Archimedes

One of the greatest minds of classical antiquity, Archimedes (c. 287 BCE – c. 212 BCE) was a scholastic "triple-threat" who made astonishingly original contributions to mathematics, physics, and engineering. His c.v. includes some three dozen new tools and weapons systems as well as a pioneering role in plane and solid geometry. He even gave scientists and engineers their ultimate catch-phrase, "Eureka!" With all that going for him, Archimedes was no doubt the ancient world's poster boy for science and technology careers, right? Wrong. His famous inventions brought water to arid lands and held invading Roman armies at bay, but he vocally disdained them. Compared to the conceptual rigors of his favorite academic pastime of geometry, engineering and other pursuits that addressed worldly necessities of living were to him "sordid and ignoble." His obsessive interest in mathematical abstractions came at the expense of personal hygiene and earned him a reputation as ancient Greece's first absent-minded professor. He is most widely known for running naked through the streets of Syracuse. One wonders how the man whose brilliant feats of engineering include the compound pulley and the theory of hydrostatics would fare in today's job market. And so it is with Archimedes. With little in the written record to go on, most attempts to chronicle his life invariably comprise some mix of fable, fact, and fudge factor. Unlike his mathematical work, he left few formal treatises behind describing his inventions. Accounts of his life were written decades after his death, and leave plenty of room for uncertainty about his actual accomplishments and the true nature of his character. His own writings disclose that he was born in Syracuse – then a self-governing city-state and the most important seaport on the Greek-controlled island of Sicily. His father was the astronomer Phidias, which could account for his natural bent toward the sciences and one of his primary later inventions, an early planetarium. “Archimedes Thoughtful” was painted about 1620 by Domenico Fetti in Mantua. Presently, the picture is located in the art museum Alte Meister in Dresden, Germany. He spent formative years in Alexandria, Egypt – academic ground-zero during the Hellenic period – where he reportedly worked and studied with the successors of the great mathematician Euclid. It was Archimedes' passion for geometric abstractions that led to his disdain for engineering. Yet he is said to have invented his most lasting practical device – the Archimedes screw – while immersed in these lofty concepts in Egypt. Developed initially to irrigate croplands along the Nile delta, his water screw was also used to drain water from underground mines, to water the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and to pump bilge from the pharaoh's ships. Today it is standard issue in sewage treatment, irrigation, and other applications where it is vital to move large amounts of water with minimal effort.

During Archimedes' lifetime, his most famous inventions, and presumably the bulk of his income, came from his friendship with King Hieron II of Syracuse. Hieron marveled at his mastery and frequently put him to the test. On one occasion, the king asked Archimedes how a great weight could be moved by a small force. The inventor proceeded to demonstrate how, with only a series of compound pulleys, he was able to singlehandedly drag a fully loaded three-mast ship out of the harbor and across the beach. The story of his famous bath, the discovery of the principles of hydrostatics, and the ensuing naked run through the streets is not universally believed, but it is indicative of the close connection between the king and his prize engineer. Millennia before weapons of mass destruction, Archimedes used his unique understanding of mass to cause new levels of destruction with devastatingly ingenious weapons created for his king during the Second Punic War. He developed specialized catapults that hurled blocks of stone and logs at invading ships. He developed the Archimedes claw, a hidden crane with an enormous hook used to raise invading ships out of the water and either flip them upside down or allow them to crash back down into the surf, crashing them to bits. Less certain but no less impressive are the historical accounts of Archimedes' use of giant mirrors to incinerate enemy ships with reflected sunlight. Despite having kept the invading Romans at bay for more than three years, eventually the island colonies on Sicily were sacked in 212 BCE. The Roman emperor had specifically asked that Archimedes be brought back alive, but Roman soldiers found him working on a math problem at his desk and tried to seize him. Mistaking his mathematical tools for exotic weapons, a soldier killed Archimedes on the spot. Archimedes' true accomplishments may be shrouded in the mists of time, but his genius shines through loud and clear today. Michael MacRae is an independent writer.

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Maine Constructing 4 MW Commercial Tidal Power Project

Tidal power is one of the renewable energy sources that you hear the least about even though its potential for generating electricity is incredibly vast. The problem is that deploying turbines out into the ocean or rivers can prove to be awfully tricky. But one major project is moving full steam ahead and will be delivering power by this fall. The Maine Tidal Energy Project started construction of the bottom support frame for Ocean Renewable Power Company's TidGen turbine generator system in March. The project's first phase will see five of those generators deployed in the Gulf of Maine with a capacity of 900 kW. That phase should be online by October. The complete project will reach a capacity of 4 MW and already has 20-year power purchase agreements with Bangor Hydro, CMP and Maine Public Service. The TidGen system consists of slowly rotating foils that power a permanent magnet generator at its center. It is gearless and made from composite materials that won't corrode underwater. Written by Megan Treacy on 01/05/12

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Jaguar C-X16 to be modeled in clay at Clerkenwell Design Week

From the official Press Release: Skilled clay modelers will be working on a full size model to reveal the artistry involved in sculpting the cars of the future.

Julian Thomson, Advanced Design Director, Jaguar Cars, said: “Jaguar is one of the most technologically advanced companies in the field of product development but we still believe in the sense of artistry. Emotional connections are at the heart of our vehicles and the traditional process of working with clay with some of the best sculptors in the world allows us to refine them into the purest surfaces.”

Joining the C-X16 clay model at the London event are three bespoke sculptures that show the past, present and future of Jaguar. Commissioned by Julian Thomson and painted by two designers from the Jaguar design team the artwork is based on the bonnets of an E-type, C-X16 and C-X75. Just as the specially created creations span Jaguar’s ages, so too do the vehicles on display. The XJ13, created in 1966 and the only one in the world, is joined by an XFR and XKR-S. Designed, engineered and built in the UK, both modern cars demonstrate the very best in British creativity and industry-leading engineering. Clerkenwell Design Week runs in London from 22nd to 24th May 2012. The Jaguar C-X16 clay model, XFR, XKR-S, XJ13 and Jaguar sculptures are all located in the Farmiloe Building.

For more information and for free entry registration you can visit www.clerkenwelldesignweek.com.

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Alfa Romeo 8C Spider 3ds Max Tutorial

Software Used: 3ds Max Introduction:

The project, Alfa Romeo C8 Spyder, started as a personal challenge in order to improve my modelling techniques and final renders. The modelling of cars has always attracted and fascinated me, and this is what I specialise in. I have created some car models and the treatment of each finished model is better than the previous one. I choose this model for this personal project because, from the very first time I saw it in a car magazine, my attention was simply drawn to its form. It decided it was time to bring it into the world of 3D!

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Exclusive: Renault Twizy design story Part 1

On May 10th we had the chance of participating to the presentation of the Twizy design story, with Renault VP Design R&D and Nissan Synergies Patrick Lecharpy and Renault Design Manager R&D Design Studio Luciano Bove. Both Patrick and Luciano shared many details on the work done on the car, not only in term of design, but also carrying out a complete reorganization of the concept development process, which resulted so successful that it is now adopted by the whole Renault R&D Design Studio.

