICATIONS:
It contains a resonator which is used to amplify the vibration source, and a transducer device which changes the energy from the vibrations into electrical energy. The transducer consists of a magnet and coil of a piezoelectric crystal.
A number of crystals can emit an electric current when compressed or they can change shape when an electric charge is employed. This piezoelectric effect is used in ultrasound and sonar devices, as well as energy harvesting.
Piezoelectric generators utilize thin casings or beams made of piezoelectric crystals as a transducer mechanism. When a crystal is placed under strain by the kinetic energy of the vibration, a small quantity of current is produced because of the piezoelectric effect. These mechanisms are generally straightforward with few moving parts, and they have a very long service life, making them the most prevalent technique of harvesting the energy from vibrations. It is fabricated by MEMS process.
This device uses a freely rotating, unconventional brass rotor with an implanted magnet, and multiple PZT beams with a magnet on each beam.
As the magnet on the rotor draws near one of the beams, the magnets repel each other and deflects the beam, pulling the beam in a process that is described as frequency up-conversion. The gradual rate of a rotating wrist is changed into a higher frequency oscillation. This device is more efficient than a standard electromagnetic harvester, as such as those used in self-powered watches.
Another application, which is in the early stages of development, desires to use the vibrations generated during aircraft flight to power the electronics on the plane that currently depend on on batteries. Such a system would produce a reliable energy source, and reduce maintenance, since batteries would not need to be replaced and piezoelectric systems have a long service life. This system uses a resonator, which permits the airflow to produce a high amplitude steady tone. This is the same principle that is used in many wind instruments by converting the airflow furnished by the musician into a loud steady tone. This tone is used as the vibration that is transformed from kinetic to electric energy by the piezoelectric generator
ELECTRICITY from ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION:
Electromagnetic energy harvesting based on the “full absorption concept.” This involves the use of metamaterials that can be tailored to produce media that neither reflects nor transmits any power—enabling full absorption of incident waves at a specific range of frequencies and polarizations since the inception of collecting and harvesting electromagnetic energy, classical dipole patch antennas have been used. “Now, my technology introduces ‘metasurfaces’ that are much better energy collectors than classical antennas. microstrip patch antennas areused because of their low profile, light weight, and planar structure for RF harvesting.
Metasurfaces are formed by etching the surface of a material with an elegant pattern of periodic shapes. The particular dimensions of these patterns and their proximity to each other can be tuned to provide “near-unity” energy absorption. This energy is then channeled to a load through a conducting path that connects the metasurface to a Electromagnetic energy collector.
We can also channel the absorbed energy into a load, rather than having the energy dissipate in the material as was done in previous works. Other key applications include “wireless power transfer—directly adaptable to power remote devices such as RFID devices and tags or even remote devices in general.
The technology can also be extended to the infrared and visible spectra
Power Density= 25µW/cm^2.
ELECTRICITY from ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION(RF):
Wi-Fi signals are made of radio waves. Receiving antennas can wirelessly harvest electromagnetic radiation in the Wi-Fi (2.4 GHz and 5.9 GHz), global satellite positioning (1.58 GHz and 1.22 GHz), the cellular communications fourth-generation (4G) (1.7 GHz and 1.9 GHz), and Bluetooth (2.4 GHz) bands and convert the energy from these electromagnetic waves to alternating current (AC). The AC electricity is then sent to the rectifier, which converts it to direct current (DC) electricity.
Using a rectifier made from a molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) layer that is only 3 atoms thick. At this thickness, the MoS2 behaves differently than the bulk material — the atoms rearrange themselves when exposed to certain chemicals. This means the material can behave like a switch, changing from a semiconductor to metallic structure. The MoS2 creates what’s called a Schottky diode, a junction of semiconductor and metal. The diode described in their paper can convert signals at higher frequencies because the structure reduces the extra energy stored by certain materials used in electronics, known as parasitic capacitance. The researchers’ design reduces parasitic capacitance by an order of magnitude compared to current flexible rectifiers, meaning they can capture the previously elusive high-frequency Wi-Fi band radio waves.
ENERGY FROM TERAHERTZ(will implement in future.):
Terahertz waves are electromagnetic radiation with a frequency somewhere between microwaves and infrared light. Also known as “T-rays,” they are produced by almost anything that registers a temperature, including our own bodies and the inanimate objects around us.
Terahertz waves are pervasive in our daily lives, and if harnessed, their concentrated power could potentially serve as an alternate energy source. However, to date there has been no practical way to capture and convert them into any usable form.
MEPAP device would be able to convert terahertz waves into a direct current in future, a form of electricity that powers many household electronics.
This design (referred from MIT ) takes advantage of the quantum mechanical, or atomic behavior of the carbon material graphene. They found that by combining graphene with another material, in this case, boron nitride, the electrons in graphene should skew their motion toward a common direction. Any incoming terahertz waves should “shuttle” graphene’s electrons, like so many tiny air traffic controllers, to flow through the material in a single direction, as a direct current.
Rectifiers, devices that are designed to convert electromagnetic waves from their oscillating (alternating) current to direct current.
Most rectifiers are designed to convert low-frequency waves such as radio waves, using an electrical circuit with diodes to generate an electric field that can steer radio waves through the device as a DC current.
Solar Energy:
Photovoltaic (PV) solar panels use the sun’s power to create a flow of electricity. This is the most widely adopted method of harvesting solar energy today. These panels, which range in size from a few square centimeters to a few square meters, are constructed from many PV cells arranged in an intricate matrix. Intuitively, the larger the surface area available for sunlight to penetrate the PV cells, the more solar energy that gets harvested.
Each PV solar cell is generally made up of a compound semiconductor wafer structure, which can either be a monocrystalline or polycrystalline structure. The structure’s two thin semiconductor wafers, one P-type and one N-type, are each grown separately. The two wafers are placed on top of each other, and the natural reaction that occurs between the two semiconductor types creates a depletion zone that reaches an equilibrium point, without generating any electricity. Due to the PV cell, when light photons pass through and connect with the semiconductor wafers, their interaction releases enough energy to create an equilibrium disruption in the depletion region. That action subsequently creates a brief flow of electricity. However, because of the constant presence of light, this interaction occurs continuously and can produce massive amounts of electrical energy.
