Molten metals in spin cycle on ESA's centrifuge

Housed at ESA’s ESTEC technical centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, the Large Diameter Centrifuge (LDC) is not designed for astronaut training but specifically for research. 

Jointly financed by ESA and the Dutch government, it is available for a wide variety of applications. 

The 8 m-diameter LDC can operate at up to 20 g, with four gondolas able to accommodate up to 80 kg of payloads, with a central gondola as a control. 

Two additional gondolas can be attached to mid-arm to provide different g-levels simultaneously. Experiments can be spun for up to six months non-stop. 

Credit: ESA–A. Le Floc'h

The experimenters stared through bulletproof glass at the whirling 8 m-diameter centrifuge. Never mind the shaking or stirring of drink cocktails – what happens when you spin a cocktail of molten metal?

ESA's Large Diameter Centrifuge provides research teams with easy access to hypergravity.

Based at ESA's technical centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, it can spin at up to 67 revolutions per minute, producing gravity levels of up to 20 times Earth normal in the gondolas at the end of its four arms.

This time around, one of the gondolas contained a special furnace filled with a molten combination of titanium and aluminium. After around an hour's spinning, the alloy was allowed to cool and solidify over 15 minutes.

Afterwards, the titanium aluminide (TiAl) was removed to see how the newly formed metal's microstructure had been affected by a gravity level eight times stronger than Jupiter's.

"While lightweight, titanium aluminide (TiAl) is strong and corrosion-resistant," explained Laszlo Sturz of the Access company, a spin-off of Technical University of Aachen in Germany, taking part in the research.

"In particular, its strength increases with temperature, making it particularly promising for building aerospace and automotive engine elements as well as other moving parts.

A furnace for the solidification of titanium aluminide (TiAl) alloy ready to be placed into its Large Diameter Centrifuge gondola. 

The furnace chamber at the cylinder's core is surrounded by ceramic heatshields and buffered by inert argon gas, with telemetry systems and external water-cooling pipes seen wrapped around the cylinder. 

Credit: ESA–A. Le Floc'h

"Right now, titanium aluminide parts are cast in various ways, including centrifugal, where a ceramic mould is spun as the alloy cools. But such manufacturing follows a trial-and-error approach.

"Our project aims at creating a detailed mathematical model of how solidification is influenced by changing gravity levels, to help in optimising future casting technology."

Gravity-driven convection in the molten metal influences the solidification: change the level of gravity and the microscopic alloy grains should change their size, too.

While differing levels of hypergravity can been accessed through the ESA's centrifuge, microgravity casting will be tested next year during the 10–15 minutes of weightlessness available on the flight of a suborbital rocket.

A quartet of casting furnaces will be flown on the Maxus rocket.

The ESA-led GRADECET project (Gravity Dependence of Columnar to equiaxed transition in peritectic TiAl alloys) involves researchers from Germany, Ireland, Slovakia, France and Hungary. 

Data for the GRADECET model are being gathered by solidifying TiAl across a spectrum of gravity levels. 

Gravity drives convection flows in the molten metal that influence the solidification process; change the level of gravity and the microscopic grain size of the alloy should change too. 

A quartet of casting furnaces will be flown on an ESA Maxus suborbital rocket in 2015. 

A previous furnace design flew on Maxus-8 in 2010, seen here with four cylindrical furnaces. 

Credit: ESA

"This centrifuge campaign is also serving to qualify them for flight," said ESA's Antonio Verga.

The challenge was to design a self-contained furnace that can heat up to the 1700°C required on the inside while its outermost skin remains at no more than 70°C.

The chamber where electrical heaters melt the alloy is surrounded by ceramic heatshielding and buffeted by inert argon gas, with water coolant pipes threaded around the cylinder's exterior.

Temperature sensors will relay realtime data to eager researchers throughout the process.

A Cycle Helmet That Calls for Help When You’ve Crashed

ICEdot, the company that makes the smartest helmet out there, says that its little helper will only send out a signal if you’ve been hit hard enough to have to replace the helmet.

