Author Archives: steve bush

Na-ion cathode is robust

eldfellite cathode for Na-ion cellSodium-ion batteries could have taken another step to practicality as “safe and sustainable” cathode material is invented at the University of Texas at Austin.

The material is the the non-toxic and inexpensive mineral eldfellite (NaFe(SO4)2).

“At the core of this discovery is a basic structure for the material that we hope will encourage researchers to come up with better materials for the further development of sodium-ion batteries,” said Preetam Singh, a postdoctoral fellow and researcher in Goodenough’s lab.

Sodium-ion batteries work just like lithium-ion batteries, but the materials are much cheaper. During the discharge, sodium ions travel from the anode to the cathode, while electrons pass to the cathode through an external circuit.

However, they have problems related to performance, weight and instability of materials.

The University’s cathode material addresses instability – its structure has fixed sodium and iron layers that allow sodium to be inserted and removed without damaging structural integrity.

Charge/gramme is two-thirds of that of a lithium-ion battery.

“We believe our cathode material provides a good baseline structure for the development of new materials that could eventually make the sodium-ion battery a commercial reality,” said Singh.

The wok is reported in the journal Energy & Environmental Science in a paper: ‘Eldfellite, NaFe(SO4)2: an intercalation cathode host for low-cost Na-ion batteries’.

UK start-up Faradion is attempting to exploit Na-ion cells.

steve bush

Finished Bloodhound SSC revealed

Bloodhound covers offThe official unveiling of Bloodhound SSC is today at Canary Wharf in London.

Some of the carbon fibre panels will be removed to reveal its inner workings, including the Rolls-Royce EJ200 jet engine and Jaguar V8 engine oxidiser pump for the Nammo rocket cluster.

The car is the product of eight years of research, design and manufacturing, involving over 350 companies and universities.

In the cockpit, the there is a digital dashboard, designed by the driver, as well as manual back-ups for major controls. Custom-made Rolex instruments provide another layer of redundancy for the digital read-outs.

500 sensors monitor the car’s progress. “Bloodhound SSC has not been designed simply to reach 1000mph; it must do so safely,” said the team. As such, there are also three separate braking systems and seven fire extinguishers. 12 video cameras monitor progress.

A track for the record attempt is being prepared on the Hakskeen Pan, Northern Cape, South Africa – a flat space 19x3km is needed, and 317 locals have shifted 15,800 tonnes of stones by hand from 22 million square metres of desert.

However, first tests will be next Easter on a runway in Newquay, where the car is expected to reach 200mph. 800mph is planned during the first set of South African tests, followed by a data review in the UK, then a return to South Africa in 2017 for 1,000mph attempts.

The project includes the promotion of STEM (science, technology engineering and maths) subjects at school. For example, in the Bloodhound Model Rocket Car Challenge, students design build and operate 300mm long rocket powered cars. From 88mph speeds have risen through 210mph to 553mph – the latter by Joseph Whitaker Young Engineers.

6000 UK primary and secondary schools signed up for free Bloodhound education resources and there are 150 STEM school events per year, intended to reach over 100,000 students. The plan is to deliver lessons to 2.5million school children by 2018.

“65% of students engaged by Bloodhound would now consider engineering or science vocation”, said the Bloodhound organisation, following a survey of 1,804 students.

Bloodhound SSC

  • 13.5m long
  • Rolls-Royce EJ200 Typhoon Eurofighter engine
  • Three Nammo hybrid rocket motors
  • 550 bhp oxidiser pump
  • ~135,000 thrust hp in total
  • 0-1,000mph in 55s
  • 1,000-0mph in 65s
  •  One mile in 3.6s at max
  • Wheels spin at 10,200rpm (170 rev/s, generating 50,000G radial force)
  • Forces of -3G are experienced during braking

steve bush

Finished Bloodhound SSC revealed

Bloodhound covers offThe official unveiling of Bloodhound SSC is today at Canary Wharf in London.

Some of the carbon fibre panels will be removed to reveal its inner workings, including the Rolls-Royce EJ200 jet engine and Jaguar V8 engine oxidiser pump for the Nammo rocket cluster.

The car is the product of eight years of research, design and manufacturing, involving over 350 companies and universities.

