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Advances in technology across industry

Dublin Institute of Technology captures first prize at Alltech Innovation Competition

Global animal health and nutrition company Alltech has announced the 2016 winner of the Alltech Innovation Competition hosted at its European headquarters in Dunboyne, County Meath, Ireland. Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) students Daniel Morgan, Ryan Williams, Jack O’Farrell and Stephen Walsh were awarded the overall prize for their outstanding competition entry Vikasa community, a social enterprise venture centred on the growth and harvesting of the moringa tree.

Moringa seeds have the ability to purify water and the leaves are some of the most nutritious in the world, while the trunk can be used to produce biochar. The team investigated the application of moringa in Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world. After recent earthquakes, there has been a lack of safe drinking water and an increase in malnutrition across the country.

“Vikasa community believe the moringa tree can tackle these issues. Moringa is a native of the sub-Himalayas, but there is a huge lack of awareness and education around its properties and indeed its efficacy as a water purifier, nutritional supplement and various opportunities in commercial application,” said Morgan.

“We applied design thinking to Third World problems and an Irish nonprofit has invited us to Malawi in July to implement our idea. Winning the Alltech Innovation Competition adds additional value to our proposal,” continued Morgan. Visit: www.alltech.com/news.

Siemens presents the world’s thriftiest traffic light

Siemens has used new technology to improve the energy efficiency of traffic lights by more than 85%, a huge benefit for city budgets and for the environment. A typical intersection with bulb-based technology and around 55 traffic signals (red, yellow and green) can now avoid more than 6000 kilograms of harmful carbon emissions a year. This has been made possible by installing so-called ‘1-watt technology’. The first pilot projects are up and running in Bolzano, Italy and in Bietigheim-Bissingen near Stuttgart in southern Germany.

One-watt technology uses digital LED driver modules. This eliminates the need for load resistors and switching elements in the signal light units which until now have consumed most of the energy. Compared with the 60 watts sometimes consumed by incandescent bulbs, the electricity required by individual traffic light signals can be slashed to just one or two watts. State-of-the-art LEDs with extremely low power consumption still retain full light intensity. In addition to power costs, the 1-watt light units also reduce service costs. Optical monitors continuously check the state of the LEDs. It is conceivable that in the future it may be possible to predict when units will fail, thus enabling preventative maintenance of signal light units. Siemens is the first ever manufacturer worldwide to monitor not only voltage and current, but also the luminosity of the LED signal light units. With this multi-layered monitoring concept, the 1-watt traffic light achieves the highest level of safety in road traffic (SIL 3). Visit: www.siemens.com

Royal Navy uses pilotless aircraft to navigate through ice

Atiny pilotless aircraft, built by the University of Southampton, has launched from the Royal Navy’s ice patrol ship HMS Protector for the first time to assist with navigating through the Antarctic.

The 3D-printed aircraft, along with a quadcopter, scouted the way for the survey ship so she could find her way through the thick ice of frozen seas.

It’s the first time the Royal Navy has used unmanned aerial vehicles in this part of the world. The Service has been operating ScanEagle ‘eyes in sky’ from frigates in the Gulf for the past couple of years, which feed vital live imagery back to ships on maritime security patrols.

The craft launched from Protector are smaller and less hi-tech, but still provided the icebreaker with real-time high-quality information courtesy of a detailed picture of the surrounding environment from a perspective that is only available from the air.

Developed by experts at the University of Southampton University, the Laser-Sintered Aircraft – shortened to SULSA – is made of nylon, printed in four major parts and assembled without the use of any tools. It is the world’s first ‘printed’ airplane. Visit: www.southampton.ac.uk