So every time you come to a skidding stop or clumsily dismount or fall on your face, the paramedics won’t show up. You can fund this little device at Indiegogo.

The Atlantic Cities has the one caveat:

There is one big catch to this potentially life-saving device: Should you be in a location with no cellphone service, it doesn’t work. So don’t go around crashing into fir trees just because you think somebody will carry you to the hospital.

Personalised Tron Lightcycle up for auction

If you are impressed with the All-Electric Lightcycle, you now have the chance to get one in their garage, and help the environment.

The opportunity comes courtesy of Charitybuzz, which is auctioning off a replica Lightcycle, otherwise known as a Xenon Light Motor Bike.

The vehicle on offer was designed by Parker Brother Choppers and donated by Evolve Motorcycles, which created a custom lithium ion battery system to power the bike's electric motor. The bike features a handcrafted fiberglass frame and 32-inch hub-less wheels offset by OLED light tape.

Although the auction listing cites a range of 100 miles and a top speed of 50 mph (80 km/h) for the bike, it also says the winning bidder will be able to choose the bike's battery and motor type.

The personalization options will also extend to the bike's light tape colour.

Evolve sells the bike for US$55,000 and as of publication the bidding stands at $24,000, so you might just be able to nab a bargain. The auction closes on March 14, 2012 with all proceeds benefiting Global Green USA.

Source: Charitybuzz

The Air Powered Motorcycle: O2-Pursuit

 

Last month industrial designer Dean Benstead unveiled the 02 Pursuit — a prototype for a motorcycle fueled not by gas or electricity, but by compressed air.

Based on the geometry of a 250cc motocrosser, the O2 Pursuit prototype uses the breakthrough engine technology developed by Angelo Di Pietro of Engineair.

Benstead, a recent graduate of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), has harnessed the power that exists in the air tanks to mechanically drive the vehicle.

According to Benstead, testing of the motorcycle showed close to a quarter of an hour running time with stops at around 25-45 km/h. 

During stationary testing, Benstead’s team timed the speed off the back wheel, registering over 100 km/h. 

Preliminary testing of the prototype was limited to an indoors factory environment on a circular track.

“The bike is running a standard scuba tank which runs air compressed up to 200 bar, with further developments, we would be looking at running a tank at 400 bar with increased capacity to also increase the range,” he said.

The innovation was the result of Benstead’s final-year design research into the future of motorcycles, looking at air as a genuine alternative to petrol and electricity.

“Air was the starting point back in 2010, but I continued to explore this for the prototype because of its low-tech nature,” Benstead said. 

“A solar panel and a compressor now becomes your refinery and without huge battery packs to dispose of, we now have a low-cost to free powered bike with minimum impact on the environment.”

The project began mid last year at the RMIT Ecomoto, the only motorcycle-specific design studio in Australia. 

Led by RMIT Lecturer and Acting Program Director Simon Curtis, Benstead’s super motard bike project won him the Product Design – Automotive and Transport award at the 2010 Melbourne Design Awards.

The air engine developed by Engineair is still yet to be commercialized. The motor used in the 02 Pursuit was one of five prototypes in the world.

Benstead, recently named in Melbourne’s Top 100 most influential people, is currently working with Australia’s Engineair on a new design that can bring the technology to the market.

02 Pursuit specs:

• Top Speed: >100 km/h
• Weight: <100kg
• Engine: ‘Di Pietro’ 9 chamber air engine
• Engine Weight: 10kg
• Material: Aluminium
• Development: Melbourne

Self-Balancing Electric Unicycle - YouTube

Stephan Boyer, a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has created the world's first self-balancing electric unicycle. Designed like a mini Segway, it is fondly named "Bullet" by its inventor.

