Manufacturing Technologies
New fatigue model could lead to more durable, efficient ships
April 23, 2013 11:14 am | News | Comments
An engineer in Finland has designed a new evaluation model that allows developers to determine how fatigue sets in with various welded steel materials. By considering the differences between traditional welds and structural joining technologies and newer more advanced methods, he model allows for the development of lighter structures, and as a consequence, more energy-efficient ships.
Silicon Valley-area hub becomes factory town
May 20, 2013 7:33 am | by Martha Mendoza, AP National Writer | News | Comments
Something unique is happening in Fremont, California, a nondescript suburb of 217,000...
First precise MEMS output measurement technique unveiled
May 14, 2013 1:06 pm | News | Comments
Researchers in Europe have developed a new experimental system to gain accurate...
Platinum nanoparticles may keep fruit fresh longer
May 13, 2013 8:16 am | News | Comments
Ripening fruit, vegetables, and flowers release ethylene, which works as a plant...
Overcoming barriers to medical use of microrockets and micromotors
April 11, 2013 2:13 am | News | CommentsAn advance in micromotor technology akin to the invention of cars that fuel themselves from the pavement or air, rather than gasoline or batteries, is opening the door to broad new medical and industrial uses for these tiny devices, scientists said here today. Their update on development of the motors—so small that thousands would fit inside this "o"—was part of the American Chemical Society national meeting.
Pratt & Whitney Additive Manufacturing Innovation Center opens at UConn
April 10, 2013 4:39 am | News | CommentsThe University of Connecticut and Pratt & Whitney this week celebrated the opening of a new Pratt & Whitney Additive Manufacturing Innovation Center at UConn, one of the most advanced additive manufacturing laboratories in the nation. Located on UConn’s Depot Campus in Storrs, the center features the latest in 3D manufacturing equipment and rapid prototyping technologies.
Scientists in Korea develop low-power 60 GHz RF chip for mobile devices
March 31, 2013 6:44 pm | News | CommentsAs a possible method for accelerating transmission of large data, researchers are studying the adoption of gigabits per second (Gbps) wireless communications operating over the 60 GHz radio frequency (RF) band. But mobile applications have not been developed yet because the 60 GHz RF circuit consumes hundreds of milliwatts of DC power. A new chip developed at KAIST in Korea, however, consumes as little 67 mW of power thanks to newly developed components.
3D printing turns models into reality
March 19, 2013 10:23 am | by Steve Koppes, University of Chicago | News | CommentsProfessor Heinrich Jaeger's laboratory at the University of Chicago uses 3D printing to test complex qualities and phenomona of shapes made via computer. One such phenomenon is jamming, in which aggregates of randomly placed particles, including spheres or more complicated shapes, or even molecules, transition from fluid-like to solid-like behavior. Recent analysis shows how the properties of a jammed material can be tuned by changing the shape of the constituent particles.
Gasochromic method creates switchable mirror sheet
March 4, 2013 8:58 am | News | CommentsSwitchable mirrors can be switched between a transparent state and a mirror state. Some types, which help reduce cooling loads in buildings by blocking sunlight, can be switched electrically. Some can be switch by way of a thin layer of gas that changes mirror properties through hydrogenation. A new type of switchable mirror has been developed in Japan that can control the reflection of visible to near-infrared light at a switching speed about 20 times faster than that of conventional electrochromic switchable glass.
MIT report identifies keys to new American innovation
February 22, 2013 10:46 am | by Peter Dizikes, MIT News Office | News | CommentsWhat kinds of industrial production can bring innovation to the American economy? An intensive, long-term study by a group of Massachusetts Institute of Technology scholars suggests that a renewed commitment to research and development in manufacturing, sometimes through creative new forms of collaboration, can spur innovation and growth in the United States as a whole.
New imaging device is flexible, flat, and transparent
February 20, 2013 12:20 pm | News | CommentsA research team in Austria has developed an entirely new way of capturing images based on a flat, flexible, transparent, and potentially disposable polymer sheet. The new imager, which resembles a flexible plastic film, uses fluorescent particles to capture incoming light and channel a portion of it to an array of sensors framing the sheet. With no electronics or internal components, the imager’s elegant design makes it ideal for a new breed of imaging technologies.
Self-assembled biological filaments form 3D microelectronics
February 12, 2013 1:24 pm | News | CommentsThe size of electronic components is reaching a physical limit. While 3D assembly can reduce bulk, the challenge is in manufacturing these complex electrical connections. Biologists and physicists in France have recently developed a system of self-assembled connections using actin filaments for 3D microelectronic structures. Once the actin filaments become conductors, they join the various components of a system together.
3D micrometer-scale printer is world’s fastest
February 8, 2013 11:09 am | News | CommentsAt the Photonics West conference in San Francisco this week, the Germany-based company Nanoscribe showcased the world’s fastest 3D printer of micro- and nanostructures. With this printer, small 3D objects, often smaller than the diameter of a human hair, can be manufactured with minimum time consumption and maximum resolution. The printer is based on a new laser lithography method.
Improved “peacock" technology could lock in color for high-res displays
February 5, 2013 12:17 pm | News | CommentsIridescence, or sheen that shifts color depending on your viewing angle, is pretty in peacock feathers. But it's been a nuisance for engineers trying to mimic the birds' unique color mechanism to make high-resolution, reflective, color display screens. Researchers at the University of Michigan have found a way to lock in so-called structural color, which is made with texture rather than chemicals. The finding could lead to advanced color e-books, electronic paper, and screens that don't need their own light to be readable.
