Perpetual Heat-Energy Cycle: An Un-packaged View of Life

Our world depends on heat-energy cycle to run itself. Without heat power cannot be produced and without power heat cannot be generated. Yet, so much of heat that is generated in our industrial, office and residential lives goes wasted into the atmosphere. While so much is going on in the fields of renewable energy and recycling, there are more sources of material heat that are wasted than are utilized. Packaging is one example.

Packaging, flatter to discard

Among the various factors of energy efficiency, packaging has received rather lower level of attention. From a protection and aesthetics point of view, packaging has no doubt received attention to withstand different types of transportation or to cater to multiple discerning eyes. From individualized blister packs for pharmaceuticals to customized elegance packs for cosmetics, packaging has evolved as a fusion of technology and art. Packaging has become an important aspect of enhancing shelf life and securing brand recall, as a consequence. For some products such as food products, packaging is an important source of product and consumer information. It is not, therefore, surprising that packaging has become a specialized discipline.

There is yet another more fundamental packaging that has received attention as a different fusion of technology and art. This is nothing but the covers between which the basic products are locked or sealed. Most products are sealed in one or more of geometrical shapes, the most common being a cube or a hyper-rectangle, apart from a prism, cylinder or cone. Although complex industrial products are difficult to describe in such structured shapes, they are held together under shapes that variously mimic structured geometric shapes. One of the most extravagant cover design has been that of a transistor radio or cathode ray tube computer monitor in which the operating internals occupied less than a quarter of the boxed space. In amazing contrast, today’s cell phones represent increasing levels of cover to cover efficiency.

Usage efficiency

Despite its importance, pack is the first component of a product system that is discarded. Depending upon the product, nature and the stage of use, the usage efficiency of a pack varies from 100 to zero. A fruit drink tetra pack is an example of the decline over use, and ultimate discard. A milk sachet, on the other hand, gets discarded immediately after it is opened for use of milk. The box that covers a laptop gets discarded immediately after the product is opened. The box that covers a jewel may never get discarded at all. Clearly, the moment the need for protection ceases the package gets discarded. Over a period, if one billion products are used, one billion primary containers and more than one billion secondary and tertiary packs get discarded. The more paper, cardboard and plastic is used in the world the more is the level of waste.

While this is understandable, and probably inevitable, the product itself varies between 25 and 50 percent in terms of usage efficiency. In any product, what is not seen (the back and edges of the product) is wasted space while what supports the installation reflects passive yet essential usage. The slimmer the product, the lesser is the wastage on edge but the back remains as wasted as ever. Obviously, it must make technical, economic and market sense to try to use the whole of product. It would be wasteful to devise ways to achieve wraparound efficiency of products at costs higher than that of the wasted space. The product-pack conundrum would continue to evolve to satisfy the consumer but little is being thought of about packs as sources of energy.

Edging forward

Technology geeks would have noticed a product released by Samsung a few months ago, called Galaxy Note Edge. It has a display which is curved to the right as a single unit with the right strip displaying key information and notifications as well as health monitor, and leaving the main screen uncluttered for full display. Soon, the left side may also be edged forward to incorporate additional information and operating fundamentals. As much as the dual screen laptops and the transformer models, this edge design is a small but important signal that designers are finally warming up to the fact there is so much space in the products that could be put to beneficial use. As the pricing of Edge product indicates, the innovative design with additional manufacturing complexity and hence additional cost.

If edges are ready to be innovated would the back panels be far behind? Future phones may feature front and back displays with the back displays being dedicated for semi-dynamic special uses such as listing of important telephone numbers, health monitor history or news scans. Even accessories such as phone covers, and phone chargers could come with additional functionalities. A mouse may not just remain as a mouse. From the palm that holds the mouse, a range of health and emotional information may be fed to the computer and scrolled along the display screen. The basic driver of the edge-forward principle is that no surface of a product can be just passive; it is an opportunity for technological innovation and customer satisfaction. Taking technology forward, would packs and products be designed to support a perpetual heat-energy cycle?

Heat converters

Passive spaces can be used for displays in certain classes of products. In such products or others which generate heat they are also used as heat sinks or passive heat exchangers that spread the heat generated in the operation of the product into the atmosphere. From computers and cell phones to air conditioners and machine tools, heat sinks are an essential component of all mechanical, electrical and electronic which use or develop kinetic energy. This, however, represents, one of the most uncontrolled and wasteful dissipation of energy. Reverting our preamble, the larger surface area provides for greater efficiency of heat sink while leading to waste of more material and space. Miniaturization makes the principle of operation of heat sink more challenging.

While technology has developed a lot, technology to convert heat from a range of day to day heat generating sources, from devices and equipment in shop floors, offices and homes into usable energy is yet to be mastered. While thermoelectric devices and solid state materials have been used to achieve this, a universally applicable and simple to use technology is yet to be developed. Thermo-galvanic technology is being attempted by MIT and Stanford researchers. Other researches are working on nanotechnology to convert heat directly into electricity. However, most promising developments are still in laboratory stage and need new breakthroughs to become commercially usable.