The cyclist has to adjust his position to avoid falling; needing to lean forward to accelerate and backward to slow down. However, Boyer has admitted it isn't quite so easy to ride the cycle, adding that even his unicycling friends struggled to come to grips with it. The principal problem seems to be that the unicycle veers to the right, at the slightest inclination.

Boyer stated, on his blog, it took him several hours to learn to ride in a straight line and several more to control his turns. Although the bike takes some getting used to, it does offer a top speed of 15 mph and can travel up to five miles on a single charge.

The unicycle also includes a panic button, designed to turn off the electric motor in case of an emergency.

Ridekick provides an electric boost to regular bicycles

Although some cycling purists may sneer at them, electric bicycles certainly do come in handy when hills need to be climbed on morning commutes, or loads need to be hauled.

E-bikes can be quite expensive, however, plus their motors and batteries make them heavy and clunky when their electric-assist feature isn’t being used.

That’s where the Ridekick kicks in. The motorised trailer quickly hooks onto an existing bicycle, pushing it to speeds of up to 19 mph (30.5 km/h), for a distance of about 12 miles (19 km) per charge. When you want your regular ol’ human-powered bike back, you just unhook it and go.

Ridekick provides an electric boost to regular bicycles - Images

Jet motorbike: Record breaking Attempt

RICHARD BROWN is a man with unfinished business.

In 1999, he smashed the one-way speed record for a motorbike by hitting 584 kilometres per hour on the salt flats of Bonneville in northern Utah. But his claim on the outright world record - which is based on the average of two runs in opposite directions - was thwarted by technical problems.

Now he is trying again. He hopes to be the first person to exceed 720 km/h on a motorbike while achieving an average two-way speed of at least 640 km/h. Any old bike will not do: he will be using one that is jet-propelled.

While cars used in land-speed-record attempts, like the Bloodhound jet car that will attempt the challenge in 2012, and certain types of boat have taken advantage of jet thrust since the 1950s, all record-breaking motorbikes have used a conventional engine that drives the rear wheel.

This is because it is difficult to pack a jet engine into a two-wheeled frame capable of enormous speed with any degree of safety. Fast cars can be built around old jet fighter engines, but these are far too heavy to fit into a bike that must be balanced by the driver making tiny steering adjustments to the front wheel.

So for his new bike, called Jet Reaction, Brown has redesigned a 930-kilowatt helicopter engine to produce thrust instead of turning a rotor. It was "quite difficult", he says.

"One is working with very fine tolerances in very difficult materials. If you get it wrong, destroying the engine is the most likely result."

Brown has also added his own reheat unit, or afterburner. It sprays fuel into the hot exhaust gases, causing it to ignite and generate yet more thrust. The idea sounds simple enough, though he says that getting it to work at something approaching its theoretical potential "requires much more development". The reheat burner sits above two canisters that deploy braking parachutes when needed.

Brown has a track record in ambitious jet engine projects. Following his 1999 record attempt he built a sub-orbital rocket, but the launch in South Africa had to be cancelled. He is also working on a gas-turbine-powered jet pack, similar to one developed by the US military, that he hopes will allow the wearer to remain airborne for 10 minutes.

Brown's 1999 record attempt involved his own Gillette Mach 3 Challenger bike, which featured a custom-built hybrid rocket engine. The attempt failed because soft ground forced the team to use tyres rather than the usual aluminium wheels. The tyres were only designed to withstand speeds of 380 km/h or so. Eventually the massive centrifugal forces on the rear tyre caused it to deflate.

The current motorbike land-speed record, 606 km/h, was set in 2010 by Rocky Robinson on a bike called the Ack Attack Streamliner. Such record-breakers feature elongated metal bodies - as does Jet Reaction - making them look more like giant bullets than motorcycles. They are also fitted with retractable stabilisers for balance when moving slowly or stationary.

Brown expects to carry out trials with Jet Reaction at a UK airfield in March next year, with an attempt on the world record back at the Bonneville salt flats pencilled in for 2013.

