3D-Printed Lab on Wheels

Next-generation manufacturing takes on a 50-year-old icon as ORNL researchers transform the classic Shelby Cobra sports car into a 3D-printed laboratory on wheels. Additive manufacturing enables the seamless...

Product of the Month: May 2018

ACCES I/O Products, San Diego, CA, announced the USB-AIO family of 12- and 16-bit USB analog I/O modules. The USB-AIO16-16F 16-bit, multifunction analog input/output board is suited for precision...

All-in-One Lab Device Gets New Instruments via Software Update

Spinoff is NASA’s annual publication featuring successfully commercialized NASA technology. This commercialization has contributed to the development of products and services...

Freeform Channel Close-Out for High-Performance Heat Exchangers

Large-scale liquid rocket engines with regeneratively cooled nozzles will enable reliable and reduced-cost access to space. The coolant that circulates through the internal...

Advanced Data Acquisition Technology Improves Global Weather Predictions

Northrop Grumman Corporation
Azusa, CA
www.northropgrumman.com

Two critical instruments built by Northrop Grumman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric...

Large-Area Structural Damage Nondestructive Evaluation

When testing composite structures, it is important to understand the response of the structure to the load. Of significance is the formation of damage and growth of that damage leading...

Compact Science Experiment Module

Crew time on the International Space Station (ISS) is extremely limited for any operations on science payloads. Autonomous science experiments in small, self-contained, cubical payloads are highly desirable...

Correlation Spectrometer

Correlation spectroscopy is an attractive technique for sensing and analysis applications because it combines the attributes of mechanical and optical simplicity, high selectivity, and good sensitivity. In...

Products of Tomorrow: May 2018

This column presents technologies that have applications in commercial areas, possibly creating the products of tomorrow. To learn more about each technology, see the contact information provided for that...

A Fast, Non-Destructive Test for Two-Dimensional Materials

Thinning a material down to a single-atom thickness can dramatically change that material’s physical properties. Graphene, the best known two-dimensional (2D) material, has...

Method for Reducing Broadband Noise

Researchers at NASA’s Glenn and Langley Research Centers have developed a groundbreaking bio-mimicking acoustic liner for quieting noisy environments. Conventional approaches have not been able to absorb...

Novel 3D Printing Method Embeds Sensing Capabilities Within Robotic Actuators

Soft robots inspired by nature can crawl, swim, grasp delicate objects, and even assist a beating heart, but none of them has been able to sense and respond to the...

Flight Awareness Collaboration Tool (FACT)

Winter weather such as snow, freezing precipitation, and ice can impact airport surface operations. These conditions may result in significant disruptions in arrival and departure rates. To address...

5 Ws of Invisible Glass

Who

Users of consumer electronics devices and solar cells, and high-power pulsed laser applications.

New on the Market: May 2018

Assembly Pins

JW Winco, New Berlin, WI, offers GN 2342 RoHS-compliant stainless steel assembly pins with three washer types available that place the bolt in an axial position in its insertion direction. The...

Environmentally Friendly, Rechargeable Proton Battery

A working, rechargeable proton battery was developed that could store more energy than currently available lithium-ion batteries. Potential applications include household storage of...

Novel Turboelectric Aircraft Design

NASA Langley Research Center has developed a novel aircraft design that can carry 150+ passengers over a range of 3,500 nautical miles. Key features include a turboelectric propulsion system, twin...

The Less is More Approach to Robotic Cable Management

In recent years, cable management has come into the limelight because machine reliability has increased dramatically, even though robots have grown more complex. Unfortunately, the...

Understanding Smart Machines: How They Will Shape the Future

Powered by smart machines, the new industrial revolution is changing how machine builders design, and how manufacturers operate today and in the future. To remain competitive and...

Miniature Mass Spectrometer

For decades, mass spectrometers have offered a relatively fast and highly sensitive way to analyze and detect chemical compounds. But their bulky size has been a hindrance, limiting the in-field potential of the...

Q&A: Brookhaven's Dr. Yimei Zhu Observes How Lithium Moves Inside Batteries

Researchers at Brookhaven National Laboratory have observed how lithium moves inside individual nanoparticles that make up batteries. The finding could help...

