The electricity powering the lights in this theater was generated just moments ago. Because the way things stand today, electricity demand must be in constant balance with electricity supply. If in the time that it took me to walk out here on this stage, some tens of megawatts of wind power stopped pouring into the grid, the difference would have to be made up from other generators immediately. But coal plants, nuclear plants can't respond fast enough. A giant battery could. With a giant battery, we'd be able to address the problem of intermittency that prevents wind and solar from contributing to the grid in the same way that coal, gas and nuclear do today.
这个会场的照明用电 是刚刚发出的。 因为就当前技术能力而言, 电能的供求必须保持 动态平衡。 假设我从讲台这端走到那端的时间里 一些十几兆瓦功率的风力发电机 不再向我们的电网中供电, 瞬间产生的不平衡需立即由 其他发电机发出的电能来消除。 但煤电厂,核工厂的 响应速度达不到要求。 不过巨型电池可以做到这点。 利用巨型电池, 我们便能处理那些导致风力发电机 和太阳能发电机间歇性 熄火(停止供电)的问题。 目前,这是由煤、天然气和核能发电机保证的。
You see, the battery is the key enabling device here. With it, we could draw electricity from the sun even when the sun doesn't shine. And that changes everything. Because then renewables such as wind and solar come out from the wings, here to center stage. Today I want to tell you about such a device. It's called the liquid metal battery. It's a new form of energy storage that I invented at MIT along with a team of my students and post-docs.
你看,在这儿,电池 是运行正常进行的关键设备。 有了它,我们可以使用太阳能 甚至是在阴天的时候。 于是一切都大不一样了。 因为那样的话,可再生能源 如风能和太阳能就能通过呼呼旋转 的风翼或是太阳能板 转化为电能来到这个舞台中央。 今天我想告诉你一些关于此种设备的信息。 它叫做液体金属电池。 它是一种全新的能量存储方式。 而我在麻省理工学院发明它, 当然是和我的学生的团队和博士后们 一起发明它的。
Now the theme of this year's TED Conference is Full Spectrum. The OED defines spectrum as "The entire range of wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation, from the longest radio waves to the shortest gamma rays of which the range of visible light is only a small part." So I'm not here today only to tell you how my team at MIT has drawn out of nature a solution to one of the world's great problems. I want to go full spectrum and tell you how, in the process of developing this new technology, we've uncovered some surprising heterodoxies that can serve as lessons for innovation, ideas worth spreading. And you know, if we're going to get this country out of its current energy situation, we can't just conserve our way out; we can't just drill our way out; we can't bomb our way out. We're going to do it the old-fashioned American way, we're going to invent our way out, working together.
现在,今年的 TED 大会的主题是全谱。 OED(牛津英语字典) 中“光谱”的定义是 “电磁辐射波长的 全集, 从波长最长的无线电波到波长最短的伽玛射线。 而在这其中可见光波长范围 只占了一小部分。” 所以我在这里不仅仅是告诉你 我在麻省理工学院的团队是如何从自然中 得出的一个全球问题的解决方案的。 我们还会过一下全谱,并且我会告诉你们, 在研发这种技术 的过程中, 我们是如何发现一些可以作为创新经验的 非正统观点或教义。 这些是值得教授于人的思想。 要知道, 若想我们的国家走出其当前的能源困势, 保守的做法是行不通的; 在黑暗中冲撞是行不通的; 激进的破旧立新是行不通的。 我们要用老式的美国方法, 我们要去发明创新 一起集思广益,找到解决方法。
(Applause)
(掌声)
Now let's get started. The battery was invented about 200 years ago by a professor, Alessandro Volta, at the University of Padua in Italy. His invention gave birth to a new field of science, electrochemistry, and new technologies such as electroplating. Perhaps overlooked, Volta's invention of the battery for the first time also demonstrated the utility of a professor. (Laughter) Until Volta, nobody could imagine a professor could be of any use.
