Product Inspiration

Up until the last few years, whenever I thought of bacteria, thoughts of sickness and rotting food came to mind. Now, I’m learning that bacteria are being harnessed to do all kinds of work for us- from generating electricity, to processing waste, to sensing chemicals. Here’s another notch in bacteria’s belt of achievements, as they’ve just been proven to clean water for drinking.

Basically, the bacteria are put into the unprocessed water, and consume any contaminants present. This takes a lot of the load off of the expensive and sensitive membranes that are used to purify the water further down the pipe.

With all of these cool abilities, bacteria are becoming less of a nuisance and more of a development platform to build new technologies on. Cool!

http://www.physorg.com/news122896811.html

Hydrophobic products like Rain-X “repel” water, usually by preventing the droplet’s surface tension from being ruptured. In the last year or two, there’s been a bunch of improvements to this science, ranging from nano-etching small bumps in glass (the gaps between the bumps are too small for water to fit), to super-hydrophobic coatings like this.

With something like this that repels water so effectively, there are opportunities to improve everything from outdoor equipment to precision lubricated surfaces. Best of all, this powder appears to be very cheap to manufacture, so perhaps we’ll see some new waterproof gadgets in the not-so-distant future.

http://www.tfot.info/news/1097/super-water-repellent.html

In contrast with the last entry, which was focused on a completely new method of sensing materials in a fluid, this new technology simply shrinks down a conventional method to a much smaller package. Initially, this seemed like an incremental improvement to the conventional GC-MS (gas chromatography and mass spectrometry) systems, until I read how much it really improved on the technology: The size was reduced from computer-size to matchbox-size, analysis time dropped from 15 minutes to 4 seconds, and energy consumption went from 10,000 joules to 4 joules!

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/micro-analyzer-0110.html

Technorati : MEMS, gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, nano, sensor

There’s been a few new sensors over the last few years which use a cantilever design to detect materials. In essence, the cantilever is like a diving board which is vibrating at certain a certain, known frequency. When something binds or gets attached to the end of the cantilever, the change in weight causes a change in the vibration of the cantilever. Best of all, the accuracy and resolution of this method is good enough to identify a molecule by its weight alone!

Technologies like this are a great example of what MEMS technology does for us. We simply take an effect well known on the macro scale, and shrink it down for improved performance, accuracy, and price. This new and upcoming class of sensors is extremely accurate, and through the use of specialized coatings and materials, are also selective in which chemicals they sense.

http://www.physorg.com/news109264658.html

Technorati : cantilever sensor

As you may know, oil and grease stick to just about anything, and can be quite a problem when you are doing your laundry. Well, the eggheads at MIT have developed a new “oleophobic” material which virtually repels oil. At a microscopic level, the material is a mat of fibers made of fluoroPOSS. The resulting effect is that oil droplets are cradled by the material, maintaining the low surface tension of the oil droplets and allowing them to roll off.

While the more novel applications like grease - free automotive attire may come to mind first, there are actually some other uses with much higher potential impact. For example, oil system seals and reservoirs could be improved to use less oil and prevent leaks with this material. Could there also be a use for this in the cleanup of oil spills?

http://www.designnews.com/article/CA6514279.html?nid=2878

Grabbing technology from one industry and applying it to another is a great ’shortcut’ to making a breakthrough product innovation (and something that we are very big on at PCDworks).

Here’s a perfect example: Power computer users have been using water cooling systems on their desktop PCs for years to keep the chips cool, allowing them to overclock the processor to run extra fast (and at higher temperatures). Some innovative soul realized that this fluid-based cooling design could be useful for regulating our own temperatures, and designed a mattress which uses tubes of fluid and a thermostat to change the temperature of the bed. If having a variable-temperature mattress isn’t good enough, there are two separate controls, so that any mates which share a bed can have different temperatures on their respective sides.

Can you think of any other good places to use fluid based temperature control?

http://gizmodo.com/336850/chilipad-regulates-bed-temperature-you-suppl y-the-hotness

While oil is the crucial material for both keeping cars running and lubricating the many moving parts, the molecular structure of the compound doesn’t always play nice with soft rubbers and plastics. Its potent chemical nature can break down and dissolve many different materials, making a need for frequent repairs and gasket replacements.

Unlike water, oil has a very low surface tension, which is why it spreads out so smoothly and evenly on flat surfaces (hence, why its a great lubricant). This new material repels oil by cradling droplets in a fabric of tiny fibers which have very low surface energy. The new material and related discoveries could lead to all kinds of applications from new gaskets to cleaner mechanic clothing by resisting oil’s tendency to grab and spread all over surfaces and fabrics.

http://www.physorg.com/news116172451.html

Technorati : fabric, oil repellant

Almost in time for the recent droughts that plagued the East coast, this system optimizes the watering of your lawn by using an integrated system of sprinklers and soil moisture sensors. As you can probably guess, the moisture sensors record how wet or dry the soil is, and the central controller uses this information to determine when and how much water to distribute to keep the grass green without wasting any water.

On one side, this seems a little trivial- many places have water in abundance, and most people aren’t lawn fanatics who care passionately about the health of their lawns. On the other side, global predictions for our planet show that fresh water will become an increasingly precious and scarce resource over the next few decades.

With this in mind, systems such as this one may become as widespread as catalytic converters on our cars, to the point that they could mandatory, and a lack of one produces the scorn of your neighbors and/or fines. On top of the regulatory issues, the increasing water prices will make these tools very cost effective in the long run, much like the smaller and more efficient hot water heaters that are going into so many new houses today.

http://www.gizmag.com/water-svaing-soil-moisture-monitoring/8459/

Technorati : smart home, sprinkler