Are Tomorrow’s Fuel Cells Made of Paper? This Engineer Thinks So
Where others might look at substances like urine, blood and sweat and cringe, Juan Pablo Esquivel sees untapped sources of energy. Not for powering large engines but rather to produce small amounts of electricity that could play a vital role in the burgeoning telemedicine market. Today Esquivel, a 35-year-old electronics engineer, is developing miniature paper-based fuel cells at the National Centre of Microelectronics (CNM) at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (AUB), with an eye toward using them to power disposable diagnostic devices.
As we stroll the corridors of CNM, Esquivel explains the difference between typical lithium or alkaline batteries and what he’s developing: Unlike what you might use in a flashlight or computer keyboard, fuel cells require a supply of energy from an electrochemical reaction to produce electricity. This type of power source has been tested to generate energy for cars and mobile phones, but Esquivel, who started his career at the Monterrey Institute of Technology in his native Mexico, is among the first to do this work on a micro scale.
Not only does his approach open up the range of possible uses for these tiny fuel cells, but it also sidesteps the environmental impact from regular batteries. “We develop small, nontoxic, inexpensive fuel cells and batteries that don’t need to be recycled and could be thrown away with no ecological impact,” he explains with a Mexican accent laced with Iberian Spanish expressions.
Source: Internet
Meet the SpaceX ships that will never go to space
SpaceX is known for its spaceships—from the Dragon capsule that resupplies the space station, to the proposed interplanetary transport system. But it’s the company’s more traditional, water-going vessels that keep the lofty dreams of affordable spaceflight afloat. Take a closer look at SpaceX’s non-space ships.
Drone ships
Before two of the Falcon Heavy engine cores could gracefully land on twin launchpads in a display rivaled only by synchronized divers, Elon Musk and the SpaceX team first had to prove their rockets could come back to Earth in a controlled and steady manner.
While SpaceX’s first touchdown in 2015 happened at Landing Zone 1 in Cape Canaveral, SpaceX still wanted to be able to softly land (and quickly recover) rockets on a floating platform in the ocean—traditional landing pads are small and expensive, and the oceans are vast. SpaceX succeeded on April 8, 2016, landing the first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You in the Atlantic Ocean.
Since then, landings on Of Course I Still Love You and its sister ship in the Pacific Just Read the Instructions have become more common, helping SpaceX reuse the expensive first-stage engine cores of its Falcon 9 rockets. The drone ships are especially important for launches carrying heavier loads to higher orbits, as the rockets use more fuel on those launches and have less available to guarantee a safe landing on dry ground. Though the landings get all the attention, the ships—also called Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ships or ASDS—are pretty amazing, too.
Once towed into position (more on the tugs later) the drone ship’s GPS and thrusters keep it in one place, waiting for the return of the rocket. The rockets aren’t small, and these ships aren’t either. They’re modified barges about the size of a football field, with hulls 20 feet deep. Barges like this are typically used to haul cargo, but their large area also makes them a perfect landing pad for rockets.
In 2015, when SpaceX was still anticipating its first landing, NASA Spaceflight reported on some of the extensive modifications used to turn barges into drone ships. The thrusters that keep the ship in place were repurposed from offshore oil rigs that used similar tech. Then there are added steel blast walls to protect equipment during a rocket landing, the autonomous guidance and positioning systems, and steel wings that extend the deck of the ship.
Of Course I Still Love You and Just Read The Instructions will soon be joined by another drone ship—A Shortfall of Gravitas—which is currently under construction and will operate on the East Coast. Having two drone ships on the East Coast could allow for simultaneous water landings of engine cores used in future Falcon Heavy launches.
Mr. Steven
Engine cores aren’t the only important part of a rocket, and SpaceX wants to reuse as much of their equipment as possible. Being able to reuse a rocket makes space launches less expensive.
SpaceX would like to be able to catch and re-use the fairing or nosecone of the rocket, which protects the payload (typically a satellite) from the intense forces of going through Earth’s atmosphere. The fairing is also designed to help reduce drag on the rocket as it cuts through the air. It’s an important job, and it doesn’t come cheap. For SpaceX launches, the cost of the fairing is estimated at about $6 million. It splits in half as it releases a payload in space, and then those halves fall back to Earth. SpaceX has successfully landed these fairings in the ocean before, but Mr. Steven marks a more purposeful plan for recovery and eventual reuse.
Musk says that they’ve integrated thrusters and a guidance system into the fairing to help guide it safely back into the atmosphere, at which point a parafoil (think a parachute shaped like a wing) will deploy, and Mr. Steven will try to catch the nose cone in the steel and netting structure at the back of the ship.
That’s the idea, anyways. Thursday’s attempt to catch the fairing with Mr. Steven missed by a few hundred meters, but Musk hopes that larger parachutes to slow down the fairing’s descent might result in a successful catch next time.
In any case, the fairing did land safely in the water, close enough for people on Mr. Steven to send back this shot:
Other Ships
Once out in the water, SpaceX’s drone ships use their thrusters and GPS to keep them in place, even in rough seas. But to get out to their appointed location, they need a push. Tugboats and supply ships drag the drone ships into position, retreat to a safe distance while the rocket lands, then move in, carrying crew and equipment to secure the rocket (or pieces of rocket) for a ride back into port, welding the rocket to the deck to secure it.
But the drone ships aren’t the only pieces of SpaceX equipment that need a backup team. When SpaceX’s Dragon capsules return from delivering supplies to the International Space Station, they need a lift too. These capsules land in the oceans, where they are picked up by support vehicles like the NRC Quest, a ship that has also worked to respond to oil spills and deployed technology used to generate power from ocean waves. It’s all part of a growing SpaceX fleet, but one that is hardly limited to space.
