China’s “artificial sun” nuclear fusion reactor

Posted on December 5, 2020December 5, 2020 by IE Article Contributor

The HL-2M Tokamak reactor is China's largest and most advanced nuclear fusion experimental research device, and scientists hope that the device can potentially unlock a powerful clean energy source. Designed to replicate the natural reactions that occur in the sun using hydrogen and deuterium gases as fuels, the apparatus in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, will provide clean energy through controlled nuclear fusion Located in southwestern Sichuan province and completed late last year, the reac...

Converting vibration energy to electrical energy

Posted on November 26, 2020November 26, 2020 by IE Article Contributor

Vibration powered generators usually consist of a resonator which is used to amplify the vibration source, and a transducer mechanism which converts the energy from the vibrations into electrical energy. The transducer usually consists of a magnet and coil or a piezoelectric crystal. Researchers at the University of Dayton are testing soft piezoelectric composites that show great promise as next-generation energy harvesting materials. Vibration Energy Harvesting - Omron Electronic Com...

Tesla battery researcher unveils new chemistry to increase lifecycle at high voltage

Posted on August 4, 2017 by adminedit

Historical data from Tesla’s current battery packs show about 5% capacity degradation after 50,000 miles (80,000 km) and the capacity levels off for about 150,000 more miles before hitting 90% capacity. Those are already pretty good results, but Tesla aims to do better with Jeff Dahn, a renowned battery researcher and the leader of Tesla’s research partnership through his battery-research group at Dalhousie University. The scientist and his team recently unveiled their latest research on a...

Chinese Automaker BYD Delivers First Electric Truck to US Freight

Posted on July 19, 2017 by adminedit

BYD Motors Inc. is supplying 11 zero-emission battery electric trucks to SF Goodwill for use in the San Francisco region collecting and transporting donations. The 10 delivery trucks and one refuse truck will be assembled at BYD Motors’ facility in Lancaster. SF Goodwill, which serves San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin counties, will use the delivery trucks for collections and to transport donations among its stores and drop off locations and the refuse truck as a debris hauler for transpo...

MISSION ENDURACOOL MICROFIBER INSTANT COOLING TOWEL ON DEMAND COOLING

Posted on June 4, 2017 by adminedit

THE MISSION ENDURACOOL MICROFIBER INSTANT COOLING TOWEL ON DEMAND COOLING The Mission EnduraCool Instant Cooling Towel is athlete engineered and made from proprietary performance fabric that instantly cools when soaked with water, wrung out and is snapped in the air to activate its cooling properties. The thermoregulating technology works by absorbing moisture and perspiration into the fabric where the unique radiator-like fiber construction circulates water molecules and regulates the rate o...

Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory is working to build Cool pavement to help keep cities cool

Posted on May 24, 2017 by adminedit

Cool pavements can help keep cities cool, right? Yes, but according to new research from the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), many reflective pavements have some unexpected drawbacks relative to conventional pavements when considering the entire life cycle of the materials. Scientists in Berkeley Lab’s Heat Island Group, in collaboration with the UC Pavement Research Center (UCPRC), the University of Southern California (USC), and thinkste...

Seoul National University has developed cloth RRAM (Resistive Random-Access Memory) technology and it will not require any electricity and can be worn as normal cloth

Posted on May 22, 2017 by adminedit

Seoul National University has developed cloth that is woven with RRAM (Resistive Random-Access Memory) technology and it will not require any electricity and can be worn as normal cloth Professor Hwang Cheol Seong of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and his research team recently invented a type of cloth that is woven with RRAM (Resistive Random-Access Memory) technology. The new memory cloth does not use any electricity and will be able to be worn like normal clothing. The...

Universidad Carlos III Spain has developed technology which compiles all the subtitles of television channels and integrates the software to make it compatible with different Braille lines for visually impaired to be able to “watch” TV without intermediaries

Posted on May 20, 2017 by adminedit

Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), Telefónica and FASOCIDE (the Spanish acronym for the Federation of Deaf-Blind Persons Associations) has developed PervasiveSUB technology, ground-breaking software which allows deaf-blind persons to receive and enjoy television content without intermediaries at the same time as the people around them. PervasiveSUB compiles all the subtitles of television channels and sends them to a central server which forwards them to smartphone...