Power accumulators

The key to capturing all of the waste energy from devices and equipment in factories, homes and offices lies in the development of reverse batteries which can be connected to the heat generating sources and converting the heat energy into storable electricity. The time is ripe for widening the concept of rechargeable batteries, as essential energy accumulators at homes, offices and factories. They should be available in multiple storage capacities and should be capable of connecting to laptops, computers, televisions, fitness equipment, machine tools, stoves, and any other device that generates kinetic energy. The power accumulators at the flick of the switch should be able to provide electricity to devices.

Rechargeable batteries have been in vogue for decades. Conventional rechargeable batteries take power or charge from electricity. The power accumulators being talked of here require the technology to convert heat directly into electricity. As discussed in the previous section, the technology is in the making and would see commercial light sooner than later. Also, conventional batteries need to be developed with casing that is water and dust proof and can be installed in the open, to be exposed to and accept solar energy. The key is to develop right-sized rechargeable batteries that can be connected to all heat sources in a typical factory, office and home, from diesel generator set or a boiler, computer or air conditioner and kitchen stove to tube light. In fact, as technology, such heat and power accumulators should come as original equipment accessories.  

Incinerators and converters

Reverting to the opening part, billions of products being consumed by the billion plus population of India generate more than billions of packaging materials. The amount of newspapers, magazines, packaging paper, card  boards and other packing materials generate millions of tonnes of garbage that is either mixed up with wet wastage and is rendered unfit for recycling or just wasted through random dumping or burning. If each neighborhood has an incinerator to which burnable material is channeled daily, there would be great potential to generate heat based power in all communities. The ultimate solution is to have a home based, commercially viable incinerator solution.

Rural areas as opposed to urban areas provide an even greater opportunity to convert dry waste, wet waste or even mixed waste into heat and power or flakes and compost. These outputs can be appropriately integrated with the agrarian and farm lifestyles that are more flexible and open, relative to urban systems and structures. There are available as technologies but need to be commercialized with continued technological developments on one hand and fiscal incentives on the other. The key, of course, is a mind-set change that encourages tackling waste at source, rather than collect waste and make it an unmanageable collection, distribution and conversion problem.  

  

An anti-waste mind-set

The mind-set change must focus on unpacking simple products at the point of sale, once the product is purchased. This would represent the best way to deliver products and preserve packs for centralized recycling or power generation. Agencies which install large equipment in homes, offices or factories must take back the packaging materials. Similarly, a home, office or a factory must have its own incinerator or waste converter cum power generator. Wherever heat exists there should be a heat sink. A perpetual heat-energy cycle needs an un-packed view of life!

Posted by Dr CB Rao on February 1, 2015   

   

     

  

Human Attributes in Technical Lens: Effective Expectations with Practical Limits

Human being is characterized by an ability and a need to socialize. The dependence on, and relationship with, other human beings is one of the key shapers of human relations in an organization. While individual plays a very significant role in organizational performance, his or her performance as a member is dependent on his or her social characteristics. There are many efforts to describe the social skills or personality traits. Broad spectrum descriptors such as extrovert or introvert and narrow spectrum adjectives such as adaptive, flexible, aggressive, docile are often used to characterize personality types, and encourage people develop on the lines relevant to their teams, and the organizations. In each case, these are further described by several other adjectives or sentences, which lead to considerable ambiguity.

The issue with the use of general language is that many of these words are general purpose and open ended. For example, when one says adaptability is a desired characteristic, questions arise as to “how adaptable is adaptable”. More fundamentally, the question is whether it is unquestionably desirable to be adaptable without any limits. Several other descriptors raise similar doubts. For example, does it pay to be uncompromisingly tough when dealing with business partners across a negotiating table? The actual business practice, in due course, lets people know the desirable and avoidable limits. Still, the need to have better descriptors at a fundamental level remains. In this context, certain scientific and technical terms become useful as powerful descriptors of appropriate personality traits, and in some cases the organizational constructs themselves.  

Ductility

Ductility is the characteristic of certain metals that enables them be converted into fine threads. Most precious metals like gold and silver possess this property. This property enables the precious metals to be shaped into intricate jewels, enhancing the desirability and value. Individuals in organizations also need to be ductile, to be able to be drawn by experienced mentors and leaders into strands that hold the teams and organization together. Ductile persons are persons who can wade through cross-functional complexities of an organization, and hold the different sub-units together.  Like a master craftsman who understands the limits to ductility of a metal, the expert coach also understands the appropriate limits to ductility to which a person can be subjected to.

