Posts Tagged ‘ Technology ’

Incredible Solar Energy

Almost a year back, I worked in Central Electronics Limited as an intern for some months where I learned the concepts of solar photovoltaic and some other technologies. The time I spent there made me realize the true power of solar energy. So, in this post I want to share some of the things and fact about solar energy. I am not writing about any manufacturing process or any other kind of idea here, just some common solar energy related things.

Here’s it:

Our planet receives incredibly large amount of solar energy in its atmosphere and Earth surface approximately reflect back 30% of the received solar energy back to the space while the rest is absorbed by clouds, oceans, land masses, and by the Earth surface. Now as the solar energy received by the Earth is incredibly large in amount, so if ever we able to use merely few percent(lets say 6-10%) of it then it can alone provide the enough power to the whole world to fulfill its all demands and requirements of electricity. The Sahara Desert receives that much amount of solar energy that it can alone power the whole Europe and more; now you can have idea about the capability of solar energy that Earth receives. But due to various reason, it’s still not possible to efficiently use this renewable and this incredibly large amount of energy. The process of harnessing, then storing, and then transmitting it to the people of the planet is somewhat expensive than other methods of generation of electricity, the process is complex as compared to other methods, the efficiency of solar panels is still not that great and there is some uncertainty in the information of solar energy. So far, it is believed that 99.99% of all the solar energy in the form of solar radiation goes to waste.

The amount of solar energy that strikes the Earth in one hour is more than enough to provide all of the Earth’s energy needs for a complete year. The top photovoltaic panels only have an efficiency of about 15%, meaning that only about one seventh of the solar energy that hits the panel is converted into usable electrical energy and with the rise in temperature, a photovoltaic panel loses its efficiency. So, there is great need to improve efficiency and some pitfalls of photovoltaic panels, and until the cost of producing a solar panel is lowered, solar energy can’t match the cost of current energy production. Moreover, depending on the location in relation to the equator, one may need more solar panels to accumulate the same amount of power. Solar energy is not available at night and therefore energy storage is an important issue for continuous supply of power from solar energy systems. Off-grid photovoltaic systems use rechargeable batteries to store excess electricity and in grid-tied systems, excess electricity can be sent to the transmission grid, while standard grid electricity can be used to meet shortfalls. There are some other ways also for this purpose like thermal mass systems and molten salts systems.

With the improvement in the methods, using new ideas and technologies, and with the advancement in field of solar energy, it is possible that solar energy will be our one of the major method for production of electricity in future.

Here are examples:

Gemasolar Thermosolar Plant-

Gemasolar is a concentrated solar power plant with a molten salt heat storage system, located within the city limits of Fuentes de Andalucía in the province of Seville, Spain. Gemasolar is the first commercial solar plant with central tower receiver and molten salt heat storage technology.  In addition, its storage system allows it to produce electricity for 15 hours without sunlight. This storage capacity makes its solar power manageable so that it can be supplied based on demand. Gemasolar, with its 19.9 megawatts of power, can supply 110 gigawatts per year which is enough to supply power to 27,500 homes. The plant has been operational since May 2011.

Solar energy, future of energy production, Gemasolar, Spain

Source: http://www.torresolenergy.com, Author: Torresol Energy
Gemasolar

Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System-

The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, is a solar thermal power project currently under construction in the San Bernardino County, California, USA, with a planned capacity of 392 megawatts which is the highest capacity of any solar thermal power stations in the world. There are many other solar thermal power stations across the world.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_energy
2012
08/29
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Bionic Eyes

In a pioneering research, scientists claim to be developing bionic eyes for the blind, which they say will be ready for human trials by 2013.

Here’s a brief explanation of bionic vision system or bionic eye:

What is bionic eye?

Bionic Contacts Lens

image credit: wikipedia
This lens is based upon Bionic Technology, but it’s not a Bionic Eye.

Bionic eye is an experimental visual device intended to restore the sense of vision to people living with blindness, low vision, or age-related macular degeneration.

Bionic eyes or bionic vision system consists of a camera mounted on pair of glasses, the purpose of this camera is to transmits visual information or high-frequency radio signals to a microchip( or electrode array) which is connected to neurons in the retina. Electrodes on the implanted chip convert these signals into electrical impulses and then these electrical impulses are transmitted through the optic nerve to the vision centers of the brain where they are interpreted as an image. The detail of a generated image by this technology depends on phosphene. A phosphene is a perceived spot of light in the visual field which can be induced with the help of electrodes. It means the more electrodes are implanted, the more phosphenes are capable of being generated and the more detail a patient may be able to see.

