Manufacturing Update

New tool for analyzing solar-cell materials

Thursday, February 09, 2012 00:00 MST

An online tool called "Impurities to Efficiency" (known as I2E) allows companies or researchers exploring alternative manufacturing strategies to plug in descriptions of their planned materials and processing steps. After about one minute of simulation, I2E gives an indication of exactly how efficient the resulting solar cell would be in converting sunlight to electricity.

Increased clumsiness in former welders

Tuesday, February 07, 2012 00:00 MST

Welders who are exposed to manganese from welding fumes, risk developing increased clumsiness ? and the result may remain decades after exposure has ceased. This is the finding of a study at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, of former shipyard workers.

Smart paint could revolutionize structural safety

Wednesday, February 01, 2012 00:00 MST

An innovative low-cost smart paint that can detect microscopic faults in wind turbines, mines and bridges before structural damage occurs is being developed by researchers at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland.

Workplace safety program can reduce injuries if aggressively enforced, study finds

Monday, January 30, 2012 00:00 MST

A longstanding California occupational safety program requiring all businesses to eliminate workplace hazards can help prevent injuries to workers, but only if it is adequately enforced, according to a new study by the RAND Corporation. The California program is one possible model for federal OSHA's current rule-making effort to develop a safety and health program rule.

World's most powerful X-ray laser creates 2-million-degree matter

Thursday, January 26, 2012 00:00 MST

Researchers working at the US Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have used the world's most powerful X-ray laser to create and probe a 2-million-degree piece of matter in a controlled way for the first time. This feat takes scientists a significant step forward in understanding the most extreme matter found in the hearts of stars and giant planets, and could help experiments aimed at recreating the nuclear fusion process that powers the sun.

Syracuse University research expected to help utility companies predict service life of pipelines

Wednesday, January 25, 2012 00:00 MST

Regression models presented in the American Society of Civil Engineers' Journal of Infrastructure Systems by researchers at Syracuse University are expected to help utility companies predict the service life of wastewater pipeline infrastructure and take a proactive approach to pipeline replacements and maintenance.

One-third of car fuel consumption is due to friction loss

Tuesday, January 17, 2012 00:00 MST

No less than one-third of a car's fuel consumption is spent in overcoming friction, and this friction loss has a direct impact on both fuel consumption and emissions. However, new technology can reduce friction by anything from 10 to 80 percent in various components of a car, according to a joint study by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and Argonne National Laboratory in the US.

Grant aims to develop new ways to calculate odds of structural failure

Friday, January 13, 2012 00:00 MST

Christopher Eamon, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, recently received a three-year, $250,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop an accurate and efficient method for calculating failure probability for computationally and probabilistically complex structural engineering problems, with the goal of achieving greater levels of consistency within a structure.

Stretching exercises: Using digital images to understand bridge failures

Thursday, January 12, 2012 00:00 MST

With a random-looking spatter of paint specks, a pair of cameras, and a whole lot of computer processing, NIST engineer Mark Iadicola has been helping assure the safety of hundreds of truss bridges across the United States. Iadicola has been testing the use of a thoroughly modern version of an old technique, "photogrammetry," to watch the failure of a key bridge component in exquisite detail.

Film coatings made from whey

Wednesday, January 11, 2012 00:00 MST

Convenience foods are growing in popularity, and the food they contain is usually protected by films based on petrochemicals. Now researchers have not only developed a biomaterial from whey protein, they have also come up with a commercially viable method of producing multifunctional films on an industrial scale.

Platform safety on the radar for researchers

Tuesday, January 10, 2012 00:00 MST

Systems used to detect aircraft and ships could soon be fitted in train stations to quickly identify objects ? or even people ? that have fallen on the tracks, preventing serious accidents and reducing delays that are frequently caused by these mishaps.

Time recording up one's sleeve

Friday, January 06, 2012 00:00 MST

Optimized operations are essential to globally competitive companies. Until now, inspectors have timed procedures, usually manually, in order to organize manual assembly operations efficiently - a method prone to error. A new system records times automatically and cuts costs for companies.

How to break Murphy's Law

Wednesday, December 28, 2011 00:00 MST

Murphy's Law is a useful scapegoat for human error: "If something can go wrong, it will." But, a new study by researchers in Canada hopes to put paid to this unscientific excuse for errors by showing that the introduction of verification and checking procedures can improve structural safety and performance and so prevent the application of the "law".

Better turbine simulation software to yield better engines

Tuesday, December 27, 2011 00:00 MST

Jen-Ping Chen, Ph.D., associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the Ohio State University, is leveraging powerful Ohio Supercomputer Center systems to improve the computational fluid dynamics software that engineers use to simulate and evaluate the operation of turbomachinery -- pumps, fans, compressors, turbines and other machines that transfer energy between a rotor and a fluid. Chen was the original chief architect of that computer code, appropriately named TURBO, which he developed earlier for NASA.

Research could improve laser-manufacturing technique

Friday, December 23, 2011 00:00 MST

Engineers have discovered details about the behavior of ultrafast laser pulses that may lead to new applications in manufacturing, diagnostics and other research.