It won't be easy, says Mark Chapman, Bloodhound's chief engineer. "The biggest issue is air intake," he says. "You have to be sure the air flow through the jet is stable or the engine could surge, which could be dangerous."

Beet-It! Drinking beetroot juice increases stamina

First it was spinach, then coconut water… and now the humble beetroot has been hailed THE superfood to watch out for.

Hardly surprising considering its track record - it's proven to improve cardiovascular health, keep illness and infection at bay and enhance sporting performance.

Breakthrough research by the University of Exeter, published in the journal of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise found that competitive-level cyclists who drank beetroot juice were able to cut down the time it took to ride a given distance.

Researchers studied nine club-level male cyclists, who drank half a litre of beetroot juice before competing in two separate time trials.

The cyclists consumed real beetroot juice before the first trial and, unbeknown to the cyclists, a 'placebo' beetroot juice before the second trial.

A critical ingredient, nitrate, had been removed from the 'placebo' beetroot juice.

Results showed that the riders who consumed the real beetroot juice were an average of 11 seconds quicker over 4 kilometres and 45 seconds quicker over 16.1 kilometres.

The study, which used British brand BEET IT beetroot juice, concluded that the cyclists could attribute their increased stamina to the naturally high levels of Nitric Oxide (NO) found in beetroot.

Firstly, the Nitric Oxide triggers a chemical reaction which leads to the dilation of blood vessels to increase blood flow.

Secondly, it affects muscle tissue, reducing the amount of oxygen required by muscles during physical exertion. Combined, beetroot juice is the perfect all-natural energy hit to ensure peak performance at any sporting level.

To read more about the benefits of beetroot check on the Beet-it website.

SUMPAC: Human-powered flight recreated for 50th anniversary

A flight has taken place at a Hampshire airfield to mark the 50th anniversary of the UK's first human-powered flight to attempt to gain the Kremer Prize.

On 9 November, 1961, gliding instructor Derek Piggott took off from Lasham Airfield in a pedal-powered aircraft.

Flying Southampton University's Man Powered Aircraft, (SUMPAC) he covered a distance of 64m (210ft) and climbed to a height of 1.8m (6ft).

With the SUMPAC now a museum exhibit, the commemorative flight took place in human-powered aircraft, Airglow.

Organised by members of the Royal Aeronautical Society's Human Powered Flight Group, pilot Robin Kraike made the flight early on Saturday.

Mr Kraike who flew the plane for about 1 mile (1.6km) said: "It's like doing a 800 metre sprint."

"It's a very busy place in the cockpit - you have to divide your body into two halves, the top part doing the delicate part of flying the plane and the bottom half you're going like the clappers to deliver the power."

Now aged 88, SUMPAC's former test pilot, Derek Piggott MBE, watched the commemorative flight from the airfield.

He recalled meeting the students who designed and built the original single-seat nylon covered craft which spanned 24.4m (80ft) 50 years ago.

The SUMPAC was powered using pedals and chains to drive a 2.4m (8ft) propeller

He said: "It all started with the students coming across to Lasham trying to find somewhere to fly their aeroplane. I was interested immediately, so we organised it."

He built up his fitness to power the pedal aircraft by running around the airfield.

"I wasn't a cyclist, so I was very lucky to get all the flying in it, we were going to train an Olympic cyclist to fly it but we never managed to teach him to fly."

Following a crash in 1963, the fragile SUMPAC was retired from flying and placed on display at Southampton's Solent Sky Museum.

The Sperm Bike - Home deliveries

Biological analyst Alan Dowden of the Seattle Sperm Bank rides the Sperm Bike, a custom-designed, high-tech bicycle used to deliver donated sperm to fertility clinics.

Donor sperm is transported by medical technicians aboard the bike in liquid nitrogen cooled vacuum containers.

The first Sperm Bike was adopted by Seattle Sperm Bank's sibling company, the European Sperm Bank, in Cophenhagen.

