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from the get-by-with-a-little-help-from-my-friends dept.
China spins up giant battery built with US-patented tech:
The world's largest vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) has been connected to the grid in Dalian, China, where it was built using technology patented in the United States.
With a current capacity of 100MW/400MWh and plans to double it, the Dalian VRFB will reportedly be able to meet the daily energy needs of 200,000 people, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) said. The battery will be used to manage supplies during peak power demand periods, and could allow electricity companies in the Dalian region to adopt more renewables to feed the system.
VRFBs are free of lithium-ion and are far safer than traditional batteries, instead relying on mixtures of liquid electrolytes and acids. VRFBs can hold a charge for far longer than traditional batteries as well, and are also designed to be charged and discharged for decades without degrading.
The Dalian VRFB dwarfs other projects – Australia's largest VRFB only boasts 2MW/8MWh of capacity, and a similar test project in the San Diego area recently stood up a similarly sized battery. Other large VRFB projects are still far smaller, like the Sumitomo battery in Hokkaido, Japan, that was brought online earlier this year. It has a capacity of 17MW/51MWh and was described as one of the world's largest VRFBs.
As reported in August, the VRFB built in Dalian appears to be one designed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) that cost US taxpayers $15 million dollars to develop, and for which the US government owns the patent.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by c0lo on Tuesday October 04 2022, @03:56AM (4 children)
If it's patented, it's not that secret anymore.
It it's secret, then it's not patented, thus the owner of the secret can do whatever it pleases with it.
So, what gives?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Immerman on Tuesday October 04 2022, @05:47AM (3 children)
I believe the modern "best practice" for patents is to strive to make them broad enough to cover every remotely similar invention, while simultaneously leaving out as many critical "do it right" details as possible to maintain a competitive edge.
Basically, try to make it so that you can't (legally) do it at all without licensing the patents, but also can't do it well without the secrets. Best of both worlds, and all it takes is completely ignoring the spirit of the law.
(Score: 2) by gnuman on Tuesday October 04 2022, @12:17PM (2 children)
Also patents expire. Since first battery of this type was patented almost 40 years ago....
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday October 04 2022, @02:23PM
That means, it should be in the public domain sometime in the next 60 years! Oh wait, this isn't copyright for books? Nvm, carry on.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Wednesday October 05 2022, @04:27PM
Eventually - but then you just patent some of your unpublished secrets and continue to exclude competitors. The technology has also likely continued to improve, and you can probably patent the improvements you can't hide, maintaining a competitive advantage. Not many people will buy a v1 instead of a v7, not unless you *really* overcharge.