Delft University of Technology is working to reinvent the Toilet by processes water on-site and upgrade urine and feces to energy at an omni-gasification plant.

Posted on May 9, 2017 by adminedit

Delft University of Technology is working to Reinvent the Toilet Upgrading human waste Since 2011 TU Delft has been a participant in the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. We propose a community-based sanitation system that processes water on-site and upgrades urine and feces to energy at an omni-gasification plant. Human waste is dried, converted to syngas and fed into a fuel cell. The gasification process instantly destroys pathogens and ...

Georgia Institute of Technology has developed new way to produce single-layer graphene from a simple precursor

Posted on May 6, 2017 by adminedit

An international team of scientists has developed a new way to produce single-layer graphene from a simple precursor: ethene – also known as ethylene – the smallest alkene molecule, which contains just two atoms of carbon. By heating the ethene in stages to a temperature of slightly more than 700 degrees Celsius -- hotter than had been attempted before – the researchers produced pure layers of graphene on a rhodium catalyst substrate. The stepwise heating and higher temperature overcame chall...

Lygos is a Berkeley Lab Technologies startup that engineers microbes to convert sugars into high-value, industrial chemicals, targeting compounds where biological production is cost-advantaged over petrochemical production.

Posted on May 4, 2017 by adminedit

Lygos is providing biotechnology solutions for today’s renewable chemical challenges. Lygos engineers microbes to convert sugars into high-value, industrial chemicals, targeting compounds where biological production is cost-advantaged over petrochemical production. Lygos' technology goes beyond engineering microbes and includes fermentation and purification development. Our goal is to manufacture and sell chemicals. This work has been supported, in part, by over $6.5MM in grants from the U.S....

Dyaqua has invented “Invisible Solar” photovoltaic panel that are incorporated in current roof tiles

Posted on May 4, 2017 by adminedit

Invisible Solar Dyaqua has invented "Invisible Solar" photovoltaic panel that are incorporated in current roof tiles. Invisible Solar is a new PV technology able to take on the appearance of any building material. Each Invisible Solar module is not only a photovoltaic panel, but an active architectural element with various functionality. A single and indivisible body, with the highest resistance, hides and protects the photovoltaic cells inside itself. Operatin...

Purdue University researchers have designed hybrid systems that combine solar photovoltaic cells and thermoelectric devices to capture sunlight as efficiently as possible

Posted on April 12, 2017 by adminedit

Researchers have shown how to modify commercially available silicon wafers into a structure that efficiently absorbs solar energy and withstands the high temperatures needed for “concentrated solar power” plants that might run up to 24 hours a day. The research advances global efforts to design hybrid systems that combine solar photovoltaic cells, which convert visible and ultraviolet light into electricity, thermoelectric devices that convert heat into electricity, and steam turbines to genera...

University of Maryland have used modified wood as a unique architecture for the negative electrode of a lithium metal battery, seeking to prevent some of the key factors that lead to battery failur

Posted on April 3, 2017April 3, 2017 by adminedit

Inspired by the structure of wood, engineers at the University of Maryland have used modified wood as a unique architecture for the negative electrode of a lithium metal battery, seeking to prevent some of the key factors that lead to battery failure. Lithium ion shuttling in rechargeable batteries provides energy to power phones, laptops, and even light bulbs. When the battery is charged, the lithium metal expands; and when it is discharged, the lithium metal deflates. This rapid c...

GoSun Stove is a portable, tube-shaped solar oven that is powerful enough to cook a full meal

Posted on April 3, 2017 by adminedit

GoSun Stove is a portable, tube-shaped solar oven that's billed as being powerful enough to cook a full meal, even on cloudy days. Much like the Solar Kettle, this solar cooker uses parabolic mirrors to concentrate sunlight onto a glass cylinder and cook the contents inside. But while the Solar Kettle was built for heating up beverages and boiled eggs, the GoSun Stove sports a slightly larger set of mirrors and a stainless steel tray for food, allowing it to act as a portable convection oven for...