Reliable Geo-Limitation System for Unmanned Aircraft

NASA Langley Research Center has developed a breakthrough technology called Safeguard that can alleviate hazards with unmanned aircraft (UA) flying beyond their authorized perimeters and...

Piezomagnetic Material Changes Magnetic Properties When Stretched

Piezoelectric materials, which generate an electric current when compressed or stretched, are familiar and widely used; for example, lighters that spark when a switch is...

Anti-UV Technology Using Synthetic Biology

This technology uses extracts produced from yeast transformed with a new anti-UV DNA construct to block ultraviolet (UV) radiation.

Grid Friendly™ Charger Controller

Electric vehicles are growing in popularity, and while they represent a cleaner alternative to fossil-fueled vehicles, their increased use may stress the grid if this growing load is left unmanaged. A need...

Analysis of Molecules in Liquids on a Chip

Much can be detected in blood or urine — viral illnesses, metabolic disorders, or autoimmune diseases can be diagnosed with laboratory tests, for instance. But such examinations often take a few...

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

This year, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) marks 75 years as a research institution. Located in Oak Ridge, TN, ORNL is the largest US Department of Energy science and energy laboratory, conducting basic and...

Technique Enables 3D Printing of Microstructures

Two-photon lithography (TPL), a high-resolution 3D printing technique, is capable of producing nanoscale features smaller than 1/100 the width of a human hair. The technique could enable X-ray...

Thermal Energy Storage and Monitoring

Water heaters and other thermal energy storage devices increase the temperature of a medium above an ambient or normal temperature, and store the warmer medium. Water heaters, in particular, must store...

3D Printing of Shape-Shifting Smart Gel

A “4D printing” method was developed for a smart gel that could lead to the development of living structures in human organs and tissues, soft robots, and targeted drug delivery.

Nonaqueous Redox Flow Battery

Researchers have created a material that consists of carefully structured molecules designed to be particularly electrochemically stable in order to prevent the battery from losing energy to unwanted reactions....

Essential Principles for Designing and Specifying Laser Optics

Laser engineers are leveraging new materials, unusual gain mechanisms, and innovative cavity designs to push laser performance into new regimes. Pulse lengths are getting...

Using Digital Microscopes as Inspection Tools

Digital microscopes are being automated and computerized to make them easier to use, display more data with more detail and precision, and expand their areas of application. With traditional...

Novel Laser Power Sensor Technology for Process Control

The need to measure laser output characteristics, including average power, pulse energy, and pulse shape, is a common requirement across many industrial and research applications....

High-Speed Multi-Sensor Imaging

Machine vision plays a key role in the automation of production processes. Since the advent of vision in industrial manufacturing, there have been many advances in camera and image sensor technology. Right...

Direct AC LED Engines

As the lighting industry continues to mature, vendors continue to pursue inexpensive lighting solutions that offer universal compatibility and are easy to install. For OEMs and manufacturers, LEDs have proven to be a...

New Products: May 2018 Photonics & Imaging Technology

Portable Laser Scanner

Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence (North Kingstown, RI) has announced the Leica Absolute Scanner LAS-XL, a new ultralarge scale portable laser scanner. Designed...

3D Imaging in Space

NASA is digging ever more deeply into understanding the makeup of the surfaces of Mars and our Moon. A lot can be learned by sending instruments to land on these places, but vastly more can be discovered by...

Will 3D Printing Get Past the Plastic?

If you think there’s too much hype surrounding 3D printing, perhaps that’s because you’re only thinking about plastic parts.

Answering Your Questions: Will Reducing Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) Lead to Increased Particulate?

Does less nitrogen oxide mean more particulate emissions? A reader asks our expert.

First Hybrid Nanotech Device Mimicking Blood-Brain Barrier

Researchers at IIT-Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia fabricated an artificial device reproducing a 1:1 scale model of the blood-brain barrier, the anatomical and functional structure...

Ultra-Thin Optical Fibers Offer New Way to 3-D Print Microstructures

For the first time, researchers have shown that an optical fiber as thin as a human hair can be used to create microscopic structures with laser-based 3D printing. The...

Photoreversible Molecular Switch Changes Thermoresponsive Polymer

Researchers have developed a novel strategy to control the shapes of polymeric materials by utilizing photoresponsive molecular switches. This could aid the development of an...

