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Compiled by: Dr Geetanjali Sawhney, Research Officer, INAE IT Service provided by: Solutions +91 9810154231
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Message from the President
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Dr.P.S.Goel
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From
the Editor's Desk
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Prof. A.K.Ghose |
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A booklet, containing
Sectionwise compilation of nominations to be considered for Election of
Fellows 2011 has been sent to the Fellowship vide INAE letter No.INAE/402
dated May 19, 2010
We should particularly look
for persons who have demonstrated eminence in their field/s of activity
related to Engineering/technology. Likewise an effort may be made to
identify comparatively younger outstanding persons, in order that the
academy has the benefit of their contributions in the coming future. |
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AICTE-INAE Distinguished Visiting Professorship Scheme
Based on the contributions of the industry experts and feedback received from the affiliated engineering colleges/institutions, the Committee decided to extend the tenure of the following industry experts by one year, i.e., upto June 2011.
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A ready-mix produces strong silicate-rock like that making up over 55% of the Earth's crust. Unlike nature's own, the artificial rock is made without heat or pressure. It is simply poured, stirred and left to cure. When mixed with rock aggregates, it forms rock-concrete. The technology that can change the landscape of tomorrow's cities is an ancient lost art rediscovered by modern science. Researchers analyzed pyramid stones and quarry samples for years. MIT professors tested the rock's high strength when modeling a pyramid with it. Researchers reports using the rock as a "valuable alternative" to glassification. The rock-concrete can serve to shore up coastlines to prevent flooding. It can be used to build fireproof, hurricane-proof mega-structures on a mammoth scale. It can fortify bridges in danger of collapse. It will strengthen limestone to prevent sinkholes. It can restore cultural heritage buildings being devoured by acid rain. A runway made with it will support a Boeing jet five hours after being poured. Extensive use could prevent weather and fire damage to structures.
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Efforts to extend the life of
structures and reduce repair costs have led engineers to develop "smart
materials" that have self-healing properties, but many of these new
materials are difficult to commercialize. A new self-healing concrete
developed by researchers may prove to be cost-effective. They embedded a
microencapsulated sodium silicate healing agent directly into a concrete
matrix. When tiny stress cracks begin to form in the concrete, the
capsules rupture and release the healing agent into the adjacent areas.
The sodium silicate reacts with the calcium hydroxide naturally present in
the concrete to form a calcium-silica-hydrate product to heal the cracks
and block the pores in the concrete. The chemical reaction creates a
gel-like material that hardens in about one week. One additional advantage
to the use of self-healing concrete is that it could reduce the
significant CO2 emissions that result from concrete production. Because
the production of concrete is very energy intensive the industry is
responsible for about 10 percent of all CO2 emissions in the United
States. If self-healing concrete can lengthen the life of the concrete and
reduce maintenance and repairs, it will ultimately reduce the production
of excess amounts of concrete and result in a decrease in CO2 emissions. |
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An engineer at Buro Happold
has developed a software App that enables Building Information Models to
be viewed on iPhones. And now, the launch of the BIM App for the iPad will
allow building design engineers to view such models on a much larger
scale. Building Information Modelling (BIM) software is used to create
three-dimensional models that contain building geometry, spatial
relationships, geographic information, and quantities and properties of
building components. While there are several Apps that enable users to
view three-dimensional models, the new App − called goBIM − will be the
first iPad-compatible App to enable users to navigate models and review
data tagged to model elements (such as materials, manufacturer information
and volumetric information). The majority of building designers still use
two-dimensional drawings to communicate design ideas and this can result
in the waste of manpower and materials. While the new App is designed to
increase the accessibility of three-dimensional BIM, the launch of the
iPad will unlock the potential of the App and help drive productivity in
building design and construction. |
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Building the world’s longest tunnel tests advanced surveying technologies. The Swiss Alps have for centuries presented a major barrier to transport in Europe. Even today, modern highways and railroads struggle to negotiate the steep, unforgiving terrain. A key component is construction of the New Rail Link through the Alps (NRLA). In addition to numerous new bridges and facilities, the NRLA will include approximately 120 kilometers of new railway tunnels. The centerpiece of the tunnel system is the Gotthard Base Tunnel between Erstfeld and Bodio in southern Switzerland When completed in 2017, the Gotthard will be 57KM long — the longest tunnel in the world. The variety of the work, demanding requirements for precision and difficult working environment present the surveyors and their equipment with unique challenges. Working at the core of the project are two giant tunnel boring machines (TBMs), operating in parallel tunnels approximately 60 meters apart. Each TBM is capable of excavating as much as 40 meters per day, and it is crucial to keep them operating and moving in the correct direction. To do so, surveyors regularly maintain and extend the network of control points used by the TBMs. Surveyors extend the control networks by about 200 meters at a time by placing new control points on the tunnel walls or roadway slab. For each point, crews install rigid threaded bolts equipped with an adaptor that holds the survey prism. The intervisible control points are set at sight distances ranging from 20 to 300 meters. |
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The longest stress ribbon bridge in the world is located in San Diego. The footbridge spans some 1,000 feet across Lake Hodges and has a concrete deck that is only 16 inches thick. With spans of 330 feet between supports, the bridge has an amazing depth to span ratio of 1:248. One of the design team’s first tasks was to study bridge types that might work for the crossing. Structure types evaluated included a prefabricated steel truss, precast and cast-in-place concrete girders, a timber glue-laminated bridge, and cable-stayed and suspension bridges. The truss and girder options were limited to spans of approximately 200 feet and would have required at least four piers in the lake. Further, with bridge decks on the order of 10 feet deep, these options would have been aesthetically bulky. The cable-stayed and suspension bridge options were more visually transparent with thin decks and cables. The stress ribbon bridge alternative had many structural and architectural advantages. It could accommodate the 330 feet spans required for a three-span design, and only two piers would be required. The piers were constructed from cast-in-place concrete and are supported on driven HP14x17 piles. A temporary trestle was used for access and coffer dams were used to construct the piers. A steel saddle was placed atop each pier to provide support for the bearing cables. The bearing cables consist of six tendons of 19 strands each. These tendons were stressed to 4,300 kips to provide a drape of approximately 6 feet. The bridge was post-tensioned with a force of 4,600 kips using six tendons of 27 strands each. Standard 270 ksi, seven-wire, low-relaxation prestressing strand with a diameter of 0.6 inches was used. |