A person using this device or technology won’t experience vision in the same way that a person with a healthy eye does but with training and patience people will adapt to the implant. This technology is in its initial stage and with time and more research, it is possible that in future this technology can help patients living with blindness and low vision to recognize faces, read large print and much more. It is also possible with the more research and advancement in the field of bionic vision systems, there will be high-resolution and visual quality bionic eyes and will be commercially available which can even provide better vision than normal eyes. It might be possible that even healthy people will upgrade their sight with these kind of devices.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_prosthesis
2012
08/24
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What If Someone Can Hear Your Inner Dialogue!

What if someone can hear your innner dialogue?

Few studies and researches has shown that brainwaves can be decoded and then can be converted into speech.

Here’s something on this topic, but lets first understand what is brain wave?

Brain wave is an electrical signal (like wave form) in the brain. The human brain is made up of billions of brain cells called neurons, which use electricity to communicate with each other. The combination of millions of neurons sending signals at once produces an enormous amount of electrical activity in the brain, which can be measured using an EEG (EEG is the measurement of electrical activity in the brain using electrodes attached to the scalp and can provide an indication of the mental state of the individual).

These brainwaves in our head can be decoded and then it can be converted into speech by using some kind of technology. Many researches are ongoing on it to find out an effective and better solution for it. Though scientist have already succeeded in converting brainwaves into speech but till yet it’s not what exactly it should be like so that it can be used on humans effectively. This technology could help people speak through a computer simply by thinking what they want to say. It will help voiceless patients or the people who lost their voice because of paralysis or locked-in syndrome to regain their voice. They can speak thoughts directly much like Stephen Hawking, the famed physicist who speaks only with the aid of a computer synthesizer; he communicates using a sensor attached to his glasses which records his cheek movements whereas conversion of brainwaves into speech is different from this and certainly one day this kind of technology will help us to communicate with a person who can think and hear but cannot speak.

This technology has numerous other things to offer too. By decoding patterns of activity in the brain, it will possible to play back the imagined conversations in our heads. All the dialogue you speak inside your head or anything you say inside your head can be heard using this technology. For instance, when you read this sentence to yourself, it’s likely that you hear the words in your head which generates brainwaves in your head and by successfully decoding and converting them into audible signal we can hear what’s going on someone’s mind and perhaps one day it will be possible to hear inner dialogue or inner conversation of a person. Brain activity is thought to be similar whether we hear a sentence or think the same sentence, this technology will brings us into the new era of broadcasting our inner thoughts to the world without speaking and it might even be possible to read someone’s mind but at the present date it’s still a matter of research.

2012
08/14
CATEGORY
Science Section
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Nanotechnology, The Technology At Atomic Scale

Nanotechnology, the future technology.

Nanotechnology refers to the science and engineering of matter at an atomic scale. It is a science of manufacturing, utilizing and studying extremely small particles and devices having dimension between 1 nanometer to 100 nanometers. One nanometer is equal to 0.000000001 meters, now imagine how small it is! Even human hair has much higher dimension than this.

Nanotechnology holds a great future promise and below are few things about this technology:

