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Advances in technology across industry

Start-up company scoops European technology awards

Anew Guildford, UK-based energy solutions company, called Naked Energy, has started scooping up awards for its innovative new solar panel which generates both electricity and hot water through a unique hybrid design.

The PVT (Photovoltaic Thermal) panels developed by Naked Energy are a hybridised combination of vacuum tubes with photovoltaic cells – the result is a high electrical output (stronger than standard PV panels) with consistent hot water delivery, even in mid-winter.

“Because Solar PVT produces more electricity per square metre than existing PV panels, with the added benefit of providing hot water, the payback period to a homeowner or business who invests in an installation is significantly reduced,” says managing director Christophe Williams. “It’s a simple solution to reducing domestic energy bills and leaves consumers with a clear conscience as far as climate change goes. Definitely we are in a win-win situation.” Visit: www.nkedenergy.co.uk

Scientists revolutionise electron microscope

Researchers at the University of Sheffield have revolutionised the electron microscope by developing a new method which could create the highest resolution images ever seen.

For over 70 years, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), which ‘looks through’ an object to see atomic features within it, has been constrained by the relatively poor lenses which are used to form the image. The new method, called electron ptychography, dispenses with the lens and instead forms the image by reconstructing the scattered electron-waves after they have passed through the sample using computers.

Scientists involved in the scheme consider their findings to be a ‘first step’ in a ‘completely new epoch of electron imaging’. The process has no fundamental experimental boundaries and it is thought it will transform sub-atomic scale transmission imaging.

Project leader Professor John Rodenburg, of the University of Sheffield’s Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, said: “To understand how material behaves, we need to know exactly where the atoms are. This approach will enable us to look at how atoms sit next to one another in a solid object as if we’re holding them in our hands.” Visit: www.shef.ac.uk/faculty/engineering

Jellyfish inspires latest ocean-powered robot

American researchers have created a robotic jellyfish, named Robojelly, which not only exhibits characteristics ideal to use in underwater search and rescue operations, but could, theoretically at least, never run out of energy thanks to it being fuelled by hydrogen.

“To our knowledge, this is the first successful powering of an underwater robot using external hydrogen as a fuel source,” said lead author of the study Yonas Tadesse.

The creators of Robojelly, from Virgina Tech, have presented their results in IOP Publishing’s journal Smart Materials and Structures.

A jellyfish’s movement is down to circular muscles located on the inside of the bell – the main part of the body shaped like the top of an umbrella. As the muscles contract, the bell closes in on itself and ejects water to propel the jellyfish forward. After contracting, the bell relaxes and regains its original shape. This was replicated in the vehicle using commerciallyavailable shape memory alloys (SMA) – smart materials that ‘remember’ their original shape – wrapped in carbon nanotubes and coated with a platinum black powder.

The robot is powered by heat-producing chemical reactions between the oxygen and hydrogen in water and the platinum on its surface. The heat given off by these reactions is transferred to the artificial muscles of the robot, causing them to transform into different shapes.

“We are now researching new ways to deliver the fuel into each segment so that each one can be controlled individually. This should allow the robot to be controlled and moved in different directions,” said Tadesse Visit: www.http://ioppublishing.org