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Software offers a running commentary to ease video searching and analysis. A prototype computer vision system can generate a live text description of what's happening in a feed from a surveillance camera. Although not yet ready for commercial use, the system demonstrates how software could make it easier to skim or search through video or image collections. It was developed by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, in collaboration with ObjectVideo of Reston, VA. Almost all search for images or video is still done using the surrounding text. UCLA researchers developed a new system, called I2T (Image to Text), which is intended to change that. It puts a series of computer vision algorithms into a system that takes images or video frames as input, and gives summaries of what they depict. It can be searched using simple text search and is user friendly. The team applied the software to surveillance footage to demonstrate the strength of I2T. Systems like this might help address the fact that there are more and more surveillance cameras being used. |
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Software uses images from millions of tourists to suggest ways for visitors to spend their time. Tourists pondering how to spend their time in a large city could one day get help from a tool developed by researchers at Yahoo. It draws on the database of millions of photos uploaded to the site Flickr to generate detailed itineraries of what sites to visit, and in what order. The tool works for five cities: Barcelona, London, New York, Paris, and San Francisco. To inform its suggestions, it extracted tourists' movements between attractions in those cities from millions of photos uploaded to Flickr over three years. Geolocation data and the tags added by users were used to determine and locate which attractions each user had visited, with reference to lists of attractions in the cities sourced from Yahoo Travel and Lonely Planet; the timestamps revealed how much time was spent at each attraction and how long it had taken to travel between them. Researcher, De Choudhury and colleagues developed a simple Web interface that can be used to automatically generate an itinerary to fill a specific number of days in a city. The Flickr data is used to fill the time available with visits to the most popular attractions and to specify the amount of time that should be spent at each. The order of visits is chosen to minimize travel time. |
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OLPC may drop "$100 laptop" in an attempt to develop an innovative $75 tablet computer. The philanthropic organization One Laptop per Child (OLPC) never quite managed to hit its price point for its "$100 laptop," but now the organization is sketching a concept for a $75 tablet computer that it hopes will further decrease power consumption and pioneer the first flexible LCD display. A tablet is simpler than a laptop, so it's easier to make it cheaper. But beyond that basic advantage, the key to achieving super-low cost while also innovating is by working to establish common designs that can be broadly adopted and customized by other companies The project starts with processor technology from a commercial partner, Marvell, known for super-low power consumption--potentially as little as one watt. Building on this, OLPC wants to add a new screen technology. Starting with its existing LCD technology--which is itself pioneering in that its pixels both transmit backlight for indoor use and reflect ambient light, similar to e-books, for outdoor use--OLPC wants to take it one step further by replacing a glass layer with a rugged plastic layer capable of withstanding impacts and slight bending. A tablet computer holds some practical advantages. Because the keyboard is presented as touch-screen display, like those on the iPhone and iPad, there's no keyboard for someone to break. Equally important for an organization a tablet also allows unlimited customization of keyboards for various languages and dialects.
Source http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/25482/?nlid=3075 |
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Researchers in Belgium have developed the world’s fastest air bearings for
applications ranging from the food industry to electric cars. A team at
Belgian university KU Leuven has made a shaft that runs at 1.2 million
rotations per minute, which is 133 times faster than the maximum rpm of a
Ferrari 458 Italia. The shaft, which is 6mm in diameter, is suspended in
aerodynamic radial bearings, so that it floats on a thin layer of air that
is only a few micrometres thick. Source http://www.theengineer.co.uk/news/world’s-fastest-air-bearings/1002708.article |
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Source http://www.theengineer.co.uk/news/tecnalia-unveils-totally-electric-car/1002724.article |
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Source http://www.theengineer.co.uk/news/riversimple-hydrogen-car-to-begin-leicester-trials/1002912.article |
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Engineers at De Montfort University (DMU) in Leicester are building what is hoped to be the world’s fastest 3D printer for manufacturing high-performance plastic components. The machine will print and fuse fine polymeric powders to make complex parts on demand. Engineers are working to develop the machine’s core technology, an additive manufacturing process known as selective laser printing (SLP), for use with high-performance polymer materials such as the thermoplastic polyether ether ketone (PEEK). Additive manufacturing techniques, which rely on a range of laser-based or advanced printing techniques to build up models layer by layer from scratch, are viewed as a potentially more economic alternative to subtractive production methods that remove sometimes as much as 95 % of raw material to craft a component. They hope to develop a machine capable of depositing layers of high-performance polymer powders at rates comparable to the time it takes a desktop printer to churn out a sheet of A4 paper. At this speed a complex component for perhaps an aircraft or a car could be built in less than 20 minutes. An SLP machine moulds polymer powders into components by first charging them with static electricity. It then uses a CAD-controlled light-emitting diode to trace a desired shape onto a photoconductor surface. Due to electrostatic force, the powder particles will ‘jump’ onto the surface at the locations traced out by the light. The machine fuses each layer using controlled heat and pressure. The company is looking to use the technology for printing crucial and complex aeroplane components such as manifold systems. Source http://www.theengineer.co.uk/engineers-build-3d-printer-for-making-plastic-parts/1002829.article |
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Source http://memagazine.asme.org/Articles/2010/June/Technology_Focus.cfm |
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Source http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100527171020.htm |
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Recently at the Global Refining Summit Swapsol Corp. introduced a completely new sour-gas-cleanup process that reduces hydrogen sulfide levels below detectable levels (under 4 ppb) while reacting with carbon dioxide to form water, sulfur and a polymer of sulfur and carbon (carsul). Although still in the laboratory stage of development, the process promises to have application in cleaning up landfill gas, sour-gas, fluegas and Claus tailgas, as well as serving as an alternative to Claus technology, says COO Wolf Koch. Named after its discoverers, the Stenger-Wasas Process (SWAP) involves the reaction of H2S and CO2 at temperatures of 70–200°C and ambient to moderate pressures. The exothermic reaction is carried out in a catalyst-packed tubular reactor and produces sulfur, water and carsuls. The catalyst is a naturally occurring mineral ore that is pretreated in a manner analogous to common hydrotreating catalysts. Sulfur can be recovered from carsul by simply heating it, leaving behind a polymer of carbon that may have applications as a construction material. Thus far the company has performed the reaction in 1- and 2-in.-dia. tubular reactors, and believes scaleup to a commercial process with a large shell containing multiple tubes is not a problem. Swapsol is now planning to start testing its applications in a pilot plant and move to the first commercial application — most probably a landfill-gas-cleanup operation — during 2011.