The power produced by a single photon interaction replicates across the entire surface of the PV cell. It’s compounded into a whole panel of solar cells. This minor interaction in the depletion zone can be repeated and multiplied, resulting in a significant amount of electricity. PV solar arrays, however, produce DC power. To be integrated with modern power transmission technology, such as the outlets in your home, this DC energy must be converted to AC power using an inverter. There are a variety of proprietary iterations of this fundamental technology that seek to optimize the efficiency of each PV cell on a molecular level, the assembly of the panel, and the panel’s ability to be integrated into a larger solar array.
Thin-film solar cell, type of device that is designed to convert light energy into electrical energy (through the photovoltaic effect) and is composed of micron-thick photon-absorbing material layers deposited over a flexible substrate.
Cadmium telluride thin-films have a peak recorded efficiency of more than 22.1 percent (the percentage of photons hitting the surface of the cell that are transformed into an electric current). By 2014 cadmium telluride thin-film technologies had the smallest carbon footprint and quickest payback time of any thin-film solar cell technology on the market. This is the reason why I used Cadmium telluride thin-film in MEPAP.
Power Density= 1000µW/cm^2
Energy Harvesting from a Vehicle’s Exhaust System Using Thermoelectric Generator Module(TEG):
The efficiency in an internal combustion engine ranges from 25% to 35%. About 50% – 85% of the overall energy loss in a combustion engine is heat, which is either cooled away by the vehicle’s radiator or blown out with the exhaust gases. The other losses take place in bearings and gear boxes. This energy is never put into use again and therefore is called “waste heat”. Even if a small fraction of the waste heat could be turned into useful energy again, it would be a step to the right direction of improving fuel economy.
TEG in MEPAP is a solid stated device which works on the principle of ‘Seebeck effect’.
They are found in solar energy systems like solar panels, solar hot water system, biomass power applications, energy power plants and solar pond systems .Installing a TEG with MEPAP is easy and very beneficial as it has some advantages like small in size, it has no vibrations, makes less or no noise while operating, it generally requires less or no maintenance. And major advantage is that it is using free thermal energy and converting into useful electrical energy. A thermoelectric module consists of many thermo elements connected in electrical channel in series to increase the operating voltage and to increase the thermal conductivity they are connected in parallel. According to a research the conversion of this waste heat into electricity results to an increase of fuel efficiency about 20% . A TEG in MEPAP works on the principle of a Seebeck effect. Two metallic strips, made of different metals and joined at the ends to form a loop. If the junctions are kept at different temperatures then there is an electric current in the loop and the emf developed is called the SEEBECK emf or thermo emf and the current can be used to power a load.
The TEG in MEPAP structure is sandwiched with the thermoelectric material which is then sandwiched by the heat exchanger plates at their ends respectively. The two heat exchangers remains at different temperatures, one at high temperature and the other at lower temperature and called the hot side and cold side. A thermally insulated layer is present between metal heat exchanger and material of a TEG in MEPAP. The p type and n type materials are connected by the metal electrically. A TEG in MEPAP consists of a two sides, one is cold and other is hot side. The hotter side derives the electrons in n type leg towards the cold side which pass through the metallic connection and then passes into the p type leg, hence develops current. Larger the temperature difference between cold side and hot side, larger value of emf will produce.
TEG Power Generation Calculation:
The equation involved in calculation of the performance of a TEG
Z = α2/ kR
Z is a figure of merit of thermoelectric material, R is the electric resistivity
k is a thermal conductivity and
α is a Seebeck coefficient which is
α = ∆V / ∆T,
THERMOELECTRIC METALS:
Thermoelectric materials are used in automobiles, power plants, space satellite, etc. Thermoelectric materials can be characterized according to the structure and composition. They can be classified as – chalcogenide, clathrates, skutterudites, half-heusler, oxides and silicides. The most common thermoelectric materials are the alloys of chalcogenide. The calcogenide materials are popular for their use with (Bi2Te3) and (PbTe).Thermoelectric materials made with Bi2Te3, Se and Sb for temperature use are economical. PbTe has better thermo electric properties at temperature range 500-600 ⁰C and has been used by NASA as a radioactive thermo electric generator (RTG’s) . The stability of a TE material is very important as it should not oxidize within the operating temperature when exposed in air .But nowadays; automobile industries are focusing on bismuth telluride for constructing a TEG.
High charge mobility and small band gaps are the properties of two heavy elements Bi and Te and Bulk alloys of PbTe have a zT value of 0.7 at 467 ⁰C. When SrTe and PbTe are doped with Na, zT value was 2.2 at 642 ⁰C .Skutterudites (MX3) have a lower thermal conductivity due to its complex crystal structure has large voids. CoSb3 based skutterudites are versatile in accepting various actinides, lanthanides, alkalis and alkaline earth metals to be used in void filling and thermal conductivity of skutterudites lowers as the size decreases .Compounds of half heuslers are intermetallic compounds which are thermally stable, having high thermal conductivity and corresponding seebeck coefficient. The lattice thermal conductivity of these compounds reduces having nano structures due to phonon scattering. SiGe alloys are used for high temperature applications because of having very low degradation up to 1000 ⁰C. When compared to their bulk alloys, nanostructured SiGe alloys have higher zT value. Bulk Si0.8 Ge0.2 has zT value of 1 and 0.6 for n type and p type respectively. There is an improvement in zT value when nanocomposite thermoelectric materials are used.
