Benefits of a Floating Solar Array

Benefits of a Floating Solar Array

• Manchester England will soon be the home of Europe’s largest floating solar array. 
• United Utilities, provider of water and sewer services for nearly seven million people in northwest England, is installing a solar farm on rafts that will float atop Manchester’s Godley reservoir. 

• The three megawatt photovoltaic array will generate one third of the electricity used by the water treatment facility - about 2.7 GWh per year. (That number assumes an average of 2.4 peak sun hours per day, which is pretty low but probably correct for northern England, with its 53^olatitude.) 
• Although United Utilities is privately owned, its prices are regulated by the UK, so customers will ultimately see lower rates as a result of this investment. 
• Economics aside, I’d like to focus on the technical benefits of solar panels floating on water. First and foremost, water is a great heat sink, and PV panels operate better when they’re kept cool.

• A typical PV panel has nominal current and voltage ratings. Output current is a function of the amount of light reaching the panel, and output voltage is primarily dependent on the load. Power is the product of current times voltage. 
• Nominal values are based on standard test conditions, typically a light intensity of 1000 w/m² and an operating temperature of 25^oC.

• Anyone who’s ever owned a swimming pool knows that algae love sunlight. Curtailing the growth of algae in open air reservoirs is often accomplished through the use of herbicides and algaecides, and nobody wants to drink those. 
• I’ll leave it to the biologists to run the calculations on how much this array will reduce algae growth, but with 75% of the surface covered, I think it’s safe to say that United Utilities will spend less money on chemical treatments for algae reduction.

Saving Lives with Robotic Intubation

Saving Lives with Robotic Intubation

• Patients in critical condition often require a procedure called intubation in order to keep their airways open during medical emergencies or surgeries.

• Intubation is a delicate procedure performed with a device called a laryngoscope.  Unfortunately, the laryngoscope and devices like it rely on human visual guidance.  This visual contact is difficult as airway anatomy is often hidden from view due to the presence of blood, vomit, swelling or injury.

• These challenges mean that a significant number of intubations result in failure. Taking this failure rate as a need to improved intubation methods, a team of engineers at Ohio State University designed a robotic intubation device.
• The robotic endoscopic device receives three-dimensional information about its anatomical location by means of a small speaker placed on the skin near the patient’s laryngeal prominence, more commonly known as the Adam’s apple. This speaker emits sounds and magnetic waves that are detected by accelerometers and magnetic fields, respectively.

• With machine vision and automatic controls being what they are today, it is not out of the question that a robotic device could more accurately perform intubations than a human,” said Bob Bailey, professor emeritus of mechanical engineering at OSU.

• The team developed the robotic device to be able to intubate patients with greater accuracy than a human.  The device also operates autonomously, which the team believes will enable first responders and military personnel to intubate safely and successfully while simultaneously performing other emergency medical procedures.

• Currently the device has completed proof-of-concept testing.  “Our next steps include refining computer software, optimizing the motor and embarking on human tests. That is going to take some money, but I think the potential benefit of this technology makes it a great investment,” said Bailey.

3D Printed Jet Engine Roars at 33,000 RPM

3D Printed Jet Engine Roars at 33,000 RPM

• Engineers have 3D printed jet engines before, but not until recently have they printed an engine that actually works. Having achieved 33,000 RPM, the engine is only 1 ft. long and 8 in. in diameter.

• It's not a commercial aircraft engine; engineers modified the much simpler design of an RC model plane engine with 3D printing in mind.

• The key behind the engine’s design was the teams focus on additive manufacturing techniques. With Direct Metal Laser Melting (DMLM), engineers used lasers to fuse thin layers of metal on top of each other to form the parts. The technique allowed for more complex and efficient parts with less material waste.

• Once each part was printed, the engine was assembled by hand and mounted inside a test cell usually used for full-scale engines.
• As the project was not intended for production, the team set out to experiment to see if it was possible to design an engine with only additive manufactured parts.
• There are really a lot of benefits to building things through additive," says Matt Benvie, spokesman for GE Aviation. "You get speed because there’s less need for tooling and you go right from a model or idea to making a part. You can also get geometries that just can’t be made any other way.