Category: Technology

Airbus’ Advances in Automobiles – In Air Taxi Service

Futuristic movies and books have featured flying vehicles for many years, and technology has finally caught up with the human imagination. Companies are now designing cars that will take to the skies to provide us with commuting options. In February 2016, Airbus advanced on a project with a mission to solve the ever increasing traffic in urban areas. They aim to do this by creating the world’s first approved ‘air taxi,’ which will operate on a system similar to ordering an Uber, using a smartphone.

qq%e5%9b%be%e7%89%8720130926215459seProject Vahana, as the undertaking has been named, currently faces many challenges. These include air traffic management hurdles, as well as structural requirements for such a vehicle. Spokespersons for Airbus have said that their aim is to work with several other companies in order to overcome these obstacles. They have already begun to take into consideration the regulations that the Federal Aviation Administration will be putting into place, in order to approve the use of flying vehicles.

With urban congestion predicted to increase by at least 10% by 2030, the company believe that millions of their innovative cars will be needed worldwide as a result. They have already designed and begun to build their first prototype. This VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing) will operate similarly to a helicopter. Even though it will be equipped with self-piloting technology, the vehicle will be introduced with human behind the wheel, until the approval to have autonomous flight has been granted. Sense-and-avoid technology is relatively new in vehicles, and needs to be further tested in those that are airborne before they can be declared safe for public use. Currently drones, even though able to fly themselves, are not allowed to be in open air space without being monitored remotely by a human and the technology used to power larger vehicles is very similar.

1-7uumga9vvrsjrw80q-z20a-0In addition to the pilot, the expectation is that the vehicle will at first be able to carry a single passenger. A testing contract has been granted to the company and they have chosen to have their first trial flights in Singapore. Airbus has said that their aim is to begin testing their prototype by the end of 2017. They are well on their way to meeting this target, after which they plan to introduce the vehicles to commuters by 2020. They are confident that this will be the biggest solution to the current traffic problem that the world is experiencing.

Airbus is not the only company with this futuristic ambition, however, and their competitors are already working on similar designs. Google and Uber are just two of the others that have announced plans to release air commuting vehicles. Regardless of which company is able to release their design first, the only thing we can be sure of is that the future has already become the present.

Solar Panels – Using Light to Create Water

Our planet is approximately 70% water; even so, statistics show that in excess of 600 million people do not have access to a clean drinking source. Recently, there has been a worldwide effort to provide poverty stricken countries with this vital component of life. With natural water sources being constantly polluted and expensive to clean, organisations have been trying to find additional ways of coming up with pure water.

Zero Mass Water, a company with the aim of making unpolluted water accessible to all, has invented solar technology which ‘produces, delivers, and mineralises clean, fresh drinking water to a tap.’ The unit which they have created, Source, can be installed in just 20 minutes either on the ground or on a roof. It is also able to produce this water without tapping into a natural supply. How is this possible and what are the effects that this unit might be having on these poorer countries?

shutterstock_104759201The unit is made from a special type of material, designed by the company, which is able to absorb water from the air. Its solar panels are then able to harvest the energy from the sun to heat the liquid enough to turn it into steam. This evaporation is the way in which the water is purified. It is then run through a mineral block, adding beneficial nutrients and improving the taste.

Each device is able to produce 5 litres of water daily, with a storage capacity of up to 30 litres. The company has started to install the panels in rescue camps, and poorer communities, and countries such as Ecuador, Mexico and Jordan are now benefiting from clean water. This in turn has dramatically reduced illnesses and deaths, caused from unclean drinking water or dehydration.

The panels have not been reserved for these countries only, however, and are being made available in other areas. In first world countries many people are drinking bottled water or using filters, which are both an ongoing source of expense. The minerals in bottled water are beneficial to the body, and Source is able to infuse these into what will be a cheaper water source in the long run.

In addition, countries that experience drought during the hotter months of the year would now be able to access water during this time. People are forced to store water in tanks, which can be very unhygienic and a breeding ground for certain insects, such as mosquitos. This technology would not only be beneficial to individuals, but many industries (such as farming) would be able to increase production during normally slow periods. This would increase both individual profits and the overall economy.

