Power and Electrical Engineering
This topic covers issues related to energy generation, conversion, transportation and consumption and how the industry is addressing the challenge of energy efficiency in general.
innovations-report provides in-depth and informative reports and articles on subjects ranging from wind energy, fuel cell technology, solar energy, geothermal energy, petroleum, gas, nuclear engineering, alternative energy and energy efficiency to fusion, hydrogen and superconductor technologies.
Bringing unique remote sensing and actuation technology to market
British company Instrumentel has developed a revolutionary communications technology that enables two-way command and control for battery-less remote sensing and actuation.
The company originated from the University of Leeds, where ground-breaking research by Dr Greg Horler of the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering has produced an inductively coupled wireless telemetry system based on miniaturised electronics that can both sense and actuate.
It is bel
Avenir Energie’s Geopack pumps up the energy
Loops of small diameter polyethylene-coated copper tube are buried between 50cm and 60cm below the surface of the garden of the house to form a captor through which refrigerant fluid is pumped, typically R407c blend. A scroll compressor and a stainless steel plate heat exchanger within the generator unit complete the circuit to transfer the energy captured from the soil into the house.
The energy taken from the soil is quickly and continually replaced by sunlight, wind and rainfall
Working for a safer and more reliable electrical supply
Computer simulations will improve understanding of faults and power surges
Scientists at Cardiff University, UK have been called in to help improve the already high levels of safety and reliability on the UK’s electrical transmission system. A team of experts in Cardiff School of Engineering will run sophisticated computer simulations, laboratory experiments and field tests on the National Grid electricity network to develop a better understanding of what happens when faults a
Teams build robots that walk like humans
’Toddler’ to be demonstrated at AAAS meeting Feb. 17
Three independent research teams, including one from MIT, have built walking robots that mimic humans in terms of their gait, energy-efficiency, and control. The MIT robot also demonstrates a new learning system that allows the robot to continually adapt to the terrain as it walks. The work, to be described in the Feb. 18 issue of the journal Science, could change the way humanoid robots are designed and controlled and
High Power Supercapacitors From Carbon Nanotubes
Supercapacitors that can deliver a strong surge of electrical power could be manufactured from carbon nanotubes using a technique developed by researchers at UC Davis.
Supercapacitors are electrical storage devices that can deliver a huge amount of energy in a short time. Hybrid-electric and fuel-cell powered vehicles need such a surge of energy to start, more than can be provided by regular batteries. Supercapacitors are also needed in a wide range of electronic and enginee
Sustainable gas from ’roasted’ wood is a feasible option
’Roast’ hardwood at relatively low temperatures and then gasify it. Dutch chemical engineer Mark Prins has shown that this is an efficient means of producing sustainable energy. The gas produced can be used for the production of electricity, fuels and/or chemicals.
Prins followed a thermodynamic approach to investigate how biomass could be gasified as efficiently as possible. He developed a concept which combines two techniques: torrefaction (’roasting’ a