This design story is particularly interesting given the unconventional nature of the Twizy, and it shows how a new concept was created from scratch, from the initial briefing to the final road tests. Patrick and Luciano also gave many tips and suggestions for design students and aspiring designers. We have collected them in an upcoming exclusive article, so check back soon on these pages! The context: innovation and new markets

Patrick Lecharpy starts by underlining the importance of innovation: “The history of car design shows that the big successes for the automobile industry comes from innovation, and that represents an investment and a risk for a company.” “When you are innovating it is important to identify where the Blue Oceans are, i.e. where nobody is. This doesn’t mean there are no customers, it just means there are no answers for customers’ needs.” “So you can decide whether to be in Red Oceans – where there is a huge amount of customers but also many competitors – or to be in Blue Oceans and try to create a new market.” The initial goal was not only to explore a new concept of mobility and make it available to the general public, but also to search a new way for bringing original ideas into production. “A few years ago Carlos Ghosn stated that in the future Renault would focus on the production of electric cars, which was initially greeted with some skepticism. “According to his analysis from 2020 the cost of fossil fuel would be extremely high and electricity would be less costly for daily use.” Based on this, Renault designers started to research in this field, and this investment eventually resulted in the presentation of a complete range of electric concepts (Twizy, Fluence, ZOE and Kangoo ZE Concepts) in 2009, all aimed at envisioning series production models.

Briefing and initial concept While the other three projects were centered around the design of family vehicles, for the Twizy the development team was given much more freedom, in terms of both technical specifications and organization. The initial goal was to offer a new solution for the urban commuters’ needs. Patrick explains: “According to statistics data, the average number of occupants per car is just 1.4 and the average distance traveled each day is about 60 km.

“Based on this information, the idea was to design a single-seat, four-wheeled vehicle that provided a minimum range of 80 km” The vehicle needed to be safe, affordable, agile and fun: each of these requirements influenced the choices made during the first phase, where the basic layout of the Twizy was outlined.

Luciano Bove explains: “We understood that it was not so important for the car to be extremely sophisticated. It was more important to achieve a feeling of energy, agility, a good balance between costs and quality and also a sense of motorcycle-like freedom.” The need for safety led to the idea of providing a car-like protection: this translated into a four-wheel layout. In order to reinforce the feeling of safety, the target driving position had an eye-level comparable to that of a Twingo. Having a car-like safety also led to incorporate the “half doors” on the sides, while the original concept was doorless: their purpose is to provide protection in case of side impacts. The basic vehicle layout consisted of a low-positioned large battery pack for maximum stability and an upper passenger safety cell inspired by helmets and aluminum building structures. True to the briefing, the cabin was mainly developed for one, with the possibility of accommodating an additional passenger if needed. The need to keep costs low led the Renault team to avoid complex dynamic systems such as leaning wheel suspensions.

For the “fun” part, raising emotional reactions was another interesting challenge. Luciano Bove comments: “When designing the Twizy one of the starting requirements asked by the product planning in the briefings was to create an emotional driving and to offer an outstanding experience. This reflected in our sketches, that communicated the impression of unique driving experience.” “Taking inspiration from modern three-wheel scooters, we also tried to incorporate a very strong connection between driver and machine.”

Styling The Twizy project was unconventional also in terms of look. Patrick explains: “When dealing with a new concepts we had two options ahead: to follow the conventional styling trends of automobile design or to search for a different imagery and look.” “With the Twizy we wanted to reach new customers, not necessarily attracted by conventional design.” The need for a distinctive look was also aimed at meeting the needs and tastes of customers different from the ones targeted with the Zoe, and this reflects in the research sketches, mostly created by designers Francois Leboine and Eduardo Lana. “Given the nature and the performances of the car we deliberately decided to avoid a sporty look that would evoke speed. We stayed true to the brief of creating a design that would express dynamism, fun and joy, while being appealing to both female and male customers.” The final look of the Twizy Concept also incorporated a number of distinctive styling elements which contributed to express its diversity as well as to raise fun, curiosity and expectation for something new to happen. On the exterior, these included the distinctive wheel covers and the LED screen face, capable of communicating emotions. The interior of the featured a range indicator inspired by lotus flowers, with petals that close progressively as the range decreases, which was another hint at rising positive emotions. A new organization

The development of the Twizy concept took just nine months, compared to a standard period of about 2 years. This result was enabled by the implementation of an innovative organizational structure, necessary for such an unconventional project to be accepted for production. When developing a new vehicle, car companies usually establish a dedicated technical platform consisting of a Director and a large number of managers, each responsible of a different aspect.

Then, the initial development is generally carried over in sequential phases: product planning, design and engineering. For the Twizy Renault decided to take a different route. Patrick Lecharpy explains: “We decided to integrate these three phases into a single organization, where the three areas of competence – each consisting of just about 15 people – would work at the same level in a more dynamic and integrated process.”

This helped each member of the team to have more responsibilities, and allowed to cut bureaucracy and bouncing decisions Luciano Bove adds: “We avoided the risk of having too many discussions between different departments, which would have delayed the process and ultimately increased the costs.”

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Volkswagen Develops Crowd-Sourced All-Electric Hover Car Concept

As part of its People's Car Project (PCP) in China, Volkswagen has developed a concept car based on a crowd-sourced idea for an all-electric hover car that it will debut at the Beijing Auto Show.

The car is a two-person city car that hovers above the ground and travels via electromagnetic roadways. The Hover Car looks a lot like a flattened fish bowl with its circular design and large glass panels. Simon Loasby, Head of Design at Volkswagen Group China, said "The creative ideas from the ‘People's Car Project' give us a valuable insight into the wishes of Chinese drivers. The trend is towards safe cars that can easily navigate overcrowded roads and have a personal, emotional and exciting design." Out of 119,000 submitted ideas, the other two picked by Volkswagen to become concept cars were The Music Car, which features OLED lights that create light shows to the driver's music and The Smart Key, which is just what it sounds like -- a car featuring a touchscreen key that provides information on the car's fuel level, security and more. None of the cars will go on to become production models, but Volkswagen says they will use the people-designed vehicles to inspire features in future car models. Darn. I really wanted that Hover Car. via Volkswagen

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What Is TSCiTM Technology

TSCiTM is a revolutionary combustion system enabled by injecting supercritical fuel directly into the combustion chamber. Direct injection of fuel in the supercritical state enables significant fuel efficiency improvements to be achieved. For example, supercritical injection enables cost-effective compression ignition of gasoline in engines with a conventional architecture. This is described as “Injection Ignition”, and it results in efficiencies that are equal to or better than today’s Diesel engines. TSCi™ also enables new combustion strategies to help OEM’s achieve future reductions in emissions levels. So far, a number of top automotive and engine manufacturers have engaged Transonic and are advancing their powertrain plans to incorporate TSCiTM technology.

