Process Engineering

Georgia Institute of Technology researchers have developed a better-performing, less costly method of disinfecting water used in food processing.

Like current technologies, the new Advanced Disinfection Technology System relies on ultraviolet (UV) radiation to eliminate molds, viruses and bacteria. But the new system handles water more efficiently and thus improves the overall effectiveness of the disinfection process, researchers reported.

“We’re creating a mixing pattern to e

In order for robots to replace or assist humans in dangerous, delicate, or remote situations, such as military reconnaissance, neural microsurgery, or extra-planetary probes, they must have sensory abilities similar to or superior to humans. The sense of touch has proved particularly difficult to duplicate through artificial sensors due to the harsh environments such artificial ’skins’ would encounter.

In a paper published today in the Institute of Physics’ Journal of Micromec

To assess the wear and tear on jet engine parts, mechanics used an old technology called ferrography to run the aircraft’s lubricating fluid through a magnetic device to separate out metal shavings and other ferrous engine debris. A University of Rhode Island researcher uses a similar process to assess the wear and tear on artificial hip and knee joints so patients can reduce the number of follow-up surgeries they must undergo or reduce the time spent in revision surgery.

Donna Meyer,

Gaiker y Santa Ana de Bolueta Abrasión, S. A., have developed a novel, rapid and efficient method to reduce abrasion in industrial parts.

The considerable wear suffered by industrial parts and equipment and by extracting tools that come into contact with abrasive materials forces companies to make periodic maintenance breaks in normal activity, thus causing considerable losses in time and money.

Santa Ana de Bolueta Abrasión, S. A., together with Gaiker, have developed a novel metho

Data gathered by Penn State engineers in a volunteer effort at the World Trade Center tragedy, suggests that simple, inexpensive microphones dropped into the rubble of a collapsed building may be able to aid search and rescue teams despite ground level noise.

Dr. Thomas B. Gabrielson, associate professor of acoustics and senior research associate at Penn State’s Applied Research Laboratory, says, “In conventional survivor searches, noise generating activities at the surface must be stopped

Penn State engineers have developed a low- cost, high-torque rotary motor, based on “smart” materials, that can be configured in a wide range of formats, including one as flat and thin as a CD case.

The inventors say that, in the flat format, the motor could be used to drive changes in the camber of airplane wings or fins, essentially shape-shifting the curvature of the wing or fin surface.

In other formats, the motor could work in tightly integrated spaces where other motors can