HARVESTING WIND ENERGY(HEW Module):
The present invention relates to a combination air purifier and wind generator. The combination air purifier and wind generator includes a wind-receiving unit installed on a central shaft for driving an electric generator mounted in housing, and an air purifier. The wind-receiving unit includes a governor fixed to an upper end of the central shaft, a spherical blower installed in the middle of the central shaft, and planar magnetic rotary plates installed at a lower end of the central shaft for receiving both artificial and natural winds. Lower magnets are attached to the top of the housing while upper magnets having the same polarity as the lower magnets are attached to the bottoms of the magnetic rotary plates to face the lower magnets. The air purifier includes two air inlets; one air outlet; a copper net, a silver net and a hard charcoal/zeolite net disposed within the air purifier for purifying air introduced there into; and a blower interposed between the silver net and the hard charcoal/zeolite net.
Even though the intensity of the wind increases, the shaft of the generator is prevented from being accelerated beyond a predetermined speed so that any damage to the generator can be avoided and its life can be prolonged, and which includes a multi-stage wind-receiving unit for causing the shaft to be easily rotated even with the gentle natural wind and the artificial wind from the blower so as to enhance the electricity generation.
HEW Module consist of electric generator installed in a box-type housing, a central shaft protruding beyond the top of the box-type housing and having a lower end with a gear coupled thereto for engaging with a gear of the electric generator and transmitting a rotational force, and a wind-receiving unit coupled to the central shaft. The wind-receiving unit includes a governor fixed to an upper end of the central shaft, a spherical blower disposed below the governor, and planar magnetic rotary plates disposed below the blower for receiving both artificial and natural winds. The governor includes a plurality of cylinders of which one ends are fixed to the central shaft, a plurality of wind cups of which one ends are slidably installed within the respective cylinders, and springs connected with the inner ends of the wind cups for elastically supporting them. Lower magnets are attached to the top of the box-type housing, and upper magnets having the same polarity as the lower magnets are disposed on the bottoms of the respective magnetic rotary plates to face down toward the lower magnets.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a combination air purifier and wind generator according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a section view taken along line A—A of FIG. 1.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS:
Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of a combination air purifier and wind generator according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIGS. 1 and 2 are sectional views of a combination air purifier and magnet-type wind generator according to the present invention. Reference numeral 1 designates a box-type housing, 2 designates a wind-receiving unit, 3 designates an air purifier, and 10 designates an electric generator.
Each of the electric generators 10 is a conventional model for converting mechanical energy into electrical energy. A shaft of the electric generator 10 is coupled with a gear 11.
The electric generator 10 is installed within the box-type housing 1 made of steel frame and plate, or the like. The gear 11 of the electric generator 10 is engaged with and rotated together with a gear 12 coupled with a lower end of a central shaft 13 which penetrates through the center of a top surface of the box-type housing 1 and is positioned in the box-type housing 1. Thus, the gear 11 connected to components for generating electricity, such as a coil and a magnet that are not shown in the figures, within the electric generator 10 converts the mechanical energy into the electrical energy.
The wind-receiving unit 2 installed on the central shaft 13 includes three wind-resistant bodies: a governor 7 fixed to an upper end of the central shaft 13, a spherical blower 6 disposed below the governor, and planar magnetic rotary plates 5 disposed below the blower 6 for receiving both artificial and natural winds.
The governor 7 fixed to the upper end of the central shaft 13 is a horizontal centrifugal rotary body and includes a plurality of cylinders 73 of which one ends are fixed to the central shaft 13, a plurality of wind cups 72 of which one ends are slidably installed within the respective cylinders 73, and springs 75 connected with the inner ends of the wind cups 72 and inner walls 74 of the cylinders 73 for elastically supporting them.
The blower 6 installed in the middle of the central shaft 13 takes the shape of a sphere defined by a plurality of grouped winglets and can obtain a rotational force even with gentle winds generated in all directions. Further, since the blower 6 is disposed in the middle of the central shaft, it can serve to provide a starting force to the central shaft 13 upon existence of the gentle wind while keeping the balance of the central shaft 13, thereby preventing the central shaft 13 from stopping.
Each of the planar magnetic rotary plates 5 installed at a lower portion of the central shaft 13 is made in the form of a rectangular bucket as shown in FIG. 2. Upper magnets 4′ are attached to the bottoms of the respective magnetic rotary plates. Repulsive forces are produced between the upper magnets 4′ and lower permanent magnets 4 (20,000 gauss or higher) that have the same polarity as the upper magnets and are attached to the top of the box-type housing 1, and thus, a levitation phenomenon occurs therebetween. Accordingly, weights of all the components installed on the central shaft 13 become zero, so that the magnetic rotary plates can be easily rotated even with the gentle wind by means of a rotational action resulting from the repulsive forces between the magnets having the same polarity. Consequently, the rotational ability of the magnetic rotary plates can be improved even under any windy conditions. Particularly, the magnetic rotary plates are constructed to be forcibly rotated with the artificial wind discharged from a blower 36 of the air purifier 3 to be described later, even in the gentle natural wind or windless state.
Moreover, as shown in FIG. 2, the wind cups 72 of the governor 7 and the magnetic rotary plates 5 are staggered so that the wind sequentially and consecutively encounters the wind cups 72 and the magnetic rotary plates 5. Thus, a continuous rotational force is transmitted to the central shaft 13.
The air purifier 3 is fixedly installed on a side of the top of the box-type housing 1 and is Y-shaped by including two air inlets 31, 31′ and one air outlet 32. One of the air inlets 31 is horizontally in line with the air outlet 32 while the other air inlet 31′ is formed to incline upward, so that a wind can be generated due to a change in ambient airflow resulting from drawn air streams and a discharged air stream. Further, a copper net 33, a silver net 34 and a hard charcoal/zeolite net 35 for purifying the polluted air are disposed to be spaced apart from one another at predetermined intervals within the air purifier so that the polluted air is caused to pass through them and to be purified. The blower 36 is interposed between the silver net 34 and the hard charcoal/zeolite net 35 so that the air is forced to be drawn and discharged. Mosquito nets 37, 37′ can be installed at the air inlets 31, 31′ to prevent insects from entering the air purifier.
Reference numeral 8, which has not yet been explained, designates a bearing for ensuring smooth rotation of the central shaft 13.
Next, the operation of the combination air purifier and wind generator according to the present invention will be described.