现在我们开始今天的内容。 约 200 年前,一位名叫亚历山德罗 · 沃尔塔的教授, 在意大利的帕多瓦大学 发明了电池。 他的发明促使科学界产生了一个新领域—— 电化学, 以及相应的新技术 如电镀。 也许我们忽略了一件事, 伏特发明的电池 也是首次 证实了教授是很实用的一种人。 (笑声) 伏特的出现,打破了人们 一贯的"教授无用论"。
Here's the first battery -- a stack of coins, zinc and silver, separated by cardboard soaked in brine. This is the starting point for designing a battery -- two electrodes, in this case metals of different composition, and an electrolyte, in this case salt dissolved in water. The science is that simple. Admittedly, I've left out a few details.
这就是第一块的电池 — — 一堆用浸过盐水的纸板 分隔开的硬币、 锌、 银。 这是设计一块 电池的起点 — — 两个电极, 这块电池中还有的不同功用的金属 和电解质, 这块电池中盐是溶解在水中的。 科学就是这么简单。 不可否认,我放过了一些细节。
Now I've taught you that battery science is straightforward and the need for grid-level storage is compelling, but the fact is that today there is simply no battery technology capable of meeting the demanding performance requirements of the grid -- namely uncommonly high power, long service lifetime and super-low cost. We need to think about the problem differently. We need to think big, we need to think cheap.
现在我已经告诉了大家 电池科学是很简单的。 而且网级存储需要 是迫切的。 但事实上 现在根本还没有电池技术 能够满足 网格存储苛刻的性能要求, 即非同寻常的高功率, 长寿命 和超低成本。 我们需要换一种方式思考问题。 我们想要大容量, 我们想要价格便宜。
So let's abandon the paradigm of let's search for the coolest chemistry and then hopefully we'll chase down the cost curve by just making lots and lots of product. Instead, let's invent to the price point of the electricity market. So that means that certain parts of the periodic table are axiomatically off-limits. This battery needs to be made out of earth-abundant elements. I say, if you want to make something dirt cheap, make it out of dirt -- (Laughter) preferably dirt that's locally sourced. And we need to be able to build this thing using simple manufacturing techniques and factories that don't cost us a fortune.
所以让我们不再考虑那种范式 先找到并使用最酷的化学药剂 然后通过制造大量产品 成功拉低成本曲线的范式。 相反,让我们发明 电力市场的价格点。 这意味着所以 周期表中的某些部分 不言自明是利益禁地。 这种电池的组成元素 必须在地球上大量存在。 我说,如果你想要东西便宜的掉渣, 那就土渣堆里制造出它— — (笑声) 最好还是本地 的土渣堆。 我们需要花费较少的简单些的 制造技术和便宜的场地 来制造这些东西。
So about six years ago, I started thinking about this problem. And in order to adopt a fresh perspective, I sought inspiration from beyond the field of electricity storage. In fact, I looked to a technology that neither stores nor generates electricity, but instead consumes electricity, huge amounts of it. I'm talking about the production of aluminum. The process was invented in 1886 by a couple of 22-year-olds -- Hall in the United States and Heroult in France. And just a few short years following their discovery, aluminum changed from a precious metal costing as much as silver to a common structural material.
所以约六年前, 我就开始思考这个问题了。 为了能对此问题有一个全新的视角, 我从电力存储以外的领域寻求灵感。 事实上,我曾沉浸于一种既不 存储,也不产生电力的技术中, 相反这种技术需要消耗电, 而且相当费电。 我说的铝的生产技术。 该技术在1886年 由一对22岁的夫妻— — 来自美国的霍尔和来自法国的俄罗特,发明。 短短几年后,铝的制造工艺因他们的发明 而改变。 铝不再如同银一般珍贵, 反而成为一种普通的建材。
You're looking at the cell house of a modern aluminum smelter. It's about 50 feet wide and recedes about half a mile -- row after row of cells that, inside, resemble Volta's battery, with three important differences. Volta's battery works at room temperature. It's fitted with solid electrodes and an electrolyte that's a solution of salt and water. The Hall-Heroult cell operates at high temperature, a temperature high enough that the aluminum metal product is liquid. The electrolyte is not a solution of salt and water, but rather salt that's melted. It's this combination of liquid metal, molten salt and high temperature that allows us to send high current through this thing. Today, we can produce virgin metal from ore at a cost of less than 50 cents a pound. That's the economic miracle of modern electrometallurgy.