Why TSCiTM Technology Powertrain technologies have expanded to include not only direct propulsion, but also parallel and series hybrids, and plug-in electrics with range-extending internal combustion driven generators. Internal combustion is at the core of all of these, and will continue to be the prime powertrain technology well into the foreseeable future. From a refinery output standpoint, it is impractical to move our entire vehicle fleet to Diesel fuel. Therefore, major efficiency gains need to occur with gasoline fueled engines to meet the future’s ever more stringent fuel economy and emissions requirements. TSCiTM addresses the problem of spark ignited gasoline internal combustion being less efficient than compression ignition of Diesel.

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The Challenge: Current Internal Combustion Engine Inefficiency

he fundamental problem is that on average about 15% of the energy from the gasoline you put into your tank gets used to move your car down the road (U.S. Department of Transportation: Transportation Research Board). The rest of the energy is lost to engine and driveline inefficiencies and idling. The engine is where most thermal efficiency loss takes place. Combustion irreversibility results in large amounts of waste heat escaping through the cylinder walls and unrecoverable exhaust energy. Normal engines run with rich air-to-fuel ratios, which also result in fuel being trapped in the crevice as well as partially combusting near the cylinder walls. These energy losses are at the core of the internal combustion engine inefficiencies.

While we explore solutions for a car industry that accounts for half of the transportation sector’s fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, many short-term and long-term alternatives are being considered. Each option has deep implications in terms of sourcing raw materials, changing automotive powertrain architectures, revamping energy infrastructures, and many unknown technological and environmental consequences. The considerable economic costs to consumers and society must be carefully considered to pursue the most viable, sustainable solutions. Industry and academia experts agree that the technologies required to improve the efficiency of new cars and trucks mainly involve incremental change to conventional internal combustion engines. According to a recent study, efficiency improvements of internal combustion engines can reach 30% by 2020 and up to 50% by 2030 (FIA Foundation: “50 by 50: Global Fuel Economy Initiative”). The potential benefits are large and greatly exceed the expected costs of improved fuel economy. Cutting global average automotive fuel consumption by 50% would reduce emissions of CO2 by over 1 gigaton a year by 2025 and over 2 gigatons by 2050, resulting in annual savings of imported oil worth over $300 billion in 2025 and $600 billion in 2050 (oil = $100/barrel). For consumers, the cost of improved technology for more fuel efficient cars could be recovered by fuel savings in the first few years of use of a new car. But volatile oil prices create conditions that influence new car buyers purchase consideration of higher-efficiency, higher-priced vehicles that in turn influence product offerings from global car manufacturers.

Another study found that fuel efficiency improvements enabled by advanced combustion technologies of 50% or more for automotive engines (relative to spark-ignition engines dominating the road today in the U.S.) and 25% or more for heavy-duty truck engines (relative to today’s diesel truck engines) are possible in the next 10 to 15 years (U.S. Department of Energy: “Basic Research Needs for Clean and Efficient Combustion of 21st Century Transportation Fuels”). The most promising directions for novel combustion strategies for high-efficiency, clean internal combustion engine technology involve combustion of lean or dilute fuel-air mixtures beyond limits that have been reached to date. Local mixture composition is the driving parameter for ignition, combustion rate and pollutant formation. Therefore it is crucial to understand and control how fuel, air, and potentially recirculated exhaust gas are mixed. The potential to improve fuel efficiency with advanced internal combustion engine technologies is enormous. Transonic’s breakthrough high energy efficiency, low carbon footprint solution disrupts the stagnant efficiency trajectory of the internal combustion engine over the past 100 years. Our lean combustion process utilizes lean air-to-fuel ratios that minimize many of thermal efficiency losses from today’s engine technology. Transonic’s precision controlled fuel injection systems address these issues to dramatically improve the efficiency and halve the emissions of modern internal combustion engines.

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Transonic Combustion Improves Gas Engine Efficiency Over 50%

Conventional gasoline engines are terribly inefficient things. Only 13% of the energy of the fuel actually moves the car. 62% is lost in the engine as waste heat, and driveline losses, accessories, and idling also reduce the efficiency.

Transonic Combustion is planning to build automobile engines with improved efficiency obtained through heating and pressurizing gasoline before injecting it into the combustion chamber. "This puts it into a supercritical state that allows for very fast and clean combustion, which in turn decreases the amount of fuel needed to propel a vehicle," according to MIT Technology Review. A transonic test vehicle achieved 64 MPG in highway driving, compared to a 48 MPG hybrid Prius, and running at a steady cruising speed of 50 mph, the test vehicle achieved 98 MPG. Like diesel and HCCI, the Transonic Combustion technology operates without needing a spark plug. Timing software also further enhances the operating efficiency of the system. Transonic injection is being developed for use with gasoline engines at present, but will also be compatible with advanced low carbon footprint bio-fuels in the future. Transonic expects its system will be comparable in cost to other current high-end fuel injection systems. Because of the higher operating pressure, the longevity and durability of the engine will be important considerations the company will need to address. The company plans to build its production facility in 2013 and expects to be building engines for production vehicles in 2014. via: Inhabitat

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New gasoline engine design has 4x efficiency of pistons

This looks promising. It is basically a continuous combustion wave turbine. While not super powerful in this early design and not intended to replace a V-8 it can be brought to market for a hybrid vehicle application soon, according to the researcher. See the video below. While they’ve got a focus on CO2 for the usual reasons, I’ll take increased efficiency any day.

Schematic model of a wave disk engine, showing combustion and shockwaves within the channels. Source: Michigan State University. Researchers from Michigan State University have been awarded $2.5 million from the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E program to complete its prototype development of a new gasoline-fueled wave disc engine and electricity generator that promises to be five times more efficient than traditional auto engines in electricity production, 20% lighter, and 30% cheaper to manufacture.

The wave disc engine, a new implementation of wave rotor technology, was earlier developed by the Michigan State group in collaboration with researchers from the Warsaw Institute of Technology. About the size of a large cooking pot, the novel, hyper-efficient engine could replace current engine/generator technologies for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. The award will allow a team of MSU engineers and scientists, led by Norbert Müller, an associate professor of mechanical engineering, to begin working toward producing a vehicle-size wave disc engine/generator during the next two years, building on existing modeling, analysis and lab experimentation they have already completed. Our goal is to enable hyper-efficient hybrid vehicles to meet consumer needs for a 500-mile driving range, lower vehicle prices, full-size utility, improved highway performance and very low operating costs. The WDG also can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 95 percent in comparison to modern internal combustion vehicle engines. From ARPA-E The Wave Disk Generator revolutionizes auto efficiency at lower vehicle costs. Currently, 15% of automobile fuel is used for propulsion; the other 85% is wasted. A Wave Disk Generator hybrid uses 60% of fuel for vehicle propulsion. MSU’s shock wave combustion generator is the size of a cooking pot and generates electricity very efficiently. This revolutionary generator replaces today’s 1,000 pounds of engine, transmission, cooling system, emissions, and fluids resulting in a lighter, more fuel-efficient electric vehicle. This technology provides 500-mile-plus driving range, is 30% lighter, and 30% less expensive than current, new plug-in hybrid vehicles. It overcomes the cost, weight, and driving range challenges of battery-powered electric vehicles. This development exceeds national CO2 emission reduction goals for transportation. A 90% reduction is calculated in CO2 emissions versus gasoline engine vehicles. Wave Disk Generator application scales as small as motor scooters and as large as delivery trucks, due to its small size, low weight, and low cost. This technology enables us to radically improve the atmosphere and human health of major global cities. Last week, the prototype was presented to the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), this video was released:

