The technique that TU Delft and Canon-Océ developed for making relief reproductions of paintings rceived extensive media coverage in September. Arts experts frowned at it.
Posted in Articles, Delft Outlook.
By Jos Wassink
– december 22, 2013
Quite a bit of heat gets lost in industry and on the road. A technique that involves using residual heat is attracting more and more interest.
Posted in Articles, Delft Outlook.
By Jos Wassink
– december 22, 2013
Photo: Dr. Sam Ani with his low-cost self-built generator – Photo: Tomas van Dijk
“A thousand euros for a complete wind turbine system, that’s what I’m aiming for.” This is Dr. Sam Ani talking, who obtained a PhD in electrical engineering by successfully developing a low-cost generator for developing countries.
We tend to take access to electric power for granted and become annoyed, stressed or just plain helpless when a power cut occurs. For 1.3 billion people in developing countries, electricity is a far dream since they are either too far from any grid facilities, or they are on the end of the line where power cuts tend to last longer than the active periods. So what do people do? They start up their own mini generators in order not to have to sit in the dark without television. Continued…
Posted in Articles, Delta.
Tagged with developing countries, low-cost, wind turbine.
By Jos Wassink
– maart 18, 2013
A house in Amsterdam needs extra support to prevent collapse
Environmental engineer Dr. Giorgia Giardina improved the method for estimating what damages to brick houses can be expected as a result of tunnelling activities.
Giardina opens her PhD-thesis with a photo of a cracked building in Amsterdam that was damaged as a result of an accident in an adjacent excavation, which made the soil under it flow away. As a result, one side of the house ended up a whopping 25 cm lower than the other. Such a settlement is a catastrophic event that by the way has nothing to do with tunnelling, as Giardina points out. Continued…
Posted in Articles, Delta.
Tagged with brick buildings, settlement, tunneling.
By Jos Wassink
– maart 18, 2013
Dr. Eduardo Mendes (left) and prof. Stephen Picken with their synthetic super gel. (Photo: Tomas van Dijk)
Researchers from TU and Nijmegen University have amazed and inspired other scientists with a synthetic super gel that behaves biologically.
Science magazine Nature says the polymer gel will provide opportunities for materials scientists for years to come. It illustrates the gel’s wondrous properties by a thought experiment: ‘Take one kilogram of polyisocyanide (the gel, ed.). Sprinkle liberally across an Olympic swimming pool. Warm gently. Within minutes, your jelly is ready. Serves 25 million.’ Continued…
Posted in Delta, Uncategorized.
Tagged with biopolymers, peptides.
By Jos Wassink
– maart 18, 2013
With 1.000 individually acryl shaped panels and 6.000 fixture points, the Kunsthaus in Graz, Austria, would be a good candidate for additive manufacturing. Design: Cook & Fournier. Photo: Ulrich Knaack
3D-printing of entire buildings may lie ahead. But for now, custom-made facades will allow better realisation of today’s computer-based freeform designs, argues PhD-student Holger Strauss in his thesis.
Additive Manufacturing (AM) is a collective term for 3D-printing techniques in plastic, metal or other materials. It differs from today’s standard ‘subtractive’ techniques in that the elements are built up from base material instead of carved out of a larger block. Whilst building up, the designer can influence the shape as she wishes. ‘The goal is no longer to design according to production method, but to produce according to design idea’, as MIT’s Technology Review expressed it.
AM has demonstrated great potential for specific applications in aerospace, automotive industry and medical applications. It is also becoming more popular in manufacturing of end-use products, like people printing their own jewellery or replacement parts for utensils. Continued…
Posted in Articles, Delta.
Tagged with architecture, facades, Holger Strauss.
By Jos Wassink
– januari 14, 2013
The tramway under construction on campus will feature a patented, world’s first compensation system for the tram’s stray magnetic fields. Here’s how it works.
Professor Lou van der Sluis (electrical power systems, EEMCS) remembers being at a reception with TU’s Executive Board when concerns about the tramway’s stray magnetic field were discussed. Concern arose over to what extent would magnetic fields caused by a tram on the Mekelweg interfere with sensitive measurements at the faculty of Applied Sciences across the road. Continued…
Posted in Articles, Delta.
Tagged with compensation, EM powersystems, Lou van der Sluis, magnetic disturbance, Overbeeke, Pieter Kruit, tram.
By Jos Wassink
– november 19, 2012
Cool chick - Photo: www.emperor-penguin.com
Is cooling possible without using gases that break down the ozone layer or contribute to the greenhouse effect? The 10th Gustav Lorentzen conference, this week in Delft, presents the progress thus far.
Professor Gustav Lorentzen (1915 – 1995) was an expert in thermodynamics at the University of Trondheim, Norway. He is regarded as the founding father of natural cooling and heating. That is: cooling and heating without synthetic refrigerants. In the 1980s, it was first discovered that widely used chlorinated fluorocarbons (CFCs) were detrimental to the ozone layer. Subsequently, it also became clear that hydro-fluoro compounds (HFCs), which were used as replacements, were potent greenhouse gases. At that time, Prof. Lorentzen re-discovered the use of CO2 as a refrigerant for cooling and heating. CO2 had been abandoned in the 1930s for CFC’s, which were easier to handle. Half a century later, Prof. Lorentzen’s idea formed the basis for the natural cooling movement. Continued…
Posted in Articles, Delta.
Tagged with ammonia, CFC's, CO2, cooling, Gustav Lorentzen, Infante Ferreira, refrigerant, water.
By admin
– juni 28, 2012
Some 300 students and researchers attended to the symposium. (Photo’s: Abram Scheulderman)
The new field of synthetic biology lies in between huge promises for 21st century sustainable productions of food, fuels and materials, and tinkered solutions. “We need to develop technology standards.”
An early morning crowd gathered in front of De Veste theatre last Monday morning. Inside, a group of impeccably dressed students, wearing grey suits and orange ties, hosted some 250 visitors at the Life Science symposium on ‘Synthetic Biology’. After two years of preparation, the symposium committee of the LIFE study association (life science and technology) was about to present their line-up of internationally renowned experts in this new field of science that is said to ‘redefine life’. Continued…
Posted in Articles, Delta.
Tagged with Amyris, Cees Dekker, Drew Endy, Eriko Tkano, Kirsten Benjamin, LIFE, Martin Fussenegger, synthetic biology.
By admin
– mei 23, 2012
Crew pilot Dieter Castelein hovers the Atmos. (Photo: Jos Wassink)
Aerospace Engineering students are competing for the best autonomous flying and long-term observing robot. The UAVForge competition will be held on a hilly training site in Georgia from May 9 to 19.
The mission for the eight students is to fly their unmanned air vehicle (UAV) to a three-story building 3.5 kilometres away, land on the building and observe the square in front of it for three hours, then take-off and fly back to base over a preset route containing various obstacles. If you think of it, the complexity is staggering because the Atmos (Autonomous Transition Multi-rotor Observation Vehicle) will mostly be out of site of its pilot and must operate largely on its own. This includes landing on the edge of a high building. Continued…
Posted in Articles, Delta.
Tagged with Atmos, DARPA, quadrotor, UAV.
By admin
– mei 10, 2012