In the cockpit, the there is a digital dashboard, designed by the driver, as well as manual back-ups for major controls. Custom-made Rolex instruments provide another layer of redundancy for the digital read-outs.

500 sensors monitor the car’s progress. “Bloodhound SSC has not been designed simply to reach 1000mph; it must do so safely,” said the team. As such, there are also three separate braking systems and seven fire extinguishers. 12 video cameras monitor progress.

A track for the record attempt is being prepared on the Hakskeen Pan, Northern Cape, South Africa – a flat space 19x3km is needed, and 317 locals have shifted 15,800 tonnes of stones by hand from 22 million square metres of desert.

However, first tests will be next Easter on a runway in Newquay, where the car is expected to reach 200mph. 800mph is planned during the first set of South African tests, followed by a data review in the UK, then a return to South Africa in 2017 for 1,000mph attempts.

The project includes the promotion of STEM (science, technology engineering and maths) subjects at school. For example, in the Bloodhound Model Rocket Car Challenge, students design build and operate 300mm long rocket powered cars. From 88mph speeds have risen through 210mph to 553mph – the latter by Joseph Whitaker Young Engineers.

6000 UK primary and secondary schools signed up for free Bloodhound education resources and there are 150 STEM school events per year, intended to reach over 100,000 students. The plan is to deliver lessons to 2.5million school children by 2018.

“65% of students engaged by Bloodhound would now consider engineering or science vocation”, said the Bloodhound organisation, following a survey of 1,804 students.

Bloodhound SSC

  • 13.5m long
  • Rolls-Royce EJ200 Typhoon Eurofighter engine
  • Three Nammo hybrid rocket motors
  • 550 bhp oxidiser pump
  • ~135,000 thrust hp in total
  • 0-1,000mph in 55s
  • 1,000-0mph in 65s
  •  One mile in 3.6s at max
  • Wheels spin at 10,200rpm (170 rev/s, generating 50,000G radial force)
  • Forces of -3G are experienced during braking

steve bush

Finished Bloodhound SSC revealed

Bloodhound covers offThe official unveiling of Bloodhound SSC is today at Canary Wharf in London.

Some of the carbon fibre panels will be removed to reveal its inner workings, including the Rolls-Royce EJ200 jet engine and Jaguar V8 engine oxidiser pump for the Nammo rocket cluster.

The car is the product of eight years of research, design and manufacturing, involving over 350 companies and universities.

In the cockpit, the there is a digital dashboard, designed by the driver, as well as manual back-ups for major controls. Custom-made Rolex instruments provide another layer of redundancy for the digital read-outs.

500 sensors monitor the car’s progress. “Bloodhound SSC has not been designed simply to reach 1000mph; it must do so safely,” said the team. As such, there are also three separate braking systems and seven fire extinguishers. 12 video cameras monitor progress.

A track for the record attempt is being prepared on the Hakskeen Pan, Northern Cape, South Africa – a flat space 19x3km is needed, and 317 locals have shifted 15,800 tonnes of stones by hand from 22 million square metres of desert.

However, first tests will be next Easter on a runway in Newquay, where the car is expected to reach 200mph. 800mph is planned during the first set of South African tests, followed by a data review in the UK, then a return to South Africa in 2017 for 1,000mph attempts.

The project includes the promotion of STEM (science, technology engineering and maths) subjects at school. For example, in the Bloodhound Model Rocket Car Challenge, students design build and operate 300mm long rocket powered cars. From 88mph speeds have risen through 210mph to 553mph – the latter by Joseph Whitaker Young Engineers.

6000 UK primary and secondary schools signed up for free Bloodhound education resources and there are 150 STEM school events per year, intended to reach over 100,000 students. The plan is to deliver lessons to 2.5million school children by 2018.

“65% of students engaged by Bloodhound would now consider engineering or science vocation”, said the Bloodhound organisation, following a survey of 1,804 students.