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Greener Aerospace with Nanotechnology

During flight, aircraft parts are subject to varying loads, and can develop cracks in high-stress areas. If structural parts are not regularly inspected and repaired, cracks could increase, eventually causing structural failure and loss of life. But aircraft inspection and repairs are costly to airlines. Moreover, high fuel prices and international efforts on climate change have brought attention to the need for greater fuel efficiency. Increasing international competition favors the rapid, low-cost production of reliable, efficient, and easy-to-maintain aircraft capable of increased load and range. In short, the aerospace industry faces a challenge: to develop advanced materials that are simultaneously stronger, lighter, safer, fuel-efficient, and cost-effective. With nanotechnology, it now may be possible to create almost perfect materials that can increase performance and passenger safety while saving significant money. View the "What is Nanotechnology?" introductory video. Play media Improving Aluminum Aluminum alloys have long been materials of choice for aircraft fuselages. But viewing the microstructure of a typical aerospace aluminum alloy through an electron microscope reveals that the arrangement of atoms is far from perfect. Dislocations, grain boundaries, and voids all weaken an alloy.

Indeed, analysis reveals that the theoretical strength of a defect-free aluminum alloy can be 100 times greater than actual measurements in a mechanical testing lab. That suggests that fabricating defect-free aluminum alloys could allow structural parts of required strength to be made of less material, and thus be lighter weight. Perfect alloys could be produced using an atomic force microscope or a scanning tunneling microscope to position the arrangement of individual atoms without voids, displacements, and other defects. Such capability was demonstrated as far back as 1989, when researchers at IBM's Almaden Research Center in San Jose were able to spell out their company's name in xenon atoms. More recently, researchers at the same lab were able to measure, down to the piconewton, how much force was required to move a cobalt atom across a copper surface. Exploring Composites Composite materials—those in which fibers, commonly of carbon, are embedded in a matrix of resin or other polymer-—are increasingly used for structural components in aircraft and space vehicles. Composites are exceptionally light and strong. But their behavior is not yet well understood in the presence of damage by lightning (composites have poor electrical conductivity), exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet rays, or delamination caused by out-of-plane load, impact, or moisture. A composite in which nanoparticles are dispersed into the polymer matrix may be more resistant to fracture and fatigue. Distributing nanoparticles throughout a polymer matrix is quite difficult, however, and strong chemical bonding between the nanotubes and the matrix are essential to the ultimate performance of the nanocomposite material. Because experimental trial-and-error is costly and time-consuming, multiscale modeling may prove useful in establishing a link between the nanoscale chemistry and a material's macroscopic behavior when subjected to flight load. The Bottom Line That such advanced materials are possible is not enough to warrant their use. They must also be cost effective to employ. A back-of-the-envelope calculation reveals that advanced materials, even if quite expensive, are economically viable to research and develop. Consider a simple cost analysis for the fuel consumption of a typical commercial aircraft for a nonstop flight from Los Angeles to New York. The total weight of a medium-range aircraft after takeoff is approximately 500,000 pounds, including the 40,000-gallon weight of fuel; that yields a gallons-per-pound ratio for this aircraft of 40,000/500,000, or 0.08 gallon/lb. Assuming there is a 20 percent reduction in weight as a result of new nanoscale-assembled aluminum alloys or nanoparticle-reinforced composite materials, let us calculate the total monetary savings during the life of the aircraft: [The gallon/lb. ratio (0.08)] x [The cost of jet fuel (typically $5 per gallon)] x [The weight savings (500,000 pounds times 20 percent, or 100,000 pounds)] x [The number of flights in the life of the plane (about 60,000)] The savings is an astonishing $2.4 billion per plane. Furthermore, if we assume the total number of aircraft that will be fabricated with the new material is conservatively estimated to be 1,000, then the total monetary savings throughout the life of a 1,000-aircraft fleet will be almost $2.4 trillion. I am optimistic that advanced aerospace materials for lighter-weight aircraft are worth the investment. The fuel savings would be significant for airlines, while increasing strength and safety. [Adapted from “Can Nanotechnology Make for Greener Aerospace?” by Bahram Farahmand, for Mechanical Engineering, March 2010.]

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The Robo-Doctor Will See You Now

A technological idea born in science fiction is a promising answer to the challenging realities of modern health care. With fewer doctors to meet the growing health-care needs of our aging population, hospitals and health systems are investing in robotic systems for surgery and telemedicine that increase their patient capacity and geographic reach. Machines like the da Vinci Surgical System (Intuitive Surgical Systems, Sunnyvale, CA) and the RP-7i Remote Presence medical robot (InTouch Health, Santa Barbara, CA) connect patients who need specialized care with physicians who can help them – even if they are an ocean apart. In Robert A. Heinlein's popular 1942 science-fiction story "Waldo," a physically disabled but mechanically gifted man builds a set of automated "hands" that gave him super-human strength and dexterity. Waldo Farthingwaite-Jones could control his Synchronous Reduplicated Pantograph to duplicate his exact hand motions in numerous then-fictitious applications, including cellular-level microsurgery. But fiction soon collided with reality when the nuclear industry invented a real gadget, nicknamed a Waldo, for the safe manipulation of radioactive materials from a remote location, and a new industry was born. Seventy years later, medical robots are still an emerging technology. But forces such as health-care reform, the shortage of doctors and nurses, and the skyrocketing costs of hospital care are driving its acceptance like never before. Robo-Surgeon

