tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80030758144910197952024-02-06T18:38:09.733-08:00Engineering & Transportation,News & Press - A Blog by F.Intilla (WWW.OLOSCIENCE.COM)olosciencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07007258673266741468noreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003075814491019795.post-7535073215911132962015-05-27T07:56:00.001-07:002015-05-27T07:56:12.127-07:00Research team explores a novel way to fabricate preforms for composites. <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpqbMhyakMBSat62fxeFMO4qiwGbz8x1akYry_EWuBqNhvXQ_ELsb42-7K2rPGprVgaN689Dsxn4Im-9u-LC7FIV1XR2ioF75J9_6W1lLu0LRz_hyphenhyphenUCaSA_yIIQqZbBxJ3zj5BOmszpQWX/s1600/19-researchteam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpqbMhyakMBSat62fxeFMO4qiwGbz8x1akYry_EWuBqNhvXQ_ELsb42-7K2rPGprVgaN689Dsxn4Im-9u-LC7FIV1XR2ioF75J9_6W1lLu0LRz_hyphenhyphenUCaSA_yIIQqZbBxJ3zj5BOmszpQWX/s320/19-researchteam.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Michael Keefe, Zhenzhen Quan and Tsu-Wei Chou are part of an international team of researchers that is examining the feasibility of using additive manufacturing to produce 3D preforms. </td></tr>
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Source: <a href="http://phys.org/news/2015-05-team-explores-fabricate-preforms-composites.html"><span style="color: yellow;">Phys.org</span></a></div>
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In the 1967 movie The Graduate, young Benjamin Braddock gets a now-famous one-word piece of advice about the future from a family friend: plastics.<br />
At about the same time, the University of Delaware's Tsu-Wei Chou, then a graduate student at Stanford University, sought advice from his adviser about future research directions. His answer contained two words: <a class="textTag" href="http://phys.org/tags/composite+materials/" rel="tag">composite materials</a>.<br />
Chou followed his adviser's suggestion and went on to become a pioneer in advanced composites, working over the years with a wide variety of materials and processes. Almost five decades later, he is still on the hunt for innovations that will make <a class="textTag" href="http://phys.org/tags/advanced+composites/" rel="tag">advanced composites</a> more affordable, reliable and functional.<br />
His latest breakthrough builds on work he did in the 1980s and '90s on textile structural composites. This technology applies braiding, weaving, knitting and stitching techniques to produce 3D reinforcements, which are then combined with a binder, or matrix, to make complex shapes.<br />
While textile structural composites offer such advantages as structural integrity, damage tolerance and cost-effectiveness, some fundamental technological barriers remain in their manufacture, which can lead to inconsistencies in performance.<br />
Now Chou, Pierre S. du Pont Chair of Engineering at the University of Delaware, is part of an international team of researchers that is examining the feasibility of using <a class="textTag" href="http://phys.org/tags/additive+manufacturing/" rel="tag">additive manufacturing</a> to produce 3D preforms. <br />
Their work is documented in a paper published in the web version of <i>Materials Today</i> on May 23.<br />
Additive manufacturing, also broadly known as "rapid prototyping" and "freeform fabrication," is a process in which an object is built up layer by layer from a computerized model. The technique enables direct fabrication of complex-shaped objects without tooling and machining, and it eliminates the need to join a number of single parts into a single complex one. <br />
In traditional processes, complex parts are usually built by assembling separate simple parts, which can lead to premature structural failure at material joints. <br />
Another advantage of this technology is that material composition can be changed at specified locations within a part at the processing stage, enabling various functions and graded properties to be incorporated directly during manufacturing. <br />
The process also shortens lead time and makes small-lot-size customization—even a run of just a single part—economical. <br />
Finally, in additive manufacturing, the material is placed just where it is needed, and the residual material can often be readily recycled or reused, reducing material waste. <br />
"All of these features make additive manufacturing an attractive option for composite materials development," Chou says. <br />
The paper reviews the state of the art within the scope of composites development and discusses challenges facing the broad adoption of additive manufacturing for directionally reinforced composites processing. <br />
Those challenges include the need for new CAD tools and engineering standards, difficulties in process monitoring, and limitations in part size, printing accuracy, layer thickness, and surface smoothness.<br />
Despite these limitations, Chou sees great potential in additive manufacturing of fiber-reinforced preforms, which, he says, are especially desirable for composite parts in aerospace and biomedical applications.<br />
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<a href="http://phys.org/news/2015-05-team-explores-fabricate-preforms-composites.html#"><img alt="" class="toolsicon ic-rel" height="16" src="http://cdn.phys.org/tmpl/v5/img/1x1.gif" width="14" /></a> <b>Explore further:</b> <a href="http://phys.org/news/2014-10-d-incorporates-quasicrystals-stronger-products.html#inlRlv" itemprop="relatedLink">3-D printing incorporates quasicrystals for stronger manufacturing products</a> </div>
<b>More information:</b> "Additive manufacturing of multi-directional preforms for composites: opportunities and challenges," <i>Materials Today</i>, Available online 23 May 2015, ISSN 1369-7021, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mattod.2015.05.001" target="_blank">dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mattod.2015.05.001</a>.olosciencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07007258673266741468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003075814491019795.post-45330513835458472992010-01-14T07:06:00.001-08:002010-01-14T07:08:31.799-08:00Next-generation autos go for global connectivity.<div align="center"><a href="http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/cadillacxtsp.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 260px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 176px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/cadillacxtsp.jpg" /></a> <strong><em><span style="font-size:85%;">Bryan Nesbitt, Cadillac General Manager, introduces the new Cadillac XTS Platinum concept vehicle to the media at the General Motors exhibit at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan. Touch navigational screens, Internet, communications systems: Automakers are ramping up an array of connectivity gizmos to lure consumers into buying next-generation vehicles</span></em>.</strong></div><div align="center"><strong>Source: </strong><a href="http://www.physorg.com/news182667847.html"><strong><span style="color:#ffff66;">Physorg.com</span><br /></strong></div></a><div align="center"><strong>-----------------------------</strong></div><div align="left"><strong>Touch navigational screens, Internet, communications systems: Automakers are ramping up an array of connectivity gizmos to lure consumers into buying next-generation vehicles. </strong></div><div align="left"><strong>Some of the whistles and bells on display at the annual North American Internation Auto Show underway in Detroit were purely cosmetic.<br />GM's Cadillac presented a prototype of its new XTS sedan that sported a dashboard minus buttons or dials. The black screen illuminates once the engine starts and the door handles light up for a few seconds when the </strong><a class="textTag" href="http://www.physorg.com/tags/car/" rel="tag"><strong>car</strong></a><strong> stops.<br />But most of the innovations put a premium on connectivity.<br />Paul Haelterman, vice president of research firm CSM Worldwide, predicted that five years from now 45 percent of the new vehicles sold in North America would be connected to the Internet, and nearly all of the luxury models.<br />"Having the car connected with the exterior world is a necessity," said Henning Schlieker, a technology marketing executive at BMW North America, told AFP.<br />The German luxury </strong><a class="textTag" href="http://www.physorg.com/tags/car+maker/" rel="tag"><strong>car maker</strong></a><strong> already has begun to equip all its BMW 5 Series, 6 Series and 7 Series cars sold in the United States with BMW Assist, a feature launched a year and a half ago.<br />The BMW Assist allows drivers to locate gasoline stations and their current prices, check weather forecasts and traffic conditions, access navigational tools such as </strong><a class="textTag" href="http://www.physorg.com/tags/google/" rel="tag"><strong>Google</strong></a><strong> Maps and Mapquest, and keep tabs on financial data.<br />The Cadillac XTS offers two separate back-seat screens, each outfitted with its own Internet connection and DVD reader.<br />Ford is launching its MyFord Touch system, which will be introduced first in the upscale Lincoln nameplate under the name "MyLincoln Touch" and then integrated into the Ford Focus in 2012.<br />With the Ford system, drivers will be able to listen to their favorite websites, including an audio version of the fast-streaming Twitter microblogs and music from the Pandora Radio.<br />The screens on next-generation vehicles function with touch commands when the vehicle is stopped, allowing drivers to change their selections without interfering with their driving.<br />Automakers assure that these new functions and Web access in vehicles pose no danger.<br />"We're in the business of safe transportation," Allan Mulally, the chief executive of Ford, said Tuesday at the Detroit show.<br />"You're best driving if you keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel," he added.<br />To avoid distracting the driver, the interactive functions are all operated by voice or by buttons located at the steering wheel.<br />At BMW the screens close to the driver only change when they are changed intentionally and there are no animated graphics or advertising windows that could divert attention, Schlieker said.<br />But in case of an accident, BMW also offers emergency system ACN, or automatic collision notification, which alerts authorities and emergency aid workers, pinpoints the location of the vehicle and provides an assessment of the gravity of the incident.<br />The auto show, which opened Monday in Detroit, the home of the Big Three US automakers General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, is scheduled to close January 24.</strong></div>olosciencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07007258673266741468noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003075814491019795.post-361511092540316932010-01-14T01:18:00.001-08:002010-01-14T01:20:34.106-08:00'Greenroads' Rates Sustainable Road Projects.<div align="center"><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2010/01/100113091646.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 225px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2010/01/100113091646.jpg" /></a> <strong><em><span style="font-size:85%;">Greenroads evaluates a road's environmental and social impacts. It assigns points for such things as using local or recycled materials, managing runoff and providing wildlife corridors. (Credit: University of Washington)</span></em></strong></div><div align="center"><strong>Source: </strong><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100113091646.htm"><strong><span style="color:#ffff66;">ScienceDaily</span></strong></a></div><div align="center"><strong>----------------------------</strong></div><div align="left"><strong>ScienceDaily (Jan. 13, 2010) — Road construction is a more than $80 billion annual industry in the United States. Yet nothing comparable to the LEED rating system for buildings, or the Energy Star system for appliances, exists for highways and roads. </strong></div><div align="left"><strong>University of Washington researchers and global engineering firm CH2M Hill have unveiled Greenroads, a rating system for sustainable road design and construction. Environmental, economic and social impacts are included. The system outlines minimum requirements to qualify as a green roadway, including a noise mitigation plan, storm-water management plan and waste management plan. It also allows up to 118 points for voluntary actions such as minimizing light pollution, using recycled materials, incorporating quiet pavement and accommodating non-motorized transportation.<br />"The LEED [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design] system has been really successful and has achieved a lot," said lead author Steve Muench, a UW assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering. "Roads are a big chunk of the construction industry that has an opportunity to participate more fully in sustainability practices. I think there's a lot of opportunity there."<br />The first complete version of Greenroads is now available at www.greenroads.us. Muench presented the project January 13 at the Transportation Research Board's annual meeting in Washington, D.C.<br />The rating system was developed during the past three years by the UW Greenroads team and collaborators at CH2M Hill.<br />Greenroads' aims are threefold: to recognize companies already using sustainable methods; to provide a catalog of ideas for greener practices; and to offer an incentive for agencies and companies to build more environmentally friendly roads. The system can be used either for new road projects or for upgrades on existing roads.<br />"This helps our industry become more sustainable and shows the public that we can deliver sustainable roadways," said Tim Bevan, west region technology manager at CH2M Hill. "To some, it has not been perceived to be that important, but more and more we're finding the public is concerned about the environmental impacts of roadways."<br />A number of government agencies have already expressed interest in the project, including the Oregon Department of Transportation and the British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Highways.<br />Managers can have their projects rated for a fee by contacting the Greenroads team. Right now, limited staff means only some projects can be rated. In the long term, the team hopes to allow qualified third-party consultants to do the ratings.<br />"We've had a lot of positive response," Muench said. "It's quickly becoming something that needs to be more than a research project."<br />Greenroads originated in 2007 when Martina Söderlund, a graduate student from Sweden, came to the UW through the Valle Scholarship and Scandinavian Exchange Program.<br />"She was interested in sustainability and I was interested in roads, so we put our heads together and came up with this," said Muench, who was Söderlund's adviser for her master's thesis.