Category: Student

Self-Powered Camera

Scientists invented a video camera that is powered by…light. Columbia University researchers have developed a self-powered camera whose pixels both record light and turn it into electricity.

According to engadget.com, the trick is the use of photodiodes (which are common in both cameras and solar panels) that are permanently set to collect energy, not simply conduct it.

As you can see from the blurry, goofy animation below, the existing technology won’t compete with the camera in your phone, let alone a pro DSLR. Columbia’s prototype captures just 1,200 black-and-white pixels, and it needs a lot of light just to keep running.

Even so, it’s promising. If scientists can refine the technology to work at multi-megapixel levels, you could see cameras that last a long time on battery, and might not need a battery at all.

This new graphite battery will charge your smartphone in 60 seconds. Credit: Meng-Chang Lin & Hongjie Dai, Stanford University

Battery life problems are among the most common smartphone affliction. No matter how power efficient the hardware gets, manufacturers end up using all of it and more for improved displays, faster performance, and more features. Now scientists at Stanford University have come up with an ultra-fast-charging paper thin battery that can be produced on a mass scale. Bonus: the battery can charge your smartphone in 60 seconds.

“We have developed a rechargeable aluminum battery that may replace existing storage devices, such as alkaline batteries, which are bad for the environment, and lithium-ion batteries, which occasionally burst into flames,” said Hongjie Dai, professor of chemistry at Stanford, in a statement. “Our new battery won’t catch fire, even if you drill through it.”

According to Extreme Tech, the aluminum-ion battery contains a negatively charged anode and a positively charged graphite cathode. Researchers placed those two inside a flexible polymer-coated pouch with an ionic liquid electrolyte. Aluminum has always been a compelling material for battery design, but it’s been too difficult to work with. It’s inexpensive, not flammable, and could potentially have high capacities. The problem up until this point, the researchers said, is developing the right materials that could repeatedly produce sufficient voltage after multiple cycles of charging and discharging.

Current lithium-ion batteries in smartphones can take several hours to charge. Some manufacturers like Samsung and HTC have developed fast burst modes that give you 25 percent of initial battery life with just 15 minutes of charging, and have also baked in new slow-burn, emergency efficient modes to eke extra time out of the last few percentage points of battery life. But this new aluminum-ion battery prototype has “unprecedented charging times” down to just one minute. Plus, the researchers were able to charge and discharge the battery 7,500 times without loss of capacity, compared with 1,000 cycles or less for today’s packs.

The researchers said that in addition to phone batteries, the aluminum-ion design could also be used to store extra capacity in renewable power grids, and the two-volt output could also be an environmentally replacement for 1.5-volt disposable AA and AAA batteries.

And that’s where the research continues: That voltage, while better than the disposable batteries, is still only about half that what you need for a smartphone. It’s the last major hurdle, after inexpensive materials, safety, ultra-fast charging, and long life cycle. Here’s hoping they nail it, because at this point we’re all sick of having to charge our devices all the time.

The team, involving ten students of Physics and Computer Science departments, proposed setting up a turbine at an underground metro station to check if it can be successful in harnessing the wind.

Delhi University students found an innovative way of harnessing wind energy churned out by Metro trains to generate electricity.

According to IBN Live, the project, undertaken by Kalindi College, has also got the backing of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), which allowed the students to install a turbine on trial basis at one of the underground metro stations.

“While standing at a metro station one day, the students realised that the wind energy produced in the tunnel by these fast moving trains gets wasted, and they decided to find out how it can be harnessed,” says Dr Punita Verma, Principal Investigator of the project.

The team, involving ten students of Physics and Computer Science departments, proposed setting up a turbine at an underground metro station to check if it can be successful in harnessing the wind. DMRC officials found the project interesting and gave the nod to install a turbine at Chandni Chowk metro station.

“Without obstructing the operation, safety and security of Metro services, it was decided to put up turbine along the underground tracks at the mouth of tunnel where the maximum wind velocity available is 6.5 m/s.

“In the first phase, we installed a three-blade turbine and later a five-blade light rotor turbine with a cut-in speed of less than 1.5m/s. We connected it to a battery and measured the power it generates. We also discovered that different stations have different construction and the same turbines cannot be used at all the metro stations,” Verma said.

The project, which has was started by a different group of students in 2013, has received a grant of Rs 15 lakh from the university. While the first phase involved the research work, the DMRC engineers were later roped in to test the feasibility, who have asked the team to develop the concept further.