  • It has been found that at nano dimension material shows very different properties as compared to what they would on a macro-scale. So with nanotechnology, we may have access to many new elements which didn’t exist before. When materials are reduced into nano-particles they show new odd properties like opaque substances may become transparent, stable materials turn combustible, plastics or insulators turn into conductors, gold particles can appear green or anything and solids can turn into liquids almost spontaneously at room temperature. Research are ongoing on these things worldwide.
  • Nanotechnology will make exactly what it is expected to make; there will be no more, no less and hence, no wastage. Matter will be used more efficiently and precisely with this technology. It holds some answers for how we might increase the capabilities of material and devices while we reduce their size, weight and power consumption. With nanotechnology, it will be possible to have smaller, lighter, flexible, self-cleaning type of electronic devices in future.
  • With the use of nanotechnology in the solar cells, solar energy can be efficiently harnessed. Manufacturers have developed nano-tech solar cells that can be manufactured at significantly lower cost than conventional solar cells and are better in performance.
  • Manufactures are currently developing batteries using nano-materials. With nanotechnology, it will possible to make much higher capacity and more durable batteries, at the same time it allow batteries to become smaller, lighter and thinner. Using nanotechnology, researchers developed what they call ultra-capacitors. Ultra-capacitors are being researched heavily as it may take over completely from batteries because of their potential for much higher discharge rates and much lesser recharge times.
  • It is possible, one day nano-chips may make computers many times faster than today’s supercomputers. Nanotechnology will significantly help in making computers that will be incredibly powerful, will use less power and will be much smaller in size. With nanotechnology, data storage capacity can be increased up to much greater extend as compared to the present date. It will be possible to store at least hundred terabytes of data in a cubic millimeter of space with nanotechnology.
  • Nanotechnology can leads to newer technology in the field of spacecraft, satellite, fuel, water cleaning methods and many more. Research and advancements in nano-materials will help in manufacture of lightweight spacecraft and satellite which will significantly reduce the amount of fuel required and hence, can lower the cost of space projects.
  • Nanotechnology will significantly play an important role in the field of medical in curing diseases like cancer and others. With the help of nanotechnology drug can be delivered directly to diseased cells in the human body. This directed method of drug delivery has great potential for treating cancer patients while producing less harmful side-affects than those produced by conventional chemotherapy. Research are ongoing on it.
  • Some clothing manufacturers are trying their hands on nanotechnology, they are making water and stain repellent clothing using nano-sized whiskers. The use of nanotechnology in fabric can greatly improve the fabric properties. Nano-sized particles of carbon like carbon nano-tubes are extremely strong and one proposed application that illustrates the strength of nano-sized particles of carbon is the manufacture of bullet proof vests made out of carbon nano-tubes.
  • It’s still a field of research what all we can achieve with nanotechnology. Some researchers believe nanotechnology can be used to significantly extend the human lifespan or produce replicator like devices that can create almost anything from simple raw materials, a device which would use manipulators to position atoms and molecules to build an object; it is also referred as molecular fabricator. Others see nanotechnology only as a tool to help us do what we do now, but faster or better.
  • Nanotechnology is having an impact on several aspects of food science; from how food is grown to how it is packaged. Some manufacturers are developing nano-materials that will make a difference not only in the taste of food but also in food safety, its packing and the health benefits that food will have.
  • Nanotechnology can enable sensors to detect very small amounts of chemical vapors. Various types of detecting elements, such as carbon nano-tubes or zinc oxide nano-wires can be used in nanotechnology based sensors. Because of the small size of nano-tubes, nano-wires, or nano-particles, a few gas molecules are sufficient to change the electrical properties of the sensing elements which allows the detection of a very low concentration of chemical vapors. Nanotechnology can also improve the performance of catalysts used to transform vapors escaping from vehicles or from industrial plants into harmless gasses. The larger surface area of catalyst made from nano-particles allows more chemicals to interact with the catalyst simultaneously, which makes the catalyst more effective.
  • Nanotechnology also has great applications in automobiles, agriculture, sports and in cosmetics too. In sports, nanotechnology is being used to increasing the strength of tennis racquets, reducing the rate at which air leaks from tennis balls, filling any imperfections in the some sports materials like club shaft materials and some others.
  • Despite of having numerous advantages nanotechnology has disadvantages too. With having the grip on nanotechnology, there will no limits to what we can do or the amount of things we can create with it. Probably, it has major risks in terms of both abuse and accidents. It grants us the power to absolutely annihilate ourselves and our beautiful planet. New developments in nanotechnology could even result in untraceable weapons of mass destruction because nano-materials have almost unlimited potential. Moreover, the environmental effect of nanotechnology is still unknown. It is believed that nanotechnology needs to be very strictly regulated in order to minimize the possible negative impact on our planet, on its living beings and its environment.
2012
08/09
CATEGORY
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Lunar Soil, Its Unsual Properties and Hover Technology

Lunar Truth

image credit: wikipedia

Lets first understand, what is lunar soil?

Lunar soil is the fine fraction of the regolith (layer of loose, heterogeneous material covering solid rock, it includes dust, soil, broken rock, and other related materials) found on the surface of the Moon. Or simply it’s moon dust.

Now, the Unusual Properties of lunar soil:

The moon’s surface topsoil or lunar soil has some unusual properties. It actually floats above the lunar surface, is very chemically active, and is both sticky and highly abrasive.