<br />Now that the thesis has evolved into a complete document, the team is hoping to get feedback on the system's ease of use, choice of credits and the point value assigned to each credit.<br />"This first version is just a starting point. We'd like to know what industry thinks of the system and get their help in developing it further," Muench said.<br />Research funding was provided by Transportation Northwest at the UW, the State Pavement Technology Consortium, Western Federal Lands Highway Division and the Oregon Department of Transportation. CH2M Hill contributed staff time to the project. </strong></div><div align="left"><strong>Story Source:<br />Adapted from materials provided by </strong><a class="blue" href="http://www.washington.edu/" rel="nofollow"><strong>University of Washington</strong></a><strong>, via </strong><a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/" rel="nofollow"><strong>EurekAlert!</strong></a><strong>, a service of AAAS. </strong></div>olosciencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07007258673266741468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003075814491019795.post-38557496035996553332010-01-12T07:44:00.000-08:002010-01-12T07:47:33.622-08:00Honda beats Toyota to a sporty hybrid for US market.<div align="center"><a href="http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/thenewhondac.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 260px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 173px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/thenewhondac.jpg" /></a> <strong>Source: </strong><a href="http://www.physorg.com/news182497212.html"><strong><span style="color:#ffff66;">Physorg.com</span></strong></a></div><div align="center"><strong>----------------------</strong></div><div align="left"><span style="font-size:85%;"><em><strong>The new Honda CR-Z is on display at the North American International Auto Show January 11 in Detroit, Michigan. Honda unveiled a sporty new hybrid vehicle Monday that will land in US showrooms this summer -- at least two years ahead of a similar prototype introduced by rival Toyota.</strong></em></span></div><div align="left"><em><span style="font-size:85%;"><strong></strong></span></em> </div><div align="left"><strong>Honda unveiled a sporty new hybrid vehicle that will land in US showrooms this summer -- at least two years ahead of a similar prototype introduced by rival Toyota. </strong></div><div align="left"><strong>"Now, I know you've heard from others with plans to offer up a product in this new segment," said American Honda Motor vice president John Mendel.<br />"But this is a real car coming to you in just a few months."<br />The Honda CR-Z is a sporty two-seater designed to evoke memories of the Japanese automaker's popular but now defunct CR-X.<br />It will build on Honda's existing US lineup of hybrid vehicles -- the Civic and the Insight. The automaker also announced plans to add hybrids to its luxury Acura brand. Related article: Optimism at </strong><a class="textTag" href="http://www.physorg.com/tags/detroit+auto+show/" rel="tag"><strong>Detroit auto show</strong></a><br /><strong>"CR-Z is an altogether new vision -- a renaissance if you will -- for a car of the future," Mendel said.<br />"The CR-Z was developed for a more discerning customer who is seeking a unique combination of forward-looking style, fun-to-drive spirit, advanced safety and </strong><a class="textTag" href="http://www.physorg.com/tags/fuel+efficiency/" rel="tag"><strong>fuel efficiency</strong></a><strong>."<br />Toyota, which is expected to introduce eight new hybrids in the next few years, introduced a prototype of a two-seater hybrid with somewhat less of a sporty style.<br />The FT-CH concept car is aimed at Toyota's strategy "to offer a wider variety of conventional hybrid choices to its customers," as it begins to introduce plug-in hybrids and battery-powered vehicles in global markets, the company said.<br />It is expected to go on sale in 2012.<br />Honda was the first automaker to introduce a mass market hybrid in 1999 with the hatch-back two door Insight, revived last year as a roomier four-door.<br />But Toyota soon dominated the hybrid market with its popular dedicated model, the Prius.<br />Honda said it is continuing to forge ahead in developing alternative powertrains and plans to introduce an all-electric commuter car to the US market in the coming years.<br />"We continue to believe that a </strong><a class="textTag" href="http://www.physorg.com/tags/fuel+cell/" rel="tag"><strong>fuel cell</strong></a><strong> electric vehicle is the ultimate solution to reducing CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions," said Takanobu Ito, president and chief executive officer of </strong><a class="textTag" href="http://www.physorg.com/tags/honda+motor/" rel="tag"><strong>Honda Motor</strong></a><strong>.<br />"A fuel cell car is a full electric vehicle, but rather than use electricity from the grid, a fuel cell vehicle generates electricity on board and refills more quickly."<br />While the technology already exists to build fuel cell vehicles, Ito said the manufacturing costs must come down and the infrastructure to support hydrogen fueling must be developed.<br />"But make no mistake. As a vehicle, the Honda FCX Clarity is ready now," he said.<br />"Further, Honda is unique in making long-term investments to develop the refueling infrastructure for alternative fuel vehicles."<br />The automaker will begin operating its next-generation solar hydrogen station at its Los Angeles research station later this month.<br />Under the system, which could fit on the roof of a typical US home, solar panels help transform water into hydrogen fuel.<br />The latest generation eliminates the need for a costly compressor and also allows the system to be small enough to fit in a standard garage.<br />But Ito said expanding the use of hybrid vehicles is the "most important" near-term approach.<br />"To increase the opportunity for more customers to choose a hybrid we must be able to meet different needs with family, luxury and sporty hybrid vehicles," he said.<br />"We will apply hybrid systems which are compact, lightweight and affordable to a wider range of products in the near future."</strong></div>olosciencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07007258673266741468noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003075814491019795.post-52730197306774300782010-01-11T13:47:00.001-08:002010-01-11T13:47:59.809-08:00Statistics Page<p align="center"><a title="free world map tracker" href="http://24counter.com/vmap/1258031813/"><img title="free world map counter" border="1" alt="world map hits counter" src="http://24counter.com/map/view.php?type=180&id=1258031813" /></a></p><div align="center"><br /><a href="http://24counter.com/map/">map counter</a><br /><br /><a href="http://24counter.com/cc_stats/1258031831/" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="blog counter" src="http://24counter.com/online/ccc.php?id=1258031831" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://24counter.com/">blog counter</a><br /><br /><a href="http://24counter.com/conline/1258031831/" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="visitors by country counter" src="http://24counter.com/online/fcc.php?id=1258031831" /></a><br /><a href="http://24counter.com/" target="_blank">flag counter</a></div>olosciencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07007258673266741468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003075814491019795.post-11855417073107564872009-07-17T01:31:00.001-07:002009-07-17T01:33:06.582-07:00Hydrogen Technology Steams Ahead<div align="center"><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2009/07/090708073944.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 199px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2009/07/090708073944.jpg" /></a><span style="color:#ffff66;"> </span><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090708073944.htm"><strong><span style="color:#ffff66;">SOURCE</span></strong></a></div><div align="center"> </div><div align="left">ScienceDaily (July 17, 2009) — Could the cars and laptops of the future be fuelled by old chip fat? Engineers at the University of Leeds believe so, and are developing an energy efficient, environmentally-friendly hydrogen production system. The system enables hydrogen to be extracted from waste materials, such as vegetable oil and the glycerol by-product of bio-diesel. The aim is to create the high purity hydrogen-based fuel necessary not only for large-scale power production, but also for smaller portable fuel cells. </div><div align="left">Dr Valerie Dupont from the School of Process, Environmental and Materials Engineering (SPEME) says: “I can foresee a time when the processes we are investigating could help ensure that hydrogen is a mainstream fuel.<br /> “We are investigating the feasibility of creating a uniquely energy efficient method of hydrogen production which uses air rather than burners to heat the raw product. Our current research will improve the sustainability of this process and reduce its carbon emissions.”<br />A grant of over £400k has been awarded to the University by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) within a consortium of 12 institutions known as SUPERGEN Sustainable Hydrogen Delivery.<br />Hydrogen is widely considered to be a potential replacement for fossil fuels, but it is costly to extract. There are also often high levels of greenhouse gases emitted during conventional methods of production.<br />The system being developed at Leeds – known as Unmixed and Sorption-Enhanced Steam Reforming - mixes waste products with steam to release hydrogen and is potentially cheaper, cleaner and more energy efficient.<br />A hydrocarbon-based fuel from plant or waste sources is mixed with steam in a catalytic reactor, generating hydrogen and carbon dioxide along with excess water. The water is then easily condensed by cooling and the carbon dioxide is removed in-situ by a solid sorbent material.<br />Dr Dupont says: “It’s becoming increasingly necessary for scientists devising new technologies to limit the amount of carbon dioxide they release. This project takes us one step closer to these goals – once we have technologies that enable us to produce hydrogen sustainably, the infrastructure to support its use will grow.”<br />“We firmly believe that these advanced steam reforming processes have great potential for helping to build the hydrogen economy. Our primary focus now is to ensure the materials we rely on - both to catalyse the desired reaction and to capture the carbon dioxide – can be used over and over again without losing their efficacy.”<br />Adapted from materials provided by <a class="blue" href="http://www.leeds.ac.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">University of Leeds</a>. </div>olosciencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07007258673266741468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003075814491019795.post-30596432267478402882009-07-15T22:56:00.001-07:002009-07-15T22:57:53.960-07:00Blind Can Take Wheel With Newly Designed Vehicle<div align="center"><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2009/07/090715160813.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 192px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2009/07/090715160813.jpg" /></a><span style="color:#ffff66;"> </span><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090715160813.htm"><strong><span style="color:#ffff66;">SOURCE</span></strong></a></div><div align="center"><br /></div><div align="left">ScienceDaily (July 15, 2009) — A student team in the Virginia Tech College of Engineering is providing the blind with an opportunity many never thought possible: The opportunity to drive. </div><div align="left">A retrofitted four-wheel dirt buggy developed by the Blind Driver Challenge team (<a href="http://www.me.vt.edu/blinddriver/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.me.vt.edu/blinddriver/</a>) from Virginia Tech's Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory uses laser range finders, an instant voice command interface and a host of other innovative, cutting-edge technology to guide blind drivers as they steer, brake, and accelerate. Although in the early testing stage, the National Federation of the Blind -- which spurred the project -- considers the vehicle a major breakthrough for independent living of the visually impaired.<br />"It was great!" said Wes Majerus, of Baltimore, the first blind person to drive the buggy on a closed course at the Virginia Tech campus this summer. Majerus is an access technology specialist with the National Federation of the Blind's Jernigan Institute in Baltimore, a research and training institute dedicated to developing technologies and services to help the blind achieve independence.<br />Majerus called his drive a liberating experience, adding that he drove before on Nebraska farm roads with his father as a guide in the passenger seat.<br />Sitting inside the vehicle, a blind driver can turn the steering wheel, stop and accelerate by following data from a computing unit that uses sensory information from the laser range finder serving as the 'eyes' of the driver, in addition to a combination of voice commands and a vibrating vest as guides. A member of the Virginia Tech student team sat next to Majerus in the passenger seat to monitor the system's software operations.<br />"It's a great first step," Majerus added. "As far as the differences between human instructions and those given by the voice in the Blind Driver Challenge car, the car's instructions are very precise. You use the technology to act on the environment -- the driving course -- in a very orderly manner. In some cases, the human passenger will be vague, "turn left" -- does that mean just a small turn to the left, or are we going for large amounts of turn?"<br />Also driving the vehicle was Mark Riccobono, also of Baltimore, the executive director of the Jernigan Institute, who also is blind. He called his test drive historic. "This is sort of our going to the moon project," he said<br />In 2004 Jernigan Institute challenged university research teams to develop a vehicle that would one day allow the blind to drive. Virginia Tech was the only university in the nation to accept the nonprofit's call two years later, said Dennis Hong, director of the Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory, part of the Virginia Tech mechanical engineering department. The National Federation of the Blind provided a $3,000 grant to launch the project.<br />"I thought it would be a very rewarding project, helping the blind," said Hong, the current faculty adviser on the project. "We are not only excited about the vehicle itself, but more than that, we are excited about the potential of the many spin-off technologies from this project that can be used for helping the blind in so many ways."