But it's about more than just saving money. Advocates of robotic surgery, for example, claim the da Vinci surgical robot achieves significantly better outcomes than either radiation or traditional surgery in delicate procedures such as radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer. They say robotic surgery can remove more cancerous tissue with less disruption of adjacent nerve endings than other methods, helping to reduce cancer recurrence and retain sexual function. That's why some 85% of men undergoing prostate cancer surgery are choosing medical centers that offer robotic surgery. Introduced in 1999, the da Vinci system remains the standard robotic system for complex operations in cardiac, colorectal, gynecologic, thoracic, urologic, and head and neck surgeries. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration continues to approve its use in additional surgical applications. "From Day One, when I sat down at that robotic console, I knew we would give patients a better outcome," said Florida surgeon Vipul Patel in a New York Times interview. "I have not seen anyone who has done a good amount of robotic surgery go back (to traditional methods)," he said. The robotic arms that comprise the da Vinci robot. Image: Intuitive Surgical Systems The guts of the system include four robotic arms, a high-definition 3-D viewing system with up to 10x magnification, and a novel family of specialized instruments with Intuitive Surgical's proprietary "EndoWrist" technology. Traditional devices such as forceps, scalpels, retractors, and suture drivers have been reimagined for the robotic age, with seven degrees of freedom, a large range of motion, and less risk from surgeon hand tremors. The system's robotic and computer technologies work together to scale, filter, and translate the surgeon's hand movements into micro-movements that guide the instruments, not unlike the Waldo of science fiction. Seated at a viewing and control console located in or near the operating room, the surgeon uses hand controls to manipulate surgical instruments through tiny incisions. The instruments move like high-precision puppets with each motion of the surgeon's hand, wrist, or finger. Detail from the da Vinci robot. Image: Intuitive Surgical Systems Robotic surgery has its critics, especially among those concerned about its comparatively high cost and the worry that hospitals will over-hype the technology to lure patients and recoup their investments. Catherine Mohr, director of medical research at Intuitive Surgical, acknowledged that a typical system "will cost you about as much as a solid gold surgeon. It's a fairly big capital investment, but once you've got it, your procedure costs do come down." For Mohr, the next challenges in robotic surgery are to make the technique faster and easier to use in more complex operations, which is key to their eventual routine, cost-effective use. She said she is working with prototype designs that eliminate the need to move the robot to reach additional areas of the body and add new visualization capabilities that "see beyond the surface – we need to guide what we're cutting in a much better way." University of Washington surgeon Dr. Richard Satava predicts in the next 40 to 50 years surgery will be completely automated. The surgeon's role will evolve to include management of a full information system built around the surgical environment. "The future of technology, and medicine in general, is not in blood and guts, but in bits and bytes," he says. Robotic Hands Across the Water The ultimate in robotic surgery would be the integration of daVinci-style surgical robots with telemedicine technologies that enable medical professionals to consult, assist, supervise, or train their counterparts in distant locations. Intuitive Surgical says the daVinci is theoretically capable of long-distance surgery, but it's not the company's current focus. But in terms of experimentation, remote operations date back more than a decade.

Patient being given a consultation via a bedside robot. Image: InTouch Health The first trans-Atlantic robotic surgery took place in September 2001, when teams of fiber-optically linked surgeons in New York and Strasbourg, France, robotically removed the gall bladder of a 68-year-old woman using robotic arms built by Computer Motion (later acquired by Intuitive Surgical). The robot's chief architect and inventor, Yulun Wang, later founded InTouch Health, maker of the RP-7i. That technology may be more useful for surgeon training than for direct patient care, but there are myriad more routine applications today in which robots can not only improve patient care but also dramatically reduce its cost and increase its reach to remote communities. That's where the RP-7i comes in. Remote presence robots bring big-city know-how to small-town clinics and trauma centers. The impact can be life-saving in the case of emergencies such as stroke or heart attack, where a fast diagnosis and onset of treatment is critical to saving heart or brain function. Telemedicine increases the public's access to advanced expertise while helping to reduce the overall cost of care. Critical care doctors in major trauma centers can evaluate accident victims remotely and, often, eliminate the need to transport them to larger hospitals. The RP-7i system features one or more physician control stations linked wirelessly to what the company calls an "endpoint": a remote-controlled mobile console/medical cart topped by a high-definition video screen and camera. The robot enables two-way doctor-to-doctor and doctor-to-patient communication and visualization. It is equipped with a suite of basic medical instruments to allow remote monitoring of vital signs. The consulting doctor can observe patient behavior, check bedside monitors, confer with family members, or review medical images with the patient. Through his or her robotic counterpart, the remote physician can travel from room to room and to the nurses' station to review care plans. With doctors in short supply, especially in rural areas, technologies that help them be in two places at once will surely be part of tomorrow's health-care landscape. As Wang says, "We have to innovate our way out of this problem." Michael MacRae is an independent writer.

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Inventors Out Sourcing Mechanical Engineering

Reasons for inventors to Out Source Mechanical Engineering Work. Before you get "up in arms" over the title of this article, let's clarify what we mean when we say the "out sourcing mechanical engineering work". We mean that it is a good idea for anyone who has invented a product or designed a new item to out source their mechanical engineering work to an official firm. Why? While you may have great skills with a CAD program or the ability to really do some great technical sketches, it is not always best to go with your own "in-house" design. A good and reliable firm offering mechanical engineering work is going to be able to give you the kinds of recommendations and services that you would find it difficult to pull together on your own.

The Benefits of Out Sourcing Mechanical Engineering Work What does that mean? Well, let's say that you have come up with a new device that has numerous parts and which you want to have a certain "look" and "feel". You may be able to capture this in a drawing or sketch of the item, but unless you have thorough knowledge of the ways that materials and machines work, you may not be able to properly design the product for mass production. When you turn to out sourcing for mechanical engineering work the professional engineers and design team will be able to take you through a step by step process that first identifies your needs (specifically those of the product) and then moves into a sort of preliminary design phase. This is where out sourcing mechanical engineering work is going to really show its value. This is because in the preliminary stages, a professional engineer or team is going to be able to tell you if the design will function as you envision, if the materials selected will stand up to the anticipated use or wear and tear, and so much more. This is where your out sourcing mechanical engineering work will allow for all of the proper calculations, tests, theories and official drawings to be created. The Phases of Design and Prototyping After the initial design phase, most professional engineers will then do another "critical" analysis that finalizes the necessary manufacturing processes and the most appropriate materials. Only after this is done will the prototype of the design be created. By then, the result is going to be exactly what will be created during the manufacturing process, and the prototype is going to be the equivalent of the first item to come off the proverbial "lines". While you could design a product, talk to an overseas manufacturer, and work with a range of distributors for materials and packaging, it is best to out source your work to a mechanical engineering firm who can show you the flaws in your design, recommend the right materials and machining processes, help with packaging, and even pursue the patents that you need for your new invention. By keeping everything in the hands of one firm, you will ensure the best results possible.

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Mechatronics and the Role of Engineers

Mechatronics can be seen everywhere today. Engineers have mechatronics journals and can read mechatronics papers in journals that cover other fields, while a multitude of diverse companies are embracing its principles. The term was coined over 40 years ago, when engineer Tetsuro Mori combined the words "mechanical" and "electronic" to describe the electronic control systems that Yaskawa Electric Corp. was building for mechanical factory equipment. Mechatronics are all around us, from computer hard drives and robotic assembly systems to washing machines, coffee makers, and medical devices. Electronics that control mechanical systems account for much of the value of the average automobile, managing everything from stability control and antilock brakes to climate control and memory-adjust seats. "Mechatronics" means many things to many people, but when pressed, many engineers reference a drawing shown by Kevin Craig, perhaps the nation's foremost evangelist of mechatronic design. It consists of four overlapping circles: mechanical systems, electronic systems, control systems, and computers. "Mechatronics represents more than mechanical and electronics," according to Craig, a professor of mechanical engineering who left Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to start a mechatronics program at Marquette University. According to Michelle Boucher, an analyst for the Aberdeen Group, a Boston-based technology think tank, the best performers among the surveyed companies have changed the way they worked. More importantly, though, they do not schedule meetings based on time—every week, or twice monthly—but on key events in the project timeline.

