Wonder Material Could Harvest Energy from Thin Air

Graphene – Most Innovative Advance in Battery Technology

Claims for new battery technology have been all over the place since the development of lead acid battery for over 150 years. Researchers however, at Manchester University in UK, state that their discovery regarding the new material graphene would be the most innovative advance in battery technology.

As per study which had been published in the journal Nature, graphene membranes could be utilised in sieving hydrogen gas from the atmosphere, an improvement which could make way for electric generators powered by air.

Post-doctoral researchers in the project, Dr Sheng Hu commented that it seems extremely simple and promising since graphene can be produced in square metre sheets and they hope that it would find its way to commercial fuel cells sooner than later.

At the core of technology is the physical properties of graphene which is an element having the same atomic assembly as the lead which is present in the household pencil. Graphene already very popular as a technological game changer, however was isolated in 2004 by a group from Manchester University ledby Andrew Geim and Kostya Novoseloy, who won the Nobel Prize for Physics for their discovery in 2010.

Lightest/Thinnest/Strongest Harder than Diamond

Graphene is the lightest, thinnest and the strongest object obtained and the first two dimensional crystal known to science. Moreover, it is harder than diamond and about 200 times stronger than steel. Being transparent and flexible in conducting electricity much better than copper, this substance is set to transform from smartphones and wearable technology to green technology as well as medicine.

Known for its barrier qualities, it is about an atom thick and more than a million times thinner than a human hair. With the latest discovery, graphene is smart for probable usage in proton conducting membranes that is at the heart of modern fuel cell technology.

Fuel cell tends to function by using hydrogen and oxygen for fuel, converting the chemical energy created by its input into electricity directly. But present membrane that tend to discrete protons essential for the process are comparatively incompetent, enabling contamination in the crossover of fuel.

Hydrogen Acquired Entirely from Fossil Fuels

Graphene membranes can boost their durability as well as efficiency. The team discovered that the protons passed through the ultra-thin crystals with relative ease especially at increased temperatures as well as with the utilization of platinum based catalyst covered on the membrane film.

The amazing feature of the research is that the membranes could be utilised in extracting hydrogen from the atmosphere wherein the scientist believed that such harvesting could be joined with fuel cells in creating a mobile electric generator fuelled by hydrogen present in the air. According to the scientist, it is a simple setup when one knows how it should work.

You could put a hydrogen containing gas on one side and apply a small electric current to collect pure hydrogen on the other side and this hydrogen could then be burned in a fuel cell. They had worked with small membranes and had achieved the flow of hydrogen tough tiny.

 However, this is the initial state of discovery and the paper is to bring about an awareness of the prevailing prospects, among experts. Further efforts would be needed to build up and test hydrogen harvesters and presently hydrogen is acquired entirely from fossil fuels.

Hypersonic Rocket Engine Could 'Revolutionize' Air Travel

Breakthrough Aerospace Engine Technology – Revolutionize Air Travel

BAE Systems, British aerospace giant, is staking big on hypersonic travel, something which its prospective new partner states could be a reality in two decades. BAE has plans of investing around £20.6 million in a 20% stake of a UK based engineering firm, Reaction Engines which has invented a breakthrough aerospace engine technology that could probably be utilised for a new generation of reusable space vehicle as well as a commercial offshoot that could revolutionize air travel.

BAE’s website states that the partnership would enable alliance on SABRE technology of Reaction Engines, a new aerospace engine class which tends to combine jet as well as rocket technologies with the capabilities of transforming hypersonic flight and the economics of space access.

Together with hypersonic air travel, Reaction Engines’ managing director, Mark Thomas informed CNN’s Richard Quest that reusable space plane which takes off like an aircrafts is said to be one of the concepts which would be made available by this engine. SABRE – Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine, is an air-breathing engine that tends to use ultra-lightweight heat exchangers in order to cool off very hot air streams like those faced at hypersonic speeds

Technology Empowers Aircraft

According to Reaction Engines conveyed in a press release on its website, the technology tends to empower the aircraft to operate at speeds of up to five times the speed of sound or fly directly into Earth orbit, easily. With its capacity to utilise atmospheric oxygen for thrust, the engine’s design denies the need for heavy fuel reserves on boards thereby reducing the weight of a SABRE powered vehicle.