<br />The team will bring the Blind Driver Challenge vehicle to the National Federation of the Blind's Youth Slam summer camp event held July 26 through Aug. 1 in College Park, Md. There, the team hopes to have teenagers who would be obtaining their driver's licenses, but cannot because of their blindness, drive the buggy.<br />Youth participants also are expected to remote control drive miniature cars. Additionally, the car is expected to ride in a National Federation of the Blind-sponsored parade in Washington D.C.<br />"I most look forward to learning as much as I can from these bright young students," said Greg Jannaman, who led the Virginia Tech student team in his senior year and graduated in May with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. "Blind students from across the nation apply to be selected to attend this summer camp. While we are there to provide an educational experience for them, I can only imagine the invaluable feedback and fresh new ideas that they will provide in return."<br />Jannaman is excited about the vehicle's success. "There wasn't a moment's hesitation with any of our blind drivers, whereas blind-folded sighted drivers weren't as quick to let go of their preconceptions," said Jannaman of Hendersonville, Tenn. "The blind drivers actually performed better than their sighted counterparts. An overwhelming sense of accomplishment overcame me as I simply rode along while Wes and Mark successfully navigated the driving course without my assistance."<br />Early models of the Blind Driver Challenge vehicle relied more on technologies for fully autonomous vehicles, previously developed by Virginia Tech mechanical engineering students as part of the DARPA Urban Challenge (<a href="http://www.vt.edu/spotlight/achievement/2007-10-29_victortango/2007-10-29-victortango.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.vt.edu/spotlight/achievement/2007-10-29_victortango/2007-10-29-victortango.html</a>). The student team redesigned the vehicle so that the blind motorist has complete control of the driving process, as any sighted driver would.<br />This change in approach led to new challenges, including how to effectively convey the high bandwidth of information from the laser sensors scanning the vehicle's surrounding environment to the driver fast enough and accurate enough to allow safe driving. As a result, the team developed non-visual interface technologies, including a vibrating vest for feedback on speed, a click counter steering wheel with audio cues, spoken commands for directional feedback, and a unique tactile map interface that utilizes compressed air to provide information about the road and obstacles surrounding the vehicle.<br />Riccobono knows of mock ups and non-working "blind driver car" set-ups from the past, but says this is the first working vehicle to put the blind and visually impaired in control of the steering wheel. "Blind people have brains, the capacity to make decisions," he said. "Blind people want to live independent lives, why would they not want to drive?"<br />Even once the technology is perfected, laws now barring the blind from driving and public perception must be changed, Riccobono said. "This is the piece that we know will be the most difficult," said Riccobono, adding that the car must be near-perfected before the National Federation of the Blind can truly push the car to law-makers and the general public. He said this effort will take millions of dollars in development.<br />The 2009-10 student team already is planning major changes to the technology, including replacing the dirt buggy vehicle with a fully electric car commonly used by traffic officers in downtown city centers. The all-electric vehicle would reduce the vibration which can cause problems to the laser sensor, and it will provide clean electric power for the computing units and that is better for the environment.<br />Hong is a National Science Foundation CAREER Award recipient. He received his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1994, and his master's and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering from Purdue University in 1999 and 2002, respectively.<br />Adapted from materials provided by <a class="blue" href="http://www.vt.edu/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Virginia Tech</a>. </div>olosciencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07007258673266741468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003075814491019795.post-38855804518513475432009-07-08T23:27:00.000-07:002009-07-08T23:30:06.319-07:00Physics Of Bumpy Roads: What Makes Roads Ripple Like A Washboard?<div align="center"><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2009/07/090707131834.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 226px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2009/07/090707131834.jpg" /></a> <strong><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090707131834.htm"><span style="color:#ffff66;">SOURCE</span></a></strong></div><strong><div align="center"><br /></div></strong><div align="left">ScienceDaily (July 9, 2009) — Just about any road with a loose surface — sand or gravel or snow — develops ripples that make driving a very shaky experience. A team of physicists from Canada, France and the United Kingdom have recreated this "washboard" phenomenon in the lab with surprising results: ripples appear even when the springy suspension of the car and the rolling shape of the wheel are eliminated. The discovery may smooth the way to designing improved suspension systems that eliminate the bumpy ride. </div><div align="left">"The hopping of the wheel over the ripples turns out to be mathematically similar to skipping a stone over water," says University of Toronto physicist, Stephen Morris, a member of the research team.<br />"To understand the washboard road effect, we tried to find the simplest instance of it, he explains. We built lab experiments in which we replaced the wheel with a suspension rolling over a road with a simple inclined plow blade, without any spring or suspension, dragging over a bed of dry sand. Ripples appear when the plow moves above a certain threshold speed."<br />"We analyzed this threshold speed theoretically and found a connection to the physics of stone skipping. A skipping stone needs to go above a specific speed in order to develop enough force to be thrown off the surface of the water. A washboarding plow is quite similar; the main difference is that the sandy surface "remembers" its shape on later passes of the blade, amplifying the effect."<br />Washboard road is familiar to drivers of back country roads the world over but also appears in some other surprising places in nature and technology. Just about any time a malleable surface is acted upon by a sideways force, you will get ripples. Washboard road is analogous to the little ripples that form on wind- or water-driven sand at the beach, and to the moguls which develop on ski hills. Motocross bikes and snowmobiles also make ripples. Washboard can also cause tiny bumps on steel railway tracks and even the read head in a hard disk can sometimes hop along the surface of the disk to make a washboard pattern.<br />In addition to Morris, the research collaboration includes lead author Anne-Florence Bitbol and Nicolas Taberlet of Ecole Normale Superieure in Lyon and Jim McElwaine of the University of Cambridge. Experiments were done in Cambridge and Lyon and results published in Physical Review E on June 26, 2009.<br />Adapted from materials provided by <a class="blue" href="http://www.utoronto.ca/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">University of Toronto</a>.</div>olosciencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07007258673266741468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003075814491019795.post-5323994185705508752009-06-27T08:45:00.001-07:002009-06-27T08:47:29.040-07:00Best Possible Cut From Gemstones With New Machine<div align="center"><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2009/06/090625074818.jpg"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" border="0" alt="" src="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2009/06/090625074818.jpg" /></a> <strong><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090625074818.htm"><span style="color:#ffff66;">SOURCE</span></a></strong><br /><br /><div align="left">ScienceDaily (June 26, 2009) — Emeralds, rubies and the likes are referred to as colored gemstones by experts. They sparkle and shine with varying intensity, depending on the cut. A new machine can achieve the best possible cut and extract up to 30 per cent more precious stone from the raw material. </div><div align="left">“We were astounded when our customer, Markus Wild, approached us and we were not at all certain whether mathematics could offer a solution for the very complex problem of volume optimization of gemstones,” says Dr. Anton Winterfeld from the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM. Jointly with his colleague Dr. Peter Klein, he will receive one of the 2009 Joseph von Fraunhofer prizes for the development of GemOpt, a new industrial process for the volume-optimized utilization of colored gemstones.<br />In contrast to diamonds, there are innumerable combinations of types and proportions of cut, and types of facet patterns for colored gemstones. When chosen correctly, the interplay of these variables ensures the luster in the stone, its shine. Sometimes just a few facets are sufficient to make a gemstone sparkle, sometimes several hundred. The task was to set limits on what seemed to be infinite and to calculate the optimal volume. The mathematical approach, which finally resulted in a solution, originated from the area of general semi-infinite optimization.<br />This involved a new type of algorithm, which had until now only been theoretically defined. The team at the ITWM continued to develop this approach and implemented it for this specific problem. The result is an outstanding achievement, also in scientific terms. The second essential part of GemOpt is process control, which Dr. Peter Klein has worked out. For this he ascertained precisely how raw gemstones behave when processed and transferred his findings to the control unit of the machine.<br />The machine runs fully automatically. First of all, the raw stone is measured. On the basis of these data, the computer calculates optimal embedments, proportions and facet patterns for different basic geometries. The customer then opts for one of the proposed solutions and the machine begins cutting. The process control unit is finely balanced, so that the machine does not split the stones as it cuts them.<br />The system then moves seamlessly on to the polishing step. The 17 axes ensure that the stone can move along any desired path. The machine cuts the facets to ten micrometers exactly – the stones are therefore perfectly geometric. A further advantage is that the machine can produce identical stones – ideal for necklaces. Cutting with the machine can result in up to 30 per cent more weight. This puts a significantly higher price on the stone.<br />Adapted from materials provided by <a class="blue" href="http://www.fraunhofer.de/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft</a>. </div></div>olosciencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07007258673266741468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003075814491019795.post-63718141250789227742009-05-25T02:13:00.000-07:002009-05-25T02:17:45.266-07:00Getting your V6 to act like a V8, while saving gas<div align="center"><a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/media/inline/blog/Image/ecoboost-engine.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 199px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.scientificamerican.com/media/inline/blog/Image/ecoboost-engine.jpg" border="0" /></a> <strong><a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=getting-your-v6-to-act-like-a-v8-wh-2009-05-20"><span style="color:#ffff66;">SOURCE</span></a></strong></div><div align="center"><strong></strong> </div><div align="left">The history of <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=better-engine-combustion">engine improvements</a> in the U.S. has tended primarily in one direction: raw horsepower. Engines have gotten bigger and more powerful over time—and that's certainly what automakers have used as a key selling point. But U.S. automaker Ford has decided to take turbocharging and direct fuel injection in another direction: <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=accelerating-an-energy-transformati-2009-03-10">fuel efficiency</a>.Yesterday, <a href="http://www.autobloggreen.com/2009/05/20/ford-starts-ecoboost-production-in-cleveland/">Ford began production</a> of what it's calling the EcoBoost engine: a new gasoline motor that employs turbocharging, direct fuel injection, <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=tuning-up-car-engines-09-05-14">variable timing in the valves</a> that control fuel and exhaust flow to make a smaller, lighter six-cylinder engine perform like an eight-cylinder engine.* When these technologies are combined, "you can now significantly downsize the engine," says mechanical engineer Dan Kapp, Ford's director for power train research. "The <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=new-fuel-efficiency-standards-too-m-2009-05-19">fuel efficiency</a> comes from a much smaller displacement engine providing equal or, in most cases, superior performance to the engine you're replacing."In essence, the new engine works by using the turbocharging to deliver more air to the fuel burning chamber, variable valve timing to fully flush exhaust gas after combustion in the chamber and then direct injection to overcome any <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=fact-or-fiction-premium-g">knocking issues</a>. </div><div align="left"> </div><div align="left">The company estimates the new engines—which will begin appearing in the Lincoln MKS and MKZ and the Ford Flex and Taurus this summer—can deliver at least 10 percent <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=new-fuel-efficiency-standards-too-m-2009-05-19">more miles-per-gallon</a> and therefore reduced emissions of carbon dioxide. By 2013, the company plans to produce 1.3 million vehicles with EcoBoost engines in them, including 90 percent of all Ford vehicles sold in the U.S.Of course, such cars will be more expensive than current models, though Kapp declined to specify a price tag, saying only that fuel savings could pay for it "on the order of two years or less" at today's fuel prices. That’s compared to much longer payback times for <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=diesels-come-clean">diesels</a> or <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=hybrid-cars-which-is-most-fuel-effi-2008-10-21">hybrids</a> (which Ford is also producing). Ultimately, the EcoBoost engine will also have to cope with <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=grass-makes-better-ethanol-than-corn">alternative fuels</a>, and Ford plans in the longer-term future to move more towards <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=hybrid-cars-which-is-most-fuel-effi-2008-10-21">hybrids</a> and <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=detroit-auto-show-reveals-electric-2009-01-14">electric vehicles</a>. But for the next decade or so, Ford will be relying on these engines to meet some of the <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=new-fuel-efficiency-standards-too-m-2009-05-19">new fuel efficiency targets</a> announced this week and reduce pollution. "What Ford is doing uniquely here is leveraging [EcoBoost] to deliver <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=new-fuel-efficiency-standards-too-m-2009-05-19">fuel efficiency</a> through aggressive downsizing [of the engine] as opposed to the performance type approach," Kapp says. But it remains to be seen whether a car company that has spent years and millions of advertising dollars touting the horsepower that can be gained from such improvements (at the expense of <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=new-fuel-efficiency-standards-too-m-2009-05-19">fuel efficiency</a>) can convince customers to change direction too.