Source http://www.che.com/chementator/Combined-CO2-mitigation-and-H2S-removal_5735.html |
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Oxidative cyclization route to chiral drug scaffolds is metal-free. With just a pinch of salt, a team of researchers in Japan have come up with an environmentally friendly catalyst to build 2,3-dihydrobenzofuran motifs via asymmetric oxidative cyclization of ketophenols. The team employs iodine as a way to sidestep the toxic heavy metals normally required to build these pharmaceutically useful motifs. The enantioselective reaction also uses reagents that are greener than those used in previous iodine-based catalytic strategies. To create the catalyst, the team uses hydrogen peroxide or tert-butyl hydroperoxide to convert iodide into hypoiodite (IO–) or iodite (IO2 –), with water as a waste product. These two anionic catalysts can’t perform asymmetric reactions without help, which comes in the form of a chiral ammonium cation. Using a variety of aromatically substituted ammonium molecules, the team was able to do the cycloetherification with enantiomeric excesses of 85% and higher—sometimes up to 96%. This reaction is competitive with metal-catalyzed reactions in both yield and selectivity. In addition to being metal-free, this reaction is green thanks to its atom economy. There have been several examples of enantioselective oxidative reactions catalyzed by chiral hypervalent iodine compounds, which are usually generated by oxidation of aryliodides with m-chloroperbenzoic acid and benzoic acid as waste products. Because it relies on a chiral ammonium iodide salt and hydrogen peroxide instead of m-chloroperbenzoic acid, the new reaction has better atom economy and avoids benzoic acid as waste. |
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Ultimo Measurement has developed technology for measuring density and viscosity of process fluids, loose solids and mixtures non-invasively — a percussion-based device that can be mounted on the outside of process tanks, pipes or other vessels. The device strikes a vessel’s outside wall, exciting the content material, then senses the resulting vibrations, which are related to the density and viscosity of the content material by a complex combination of physical laws. Proprietary software then analyzes the oscillation data with specialized algorithms that relate the material’s oscillation signature with its density or viscosity. The software is adaptive and self-learning, and can discriminate between valuable and ambient vibrations. The system’s ability to collect information from outside the vessel wall lengthens its service life, since it never contacts the material being measured. Also, the adaptive nature of the striker device and analysis algorithms make the measurement tool effective with virtually all types of liquids, slurries and loose solids, and with any type or size of storage vessels or conduits constructed from a wide range of metals, fiberglass or plastic. The device allows processors to obtain early data on viscosity and density, which can reduce plant waste, save resources and improve product quality. In field-testing, the device has achieved precision of 0.1% on light powders and 0.5% on polymer materials. Source http://www.che.com/chementator/A-device-to-measure-density-and-viscosity-non-invasively_5732.html |
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An electrochemical process for recovering sulfuric acid and metallic iron from iron-rich sulfate wastes, such as spent pickling liquors and leach solutions generated in minerals and metals processing, has been patented by François Cardarelli. He says the process offers a green solution to the processing of these wastes, most of which currently end up in landfills or disposal piles. In Cardarelli’s process, an iron-rich sulfate solution is pH-adjusted to below 3.0 by adding a neutralizing agent, such as sodium hydroxide, and fed to the cathode side of an electrolytic cell. The adjustment is necessary to avoid the evolution of hydrogen at the cathode, a competing process. Iron deposits on the titanium cathode while sulfate anions migrate through an ion-exchange membrane to the anode. Initially there is a 10% solution of H2SO4 on the anode side. Acid removal starts when the H2SO4concentration reaches about 30%. Oxygen evolves from the iridium dioxide-coated Ti anode.
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E-T-A Circuit Breakers is launching a new range of over-current detectors. The TD and 9001 Hall effect current detectors protect power semiconductors in power electronic circuits by signalling when current in the circuit has exceeded the nominal detector trip point. They are designed to be mounted directly on a printed circuit board and, like Hall effect current sensors, provide isolation between the sensed current and the output. These new over-current detectors are available in a range of set detector trip points and are fully integrated with a digital output factory programmed to go low when the trip point is exceeded. Both have a fast response time of 1us, which allows ample time for the system control circuit to protect the power circuit. The TD and 9001 operate over a temperature range of -40 to +125 degrees C and, because the devices use the Hall effect, have negligible levels of power dissipation, even in high-frequency switching circuits. The TD and 9001 over-current detectors are designed to protect power semiconductors in power electronic circuits. Typical applications include, but are not limited to: welding equipment, servo drives, treadmills, automotive power conversion, power supplies, MRI equipment and home audio. Source http://www.engineerlive.com/ |
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Moore's law marches on: In the quest for faster and cheaper computers, scientists have imaged pore structures in insulation material at sub-nanometer scale for the first time. Understanding these structures could substantially enhance computer performance and power usage of integrated circuits, say Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) and Cornell University scientists. To help maintain the ever-increasing power and performance benefits of semiconductors -- like the speed and memory trend described in Moore's law -- the industry has introduced very porous, low-dielectric constant materials to replace silicon dioxide as the insulator between nano-scaled copper wires. This has sped up the electrical signals sent along these copper wires inside a computer chip, and at the same time reduced power consumption. "Knowing how many of the molecule-sized voids survive in an actual device will greatly affect future designs of integrated circuits," said David Muller, Cornell University professor of applied and engineering physics, and co-director of Kavli Institute for Nanoscale Science at Cornell. "The techniques we developed look deeply, as well as in and around the structures, to give a much clearer picture so complex processing and integration issues can be addressed." The scientists understand that the detailed structure and connectivity of these nanopores have profound control on the mechanical strength, chemical stability and reliability of these dielectrics. Researches now have a nearly atomic understanding of the three-dimensional pore structures of low-k materials required to solve these problems. Source http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100608092106.htm |
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Takeuchi developed the battery that made possible the first implantable cardiac defibrillators, a feat that was recognized last fall with the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. Millions of heart patients worldwide have benefited from the implantable cardiac defibrillators powered by Takeuchi's silver vanadium oxide battery. She is developing new cathode materials for improved implantable cardiac defibrillator batteries. But now Takeuchi is applying to the electrical her unique perspective on how to coax the best performance out of battery chemicals. In developing the silver vanadium oxide material that now powers the implantable cardiac defibrillator, she took an idea and turned it into a functional battery. Now she's taking that experience and applying it to these very different areas. The focus is on developing a distributed grid where renewable power is generated closer to where it's needed, rather than in a central place and transmitted long distances, the way the current grid operates. "One of the key challenges in moving from our fossil-fuel based system to greener, renewable forms of energy is that whether you're talking about solar or wind power, these forms of energy are intermittent," says Takeuchi. "There will be fairly large fluctuations in the amount of power being generated," she says. That makes a robust, reliable method of storing energy absolutely critical. And it's a feature that has been essential in the life-saving biomedical devices Takeuchi has worked on in the past. "To generate energy at a usable, consistent level, we will need to couple a dependable, energy-storage system with renewable power sources," she says. Takeuchi's work on biomedical devices has provided her with an unusual appreciation for the properties of batteries that have exceptional longevity. The typical lifetime of a battery in an implantable device is 5-10 years and Takeuchi is one of those leading the push to increase that for both biomedical and utility applications. "Whether you're talking about the power grid, electrical vehicles or biomedical devices the quest is for low cost, longer life and rechargeability," she says. Source http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100607142225.htm |
