Tag: more-efficient

Compression ignition engines are a big breakthrough—we got to try one

Mazda IRVINE, Calif.—Despite rumors to the contrary, the internal combustion engine is far from dead. Recently we’ve seen several technological advances that will significantly boost the efficiency of gasoline-powered engines. One of these, first reported back in August 2017 , is Mazda’s breakthrough with compression ignition. On Tuesday, Mazda invited us to its R&D facility in California to learn more about this clever new Skyactiv-X engine, but more importantly we actually got to drive it on the road. What’s so special about this engine then? (credit: Mazda) The idea behind Skyactiv-X is to be able to run the engine with as lean a fuel-air mixture (known as λ) as possible. Because very lean combustion is cooler than a stoichiometric reaction (where λ=1 and there is exactly enough air to completely burn each molecule of fuel but no more), less energy is wasted as heat. What’s more, the exhaust gases contain fewer nasty nitrogen oxides, and the unused air gets put to work. It absorbs the combustion heat and then expands and pushes down on the piston. The result is a cleaner, more efficient, and more powerful engine. And Skyactiv-X uses a very lean mix: a λ up to 2.5. Read 22 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Compression ignition engines are a big breakthrough—we got to try one

Bridgestone’s Non-Pneumatic Bicycle Tires

Remember Ron Arad’s bicycle designed with sprung-steel wheels ? Arad’s crazy idea worked, though no bicycle manufacturer pursued the concept. In the years since, however, non-pneumatic tire designs have slowly become a reality for ATV s and John Deere mowers , and now Bridgestone reckons they might work for bicycles too. Previously Bridgestone had developed non-pneumatic tire concepts for four-wheeled vehicles, but this month they’ve announced they’re porting their ” Air Free Concept ” over to two-wheelers. The “Air Free Concept” is a technology that eliminates the need for tires to be inflated with air to support the weight, using a unique structure of spokes stretching along the inner sides of tires. In addition, the resins that are used in the spokes and rubbers help realize more efficient use of resources. Bridgestone Corporation and Bridgestone Cycle adapted the “Air Free Concept” to develop bicycle tires without punctures. The high flexibility for design granted by resin has also enabled proposals of next-generation bicycles which have never been seen before. Regarding that last sentence, we’re curious to see what these proposals are, but the company has opted not to include any information on them. If you were designing a bicycle meant to incorporate these tires, what would you do differently? Lastly I’ll say: Vandalism still being a problem here in New York, if you had one of these in Manhattan I think you’d never not find someone had stuffed garbage in between those spokes. The bright orange is just crying out for someone to mess with it.

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Bridgestone’s Non-Pneumatic Bicycle Tires

Researchers break efficiency record for consumer-friendly solar panels

Turning sunlight into power is a surprisingly tricky thing. Experiments in academia have created solar arrays that can capture up to 40-percent of the sun’s energy and convert it to electricity, but consumer cells are notably less efficient. At best, silicon-based technology has a theoretical 29-percent efficiency ceiling — meaning any consumer panel in the low 20s is doing pretty well. Still, we’re inching ever closer to the technology’s limit. Researchers at Kaneko corp recently announced that they’ve developed a silicon solar cell with a record-breaking 26.3 percent efficiency rating. The score is only just barely higher than the previous record of 25.6, but that 0.7 percent gain is no easy feat. Researchers had to analyze what factors in current cell design was keeping the technology from reaching its theoretical limits. The group decided that reducing optical loss was the best path forward, and moved low-resistance electrodes to the rear of the cell to increase the amount of photons that could be captured. That’s a lot of technical jargon, sure — but the big win here isn’t just that the cell is more efficient, it’s that the more productive silicon cell was produced using the same kind of production process used for consumer sells. In other words, this isn’t just an experiment, it’s something we might actually see on the market soon. Via: Ars Technica Source: Nature Energy

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Researchers break efficiency record for consumer-friendly solar panels