<br />Image 1: Lincoln MKZ engine. Copyright 2009—Ford Motor Company and Wieck Photo Database </div>olosciencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07007258673266741468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003075814491019795.post-4502843380622631422009-05-11T08:50:00.001-07:002009-05-11T08:52:34.082-07:00Battery-powered Vehicles To Be Revolutionized By New Technology<div align="center"><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090505124756.htm"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 198px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2009/05/090505124756.jpg" border="0" /><strong> <span style="color:#ffff66;">SOURCE</span></strong></a><br /><br /><div align="left"><strong><em>ScienceDaily (May 11, 2009) — Thousands of small electric scooters, bicycles and wheelchairs throughout Europe and Asia are powered by LifePO4 –- a material used in advanced lithium-ion batteries developed by Université de Montréal researchers.</em></strong> </div><div align="left">"It's a revolutionary battery because it is made from non-toxic materials abundant in the Earth's crust. Plus, it's not expensive,'" says Michel Gauthier, an invited professor at the Université de Montréal Department of Chemistry and co-founder of Phostech Lithium, the company that makes the battery material. "This battery could eventually make the electric car very profitable."<br />The theory will soon be tested, since the 100 percent electric Microcar that's set to debut in Europe this year will be and powered by the LifePO4 battery.<br />Phostech Lithium's production plant in St. Bruno, Quebec, produces the black LifePO4 powder, which is shipped across the world in tightly sealed barrels.<br />"The theoretical principle behind the battery was patented by a University of Texas professor in 1995. However, without the work of local chemists such as Nathalie Ravet, we couldn't have developed it," says Phostech Lithium engineer Denis Geoffroy.<br />Süd-Chemie, a leading specialty chemistry company based in Germany, first invested in Phostech Lithium in 2005. Now, just four years later, Süd-Chemie's total Canadian investments have reached $13 million and it stands as the 100% owner of Phostech Lithium. Phostech's St. Bruno plant began to produce LiFePO4 in 2006 with 20 employees and a 400 metric-ton capacity. Since then, Phostech has nearly doubled its staff.<br />"It is a battery that is much more stable and much safer," says Dean MacNeil, a professor at the Université de Montréal's Department of Chemistry and new NSERC-Phostech Lithium Industrial Research Chair in Energy Storage and Conversion. "In addition, it recharges much faster than previous batteries."<br />The NSERC Research Chair, funded in part by Phostech Lithium, will help investigate ways to improve the LifePO4 battery.<br />For Gauthier, Phostech Lithium is the product of academia and the business world coming together. "Even if we knew that lithium, iron and phosphate were theoretically promising materials, we had to make them efficient. We had to find the right voltage and maintain the right charging and discharging properties. This is where the university played a major role."<br />Adapted from materials provided by <a class="blue" href="http://www.umontreal.ca/english/index.htm" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">University of Montreal</a>. </div></div>olosciencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07007258673266741468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003075814491019795.post-41481537439550480132009-05-09T08:51:00.000-07:002009-05-09T08:53:40.083-07:00Will America's Power Grid Be Able To Keep Pace With Future Demand?<div align="center"><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2009/05/090507173706.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 337px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2009/05/090507173706.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="color:#ffff66;"> </span><strong><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090507173706.htm"><span style="color:#ffff66;">SOURCE</span><br /></a></strong><br /><div align="left"><strong><em>ScienceDaily (May 8, 2009) — America's power grid today resembles the country's canal system of the 19th Century. A marvel of engineering for its time, the canal system eventually could not keep pace with the growing demands of transcontinental transportation.</em></strong> </div><div align="left">More than 150 years later, America's infrastructure is again changing in ways that its designers never anticipated. Distributed and intermittent electricity generation, such as wind power, is rapidly expanding, new smart meters are giving consumers more control over their energy usage, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles may someday radically increase the overall demand for electricity.<br />The evolution of America's energy needs has forced scientists and engineers to re-examine the operations, efficiency and security of the national power grid. The creation of a more secure and efficient national power grid requires significant innovations in the way we transmit electricity and monitor its use.<br />To better assess the challenges facing the power grid, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory hosted a workshop that brought together power system and modeling experts from federal agencies, national laboratories and academia.<br />"Modeling and simulation have proved to be effective tools for the power industry on many levels," said Mark Petri, Argonne's technology development director and one of the workshop's organizers. "We need to develop a comprehensive and integrated approach that will enable us to better understand the full implications of an evolving power grid as we plan for future demand and power sources."<br />The workshop centered on the need for new methods to simulate the national power grid by modeling the creation and flow of electric power as well as the grid's connection to other critical infrastructures, such as transportation, gas, water and communications. Through detailed simulations of how electric power is supplied and transferred around the country, researchers can bolster not only the grid's security but also its reliability, efficiency and resiliency.<br />"Implementing smart grid technologies on a large scale will not be trivial," Petri added. "The challenges go beyond technical and economic issues. The smart grid technologies could fundamentally change how national power grid systems operate and respond to disruptions."<br />Because of the great diversity of ways in which electricity is created, distributed and consumed, engineers face a challenge in creating reliable models of large power networks. They have to deal with the intermittent nature of some of the sources (like wind or solar), optimize how power is transmitted and balance economic, security and environmental priorities when finding solutions.<br />"In the short-term," Petri said, "these simulations could help devise ways to solve the problem of grid congestion, which currently costs consumers many hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Even small improvements in grid efficiency that better models and simulations would produce would make the investment cost-effective."<br />The workshop, which was sponsored by U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate, identified barriers that a national grid simulation capability would need to overcome to be effective. The findings of the workshop appear in the report "National Power Grid Simulation Capability: Needs and Issues." According to Petri, an operational plan for a national power grid simulation capability that engages industry to better understand their needs, capabilities and concerns would support a more secure and reliable electric power grid system for the future.<br />Adapted from materials provided by <a class="blue" href="http://www.anl.gov/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">DOE/Argonne National Laboratory</a>. </div></div>olosciencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07007258673266741468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003075814491019795.post-37864685037417308022009-05-09T08:46:00.001-07:002009-05-09T08:48:05.873-07:00Animals On Runways Can Cause Serious Problems At Small Airports<div align="center"><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2009/05/090504171955.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 181px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2009/05/090504171955.jpg" border="0" /></a> <strong><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090504171955.htm"><span style="color:#ffff66;">SOURCE</span></a></strong></div><div align="center"><strong></strong> </div><div align="left"><strong><em>ScienceDaily (May 9, 2009) — It's a bird. It's a plane. It's a potentially deadly combination.</em></strong> </div><div align="left">A Purdue University study of 10 small Indiana airports found that animals can gain easy access to runways and infield areas, increasing the likelihood of planes striking those animals.<br />Animal strikes received national attention in January. Commercial pilot and Purdue alumnus Charles "Sully" Sullenberger was forced to land in the Hudson River after his plane hit a flock of Canada geese.<br />The study by Gene Rhodes, a professor of forestry and natural resources, documented that animals found ways through damaged fences or unfenced areas onto airport properties. Spotting deer, coyote and other animals in dangerous places was common.<br />"Just about every pilot we talked to at these airports said that during a landing they've had to pull up to avoid hitting an animal on the runway," Rhodes said. "With the size of planes using these airports, hitting a rabbit could flip a plane."<br />While Rhodes' study looked only at Indiana airports, he said there are thousands of airports all over the country that don't have the budgets to adequately fence their properties, endangering countless flights each year.<br />In the study, only four of the Indiana airports had fences around the entire perimeter, and even those had maintenance problems - such as holes dug under fences, access through culverts and holes in fences - that allowed animals onto the properties.<br />Despite the desire to keep animals away, Rhodes said airports often are a magnet for wildlife. Airports are required to own property around runways that is often rented to farmers. While that increases airports' meager budgets, those crops can attract animals looking for food.<br />"What you have planted affects what type of animals will be there," Rhodes said. "Even if you have certain grasses, you have small mammals that eat those, and those attract red-tailed hawks. A red-tailed hawk can bring down a small plane as fast as anything."<br />Previous studies cited in Rhodes' paper have shown that wildlife strikes cost more than a half a billion dollars each year and have been responsible for more than 350 human deaths in the last century. Travis DeVault, who co-authored the paper as Rhodes' postdoctoral researcher and is now a field station and project leader with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services, said wildlife strikes have become more common in recent years.<br />"Many of the most hazardous species are increasing in population size. For example, about two-thirds of the largest bird species have shown population increases during the past 30 years," DeVault said. "Also, air traffic continues to increase. More birds in combination with more flights leads to more bird strikes."<br />DeVault added that new technology means planes are quieter today, giving birds less time to detect and avoid being struck.<br />Rhodes' study suggests enclosing 100 percent of airport perimeters with partially buried fencing, which keeps animals from tunneling underneath. Frequent maintenance also is key because many of the animals observed during the study entered the airports through damaged fences.<br />"If airports can use this study to show their needs, it can allow them to go after federal grants they need to make improvements," Rhodes said.<br />The Joint Transportation Research Program of the Indiana Department of Transportation and the Aviation Association of Indiana funded the research. Rhodes said the next step is to determine viable economic uses that also will deter wildlife from the land around airports.<br />Journal reference:<br />Travis L. DeVault, Jacob E. Kubel, David J. Glista and Olin E. Rhodes Jr. Mammalian Hazards at Small Airports in Indiana: Impact of Perimeter Fencing. Human-Wildlife Conflicts, Fall 2008<br />Adapted from materials provided by <a class="blue" href="http://www.purdue.edu/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Purdue University</a>. </div>olosciencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07007258673266741468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003075814491019795.post-43546439715215905982009-05-08T00:58:00.000-07:002009-05-08T01:00:33.688-07:00Bioelectricity Promises More 'Miles Per Acre' Than Ethanol<div align="center"><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2009/05/090507141349.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 360px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2009/05/090507141349.jpg" border="0" /></a> <strong><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090507141349.htm"><span style="color:#ffff66;">SOURCE</span></a></strong><strong></div><div align="center"><br /></div></strong><div align="left"><strong><em>ScienceDaily (May 8, 2009) — Biofuels such as ethanol offer an alternative to petroleum for powering our cars, but growing energy crops to produce them can compete with food crops for farmland, and clearing forests to expand farmland will aggravate the climate change problem. How can we maximize our "miles per acre" from biomass?