Nissan’s self-driving taxi is ready for passengers
Nissan will start testing its self-driving taxi service Easy Ride in a few days in hopes of launching it in time for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The automaker and Tokyo-based mobile developer DeNA will begin ferrying passengers in Yokohama on March 5th. Nissan’s autonomous cars will only be able to drive them along a set route, a 2.8-mile-long stretch of road between Nissan’s HQ and the Yokohama World Porters shopping center. But they’ll at least be able to give the Easy Ride app’s features a try during their trip.
Passengers will be able to tell the app via text or voice what activity they want to do while in the area. The car’s built-in tablet screen will then show them recommendations, including places of interests and event. Sure, you could look all those up on your own, but the Easy Ride system can hook you up with coupons from the retailers and restaurants it recommended. You’ll also be asked to rate your experience and how much you’ll be willing to pay for a ride like it in the future.
When Nissan first announced its plans to test the service this year, it said the initial trial period will only last for a couple of weeks. Nissan and DeNA won’t be able to gather tons of feedback within that time, but any survey response they get will be used to develop future field tests and Easy Ride itself. To be able to offer rides to Olympics tourists and Japan’s aging population, they’re planning to expand their routes, offer multilingual support and fine-tune their pick-up and drop-off processes in the next couple of years. While it’s not exactly clear if the initial tests will have a human driver behind the wheel, Nissan says the companies have set up a remote monitoring center for customers’ peace of mind.
Source: Engadget
Japanese scientists invent floating ‘firefly’ light
Japanese engineering researchers say they have created a tiny electronic light the size of a firefly which rides waves of ultrasound, and could eventually figure in applications ranging from moving displays to projection mapping. Named Luciola for its resemblance to the firefly, the featherweight levitating particle weighs 16.2 mg, has a diameter of 3.5 mm (0.14 inch), and emits a red glimmer that can just about illuminate text. It took two years for Luciola to get this far, said circuit design specialist Makoto Takamiya, a member of the Kawahara Universal Information Network Project that developed the device. The developers expect Luciola to find applications in the so-called Internet of Things, in which regular objects, such as cars, or domestic appliances such as air-conditioners, are connected to networks to send and receive data. Equipped with movement or temperature sensors, Luciola could fly to such objects to deliver a message or help to make moving displays with multiple lights that can detect the presence of humans, or participate in futuristic projection mapping events.
Is the Era of the Camless Valvetrain Finally Upon us?
The latest to catch my attention: engine valves that operate without camshafts. For decades the idea of electronically controlled electromagnetic, hydraulic, or pneumatic valve actuation has been studied, developed, and ultimately abandoned by big-name engineering firms such as Lotus and Ricardo—as well as familiar automakers including BMW, Fiat, Ford, GM, and Renault. Now a spinoff of hypercar maker Koenigsegg called Free valve appears poised to bring the concept to production.
Freevalve seems to be taking an all-of-the-above approach with its so-called pneumatic-hydraulic-electronic actuators. But air does the work. The team first employed this solution on the ScuderiSplit-Cycle air-hybrid engine I first covered in June 2006. That design demanded valves that opened far more quickly than a traditional cam-driven design could manage. Because the engine recovered braking energy as compressed air, that energy source was abundantly available. So compressed air opens the valve almost instantly, electronically controlled hydraulic pressure holds it open, a coil spring closes it, and passive hydraulic pressure cushions its “landing.” An electric coil provides highly precise sensing of each valve’s position.
Source: http://www.motortrend.com
Uber orders up to 24,000 Volvo XC90s for driverless fleet
Uber has entered into an agreement with carmaker Volvo to purchase 24,000 of its XC90 SUVs between 2019 and 2021 to form a fleet of autonomous vehicles, according to Bloomberg News. The XC90 is the base of Uber’s latest-generation self-driving test car, which features sensors and autonomous driving computing capability installed by Uber after purchase on the XC90 vehicle.
Uber is already testing the XC90 in Arizona, San Francisco and Pittsburgh in trials with safety drivers on board to help refine and improve their software. Uber also paired up with Volvo to jointly develop autonomous driving and a vehicle ready for self-driving implementation, with investment from both sides committed last year.
A Major News: Apple bought a Canadian AR startup for $30 million.
Apple has acquired Vrvana, a startup building a headset that can do both virtual reality and augmented reality. The CEO and a dozen former employees have started at Apple. Augmented reality is a major focus for Apple, as the tech industry expects that high-tech headsets like the Totem could put a dent in the smartphone market
Vrvana is best known as the creator of the still-in-development Totem headset. In addition to virtual reality, the Vrvana Totem is said to be able to overlay full, colorized digital images over the real-world. That would be a step above rivals like the Microsoft HoloLens, which only project transparent “ghost” images within a limited field-of-view.
If the Vrvana Totem lives up to those lofty promises, it could give Apple a major leg up in augmented reality, which the company sees as the next major computing platform.
Reference: Tech Insider
AI-Assisted Healthcare Technician
AI, healthcare “is available at scale and on-demand to all.” Patients won’t go to the doctor, AI-assisted healthcare technicians will show up at their door and use AI enhanced software to perform diagnoses. Performing surgery with the help of AI will even be part of the job, no medical degree needed.
Mechanical Powered Vaccine Storage Refrigeration System
Mechanical Powered PCM Lining Vaccine Transport Refrigeration System.The developed project uses no electricity or fuel for transporting the vaccine in rural areas where there is lack of health facilities and electricity. The system works on the basic principle of crank slider mechanism and uses PCM lining for keeping vaccines at right temperature between 2-8 0C.
Annapurna Technology 
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