TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF LIBEREC - Institute for nanomaterials, Advanced Technologies and Innovation

Science is a Mirror of the Future. CxI Labs Are Working on the Challenges Awaiting Us

Autonomous commercial vehicles, nuclear power plants at the end of their lifetime, use of augmented reality in automotive or construction, for most of us these are talk topics about the near future, for scientists from the Institute of Nanomaterials, Advanced Technologies and Innovations - CxI at the Technical University of Liberec these are already their daily bread. They find material, construction, and IT solutions for a world that is still waiting behind the closed door, but is knocking impatiently and emphatically.

The Institute for Nanomaterials, Advanced Technologies and Innovation is a research centre of the Technical University of Liberec, which focuses on material research and competitive engineering with 10 scientific workplaces, 190 employees including 25 from abroad, working mainly on applied research. The CxI Institute at the Technical University of Liberec has been operating for ten years and its turnover from contractual research is around EUR 2.6 million per year. The Institute has a number of unique devices whose use for research and cooperation is crucial. At present CxI cooperates with more than 200 companies from the Czech Republic and abroad, as long-term cooperation with the application sphere is one of the core priorities of the Institute. CxI scientists have developed for the application sphere for

example a unique high-efficiency filter made up of special nanofibrous membranes for wastewater treatment, flood and fire protection systems to increase population protection and much more. CxI also presents the latest trends in 3D printing, promising research results focused on the use of nanofibers in medical field, an ongoing work on autonomous driving, as well as the development of special robots and augmented reality.

n AUTONOMOUS UTILITY ELECTRIC VEHICLE At present, there is no doubt that in addition to the Internet of Things and Robotics, autonomous vehicles are the third most important innovation trend that will change the world of logistics in the coming years. The world sea of research, professional and business interest has so far focused mainly on applications in the area of transport of

persons and cargo on roads and in closed zones. The multidisciplinary university team led by associate professor Michal Petrů from the CxI went outside of well-mapped areas and focused on the development of autonomous “off-road” resp. autonomous utility electric vehicles. The vehicle on which a team of researchers from Liberec is working within the project “Modular platform for autonomous chassis of specialized electric vehicles for freight and equipment transportation“, reg. č. CZ.02.1.01 /0.0/0.0/16_025/0007293, funded by the Ministry of Education and European funds should perform logistical, transport and special operations in the off-road areas, on construction sites, on unpaved areas and in other demanding conditions. The development of such a vehicle bears several scientific and research challenges, which also determines the individual research intentions of the project. Experts deal with modular ar-

chitecture of chassis parts using lightweight constructions, drives and accumulators as well as research in the field of control systems of autonomous utility electric vehicles using Augmented Reality (AR) or Internet of Things for cooperation with other subjects. The project ends in 2022, at which time a functional prototype of a modular autonomous commercial electric vehicle should be developed in Liberec, which will contribute to higher productivity in freight transport, higher level of safety and, last but not least, lower environmental impact.

n SAMPLING ROBOT FOR PRIMARY CIRCUIT PIPELINES OF DECOMMISSIONED NUCLEAR FACILITIES A challenge for the not so distant future in many countries of the world will also be the dismantling of old nuclear power plants.

radioactivity before and after decontamination, which will precede the dismantling of decommissioned nuclear power plants not only in the Czech Republic, but anywhere in the world. A robot designed to move in the pipeline is equipped with two independent telescopic brush probes for sampling. “We have chosen a brush with diamond grains as the sampling probe. It has sufficient hardness and durability to be able to grind the inner surface of the steel pipe even with possible deposits. At the same time, there is no undesirable contamination of the sample with abrasives, because the diamond in its nature is a crystalline carbon. In addition, brushing produces fine dust samples that are ideal for analysis” says František Novotný, Head of the CxI Department of Mechatronic Systems, who is in charge of developing a unique robot. When the robot returns from a pipeline, a worker in protective clothing can easily

project Knowledge Base for Decommissioning of Nuclear Power Plants, which is co-financed by the European Union.

n AUGMENTED REALITY CxI is one of the few Czech scientific workplaces that work with Microsoft HoloLens glasses for AR. For one of the car design companies, CxI scientists are developing for example a prototype scene for the preparation of a clay model of the car. The HoloLens designer's field of vision displays a car of which voice and hand movements can change colour and components such as wheels, headlights, rear view mirrors, and so on. Special glasses not only provide a realistic look at the future visage, but also lead to a significant cost reduction in prototype preparation. In addition, this environment can easily be designed to function as a virtual showroom in which

The lifetime of pressurized water-cooled nuclear reactors is about 50 years. Although it can be prolonged at the expense of large investments, it is necessary to prepare for their shut down in advance. For example it is being talked of the Czech nuclear power plant Dukovany shutting down around 2035–2037. Scientists from the CxI in cooperation with ONS Řež, a. s. developed a robot that can take samples from the primary circuit of a nuclear reactor and deliver them for radioactivity analysis. The unique robotic equipment is thus designed to help detect

remove the brushes and replace them with new probes. Experts from the CxI and ÚJV Řež worked on its development within the

the end customer simply “projects” and selects the components of their car. All of this can be done in a classic virtual environment, but as Jan Kočí, the Head of Research from the CxI Laboratory of System Integration, points out: “the ability to change viewpoints and browse through visible 3D space gives the whole process dynamism and a great deal of flexibility.“ CXI in cooperation with CTU also investigates a construction, engineering project where AR should be applied in all phases of construction, beginning with the project and integration into BIM tools to the comparison of the projected state with the real one. AR is also planned to be used in the passportization of older buildings and digitization of their actual condition.