Grocers, florists and even pharmacists may soon have a better way to monitor the quality of the products they get from suppliers: a sensor that will tell how long before a product spoils or passes its expiration date.
A team of University of Florida engineering students has designed and built a prototype of the new smart sensor, which can also record and wirelessly transmit information to retailers about when and where glitches occur as a product is being shipped.
“We t
Fatronik has launched the most rapid robot in the world at the BIEMH (International Machine-Tool Biennial) in Bilbao.
What is involved here is a high-performance handling robot the structure of which is basically four actuators working in a co-ordinated manner with the goal of achieving maximum dynamic performances.
The robot has four degrees of freedom, displacements along three translations and rotates on its vertical axis. It is a cylinder with a diameter of 1200mm an
ANTENNESSA of France has launched the INSITE box, a cheap and efficient electromagnetic-field continuous-measuring box. The INSITE box’s technology allows for continuous selective measuring on nine frequency bands (FM, GSM, UMTS, FM, TV3, TV4&5 and DCS). The box uses EME SPY dosimeter technology (patented by France Telecom and ANTENNESSA), based on a filtering principle that enables the emission bands to be identified. The measurements come to between 0.05V/m and 5V/m.
The INSITE box
Probabilistic system on chip technology reduces energy consumption by a factor of more than 500 for some applications
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology announce energy savings by a factor of more than 500 in simulations with their ultra energy efficient embedded architecture based on Probabilistic CMOS (PCMOS). The research team’s PCMOS devices take advantage of noise, currently fabricated at the quarter-micron (0.25 micron) level, and uses probability to extract
Nobody completely understands superconductors. So fathom how James S. Schilling, Ph.D., led a team that makes the phenomenon work better.
Schilling, a professor of physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, collaborated with recent doctoral graduate Takahiro Tomita and scientists at Argonne (Ill.) National Laboratory to determine whether one region in superconductors, called grain boundaries (GB), are oxygen deficient. Such oxygen deficiency impairs supercon
The hydrogen storage devices developed and patented by the scientists of the Academy of Advanced Technologies (Moscow) break all records. These are hydrogen accumulators based on microporous structures, first of all – microspheres and capillaries. Despite seeming elegance and fragility of its “filling”, the device strongly and safely retains a lot of hydrogen in a small volume. A lot of hydrogen means more than 45 grams per litre. By the way, this figure is planned by the US Department of Energ
Electric power is needed in remote regions difficult of access, settlements, expeditions and at timber-felling. Where can it be obtained from? Specially for such occasions, researchers from the Moscow Institute of Heating Engineering have invented a wind turbine, which can be delivered by car in a container or by helicopter, for example, MI-26 at external load. The developers promise that the device would supply energy without interruption. “What about dead calm weather?” – you would ask. In this c
Sensors which are able to predict when mechanical parts in machinery and transport will breakdown before they actually do could be introduced by 2010, slashing maintenance costs across the manufacturing, automotive and plant machinery industries.
Scientists at The University of Manchester are to develop a new type of wireless sensor which will be able to remotely monitor mechanical parts and systems. The aim is to produce a sensor which can be seamlessly fitted inside gearboxes,
Rotary tools will need increasingly high speeds in the future, for example, for drills used in medical technology or spindles used in machine tools. To drive these tools directly and efficiently requires an ultra-high-speed electrical drive system. Today, industrial motors achieve maximum speeds of 250,000 revolutions per minute, but researchers at ETH Zurich have now developed a drive system which achieves speeds of over 500,000 revolutions per minute, generating 100 watts of drive power and is n
One of the most advanced university cleanrooms in the world, the Nanofabrication Laboratory, at the Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience, MC2, at Chalmers University of Technology, in Göteborg, Sweden, is now offering European Universities and SME:s access, free of charge, to advanced micro- and nanotechnology fabrication resources.
MC2 is the leading Swedish research facility in nanoelectronics and photonics. MC2 has secured a contract with the European Commission to open up the
Tiny fuel cells may provide power to many consumer goods
Carnegie Mellon University’s Prashant Kumta will discuss his novel methanol-powered fuel cell research from 8 to 9:30 a.m., Feb. 18, during the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science at the Renaissance Grand Hotel in St. Louis, Mo.
Kumta, a professor of materials science and biomedical engineering, is developing microscale fuel cells that use methanol instead of expensiv
Fort Bragg could be the model for the nation when it comes to protecting the public through a network that integrates a 911 dispatch system with sensors, alarms and video surveillance.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s SensorNet, a collection of systems for the detection, identification and assessment of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats, has been installed as part of a project with the Fort Bragg Directorate of Emergency Services. The military base, locat
Researchers at MIT have developed a new type of lithium battery that could become a cheaper alternative to the batteries that now power hybrid electric cars.
Until now, lithium batteries have not had the rapid charging capability or safety level needed for use in cars. Hybrid cars now run on nickel metal hydride batteries, which power an electric motor and can rapidly recharge while the car is decelerating or standing still.
But lithium nickel manganese oxide, descri
A unique solar collector was developed by specialists of the Moscow “ALTEN” company under the guidance of Boris Kazandzhan, Professor, Doctor of Science (Engineering), Moscow Power Engineering Institute. Originality of the novelty lies in its extremely high efficiency. The collector not only manages to entrap the heat of solar beams falling on its surface, but also to utilize it to a great extent for direct purpose – for water heating.
Evidently, the idea of water heating in sunlight is
A University of Florida engineer is the latest researcher to design a tiny, easy-to-manufacture motion sensor, a development that could help popularize the sensors as standard equipment in personal electronics, medical devices and other applications.
The sensor, which measures about 3 square millimeters or one-tenth of an inch, is not the smallest motion sensor ever invented. But it is extremely sensitive, draws only a tiny amount of electrical power and — most important – is one of a
A solar cell, made of titania nanotubes and natural dye, may be the answer to making solar electricity production cost-effective, according to a Penn State researcher.
“Solar cell technology has not changed very much over time and is still predominantly silicon solar cells,” says Dr. Craig Grimes, professor of electrical engineering and materials science and engineering. “It takes a great deal of energy, 5 gigajoules per square meter, to make silicon solar cells. It can be ar
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