Posted on September 9th, 2010 by axb
Swedish researchers are making photovoltaic technology come alive – literally. Zackary Chiragwandi and his colleagues at Chalmers University of Technology have found a way to create cheaper solar cells using special proteins harvested from bioluminescent jellyfish.
These glowing proteins, known as green florescent proteins (GFP), are inserted between two aluminum electrodes, where they form strands connecting the two plates. When exposed to UV light, the GFP generates current by absorbing photons and emitting electrons.
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Filed under: e-News, Environmental | Comments Off on Solar Cells from Bioluminescent Jellyfish
Tags: Energy, Environmental, Solar
Posted on September 2nd, 2010 by axb
The road to becoming an engineer is rarely easy, but for Dr. Pamela McCauley-Bush it was especially challenging. A welfare-supported teenage mother in high school, Bush was repeatedly told that higher education and a successful career were too much to hope for. Undaunted, she worked persistently towards her goal of becoming an engineer, ultimately earning a B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. of Industrial Engineering from the University of Oklahoma.
After serving on the MIT faculty and acting as a management consultant for NASA, Dr. Bush and a female colleague decided to found their own company. Tech-Solutions, Inc is a small engineering consulting business that helps government and private agencies develop solutions to management and efficiency issues.
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Filed under: e-News, Explore Engineering, Industrial / Manufacturing, Trailblazers | 1 Comment »
Tags: Industrial
Posted on September 2nd, 2010 by jxh
As upsets continue to shock viewers of the US Open, engineers at Prince Sports are watching their patented O-Technology hit winners up and down the court.
The concept seems simple – tiny round, oval, or trapezoidal holes placed strategically along the frame of a tennis racket.
But this subtle design feature has many benefits. Not only does it make the racket lighter, but it also reduces drag and enlarges the area on the strings referred to as the sweet spot.
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Filed under: e-News, Mechanical | 2 Comments »
Tags: Mechanical, Sports
Posted on August 31st, 2010 by jxh
If you need examples of cool things engineers can do in college, consider this: mechanical engineering students from Ohio State University work together building alternative-fuel race cars as part of the Buckeye Bullet team.
Not cool enough? Well, the team just broke the electric car land speed world record with their most recent vehicle, the Buckeye Bullet 2.5.
Racing on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah last week, the Bullet 2.5 reached a peak speed of 320 miles per hour and logged a two-way average speed of 307.66 miles per hour.
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Filed under: e-News, Electrical, Mechanical, Transportation | Comments Off on Undergrads Build World’s Fastest Electric Car
Tags: Cars, Energy, Green Technology, Green Transportation, Mechanical, Transportation
Posted on August 31st, 2010 by jxh
Has life got you climbing up the walls? Well, soon you may be able to do it for real – and as well as a gecko.
Geckos are able to stick to walls thanks to a technique called dry adhesion. Each toe of a gecko’s foot contains hundreds of flap-like ridges, and each ridge has millions of hairs.
The tiny hairs are 10 times thinner than a human’s and each one divides into even smaller strands called spatulae. These split ends interact with the molecules of the climbing surface using the van der Waals force, and stick to it when pulled in one direction. If pulled in a different direction, however, the adhesive comes right off.
Now, Stanford University mechanical engineers have created a robot that will replicate a gecko’s sticky foot in order to climb walls.
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Filed under: e-News, Mechanical | Comments Off on Stickybot to the Rescue
Tags: Biomimicry, Mechanical, Robotics