Lockheed Martin’s Robert Afzal and team have developed laser weapon systems, taking the page from star wars and making it real

Posted on March 18, 2017March 18, 2017 by adminedit

Science reality has caught up with science fiction. Lockheed Martin is showing that laser weapon systems can turn up the heat and stop land, air or sea targets in their path. And, they can be compact enough and power efficient enough for tactical platforms on the move, providing nearly unlimited “bullets” with speed-of-light response. Lockheed Martin is moving at light speed to position these capable systems for success on the battlefield. They have developed innovative fiber lasers, sophisti...

Researchers at North Carolina State University have created a “nano-accordion” material that conducts electricity and is transparent, flexible, and stretchable

Posted on March 12, 2017 by adminedit

Researchers from North Carolina State University have created stretchable, transparent conductors that work because of the structures’ “nano-accordion” design. The conductors could be used in a wide variety of applications, such as flexible electronics, stretchable displays or wearable sensors. Multifunctional nano-accordion structures exhibiting a unique combination of conductivity, stretchability, and transparency are fabricated through a combination of nanolithography and atomic layer depo...

University of Texas professor John Goodenough who invented Lithium-Ion Battery has now developed new solid state battery technology for fast-charging, noncombustible batteries

Posted on March 9, 2017 by adminedit

A team of engineers led by 94-year-old John Goodenough, professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin and co-inventor of the lithium-ion battery, has developed the first all-solid-state battery cells that could lead to safer, faster-charging, longer-lasting rechargeable batteries for handheld mobile devices, electric cars and stationary energy storage. Goodenough’s latest breakthrough, completed with Cockrell School senior research fellow Maria H...

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Scientific team has developed a nano-sized hydrogen storage system to increase efficiency

Posted on March 9, 2017 by adminedit

Lawrence Livermore scientists have collaborated with an interdisciplinary team of researchers, including colleagues from Sandia National Laboratories(link is external), to develop an efficient hydrogen storage system that could be a boon for hydrogen-powered vehicles. Hydrogen is an excellent energy carrier, but the development of lightweight solid-state materials for compact, low-pressure storage is a huge challenge. Complex metal hydrides are a promising class of hydrogen storage materia...

Scientists From Columbia University have developed light bulb thinner than paper

Posted on March 3, 2017 by adminedit

Imagine a light bulb made from something thinner than paper, but stronger than any other material known to man. Seems impossible — except it isn't. A group of scientists from Columbia University, Seoul National University and the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science announced that they successfully developed a light bulb made out of graphene — material that's only as thick as an atom, but strong as a diamond. Indeed, graphene is considered the world's strongest material. While th...

Stanford and Oxford University researchers have created novel flexible solar cells from crystalline perovskite that could outperform existing silicon cells and allow it to be printed

Posted on February 27, 2017February 27, 2017 by adminedit

A perovskite solar cell is a type of solar cell which includes a perovskite structured compound, most commonly a hybrid organic-inorganic lead or tin halide-based material, as the light-harvesting active layer. Perovskite materials such as methylammonium lead halides are cheap to produce and simple to manufacture. Perovskite solar cells have shown potential both in the rapid efficiency improvement (from 2.2% in 2006 to the latest record 20.1% in 2014) and in cheap material and manufacturing c...

Disney Research created a method to wirelessly transmit power through a room. (quasistatic cavity resonance (QSCR))

Posted on February 21, 2017 by adminedit

Disney Research created a method to wirelessly transmit power through a room, allowing electronic devices to charge quickly via connected Wi-Fi hotspots, removing the need for electrical cords and charging cradles. Wireless power delivery has the potential to seamlessly power our electrical devices as easily as data is transmitted through the air. However, existing solutions are limited to near contact distances and do not provide the geometric freedom to enable automatic and un-aided chargin...

