Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Variable-Pitch Turbine Blades

Gas turbine blades of conventional rotorcraft turboshaft engines are optimized to operate at nearly a fixed speed and a fixed incidence angle. If the operating condition of the engine changes, then the flow...

Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

System Makes Opaque Materials Totally Transparent

Most naturally occurring materials have a disordered atomic structure that interferes with the propagation of both sound and electromagnetic waves. When the waves come into contact with these...

Briefs: Power

Submarine Swims Without an Engine

Researchers have developed a new propulsion concept for swimming robots that exploits temperature fluctuations in the water for propulsion without the need for an engine, propellant, or power supply.

Briefs: Energy

Battery Provides Electric Vehicles with Immunity from Climate Conditions

Conventional lithium-ion batteries cannot be rapidly charged at temperatures below 50 °F. Electric vehicles are popular on the West Coast because the weather is...

Briefs: Energy

Thermochromic Windows Convert Sunlight into Electricity

Relying on advanced materials such as perovskites and single-walled carbon nano-tubes, a window technology was developed that responds to heat by transforming from transparent to...

Technology Leaders: Test & Measurement

Five Industry Trends Disrupting the Design and Manufacturing World

The engineering and manufacturing world is rapidly changing — are you changing with it? The claim of “reinventing” the fundamental tools of an industry is a bold one,...

Articles: Software

Simulation for Everyone

With the computational power and software available today, numerical simulation is a real option to quickly get answers to complicated technical, scientific, and engineering questions. Not only has the hardware...

Products: Test & Measurement

Product of the Month: December 2018

Yokogawa Corporation of America, Newnan, GA, released the WT5000 power analyzer that achieves accuracy of ±0.03% at 50/60 Hz, allowing precision evaluation of power consumption, loss, and...

Blog: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Answering Your Questions: How Long Should a Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) Take?

An FMEA provides a step-by-step way of identifying product failures. Carl Carlson explains just how long the process takes.

INSIDER: Power

Plane Flies with No Moving Parts

Since the first airplane took flight, virtually every aircraft has flown with the help of moving parts such as propellers, turbine blades, or fans that produce a persistent, whining buzz. MIT has built...

Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control

After a Successful Landing, What’s Next for the InSight Mission?

InSight project manager Tom Hoffman spoke with Tech Briefs about the importance of digging deep in our knowledge of Mars.

Podcasts: Green Design & Manufacturing

Here's an Idea: Garbage!

In this episode of Here’s an Idea™, we talk with researchers who are finding small — and sometimes even fun — ways to take out all the trash.

Blog: Energy

New Metal-Air Battery Design Offers a Potential Boost to Electric Vehicles

Professor Hart spoke with Tech Briefs about why his team's new battery may someday find its way beyond niche applications and into electric vehicles.

Blog: Software

Answering Your Questions: How Good are Automotive Sensor Simulation Models?

A reader asks our industry experts: "How good are the simulation models for automotive ADAS sensors?"

Blog: Green Design & Manufacturing

Researchers Convert Plastic Bottles into Aerogels that Insulate and Absorb

Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) are trying to solve the problem of plastic waste by converting it into something useful: Aerogels.

INSIDER: Internet of Things

Light it up: Purdue NSF-funded Technology Flips the Switch on the Future for Sustainable Smart Homes and $1.3 Trillion Market

IoT devices need a wireless means of communications to be truly seamless so they can be easily integrated in...

INSIDER: Internet of Things

A Step Toward Personalized, Automated Smart Homes

Developing automated systems that track occupants and self-adapt to their preferences is a major next step for the future of smart homes. When you walk into a room, for instance, a system...

INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Enabling “Internet of Photonic Things” with Miniature Sensors

A team of researchers at Washington University in St. Louis was the first to successfully record environmental data using a wireless photonic sensor resonator with a...

INSIDER: Medical

Laser-Activated Silk Sealants Outperform Sutures for Tissue Repair

Tissue repair following injury or during surgery is conventionally performed with sutures and staples, which can cause tissue damage and complications, including...

INSIDER: Photonics/Optics

Invention Opens Door to Safer, Less Expensive X-Ray Imaging

New lead halide perovskite nanocrystals developed by researchers from NUS Chemistry could soon mean cheaper X-rays and computerized tomography (CT) scans involving lower levels...

INSIDER: Energy

Solar Cell Does Double Duty for Renewable Energy

In the quest for abundant, renewable alternatives to fossil fuels, scientists have sought to harvest the sun’s energy through “water splitting,” an artificial photosynthesis...

INSIDER: Photonics/Optics

New Products: November 2018 Photonics & Imaging Insider

Telecentric Lenses

Edmund Optics (EO) (Barrington, NJ) has introduced TECHSPEC® MercuryTL™ Liquid Lens Telecentric Lenses. These integrated lenses utilize the unique...

Blog: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Modular Robots Change Shape – Depending on the Task

Professor Hadas Kress-Gazit tells Tech Briefs about the "great promise" of autonomous modular robots.