The Engineers Crib

The technology will be demonstrated on a modified version of Volvo’s most powerful truck, the FH16. It is expected to take to the roads later this year. Claimed to represent the world’s first application of a ‘zero emission’ combustion engine, the project – which has been jointly funded by ULEMCo and Innovate UK – is designed to provide a dramatic demonstration of how hydrogen fuel can be deployed to decarbonise heavy goods vehicles efficiently and cost effectively. Unlike other ‘hydrogen fueled’ vehicles, the so-called Mega Low Emissions (MLE) truck uses hydrogen to power the vehicle using a combustion engine rather than via fuel cells and an electric motor. ULEMCo claims that in common with fuel cell versions, there will be none of the usual emissions from hydrocarbons that impact on air quality – such as unburnt fuel, particulates, carbon monoxide etc. ULEMCo believes that using conventional engines and existing truck designs, rather than the full transformation neede

"Since more than 97 percent of the water in the world is saline water, reverse osmosis desalination plants for producing fresh water are increasingly important for providing a safe and consistent supply" said Morinobu Endo, Ph.D., corresponding author on the paper. Endo is a distinguished professor of Shinshu University and the Honorary Director of the Institute of Carbon Science and Technology. "Even though reverse osmosis membrane technology has been under development for several decades, new threats like global warming and increasing clean water demand in populated urban centers challenge the conventional water supply systems." Reverse osmosis membranes typically consist of thin film composite systems, with an active layer of polymer film that restricts undesired substances, such as salt, from passing through a permeable porous substrate. Such membranes can turn seawater into drinkable water, as well as aid in agricultural and landscape irrigation, but t

It is commonly understood that the dinosaurs disappeared with a bang -- wiped out by a great meteorite impact on the Earth 66 million years ago. But their origins have been less understood. In a new study, scientists from MUSE -- Museum of Science, Trento, Italy, Universities of Ferrara and Padova, Italy and the University of Bristol show that the key expansion of dinosaurs was also triggered by a crisis -- a mass extinction that happened 232 million years ago. In the new paper, published today in  Nature Communications , evidence is provided to match the two events -- the mass extinction, called the Carnian Pluvial Episode, and the initial diversification of dinosaurs. Dinosaurs had originated much earlier, at the beginning of the Triassic Period, some 245 million years ago, but they remained very rare until the shock events in the Carnian 13 million years later. The new study shows just when dinosaurs took over by using detailed evidence from rock sequences in the Dolomites

              Three fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) have successfully undertaken an autonomous           118 mile road trip in Korea, travelling at speeds of up to 110km/h.     Three Hyundai NEXO cars travelled from Seoul to Pyeongchang equipped with level 4           self-driving and 5G network technology. When put into autonomous mode the vehicles moved in response to the flow of highway traffic, executed lane changes, overtaking manoeuvres and navigated toll gates using Hi-pass, South-Korea’s wireless expressway payment system. The cars are said to feature technologies that enable them to recognize surrounding vehicles more accurately, make better judgments at junctions, and navigate through toll gates by calculating the gate’s width and position. Hyundai Nexo FCEV The vehicles are also able to pinpoint their position on a map by using external sensors fitted for situations when the GPS signal was interrupted, such as going through tunnels. Utilising the 5G n

1. The Carthedral: A Cathedral on Wheels Built from a hearse and topped with a VW Bug, Rebecca Caldwell's Carthedral is an ambitious gothic car art piece. The piece is entirely street legal, and features spires, buttresses, and other gothic flourishes you'd expect to find in a several-centuries-old church. 2. The Phantom Built by Truant Studios' William T. Burge,  The Phantom  began with only a VW motor, an axle, suspension and steering. Burge built the entire body from scratch, welding small pieces of steel together to create the car's iconic look. It features three imposing gargoyle heads, and its design is based on that of a 1936 Bugatti Atlantic. 3. Thor: The Norse God of Cars Built in Denver, Colorado, the  Thor art car  started as a Burning Man mutant vehicle project. Since its debut at the festival, it has traveled the world. The double-decker vehicle is a mobile party space, with lightweight metal framing providing the basis

Apple has a new iPhone recycling robot that can take apart 200 iPhones in an hour. Called  Daisy,  the machine lets Apple recover materials from the phone traditional methods of recycling can't. Daisy can take apart nine different iPhone models from iPhone 5s to iPhone 7 Plus.  Apple introduced Daisy as part of a range of environmentally conscious decisions ahead of World Earth Day. Daisy was created from the same technology and even parts of Apple’s previous phone recycling robot, Liam. The first operational Daisy is located in Austin, a second Daisy will soon be located in the Netherlands. Apple hopes to expand the iPhone recycling initiative, they reportedly have plans to patent Daisy as well. Daisy is capable of disassembling and retrieving an iPhone's main logic board, speaker, and rear camera, among other components that contain high-quality materials.    At Apple, we’re constantly working toward smart solutions to address climate change and conserve o

