A New Spin on Power
By Erin Scottberg
The construction of yet another emissions-belching turbine might not seem like cause for celebration. But like it or not, the world continues to run on fossil fuels--and General Electric's 7H turbine is a breakthrough in efficiency. Like its predecessor, the 7FA system, the 40-ft.-long, 400,000-pound 7H runs on relatively clean-burning natural gas. But, it produces 50 percent more power than the 7FA--with even lower NOx and CO2 emissions. The trick? Conventional gas turbines use air for cooling, but the 7H uses steam at 700 F. Steam absorbs heat better than air, allowing for a higher peak operating temperature without increasing the temperature inside the combustor, where most of a turbine's greenhouse gases are produced. Two 7H turbines will go on line in 2008 at a plant in Riverside County, Calif., where they will pump 775 megawatts into the local grid every day. That's enough energy to power some 600,000 homes.
Clearing the Air (of Bird Flu)
By Seth Fletcher
A world-wide flu pandemic lurks near the top of the fear food chain. An overgrown air purifier just might be able to save some lives.
With death toll estimates for a potential human bird flu pandemic starting in the millions, a climate of panic could spread if the disease were to gain traction. For companies such as AeroClave, in Orlando, Fla., that might represent a business opportunity. The company makes decontamination systems for commercial and military aircraft, and its leading product--also called AeroClave--is now being marketed as a multifaceted weapon in any future flu-versus-humanity showdown. The system comes in
modular units up to 53 ft. long (capable of cleaning 300,000 cu. ft. of space) and can turn a bus, train, aircraft or building into a makeshift quarantine area or germfree sanctuary. The AeroClave can sterilize an enclosed space by rapidly increasing the air's temperature and humidity, or by introducing certain gaseous sterilizing agents.
The AeroClave also can provide power, heating and cooling using a 500-kilowatt generator, and it even can create a quarter-mile-radius Wi-Fi hotspot. According to AeroClave founder Ronald Brown, the company is working on a deal to sell 60 units to Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries. The system has also drawn interest from FEMA, the Department of Homeland Security and the FAA. The units cost $650,000 apiece. If the feared pandemic does strike, that might end up seeming like a very good deal.
The Rise And Stall of a Police UAV
The Los Angeles Police Department has unveiled a plan to expand its aerial reach, complementing its 18 helicopters with a small, stealthy unmanned aerial vehicle called SkySeer. Each 3.1-pound drone has a 6.5-ft. wingspan and flies at up to 23 mph. That's too slow to chase cars,
but SkySeer's small size, quiet motor and belly-mounted video camera make it a natural for pursuing running suspects without tipping them off, or for surveilling nearly anyone. But don't speed-dial the ACLU just yet. During an early test, the prototype crashed. And when the FAA heard about the flight attempt, the agency pulled airspace rank, halting takeoffs until a permitting process is completed. The LAPD wants 20 drones, at a cost of $20,000 to $30,000 each.
By Erik Sofge
There's a whiff of mad science around a new invention from researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. The low-power device emits ultrasonic pulses that--somehow--induce mature bones and teeth to grow. The device was tested on human subjects over a period of three years. After a course of treatment that lasted 20 minutes a day for 12 weeks, teeth and jawbones showed 1mm to 2mm of growth. The technology is the result of a collaboration among two Canadian engineering professors and a dentist in Saudi Arabia, who used his practice in that country to conduct the initial tests. (He has since joined the Alberta faculty.) His subjects were teenagers who either were scheduled to have premolar teeth pulled or whose jawbones were underdeveloped on one side. The researchers have applied for patents in the United States and Canada, and hope to release commercial versions of their invention by 2008. A pea-size unit that stimulates a subject's dental root and gums could be attached directly to a tooth; a larger version that targets the jawbone could be bandaged to the face. The team is now at work on its next spooky trick: stimulating stem cell production to regrow a missing tooth from the root.
by Daniel H. Wilson
PM's resident roboticist scans the horizon for the next generation of autonomous fighting machines.
Robots are no strangers to the battlefield, but current droids rely on human control. The iRobot PackBot, a veteran model first deployed in Afghanistan in 2002, is less a robot than a rugged remote-control car. Other robots employ limited autonomy to make low-level decisions, calling on human help for tougher problems. But new robots are taking autonomy further--while gaining some superhuman abilities.
One of the most promising examples is REDOWL (Robot Enhanced Detection Outpost with Lasers), a dictionary-size box that sits atop a PackBot. It can instantly detect gunfire and pinpoint a sniper's position with a laser beam.
REDOWL was created by teams at Boston University and iRobot (makers of the Roomba). It's armed with six
pairs of microphones and has faster-than-human reflexes, thanks to a neural network that can recognize--and differentiate among--the acoustic properties of such weapons as an M-16, an AK-47 and a 9mm pistol. The neural network and mic placement are "biomimetic," essentially an artificial version of highly directional animal hearing.
In a recent test at a rifle range, REDOWL localized more than 95 percent of gunshots and correctly classified every one, gauging the distance to the shooter with a laser rangefinder from up to 100 meters away. REDOWL can't return fire--it's basically a targeting aid to help troops locate snipers. However, Glenn Thoren, deputy director of the Boston University Photonics Center, says, "It's obvious that this technology would work well with an armed platform."
Individual sniper detectors are only the beginning. In an Army experiment later this year, REDOWLs will attempt to triangulate the position of hidden assailants without a direct line of sight. One day, REDOWLs may coordinate with small UAVs, such as Honeywell's ducted-fan Micro Air Vehicle. These craft can "hover and stare," detecting and imaging man-size targets. Together, such robotic ears and eyes could help troops shut down an enemy sniper once he gets off a single shot.
Daniel H. Wilson's tongue-in-cheek book How to Survive a Robot Uprising was published in 2005. Wilson earned his doctorate in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University.
The 7H turbine being built in GE's Greenville, S.C., gas turbine plant. Once completed, the turbine will travel to Southern California by land and sea, taking a trip through the Panama Canal. PHOTOGRAPH BY GE ENERGY