When the box-type housing 1 of the combination air purifier and wind generator is installed at a desired location such as the interior of a room or a roadside, a no-load state suitable for rotation of the central shaft 13 is achieved by means of the repulsive forces between the upper magnets 4′ in the magnetic rotary plates 5 and the lower magnets 4 attached to the box-type housing 1. Thus, even though a very gentle wind encounters the blower 6, the wind cups 72 of the governor 7 and the magnet rotary plates 5, the central shaft 13 immediately begins to be rotated and is further accelerated by the action of the repulsive forces between the lower and upper magnets 4, 4′. Accordingly, the desired electricity can be easily obtained through the electric generators 10.
In order to reduce loads and cause the rotational speed of the central shaft 13 to reach a normal rotational speed in a short time upon initial rotation of the central shaft 13, the wind cups 72 of the governor 7 are maintained in a state where they are pulled toward the central shaft 13 by the springs 75. The wind cups 72 are kept in the initial starting state without any change in their state so as to facilitate the rotation of the central shaft 13 until rated electricity is provided through normal electricity generation.
The initial rotation of the central shaft is facilitated even with the gentle wind by means of the repulsive forces between the lower and upper magnets 4, 4′, the inward positioned state of the wind cups 72, and the spherical blower 6. Further, the magnetic repulsive forces and the inward positioned state of the wind cups 72 continuously assist the central shaft 13, which has begun to be rotated, to cause its rotation speed to reach the rotational speed at which the desired rated electricity can be generated.
Meanwhile, if the intensity of the wind is increased in a state where the rotational speed of each electric generator 10 reaches a normal rotational speed, the rotational speed of the central shaft 13 is also increased and thus the electric generator may be burdened with an overload.
In order to protect the electric generator 10 against the overload, if the central shaft 13 is rotated with a rotational force larger than a predetermined rotational force, the wind cups 72 of the governor 7 are urged outward from the center of the central shaft 13 by centrifugal forces to reduce its rotational force. On the contrary, if the rotational force of the central shaft 13 begins to be reduced, the wind cups 72 are pulled toward the central shaft by means of the restoring forces of the springs 75 so as to reduce the centrifugal forces. Therefore, it is possible to always maintain the normal rotational speed of the central shaft 13.
Meanwhile, in the very gentle natural wind state or the windless state, the blower 36 of the air purifier 3 is operated using either electric power, which has been generated by the electric generators 10 and then stored, or separate electric power. With the operation of the blower 36, the ambient polluted air is caused to be introduced into the air inlets 31, 31′. This causes a change in airflow thereabouts which in turn generates a wind. The introduced polluted air is purified by passing through the copper net 33, the silver net 34 and the hard charcoal/zeolite net 35, which are disposed within the air purifier. The purified air is discharged and then causes the magnetic rotary plates 5 to be rotated as shown in FIG. 2. As the magnetic rotary plates 5 are rotated, the blower 6 and the governor 7 installed above the magnetic rotary plates are rotated together therewith to increase the rotational force. Finally, the central shaft 13 operates the electric generators 10 so that the electricity is generated.
STORAGE SYSTEMS:
The hybrid energy-storage system(HESS) contains two supercapacitors of different sizes and a switching circuit. An adaptive-learning switching algorithm controls the switching circuit. This algorithm predicts the available source energy and the period that the sensor node will remain in the high-energy area. The algorithm dynamically switches between the supercapacitors according to available ambient RF, Vibration, Solar, EM and Thermal energy. Extensive simulation and experiments evaluated the proposed method. The proposed system showed 40% and 80% efficiency over single supercapacitor system in terms of the amount of harvested energy and sensor coverage.
In a HESS typically one storage (ES1) is dedicated to cover “high power” demand, transients and fast load fluctuations and therefore is characterized by a fast response time, high efficiency and high cycle lifetime. The other storage (ES2) will be the “high energy” storage with a low self-discharge rate and lower energy specific installation costs .
Main advantages of a HESS are:
Reduction of total investment costs compared to a single storage system (due to a decoupling of energy and power, ES2 only has to cover average power demand)
Increase of total system efficiency (due to operation of ES2 at optimized, high efficiency operating points and reduction of dynamic losses of ES2)
Increase of storage and system lifetime (optimized operation and reduction of dynamic stress of ES2)
Energy storage coupling architecture in HESS used in MEPAP:
The coupling architecture in MEPAP consists of two DC/DC-converters. Here the parallel converter topology is very common. The additional DC/DC-converter associated with the “high-power” storage is in charge of the voltage regulation of the DC-bus. It helps to operate the “high-power” storage in a broader voltage band, and hereby the available storage capacity is better utilized.
Frequency decoupling used in MEPAP is well suited for real-time applications. It is accomplished by a simple low-pass filter or by advanced filter concepts based on wavelet or Fourier transform. The low frequency component supplies the set-point value of the power controller of ES2, the high frequency component is covered by ES1.
DESIGNS
PIEZOELECTRIC TRANSDUCER
ELECTRICITY from ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
Metasurfaces
MoS2 layer
RF CIRCUITS
Photovoltaic (PV) solar panel:
Thermoelectric Generator Module(TEG)
STORAGE SYSTEMS
RESEARCH TEST AND IMPACTS
RESEARCH TEST ON PIEZOELECTRIC MATERIAL AND ENERGY FROM VIBRATION:
RESEARCH TEST ON ENERGY HARVESTING FROM EM RADIATION,METAMATERIALS AND RECTENNA:
Output power Usually, the outcome of a WPH system is DC power, which is characterized by load voltage VDD and current IDD. Measuring open-load voltage demonstrates the performance of WPH in general since VDD and IDD depend on load impedance. If the load is a sensor, VDD is more important than IDD while in applications like electrolysis or LED, current is the dominant parameter
Comparison of power-harvesting antenna:
Comparison of voltage multiplier:
R as:
Pr= PtGtGr (λ/4πR)2
where Gt and Gr are antenna gains, and λ is the wavelength of the transmitted signal. The received signal strength, diminishes with the square of the distance, requires special sensitivity considerations in the circuit design. Moreover, FCC regulations limit the maximum transmission power in specific frequency bands. For example, in the 900 MHz band, this maximum threshold is 4 W. Even at this highest setting, the received power at a moderate distance of 20 m is attenuated down to only 10 μW.