你们看到的是现代连铝厂的生产车间, 宽约 50 英尺(15.24米) 长约半英里(1.6公里) — — 那里面有一排一排的单元组, 这类似于伏特电池。 但是他们有三个重要的区别: 1. 伏特电池在室温下工作; 2. 伏特电池装有固体电极; 3. 其电解质是由盐和水组成的。 霍尔-俄罗特工作单元 则是在高温下工作的。 该温度需要能够 使铝保持在液体状态。 这里的电解液 也不是由盐和水组成的, 而是由融化的盐组成的。 这个液态金属, 熔盐和高温的组合是相当好的导体, 我们通过它传输高电流。 今天,我们可以以低于 50 美分一磅的成本 从原矿中提炼出纯净的金属。 这就是现代电冶金技术 的经济奇迹。
It is this that caught and held my attention to the point that I became obsessed with inventing a battery that could capture this gigantic economy of scale. And I did. I made the battery all liquid -- liquid metals for both electrodes and a molten salt for the electrolyte. I'll show you how. So I put low-density liquid metal at the top, put a high-density liquid metal at the bottom, and molten salt in between.
这点牢牢地抓住了我的注意。 我不停想发明出一种能够获得 如此巨大经济利益的电池。 现在我做到了。 我发明了液态电池 — — 该电池的电极是由液态金属构成的, 其电解液则是由融盐构成的。 我将告诉你们这是如何实现的。 我把低密度 的液态金属放在顶部, 高密度的液态金属放在底部, 中间则放置着融盐。
So now, how to choose the metals? For me, the design exercise always begins here with the periodic table, enunciated by another professor, Dimitri Mendeleyev. Everything we know is made of some combination of what you see depicted here. And that includes our own bodies. I recall the very moment one day when I was searching for a pair of metals that would meet the constraints of earth abundance, different, opposite density and high mutual reactivity. I felt the thrill of realization when I knew I'd come upon the answer. Magnesium for the top layer. And antimony for the bottom layer. You know, I've got to tell you, one of the greatest benefits of being a professor: colored chalk.
所以,现在, 如何选择金属? 对我来说,设计工作 总是从周期表 这里开始的。 这是迪米特里门捷列夫教授 的名言。 我们所知道的一切 都是由这张表里的 元素组成的。 我们的身体也不例外。 我记得某天某刻 当我在寻找一些能够 满足我的条件的金属, 那些在地球上大量存贮 不同的相对密度 与高互反应性的金属的时候。 我能感觉到我的心在颤抖, 因为我知道我就快找到答案了。 低密度的镁,放在顶部 高密度的锑 放在底部。 知道我要告诉你们什么吗? 做教授的好处之一就是: 可以用彩色粉笔。
(Laughter)
(笑声)
So to produce current, magnesium loses two electrons to become magnesium ion, which then migrates across the electrolyte, accepts two electrons from the antimony, and then mixes with it to form an alloy. The electrons go to work in the real world out here, powering our devices. Now to charge the battery, we connect a source of electricity. It could be something like a wind farm. And then we reverse the current. And this forces magnesium to de-alloy and return to the upper electrode, restoring the initial constitution of the battery. And the current passing between the electrodes generates enough heat to keep it at temperature.