What scientists discovered:

Recently, scientists discovered some facts about the lunar soil. Marek Zbik, from Australia’s Queensland University of Technology’s science and engineering faculty, said scientists had long observed the strange behavior of lunar soil but had not taken much notice of the nano and sub-micron particles found in the soil and their source was unknown.
Zbik took the lunar soil samples to Taiwan where he could study the glass bubbles without breaking them, using a new technique for studying nano-materials.
“We were really surprised at what we found,” Zbik said. “Instead of gas or vapor inside the bubbles, which we would expect to find in such bubbles on Earth, the lunar glass bubbles were filled with a highly porous network of alien-looking glassy particles that span the bubbles’ interior,” a Queensland statement said.
“It appears that the nano-particles are formed inside bubbles of molten rocks when meteorites hit the lunar surface. Then they are released when the glass bubbles are pulverized by the consequent bombardment of meteorites on the moon’s surface,” Zbik said.
“This continuous pulverizing of rocks on the lunar surface and constant mixing develop a type of soil which is unknown on Earth.”
Dr Zbik said nano particles behaved according to the laws of quantum physics which were completely different from so called ‘normal’ physics’ laws. Because of this, materials containing nano particles behave strangely according to our current understanding.
Nano particles are so tiny, it is their size and not what they are made of that accounts for their exceptional properties.
“We don’t understand a lot about quantum physics yet but it could be that these nano particles, when liberated from their glass bubble, mix with the other soil constituents and give lunar soil its unusual properties.
“Lunar soil is electro-statically charged so it hovers above the surface; it is extremely chemically active; and it has low thermal conductivity, for example, it can be 160 degrees above the surface, but 40 degrees two meters below the surface,” the scientist added.

Now, lets see what are significance of this discovery:

Acquiring appropriate knowledge of lunar soil properties has many great significance. The potential for construction of structures, ground transportation networks, and waste disposal systems on our planet are the few examples.

hovercraft

Marty McFly’s hover-board in the Back To The Future trilogy.
image credit: wikipedia

One of the technology which I would like to share here is Hover-board Technology:

What is Hover-board?

A Hover-board (or hover board) is a fictional hovering board used for personal transportation and which you may have seen in the some movies like Back to the Future Part II and Back to the Future Part III. Hover-boards resemble a skateboard without wheels and through special effects the filmmakers depicted the boards hovering above the ground. Subsequent to the movies the hover-board concept has been reused by many authors in various forms of media in fictional universes not directly related to Back to the Future. And at the present date, several companies have drawn on hovercraft technology to attempt to create hover-board like products but none have demonstrated similar experiences to those depicted in the movies.
Actually, through the knowledge of lunar soil and how it floats over the surface there are possibilities that this kind of technology can be manufactured. Hover-boards(similar to those which are shown in the movies) or transportation methods like that can be developed. There’s something amazing about moon soil and knowing it entirely will gonna help to create some great technology technologies and structures in future.
Technicians just willing to know more and more information about the lunar soil and the stuff like that and they need to know all this sorta stuff. So far, this discovery may leads to the first step towards the hover technology or similar stuffs or some other kinda technology based on the concept of lunar soil. But still, lots of information and ideas are required.

References: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120613102442.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_soil
2012
06/18
CATEGORY
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The future of electricity transmission

Day by day, technology is advancing very rapidly; there will be many changes in coming decades in the world of technology and one of them will be wireless transmission of electricity. Yes, in the coming few decades electricity will be transmitted without the use of wires.

The first person to actually make wireless transmission of power possible was Nikola Tesla. Tesla demonstrated wireless energy transfer to power electronic devices in 1891, and aspired to intercontinental wireless transmission of industrial power in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project and still wireless transmission of electricity is a field of research. It might be possible that this technology will come into existence in few decades.

Here’s something about this technology:

Primarily, this technology may starts from mid-range transmission methods that could charge or even power portable devices such as cell phones, laptops, PDA and all that kind of devices or possibly all other range of electric and electronic appliances. And for sure, this technology will going to eliminate the need for multiple wall sockets and bulky cables and will greatly reduce clutter in homes and offices. In place of batteries, electronic devices will have antennas to draw power from a single power node mounted in the ceiling or in the wall of a room. Electromagnetic waves are transmitted through the air from the device present in the ceiling or in the wall. These waves are then received by the device like cell phone or other appliance through their receiving antenna. And in this way electricity will be transmitted without using wires. So definitely, there will be new way of transmission of electricity in the coming decades, maybe by the late 2020s.

2012
04/05
CATEGORY
Science Section
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