“We are now working on different designs of the turbines whose size, shape and orientation will be customised according to the wind velocity and frequency of trains at different stations. Once the design is approved by DMRC, turbine firms will be approached to make these turbines,” Verma says.

NTU eco cars

Two solar-powered electric cars, designed by students from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), were unveiled by the institution on Monday morning.

According to Channel News Asia, one of the two is the first car in Singapore to be made with 3D-printed parts. Its cabin, which can seat one driver, is made of 150 3D-printed components that have been glued together using epoxy adhesive.

“We are extremely proud to have designed and assembled a 3D-printed body shell for the electric car,” Associate Professor Ng Heong Wah said. “The 3D printed car body was pushing existing technology to the limits and we are so pleased that it has paid off.”

“Using the latest engineering techniques learnt from their studies in NTU, the students have developed innovations such as silicon solar cells that can be contoured to follow the car’s shape,” he added.

Undergraduate Ilmi Bin Abdul Wahab, who led the development of 3D-printed NV8, said: “We decided to go with a 3D-printed cabin made from lightweight plastic, as we wanted to maximise the internal space and driver’s comfort while still being able to keeping the weight to a minimum. Despite being an Urban Concept car, it is no slouch and can reach a top speed of 60km/h, while maintaining low energy consumption.”

Co-designer Ng Jun Wen explained the unique honeycomb design for NV8: “For it to be lightweight, thin and yet strong, we integrated a honeycomb structure and a unique joint design to hold the parts together. When seen against the light, the structure has a translucent see-through effect, like a dragonfly wing.”

According to NTU, NV8 will participate in the Shell Eco-marathon Asia competition this year, under the Urban Concept category. Teams with more “roadworthy” fuel-efficient vehicles fall in this category, it said. The competition challenges students to design, build and drive a vehicle that can travel the furthest distance using the least amount of energy.

The second eco-car features hand-made silicon solar cells

The students have also built the NTU Venture 9 (NV9), a three-wheeled racer, which can “take sharp corners with little loss in speed” due to its unique tilting ability inspired by motorcycle racing, the university said.

The car, featuring hand-made silicon solar cells, will be NTU’s entry in the Prototype category at the Shell competition. Teams enter futuristic prototypes focused on maximising fuel efficiency through innovative design elements in the Prototype category.

By developing the silicon solar cells innovation, Prof Ng said it allows for “maximum harvesting of the solar energy and a tilting mechanism” in NV9 that results in avoiding the loss of speed.

Explaining the inspiration behind their prototype, NV9 Team Manager, Winston Tan, said: “We took the tilting mechanism inspiration from motorcycle racing, where racers would lean left or right during sharp turns to maintain their handling and speed. For the car’s body, we aimed for it to be as streamlined as possible.”

The two NTU teams consist of 16 students from the various engineering schools. The cars were designed from scratch and students spent over a year to build them. Shell Eco-marathon Asia will take place in Manila from Feb 26 to Mar 1.

The research team: Alexander Katko (left) and Allen Hawkes

Two Engineering students invented a cheap device that collects stray microwave signals in the air and converts them into power for charging batteries. The invention works similar to solar panels, the researchers claim that their converter can collect stray signals anything wireless, including satellite signals, sound or even Wi-Fi.

They used fiberglass and copper energy conductors engineered to capture various forms of wave energy and tune them for useful applications. The research team created a series of fiber glass and copper energy conductors on a circuit board that converts microwaves into 7.3V of electrical energy,according to gadgetronicx2.rssing.com.

“We had been getting efficiency around 6 to 10%, but with this design we were able to dramatically improve energy conversion to 37% which is comparable to what achieved in solar cells”, said Allen Hawkes.

This was the five cell metamaterial array developed by the engineers and the beauty of this design is that the basic building blocks (metamaterial cell) are self contained and additive. So one can simply add more blocks to increase the electric power based on their needs. This device could be tuned for a multitude of frequencies to collect different types of energy including vibration and sound energy.

The researchers further added that this power harvesting device could integrate into modern mobile phones, allowing it to recharge itself from the signal obtained through towers or satellites.

In a world where we are swimming in microwave signals, this device could provide a vast amount of energy which we need on daily basis. Imagine charging your smartphone through Wi-Fi signal or by means of stray signals from the Satellite overhead. This cheap and effective device could be a best solution to meet the energy needs of the world in our upcoming future.