(a) The concept of a Huygens’ metasurface [38]. (b) A loaded strip-loop unit cell. (c) A reflection less refracting bi-anisotropic metasurface tested using a quasi-optical system at 20 GHz. (d) Full-wave simulation of reflection less refraction for normal incidence to 71.8 degrees.
(a) A collimating Huygens’ metasurface lens. A ‘spider’ unit cell has been used. (b) Beam collimation in the E-plane at 35.2 GHz. Top view of the metasurface metallization pattern. (c) Concept of a cavity excited metasurface to synthesize arbitrary antenna patterns. (d) Synthesized one parameter Taylor’s distribution with side lobes <-20Db. Sketch of metamaterial converter for the generation of flying doughnut pulses. The metasurface consists of azimuthally oriented dipole resonators arranged in concentric rings. The inset at the bottom left of the figure shows a false color image of a flying doughnut pulse, experimentally generated by a plasmonic metasurface (fabricated by focused-ion-beam milling.
Schematics of TPV (a) and STPV (b) systems. Metasurface emitters are heated with the heat source (TPV) or with solar irradiance in STPV using broadband absorbers and the emission is used to power PV cells.
Waveform-dependent absorber which uses a diode bridge and RC circuit to selectively respond to the envelope of the incoming signal rather than simply its frequency.
Generic representation of a nonreciprocal metasurface, with bias field F0. (b) Magnetless transistor-loaded ring metamaterial particle, mimicking electron spin precession in ferrites, with current J0 operating as the biasing field. (c) Reflective Faraday ring metasurface based on the particle in (b). (Left) Perspective view of the metasurface structure. (Right) Faraday rotation angle versus frequency obtained theoretically from the equivalent magnetic Polder tensor (dashed and solid curves) and experimentally from the prototype shown in the insets (dots) .
(a) Calculated dispersion diagram of a coaxial cable loaded with circular metallic inclusions. (b) calculated effective index of refraction of a parallel-plate glide-symmetric structures .
RESEARCH TEST ON PHOTOVOLTAIC CELL AND SOLAR ENERGY
FF is determined by the relation Vmpp /Voc .
RESEARCH TEST FROM EXHAUST ENERGY(TEG MODULE)
Speed of the vehicle is the most important factor for the power generated by a TEG. For better Performance of TEG, speed of vehicle should be greater. As the exhaust temperature is higher, more energy is available for the conversion into electrical energy. There is increase in optimal length and reduction in optimal width based on dynamic optimization simulations when the Temperature of the exhaust increases.
The efficiency and power of a TEG remarkably depends on the temperature. Given figure shows the temperature of inlet and outlet when the engine is operated between 2500 rpm to 3400 rpm. As the engine speed increases, the temperature difference between the surfaces of TEM increases rapidly, hence the output power also increases.
It was found that there is a possibility of generating 1.4 kW of electricity form the heat recovery system in the exhaust of the car if the power produced by the engine is 150 kW and also found that it is possible to produce electricity of 5.9 MW by a waste heat energy recovery system of 500 MW of gas turbine power plant.
Another experiment has been performed for checking the power output of TEG by changing the speed of vehicle. The speed of the vehicle were 48.3, 80.6 and 112.7 km/hr and the result was the output power increased as speed of vehicle increases correspondingly mass flow rate of exhaust and inlet temperature increased as per the speed. At the speed of 80 km/hr, the power output with 72 mm * 4 mm TEM was 75 W.
Fig1. Variation in temperature due to variation in speed.
Fig2. Variation in power production.
TEG Power Generation Calculation:
The equation involved in calculation of the performance of a TEG is
Z = α2 / kR,
Z is a figure of merit of thermoelectric material, R is the electric resistivity
k is a thermal conductivity and
α is a Seebeck coefficient which is
α = ΔV / ΔT,
T ͞ is the average temperature of cold and hot plate of a TEM and when multiplied by Z it makes it Dimensionless.
ZT ͞ = α2 T ͞ /KR
And
T ͞ = (TH +TC ) / 2
As per the second law of thermodynamics,
ῃ = TH – TC / 2
The maximum efficiency of conversion of a TEG can be found using
The output efficiency of a TEG mainly depends on two variables: the temperature and MFR of exhaust. Maximum power output and corresponding heat transfer can be obtained by maximizing the
MFR ratio. As the size of a TEG increases, the output power also increases.
Chinese scientists are planning to fire more than 20 rockets into space to divert an asteroid impact that has a small chance of one day ending life on Earth.
Their target is an asteroid named Bennu, a 85.5-million-ton (77.5 million metric ton) space rock that is on track to swoop within 4.6 million miles (7.5 million kilometers) of Earth’s orbit between 2175 and 2199. Although Bennu’s chances of striking Earth are slim — at just 1 in 2,700 — the asteroid is as wide as the Empire State Building is tall, meaning that any collision with the Earth would be cataclysmic.
The estimated kinetic energy of Bennu’s impact with Earth is 1,200 megatons, which is roughly 80,000 times greater than the energy of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. For comparison, the space rock that wiped out the dinosaurs delivered about 100 million megatons of energy.
Scientists at China’s National Space Science Center calculated that 23 Long March 5 rockets, each weighing 992 tons (900 metric tons), pushing against the rock simultaneously would be necessary to divert the asteroid away from a fatal course by nearly 6,000 miles (9,000 km) — 1.4 times the Earth’s radius. Their calculations are detailed in a new study published in the forthcoming Nov. 1 issue of the journal Icarus.
A mosaic image of the asteroid Bennu, taken by NASA’s OSIRIS-REX spacecraft. (Image credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona)
“Asteroid impacts pose a major threat to all life on Earth,” Mingtao Li, space science engineer of the National Space Science Center in Beijing and lead author of the new study, wrote in the paper. “Deflecting an asteroid on an impact trajectory is critical to mitigating this threat.”