Mechatronics are all around us, from computer hard drives and robotic assembly systems to washing machines, coffee makers, and medical devices. So instead of wasting time in a meeting when nothing is happening, key players gather when it's time to fit the pieces together. Design and project collaboration software are also important. These applications help engineers visualize how systems work and are easy to mark up with questions and comments. "If you're an electrical engineer, you don't necessarily have easy access to CAD data, so this helps you see how the device is supposed to work," Boucher said. But the question remains: Which engineers lead? According to Peter Schmidt, a senior research engineer at Rockwell Automation's Advanced Technology Group who teaches part-time with Craig at Marquette, "We're all engineers and we're doing engineering, period. Rockwell Automation has long hired electrical and control engineers to design its machine control and factory automation systems. Many of the company's engineers say they have been doing systems integration design and modeling (in short, mechatronics) for 20 years. It's that multidisciplinary approach from concept through delivery that separates mechatronics from old-style control engineering at Rockwell. President Terry Precht calls it a virtual factory, combining design, manufacturing, and depot repair services. While some mechatronics teams like to run simulations, Precht prefers to use the prototype approach. "You can answer certain questions from an actual model that you can't get answered in a soft model," he said. Project Leadership "Our mechanical and electrical engineers are always working very closely together on these things," Precht said. "When we build systems with complex moving parts, mechanical engineers write the control software since they understand how the devices should operate. We have three graduates that went through Doctor Dave's mechatronics course, and it was just obvious from the start how well they can work across a broad spectrum of projects compared with engineers who were classically trained." "Doctor Dave" is David Alciatore, a professor of mechanical engineering who literally wrote the book on mechatronics, Introduction to Mechatronics and Measurement Systems, with co-author and professor emeritus Michael Histand. The first edition came out in 1999, and the book is now in its fourth edition. "A good hands-on mechanical engineer trained in electronics makes a much better mechatronics engineer than an electrical engineer or computer engineer trained in mechanics later," he said. Back to School Right now, the question of who takes ownership and who will lead the development of next-generation electromechanical systems often depends on where engineers work. Companies that make mechanical systems tend to let mechanical engineers lead; those that make electronics assign the lead to software and electrical engineers. In the future, though, the issue may be decided by how colleges train the next generation of mechanical engineers. Right now, most schools teach controls, basic electronics, and programming as part of the mechanical engineering curriculum. For example, at Colorado State University in Pueblo, in addition to the course work, the engineering program also focuses on teaching students to work on teams, an essential for the multifunctional world of industrial design. According to Craig, classical mechanical engineering has become a commodity skill. His goal at Marquette is to integrate courses so that electrical, control, and mechanical engineers learn how different disciplines use the same core knowledge to achieve different results. "We have to show how we can integrate electronics and controls into modern mechanical systems," he says. Another approach is to offer a degree in mechatronics. So far, only three schools do that: California State University, North Carolina State University, and Colorado State University. The department chair at Colorado State, Jane Fraser, thinks that industrial engineering is an ideal platform for mechatronics because the focus is on bottom-line results rather than on mechanical or electrical components. Manufacturing companies in her community are telling her the same thing. They want students trained to integrate electronics, controls, computers, and moving parts. For them, this is not just where engineering is going. It is where engineering has arrived. [Adapted from "Who Owns Mechatronics?" by Alan S. Brown, Associate Editor, Mechanical Engineering, June 2008.]

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Art in Motion

Renowned artist Arthur Ganson has become famous turning mechanics into high art. Originally he had his sights set on being a doctor but since pre-med didn't fulfill the discipline requirement for his college, he chose art. Then, it started to choose him. "I always enjoyed building things as a kid but that's where it ended," he says. "I had a 3D design assignment and I chose to attempt to make a working slot machine all out of wire. That really worked and that was, in a way, my first success." Ganson starts to explain further and the memory shocks him. It's 36 years ago and yet the mechanism is still so vivid. The wall-mounted device he created in 1976, a foot tall and six inches wide, was a complex arrangement of wires and mechanical devices that allowed the user to put a quarter into the top and find its way to a collecting cup. It seems like the journey of the currency was half the fun as Ganson excitedly explains it. "Here's how I remember it … The quarter would be put in and cause a little wheel to spin and, while it spun, then the quarter would go to another part of the machine that would cause the weight of the quarter to cause a little arm to come to rest on a spinning wheel. Eventually it got there but, again, it worked." Dreams of an Artist After graduating from the University of New Hampshire, the path of the stethoscope was retired in favor of the dreams of an artist. It was, as it often is, a gradual process to professional success. "I was continuing to make machines and I supported myself doing carpentry and house building. When I could show my work, I would." Where it would eventually lead him even he could never have guessed.

Arthur Ganson "I eventually moved to Boston around 1981 and got a showing at the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts. A guy named Crispin Miller who was a graduate student at MIT saw my work and he wrote an interdepartmental memo telling colleagues to see this weird stuff. So people from MIT came." As he says this, there's a genuine awe in his voice that this actually happened. What followed was something beyond unusual—the Office of the Arts offered him a four-year residency in the engineering department at MIT. Yes, that's right, in the engineering department. "Getting together with juniors and seniors as a part of their engineering classes, I was a part of what they called the real world projects—students meeting with people outside their own classwork and creating projects. I had quite a few students interested in working on things after we got to talking." Though his residency finished up in 1999, you can still see evidence of his time there. The response was so strong that his creations now have been on display at the MIT Museum on an ongoing basis for roughly 15 years, says Ganson. The Dream - detail. Though he says he's been fortunate to have admirers of many of his pieces, after all these years there is a standout: "The Wishbone." In fact, it's been in everything from a Microsoft Windows commercial to a short film. He explains its origins: "It actually came from finishing a chicken. I'm there at the kitchen table and taking the wishbone and I start to play with it. I looked at it and thought it looked like a cowboy that had been on a horse too long and I started to make it walk across the table. Yes, it usually starts with me playing with an object, that's my process, close to a puppeteer. Then I got a feeling of what I wanted the gesture of the movement to be—what kind of machine that would cause the wishbone to go in that way." "It wasn't hard to build, it was made out of wire, pretty much all wire and powered by a one and a half volt battery," says Ganson. "I designed it to walk across any table so the machine had a couple of wheels. The walking aspect is organization of two motions rocking left and right and rocking on a vertical axis. Once combined in the proper way, you get a walking machine. Both of those motions are directed by one wheel that has two linkages on either side of it, geared down, driven from a smaller wheel which itself is on a much larger wheel—which is also driven by the motor," he adds. Fear Can Equal Failure

Ganson says anyone who has the impulse to want to make machines that capture an idea or emotional feeling should work with what they have—and not be afraid to fail. "If they follow an impulse that feels personal, one of the hardest things is to build something where you may feel naïve about how to build it," he says. "But don't be afraid of it not working. Some of my best work came from intuition and just letting myself go. Sometimes that's the hardest thing to do." Eric Butterman is an independent writer.