Smartphones are an integral part of most people’s lives, allowing us to stay connected and in-the-know at all times. The downside of that convenience is that many of us are also addicted to the constant pings, chimes, vibrations and other alerts from our devices, unable to ignore new emails, texts and images. In a new study published in NeuroRegulation, San Francisco State University Professor of Health Education Erik Peper and Associate Professor of Health Education Richard Harvey argue that overuse of smart phones is just like any other type of substance abuse. “The behavioral addiction of smartphone use begins forming neurological connections in the brain in ways similar to how opioid addiction is experienced by people taking Oxycontin for pain relief — gradually,” Peper explained. On top of that, addiction to social media technology may actually have a negative effect on social connection. In a survey of 135 San Francisco State students, Peper and Harvey f

An electrical engineer at The University of Toledo, has developed a new energy storage solution to make battery packs in electric vehicles, satellites, planes and grid stations last longer and cost less. Dr. Ngalula Mubenga, assistant professor of electrical engineering technology at The University of Toledo, in her lab. Credit: Dan Miller, The University of Toledo The new technology called a bilevel equalizer is the first hybrid that combines the high performance of an active equalizer with the low cost of the passive equalizer. "It's a game changer because we solved the weak cell issue in  lithium ion battery  storage for packs with hundreds of cells," said Dr. Ngalula Mubenga, assistant professor of electrical engineering technology at UT. "Whenever we are talking about batteries, we are talking about cells connected in a series. Over time, the battery is not balanced and limited by the weakest cell in the battery." Before the bilevel equalizer,

A study led by researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) has uncovered new ways of driving multi-legged robots by means of a two-level controller. The proposed controller uses a network of so-called non-linear oscillators that enables the generation of diverse gaits and postures, which are specified by only a few high-level parameters. The study inspires new research into how multi-legged robots can be controlled, including in the future using brain-computer interfaces. In the natural world, many species can walk over slopes and irregular surfaces, reaching places inaccessible even to the most advanced rover robots. It remains a mystery how complex movements are handled so seamlessly by even the tiniest creatures. What we do know is that even the simplest brains contain  pattern-generator circuits (CPGs) 1 , which are wired up specifically for generating walking patterns. Attempts to replicate such circuits artificially have so far had limited success, due p

The Swedish government has been funding projects aimed at developing a fossil-free  road  transport system for many years. In this new effort, the focus was on implementing a road technology that could be used by currently available vehicles. The result is what some have called a human-sized slot car system                            Credit: eRoadArlanda      . A team making up the eRoadArlanda project has announced that they have electrified a section of road near Stockholm, which was tested by a battery-powered test truck. Watch video For the project, the researchers installed an electrified slot along two kilometers of road between the Rosersberg logistics site near Stockholm and the Arlanda Cargo Terminal. While other vehicles will be able to use the road, only a test truck will make use of the electrified rail. source: techxplore

Engineers have proposed a coordinated control architecture for motion management in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) to increase safety and comfort across all vehicles, regardless of ADAS specifics. They published their proposal in  IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica , a joint publication of the IEEE and the Chinese Association of Automation. "The modern automobile is a complex system of systems. How the functionalities of advanced driver assistance are implemented and coordinated across the systems of the vehicle is generally not made available to the wider research community by the developers and manufactures," wrote Tzu-Chi Lin, a research engineer with the Warwick Manufacturing Group in the United Kingdom, and an author on the paper. "This paper seeks to begin filling this gap by assembling open source physics models of the vehicle dynamics and ADAS command models." One of the most common ADAS alerts  drivers  when the car drifts out of

A team of engineers at MIT has developed a polymer thermal conductor -- a plastic material that, however unreasonably, works as a heat conductor,instead of insulating heat,it dissipate it. The new polymers, which are lightweight and flexible, can conduct 10 times as much heat as most commercially used polymers. "Traditional polymers are both electrically and thermally insulating. The discovery and development of electrically conductive polymers has led to novel electronic applications such as flexible displays and wearable biosensors," says Yanfei Xu, a postdoc in MIT's Department of Mechanical Engineering. "Our polymer can thermally conduct and remove heat much more efficiently. We believe polymers could be made into next-generation heat conductors for advanced thermal management applications, such as a self-cooling alternative to existing electronics casings." The new technique could prevent overheating of laptops, mobile phones, and other e