The Chinese scientists’ plan would sidestep the need to stop the asteroid by more direct, yet riskier, means — like the atomic bomb method popularized by Bruce Willis in the film “Armageddon.” In reality, nuking the incoming space rock would break it into multiple smaller chunks that could still collide with Earth, leading to devastating consequences.
The Chinese plan follows a similar, yet slightly more costly, past proposal made by the United States. The NASA plan, called Hypervelocity Asteroid Mitigation Mission for Emergency Response (HAMMER), would send a fleet of 30-foot-tall (9 meters) spacecraft with battering rams to bump the asteroid off course. NASA simulations suggest that 34-53 blows from HAMMER spacecraft, launched 10 years before Bennu collides with Earth, would be needed to shift the asteroid.
NASA and the ESA (European Space Agency) will be the first to test a novel asteroid nudging method in two joint missions launching November 24 of this year. The DART mission (Double Asteroid Redirection) will send a spacecraft to arrive a year later at the 7 million mile (11 million kilometer) distant Didymos asteroid system. Once there, the NASA spacecraft will slam into Didymos’s moonlet — a rock in orbit around the asteroid. The ESA’s mission, Hera, will then monitor how DART has budged the moonlet off-course.
Bennu is a B-type asteroid, which means that it contains high amounts of carbon and, potentially, many of the primordial molecules present when life emerged on Earth. NASA already sent a spacecraft, called Osiris-Rex, in pursuit of samples from the asteroid. Osiris-Rex arrived above Bennu in October 2020, floating above it for long enough to collect loose pieces from its surface with its 10-foot (3 m) arm. Osiris-Rex is expected to return to Earth with its spoils in 2023.
Long March 5 rockets are the workhorses of China’s space program, completing most of the deliveries to China’s space station and launching Chinese probes to Mars and the moon. The rockets have caused concern in the past due to their uncontrolled reentry to Earth. In May, the 22-ton (20 metric ton) section of a Long March 5 rocket fell to Earth, either burning up or landing in the sea near the Arabian peninsula. In May 2020, fragments from a previous March 5 rocket were believed to have crashed into two villages in the Ivory Coast.
Long March 5 rockets are the workhorses of China’s space program, completing most of the deliveries to China’s space station and launching Chinese probes to Mars and the moon. The rockets have caused concern in the past due to their uncontrolled reentry to Earth. In May, the 22-ton (20 metric ton) section of a Long March 5 rocket fell to Earth, either burning up or landing in the sea near the Arabian peninsula. In May 2020, fragments from a previous March 5 rocket were believed to have crashed into two villages in the Ivory Coast.
Right to repair is a proposed legislation/movement that allows consumers the ability to modify and repair their own electronic devices.
Planned obsolescence is the practice when goods are manufactured with a pre-determined expiry date aimed at forcing consumers into repeat purchases. The term was first termed in the 1950s by American industrial designer Brooks Stevens. This practice was introduced in the advent of mass-produced manufacturing at the start of the 20th century. But the practice was not as severe and prevalent as it is in recent years. One of the recent changes in the product design has been to make the goods very hard for end consumers to repair.
For instance smartphones, a couple of years back had a user-replaceable battery but with more features crammed into the chassis of a phone. Manufacturers have not only made it unnecessarily difficult to replace the battery but also to even open the panels of smartphones. With the recent MacBook Pro releases, Apple has soldered the SSD (Solid State Drive) on the motherboard. The reasoning for justifying the soldering by Apple is better reliability and the thinness of the laptops. But there is also another aspect. Apple’s business model is about selling laptops and not upgrading the systems. Upgrading an SSD can be a potential loss for them and to counter that Apple might have decided to make the laptop non-upgradable. The problem is that even SSDs are definitely much more reliable than mechanical hard disks but SSDs still fail and combining them with the motherboard means that if one of the two fails, the whole system fails. This also makes it much more difficult for end-user to repair their laptop. It also becomes a problem for the third-party repair business to access the repairing of these devices. This is just one of the instances of how access to repair is being restricted by the manufacturers but various companies are attempting to follow similar practices with varying degrees.
With the introduction of newer and sophisticated technological components in electronic devices, it has become much more complicated to operate these modern devices. To reduce the access to repair these devices, manufacturers state that repairing the devices might violate their “Proprietary” rights. These repair limitations are a critical problem for not just the first owners but also for the second-hand/ used market. Due to proprietary information and diagnostics tools while evaluating a device. It has become difficult for third parties and end-user to even attempt the repair their own devices that they own. It took Apple the lawsuit to introduce the battery replacement program after the fiasco of the performance throttling issue on older iPhones. It clearly indicates that companies do not like it when consumers try to fix their products and companies deliberately try to reduce the user experience of older devices so that they can sell the newer models to maximize profits. With a monopoly on repair manufacturer’s intent is to lock down the user to the official service centers which can be significantly expensive than third-party service shops.
The right to repair movement intends to enact power into the consumer’s hands for the devices that they own. This means that consumers can open and modify everything they own. Also to root, unlock or jailbreak the software in their devices.
An Equated Monthly Installment (EMI) is a fixed payment amount made by a borrower to a lender at a specified date each calendar month. EMI depends upon the tenure for which a loan is taken. EMI is high for a tenure of short period of time as compared to long period.
Equated monthly Installments are used to pay off both interest and Principal each month so that over a specified number of years, the loan is paid off in full. If a person pays only the interest component each month, then it is not the EMI amount as the Principal amount stands unpaid.
Want to understand using a hypothetical situation?
A person was planning to buy a new motorcycle and has managed to save Rupees 75,000 for the cause and decides to take a loan for the balance amount. He approached a showroom and decides to buy a latest motorcycle worth Rupees 2,50,000. He visits a bank on the next day and was able to fetch a motor loan of Rupees 1,50,000 only. He agreed to pay back the amount with an interest of 12% within a tenure of 3 years. He worked overtime and was able to manage the balance of rupees 25,000 rupees.