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A team of U.S. and Chinese physicists are zeroing in on critical effects at the heart of the latest high-temperature superconductors -- but they're using other materials to do it. In new research, the Rice University-led team offers new evidence about the quantum features of the latest class of high-temperature superconductors, a family of iron-based compounds called "pnictides". "In correlated electron systems like the pnictides and their parent compounds, the electrons are caught in a competition between forces," said Rice physicist Qimiao Si, a co-author of the study. "On the one hand, they are compelled to move around, and on the other, they are forced to arrange themselves in a particular way because of their desire to repel one another. In this study, we varied the ratio between these competing forces in an effort to find the tipping point where one takes over from the other." The aim of the research is to better understand the processes that lead to high-temperature superconductivity. If better understood and developed, high-temperature superconductors could revolutionize electric generators, MRI scanners, high-speed trains and other devices. Dubbed the pnictides, these new iron-based superconductors were also layered and also needed to be doped. But unlike their copper cousins, undoped pnictides were not Mott insulators. Mott localization doesn't occur in the undoped pnictides, but there is considerable evidence that the electrons in these materials are near the point where Mott localization occurs," Si said. "This proximity to Mott localization endows the system with strong quantum magnetic fluctuations, which underlies the high-temperature superconductivity in the pnictides.” Source http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100528124515.htm |
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Solid-state image sensors come in two variants: CCD and CMOS. CCDs generally offer superior image quality. However, CMOS dominates in manufacturing volume because it permits an integrated solution in which both the imaging device and processing electronics can be fabricated in a single die. The vast majority of CMOS image sensors are front-side illuminated; i.e., the light from the scene to be imaged falls on the processed face of the semiconductor. Another variety is back-side illuminated, where the die is mounted inverted and the light falls on the unprocessed face of the semiconductor. This configuration yields performance comparable to CCD imagers but with higher manufacturing cost and more complex packaging requirements. Recent breakthroughs in semiconductor processing and wafer-scale packaging techniques make back-illuminated image sensors attractive candidates for higher-resolution imagers on mobile platforms, where small size and good light sensitivity are highly prized. Visible light can penetrate only a short distance into silicon. Therefore, to expose the photodetectors in a back-illuminated CMOS sensor, the majority of the original wafer thickness must be removed. The thinning uniformity must be extremely precise because excess silicon presents an effectively opaque barrier. Thickness variation manifests itself as sensor shadowing, and high average thickness will render the sensor unresponsive. Clearly, there also are basic handling and yield issues with 30-mm-diameter silicon wafers that have been thinned to 20 μm. A simple way to accurately control wafer thinning is to fabricate imagers on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers because the buried oxide layer provides an effective stop for the silicon etch. The drawback of this approach is that these wafers are more expensive than conventional device-grade silicon. Back illumination offers the prospect of a new generation of mass-produced CMOS image sensors for both optical and nonoptical imaging. It permits a significant improvement in quantum efficiency, which can be used to reduce pixel size. The ability to manufacture small pixels permits imager resolution to increase while the size of the resulting camera module decreases. The primary application is likely to be higher-resolution cameras for mobile platforms, where the increased imager cost can be borne, with camera size being paramount. |
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Hitachi Display Products Group (DPG) has announced the introduction of value added LCD display solutions featuring performance enhancing glass bonding technology. Optical glass bonding technology can provide notable improvements in optical performance in high brightness environments. By using an optical adhesive and a cost effective lamination process a glass substrate is bonded directly to the front of the TFT LCD module. The bonding process ensures that there is no air gap between the glass substrate and the display. Removing the air gap ensures parallax effects and internal reflections are prevented and this will result in enhanced optical performance in bright ambient light conditions. Mechanical durability is also improved by enhancing the ruggedness of the display.
A TFT display featuring an optically bonded glass
substrate and surface treatment techniques can reduce reflections to less
than 0.2% by scattering and absorbing ambient light. These additional
features will ensure that display readability can be notably improved.
The use of glass optical bonding technology coupled with an enhanced
anti-reflection or anti-glare surface finishes can significantly improve
the optical performance of the display. Further benefits include making
the display module more rugged and able to provide enhanced shock and
vibration performance. Display durability is also improved with increased
impact and scratch resistance and reduced fluid and foreign particle
ingress. |
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A new type of display from Microsoft produces multiple images and tracks the viewers’ eyes. Today’s 3-D movies are far more spectacular than the first ones screened more than 50 years ago, but watching them still means donning a pair of glasses. Now a new type of lens developed by researchers in Microsoft could help make glasses-free 3-D displays more practical. The new lens, which is thinner at the bottom than at the top, steers light to a viewer’s eyes by switching light-emitting diodes along its bottom edge on and off. Combined with a backlight, this makes it possible to show different images to different viewers, or to create a stereoscopic (3-D) effect by presenting different images to a person’s left and right eye. Electronics manufacturers are racing to replicate the 3-D theater experience in the home. Microsoft’s prototype display can deliver 3-D video to two viewers at the same time regardless of where they are positioned. The 3-D display uses a camera to track viewers so that it knows where to steer light toward them. The lens is also thin, which means it could be incorporated into a standard liquid crystal display. Microsoft’s wedge lens is about 11 millimeters thick at its top, tapering down to about six millimeters at the bottom. The focal point in the new screen is the flat surface of the wedge. |
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Transparent semiconductors
could be the successor to amorphous silicon in electrodes for LCD panels.
Indium-Gallium-Zinc-Oxide (IGZO) holds promise as a next-generation
material for the electrodes that drive the pixels on the screens of
flat-panel televisions and other types of liquid-crystal displays.