Picture: REUTERS/Anthony Bolante

The Super Sky Cycle

The Super Sky Cycle, which has been designed by inventor Larry Neal, can fly at 35 mph and has a top speed of 65mph on the ground.

According to Neal he has been developing the aircraft for several years.

The biggest issue he had to overcome was just what do with the wings when the vehicle was on the ground.

However, he cracked that thanks to an ingenious system that allows the rotor to be neatly folded away.

This means the unusual vehicle can not only be flown but also used like a normal tricycle on the road. The Super Sky Cycle can reach an altitude of 2,100m (7,000ft) and cruise for 240km (150 miles) before needing to refuel.

Picture: Unimedia Images / Rex Features

Brammo: Electric motorcycle maker raises $28 million

US based electric motorcycle manufacturer Brammo announced on Wednesday that it has raised $28 million from investors to boost development of electric powertrain technology.

Leading the charge was investor Polaris Industries, a powersports giant that makes all-terrain vehicles, snowmobiles, motorcycles and road-legal electric vehicles.

This company's innovations are under development, including military vehicles that can shrug off small arms fire and his company’s entry into sustainability, from supply chain simplification to the company’s first electric vehicles, launched in 2009.

“We’re not going to buy something to get bigger; we’re going to buy something to get better, faster,” he said when asked about future acquisitions.

It would appear that time is now.

The deal extends Brammo’s powertrain technology to different vehicle types much in the way that Tesla supplies Toyota with its all-electric powertrain.

It gives Polaris, inventor of the first snowmobile and the market leader for its various segments, a leg up on EV technology that it knows will replace the Swiss-developed four-stroke engines it traditionally uses.

It also gives Brammo more places to reap revenues for its R&D efforts. The company has dabbled in off-road vehicles before, with its Encite motorcycle, but cooperation with Polaris opens the door for more applications.

Alternative Transport from Audi - Wooden Cycle

While a number of car makers, including BMW, Mercedes-Benz and McLaren, have sought to leverage their brand and technical knowledge to produce vehicles of the two-wheeled, pedal-powered variety, they tend to opt for the same high-tech, lightweight materials used in their cars, such as carbon fiber and aluminum.

Audi has done the same thing in the past, but for its latest bicycle offering Audi of America has taken a different tack by teaming up with Renovo Bicycles to create the "duo" – a line of bikes that feature monocoque frames made of hardwood.

Audi teams with Renovo for 'duo' line of wooden bicycles - Image 1 of 6

Tricycle powered by power tools

A group of engineers have created a tricycle powered by power tools.

The EX is propelled solely by two portable 18V Bosch electric screwdrivers.

It was created by former University of Fine Arts Hamburg students Sebastian Auray, Nils Ferber, Ruben Faber and Ludolf von Oldershausen.

Weighing 20kg, the vehicle can accelerate up to 30 km/h.

Picture: Oldershausen/Auray/Faber/Ferber / Rex Features

Replicate Tron Light Cycle

A designer has created ten street-legal replicas of the Tron Light Cycle.

The bikes are available to rent from Parker Brothers Choppers, based in Florida, USA.
 
See a video of the bike in action here:

Re-inventing the wheel to support human progress

While the evolution from the Neolithic solid stone wheel with a single hole for an axle to the sleek wheels of today’s racing bikes can be seen as the result of human ingenuity, it also represents how animals, including humans, have come to move more efficiently and quicker over millions of years on Earth, according to a Duke University engineer (our spokes person!).

Adrian Bejan, professor of mechanical engineering at Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering, argues that just as the design of wheels became lighter with fewer spokes over time, and better at distributing the stresses of hitting the ground, animals have evolved as well to move better on Earth. In essence, over millions of years, animals such as humans developed the fewest “spokes,” or legs, as the most efficient method for carrying an increasing body weight and height more easily.

“This prediction of how wheels should emerge in time is confirmed by the evolution of wheel technology,” Bejan said. “For example, during the development of the carriage, solid disks were slowly replaced by wheels with tens of spokes.”