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Following a Higher Bounce

Back in the 20th century, a pogo stick was a cheap pole with a coil that kids tried out on Christmas and then hung in the garage for a few decades. But in this millennium, anything that can be ridden can be extremely ridden, anything that can move can be flipped, and anything that can get airtime provides those so inclined with a chance to break a collarbone. "Basically, there's an extreme sports spirit that has entered our culture," explains Nick Ryan, who runs X-pogo.com and organizes the annual pogo fest, Pogopalooza. Unbeknownst to each other, scattered across the nation there were once a handful of pogo stick owners who had not consigned their spring-loaded toy to the corner with the Big Wheel. Instead they were doing their best to hop down steps, ricochet off walls, and bounce as long as their legs would hold out. "We picked up pogo sticks in our backyards—very pathetic—and tried to do tricks," says Ryan. "It was fun 10 or 11 years ago." The advancements in pogo technology allow extreme pogoists the ability to bounce higher and do extreme stunts. "Pathetic" because the technology was not yet there to put those early extreme "pogo-ers" where their imaginations would have them. Now four new pogo technologies are putting them that high and higher. Vurtego: A Turbo Booster

"The Vurtego" is a product of the Spencer family. "Immediately I had this feeling in my chest," says X-pogo's Brian Spencer of hearing his cousin's idea for a giant pogo. "All these thoughts started flashing through my head—jumping over stuff, stalling on things, doing a plant on a wall. I thought, 'We're definitely building a big-ass pogo stick.'" Spencer brought the idea to his father, an ex-aerospace engineer, who had been a lead designer for the F-18 fighter jet. A pneumatic tube, he thought, was the only way to add spring strength without adding weight. Detail of the Vurtego V3 cyclinder kit. Soon the family had put together a first prototype in the garage. Then they had to find the right pressure ratio. It turned out that 3:1 gave the bouncer the most control. Spencer patented a series of such ratios, rather than the design of the stick itself. His latest model, the much sought after V3 (Spencer can't keep them in stock), has a "turbo booster," an external air canister, which, at the push of a button, gives the pogoer an extra jolt of height. The annual Pogopalooza has two contests for highest jump: one for booster-assisted pogoers and one for old-fashioned, boost-free extreme pogoers. Motostik: Springing into Action

While Spencer and family were cobbling together a prototype, a mere 15 miles away another extreme enthusiast and dirt bike racer, Marc Matson, was drinking a few beers with a friend when the idea came up. "Why don't you make a pogo stick that looks like a dirt bike," asked the friend. From left to right, The Super Pogo, Flybar Pogo and Motostik Pogo. Matson pulled a fork off a spare bike and modified a triple clamp—the part that holds the forks to the handlebars. "I'm not an engineer but I had the vision," he says. "I gave it to an engineer friend of mine." Working in CAD, the friend developed a pogo with four springs, rather than the single of a traditional stick. The springs coiled in alternating directions to avoid twist. Matson decked out his sticks to resemble various brands of Motocross bikes. "If you ride a Yamaha, we have a sticker kit that matches your bike," says Matson. Though it bounced higher, and quieter, than a traditional pogo, the Motostik's steel spring technology was only a partial improvement. When it hit the streets, the Vurtugeo was soon bouncing hot on its tail. "They came out right behind me," says Matson. Though the Motostik has its enthusiasts, anyone serious about getting height is soon to move on to another pogo. "I'm comfortable in third place," says Matson of his competitors. "Those guys are shooting for the moon. By the law of chances, out of a thousand bounces you're gonna splat a bunch of times." Flybar: Stretching the Bands While the Vurtego and the Motostik were busy being born, an MIT-trained physicist had his own idea for launching the bounce-minded. His Flybar uses up to 12 rubber bands (depending on the weight and needs of the pogoer) capable of stretching 400% before returning to their original shape. He sold the idea to the world's largest pogo manufacturer, SBI. "It took six months and a couple of hundred thousand dollars till we came up with the correct band," says Irwin Arginsky, president of the company. Part of the difficulty was finding the right way to mold the bands. Their tendency to tear, split, and snap when overstretched made experimentation tedious and dangerous. "You had 12 people trying to stretch this rubber," says Arginsky. "There was a tear in the rubber and someone did get hurt, wound up in the hospital. Fortunately, it was just a severe laceration." Bowgos: Tinkering with Bows The Flybar's technology was not the only one that would lead to injury. At Carnegie Melon's Robotics Institute, Ben Brown, a project scientist, had, unawares of the spate of pogo advancements, been tinkering with bows for the same purpose. "Imagine an archer's bow," Brown explains. "Stand it vertically and push down on one end to compress it. The bowstring goes slack—all the energy is stored in the bending of the bow." Having successfully used such bows for hoppy robots, Brown turned to hoppy humans. At the 2009 Pogopalooza, Brown lent out a few of his fiberglass-bow-equipped Bowgos, as he called them. The pogoers loved the ease with which they reached greater heights, which turned out to be a bit of a problem. "People were just getting hurt left and right," says Fred Grybowski, considered by many the world's greatest pogoer. "On the Vurtego or Flybar, you have to work to get the height. With the Bowgo, you could easily get six feet in the air with no effort—launch you all over the place."

When one fiberglass bow broke and lodged itself in a test jumper's knee, Brown stopped offering his stick to interested parties. Each stick has its advantages. The Vurtego is light and easy to maintain, the Flybar has an extra-smooth bounce, the Bowgo puts jumpers high with great ease. And the Motostik looks cool. Head over to Xpogo.com, though, and you'll quickly find out which stick the pogoing community favors. "Flybars are easier to bounce on, but you pretty much pay for it again with all the replacement bands you're going to have to buy," says one poster. "I don't think it's even a question anymore. Just look at what 99% of pogoers are riding," says another Vurtego enthusiast. And the current record for highest bounce—nine feet, six inches—was made on a Vurtego. Success won't slow Spencer. "Eventually—this is my real goal—we want to be able to pogo on the surface of the moon. It's a sixth of the gravity. You should be able to go close to 50 feet." Michael Abrams is an independent writer.