The person on taking a loan of Rupees 1,50,000 has to pay a sum of Rupees 1,79,357 including an interest of Rupees 29,357 i.e. 16.4% of total payable amount within a tenure of 3 years at an interest rate of 12% Per Annum
In first year, he needs to clear a debt of 29.44% of total debt of rupees 1,79,357 i.e. 59,786 including a Principal Amount of Rupees 44,162 and an Interest of Rupees 15,623
In Second year, he needs to pays rupees 59,786 clearing 62.62% of the total debt including a Principal Amount of Rupees 49,763 and an Interest of Rupees 10,023
In third year he needs to make a final installment of rupees 59,786 to clear all his debts. The installment includes a Principal Amount of Rupees 56,074 and an Interest of Rupees 3,711.
Personal Loan are the loans that are given for personal use. They are usually secured loans as the commodity purchased using the loan act as a collateral.
Types of Personal Loan
• Motor Loan– A secured loan granted for the purpose of purchasing a vehicle like car, motor cycle is called a motor loan.
• Gold Loan– A secured loan granted for the purpose of purchasing Gold is called a gold loan.
• Education Loan– A loan granted for educational purpose is called Education Loan. It can be either Secured or Insecure depending upon the educational Institution for which the loan is granted.
• Home Loan– A loan granted for house is called a Home loan.
In today’s world, where the main focus of private banks is to earn profits, it is important to understand the role and need for public-sector banks especially in a heavily populated country like India.
What are Public-sector banks? Public sector banks are those banks in which the government has majority shareholding at least 51 percent. In other words, we can say that the government controls such banks to protect the interests of the people and regulate the supply of money in the economy.
This article is based on one such role or function of Public-sector banks, i.e., financial inclusion. Financial inclusion is an effort to make every day financial services available to more of the world’s population at a reasonable cost. The objective is to make financial services or products accessible and affordable for all citizens irrespective of their professions, level of income, location etc.
Here are some strategies and initiatives taken by Indian public sector banks for Financial Inclusion:
SMALL ACCOUNTS: Those persons who do not have any of the ‘officially valid documents can open “Small Accounts” with banks. A “Small Account” can be opened on the basis of a self-attested photograph and putting his/her signatures or thumb print in the presence of an officials of the bank.
BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT AGENTS (BANK MITRAS) are retail agents engaged by banks for providing banking services at locations where opening of a brick-and-mortar branch / ATM is not viable. Scope of activities of Business Correspondents / Bank Mitra are as under: a) Creating Awareness about savings and other products and education and advice on managing money and debt counselling. b) Identification of potential customers. c) Collection and preliminary processing of various forms for deposits including verification of primary information /data.
LOANS AND ADVANCES TO WEAKER SECTIONS: It offers advances to weaker sections, consisting of beneficiaries belonging to scheduled castes/scheduled tribes, small and marginal farmers, landless labourers, rural artisans, beneficiaries under Govt. Sponsored schemes.
CREDIT FLOW TO WOMEN BENEFICIARIES Women are assuming greater responsibilities and playing an active role in the economic growth of the nation but remain under-represented while receiving the credit delivery from the financial institutions of the country. So, for strengthening of credit flow to women, OBC has implemented 14-points action plan as advised by the government of India. Banks have designated 10 branches as specialized branches for women entrepreneurs. Credit schemes like Oriental Mahila Vikar Yojana, Loan scheme for Professional & Self-employed women, Loan scheme for Beauty parlour/Boutiques/Saloons/Tailoring, Oriental Swaran Yojana etc. are designed by the bank especially for women.
SWARN JYANTI GRAM SWAROJGAR YOJANA The scheme is operative in rural areas of the country and covers the aspects of self-employment such as organisation of rural poor into Self- Help Groups (SHGs) training, Credit technology, infrastructure and marketing.
PRADHAN MANTRI JAN DHAN YOJANA: The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana under the National Mission Mode envisages provision of affordable financial services to all citizens within a reasonable distance. It comprises of the following six pillars: –
1.1 Universal access to banking facilities: – Mapping of each district into Sub Service Area (SSA) catering to 1000-1500 households in a manner that every habitation has access to banking services within 5 km.
1.2 Providing Basic Banking Accounts with overdraft facility and RuPay debit card to all households: – To all households, efforts should be made to first cover all uncovered household with banking facilities. Facility of an overdraft of Rs.10,000/- through RuPay debit card.
1.3 Financial Literacy Program: Financial literacy would be an integral part of the Mission in order to let the beneficiaries make best use of the financial services being made available to them.
1.4 Creation of Credit Guarantee Fund: Creation of Credit Guarantee Fund would be to cover the defaults in overdraft accounts.
1.5 Micro Insurance: To provide micro-insurance to all willing and eligible persons by 14th August, 2018, and then on an ongoing basis.
1.6 Unorganized sector Pension schemes like Swavlamban: By 14th August, 2018 and then on an ongoing basis.
Conclusion
We can say that Public-sector banks are playing an active role in making financial services and products available and affordable for various groups/categories of people. These schemes and their implementation help in bridging economic opportunities with outcomes in the following ways-
Access to credit enables businesses to expand, creating jobs and reducing inequality.
Providing access to financial services opens doors for families, allowing them to smooth out consumption and invest in their futures.
By increasing consumption level of households and investment level of private sector, it leads to increase in opportunities for economic growth.
Direct cash transfers to beneficiary bank accounts, instead of physical cash payments against subsidies will become possible.
This also ensures that the funds actually reach the intended recipients instead of being siphoned off along the way.
It also helps in bridging the wage gap between the rich and the poor and reducing poverty rates.
To conclude, these schemes and efforts by Public-sector banks and the government of India have led to a substantial increase in availability of various financial services for various people divided into categories like- farmers, small rural organisations and businesses, self-employed and working women (rural and urban areas), SCs, STs and the general public.
•A loan is a form of debt incurred by an individual or other entity.