The advantage of spokes is that they distribute stresses uniformly while being lighter and stronger than a solid wheel. “In contrast with the spoke, the solid wheel of antiquity was stressed unevenly, with a high concentration of stresses near the contact with the ground, and zero stresses on the upper side,” Bejan said. “The wheel was large and heavy, and most of its volume did not support the load that the
vehicle posed on the axle.

“If you view animal movement as a ‘rolling’ body, two legs, swinging back and forth, perform the same function of an entire wheel-rim assembly,” Bejan said. “They also do it most efficiently — like one wheel with two spokes with the stresses flowing unobstructed and uniformly through each spoke. The animal body is both wheel and vehicle for horizontal movement.”

Bejan’s analysis was published early online in the American Journal of Physics. His research is supported by the National Science Foundation and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

“An animal leg is shaped like a column because it facilitates the flow of stresses between two points — like the foot and hip joint, or paw and shoulder,” Bejan said. “In the example of the Neolithic stone wheel, the flow of stresses is between the ground and the whole wheel.”

Bejan believes that the constructal theory of design in nature (www.constructal.org), which he started describing in 1996, predicts these changes in the wheel and animal movement. The theory states that for a design (an animal, a river basin) to persist in time, it must evolve to move more freely through its environment.

Since animal locomotion is basically a falling-forward process, Bejan argues that an increase in height predicts an increase in speed. For a centipede, each leg represents a point of contact with ground, which limits the upward movement of the animal. As animals have fewer contacts with ground, they can rise up higher with each stride.

“The constructal theory shows us this forward-falling movement is dictated by the natural wheel phenomenon, which is required for the minimal amount of effort expended for a certain distance traveled,” Bejan said.

An earlier analysis by Bejan showed that larger human swimmers are faster because the wave they create while swimming is larger and thus carries them forward faster.

While wheel-like movement evolved naturally, it also describes what Bejan likes to call “nature’s gear box.” Humans have two basic speeds, Bejan said — walking and running. A running human gets taller, or higher off the ground, with each stride, which increases his speed.

A horse has three speeds — walk, trot and gallop.

“The horse increases its speed by increasing the height from which it falls during each cycle,” Bejan said. “Then, from the trot to the gallop, the body movement changes abruptly such that the height of jump increases stepwise for each stride. Nature developed not only wheel-like movement but also mechanisms for changing speeds.”

Bipolar Disorder, Depression and Circadian Clock

An off-kilter body clock can throw off our sleep-wake cycle, eating habits, body temperature and hormones—and mounting evidence suggests a malfunctioning clock may also underlie the mood cycles in bipolar disorder.

In a new study led by psychiatrist Alexander Niculescu of Indiana University, researchers found that children with bipolar disorder were likely to have a mutated RORB gene, which codes for a protein crucial to circadian clock function.

The team’s previous work identified alterations to this gene and other clock genes in animal models of the disorder. In the new study, the scientists compared the genomes of 152 bipolar kids with those of 140 typical kids. (Children were studied because their moods cycle more rapidly than the moods of bipolar adults, and a quicker cycle suggests a stronger connection to the circadian clock.)

The team found that the bipolar children were more likely to have one of four alterations to RORB, and the investigators suspect the mu­tations prevent the body from producing the correct amount of the pro­tein to support normal clock function.

Previous studies had shown that strictly regulating a bi­polar patient’s sleep schedule could improve extreme mood cycles, but experts weren’t sure why—until animal studies started showing a connection to circadian clock genes.

“Every time we investigate some [abnormality] of molec­ular machinery linked to the clock genes, we find an associ­ation with bipolar disorder,” says Francesco Benedetti, a neuroscientist at the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan, Italy, who was not involved in the Indiana research.

The ultimate goal, he adds, is to pinpoint the precise mech­anism that links clock function with mood swings, in the hope of designing new drugs and treatments that will restore the clock to working order.