New Form of Touchscreen Displays Pioneered, Extremely Multi-Touch
You've heard of resistive touchscreens, and hopefully you've been fortunate enough to own a capacitive touchscreen phone. But have you heard of Interpolating Force-Sensitive Resistance, or I.F.S.R touchscreen technology? Touchco hopes you soon will. A bunch of scientists at New York Universit![DIY Moped Runs on Air [Air Powered]](http://gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2008/04/800_AirPropelVehicle09PlanetMechanics.JPG)
DIY Moped Runs on Air [Air Powered]
This Puch moped only has a range of about 7 miles and with a top speed of only 18 mph, it isn't going to break any land speed records, but there is definitely something special about it: it runs on air. Jim Stansfield, an aeronautics graduate outfitted his Puch with a pair of carbon-fiber air cylind
Broadcom Wi-Fi Chips to Have Skyhook Wi-Fi Positioning Built-In
Broadcom already makes a boatload of the GPS chips found in mobile phones and other location-aware gadgets, and now they're adding Skyhook's Wi-Fi positioning service to most of their mobile Wi-Fi chipsets, spreading the location-based love even without GPS. This is how iPhone regular finds you
Nokia C6 and C7 Touchscreen Phones Have 8MP Camera and New ClearBlack Displays
Describing the C6 as a "premium touchscreen," it has a new ClearBlack Display which they're trying to position as the Pioneer KURO of the phone world—blacker blacks, but also brighter colors. The C7 is an even skinnier version. Both Symbian^3 phones have 8MP cameras and shoot video at 720p reso
CCleaner 2.21.940
CCleaner is a freeware system optimization and privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. But the best part is that it's fast (normal
12TB DVDs Could Be On The Way
A storage density of 51MB per square centimeter? Whatever, standard DVDs. Australian scientists developed a new multilayer optical storage medium that can house data at 1.1TB/cm3. Unlike existing DVD technology, the key to this data storage technique is the fact that multiple pieces of data can b
Sign Up Now to Test Google Wave in September
Yesterday we told you that Google Wave was opening to 100,000 regular folk at the end of September, but on closer examination, it looks like Google's already allowing users to get in line for their invite to the limited preview. Just head over to the Google Wave's sign up for updates page, enter iUMich VIVACE Hydropower System Makes Energy From Slow Currents
Posted by AceNik on Dec 3, 2008•
Email This Post | |
A new hydropower prototype from the University of Michigan could end up using even slower river and ocean currents to generate energy. VIVACE, which stands for Vortex Induced Vibrations for Aquatic Clean Energy, can generate power from as little as 2 knots, making it more useful than most turbine and water mill systems out there, which need an average of 5 to 6 knots to operate efficiently.
The system works by harnessing “vortex induced vibrations,” the thrumming caused by the flow of liquid or air over rounded objects. A cylinder placed underwater is subject to the current and starts to vibrate as liquid sticks and creates eddies on the object’s opposite side. It’s the same scientific principle that caused the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows bridge in 1940.
“For the past 25 years, engineers—myself included—have been trying to suppress vortex induced vibrations. But now at Michigan we’re doing the opposite. We enhance the vibrations and harness this powerful and destructive force in nature,” said VIVACE developer Michael Bernitsas, a professor in the U-M Department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering.
Just a few cylinders could possibly power an anchored ship or a lighthouse. An array of VIVACE cylinders about the size of a running track could produce energy at 5.5 cents per kilowatt hour and power about 100,000 houses. U of M is now working on possibly deploying a pilot project in the Detroit River within the next 18 months. [UMich via Gizmag]
Related posts
Other News:
Loading...
RSS