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Energy Harvesting Comes of

Is energy harvesting ready for prime time? It is certainly getting closer, according to Silicon Laboratories, which develops low-power wireless transmitters, and IDTechEx, a consultant in the field. Energy harvesters are devices that capture or recapture energy—vibration, heat, solar, electrostatic—that is otherwise lost. Most often, harvesters store the energy and reuse it later for power. Common technologies range from small piezoelectric devices that convert machinery vibration into enough electricity to power a small wireless sensor to regenerative braking systems that recharge batteries for use when starting a car. One popular application is wireless sensors. As Silicon Laboratories noted in a white paper, "Running main power to wireless sensors is often neither possible nor convenient, and since wireless sensor nodes are commonly placed in hard-to-reach locations, changing batteries regularly can be costly and inconvenient." Until recently, this was a problem most engineers had to live with. Energy harvesting devices simply could not generate enough electricity to power wireless communications. This has begun to change.

Intel's Claremont chip runs on solar power. Piezoelectric devices, among the most common energy harvesters, have grown increasingly efficient. Four years ago, they broke through the microwatt barrier and into the milliwatt regime. This is the power domain where most microcircuits operate. "It's not just energy harvesters that are getting better though. It's also power consumption requirements that are coming down," IDTechEx technology analyst Harry Zervos noted. Wireless sensors are increasingly integrating functions into single chips to minimize power draw. They sleep between measurements to conserve power. When they do broadcast, they used stripped-down protocols to minimize the amount of information they need to send, and may adjust their range to available power. Intel's prototype Claremont microprocessor actually adjusts its workload when it has less power. When running on solar power alone, it draws less than 10 milliwatts. While the Claremont is a research demonstrator, Intel could adapt the technology for commercial chips, the company's chief technology officer, Justin Rattner, says. The combination of improved harvesters and low-powered electronics has yielded new products. Last year, Germany's Micropelt introduced two sensors based on its thermoelectric technology. The first, developed with MSX Technology, is a sensor for pots and pans that controls kitchen cooktop temperature. It can reduce energy use during cooking by up to 50 percent. The second, qNode, created with Schneider Electric, is a wireless machinery condition monitor. Zervos expects future harvesters to generate more power. Last November, for example, the National Institute of Aerospace demonstrated a multilayer piezoelectric device that can harvest four times more energy than conventional piezoelectric systems. The researchers, led by Tian-Bing Xu, hope to demonstrate harvests of up to 1 watt in 2012. Researchers at Stony Brook University in New York led by Lei Zuo have developed small generators that harvest electricity from the motion of shock absorbers. Zuo estimated that a passenger car traveling down a smooth highway could generate 100 to 400 watts of energy under normal driving conditions. Such energy could power a vehicle's auxiliary electrical systems. Or a system could store electricity in supercapacitors and use the energy to drive an electric motor that assists vehicles accelerating from a full stop. To read the latest issue of Mechanical Engineering, click here

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Manufacturers Turn Green—Wherever They

There are many ways to be green, and American manufacturers are trying them all—and as fast as they can. They have good cause. "Survey after survey shows that Millennials—people who grew up in the Nineties and Two-Thousands—will switch products if they are not environmentally sound." said Louis R. Ferretti, IBM's director of environmental compliance and supply chain social responsibility. “Companies that choose not to start sustainability programs due to capital expenditures are going to fall behind." Where to Begin? Where does a company begin? Robert B. Pojasek, a senior associate at an environmental management consulting firm, First Environment, said businesses should focus on waste. "Carbon comes from four inputs: energy, water, materials, and labor. Pay attention to those inputs and you will reduce your carbon footprint," he said.

A worker on Subaru of Indiana's assembly line prepares to recycle plastic backing from door trim. The factory reduced landfill waste to nearly zero and saved $2.4 million last year. Water, for example, is becoming increasingly expensive, and pumping, filtering, heating, and treating it uses vast amounts of energy. In drought-stricken northern Georgia and South Carolina municipalities have told large water users that their supply is now interruptible— they could turn off the tap in a public emergency. Ferretti recalled listening to a presentation about a company that used water to chill newly produced wire. "They were a technical organization, but until prices began to rise they never even thought about re-circulating water. Doing that saved them $3 million.” Reducing solid waste is both green and thrifty. If a material does not add value to a product, companies should eliminate it. Federal Signal, a vacuum truck manufacturing plant, cut solid waste per vehicle from 1,450 pounds to 1,040 pounds in three years. Subaru claims it sends less trash to the landfill than the average American family. A little creative thinking can lead to cutting waste in surprising areas. The United States used 2 billion gallons of metalworking fluids to cool and lubricate metals in 2000. They accounted for 12 percent of machining costs. So Steve Skerlos, principal investigator at the Environmental and Sustainable Technology Laboratory at the University of Michigan turned to supercritical carbon dioxide as a replacement. IBM recycles electronic parts from used computer equipment into new products, including silicon wafers for solar cells. It is a $2 billion business. When he separated it from the atmosphere and compressed it to 1,100 psi, it dissolved oil. "A high-velocity stream of gas delivers a minute amount of oil that provides all the lubricity you need, and the expansion of the gas removes heat right where you generate it. Tools last longer and you can machine faster," Skerlos said. Waste disposal disappears as an issue because the process uses only 5 milliliters of oil per hour. It would take roughly 30 to 160 days of 24-hour machining to use the same amount of fluid a conventional metalworking fluid-cooled machine uses in an hour. Recycling waste is another option for companies hoping to turn greener. Where recycling consumer waste makes back only 25 cents for every dollar it costs, Industrial recycling has better economics because it tends to deal in purer materials. Federal Signal and Subaru, for example, find a receptive market for the steel shavings from their machine shops and presses. Outside of Los Angeles, carpet maker Bentley Prince Street sells nylon waste for 50 cents a pound. IBM has created a $2 billion business recycling electronic equipment around the world.

A company's carbon footprint extends outside the plant, of course. One of the most complicated tasks in turning green, and often the most overlooked, is determining just how green suppliers are. Some companies have started auditing their overseas suppliers. IBM now insists that vendors from emerging economies meet their standards for social and environmental performance. "It’s like a marriage, and it's in both our interests to make it work," said IBM’s Ferretti. Shipping is another big out-of-plant area, ripe to become greener. Many manufacturers prefer just-in-time shipments so they don’t tie up capital in inventory. But a partly loaded truck uses almost as much fuel as a fully loaded truck. Ferretti suggests accepting full truckload shipments and storing the inventory for the vendor. As the vendor releases inventory, it charges the factory. This would require storage facilities, but vendors would have to carry the inventory on their books until it was released to the factory. Both would save on fuel costs and split any savings. The Bottom Line Just how green a company is willing to go often comes down to cost. Denise Coogan, a manager of safety and environmental compliance for Subaru, said her department earned $2.4 million in a single year. "When you're starting out, buying equipment, finding partners, and creating programs, that’s where you lose money. But if you can get over the hump and start your reduction program, you can actually make some.” [Adapted from “The Many Shades of Green,” by Alan S. Brown, Associate Editor, Mechanical Engineering, January 2009.]

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