Process Engineering

A species of beetle, that squirts its predators with a high-pressure spray of boiling liquid, could provide the key to significant improvements in aircraft engine design.

The bombardier beetle’s unique natural combustion technique is being studied to see if it can be copied for use in the aircraft industry.

Scientists studying the bombardier beetle’s jet-based defence mechanism hope it will help to solve a problem that can occasionally occur at high altitude – re-igniting a gas t

Researchers at the University of Michigan College of Engineering have developed an elegantly simple technique that dramatically reduces the interference microwave ovens create in telephones and wireless computer networks.

Worldwide, there are hundreds of millions of microwave ovens in kitchens, offices and laboratories, each with a magnetron that creates communications problems ranging from an aggravating crackle during a friendly telephone call, to the disruption of 911 calls and the flow

The Thermal Engineering group of researchers at the Public University of Navarre is working on the design of a domestic thermoelectric refrigerator. Unlike the conventional system of producing a cold environment – by vapour compression – the thermoelectricity used in the design of this refrigerator allows the manufacture of more compact and quieter units which respect the environment more.

This first prototype of the thermoelectric domestic refrigerator, commissioned by the multinational BSH

Two new technologies for removing heat from electronic devices could help future generations of laptops, PDAs, mobile phones, telecom switches and high-powered military equipment keep their cool in the face of growing power demands.

The patented technologies – synthetic jets that rely on trains of turbulent air puffs and a system that uses vibration to atomize cooling liquids such as water – were developed by Professor Ari Glezer and co-workers at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Schoo

Australia’s breakthrough low-cost, thin magnesium sheet technology will be made fully production-ready during the next twelve months.

This follows the successful development by CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation) of an industrial-scale pilot plant now producing near-net-shape, or close to production thickness, low-cost magnesium sheet.

Ms Vicki Tutungi, the Head of Commercial Development at CSIRO Manufacturing & Infrastructure Technology, says, “

The perfect bun: That’s one of the goals of an automated product-inspection prototype under development by Georgia Tech researchers working with Flowers Bakery in Villa Rica, Ga.

An automated product-inspection prototype is under development by Georgia Tech researchers working with Flowers Bakery in Villa Rica, Ga. Researchers are introducing continuous imaging technology to the large-scale production of sandwich buns.
Georgia Tech Photo 300 dpi version

The first phase