Research on the properties of this transparent oxide semiconductor
material suggests that it is only a matter of time before it replaces
amorphous silicon as the material of choice for thin-film transistors. The
defining feature for TFTs is ease of electron mobility; and electrons can
move an order of magnitude easier in IGZO TFTS than they can in TFTS made
from silicon. This property can help boost the resolution of large-screen
TVs and the precision of 3-D TVs. |
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Although they could revolutionize a wide range of high-tech products such as computer displays or solar cells, organic materials do not have the same ordered chemical composition as inorganic materials, preventing scientists from using them to their full potential. But an international team of researchers led by McGill’s Dr. Dmitrii Perepichka and the Institut national de la echerché scientifique’s Dr. Federico Rosei have published research that shows how to solve this decades-old conundrum. The team has effectively discovered a way to order the molecules in the PEDOT, the single most industrially important conducting polymer. It may have a possible use for the findings in computer chips. “It’s a well known principle that the number of transistors in a computer chip doubles every two years,” he said, “but we are now reaching the physical limit. By using molecular materials instead of silicon semiconductor, we could one day build transistors that are ten times smaller than what currently exists.” The chips would in fact be only one molecule thick. The team used an inorganic material – a crystal of copper – as a template. When molecules are dropped onto the crystal, the crystal provokes a chemical reaction and creates a conducting polymer. By using a scanning probe microscope that enabled them to see surfaces with atomic resolution, the researchers discovered that the polymers had imitated the order of the crystal surface. The team is currently only able to produce the reaction in one dimension, i.e. to make a string or line of molecules. The next step will be to add a second dimension in order to make continuous sheets (“organic graphite”) or electronic circuits
Source http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100615112221.htm |
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Source http://www.theengineer.co.uk/video/hypersonic-vehicle-achieves-aviation-history/1002699.article |
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Deep in the heart of the asteroid belt, on its way to the first of the belt’s two most massive inhabitants, NASA’s ion-propelled Dawn spacecraft has eclipsed the record for velocity change produced by a spacecraft’s engines. The previous standard-bearer for velocity change, NASA’s Deep Space 1, also impelled by ion propulsion, was the first interplanetary spacecraft to use this technology. The Deep Space 1 record fell on Saturday, June 5, 2010 when the Dawn spacecraft’s accumulated acceleration over the mission exceeded 4.3 kilometers per second (9,600 miles per hour). Engineers are using an ion-engine technology as a stepping-stone to orbit and explore two of the asteroid belt’s most mysterious objects, Vesta and Ceres. A spacecraft’s change in velocity refers to its ability to change its path through space by using its own rocket engines. This measurement of change begins only after the spacecraft exits the last stage of the launch vehicle that hurled it into space. To get to where it is in both the record books and the asteroid belt, the Dawn spacecraft had to fire its three engines – one at a time–for a cumulative total of 620 days. In that time, it has used less than 165 kilograms of xenon propellant. Over the course of its eight-plus-year mission, Dawn’s three ion engines are expected to accumulate 2,000 days of operation – 5.5 years of thrusting – for a total change in velocity of more than 38,620 kilometers per hour. Source http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100610140224.htm |
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Source http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100606213519.htm |
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Source http://www.theengineer.co.uk/news/ucl-scientist-develops-camera-for-mars-rover/1002934.article |
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Source http://www.theengineer.co.uk/news/hybrid-propulsion-for-helicopters/1002828.article |
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Aircraft components could be built using a super-thin material just one atom thick, according to new research conducted at Manchester University. A team of materials scientists and physicists has claimed that graphene has the potential to replace carbon fibres in the composites that are used to build aircraft. Graphene – discovered in 2004 by physicists at Manchester University – is a two-dimensional layer of carbon atoms. According researchers, graphene has excellent stiffness and the highest strength of any known material. With this in mind, he said, researchers at the university set out to examine how it could potentially improve the properties of high-performing materials, including composites. The team put a single graphene sheet between two layers of polymer and used Raman spectroscopy to measure how the carbon bonds responded when the graphene was stretched. Raman spectroscopy works by shining a laser light onto a molecule and then collecting and analysing the wavelength and intensity of the resulting scattered light. Researchers were able to use Raman spectroscopy to look at the change of the vibrational energy of the bond and then work out the change in bond length. From this information they calculated the improvement in stiffness the graphene gave to the polymer composite. The stiffness the graphene gave to the composite was better than any ever seen in their labs before. Graphene is possibly better known as a potential silicon replacement.
Source http://www.theengineer.co.uk/news/atom-thick-aircraft-components/1002831.article |
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Graphene oxide, a single-atomic-layered material made by reacting graphite powders with strong oxidizing agents, has attracted a lot of interest from scientists because of its ability to easily convert to graphene. Jiaxing Huang, assistant professor of materials science and engineering, and his research group at Northwestern University have studied the material for years and have discovered how to assemble these soft sheets. They also used a camera flash to turn them into graphene, and invented a fluorescence quenching technique to make them visible under microscopes. Now they have discovered that graphene oxide sheets behave like surfactants, the chemicals in soap and shampoo that make stains disperse in water. Graphene oxide was largely described as hydrophilic. But Huang thought that graphene oxide should be amphiphilic, a property of surfactants that can both attracts and repels water, because part of the graphene oxide structure is actually water repelling. To test their hypothesis, Huang and his group put graphene oxide in carbonated water. They found that the sheets can attach onto the rising bubbles to reach the water surface -- just like a surfactant would do. Next they found that graphite oxide can disperse oil droplets in water -- just like a surfactant would. It could lead to new applications for the material. Its surfactant properties mean it could be used as a dispersing agent for insoluble materials, like carbon nanotubes. Common surfactants are non-conducting, so when used as a dispersing agent for conducting materials, they need to be removed from the material. Graphite oxide, which turns into conducting graphene through heating, would actually help conductivity. The surfactant behavior inspired another exciting discovery -- that water surface can act as a filter for separating graphene oxide sheets by size.
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Drilling bits in the mining industry and cutting tools for metalworking in the manufacturing industry are often made of hard metal -- a material nearly as hard as diamond. Researchers have long tried to control the manufacturing process for the material to be able to steer in detail the hardness and other key properties to make it more durable. By combining theory and experiments, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have now taken a crucial step toward being able to micromanage the performance of the material, down to the level of the atom. The size of bore can vary, from a diameter of 10 meters for large tunnel bores down to three hundredths of a millimeter, thinner than a human hair, for applications in the electronics industry. This places great demands on the manufacturing process to attain precise properties. Hard metal is a mixture of a hard carbide phase, wolfram carbide (WC), and a tougher metal phase, cobalt (Co). It is produced by sintering, whereby fine powders of WC and Co are heated up so the cobalt melts and the material is pulled together by capillary force. The result is a solid material consisting of a hard skeleton of wolfram carbide grains surrounded by the tougher cobalt-rich cement phase. The size of the wolfram carbide grains is key to the hardness of the hard metal. The great challenge is to be able to control the growth of these grains during the sintering process. By combining experimental and theoretical methods, the researchers now understand how they can control the structure of the material in detail, down to the level of the atom, during the production process. Source http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100614093343.htm |
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New intense sources of
radiation at national facilities in Chicago, New York, and Tennessee
coupled with the next generation of sensitive detectors are allowing
geochemists like John Parise to gather images and data on minerals in one
second that would take years of equivalent exposure on conventional
laboratory X-ray facilities. The enhanced power of X-rays and pulsed
neutrons -- especially at the new Spallation Neutron Source facility at
Oak Ridge National Laboratory -- give geochemists more sensitive tools to
detect, characterize and understand the mineral components and the
contaminants they absorb or release. Identifying these minerals and how
they change with varying conditions such as temperature, relative humidity
and irradiation hold the key to understanding the evolution of planetary
surfaces, including that of our Earth. Parise and his colleagues have been
studying ferrihydrite, a common iron oxide composed of minute crystals.