那么,要产生电流, 镁要失去两个电子 变成镁离子, 然后镁离子将渡过电解液, 从锑分子获得两个电子 并与锑化合形成一种新合金。 产生出的电子 会在真实的世界,比如这里, 为我们的设备供电。 现在,要给电池充电, 我们将它与电源相连。 电源可以一个风电场或是其他。 我们使电流反向传输。 这将使原来的镁锑合金分解, 镁离子将返回到上部电极, 于是我们便还原到最初的电池结构及成分。 电池两级传输的电流 会产生热量,这些热量足以维持电池处于一个相对恒定的温度。
It's pretty cool, at least in theory. But does it really work? So what to do next? We go to the laboratory. Now do I hire seasoned professionals? No, I hire a student and mentor him, teach him how to think about the problem, to see it from my perspective and then turn him loose. This is that student, David Bradwell, who, in this image, appears to be wondering if this thing will ever work. What I didn't tell David at the time was I myself wasn't convinced it would work.
这很酷, 至少在理论层面上是的。 但实践层面上如何呢? 那么下一步我们要做什么? 我们会到实验室去。 我会去雇用经验丰富的专业人士吗? 不,我雇了一名学生 并且指导他, 传授他如何从我的角度, 考虑这个问题, 然后我便放任他自由思考。 那学生叫大卫 · 布拉德韦尔, 就是照片里的人。 他似乎在思考这想法是否可行。 那时候我没有告诉大卫, 我本人也相当怀疑该设备能正常工作。
But David's young and he's smart and he wants a Ph.D., and he proceeds to build -- (Laughter) He proceeds to build the first ever liquid metal battery of this chemistry. And based on David's initial promising results, which were paid with seed funds at MIT, I was able to attract major research funding from the private sector and the federal government. And that allowed me to expand my group to 20 people, a mix of graduate students, post-docs and even some undergraduates.
但大卫是个年轻人,他很聪明 而且他想要一个博士学位, 于是他着手建立 — — (笑声) 他着手建立 史上第一个液态金属电池。 涉及到的化学原理就是我们上面提及的。 大卫的初步实验十分成功。 当时实验经费是 麻省理工学院的种子资金。 而后成果的实验结果吸引了私营企业和联邦政府 投入大笔的研究资金, 那是我们研究经费的主体。 于是我有能力雇佣更多的人,我的团队扩充至20人。 其中有研究生、博士后 甚至有大学生。
And I was able to attract really, really good people, people who share my passion for science and service to society, not science and service for career building. And if you ask these people why they work on liquid metal battery, their answer would hearken back to President Kennedy's remarks at Rice University in 1962 when he said -- and I'm taking liberties here -- "We choose to work on grid-level storage, not because it is easy, but because it is hard."
那时我能吸引来素质极佳的人, 他们同我一样对科学 及社会服务充满热情。 我们投入精力与这一切并不是为了所谓的职业规划建设。 如果你问这些人 为什么他们从事液态金属电池的研究工作, 他们的答案将会使我们回想起 1962年肯尼迪总统 于莱斯大学的演讲中的精辟之言 我在这将较为随意的引用 "我们选择研究网级存储 不是因为它容易实现 而是因为它难以实现。”
(Applause)
(掌声)
So this is the evolution of the liquid metal battery. We start here with our workhorse one watt-hour cell. I called it the shotglass. We've operated over 400 of these, perfecting their performance with a plurality of chemistries -- not just magnesium and antimony. Along the way we scaled up to the 20 watt-hour cell. I call it the hockey puck. And we got the same remarkable results. And then it was onto the saucer. That's 200 watt-hours. The technology was proving itself to be robust and scalable. But the pace wasn't fast enough for us. So a year and a half ago, David and I, along with another research staff-member, formed a company to accelerate the rate of progress and the race to manufacture product.
