Power and Electrical Engineering

When the non-profit organisation IdéeVerte Compétition decided to create a ’green’ racing car, they turned to space technology to make it safer. Running on liquefied petroleum gas, one of the least polluting fuels, and lubricated with sunflower oil, the car is protected against fire hazards by space materials. ’Green’ does not have to mean slow – last week the car set a new speed record of 315 km/h.

“The car of the future will have to respect the environment. This is the only

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have demonstrated the laser operation of a heterojunction bipolar light-emitting transistor. The scientists describe the fabrication and operation of their transistor laser in the Nov. 15 issue of the journal Applied Physics Letters. “By incorporating quantum wells into the active region of a light-emitting transistor, we have enhanced the electrical and optical properties, making possible stimulated emission and transis

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Sandia National Laboratories is joining forces with Stirling Energy Systems, Inc. (SES) of Phoenix to build and test six new solar dish-engine systems for electricity generation that will provide enough grid-ready solar electricity to power more than 40 homes.

Five new systems will be installed between now and January at Sandia’s National Solar Thermal Test Facility. They will join a prototype dish-Stirling system that was er

CEA-Léti and Fraunhofer Microelectronics Alliance (VµE), two of the largest organizations for applied research in the field of micro and nanoelectronics in Europe, have signed an extension of their 2003 cooperation agreement, now including front-end technologies for micro and nanoelectronics.

The document was signed in a ceremony on the occasion of the Annual Conference 2004 of Fraunhofer IISB in Erlangen, Germany, competence center for front-end technologies within the VµE. CEA-

Charlyrobot of France is launching its new generation of Computer Numerical Control (CNC) mini-milling machines, for compact 3D milling, called Charly4U. Charlyrobot has been a leading manufacturer of milling machines for more than 20 years. The company has local partners in the UK but is looking for distributors in the Nordic Region. Charlyrobot will be showcasing its technology at the Euromold trade show in Frankfurt in early December 2004.

Thanks to Charly4U, Charlyrobot is s

Robots are a long way from being as sophisticated as the movies would have you believe.

Sure they can crush humans at chess. But they can’t beat us at soccer