The structure of ferrihydrite is impossible to get right by studying it
with conventional laboratory X-ray techniques. However, by using
high-energy X-rays created in a synchrotron storage ring accelerating
electrons, the research team has been able to identify the atomic
arrangement of the ferrihydrite crystals as a relative of aluminum
oxyhydroxide. The discovery of this basic structure has enabled Parise to
show how environmental contaminants attach to the surface of this iron
oxide. |
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Source http://news.discovery.com/tech/wind-vibrations-turned-into-electricity.html |
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Source http://www.theengineer.co.uk/news/kite-turbines-generate-more-power/1002903.article |
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Home heating, cooling and ventilation systems making use of the fact that the earth’s temperature is almost unchanging during the cold of winter and the heat of summer are appearing on the market in Japan. Asahi Kasei Homes Corp. is marketing systems that use geothermal heat as an energy source for heating, cooling and providing hot water. Ten or more piles are driven deep into the ground in a housing lot and pipes that circulate antifreeze are placed in the piles to exchange heat with the surrounding earth. Water is accumulated in the gaps between piles and pipes to facilitate the transfer of heat between earth and the antifreeze. The heat-exchange piles are embedded in the ground during new construction along with the piles used to anchor the home, thereby keeping construction costs down. Source Science and Technology Report, Embassy of India in Japan- Apr 2010 |
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Nanowire generators could one day lead to medical devices powered by the
patient's own heart. A tiny, nearly invisible nanowire can convert
the energy of pulsing, flexing muscles inside a rat's body into electric
current, researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology have shown. Their
nano generator could someday lead to medical implants and sensors powered
by heartbeats or breathing. Zinc oxide nanowires show the
piezoelectric
effect, producing electricity when they are under mechanical stress.
Georgia Tech professor of materials science and engineering have made
devices that
can harness the energy of a running
hamster and
tapping fingers, and have also
combined
their piezoelectric nanowires with solar cells. The team showed that the
nanogenerator works inside a live animal. The researchers deposited a zinc
oxide nanowire on a flexible polymer substrate and encapsulated the device
in a polymer casing to shield it from body fluids. It was then attached to
a rat's diaphragm. The rodent's breathing stretched the nanowire, and the
device generated four picoamperes of current at two millivolts. When
attached to a rat's heart, the device gave 30 picoamperes at three
millivolts. Zinc oxide nanogenerators would be an ideal power source for
nano-scale sensors that monitor blood pressure or glucose levels and
detect cancer biomarkers.
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Federal-Mogul has developed what is believed to be the world’s first polyethylene-terephthalate (PET) yarn to meet halogen-free flame-retardant regulations and ‘no flaming drip’ requirements. Until now, no commercially available, zero-halogen, flame-retardant polyethylene terephthalate has been able to meet this requirement, known as the UL 1441 VW-1 flame test. Fire in an enclosed space, such as an aircraft, is extremely dangerous as occupants can die from smoke inhalation before there is any danger from the flames. Flame-retardant materials delay the spread of fire, but these typically contain halogenated substances that emit thick black smoke and toxic gases. PET yarn meets many of the processing and functional requirements for textiles used in interior vehicle trim and wiring harness insulation, which have applications in vehicles for land, water and air. International regulations pertaining to flame-retardant properties, however, include a requirement that ‘no flaming drips’ are released when the material burns. The innovation behind this breakthrough is the combination of two melamine-based flame-retardant materials. As the materials decompose, they absorb heat, cooling the adjacent burning material and forming a char that prevents the formation of burning drips. Constituents of the new material also vaporize, reducing the surface temperature by diluting the oxygen that would otherwise feed the fire. Extrusion of the material into a continuous monofilament thread is made possible by a combination of proprietary additives and highly engineered compounding and extrusion processes. The company is now developing commercialization plans to enable volume manufacture of fabrics made from the material. Source http://www.theengineer.co.uk/news/yarn-passes-flame-test/1002757.article |
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Lightweight carbon nanotube speakers could replace traditional sonar
equipment because of their strong performance underwater, according to new
research. Scientists at the NanoTech Institute in Dallas showed that
nanotube speakers worked just as well in water as they did in air and
could also cancel out unwanted noise. The University of Texas at Dallas
research team, found the nanotubes were more efficient at producing the
low-frequency sound waves used to scan the ocean than the existing sonar
equipment.
Source http://www.theengineer.co.uk/news/nanotube-speakers-outperform-sonar-equipment/1002964.article |
New
browser software can protect websites from software vulnerabilities. The
ease with which websites can share code is both a blessing and a curse for
today's Internet. It allows for powerful Web applications that pull a wide
variety of data and services together. But it also puts a site at the
mercy of code written by third parties--code that may have security
vulnerabilities, or may prove problematic in combination with the rest of
what's offered by a site. A new browser extension would allow developers
to use third-party code without worrying about the vulnerabilities that
such code might open up. A pair of researchers described this extension,
called ConScript, in a talk given recently at the
Due
to the fact that the shaft does not touch any other parts, there is no
wear, even at 1.2 million rpm. Multiplying rpm with shaft diameter yields
that the shaft surface reaches a speed of 377m/s, or Mach 1.1, a world
record in self-acting air bearing technology. The speed of air bearings is
usually limited by instabilities, but the researchers solved this problem
by developing a special damping mechanism. Moreover, in contrast to
aerostatic air bearings, which operate on a compressed-air supply, this
air bearing is aerodynamic (or self-acting) and thus develops sufficient
bearing pressure from its own rotation. This is particularly beneficial as
the self-pressurising system can operate autonomously. These high-speed
bearings will be used in turbos, small gas turbines, compressors and
micro-milling cutters. 
A
totally electric car that can reach a speed of 87mph in 10 seconds has
been unveiled by a Spanish technology corporation. The Tecnalia
Technological Corporation presented its experimental vehicle — ‘Dynacar’ —
at the International Eco Friendly Vehicle & Sustainable Mobility Show in
Madrid, held recently. Although it is a totally electric vehicle, Dynacar
takes on board the possibility of integrating range extension concepts.
Such a concept allows a battery or small internal combustion engine to
supply energy to the car battery in a supplementary mode. The car is a
two-seater and has a complete instrument panel to validate systems
relative to longitudinal and lateral dynamics. It uses a single-shell,
high-rigidity lightweight chassis of steel and aluminium alloy, with an
adjustable deformable parallelogram suspension system for the four wheels.