</em></strong> </div><div align="left">Researchers writing in the online edition of the journal Science on May 7 say the best bet is to convert the biomass to electricity, rather than ethanol. They calculate that, compared to ethanol used for internal combustion engines, bioelectricity used for battery-powered vehicles would deliver an average of 80% more miles of transportation per acre of crops, while also providing double the greenhouse gas offsets to mitigate climate change.<br />"It's a relatively obvious question once you ask it, but nobody had really asked it before," says study co-author Chris Field, director of the Department of Global Ecology at the Carnegie Institution. "The kinds of motivations that have driven people to think about developing ethanol as a vehicle fuel have been somewhat different from those that have been motivating people to think about battery electric vehicles, but the overlap is in the area of maximizing efficiency and minimizing adverse impacts on climate."<br />Field, who is also a professor of biology at Stanford University and a senior fellow at Stanford's Woods Institute for the Environment, is part of a research team that includes lead author Elliott Campbell of the University of California, Merced, and David Lobell of Stanford's Program on Food Security and the Environment. The researchers performed a life-cycle analysis of both bioelectricity and ethanol technologies, taking into account not only the energy produced by each technology, but also the energy consumed in producing the vehicles and fuels. For the analysis, they used publicly available data on vehicle efficiencies from the US Environmental Protection Agency and other organizations.<br />Bioelectricity was the clear winner in the transportation-miles-per-acre comparison, regardless of whether the energy was produced from corn or from switchgrass, a cellulose-based energy crop. For example, a small SUV powered by bioelectricity could travel nearly 14,000 highway miles on the net energy produced from an acre of switchgrass, while a comparable internal combustion vehicle could only travel about 9,000 miles on the highway. (Average mileage for both city and highway driving would be 15,000 miles for a biolelectric SUV and 8,000 miles for an internal combustion vehicle.)<br />"The internal combustion engine just isn't very efficient, especially when compared to electric vehicles," says Campbell. "Even the best ethanol-producing technologies with hybrid vehicles aren't enough to overcome this."<br />The researchers found that bioelectricity and ethanol also differed in their potential impact on climate change. "Some approaches to bioenergy can make climate change worse, but other limited approaches can help fight climate change," says Campbell. "For these beneficial approaches, we could do more to fight climate change by making electricity than making ethanol."<br />The energy from an acre of switchgrass used to power an electric vehicle would prevent or offset the release of up to 10 tons of CO2 per acre, relative to a similar-sized gasoline-powered car. Across vehicle types and different crops, this offset averages more than 100% larger for the bioelectricity than for the ethanol pathway. Bioelectricity also offers more possibilities for reducing greenhouse gas emissions through measures such as carbon capture and sequestration, which could be implemented at biomass power stations but not individual internal combustion vehicles.<br />While the results of the study clearly favor bioelectricity over ethanol, the researchers caution that the issues facing society in choosing an energy strategy are complex. "We found that converting biomass to electricity rather than ethanol makes the most sense for two policy-relevant issues: transportation and climate," says Lobell. "But we also need to compare these options for other issues like water consumption, air pollution, and economic costs."<br />"There is a big strategic decision our country and others are making: whether to encourage development of vehicles that run on ethanol or electricity," says Campbell. "Studies like ours could be used to ensure that the alternative energy pathways we chose will provide the most transportation energy and the least climate change impacts."<br />This research was funded through a grant from the Stanford University Global Climate and Energy Project, with additional support from the Stanford University Food Security and Environment Project, The University of California at Merced, the Carnegie Institution for Science, and a NASA New Investigator Grant. .<br />* to be published in the May 22, 2009 print edition.<br />Journal reference:<br />J. E. Campbell, D. B. Lobell, and C. B. Field. Greater Transportation Energy and GHG Offsets from Bioelectricity Than Ethanol. Science, 2009; DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1168885" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">10.1126/science.1168885</a><br />Adapted from materials provided by <a class="blue" href="http://www.ciw.edu/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Carnegie Institution</a>. </div>olosciencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07007258673266741468noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003075814491019795.post-69499631745779471122009-05-08T00:56:00.001-07:002009-05-08T00:57:59.511-07:00'Smart Turbine Blades' To Improve Wind Power<div align="center"><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2009/05/090501154141.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 187px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2009/05/090501154141.jpg" border="0" /></a> <strong><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090501154141.htm"><span style="color:#ffff66;">SOURCE<br /></span></a></strong><br /><div align="left"><strong><em>ScienceDaily (May 8, 2009) — Researchers have developed a technique that uses sensors and computational software to constantly monitor forces exerted on wind turbine blades, a step toward improving efficiency by adjusting for rapidly changing wind conditions.</em></strong> </div><div align="left">The research by engineers at Purdue University and Sandia National Laboratories is part of an effort to develop a smarter wind turbine structure.<br />"The ultimate goal is to feed information from sensors into an active control system that precisely adjusts components to optimize efficiency," said Purdue doctoral student Jonathan White, who is leading the research with Douglas Adams, a professor of mechanical engineering and director of Purdue's Center for Systems Integrity.<br />The system also could help improve wind turbine reliability by providing critical real-time information to the control system to prevent catastrophic wind turbine damage from high winds.<br />"Wind energy is playing an increasing role in providing electrical power," Adams said. "The United States is now the largest harvester of wind energy in the world. The question is, what can be done to wind turbines to make them more efficient, more cost effective and more reliable?"<br />The engineers embedded sensors called uniaxial and triaxial accelerometers inside a wind turbine blade as the blade was being built. The blade is now being tested on a research wind turbine at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agriculture Research Service laboratory in Bushland, Texas. Personnel from Sandia and the USDA operate the research wind turbines at the Texas site.<br />Such sensors could be instrumental in future turbine blades that have "control surfaces" and simple flaps like those on an airplane's wings to change the aerodynamic characteristics of the blades for better control. Because these flaps would be changed in real time to respond to changing winds, constant sensor data would be critical.<br />"This is a perfect example of a partnership between a national lab and an academic institution to develop innovations by leveraging the expertise of both," said Jose R. Zayas, manager of Sandia's Wind Energy Technology Department.<br />Research findings show that using a trio of sensors and "estimator model" software developed by White accurately reveals how much force is being exerted on the blades. Purdue and Sandia have applied for a provisional patent on the technique.<br />Findings are detailed in a paper being presented May 4 during the Windpower 2009 Conference & Exhibition in Chicago. The paper was written by White, Adams and Sandia engineer Mark A. Rumsey and Zayas. The four-day conference, organized by the American Wind Energy Association, attracts thousands of attendees and is geared toward industry.<br />"Industry is most interested in identifying loads, or forces, exerted on turbine blades and predicting fatigue, and this work is a step toward accomplishing that," White said.<br />A wind turbine's major components include rotor blades, a gearbox and generator. The wind turbine blades are made primarily of fiberglass and balsa wood and occasionally are strengthened with carbon fiber.<br />"The aim is to operate the generator and the turbine in the most efficient way, but this is difficult because wind speeds fluctuate," Adams said. "You want to be able to control the generator or the pitch of the blades to optimize energy capture by reducing forces on the components in the wind turbine during excessively high winds and increase the loads during low winds. In addition to improving efficiency, this should help improve reliability. The wind turbine towers can be 200 feet tall or more, so it is very expensive to service and repair damaged components."<br />Sensor data in a smart system might be used to better control the turbine speed by automatically adjusting the blade pitch while also commanding the generator to take corrective steps.<br />"We envision smart systems being a potentially huge step forward for turbines," said Sandia's Rumsey. "There is still a lot of work to be done, but we believe the payoff will be great. Our goal is to provide the electric utility industry with a reliable and efficient product. We are laying the groundwork for the wind turbine of the future."<br />Sensor data also will be used to design more resilient blades.<br />The sensors are capable of measuring acceleration occurring in various directions, which is necessary to accurately characterize the blade's bending and twisting and small vibrations near the tip that eventually cause fatigue and possible failure.<br />The sensors also measure two types of acceleration. One type, the dynamic acceleration, results from gusting winds, while the other, called static acceleration, results from gravity and the steady background winds. It is essential to accurately measure both forms of acceleration to estimate forces exerted on the blades. The sensor data reveal precisely how much a blade bends and twists from winds.<br />The research is ongoing, and the engineers are now pursuing the application of their system to advanced, next-generation turbine blades that are more curved than conventional blades. This more complex shape makes it more challenging to apply the technique.<br />In 2008 the United States added 8,358 megawatts of new wind-power capacity, which equates to thousands of new turbines since the average wind turbine generates 1.5 megawatts. The new capacity increased the total U.S. installed wind power to 25,170 megawatts, surpassing Germany's capacity as the world's largest harvester of wind power.<br />"Our aim is to do two things - improve reliability and prevent failure - and the most direct way to enable those two capabilities is by monitoring forces exerted on the blades by winds," Adams said.<br />The research is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy through Sandia National Laboratories. Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corp., a Lockheed Martin Co., for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.<br />Journal reference:<br />White et al. Operational load estimation of a smart wind turbine rotor blade. Proceedings of SPIE, 2009; 72952D DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.815802" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">10.1117/12.815802</a><br />Adapted from materials provided by <a class="blue" href="http://www.purdue.edu/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Purdue University</a>. </div></div>olosciencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07007258673266741468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003075814491019795.post-41496555776802030842009-04-10T23:28:00.001-07:002009-04-10T23:30:27.126-07:00Scientists Test System To Steer Drivers Away From Dangerous Weather<div align="center"><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2009/04/090408194818.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 224px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2009/04/090408194818.jpg" border="0" /></a> <strong><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090408194818.htm"><span style="color:#ffff66;">SOURCE</span></a></strong></div><div align="center"> </div><div align="left"><strong><em>ScienceDaily (Apr. 11, 2009) — Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) are testing an innovative technological system in the Detroit area this month that ultimately will help protect drivers from being surprised by black ice, fog, and other hazardous weather conditions.</em> </strong></div>The prototype system is designed to gather detailed information about weather and road conditions from moving vehicles. Within about a decade, it should enable motor vehicles equipped with wireless technology to transmit automated updates about local conditions to a central database, which will then relay alerts to other drivers in the area.<br />"The goal is to reduce crashes, injuries, and deaths by getting drivers the information they need about nearby hazards," says Sheldon Drobot, the NCAR program manager in charge of the project. "The system will tell drivers what they can expect to run into in the next few seconds and minutes, giving them a critical chance to slow down or take other action."<br />NCAR's road weather system is part of IntelliDrive(SM), a national initiative overseen by the Department of Transportation (DOT) to use new technologies to make driving safer and improve mobility. Officials envision that, over the next 10 years or so, motor vehicles will begin to automatically communicate with each other and central databases, alerting drivers to threats that range from adverse road conditions to nearby vehicles that are moving erratically or are running through a red light. The goal of the DOT is to reduce motor vehicle accidents by 90 percent by 2030.<br />The national program brings together federal and state transportation officials, motor vehicle manufacturers, engineering and planning firms, consumer electronics companies, and others.<br />An estimated 1.5 million motor vehicle accidents annually are associated with poor weather, resulting in about 7,400 deaths and 690,000 injuries, according to a 2004 National Research Council report, "Where the Weather Meets the Road." The report called for improving safety by establishing a nationwide observation system to monitor weather conditions along roads and warn drivers about potential hazards.