James Bowery <jabow...@gmail.com> wrote: With active control you can go from a COP of 6 to infinite. Then the > question is how often does failure of the control system occur and what are > the cleanup costs. >
The "cleanup cost" in this case should be no worse than a ruined cell. Like a light bulb that fails long before the rated hours shown on the package, or an automobile transmission that wears out before the warranty expires. The only consequences should be that the manufacturer has to honor the warranty and replace the ruined part. (I had a manual transmission that wore out quickly because of a defective clutch spring. It was annoying but of no consequence to me. Why should I care if GM has to pay a few hundred dollars to my dealer? These things happen.) It is entirely conceivable, if not likely, that an active control version > will go to market that has a relatively low frequency of failure times cost > of cleanup. > Whatever the failure rate is, the manufacturer will have to measure it, and set the product price to take it into account. Some early transistors cost $10 or $20, replacing vacuum tubes that cost ten cents. The transistors were expensive for various reasons: It was a niche product, well suited for some markets. They could charge more and get away with it. The production failure rate was high. The failure rate after installation was high. Especially so-called "infant mortality" soon after installation was high. So they had to honor warranties. They built this cost into the sale price of the devices. As long as the buyer and seller understand the limits of the product and the failure rate, and as long failures can be contained to prevent danger or damage to the environment, there is no problem. - Jed