这就是液态金属电池的演变。 我们工作主力从这些功率为1Wh的胞元电池开始。 我叫它 小酒杯(shotgalss)。 当时我们有超过 400 个小酒杯, 里面不单单是镁和锑,还有各式各样的化学药品。 我们为了提高其效能,才加进去的。 趁胜出击,我们将胞元电池的储能从1Wh扩大到20Wh. 我称其为冰球。 实验成绩显著。 然后我们将体积扩大为碟型大小。 这就是 200 Wh的电池。 该技术被证明其本身 是强健的且可扩展的。 但对于我们而言,研发的步骤还是不够快。 所以一年半前, 大卫和我, 以及另一个研究人员, 成立了一家公司。 这样我们加快研发进度 同时也加快了产品制造的竞争。
So today at LMBC, we're building cells 16 inches in diameter with a capacity of one kilowatt-hour -- 1,000 times the capacity of that initial shotglass cell. We call that the pizza. And then we've got a four kilowatt-hour cell on the horizon. It's going to be 36 inches in diameter. We call that the bistro table, but it's not ready yet for prime-time viewing. And one variant of the technology has us stacking these bistro tabletops into modules, aggregating the modules into a giant battery that fits in a 40-foot shipping container for placement in the field. And this has a nameplate capacity of two megawatt-hours -- two million watt-hours. That's enough energy to meet the daily electrical needs of 200 American households. So here you have it, grid-level storage: silent, emissions-free, no moving parts, remotely controlled, designed to the market price point without subsidy.
所以今天在 LMBC, 我们可以构建直径 16 英寸的胞元电池 其容量为1kWh — — 是最初“小酒杯”胞元电池容量 的1000倍。 我们称其为比萨。 然后我们即将有4kWh的胞元电池。 它的直径为 36 英寸。 我们称之为酒馆小桌, 但它尚未准备好在黄金时段亮相。 这种技术的一个变体 使我们能够将这些酒馆小桌按面堆叠成块, 然后这些模块可以组合成一个巨大的电池。 这电池需要一个 40 英尺大的集装箱 来放置它。 其铭牌可标志额定容量为2TWh, 即200MWh。 其能力 以满足200 户美国家庭的 日常电力需求。 在此,我们在网格级存储级别上实现了它: 无声无排放 无移动部件, 可远程控制, 而且价格适中 【不需资助(这点我不知道怎么翻)】。
So what have we learned from all this? (Applause) So what have we learned from all this? Let me share with you some of the surprises, the heterodoxies. They lie beyond the visible. Temperature: Conventional wisdom says set it low, at or near room temperature, and then install a control system to keep it there. Avoid thermal runaway. Liquid metal battery is designed to operate at elevated temperature with minimum regulation. Our battery can handle the very high temperature rises that come from current surges. Scaling: Conventional wisdom says reduce cost by producing many. Liquid metal battery is designed to reduce cost by producing fewer, but they'll be larger. And finally, human resources: Conventional wisdom says hire battery experts, seasoned professionals, who can draw upon their vast experience and knowledge. To develop liquid metal battery, I hired students and post-docs and mentored them. In a battery, I strive to maximize electrical potential; when mentoring, I strive to maximize human potential. So you see, the liquid metal battery story is more than an account of inventing technology, it's a blueprint for inventing inventors, full-spectrum.
所以我们从中都学到了什么? (掌声) 那么我们从这些经历中学到什么呢? 让我与你们分享 一些惊喜发现和异端的出发点。 他们是不可见的。 温度: 惯例是额定温度应是较低的温度, 比如室温或其左右, 然后安装一个控制系统来维持温度的稳定。 避免热量散失。 液态金属电池设计之初并未考虑温度设定的惯例 而是直接规划其在高温下工作。 我们的电池可以应付电流冲击时 产生的温高增长。 生产规模: 按惯例,我们会 大量生产产品来降低每件产品的成本。 液态金属电池通过减少产量来降低 成本,但是他们的体积还会更大。 最后,人力资源: 按惯例 我们应该聘请电池专家, 和经验丰富的专业人士。 他们丰富的经验和知识, 可以加快液体金属电池的研发。 我却雇用了学生和博士后,并指导他们。 对于电池, 我努力发掘它们的储存电势能的潜力; 在辅导的时候 我努力发掘人潜力。 所以你看, 液态金属电池的故事 不仅仅是一个技术发明 的故事。 它是一个“发明”发明家, “发明”全谱的蓝图
(Applause)
(掌声)