<br />For the road weather portion of IntelliDrive, vehicles will use sensors to measure atmospheric conditions such as temperature, pressure, and humidity. An onboard digital memory device will record that information, along with indirect signs of road conditions, such as windshield wipers being switched on or activation of the antilock braking system.<br />The information will be transmitted to a central database, where it will be integrated with other local weather data and traffic observations, as well as details about road material and alignment. The processed data will then be used to update motorists in the area when hazards are present and, when appropriate, suggest alternate routes.<br />The incoming data would be anonymous. Officials are working on guidelines to allow drivers to opt out of the system for privacy considerations.<br />In addition to providing motorist warnings, such a system will alert emergency managers to hazardous driving conditions and enable state highway departments to efficiently keep roads clear of snow. It can also help meteorologists refine their forecasts by providing them with continual updates about local weather conditions.<br />Motor vehicle manufacturers plan to install the onboard equipment in every new vehicle sold in the United States within a few years as part of a voluntary program to improve driving safety.<br />On the prowl for bad weather<br />NCAR scientists and engineers are testing the weather piece of the system by collecting information from 11 specially equipped cars in the Detroit area. Test drivers are on the prowl for adverse conditions, especially heavy rain and snow. Engineers will analyze the reliability of the system by comparing data from the cars with other observations from radars and weather satellites. They will also look at whether different models of cars-in this case, Jeep Cherokees, Ford Edges, and a Nissan Altima - produce comparable measurements of weather and road conditions.<br />The tests, which began early this month and will run for about two weeks, will help the NCAR team refine its software to accurately process data from motor vehicles. In the future, the team also hopes to study which types of weather information will be most useful and how that information can be clearly and safely communicated to drivers, possibly through a visual display or audio alert.<br />"The results look very encouraging," Drobot says. "The tests show that cars can indeed communicate critical information about weather conditions and road hazards."<br />Processing a deluge of observations<br />One of the biggest challenges for NCAR is to determine how to process the enormous amounts of data that could be generated by about 300 million motor vehicles. The center has worked with the Department of Defense, the aviation industry, and other organizations to analyze complex weather observations. But the new system incorporates information from far more sources, and those sources are moving.<br />NCAR engineers are developing mathematical formulas and other techniques to accurately interpret the information and eliminate misleading indicators. If a driver, for example, turns on the windshield wipers in clear weather to clean the windshield, the NCAR data system will identify that action as an outlier rather than issuing a false alert about precipitation.<br />"It's not enough to process the information almost instantaneously," says William Mahoney, who oversees the system's development for NCAR. "It needs to be cleaned up, sent through a quality control process, blended with traditional weather data, and eventually delivered back to drivers who are counting on the system to accurately guide them through potentially dangerous conditions."<br />IntelliDrive is a service mark of the U.S. Department of Transportation.<br />Adapted from materials provided by <a class="blue" href="http://www.ucar.edu/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)</a>.olosciencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07007258673266741468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003075814491019795.post-61206500848657758922009-03-17T02:52:00.000-07:002009-03-17T02:54:20.999-07:00Controllable Rubber Trailing Edge Flap To Reduce Loads On Wind Turbine Blades<div align="center"><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090311085155.htm"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 250px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2009/03/090311085155.jpg" border="0" /><strong> <span style="color:#ffff66;">SOURCE</span></strong></a></div><div align="center"> </div><div align="left"><strong><em>ScienceDaily (Mar. 17, 2009) — The trailing edge of wind turbine blades can be manufactured in an elastic material that makes it possible to control the shape of the trailing edge. This will reduce the considerably dynamic loads that large wind turbine blades are exposed to during operation. </em></strong></div><div align="left">”Providing the blade with a movable trailing edge it is possible to control the load on the blade and extend the life time of the wind turbine components. This is similar to the technique used on aircrafts, where flaps regulate the lift during the most critical times such as at take-off and landing, "explains Helge Aagaard Madsen, Research Specialist on the project.<br />However, there is a difference. Whereas on aircrafts, movable flaps are non-deformable elements hinged to the trailing edge of the main wing, this new technique means a continuous surface of the profile on the wind turbine blade even when the trailing edge moves. The reason for this is that the trailing edge is constructed in elastic material and constitutes an integrated part of the main blade.<br />Robust design of rubber<br />In 2004 Risø DTU applied for the first patent for this basic technique of designing a flexible, movable trailing edge for a wind turbine blade. Since then there has been a significant development with regard to the project. By means of so-called "Gap-funding" provided by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and by the local Region Zealand it has been possible to develop such ideas into a prototype stage.<br />Part of the research has been aimed at the design and development of a robust controllable trailing edge. This has now led to the manufacturing of a trailing edge of rubber with built-in cavities that are fibre-reinforced. The cavities in combination with the directional fibre reinforcement provide the desired movement of the trailing edge, when the cavities are being put under pressure by air or water.<br />“In this project a number of different prototypes have been manufactured with a chord length of 15 cm and a length of 30 cm. The best version shows very promising results in terms of deflection and in terms of the speed of the deflection” says Helge Aagaard.<br />The size of the protype fits a blade airfoil section with a chord of one metre and such a blade section is now being produced and is going to be tested inside a wind tunnel.<br />The capability of the trailing edge to control the load on the blade section is going to be tested in a wind tunnel. This part of the development process is supported by GAP-funding from Region Zealand.<br />”If the results confirm our estimated performance, we will test the rubber trailing edge on a full-scale wind turbine within a few years” says Helge Aagaard.<br />Adapted from materials provided by <a class="blue" href="http://www.risoe.dk/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Risø National Laboratory for Sustainable Energy</a>.<br /></div><div align="center"></div>olosciencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07007258673266741468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003075814491019795.post-4995065587597447662009-03-11T11:41:00.000-07:002009-03-11T11:43:48.768-07:00New Design Means Cheaper, More Sustainable Construction<div align="center"><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2009/03/090303082813.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 300px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 450px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2009/03/090303082813.jpg" border="0" /></a> <strong><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090303082813.htm">SOURCE</a></strong><br /><br /><div align="left"><strong><em>ScienceDaily (Mar. 11, 2009) — People are always looking for ways to make something less expensive and more environmentally friendly – and a team of researchers from North Carolina State University has figured out how to do both of those things at once when raising the large-scale buildings, such as parking garages, of the future. </em></strong></div><div align="left">More specifically, the researchers have figured out a way to use 30 percent less reinforcing steel in the manufacture of the concrete beams, or spandrels, used in the construction of parking garages – without sacrificing safety. Dr. Sami Rizkalla, one of the leaders of the research team, says they developed design guidelines that use less steel while maintaining safety and reliability. The new spandrel design "simplifies construction for precast concrete producers," Rizkalla says. In addition to using less steel, the new design cuts labor and manufacturing time in half – significantly decreasing costs.<br />Greg Lucier, a doctoral student at NC State who was also crucial to the research effort, says the new design guidelines include a significant margin for safety. For example, Lucier says the spandrels could handle two to three times the maximum weight they would be expected to bear. Lucier is also the lab manager of the Constructed Facilities Laboratory at NC State, which oversaw the testing of the new spandrel design.<br />The new design guidelines stem from a two-year project that was launched in January 2007, with support from the Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI). PCI provided NC State with more than $400,000 in funding, materials and technical support over the life of the project.<br />The success of the project is already drawing interest from the concrete industry, with individual companies coming to NC State to get input on how to improve their products and manufacturing processes. For example, Rizkalla says, many companies want to collaborate with researchers at the Constructed Facilities Laboratory on research and development projects related to new materials, such as advanced composites, to be used in concrete products.<br />While researchers have published some elements of the research project, they will present an overview of the entire project – including new testing data – for the first time at the spring convention of the American Concrete Institute in San Antonio this month.<br />Adapted from materials provided by <a class="blue" href="http://www.ncsu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">North Carolina State University</a>. </div></div>olosciencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07007258673266741468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003075814491019795.post-47681527657154514572008-04-17T04:20:00.001-07:002008-04-17T04:22:22.352-07:00Electric Solar Wind Sail Could Power Future Space Travel In Solar System<a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2008/04/080415162612.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2008/04/080415162612.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="center">Source: </div><div align="center"><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080415162612.htm">http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080415162612.htm</a> </div><div> </div><div><strong>ScienceDaily (Apr. 17, 2008) — The electric solar wind sail developed at the Finnish Meteorological Institute two years ago has moved rapidly from invention towards implementation. Electric sail propulsion might have a large impact on space research and space travel throughout the solar system. </strong></div><div>The electric solar wind sail developed by Dr. Pekka Janhunen might revolutionise travelling in space. The electric sail uses the solar wind as its thrust source and therefore needs no fuel or propellant. The solar wind is a continuous plasma stream emanating from the Sun. Changes in the properties of the solar wind cause auroral brightening and magnetic storms, among other things.<br />The main parts of the device are long metallic tethers and a solar-powered electron gun which keeps the tethers positively charged. The solar wind exerts a small but continuous thrust on the tethers and the spacecraft.<br />“We haven't encountered major problems in any of the technical fields thus far. This has already enabled us to start planning the first test mission,” says Dr. Pekka Janhunen. An important subgoal was reached when the Electronics Research Laboratory of the University of Helsinki managed to develop a method for constructing a multiline micrometeoroid-resistant tether out of very thin metal wires using ultrasonic welding. The newly developed technique allows the bonding together of thin metal wires in any geometry; thus, the method might also have spinoff applications outside the electric sail.<br />Electric Sail For Space Travel<br />The electric sail could enable faster and cheaper solar system exploration. It might also enable economic utilisation of asteroid resources for, e.g. producing rocket fuel in orbit.<br />“The electric sail might lower the cost of all space activities and thereby, for example, help making large solar power satellites a viable option for clean electricity production. Solar power satellites orbiting in the permanent sunshine of space could transmit electric power to Earth by microwaves without interruptions. Continuous power would be a major benefit compared to, e.g. ground-based solar power where storing the energy over night, cloudy weather and winter are tricky issues, especially here in the far North,” says Dr. Pekka Janhunen.<br />Component work for the electric sail was carried out at the University of Helsinki and in Germany, Sweden, Russia and Italy. The electric sail was invented as a by-product of basic research done at the Finnish Meteorological Institute on the interaction of the solar wind with planets and their atmospheres. Work on the electric sail in Finland is currently funded by the Academy of Finland and private foundations.<br />The first international electric sail meeting will be arranged at ESA ESTEC in Noordwijk, The Netherlands on May 19, 2008.<br />Adapted from materials provided by <a class="blue" href="http://www.fmi.fi/en/index.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Finnish Meteorological Institute</a>. </div><div> </div><div><strong>Fausto Intilla</strong></div><div><a href="http://www.oloscience.com/"><strong>www.oloscience.com</strong></a><strong> </strong></div>olosciencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07007258673266741468noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003075814491019795.post-12766581186702362182008-04-16T22:10:00.001-07:002008-04-16T22:11:53.533-07:00Cycling More Intelligently<a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2008/04/080411150945-large.