The vehicle has a peak power of 100kW provided by a permanent magnet
synchronous electric motor, a total weight of 700kg and an energy storage
capacity of 15kWh.
Hydrogen
fuel-cell powered cars will appear on Britain’s roads for the first time
by spring 2012 through a trial in Leicester. If successful, the pilot
could lead to the city becoming the location for a Riversimple factory
producing 5,000 cars a year. 
Applying
a force to the spring in a load cell causes strain, which results in small
deformations that can be directly transferred to strain gauges that are
strategically bonded to the load cell. Typically, load cell specifications
do not call out accuracy, but rather linearity, repeatability, and
hysteresis. While the precision of a load cell is dependent on its
construction, how accurately it operates is dependent on its calibration.
Standards that govern force device calibration include ISO 17025 and ANSI
Z540, which dictate that the procedures used for calibration must be
validated and uncertainties determined. ASTM E74 defines the specific
procedures that are used to determine the uncertainty of calibrating a
load cell. Since the spherically shaped loading surface of a compression
load cell provides for a theoretical point load, the load cell should be
loaded identically at each radial position, regardless of the rotation
about its axis. But no surface is perfectly spherical, and there are no
such things as point contacts, but rather a flat area of contact due to
contact stress. It is the procedure by which load cells are calibrated, as
well as the equipment used in these procedures, that define its accuracy.
While universal calibration machines are extremely reliable and do not
typically contribute to the procedural uncertainty of a load cell, they
are also very expensive. The Force Calibration Machine (FCM) is intended
not only to bring an in-house capability of providing checks on a load
cell system, but also to enable the customer to take hold of ensuring the
accuracy of compression force measurements by calibrating the device as it
is being used. A machine such as the FCM enables load cell users to
overcome this potential source of error through the ability to conform to
both procedural and process standards and it allows users the flexibility
of deterministic calibration on their time and at a small fraction of the
cost of a comparable universal calibration machine.
Jeffrey
Long', a Berkeley Lab chemist leads a diverse team of scientists whose
goal is to quickly discover materials that can efficiently strip carbon
dioxide from a power plant's exhaust, before it leaves the smokestack and
contributes to climate change. There are relying on a class of materials
called metal-organic frameworks that boast a record-shattering internal
surface area. A sugar cube-sized piece, if unfolded and flattened, would
more than blanket a football field. The crystalline material can also be
used to absorb specific molecules. The idea is to engineer this incredibly
porous compound into a voracious sponge that gobbles up carbon dioxide. To
do this, they'll create an automated system that simultaneously
synthesizes hundreds of metal-organic frameworks, then screens the most
promising candidates for further refinement. Carbon capture is the first
step in carbon capture and storage, a climate change mitigation strategy
that involves pumping compressed carbon dioxide captured from large
stationary sources into underground rock formations that can store it for
geological time scales. Many scientists believe that the technology is key
to curbing the amount of carbon dioxide that enters the atmosphere. Carbon
capture and storage is being tested on a large scale in only a few places
worldwide Promising materials such as metal-organic frameworks come in
millions of variations, only a handful of which are conducive to capturing
carbon. 
Electronics
printed on flexible glass could challenge LCDs in many devices.
Lightweight, flexible electronics printed over large areas could take the
weight out of e-readers and cell phones and could potentially be less
expensive. However, it’s a challenge to adapt the processes and materials
used to make today’s rigid glass displays to new substrates, such as
plastic. Glass manufacturer
The
X-51A WaveRider hypersonic vehicle, powered by Pratt & Whitney
Rocketdyne’s scramjet engine, achieved aviation history recently by making
the longest-ever supersonic combustion ramjet-powered flight. The X-51A
programme is a collaborative effort between the US Air Force Research
Laboratory, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Boeing and
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne. During its first flight, the unmanned
WaveRider vehicle was carried beneath a US Air Force B-52 and dropped from
an altitude of about 50,000ft over the Pacific Ocean, off southern
California. A solid rocket booster fired and propelled the cruiser to
greater than Mach 4.5, creating the supersonic environment necessary to
operate the engine. The booster was then jettisoned and the Pratt &
Whitney Rocketdyne SJY61 scramjet engine ignited, initially on gaseous
ethylene fuel. Next, the engine transitioned to JP-7 jet fuel, the same
fuel once carried by the SR-71 Blackbird
Rocks
examined by NASA’s Spirit Mars Rover hold evidence of a wet, non-acidic
ancient environment that may have been favorable for life. Confirming this
mineral clue took four years of analysis by several scientists. An outcrop
that Spirit examined in late 2005, revealed high concentrations of
carbonate, which originates in wet, near-neutral conditions, but dissolves
in acid. The ancient water indicated by this find was not acidic. NASA’s
rovers have found other evidence of formerly wet Martian environments.
However the data for those environments indicate conditions that may have
been acidic. In other cases, the conditions were definitely acidic, and
therefore less favorable as habitats for life. Spirit inspected rock
outcrops, including one scientists called Comanche, along the rover’s
route. Magnesium iron carbonate makes up about one-fourth of the measured
volume in Comanche. That is a tenfold higher concentration than any
previously identified for carbonate in a Martian rock. Spirit’s Alpha
Particle X-ray Spectrometer instrument detected a high concentration of
light elements, a group including carbon and oxygen, that helped quantify
the carbonate content.
A
planetary scientist from UCL is designing the ‘eyes’ of a rover that will
search for signs of life on Mars. Prof Andrew Coates from the Mullard
Space Science Laboratory (MSSL) is leading the team designing the
Panoramic Camera, or PanCam, aboard the ExoMars rover. ExoMars, a joint
mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA, is a flagship
project in the UK Space Agency’s science and exploration programme. The
‘robotic scientist’ will search for evidence of past and present life and
study the local environment of the Red Planet to understand when and where
conditions that could have supported the development of life may have
prevailed. Unlike previous US-designed rovers, ExoMars will carry a radar
that is able to search for scientifically promising locations under the
surface of Mars and a drill to extract samples from the ground that will
be fed to its on-board laboratory. The PanCam will help guide ExoMars
across the rocky surface, be used by geologists to understand the history
and structure of the planet, and help identify the best sites for
drilling.