As per BAE’s statement, it says that SABRE can also transition to a rocket mode enabling spaceflight at speed up to orbital velocity or 25 times the speed of sound. The design has been described as an absolutely revolutionary, visionary concept by Thomas.

He has clarified that `SABRE is a rocket engine at heart but can breathe air whenever it is in the atmosphere and hence it is not essential to carry so much liquid oxygen on board the vehicle. It enormously decreases the weight and one can put that in vehicle design capability or payload’.

Advanced Heat Exchanger – Ease Hypersonic Air Temperature

The fundamental aspect of the engine’s design is the company’s advanced heat exchanger that tends to ease hypersonic air temperature by more than a thousand degrees in a hundredth of a second. The company is said to be focusing on enhancing the engine and according to Thomas, BAE would be helping in translating its potential into a range of practical applications.

BAE’s anticipated 20% investment is awaiting the approval of Reaction Engine’s shareholders. Reaction Engines had announced that it would partner with defense multinational BAE System in a working collaboration in order to create its supersonic plane SABRE. BAE had purchased 20% of Reaction Engines offering the strategic investment essential in accelerating the project, a form of jet rocket engine hybrid.

As per Reaction Engines, driving Sabre seems to be a brand new form of aerospace engine that enable the operation of planes from a standstill on the landing strip to speeds that is five times more than the speed of sound in the atmosphere.

Google Aims to Begin Drone Package Deliveries In 2017

Google – Alphabet Inc. – Delivering Packages through Drone

According to the executive in charge of Google’s drone effort, the new holding company for Google, Alphabet Inc. is expected to start delivering packages to consumers through drone somewhere in 2017. The leader for Google’s Project Wing, David Vos, stated that the company is in talks with the Federal Aviation Administration together with other stakeholders with regards to the setting up of an air traffic control system for drones which would be utilising cellular as well as Internet technology in coordinating unmanned aerial vehicle flights at altitudes of below 500 feet.

He informed the audience at an air traffic control convention near Washington that their goal was to have commercial business up and running in 2017. Among the growing number of companies intending to make package delivery by drone a reality are Google and Amazon.com Inc.

However drone deliveries are not expected to take flight till the FAA final rules for commercial drone operation which are predicted early next year. Two years after the research first started, Project Wing had been announced with YouTube video, in August 2014, showing a field test of its most practical prototype in Australia.

New Kinds & Shape of Vehicle As Project Develops

The prototype flown in Australia at 1.5 meters wide and 0.8 meters tall, shares the same design of four propeller quad copter as popular consumer drones. However the company informs that consumers could expect to see new kinds and shapes of vehicle as the project develops.

Project Wings has conducted testing with NASA inside United States. Co-chair of FAA task force, Vos, charged with coming up with drone registry, stated that a system for identifying drone operators as well as keeping UAV away from the other aircraft can be set up within a period of 12 months. He stated that they are much on an operation function with the FAA and working with the small UAV community together with the aviation community in moving things along.

He is of the belief that they can accomplish a lot in the next 3, 6, 12 months and are hoping to get some strong support in making this happen. He narrated that a drone registry which the Obama administration expects to set in place by December 20, would be a leading step to a system which would utilise wireless telecommunications as well as Internet technology comprising of cellphone application in identifying drones and keeping UAV clear of other aircrafts as well as controlled airspace.

Possibility of Controlling Class G

He also said that Google will like to view low altitude `Class G’ airspace stamped out for drones, stating that it would keep UAC free from most of the manned aircraft besides low flying helicopters while permitting drones to fly over highly populated locations.

He added that there seems a lot that can be done in this market space. He informed that the FAA together with the other stakeholders are on the lookout for possibility of controlling Class G airspace through, for profit airspace services providers that would be utilising wireless communication in order to co-ordinate drone flights and link with the air traffic control system for the manned aircraft.

Google Will Now Write Email Replies For You

Google’s Smart Reply – Inbox Email Service

Google has recently announced that its Inbox email service would be capable of composing simple replies for its users starting soon. The `Smart Reply’ function would predict which of the emails could be answered with a short reply and thereafter write and present some probable replies for the user to choose from.

So far the most notable example has been Google’s 6 year old project creating cars which can be driven without human being steering the wheel. Software engineer, Balint Miklos had written in a blog post that for instance when Smart Reply had been tested at Google, a common proposition in the workplace was `I love you’ and due to their feedback, Smart Reply is SFW.