Malleability

Malleability is the characteristic of a metal that enables it to be pressed or formed (or occasionally hit) into different shapes without breaking or cracking. From a people perspective, malleability denotes the ability to be influenced or changed. Malleability is the most important characteristic that needs to be possessed by an individual who enters an organization after general purpose education or experience in another organization. Malleability helps a person fit into different roles of an organization or acquire new skills to be integrated. As with metals, however, extreme malleability does not provide any strength to the person. The leader who mentors the malleable person also knows the extent to which he or she can be molded without losing the basic characteristics of the person.    

Osmosis

Osmosis is the gradual passing of a liquid through a membrane as a result of which desired levels of dissolved substances or particulates are held back at or moved across the membrane.  In a people perspective, it reflects the gradual process of learning or being influenced by someone, as a result of close contact. Osmosis is a key aspect of organizational learning. An experienced leader acts as an effective membrane which lets only the noble characteristics of an individual pass into the organization. An individual who comes in with multiple experiences, some virtuous and some toxic, is rendered virtually toxin-free with well designed induction and learning programs at the hands of experienced leaders that act as osmotic programs of organizational purity and efficacy. The Japanese system of Sempai-Kohai is a great example of virtuous organizational osmosis, and needs to be adapted.

Eutectic point

A eutectic system is a mixture of chemical compounds or elements that has a single chemical composition that solidifies at a lower temperature than any other composition. This composition is known as the eutectic composition and the temperature is known as the eutectic temperature. On a phase diagram the intersection of the eutectic temperature and the eutectic composition gives the eutectic point. An organization is also a eutectic system wherein persons of diverse backgrounds are brought together to form a single union. An ability to understand the characteristics of different people and the conditions under which teams can effectively coalesce is a prime requirement of organization designers and organizational leadership. At an individual level, different educational and experiential perspectives can be amalgamated into a solid personality when the individual is treated as a eutectic system.

 

Semiconductor

A semiconductor is a solid substance that conducts electricity under certain conditions. Semiconductor chips as we know constitute the core of electronics and digital revolution. A semiconductor is neither insular nor conductor, and is itself a eutectic system. A mature executive in an organization is also like a semiconductor, letting the right amount of data, information and cultural inputs pass through him or her. He or she is also verily the chip which provides the processing power to the organization and also becomes the storehouse of institutionalized knowledge. Individuals and organizations would, however, do well to remember that just as continuous upgrades in chips (dual core, quad core) enhance processing power, the individual capabilities need to be continuously upgraded to enable progressively higher business competitiveness.  

 

 Impedance

Impedance defines and measures the resistance of a component or system to the flow of current. All individuals, teams and organizations unfortunately suffer from a level of impedance. Just as electrical impedance varies between different types of circuits (series and parallel) and has real and imaginary components (resistance and reactance), organizational impedance also varies by the design of organizational structures, the positioning and repositioning of cross-functional teams, the conductors used (the individuals deployed) and the leadership power that serves as the organizational motive power. Clearly, in the delivery of organizational goals and conduct of organizational processes, appropriate design of organizational circuitry is mandated.

Enthalpy

Enthalpy is a measure of the total energy of a thermodynamic system. It includes the internal energy, which is the energy required to create a system, and the amount of energy required to make room for it by displacing its environment and establishing its volume and pressure. An organization is truly a thermodynamic system that is driven by heat energy and works in the environment with competitive output. The energy of an organization is akin to the enthalpy of a thermodynamic system. The greater the enthalpy in an organization the greater will be the organizational effectiveness. Like enthalpy in thermodynamic systems, organizational enthalpy needs to be measured by the change in energy level. The greater the change in organizational enthalpy the greater will be its competitive advantage. Individuals need to increased levels of enthalpy to contribute to greater organizational enthalpy.

 

Entropy  

Entropy is the energy that is available in the system but cannot do work. Entropy in statistical mechanics is a measure of the number of specific ways in which a system may be arranged, often taken to be a measure of "disorder"; the higher the entropy, the higher the disorder. The entropy of an isolated system never decreases, because isolated systems spontaneously evolve towards thermodynamic equilibrium—the state of maximum entropy.  The concept of entropy has valuable reference as organizations become larger in scale. Builders of organizations need to find out ways to minimize disorder in organizations as they grow larger in scale and how the organizations have higher enthalpy and lower entropy. Individuals do need to remember that as organizations become larger, the focus on individuals reduces, in the process increasing both disorder and entropy levels. Individuals and organizations need to minimize entropy as much as they need to maximize enthalpy.

Organization as a powerhouse

Organizations are manmade. Given that they are at one level structural designs and at another level they are human, they act as thermodynamic systems at one level and at another level do think, behave and act as human beings. The key concept is that elements of science and engineering apply to organizations and individuals as much as they do to physical systems and their components. Organization designers and business leaders must devise approaches to maximize the productive energy of their organizations, and the people therein, as thermodynamic systems. Viewing organizations and the personality traits of teams through a technical lens, as discussed in this blog, provides a novel framework for sustainable organizational energy.

Posted by Dr CB Rao on April 21, 2013