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Advances in technology across industry

Irish antibacterial tiles kill MRSA

Keeping surfaces free from potentially harmful micro-organisms can often require detergents, elbow grease or expensive UV light. But the technology developed by the CREST team at Dublin Institute of Technology could do the job at the flick of a light switch and could help in the fight against infections such as MRSA.

The clever coating reacts to light by generating tiny molecular species called free radicals, which blitz micro-organisms at the surface. To make it work, the semiconductor titanium dioxide has been engineered to be activated by indoor light, which is less expensive and more practical than using UV light.

The semiconductor coating is applied to a ceramic surface by spraying it onto a product, then heating it. Once in place, if light falls on the coating, the movement of electrons in the activated material and interaction with moisture in the air results in the creation of free radicals at the surface. These highly reactive species are like molecular chainsaws that can damage organic molecules and structures in micro-organisms.

Ceramic manufacturer VitrA Ireland is now licensing the technology from DIT on an exclusive basis for use on its products worldwide. Visit: ec.europa.eu

EADS scientists combat ice and flies

Aerospace and defence group EADS recently inaugurated iCORE, its new Icing and Contamination research facility at its German headquarters in Ottobrunn near Munich. At the core of the facility is a laboratoryscale cryogenic wind tunnel which combines the various elements that create icing conditions.

The main purpose of the new research facility is to find ways to minimise or even prevent the build-up and adhesion of ice on the plane’s surface, thereby reducing energy consumption for inflight de-icing. EADS IW scientists are studying the use of coatings and tailored surfaces to counter the accumulation of ice from supercooled water droplets – a common condition of meta stable water encountered during flight in the atmosphere and in cloud. The coatings are expected to support the use of new-generation on-board de-icing systems that respond to the increasing evolution of electric aircraft. The applications for these solutions range from airliners and helicopters to military unmanned aerial vehicles.

The planned research activities in the new facility will address laminar flow technology. The effect of insect contamination on flow characteristics will also be investigated in this context. Insect contamination has no impact on flight efficiency today. When the laminar flow technology currently under development goes into use, however, this situation will change: minor turbulence may occur due to insect contamination. This would jeopardise the goal of fuel savings through turbulence-free airflow. Visit: www.eads-video.com

How wings really work

It’s one of the most tenacious myths in physics and it frustrates aerodynamicists the world over. Now, University of Cambridge’s Professor Holger Babinsky has created a 1-minute video that he hopes will finally lay to rest a commonly used yet misleading explanation of how wings lift.

“A wing lifts when the air pressure above it is lowered. It’s often said that this happens because the airflow moving over the top, curved surface has a longer distance to travel and needs to go faster to have the same transit time as the air travelling along the lower, flat surface. But this is wrong,” he explained. “I don’t know when the explanation first surfaced but it’s been around for decades.”

To show that this common explanation is wrong, Babinsky filmed pulses of smoke flowing around an aerofoil. When the video is paused, it’s clear that the transit times above and below the wing are not equal: the air moves faster over the top surface and has already gone past the end of the wing by the time the flow below the aerofoil reaches the end of the lower surface.

“What actually causes lift is introducing a shape into the airflow, which curves the streamlines and introduces pressure changes – lower pressure on the upper surface and higher pressure on the lower surface,” clarified Babinsky, from the Department of Engineering. “This is why a flat surface like a sail is able to cause lift – here the distance on each side is the same but it is slightly curved when it is rigged and so it acts as an aerofoil. In other words, it’s the curvature that creates lift, not the distance.” Video can be viewed at: http://youtu.be/UqBmdZ-BNig