Ultrafast lasers capture elusive photosynthesis reactions

Using ultra-rapid lasers, researchers have created the first “movie” of photosynthesis chemical reactions that shows exactly how fast they happen. The finding proves that a key process that strips electrons from water, starting the conversion of solar into chemical energy, happens more quickly than previously thought. “We can now see how nature has optimized the physics of converting light energy to fuel, ” says study author Jasper van Thor. The work could help scientists improve artificial photosynthesis to produce biofuels more efficiently. The researchers from Imperial College London wanted to find out exactly how fast the so-called Photosystem II enzyme reaction works. That process, which splits water into hydrogen and oxygen, was thought to be the bottleneck, or slowest part of photosynthesis. In contrast, the first part of photosynthesis, where light is harvested by an “antenna complex” of proteins and clorophyll molecules, was thought to be faster. Can we mimic it or tune it to make artificial photosynthesis more efficient? These questions, and many others, can now be explored. Slow and fast are relative terms here, because the process actually happens in picoseconds, or trillionths of a second. To measure it more precisely, scientists first created crystals of the Photosystem II enzyme, then zapped them with a sophisticated laser system. The process, which was developed in collaboration with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, is described in an earlier paper . Using infrared spectroscopy, the team was able to measure electron movements across tiny parts of the system to see when energy was transferred. Their measurements proved that the water-splitting process happens more quickly than the antenna complex light harvesting, a result that upends decades of teachings. “We can now show that what I was lectured as an undergraduate in the 1990s is no longer supported, ” van Thor says. Furthermore, the team has essentially created a movie of key parts of the photosynthesis process, which lasts just a few nanoseconds (billionths of a second). This lets scientists understand what the molecule is doing in very small time slices during the process, helping them better understand and even improve it. “Can we mimic it or tune it to make artificial photosynthesis more efficient? These questions, and many others, can now be explored, ” says van Thor. Via: Imperial College London Source: Nature

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Ultrafast lasers capture elusive photosynthesis reactions

Skype rolls out its suite of third-party app chatbots

Skype is the latest service to be joining in on the bot craze. After deploying a preview of Skype Bots back in April , the company is pushing a new series of chatbots out into the Skype Bot directory across Windows, Android, iOS, Mac and Web apps. The goal is to offer services to users in a more efficient manner so that more complex tasks can be completed in an expedient manner. You’ll be able to bring bots into group conversations to manage tasks with friends and family, or collaborate on things like selecting restaurants, as daunting of a task as that can be. For instance, you can use Hipmunk to browse flight times or figure out travel recommendations directly within your discussions. Skype has partnered with services like StubHub and Skyscanner to bring additional functionality to its bots, as well as the IFTTT Bot, which allows you to set your own personalized triggers like social media notifications, someone coming to your door, etc. There’s also a special Star Trek Spock bot, if that’s your thing. Chatbots are quickly becoming a way of the future, so it’s not surprising to see these bots being folded in to Skype functionality. Done correctly, they’ve got their own unique boons that make them useful for every day situations, but many do still have a long way to go. Source: Skype

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Skype rolls out its suite of third-party app chatbots

Rolls-Royce expects remote-controlled cargo ships by 2020

Rolls-Royce isn’t limiting its robotic transportation plans to luxury cars . The British transportation firm has outlined a strategy for deploying remote-controlled and autonomous cargo vessels. It’s working on virtual decks where land-based crews could control every aspect of a ship, complete with VR camera views and monitoring drones to spot issues that no human ever could. Accordingly, Rolls is designing boats where humans wouldn’t have to come aboard. In theory, one human would steer several boats — crew shortages would disappear overnight. The move to crew-free ships promises more than a few advantages, Rolls says. You wouldn’t need a bridge or living quarters, so you’d have much more room for the goods you’re hauling. They’d be safer and more efficient, too, since you’d cut out many human errors (not to mention the direct risks from rough weather and pirates) and streamline operations. Robotic ships might cut the number of available jobs, but they would let distant crews handle more complex tasks without being overwhelmed. Some of Rolls’ concepts are more Star Trek than real life at the moment (its imagery includes interactive holograms), but this isn’t just a theoretical exercise. One ship, the Stril Luna, already has a smart Unified Bridge system in place for coordinating all its equipment. The aim is to launch the first remote-controlled cargo ships by 2020, and to have autonomous boats on the water within two decades. All told, civilians might only have to head out to sea for pleasure cruises . Via: Daily Mail Source: Rolls-Royce

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Rolls-Royce expects remote-controlled cargo ships by 2020