Probably because a machine seems to be a co-opting means of communication which earlier needed effort and emotion from the human brain, the update is for Inbox only and not Gmail. If the user has a Gmail account, they could sign up for Inbox, though they may not have to do so.

A spokeswoman for Google had confirmed to HuffPost that it would only work on Inbox’s iOS and Android app though not the desktop version.

Potential to Compose Replies Automatically – Natural Evolution for Service

Three types of options would be offered as reply prior to it being sent across and the response selected would help Google’s computer to learn which one would work best. Google hopes that its new `smart reply’ choice would be particularly famous when people tend to check their emails on smartphone with smaller, touch-screen keyboards.

 This latest feature is available to all consumers who tend to use the free version of Inbox and the more than 2 million businesses that pay for Google’s suite of application developed for work. Inbox which was initially introduced last year was planned to sort through the email and present it to you in a much more convenient way.

For instance it can identify which of the emails are promotions from companies, or reminders for yourself etc. It’s potential to compose replies automatically is a natural evolution for service which has already proficient at processing the messages.

Built on Two Artificial `Neural Networks’

Google has informed that the feature will be made available on the English language version of its Inbox through Gmail app. The replies, though may be simple, a post from Greg Corrado, senior scientist at Google had explained how the software relates to the machine learning tools which Google has been utilising across several of its services in comprehending and forming natural language sentences.

Smart Reply is said to be built on two artificial `neural networks’ a software which tends to mimics the structure of the human brain which Google has trained to comprehend natural language. Instead of having Google engineers to craft rules on how to reply to the emails, the neural network tends to learn by scanning the contents of thousands of emails.

Smart Reply adopts two neural networks where one is to interpret the meaning of an incoming email and the other to form a reply. Corrado wrote that these systems generalise better and handle completely new inputs more gracefully than brittle; rule based system could ever do. He further added that early test of the software had provided sets of responses which seem to be same to each other and so Smart Reply had to be attuned to offer responses with different semantic intents’.

3D Knitting Machines will be in Every Home

Knitting had once been the domain of grannies in bygone days, but now it has gone high tech and will soon be the next big thing in the maker world. 3D knitting as known as the tech version had been inspired by the 3D printing revolution, aiming a goal to be the one piece of manufacturing technology in all homes. It makes clothes and not objects and has a great advantage over 3D printing since it has several uses.

Everyone seems to wear clothes and is always on the look for changes and updates moving with the latest trend. Another advantage of 3D printing is that it is reusable. For coarser knits, garments could be un-knitted if one does not like the ways it may look or if one is just bored with it, leaving you with the option of turning it into some other alternative.

Three dimensional knitting machines are made available and seem to be on the rise. One such example is the OpenKnit which can be built from a kit and is a part of a manufacturing ecosystem which comprises of a software interface together with digital hub to share designs. OpenKnit already seems to be having a huge global community increasing the platform and restating the hardware as well as software.

Open Source Approach to Wearable Technology

As in the cases of all successful open source projects, this too will progress and issue new and unexpected version in 2015. For over 20 years, commercial 3D knitting machines have been operative, though they are created for established mass production.

The open source knitting community, in contrast would be changing the way clothes will be designed and made, creating new types of clothing especially by assimilating various types of fibres in the knitting. These would be by way of electrically conducting threads. On doing so, the technology would be kick-starting an open source approach to a wearable technology, with embedded sensors together with improved function, which commercially had been slow in taking off.

 In order to comprehend the capabilities of home 3D knitting machines, one needs to consider how the sewing machine that was presented in the 19th century had changed completely the way clothes were designed, made and repaired. This reduced the price of clothing, creating inventions in garment making and fashion. Ultimately small business gave way to the mass-produced clothes manufacturers which tend to control the present markets.

Inexpensive Modified Garments Designed to Fit

The 3D knitting machine tends to now promise another way of commotion. Since each one of us tends to be of different shape and size, 3D knitting provides something which the commercial clothes manufacturers do not offer, inexpensive modified garments designed to fit a person.

This is possible with the help of digital scanning technologies and design software which can resize the clothing designs to fit an individual. Since these garments are created at home, one could instantly try them on and if any alteration is needed, they can be redone.

Besides this, due to the power of social media, one has the opportunity of sharing the patterns and designs easily and readily where the potential of 3D knitting technology tend to become clear.