Physicists show that organic semiconductors withstand sharp bends
February 5, 2013 11:41 am | News | CommentsOrganic semiconductors hold promise for making low-cost flexible electronics—if they can perform in spite of frequent flexing and sharp bending. Scientists have recently demonstrated extremely flexible organic semiconductors that withstood multiple bending cycles in which the devices were rolled to a radius as small as 200 μm. The scientists worked with numerous crystalline devices they made and found no degradation in their performance.
Synthetic biology method dramatically cuts down “manufacturing” time
January 31, 2013 12:13 pm | News | CommentsScientists in the U.K. have reported that they have developed a method that cuts down the time it takes to make new “parts” for microscopic biological factories from two days to only six hours. The technique does away with the need to re-engineer a cell’s DNA every time a new part is needed. The researchers say their research brings them another step closer to a new kind of industrial revolution, where parts for these biological factories could be mass-produced.
Self-assembled “soft Legos” create complex crystal shapes
January 17, 2013 12:24 pm | News | CommentsA team of researchers in Austria has shown that so-called block copolymer stars—polymers that consist of two different blocks and are chemically anchored on a common point—have a robust and flexible architecture and they possess the ability to self-assemble at different levels. The team has called their invention, which can form complex crystal diamonds or cubes, the “soft Lego”.
Webb Telescope teams completes optics milestone
January 17, 2013 10:27 am | News | CommentsEngineers working on NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have recently concluded performance testing on the observatory's aft-optics subsystem at Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp's facilities in Boulder, Colo. This is significant because it means all of the telescope's mirror systems are ready for integration and testing.
Building electronics from the ground up
January 14, 2013 5:19 pm | News | CommentsElectronics devices are a mainstay of our daily lives. But the expectation that the next shopping season will inevitably offer an upgrade to more-powerful gadgets largely depends on size, and developers who employ top down manufacturing methods are running into expensive roadblocks as the domain shrinks to the nanoscale. To go further, some researchers looking at a bottom up method, coaxing individual molecules to self-arrange into patterns.
'Smart' potty or dumb idea? Wacky gadgets at CES
January 9, 2013 6:49 pm | by Barbara Ortutay and Ryan Nakashima, The Associated Press | News | CommentsNot everything there is “high-tech”, but the annual Consumer Electronics Show is a great place to see the newest and most fanciful products to reach the market each year. From the iPotty for toddlers to the 1,600-pound (725-kg) mechanical spider and the host of glitch-ridden "smart" TVs, the International CES show is a forum for gadget makers to take big—and bizarre—chances.
Biochip technology uses tiny whirlpools to corral microbes
January 8, 2013 12:47 pm | News | CommentsResearchers have demonstrated a new technology that combines a laser and electric fields to create tiny centrifuge-like whirlpools to separate particles and microbes by size, a potential lab-on-a-chip system for medicine and research.
Innovation on Wheels
December 14, 2012 11:35 am | by Paul Livingstone | Articles | CommentsThe Mars Science Laboratory is more than the biggest rolling science laboratory ever put on another planet. It's a systems engineering—and product development—triumph.
New fluorescent lighting won’t flicker, shatter, or burn out
December 3, 2012 8:49 am | News | CommentsA team at Wake Forest University has used a nano-engineered polymer matrix to convert electrical charge charge into light, creating an entirely new bulb based on field-induced polymer electroluminescent technology. Unlike conventional fluorescent bulbs, these new lights will not flicker, hum, or shatter, and they offer a soft, white light.
Computerized approach could revolutionize design, manufacturing
November 27, 2012 3:38 pm | News | CommentsA collaboration of several government and academic research organizations are hard at work on a design and manufacturing concept called “model-based design and verification”. Instead of building prototypes and discarding them, manufacturers would conduct virtually all of the design, testing, error identification, and revisions on a computer up to the point of commercial production.
Scientists “clone” carbon nanotubes to unlock electronic potential
November 14, 2012 1:14 pm | News | CommentsUsing a new method, researchers at the University of Southern California can now grow carbon nanotube semiconductors of predefined structures. Carbon nanotubes are typically grown using a catalyst. But the scientists instead grew “clones” with predictable diameter and chirality by planting pieces of carbon nanotubes that have been separated and pre-selected based on chirality. This breakthrough may pave the way for carbon to be used in future electronics.
Human eye gives researchers vision for new lens technology
November 14, 2012 12:28 pm | News | CommentsDrawing upon nature for inspiration, a team of researchers has created a new artificial lens that is nearly identical to the natural lens of the human eye. Made up of thousands of nanoscale polymer layers, the lens may one day provide more natural performance in implantable lenses. It also may lead to superior ground and aerial surveillance technology.
Autoclave aerated concrete: Building material for new millenium?
November 8, 2012 11:34 am | News | CommentsAlthough widespread rebuilding in the hard-hit New York metro region from Super Storm Sandy has not yet begun, New Jersey Institute of Technology professor Mohamed Mahgoub says when the hammers start swinging, it's time to look at autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC). A combination of finely ground sand, cement, quick lime, gypsum, aluminum, and water, AAC offers light weight, strength, and environmental friendliness, but has yet to catch on widely in the U.S.
Researchers develop new design for concentrator solar cell
November 8, 2012 9:02 am | News | CommentsEngineers in Israel have created a radically new design for a concentrator solar cell that, when irradiated from the side, generates solar conversion efficiencies which rival, and may eventually surpass, the most efficient photovoltaics. The design, the developers say, can exceed 40% conversion efficiency at intensities of 10,000 suns.
Data storage: How magnetic recording heats up
November 7, 2012 2:15 pm | News | CommentsMost electronic data is stored on magnetic hard drives that cannot simply be enlarged to store more data. The required spinning speed for larger sizes strains components. Researchers in Singapore report that an alternative technology, heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR), is now a significant step closer to commercial realization. The method has the potential to double storage capacity for a given hard drive.