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2008/04/080411150945-large.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="center">Source: </div><div align="center"><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080411150945.htm">http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080411150945.htm</a></div><div> </div><div><strong>ScienceDaily (Apr. 16, 2008) — Cycling is fun – if you can find the right tread. But those who tire themselves out quickly lose the desire to conquer the world on two wheels. A remedy could soon be available in the form of adaptronic components which report inappropriate biomechanical stress. </strong></div><div>Modern bicycles leave nothing to be desired. 21, 24, 27 gears! For many amateur cyclists, such luxury is too much of a good thing. They change gear too infrequently and too late, get out of breath and don’t enjoy the ride. At the Hannover Messe in Germany (April 21 through 25), Fraunhofer researchers are presenting a bicycle with an intelligent pedal crank that helps the biker to direct his strength into the pedals.<br />There are two piezo-sensors integrated in one of the pedal cranks of this bicycle. One function of the sensors is to measure the forces that propel the rider forwards and show him how ‘evenly’ he is pedaling. In the exhibited prototype, the registered data are transmitted wirelessly in real time to a PC – in practical use this would be a device such as a PDA or a cell phone.<br />The integrated-function pedal crank is a result of the InGuss project, whose goal is to manufacture ‘intelligent’ cast parts, by directly integrating sensors, actuators and electronic components in the parts while they are being cast. In this project, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institutes for Manufacturing Technology and Applied Materials Research IFAM, for Structural Durability and System Reliability LBF and for Integrated Circuits IIS are developing the manufacturing technology and the components to be integrated.<br />The special feature of the bicycle pedal crank is that the piezoceramic actuators, sensors and electronic components are integrated in the light metal components during casting. This is no easy task, for the high temperatures of over 700°C that prevail during casting can destroy the sensitive electronic and electromechanical components. “We protect the components with special insulating materials, and adapt the process accordingly to prevent them from being damaged,” says Christoph Pille of the IFAM in Bremen. This would make it possible for the first time ever to integrate components such as RFID transponders during casting in such a way that they could not be lost, enabling components to be tracked, identified and protected against product piracy.<br />Heiko Atzrodt of the LBF is certain that this pedal crank demonstrator is just one example out of many potential applications for the technology: “Integrated sensor and adaptronic functions are likely to make their way into numerous products before long – for instance, sensors in aircraft parts could report material fatigue before it is too late. Integrated actuators make it possible to actively influence vibrations, too.”<br />Adapted from materials provided by <a class="blue" href="http://www.fraunhofer.de/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft</a>. </div><div> </div><div><strong>Fausto Intilla - </strong><a href="http://www.oloscience.com/"><strong>www.oloscience.com</strong></a><strong> </strong></div>olosciencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07007258673266741468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003075814491019795.post-14631590833761001682008-04-15T21:48:00.000-07:002008-04-15T21:51:15.269-07:00Road Safety: The Uncrashable Car?<a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2008/04/080412175201.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2008/04/080412175201.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="center">Source: </div><div align="center"><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080412175201.htm">http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080412175201.htm</a> </div><div> </div><div><strong>ScienceDaily (Apr. 15, 2008) — The largest road safety research project ever launched in Europe will usher in a series of powerful road-safety systems for European cars. But, in the long term, its basic, experimental research could lead to a car that is virtually uncrashable. </strong></div><div>A truck exits suddenly from a side road, directly into your lane only dozens of metres ahead. Suddenly, your car issues a warning, starts applying the brakes and attempts to take evasive action. Realising impact is unavoidable; in-car safety systems pre-tension the safety belts and arm the airbag, timing its release to the second before impact.<br />Such is the promise of the uncrashable car, coming to a dealer near you in the perhaps not-too-distant future. The system is part of the basic research undertaken by the largest research initiative into road safety ever undertaken in Europe.<br />PReVENT has a budget of over €50 million and 56 partners pursuing a broad, but highly complementary programme of research. A dozen sub-projects focus on specific road-safety issues, but all projects support and feed into each other in some way.<br />PReVENT is studying relatively cheap, even simple, technologies – such as parking sensors and existing satellite navigation – that can be retooled to enhance driver safety. But as part of its broad and deep approach to car safety, it is also diving into more experimental and medium- to long-term systems, innovations that could appear in five-to-ten years.<br />The uncrashable car is a theoretical construct that concerned a handful of PReVENT’s sub-projects. But it could become far more of a reality than anyone expected.<br />Of course, it is impossible to stop all car collisions, but the technology could be pushed to make it increasingly unlikely and mitigate crashes when they do occur.<br />For example, PReVENT project WILLWARN uses wireless communication with other vehicles to alert the driver about potentially dangerous situations ahead, while MAPS&ADAS reads sat-nav maps to track approaching hazards, like bends, dips or intersections. SASPENCE looks at safe driving distances and speed, while LATERALSAFE finally brings active sensing to the blind spot.<br />All have their role in the uncrashable car, as do many others within the broader project. But two projects, APALACI and COMPOSE, take this a step further, actively tracking the speed and trajectories of surrounding vehicles and other road users in real time. If one vehicle suddenly stops, or a pedestrian suddenly steps onto the road, they swing into action to rapidly calculate the implications.<br />Predictive collision detection<br />APALACI is an advanced pre-crash mitigation system built round the registration of other motorists and cyclists. In the APALACI system, sensors monitor the street or road immediately around the vehicle and collect as much information about a collision as possible, before it even starts to take place.<br />The system uses this data to decide on the ideal safety reaction strategy. Examples include controlled braking manoeuvres, controlled activation of the occupant restraint systems or pre-arming airbag systems. The car can react far faster than the driver, cutting speed by crucial amounts to ensure unavoidable accidents are less severe.<br />APALACI also developed a so-called ‘Start Inhibit System’ for trucks. It surveys the blind spot immediately in front of a truck and protects pedestrians or cyclists by preventing dangerous manoeuvres.<br />APALACI was tested in a series of vehicles like the Fiat Stilo, the Volvo FH12 truck, the Alfa Romeo 156 and Mercedes E350. It used laser sensors, radar, software decision assistance and a variety of other technologies to achieve the goal.<br />Tiny changes have a huge impact<br />COMPOSE, on the other hand, aims more specifically to keep others, as well as its driver, safe. It can apply the brakes if a pedestrian steps onto the road, or extend the bumper, and raise the bonnet to enhance occupant protection.<br />Tiny differences have a huge impact on car safety. Dropping speed by 1km/h can reduce accidents with injury by 3 per cent, while braking fractions of a second sooner is enough to reduce the damage caused dramatically.<br />The systems were tested in the BMW 545i and the Volvo FH12 truck, and they do appreciably enhance safety. But, for all their potential, these systems remain, for now, the preserve of the future.<br />“The teams developed sophisticated algorithms to track all these elements in the landscape,” explains Matthias Schulze, coordinator of the EU-funded PReVENT project and Senior Manager for ITS & Services at Daimler AG. “But they require enormous computer power to keep track of all the various elements, so this work is aimed at basic research, establishing how it could be done. It will be a while before in-car computers are sophisticated enough to use these systems.”<br />Nonetheless, they do provide tools that automakers can use to mitigate the potential for accidents, and they provide a clear research roadmap for the uncrashable car of the future.<br />Adapted from materials provided by <a class="blue" href="http://cordis.europa.eu/ictresults/index.cfm" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">ICT Results</a>. </div><div> </div><div><strong>Fausto Intilla</strong></div><div><a href="http://www.oloscience.com/"><strong>www.oloscience.com</strong></a><strong> </strong></div><div><strong></strong> </div>olosciencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07007258673266741468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003075814491019795.post-76663503325179636362007-12-09T05:08:00.000-08:002007-12-09T05:10:19.694-08:00Car Prototype Generates Electricity, And Cash<a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2007/12/071203133532.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2007/12/071203133532.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="center">Source: </div><div align="center"><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071203133532.htm">http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071203133532.htm</a> </div><div></div><br /><div><strong>ScienceDaily (Dec. 9, 2007) — The price of oil nearly reached $100 a barrel recently, but a new University of Delaware prototype vehicle demonstrates how the cost of the black stuff could become a concern of the past. </strong></div><div>A team of UD faculty has created a system that enables vehicles to not only run on electricity alone, but also to generate revenue by storing and providing electricity for utilities. The technology--known as V2G, for vehicle-to-grid--lets electricity flow from the car’s battery to power lines and back.<br />“When I get home, I’ll charge up and then switch into V2G mode,” said Willett Kempton, UD associate professor of marine policy and a V2G pioneer who began developing the technology more than a decade ago and who is now testing the new prototype vehicle. The UD V2G team includes Kempton as well as Ajay Prasad, professor of mechanical engineering; Suresh Advani, George W. Laird Professor of Mechanical Engineering; and Meryl Gardner, associate professor of business administration, along with several students.<br />When the car is in the V2G setting, the battery’s charge goes up or down depending on the needs of the grid operator, which sometimes must store surplus power and other times requires extra power to respond to surges in usage. The ability of the V2G car’s battery to act like a sponge provides a solution for utilities, which pay millions to generating stations that help balance the grid. Kempton estimates the value for utilities could be up to $4,000 a year for the service, part of which could be paid to drivers.<br />The technology will work on a large scale, he said, because on average 95 percent of all cars are parked at any given time. One hour a day of car usage is the average in America.<br />“A car sitting there with a tank of gasoline in it, that’s useless,” he said. “If it’s a battery storing a lot of electricity and a big plug that allows moving power back and forth quickly, then it’s valuable.”<br />Kempton already has one of those large plugs at his home. He has a 240-volt plug that gives the battery a full charge--or a range up to 150 highway miles--in just two hours. A smaller, standard 110-volt plug works but provides a full charge in about 12 hours. The smaller plug also moves less power for the grid operator when the car is in V2G mode, Kempton explained.<br />“The bigger the plug, the more power you can move, the more revenue,” he said, explaining that it cost about $600 to have the larger plug installed.<br />But even though Kempton is supplying power to the grid with the prototype car, he’s not getting paid for it--yet.<br />PJM, the grid operator for 14 states, including Delaware, is keen on the technology and hosted a demonstration of the V2G car. But PJM requires at least 300 megawatts to purchase power. That means the UD team and its collaborators must get 300 cars up and running.<br />The prototype car is a stepping-stone to that goal. Kempton is working with UD mechanical engineers Prasad and Advani, who plan to add V2G to the University’s hydrogen fuel cell bus. Next, the team, including the company that created the car, California-based AC Propulsion, will test the prototypes and fix any potential problems they bring to light. Then they’ll begin creating a user interface that will let drivers, for example, tell the car to never go below 50 percent charge while in V2G mode.<br />Helping him to learn what types of features potential buyers would want on the car and to identify potential buyers are business administration faculty member Gardner and her students. They’ve done a pilot survey of nearly 100 drivers that’s shown there’s a lot of interest in the technology, she said.<br />“We also want to provide information on how to market the car,” she said, so her team is asking people questions like how much they would be willing to pay for it and how they feel about driving a car that’s better for the environment than a gasoline-powered vehicle.<br />That last question gets Kempton, who also is involved in College of Marine and Earth Studies research on offshore wind farms, the most excited. He explained that even if the electricity used to charge the car is produced by a coal-fired power plant, the car itself produces no carbon dioxide emissions. If a wind farm fuels the electricity from the power plant, he explained, the car and its power source would be emissions free.