•The lender, usually a corporation, financial institution, or government advances a sum of money to the borrower.
•In return, the borrower agrees to a certain set of terms including any finance charges, interest, repayment date, and other conditions.
Types of Loan
i) Collateral Loans
Theseare secured loans as the commodity kept as a security can be sold by bank to recover the debt, if the borrower fails to pay back the loan.
A guarantor can also act as a Collateral for a loan if he/she promises to pay the loan with interest if the borrower fails to do so.
ii) Non- Collateral Loans
These loans are not secured as nothing is kept as a security that can be sold by the bank to recover the debt, if the borrower fails to pay back the loan.
Agusto Boal was a Brazilian activist who brought revolutionary changes to theatre as an artform. In his work Theatre of the Oppressed, Boal extensively discusses about the theatrical form that he developed of the same name. He also explains the politics involved behind various dramatic techniques and criticisms from across the world like Aristotle, Hegel and Brecht. In the first chapter, Boal argues that the Greek tragedies, as defined by Aristotle, is actually a coercive system that enforces state ideologies onto the citizens.
Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions.
-Aristotle
According to Aristotle, Tragedy is an imitation of an action that, through its several characteristics, evokes catharsis or ‘proper purgation of soul’. Every tragedy has a tragic hero who is defined as “a man who is not eminently good and just, yet whose misfortune is brought about not by vice or depravity, but by some error or frailty”. This error in the hero is referred to as his tragic flaw or hamartia. The spectator establishes an empathic relationship with the protagonist and lives vicariously through him as he enjoys a state of happiness brought upon by the same hamartia. Then suddenly, the hero falls from happiness to misfortune. This is referred to as ‘peripeteia’. The spectator along with the hero suffers this but is unable to disassociate with the character due to ‘anagnorisis’, i.e, recognition of the flaw. Furthermore, the tragedy ends with a ‘catastrophe’ wherein, the hero suffers the consequences of his action through death or a fate worse than death.
Boal sums up this process in three stages. Stage 1, where the protagonist and the spectator take a path towards happiness which then moves towards misfortune. Stage 2, the character and the spectator realise their own hamartia which Boal refers to as an ‘anti-constitutional flaw’; where the state reinforces certain unsaid social set-ups. Stage 3, where after the horror of the catastrophe, the terrified spectator undergoes catharsis through which they are purified of their hamartia. As explained by Arnold Hauser, the tragedians were paid by the state to produce the plays and thus, they naturally denied any plays that went against the state. Through the tragedies, the spectator is emotionally manipulated into thinking that having this hamartia would lead to a terrible fate, thus maintaining the status-quo in the society. This can also be analysed with reference to Althuser’s Ideological State Apparatus. In this context, the values of the state are propagated through theatre which acts as an institution.
Tragedy effectively coerces people into believing that any desire to go against the state will prove disastrous. This reinforces Boal’s statement that, theatre is the most perfect artistic form of coercion. Though Aristotle claims that poetry, theatre and tragedy are not associated to politics, Boal points out that reality states otherwise. And so, it can be argued that artforms, including theatre or its modern variants such as television and film – are all political.
Demand refers to the quantity of goods that consumers are willing to buy at given level of income during a given period of time. In order to understand the relationship of demand with different variables, let’s take a look at the factors that can influence demand.
Factors affecting demand
Price of the Given Commodity: One of the most important factors affecting the demand of the commodity is its price. An inverse relationship exists between price and demand of a commodity. This means that as the price of a good increases its demand falls due to fall in the level of satisfaction of the consumer.
Price of Related Goods: Demand of a product is also determined by the prices of other related products. Related products include Complementary and Substitute goods. Complementary good refers to goods that are usually bought together by consumers. For example, pencil and erasers. If the price of pencils goes up, the demand for erasers also decreases because they are used together (direct relationship). Substitute goods refer to goods that can replace each other. For example, Coke and Pepsi. If the price of Coke increases, the demand for Pepsi would increase. (inverse relationship)
Income of the Consumer:Income of a consumer plays a major role in determining the demand of the product. Higher level income groups generally have higher demand than lower level income groups. If the income of a consumer increases, his demand and purchasing capacity also increases (direct relationship).
Tastes and Preferences: Tastes and preferences of the consumer directly influence the demand for a commodity. They include changes in fashion, customs, habits, etc. An individual who prefers rice over bajra might not get affected by the increase in the price of rice where as a small increase in price of bajra will discourage them to buy bajra.
Expectation of Change in the Price in Future:If the price of a certain commodity is expected to rise in future, then consumers will demand more of that product in the future than theynormally would. There exists a direct relation between expectations of change in prices in future and its demand in current period of time.
What is Supply?
In economics, supply is the amount of a resource that firms, producers, laborers, providers of financial assets, or economic agents are willing and able to provide to the marketplace or directly to another agent in the marketplace.
Factors affecting Supply
Price of the given Commodity: Price of a commodity is one of the most important factors which determine the supply of a commodity. Generally, price of the commodity and its supply are directly related, that is as the price of product increases, its supply will also increase and vice-versa. The price rise in the market promotes the producers to produce more, in order to earn more in the market.
Prices of Other Goods: The quantity supplied of a commodity depends not only on its price, but also on the prices of other commodities. Increase in the prices of other goods makes them more profitable in comparison to the given commodity. As a result, the firm shifts its limited resources from production of the given commodity to production of other goods, reducing its supply (Inverse relationship).
Prices of Factors of Production (inputs): If there is a rise in price of factors of production like:- land, labour, capital etc. the cost of production also increases as a result of which the product becomes less profitable and suppliers might reduce the production of that commodity and vice-versa (inverse relationship).
4. State of Technology: Advancements in technology plays a major role in determining the supply of the product. Introduction of new technology in the market reduces the cost of the product which increases the profit margin and induces the supplier to increase production of the product.
Government Policy (Taxation/ Subsidy Policy): Increase in government taxes reduces the profit margin of product due to increase in the cost. This demotivates the supplier as a result of which he will reduce the production of that particular commodity (inverse relationship).
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