University of Rochester researchers have developed microbial fuel cell (MFC) with electrode made from paper, and will enable certain bacteria to produce electricity from waste

Posted on February 15, 2017 by adminedit

A microbial fuel cell (MFC), or biological fuel cell, is a bio-electrochemical system that drives an electric current by using bacteria and mimicking bacterial interactions found in nature. MFCs can be grouped into two general categories: mediated and unmediated. The first MFCs, demonstrated in the early 20th century, used a mediator: a chemical that transfers electrons from the bacteria in the cell to the anode. Unmediated MFCs emerged in the 1970s; in this type of MFC the bacteria typically...

Stanford engineers create a low-cost battery made with urea

Posted on February 14, 2017 by adminedit

Stanford University researchers created an aluminum-ion battery that uses an electrolyte material made of urea, the main component of urine (after water). A battery made with urea, commonly found in fertilizers and mammal urine, could provide a low-cost way of storing energy produced through solar power or other forms of renewable energy for consumption during off hours. A battery developed in Stanford Professor Hongjie Dai’s lab could provide low-cost storage for solar energy. (Image credit...

NASA has developed micro batteries (2-3 millimeters) that will be able to power microsatellites, including CubeSats.

Posted on February 13, 2017 by adminedit

Sometimes good things come in very small packages. Just ask Dr. Luke Roberson, senior principal investigator for Flight Research within the Exploration Research and Technology Directorate at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Dr. Roberson is collaborating on research of a new solid-state battery prototype with Dr. Ryan Karkkainen, a composite material expert at the University of Miami. The chemistry and structure for the battery was developed by Xiangyang Zhou, Ph.D., associate professor...

HEATEX technology FROM Kolon Glotech Inc. is a heat-generating textile for clothing that uses a conductive polymer to create heat.

Posted on February 7, 2017 by adminedit

HEATEX technology FROM Kolon Glotech Inc. is a heat-generating textile for clothing that uses a conductive polymer to create heat. 'Heatex' is a cutting edge self-heating textile that can generate heat up to 200 degree with a conductivity high molecule laminating technology, this product can used as a sports wear, medical and industry usage as well as clothes with electron circuit composition through computer simulation. Heatex' is a cutting edge self-heating textile that can...

UC San Diego Jacobs school of engineering has created nanoparticle-based device that can absorb infrared light upto 98%

Posted on February 5, 2017 by adminedit

Transparent window coatings that keep buildings and cars cool on sunny days. Devices that could more than triple solar cell efficiency. Thin, lightweight shields that block thermal detection. These are potential applications for a thin, flexible, light-absorbing material developed by engineers at the University of California San Diego. The material, called a near-perfect broadband absorber, absorbs more than 87 percent of near-infrared light (1,200 to 2,200 nanometer wavelengths), with 98 per...

Estream is a personal hydroelectric generator for charging your gadgets.

Posted on February 3, 2017 by adminedit

Estream is a personal hydroelectric generator for charging your gadgets. The Estream portable generator is powered by, arguably, the most reliable natural resource on the planet: running water. Small, compact, and easy to use, this device is like carrying a portable hydroelectric plant in your backpack. Estream is a portable power turbine, which uses the stream of flowing rivers to generate energy. It is the successor of Enomad, a technology that first made its appearance earlier this ...

LED Solar Power Bricks

Posted on February 2, 2017 by adminedit

Ideal for outdoor areas, these solar powered bricks are perfect for entryways, carports, ... Working from a solar power source, these lights are easy to install, and once ... Light Source: LED; Material: Glass; Maximum Wattage. The solar powered LED light have 7 colors that change as needed. It supports auto ON at night, and auto OFF in the morning. It's powered by the Green Energy and install easily without any wires. It has long life span and is Waterproof making it ideal for use ...

Amazon’s ‘Echo’ Virtual Assistant Has Many New ‘Skills’ to Voice Control All Walks Of Your Daily Life

Posted on January 29, 2017January 29, 2017 by adminedit

Amazon's 'Echo' is a hands-free Virtual Assistant with speaker that you control with your voice. Echo connects to the Alexa Voice Service to play music, provide information, news, sports... Amazon Echo (known in-development as Doppler or Project D and shortened and referred to as Echo) is a smart speaker developed by Amazon.com. The device consists of a 9.25-inch (23.5 cm) tall cylinder speaker with a seven-piece microphone array. The device connects to the voice-controlled intelligent person...