Zero Mass Water continues to improve on their technology, and is aiming to make larger units which can store more water. This will increase both their humanitarian movement and their appeal to larger industries, in the near future.

Renewable Energy – Powering Cars of the Future

The global temperature has been rising at a disturbing rate in recent decades. This incline has partially been attributed to the burning of fossil fuels in different forms. In December 2015, 195 countries collaborated to take action against climate change, by signing a legally, binding agreement called The Paris Agreement. This agreement will take effect in 2020 and aims to avoid many detrimental effects of a higher global temperature. The main requirement is to limit the rise in global temperature to 2°C. Many of the countries involved are already putting necessary procedures into effect in order to do so.

Germany has the fourth largest output of automobiles in the world, and its government has made a proposal to ban internal combustion engines by 2030. This would mean that no new cars will require any type of fuel or diesel to operate. The majority of the vehicles in operation would then run exclusively on renewable energy. They have also suggested that the tax subsidies that are given to diesel automobile makers be lowered, in an effort to bring this change into effect sooner rather than later.

shutterstock_445127020The increase in making renewable energy vehicles would mean a decline in the labor force, within automobile companies, as they require less manpower to produce. The country is prepared to deal with this unemployment in different ways, as they have decided that the pros greatly outnumber the cons. In addition to directly impacting global warming and keeping the climate under control, using renewable energy in cars would mean healthier citizens, as well as overall economic benefits, due to the fact that they cost less to make and operate.

The energy sources that environmentally friendly vehicles are able to run on currently include plug-in hybrids, fuel cell powered hydrogen cars and chargeable electric cars. There are also companies creating vehicular prototypes which operate on solar and wind energy. As the largest source of renewable energy, many are hoping to use the sun to power vehicles in two separate ways. The first would be to install solar panels on the roofs of cars, and the second would be to have chargers for cars which are fed by solar powered generators. There are prototypes of both currently being monitored and revised.

Large car manufacturers have seen the value in producing renewable energy vehicles and companies such as BMW, Ford and Toyota already sell hybrids which use various forms of cleaner energy. Volkswagen has set a goal to become the largest automaker in the world, and believes that renewable energy will be one of the best ways to do so. A huge percentage of their funds are put towards researching the best ways of powering these vehicles in the future.

Wind Turbines – The Future of Clean Energy Sources

In 1888, Charles F. Bush invented the first electricity-generating wind turbine in Cleveland, Ohio. It had a diameter of 17 metres and was able to generate 12 kW of power. Wind turbines have evolved significantly since, and the Wind Engineering Section of Kushu University, in Japan, has found a way to potentially triple their energy output. One of the aims is to make wind energy cheaper than both coal and nuclear power in the country, and eventually the world.

windlens-ed02During the Yokohama Renewable Energy International Exhibition 2010, they unveiled the new design, which works by putting a wind lens around the turbine blades. This also makes it possible to increase their safety levels, as well as decrease the unbearable noise usually associated with wind turbines. The wind lens is a brim that surrounds the inside of the blades and diverts the air from the exhaust outflow, which is located behind them. The turbulence then creates a low pressure zone behind the turbine, which causes more wind to pass through it. The blade rotation increases and subsequently the energy output. The engineers believe that each lens would be able to provide enough energy for an average household.

The proposed end structure would be similar in shape to a giant honeycomb, but the Wind Engineering Section of the University finds it challenging to apply these lenses to larger sized turbines. To test the theory they constructed two wind turbines on the campus, which are each 34m high and able to generate 100kW of power. They will use these models to figure out ways to apply the technology to larger turbines in the future. Each turbine also has a rotor which spans 12.8m and a diffuser with a diameter of 15.4 m.

windlens-ed01These wind turbines are being monitored as part of their larger project to build an offshore energy farm. The wind turbines will be mounted on a hexagonal shaped base, which is low in cost but sufficiently sturdy to withstand the marine conditions. Placing these in coastal areas will take advantage of the sea breezes, and reveal the probability of them being a main source of power for the country. The bases also make it possible to link other turbines together and create larger platforms.

