NEXTCAR project aims to reduce energy consumption by over 30%. Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has embarked on the second phase of an ongoing initiative to develop cutting-edge connected and automated vehicle (CAV) technologies to help passenger vehicles operate more efficiently, reducing energy consumption and emissions. In 2021, the DOE awarded a three-year, $5.25 million contract to SwRI as part of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy’s (ARPA-E) NEXTCAR program. Having successfully met Phase I requirements, SwRI was one of four teams…

A technique that transforms the metals’ microscopic structure may enable energy-efficient 3D printing of blades for gas turbines or jet engines. A new MIT-developed heat treatment transforms the microscopic structure of 3D-printed metals, making the materials stronger and more resilient in extreme thermal environments. The technique could make it possible to 3D print high-performance blades and vanes for power-generating gas turbines and jet engines, which would enable new designs with improved fuel consumption and energy efficiency. Today’s gas turbine blades…

Fraunhofer IWS and IAPT together with Australian RMIT Centre for Additive Manufacturing Start Project “UltraGrain”. In the near future, ultrasound will enable industrial 3D printers to manufacture more robust, durable and cheaper components for aerospace, toolmaking and other industries than ever before. Researchers from Dresden, Hamburg and Melbourne, Australia, have joined forces in a research alliance to bring this new technology to market within three years. Their “UltraGrain” project, launched in June 2022, aims to produce a tailored fine-grained microstructure…

Technology could help industry save millions in fuel consumption, reduce exhaust emissions. Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has developed a proof-of-concept system to autonomously detect compressed air leaks on trains and relay the location of the leaks to mechanical personnel for repair. The automated system could reduce the time, costs and labor needed to find and repair air leaks, and it could lower the locomotive industry’s overall fuel consumption and exhaust emissions. Trains use compressed air for a variety of functions,…

DFG funds International Research Training Group at University of Bayreuth. The University of Bayreuth, together with two Australian partner universities, the University of Melbourne and Monash University, is establishing a new International Research Training Group (IRTG) in the field of semiconductor research. The college will start in spring 2023 and will be funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) with more than six million euros for an initial period of five years. Outstanding young talents from the fields of physics,…

A flipping action in a porous material facilitates the passage of normal water to separate it out from heavy water. A research group led by Susumu Kitagawa of Kyoto University’s Institute for Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS), Japan and Cheng Gu of South China University of Technology, China have made a material that can effectively separate heavy water from normal water at room temperature. Until now, this process has been very difficult and energy intensive. The findings have implications for industrial –…

Direct visualization of metal atoms during shear deformation has applications from batteries to lightweight vehicles. How can studying metals manufacturing lead to longer-lasting batteries and lighter vehicles? It all comes down to physics. Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) are investigating the effects of physical forces on metals by taking a direct look at atomic-level changes in metals undergoing shear deformation. The forces applied during shear deformation to change a metal’s shape also rearrange its atoms, but not in…

… help us breathe cleaner air. Although much of the discourse on reducing vehicle emissions centres on electric vehicles (EV), their sales remain low – with EV vehicles accounting for a mere 1% of car purchases in Japan in 2021. Meanwhile, the European Union is expected to pass stricter emission standards in the near future. This makes improving the performance and functionality of exhaust gas purification catalysts in petrol or diesel-powered vehicles a critical component in the push towards carbon…

The University of Luxembourg’s Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) demonstrated its autonomous car in live traffic on Kirchberg today, Thursday 3 November 2022. This represents the first time a single-family autonomous car has joined the flow of traffic in Luxembourg with members of the public as passengers. This autonomous car is the test platform for navigation technologies and high definition (HD) maps being researched at SnT’s 360Lab. The demonstration is the culmination of five years of research work…

Floppy or not: Given a 3D piece of origami, can you flatten it without damaging it? Just by looking at the design, the answer is hard to predict, because each and every fold in the design has to be compatible with flattening. This is an example of a combinatorial problem. New research led by the UvA Institute of Physics and research institute AMOLF has demonstrated that machine learning algorithms can accurately and efficiently answer these kinds of questions. This is…

Quantum materials enable next-generation photonics and mobile networks in the terahertz regime. Terahertz light, radiation in the far-infrared part of the emission spectrum, is currently not fully exploited in technology, although it shows great potential for many applications in sensing, homeland security screening, and future (sixth generation) mobile networks. Indeed, this radiation is harmless due to its small photon energy, but it can penetrate many materials (such as skin, packaging, etc.). In the last decade, a number of research groups…

– YESvGaN project develops competitive GaN process technologies. Can we contribute to the worldwide energy challenge by maximizing the efficiency in power conversion at a low cost? The answer is: YESvGaN! So, the goal of the YESvGaN consortium is to create a new class of vertical power transistors based on Gallium Nitride (GaN), so-called vertical GaN membrane transistors. These novel power devices combine the efficiency of wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductors with the lower cost of the established silicon semiconductor technology. Within…

Within the project secureAR (funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research), a cross-industry and open cloud-based service platform with open industry interfaces is being developed. Within secureAR, the Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP is researching a novel hardware platform that is used in an innovative AR assistance system for the location- and situation-specific provision and visualization of data in different industrial scenarios. This hardware platform will be presented at electronica 2022, from…

Researchers hope designers can apply techniques from origami to medical devices, architecture, robotics and aerospace. Springs, squeegees and soda straws function with a common property — they are rigid in one direction and flexible in another. Structures like these, with properties that vary across dimensions, have played critical roles in human technology from the longbow to the booster rocket. Now, researchers have drawn inspiration from the art of origami to create programmable surfaces that allow engineers to alter physical properties…

Engineering researchers have developed a new self-healing composite that allows structures to repair themselves in place, without having to be removed from service. This latest technology resolves two longstanding challenges for self-healing materials, and can significantly extend the lifespan of structural components such as wind-turbine blades and aircraft wings. “Researchers have developed a variety of self-healing materials, but previous strategies for self-healing composites have faced two practical challenges,” says Jason Patrick, corresponding author of the research paper and an assistant…

… that harvest static electricity. Triboelectric energy is the scientific term for static electricity, or the energy that is created when two surfaces rub against each other. Electrons are exchanged between the two surfaces, charging one of the surfaces after they are separated. For example, if a balloon is rubbed against hair, it will cling to a wall. Or if clothes in the dryer rub together, you may see sparks as you pull them apart. Triboelectric generators are mechanical energy…