Shape-Memory Aerogels Created With Rubber-Like Elasticity

Polymeric aerogels are nanoporous structures that combine some of the most desirable characteristics of materials, such as flexibility and mechanical strength. It is nearly impossible...

Tracking X-Ray Laser Pulses at Record Speeds

To catch chemistry in action, scientists at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory use the shortest possible flashes of X-ray light to create “molecular movies”...

Depth-Sensing Imaging System Can Peer Through Fog

MIT researchers have developed a system that can produce images of objects shrouded by fog so thick that human vision can’t penetrate it. It can also gauge the objects’ distance.

Scientists Create First X-Ray Holographic Images of Viruses

Holography, like photography, is a way to record the world around us. Both use light to make recordings, but instead of two-dimensional photos, holograms reproduce...

New Products: June 2018 Photonics & Imaging Insider

Thermal Imager

Sierra-Olympic Technologies (Hood River, OR) introduced the Tenum™640, a thermal imager with a 640 x 512 array and 10-micron pixel pitch. The new camera, from the...

A New Approach to Solar-Powered Water Purification: Stay Cool

Researchers at the University of Buffalo have found a counter-intuitive way of improving the water-purification process: keeping things cool.

No Map Needed: ‘MapLite’ Sends Self-Driving Cars Off the Beaten Path

A “MapLite” framework from MIT allows self-driving cars to navigate roads – with just GPS and sensors as a guide.

Here's an Idea: Listen to the Story of Humanoid Robots

Some conditions are too dangerous, or just too mundane, for people.

When the Battery Runs Out, the ‘BATLESS’ Microchip Keeps Going

A new microchip allows sensor nodes to run uninterruptedly, even when the battery runs out.

‘Invisibility’ Material Offers Thermal Camouflage

A stretchy material, modeled after squid skin, achieves thermal invisibility by reflecting heat.

‘FingerPing’ Recognizes Micro Motions, Soundly

A new system from the Georgia Institute of Technology has a sound approach to recognizing tiny gestures of the hand.

Software Uses Gaming Technology for Complex Simulations

A PhD student at The University of Manchester has developed a new method and software for using computer game technology to create large-scale simulations of violent fluid flows,...

Contact Lens Could Prevent Blindness

Diabetic retinopathy destroys cells of the retina, leading to blindness. Existing treatments are painful and invasive, involving lasers and injections into the eyeball. A Caltech graduate student...

Depth-Sensing Imaging System Can Peer Through Fog

An inability to handle misty driving conditions has been one of the chief obstacles to the development of autonomous vehicular navigation systems that use visible light. These systems are...

A 'Solid' Idea for Powering Spacecraft: Thermoacoustics

Researchers from Purdue University demonstrated that thermoacoustics properties could theoretically occur in solids as well as liquids.

Wanted: Uses for a Beetle-Inspired 'Spider-Man' Adhesive

Professor Paul Steen helped to create a beetle-inspired adhesive. Now it's about finding applications for it.

Memristor Adds Cybersecurity Layer to IoT Devices

The Internet of Things makes our lives more streamlined and convenient, but the cybersecurity risk posed by millions of wirelessly connected devices remains a huge concern. UC Santa...

“On a Roll” to Smaller Transformers

The future of electronic devices lies partly within the “internet of things” – the network of devices, vehicles and appliances embedded within electronics to enable connectivity and data...

Answering Your Questions: Beyond Prototyping, How is 3D Metal Printing Being Used in the Automotive Industry?

Can metal 3D printing help automakers with more than just prototyping? It can, and it has, says our engineering expert.

Product of the Month: June 2018

Teledyne LeCroy, Chestnut Ridge, NY, introduced WaveSurfer 3000z oscilloscopes that feature a 10.1” capacitive touchscreen, a set of debug and analysis tools, multi-instrument capabilities,...

A ‘Symmetrical’ Approach Improves Wireless Microsensors

A researcher tells Tech Briefs how his team's "symmetrical" sensor approach will support the growing "Internet of Things."

3D-Printed Smart Gel Grabs, Moves Objects

A 3D-printed smart gel that grabs objects and moves them could lead to soft robots that mimic sea animals like the octopus, which can walk underwater and bump into things without damaging them....

Answering Your Questions: Why Are Companies Holding Back on 'Digital' Product Development?

If digital transformation is a boardroom priority, why are companies so slow to transform product development? A reader asks our experts.