The technology has already been applied to smaller units, averaging between 3 and 5 kW of output, which are being used by businesses to increase their energy while lowering the costs. Kushu University believes that the design will extend worldwide after the field tests prove that it is a much more efficient energy source. This would be good for both the countries involved and the world in general as this clean energy source would significantly decrease atmospheric pollution.

World’s Largest Telescope – China takes Exploring the Universe to Another Level

2d232a7e00000578-0-image-a-50_1444144344803Many of the countries of the world are experimenting with different ways to find out more about the Universe, especially the possibility of finding intelligent life outside of our planet. China has been a large contributor to this extra-terrestrial search, and the country has recently unveiled their next step in learning more about the infinite nature of the Universe. They have done this by launching a 500m Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), which has now become the largest in the world. Approximately the size of 30 football fields, FAST took five years to be built and launched. The single dish telescope has been nicknamed the Tianyan, or Eye of Heaven, because it is expected to be able to capture a great deal more of what happens outside of our atmosphere than we have previously been aware of.

The telescope’s installation has required many changes in the surrounding area. Under the watchful eye of its rivals, the Chinese government had to find an area with at least a three mile radius of radio silence for the telescope to work. After locating the perfect spot in Guizhou, part of the country’s south-west province, they realized that in excess of 8000 villagers would need to be relocated. The total cost of the project included $269 million for moving its citizens, and another $180 million to build the telescope.

China sees the giant telescope as worth the time, effort and finances that were involved in completing the project, as it will now be able to monitor two to three times more of the area around our planet than previous telescopes. This is a result of its specific design of 4450 eleven meter panels that reflect radio waves, to a 30 ton ‘retina’ which is suspended in the middle of the unit. The telescope will then be monitored so that these signals can be interpreted. This makes FAST five to ten times more likely to discover signs of an alien race, than previous telescopes would have been able to.

Apart from the possibility of other life forms, the Universe has many mysteries such as dark matter and the early stages of its development, which the Chinese believe that FAST will be able to help us gain a greater understanding of. In addition, the telescope is able to capture images that are further away from earth including the layout and terrain of darker planets. After the initial testing period, China has agreed that scientists from other nations will be able to use the Eye of Heaven in their research, in an effort to gain as much knowledge as possible.

Self-Driven Cars – Improving the Taxi Experience

Robot labor has been a source of controversy for many years, on one hand it will make things easier and cheaper but on the other it will put many people out of their jobs. Taxi companies have been among the first to experiment with this idea, and road use for these vehicles have been recently approved.

3ce314cc34c411094a4275fd808c4cf11. Uber

As one of the world’s leading taxi companies, Uber is always looking for a way to expand their business. This includes self-driving cars, and even though the drivers have been against their use, the company released their first set of vehicles in Pittsburgh in August. This is more beneficial to the company and profits will certainly increase. Their major selling point is the fact that journeys will be cheaper, because passengers will no longer be paying for the driver as well as the car. Another advantage is that the robots will be able to work non-stop, whereas human drivers can only work for a maximum of 12 hours per day.

The self-driven cars will initially be available to Uber’s most loyal customers, who can continue calling a car via the app. Each car comes with a ‘safety driver,’ who will take over in the case of an emergency. In order to fulfil these requirements, Uber and Volvo have formed a partnership which will be the beginning of outfitting the entire company with these vehicles.

shutterstock_1488307492. Nutonomy

Even though Uber’s robotic cars are significantly more advanced than others in its field, they weren’t the first taxi company to use self-driving vehicles on public streets. In Singapore, Nutonomy customers already had the option of ordering a self-driving taxi using its app. The company has been giving complimentary journeys while the cars are in the experimental stages. They are trying to determine how much of the population will notice a difference in the ride, and whether or not they will like or dislike the idea of technology taking them from one place to another. Even though it is currently mandatory to have a safety driver in each vehicle, the company is looking forward to when it becomes legally approved for the cars to drive without them. They propose that these journeys will become safer because there will be less involved in getting the vehicles ready for use.

Regardless of their customers’ views, these self-driven vehicles are already a part of our travel. The next phase is that personal vehicles will become self-driven, and major car manufacturers are putting steps in place to get them approved for public road use as soon as possible.