Bloodhound SSC

  • 13.5m long
  • Rolls-Royce EJ200 Typhoon Eurofighter engine
  • Three Nammo hybrid rocket motors
  • 550 bhp oxidiser pump
  • ~135,000 thrust hp in total
  • 0-1,000mph in 55s
  • 1,000-0mph in 65s
  •  One mile in 3.6s at max
  • Wheels spin at 10,200rpm (170 rev/s, generating 50,000G radial force)
  • Forces of -3G are experienced during braking

steve bush

Osram reveals best headlamp LED yet

Osram Oslon Black Flat prototype headlamp LED

Osram Oslon Black Flat prototype headlamp LED

Osram Opto Semiconductors is unveiling a 2,000 lm prototype headlamp LED at next week’s ISAL 2015 automotive lighting symposium.

Called Oslon Black Flat S, the five-die surface-mount device has better chips and improved thermal management compared with its predecessor.

The linear arrangement, lens-less construction and anti-reflection package eases demands on associated optics when forming mandatory flat-topped glare-free beams, and 2,000 lm output means is can replace more than halogen incandescent bulbs.

“A single LED is sufficient as the light source for combined low-beam and high-beam systems, and the excellent thermal connection allows for passive cooling,” said the firm. “The Oslon Black Flat S is consequently a viable alternative to HID [high intensity discharge] lamps.

Larger contact pads are partly responsible for better cooling – at 3.75×7.9mm it is slightly larger than its predecessor.

When dissipating 12W (at 1A drive, 25°C ambient) the chip is at 69°C – the earlier LED ran at 83°C.

Operated at 2A (31W in, Vf=15.5V) optical output is 6.5W.

Osram Oslon Black Flat thermal “The five chips can also be driven individually”, said Osram engineer Stefan Grötsch. “The future LED version will therefore be ideal for adaptive front lighting systems.”

Production devices will be added to the Osram automotive portfolio at the end of 2016.

steve bush

Osram reveals best headlamp LED yet

Osram Oslon Black Flat prototype headlamp LED

Osram Oslon Black Flat prototype headlamp LED

Osram Opto Semiconductors is unveiling a 2,000 lm prototype headlamp LED at next week’s ISAL 2015 automotive lighting symposium.

Called Oslon Black Flat S, the five-die surface-mount device has better chips and improved thermal management compared with its predecessor.

The linear arrangement, lens-less construction and anti-reflection package eases demands on associated optics when forming mandatory flat-topped glare-free beams, and 2,000 lm output means is can replace more than halogen incandescent bulbs.

“A single LED is sufficient as the light source for combined low-beam and high-beam systems, and the excellent thermal connection allows for passive cooling,” said the firm. “The Oslon Black Flat S is consequently a viable alternative to HID [high intensity discharge] lamps.

Larger contact pads are partly responsible for better cooling – at 3.75×7.9mm it is slightly larger than its predecessor.

When dissipating 12W (at 1A drive, 25°C ambient) the chip is at 69°C – the earlier LED ran at 83°C.

Operated at 2A (31W in, Vf=15.5V) optical output is 6.5W.

Osram Oslon Black Flat thermal “The five chips can also be driven individually”, said Osram engineer Stefan Grötsch. “The future LED version will therefore be ideal for adaptive front lighting systems.”

Production devices will be added to the Osram automotive portfolio at the end of 2016.

steve bush

Narrow beam optics are micromachined at Plessey

Plessey is claiming narrow light emission angles direct from lighting LEDs using what it is calling ‘chip-scale optics’.

Narrow beam optics are micromachined at Plessey

Narrow beam optics are micromachined at Plessey

According to the company, schemes to collimate monochromatic light at the LED level have been developed before but no-one has previously collimated white light at the LED level.

“The technology was originally designed as an on-chip phosphor dam,” said Plessey’s CTO Dr Keith Strickland.

“We realised that the original growth silicon, normally sacrificed during LED production, could be shaped and used to form mechanically robust MEMS-type features on the emitting surface of a vertical LED,” said Strickland.

The degree of collimation is controlled in part by the mechanical dimensions of these on chip structures. Beams as narrow as +/-5° can be created.

Light shutters waste optical power, which according to Plessey optical designer Dr Samir Mezouari is not necessarily an issue.

Mezouari writes:

“High-end lighting designers do not count lumens per Watt as the primary figure of merit for LEDs. A lighting designer aims to illuminate a particular surface area.  Chip-scale optics can simplify luminaire designs by forming symmetrically collimated beams with narrow angles or asymmetric beams to form elongated far field light profiles.”