Upcycling:
Waste plastics transform into potentially useful carbon microspheres. A
new method converts waste plastics such as grocery bags to pure carbon
microspheres. Plastic grocery bags are handy and durable, but most of the
bags wind up in landfills. Now Vilas Pol, a materials scientist at Argonne
National Laboratory, has found a way to "upcycle" discarded plastics into
carbon microspheres, which could play important roles in consumer
products, such as toner and paint. Recycling is not the solution, Pol
says. For recycling to yield chemically pure products, Pol points out that
plastics made of different polymers must be separated. Instead, Pol wants
to upcycle waste plastics into more-valuable products. So, he developed a
method in which hydrocarbon polymers, even mixtures, produce carbon
microspheres. For the new method, he places waste plastics, such as
polyethylene bags and disposable polystyrene cups, into a closed, heatable
reactor. Using mass spectrometry, Pol found that at 700°C, the chemical
bonds between the carbons and hydrogens break down. The products are solid
carbon, as well as hydrogen and hydrocarbon gases. Pol says that the
upcycling process could provide an environmentally friendly alternative to
typical methods that produce solid carbon. He generates the same product
but starts with discarded plastics instead of fossil fuels. Using electron
microscopy, Pol found that the carbon product takes the form of
microspheres with diameters in the range of 3 to 10 μm. The microspheres
are paramagnetic and conductive, making them suitable, he says, for
incorporation in tyres, toner, paints, and lubricants, as well as in anode
materials for rechargeable batteries. 
Husk
Power Systems intro¬duces electricity to the villages of Bihar. The name
Tamkuha literally means “fog of darkness,” and the Bihar village was just
that before four enterprising people, used the most abundant waste
material from local areas to light up the homes of the villagers. Today,
they have managed to brighten almost 94,000 rural lives and 12,000
households. Three-year-old Husk Power Sys-tems (HPS) uses biomass
gasification to generate electricity from rice husk. This process saves
hundreds of tons of carbon emissions unlike power gen¬eration by coal or
diesel. HPS utilizes discarded rice-husk that is collected after the
milling process. They zeroed in on using rice husks to generate power for
their electricity-producing genera¬tors. They then procured biomass
gasification plants and fed the heaps of husks into them. A biomass
gasification plant is a simple metal box with a furnace at the bottom
inside where partial combustion of the raw material takes place, resulting
in gas production. The rice husk has to be initially ignited, owing to its
high silica content it does not burn easily, and left into the metal
chamber of the gasifica¬tion plant for partial combustion in the presence
of very less or no air. The furnace temperature is main¬tained at 400 to
500°C and as a result gases are produced along with the byproduct called
rice-char. The cham¬ber mouth is attached with a venturi, which creates
suction and helps in the separation of the char, the gas, and the dust
particles from the gas. 
Wind
turbines are not common in heavily populated areas in USA. Cities
have just as much wind as rural areas, but the space is less plentiful. To
harness the wind energy in places without enough space for the 30-foot
long blades of a wind turbine, researchers and students at Cornell
University are working to harness wind vibrations for energy. Researchers
want to bring wind energy from the farms to people's roofs, the way it's
possible to install solar panels on houses. And it's expensive to build a
wind turbine of any size. The vibro-wind panels, are inexpensive and don't
take up a lot of space. They work by converting the vibrations from
blowing wind into electricity. Converting the mechanical energy of motion
into electricity requires a piezoelectric transducer. The team's prototype
is made of a grid of foam pieces, each one containing a piezoelectric
transducer. When the wind blows, the foam pieces vibrate and put stress on
the piezoelectric device. Electrons are generated and travel down wires to
a battery. The foam pieces are sensitive enough to capture energy from the
gentlest of breezes. Researchers also had to integrate the panels with the
design of the buildings they were placed on. More research still needs to
be done, but early findings show wind vibration energy is a source of hope
for finding a way to getting cheap and sustainable energy in populated
areas.
A
US firm is developing kite-based turbines that could generate nearly twice
the power of traditional wind farms at a fraction of the cost. Joby Energy
in California is testing kites flying at an average height of 400m– around
five times the height of a ground-based turbine – where winds are faster
and more consistent. The first prototypes can produce up to 30kW of power,
but the firm is developing a system that is designed provide between 300kW
and 3MW – enough to supply up to 1,500 US homes. It hopes to begin
manufacturing in 2012. The modular kites can be built with five tons of
material per MW produced, compared to nearly 100 tons for conventional
wind turbines, giving them a capital cost of under $1 per watt. Although
air is thinner at higher altitudes, meaning lower power density, winds are
much faster because of the lack of obstacles and friction from the ground.
This means that overall power density is much higher. By tapping in to the
more powerful winds, the system can produce twice the amount of energy as
a ground-based wind turbine of the same capacity. The kites fly in a
circular motion and a 3MW system would need 2km2 of ground
space around the tether. Onboard battery-powered computer controls allow
the kites to land themselves during extreme weather conditions, or if the
tether is severed, and multiple motors provide a backup if one motor
fails.
Huge
turbines that dwarf today’s devices could be the future for offshore wind
power. Massive rotors set atop dizzying towers are likely to be the way
forward for offshore wind. Free of the constraints of onshore turbines,
where concerns over visual impact, noise and vibration keep the size of
turbines down, offshore turbines already tend to be large - 2.5 and 5MW
sizes are now becoming common. But as wind-farm sites move into deeper
waters it seems that larger is better. In the case of renewables,
economies of scale are a clear way to save money. The more energy you can
get out of a single device, the lower the cost per megawatt. A company
Clipper Wind, working from a base in Blyth, Northumberland, is looking at
a conventionally styled wind turbine, 145m in diameter, with a solid
foundation on the seabed, whose rotors face the wind head-on. Another
company Sway, however, is developing floating wind turbines, anchored by a
single flexible tether, which have their backs to the wind. The Sway
system uses a ballast-loaded mast floating in the ocean, which is anchored
to the seabed by a flexible stay that allows the tower to swivel. The mast
is supported by cables similar to those used on the mast of a sailing ship
and these, along with the flexible anchor, are claimed to reduce stresses
in the structure.
A
startup in Bangalore has developed optical fiber sensing technology for
structural health monitoring. The safety-driven technology has the
potential to change the way construction and analysis of structures is
done in India. Instrumentation Scientific Technologies (InSci) has
developed optical fiber sensing technology for structural health
monitoring. The company aims to change the way construction and analysis
of structures is done in India. The sensor embedded fiber optic cables can
be used in any industrial or civil structure to monitor various external
stimuli such as changes in pressure, strain, or temperature. The
safety-driven technology has wide scope for implementation globally in
sectors such as aerospace, transportation, marine, oil and gas, materials
testing, and chemical sensing. The InSci team operates mainly in three
stages: development and customization of sensors on fiber optic cables,
instrumentation which converts optical data into usable form, and
consultation to customers on the optimum use of the technology, data
analysis, and monitoring. InSci’s sensing solutions exploit the advantages
of optical technology to enable the highest degree of measurement
precision, resolution, and accuracy while offering the benefits of
electromagnetic immunity, extended durability, ease of installation, and
small physical footprint. 