<br />And even though the green aspect of the car is key for Kempton, he knows consumers might have some other, more practical, questions about the vehicle, such as, “What’s it like to drive?”<br />Zippy yet quiet, being behind its wheel is a thrill, he said. “I hate getting back in my gas car. It feels sluggish.”<br />V2G prototype specifications<br />The Car: Manufactured by vehicle technology company AC Propulsion; formerly a Toyota Scion, which was chosen because it is light yet provides plenty of passenger room<br />Emissions: The car itself produces no carbon dioxide emissions<br />Acceleration: 0 to 60 miles per hour in 7 seconds<br />Top Speed: 95 miles per hour<br />Range: 120 highway, 150 city<br />Battery Life: 5 years or about 50,000 miles (being tested and verified)<br />Recharge: 2 hours using 240-volt plug or overnight using 110-volt plug<br />Maintenance: No oil changes; brakes last three times longer because the car has regenerative braking, a mechanism that slows the car and returns power to the battery<br />Adapted from materials provided by <a class="blue" href="http://www.udel.edu/" target="_blank">University of Delaware</a>. </div><br /><div></div><div><strong>Fausto Intilla</strong></div><div><a href="http://www.oloscience.com/"><strong>www.oloscience.com</strong></a><strong> </strong></div>olosciencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07007258673266741468noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003075814491019795.post-91203167278131619322007-11-05T04:30:00.000-08:002007-11-05T04:32:22.454-08:00Wireless Sensors To Monitor Bearings In Jet Engines Developed<a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2007/10/071030160933.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2007/10/071030160933.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="center">Source: </div><div align="center"><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071030160933.htm">http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071030160933.htm</a></div><div align="center"></div><br /><div><strong>ScienceDaily (Nov. 5, 2007) — Researchers at Purdue University, working with the U.S. Air Force, have developed tiny wireless sensors resilient enough to survive the harsh conditions inside jet engines to detect when critical bearings are close to failing and prevent breakdowns</strong>. </div><div>The devices are an example of an emerging technology known as "micro electromechanical systems," or MEMS, which are machines that combine electronic and mechanical components on a microscopic scale.<br />"The MEMS technology is critical because it needs to be small enough that it doesn't interfere with the performance of the bearing itself," said Farshid Sadeghi, a professor of mechanical engineering. "And the other issue is that it needs to be able to withstand extreme heat."<br />The engine bearings must function amid temperatures of about 300 degrees Celsius, or 572 degrees Fahrenheit.<br />The researchers have shown that the new sensors can detect impending temperature-induced bearing failure significantly earlier than conventional sensors.<br />"This kind of advance warning is critical so that you can shut down the engine before it fails," said Dimitrios Peroulis, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering.<br />Findings will be detailed in a research paper to be presented on Tuesday (Oct. 30) during the IEEE Sensors 2007 conference in Atlanta, sponsored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. The paper was written by electrical and computer engineering graduate student Andrew Kovacs, Peroulis and Sadeghi.<br />The sensors could be in use in a few years in military aircraft such as fighter jets and helicopters. The technology also has potential applications in commercial products, including aircraft and cars.<br />"Anything that has an engine could benefit through MEMS sensors by keeping track of vital bearings," Peroulis said. "This is going to be the first time that a MEMS component will be made to work in such a harsh environment. It is high temperature, messy, oil is everywhere, and you have high rotational speeds, which subject hardware to extreme stresses."<br />The work is an extension of Sadeghi's previous research aimed at developing electronic sensors to measure the temperature inside critical bearings in communications satellites.<br />"This is a major issue for aerospace applications, including bearings in satellite attitude control wheels to keep the satellites in position," Sadeghi said.<br />The wheels are supported by two bearings. If mission controllers knew the bearings were going bad on a specific unit, they could turn it off and switch to a backup.<br />"What happens, however, is that you don't get any indication of a bearing's imminent failure, and all of a sudden the gyro stops, causing the satellite to shoot out of orbit," Sadeghi said. "It can take a lot of effort and fuel to try to bring it back to the proper orbit, and many times these efforts fail."<br />The Purdue researchers received a grant from the U.S. Air Force in 2006 to extend the work for high-temperature applications in jet engines.<br />"Current sensor technology can withstand temperatures of up to about 210 degrees Celsius, and the military wants to extend that to about 300 degrees Celsius," Sadeghi said. "At the same time, we will need to further miniaturize the size."<br />The new MEMS sensors provide early detection of impending failure by directly monitoring the temperature of engine bearings, whereas conventional sensors work indirectly by monitoring the temperature of engine oil, yielding less specific data.<br />The MEMS devices will not require batteries and will transmit temperature data wirelessly.<br />"This type of system uses a method we call telemetry because the devices transmit signals without wires, and we power the circuitry remotely, eliminating the need for batteries, which do not perform well in high temperatures," Peroulis said.<br />Power will be provided using a technique called inductive coupling, which uses coils of wire to generate current.<br />"The major innovation will be the miniaturization and design of the MEMS device, allowing us to install it without disturbing the bearing itself," Peroulis said.<br />Data from the onboard devices will not only indicate whether a bearing is about to fail but also how long it is likely to last before it fails, Peroulis said.<br />The research is based at the Birck Nanotechnology Center in Purdue's Discovery Park and at Sadeghi's mechanical engineering laboratory.<br />Adapted from materials provided by <a class="blue" href="http://www.purdue.edu/" target="_blank">Purdue University</a>. </div><br /><div></div><div><strong>Fausto Intilla</strong></div><div><a href="http://www.oloscience.com/"><strong>www.oloscience.com</strong></a><strong> </strong></div>olosciencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07007258673266741468noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003075814491019795.post-66325938206364198372007-11-05T04:26:00.000-08:002007-11-05T04:28:40.285-08:00Acoustic Sensor Being Developed In New Anechoic Chamber<a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2007/10/071030103916.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2007/10/071030103916.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="center">Source: </div><div align="center"><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071030103916.htm">http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071030103916.htm</a></div><br /><div align="center"></div><div><strong>ScienceDaily (Nov. 4, 2007) — The University of Alabama College of Engineering is developing a new acoustic sensor to be tested in UA’s new hemi-anechoic chamber. This new sensor could one day be used to help locate individuals trapped in collapsed buildings, such as after natural or man-made disasters. </strong></div><div>Typically, multiple microphones are used to measure the location of an acoustic source, but this project is aimed at developing a single sensor that performs the same task. Its applications will be useful in aiding the military, homeland security and emergency rescue efforts.<br />“It’s exciting to work on a project that could dramatically change the effectiveness of emergency response teams,” said Dr. Steve Shepard, associate professor in mechanical engineering. “For instance, if a building collapses, our sensor could locate the noises made by victims trapped under debris and help rescue those victims more quickly. The sensor could also be used for security purposes, such as monitoring the location and motion of vehicles.”<br />Once a prototype is developed, the sensor will be tested in UA’s new hemi-anechoic chamber, which is one of the largest in the Southeast. The chamber is a room that is isolated from external sounds. The walls and ceiling are covered with a very-thick, foam-like material that eliminates all acoustic reflections. Shepard stated that being in the chamber is, “like standing in a very large quiet field. You can almost hear your own heartbeat.” This isolation allows for detailed acoustic measurements on a wide range of structures.<br />Visually, the chamber resembles a high-tech recording studio. The chamber walls are covered by 2-foot thick, gray, triangular-shaped foam wedges. The 8-inch thick metal walls are filled with insulation made from recycled denim material. Additionally, the entire chamber and the supporting concrete floor, all 150,000 pounds, float on springs to prevent outside vibrations from interfering with acoustic testing. The entire chamber is located in the AIME Building, which has 18-inch thick exterior concrete walls, another sound barrier.<br />“This chamber gives UA unique acoustic testing capabilities that most research organizations simply don’t have,” said Shepard. “This is true particularly when it comes to testing large machines, structures, and even automobiles. We can now take acoustic measurements on a machine and not worry about the effects of reflections or outside noise. Our ability to better understand how that machine radiates noise – and develop ways to make it quieter – has been greatly extended.”<br />Shepard said there are several areas researchers hope to explore, including:<br />reducing noise through powered systems and soundproofing<br />health monitoring of machines<br />heating and air conditioning system components<br />Gear, bearings, motor and engine noise<br />Consumer product noise and vibration<br />Shepard was awarded the $120,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop the new sensor. UA’s College of Engineering is partnering with Tuskegee University, where researchers received an additional $100,000 grant for their contribution to this research project. Throughout the project, UA and Tuskegee faculty and students will have an opportunity to use the chamber to evaluate prototypes for the acoustic sensor.<br />Adapted from materials provided by <a class="blue" href="http://www.ua.edu/" target="_blank">University of Alabama</a>. </div><br /><div></div><div><strong>Fausto Intilla</strong></div><div><a href="http://www.oloscience.com/"><strong>www.oloscience.com</strong></a><strong> </strong></div>olosciencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07007258673266741468noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8003075814491019795.post-16929150710417928192007-10-22T23:43:00.000-07:002007-10-22T23:46:32.972-07:00New Wireless Bridge Sensors Powered By Passing Traffic<a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2007/10/071019175317.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2007/10/071019175317.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="center">Source: </div><div align="center"><a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071019175317.htm">http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071019175317.htm</a> </div><div></div><br /><div><strong>ScienceDaily (Oct. 22, 2007) — Clarkson University researchers have developed technology that uses the vibrations caused by passing traffic to power wireless bridge monitoring sensors.</strong> </div><div>Wireless battery-powered sensors that monitor bridges and report changes that may lead to failure are easy to install, but it is unwieldy to provide power for the sensors. Each bridge needs at least several sensors, many installed in hard-to-access locations. Replacing millions of batteries could become a problem, adding to the expense of maintaining the bridges. The Clarkson researchers have found a way around this problem.<br />"We have completely eliminated the battery from the equation," says Assistant Professor Edward S. Sazonov, who developed the technology along with Professor Pragasen Pillay. "Hermetically sealed wireless sensors powered by bridge vibration can remain on the bridge without need of maintenance for decades, providing continuous monitoring of such parameters as ice conditions, traffic flows and health status."<br />The two electrical and computer engineering professors, along with graduate students Darrell Curry and Haodong Li, used the New York State Route 11 bridge, a steel girder structure, which runs over the Raquette River in Potsdam, N.Y., as a case study.<br />Energy was harvested by locating an electromagnetic generator on a girder. The harvester responded to one of the natural vibration frequencies of the bridge. Each time a car or a truck passed over the bridge, even in a different lane from the sensor installation, the whole structure vibrated and excited the mover in the generator, producing electrical energy. Harvested electrical energy powered unique wireless sensors that increased energy output of the harvester and consumed only microwatts of power while performing useful tasks.<br />Sazonov and Pillay have been invited to present their work at the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies Meeting in Washington, D.C., in January. The board provides support for their research.<br />They are also working on using the energy harvesting technology to power the various sensors in passenger cars.<br />Wireless monitoring of bridges and overpasses has gained much attention in the past few years. Bridge collapses happen suddenly and unpredictably, often leading to tragic loss of human life. In 2006, the Federal Highway Administration listed 25.8 percent of the nation\'s 596,842 bridges as either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. While many of these bridges will remain in service for years, they need monitoring and rehabilitation. Currently, bridge monitoring is performed through periodic visual inspections. In the tragic example of I-35W Mississippi River bridge collapse, the bridge passed a visual inspection a year prior to failure.<br />Adapted from materials provided by <a class="blue" href="http://www.clarkson.edu/" target="_blank">Clarkson University</a>. </div><br /><div></div><div><strong>Fausto Intilla</strong></div><div><a href="http://www.oloscience.com/"><strong>www.oloscience.com</strong></a><strong> </strong></div>olosciencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07007258673266741468noreply@blogger.com1