Initial intended applications are: retail spot lighting, hospitality lighting, high bays, low bays, street lighting and stadium lighting.

Plessey will be exhibiting the technology at LuxLive in November. Samples are scheduled for Q1 2016.

Earlier this year, Sheffield-based Litecool announced an in-package narrow beam LED technology which recycles blocked light leading to only 10% light loss, said Litecool.

steve bush

USB scope works with Apple, Android, Windows and Linux

USB scope works with Apple, Android, Windows and Linux

USB scope works with Apple, Android, Windows and Linux

Antwerp-based LabNation has launched a USB scope that works with Apple, Android, Windows and Linux products.

Called SmartScope, it is the result of a 2014 Kickstarter campaign.

In more detail, host software is available for smartphones, tablets and PCs running Android (from Google Play Store or LabNation site), Mac OS X, iOS (has to be jail-broken), Windows 7, 8, 10, Ubuntu Linux and Debian Linux.

Functions include: oscilloscope, logic analyser and waveform generator in a 110 x 64 x 24mm aluminium case weighing 158g.

There are two analogue channels with -3dB bandwidth of 30MHz, ±35V range and 1MΩ/1pF impedance. Sampling is 8bit at up to 100MHz.

Voltage scaling, timebase scaling, panning, input coupling are controlled by touch, mouse or keyboard control, as are simple voltage measurements.

The logic analyser has eight 3.3 or 5V input channels. Protocol decoders include I2C, SPI and custom options.

LabNation SmartScope boardArbitrary waveform generation is single channel at up to 50Msample/s and 0-3.3V level.

Digital output generation is four channels at up to 100Msample/s at 3.3 or 5V.

“The SmartScope suits a variety of electronics engineering, field service, education and hobbyist applications. It is ideal for the makers using small board computers such as Raspberry Pi and Arduino so they can diagnose faults and learn more about electronics and how their design is functioning,” said the firm.

Also in the box is a USB cable, two analogue probes and digital probes.

UK USB scope maker Pico Technology also supports multiple operating systems on PCs with its PicoScope software: Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

 

steve bush

Internet bottleneck within eight years?

Internet bottleneck within eight years?

Internet bottleneck within eight years?

The internet could be on the brink of a capacity crunch, according to Professor Andrew Ellis of Aston University.

“Demand for internet capacity keeps soaring, and we’re now reaching the point where it’s increasingly difficult to stay ahead of that demand using current approaches. It’s incredible we’ve managed to stay ahead this long, but now researchers are finding they just cannot fit much more data down traditional fibre optic lines,” he said.

He offers two options for an Internet bottleneck: deploy more fibres and increase costs, or make radical changes to the way data is used or distributed. “We should start having the conversation now: are consumers willing to accept higher charges for increased bandwidth or can we be more considered about the capacity we consume? Will we lay additional cables, or will we look to the likes of Netflix to help us manage demand?” asks Ellis.

The subject will be discussed at Lightfest, to be held on Friday 25th September at the Library of Birmingham. Hosted by Aston University, the Library of Birmingham and the Flatpack Film Festival, Lightfest is funded by the European Commission as part of European Researchers’ Night.

steve bush

Internet bottleneck within eight years?

LightfestThe internet could be on the brink of a capacity crunch, according to Professor Andrew Ellis of Aston University.

“Demand for internet capacity keeps soaring, and we’re now reaching the point where it’s increasingly difficult to stay ahead of that demand using current approaches. It’s incredible we’ve managed to stay ahead this long, but now researchers are finding they just cannot fit much more data down traditional fibre optic lines,” he said.

He offers two options: deploy more fibres and increase costs, or make radical changes to the way data is used or distributed. “We should start having the conversation now: are consumers willing to accept higher charges for increased bandwidth or can we be more considered about the capacity we consume? Will we lay additional cables, or will we look to the likes of Netflix to help us manage demand?” asks Ellis.

The subject will be discussed at Lightfest, to be held on Friday 25th September at the Library of Birmingham. Hosted by Aston University, the Library of Birmingham and the Flatpack Film Festival, Lightfest is funded by the European Commission as part of European Researchers’ Night.

steve bush