The heat of an active volcano. A 5,000 pound weight dropped from above. A sandstorm that lasts ten years. These are just some of the ways GE torture-tests the super-strong materials that go into jet engines, wind turbines, and more. And thanks to the company’s fascinating YouTube channel, we get an up-close view of the process. No safety goggles required.
"The biggest thing of all in research is the mental effect," Willis Whitney wrote in 1921, "the projecting of a beam of light into the infinite and the growth of man’s appreciation."
     |
The Boston Dynamics Big Dog is only the latest in a long line of semi-autonomous cargo carriers developed for the US military. Back in the late 1960’s, GE unveiled the Big Dog’s spiritual predecessor: a mammoth mechanical pack mule strong enough to push Jeeps around like Matchbox cars.
| |
When "invention machine" Quirky launched in 2009, it made a name for itself hocking plastic utensils and cord organizers—designed by you, for you. But over the past year, it’s made a play to move into turning your home into a Jetsons-worthy utopia. And it’s got the means—and brains—to do it.
| |
We do seem to be making a move to electric vehicles slowly but surely, as the world catches on with the idea of global warming being a disaster. Hybrid vehicles are enjoying a pretty good sales run at this point in time, although the percentage is far from dominating the auto sales market. Well, having more efficient people movers in large cities are important, and so too, would making sure that these public transportation arteries are run by environmentally friendly vehicles. General Electric intends to answer this clarion call with the Durathon battery that they claim is cheaper to power buses using clean energy.
Basically, the Durathon battery will be used in tandem with a lithium battery and a hydrogen fuel cell, where this combination makes it possible for the vehicle to achieve full performance with a much smaller fuel cell compared to previous attempts. The battery is built upon its predecessors, where previous tests with a dual-battery system on a clean fuel hybrid transit bus, working alongside a high-energy density sodium battery with a high-power lithium battery did the trick. This is somewhat similar to a previous attempt by Harvard scientists to create a fuel cell which can produce and store energy, where the gist of the idea is to merge the power of acceleration that is made possible by lithium batteries, alongside the storage capacity of sodium batteries such as the Durathon, to deliver the best of both worlds.
Since having a decent range is one major concern for electric vehicles, statistics have shown that this should not be a major worry for bus operators, as most of the transit buses that circulate on American roads travel less than 100 miles (160.9 km) each day. With 846,000 buses registered in the US, just pause for a moment and imagine if all of them switched to cleaner, emissions-free energy systems, the total amount of emissions reduced would definitely be a significant amount.
GE claims that next year will see thousands of Durathon batteries shipped from its Energy Storage business in Schenectady, New York, to customers in the telecommunication arena, where markets like Africa, the Middle East and South East Asia will benefit the most. We’re all for green energy, how about you?
Press Release
[ General Electric Durathon battery to power buses copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
Fifty years ago today, Nick Holonyak, Jr. proudly demonstrated the world’s first visible light-emitting diode (LED) at General Electric. In the process, he changed the world of lighting forever. More »
Every EV needs juice, but GE likes to dispense it in style, and it’s sticking to that mantra with its new, wall-mounted version of the WattStation. The weather-resistant charging point has been launched in
Continue reading GE launches eye-pleasing WattStation Wall EV charger in Europe
Filed under: Transportation
GE launches eye-pleasing WattStation Wall EV charger in Europe originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Sep 2012 12:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
GE and Urban Green Energy might not be the first to install a wind-powered EV charging station, but the two may be the best prepared to take the concept to a grander scale. The partnership just installed the first Sanya Skypump just outside of Barcelona to serve corporate and government drivers with truly clean energy at levels that meet their typically heftier demands. It’s billed as one of the first properly integrated wind-powered EV chargers, and it’s undoubtedly one of the more elegant: one of UGE’s 4K wind turbine towers catches energy from the breeze above, while a GE Durastation tucked neatly at the bottom provides high-voltage charging for EV drivers undoubtedly eager to get moving once again. Don’t worry if you don’t speak enough Catalan to charge up at the initial location, either, as plans are underway to bring Skypumps to malls and universities across Australia and the US before 2012 is over. The only catch is the frown you’ll likely get if you try to plug in a personal car for a top-up — let’s hope the attention swings towards completely green power sources for commuters in the near future.
Filed under: Transportation
GE, Urban Green Energy set up first integrated, wind-powered EV charging station (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Aug 2012 00:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you’d like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with “Insert Coin” as the subject line.
Just a simple light switch, you say? Look closer. Think Automatic’s Luminode dimmer switch hides both a processor and a mesh network connection that lets every switch in the home coordinate with each other. A multi-tap system makes it possible to link multiple lights together without extra wiring or complex programming, but that’s just the start: it’s possible to create “scenes” of predefined lighting levels and, with a USB adapter, hook up to home automation systems (including Think Automatic’s own) that can learn usage habits, track energy consumption or simply let us control the array with our smartphones. The platform uses raw XML to communicate and already talks to GE, Insteon and Stargate hardware — all without requiring a huge grid of buttons or displays.
Development of the Luminode is very nearly done after six-plus years of work in Seattle. The hardware is fundamentally ready and just needs the Kickstarter project to finish its FCC and UL testing along with the obligatory mass production. The hope is to start delivering switches in January as well as integrate more closely with non-lighting elements in the future. Pledge levels are dictated almost exclusively by volume: $130 is what it takes to get a basic two-switch kit, $260 will add the USB adapter along with an extra switch, and successive levels scale all the way up to a 50-switch, $3,000 kit for large homes. Think Automatic has a relatively low $35,000 threshold to meet its Kickstarter funding, but it only has 13 days left to go. If you like the idea of advanced lighting that doesn’t require an advanced appreciation of the user manual to understand, now’s a good time to click the source link and make it happen.
Filed under: Household
Insert Coin: Luminode dimmer switch runs on a mesh network, learns to light up our lives (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Aug 2012 21:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Believe it or not, EV battery life is still something of a Pandora’s Box, even for automakers: they can tell you the battery pack’s current and voltage, but not how it’s really performing under pressure. Ford, GE and the University of Michigan are uniting to unlock that mystery through a new ARPA-E project. In its role, GE is developing a minuscule sensor array that will track the nuances of battery cells that existing technology misses; it will promptly hand the baton to researchers at the University of Michigan, who plan to both prove that GE’s data is on the mark as well as develop tricks for predicting behavior. Ford handles the last mile, almost literally: it’s planning to fit the GE sensor technology to one of its cars and test in a more realistic environment. Before you fantasize about knowing the lifespan of your Focus Electric’s battery down to the minute, however, the new alliance is stressing that it’s only just getting started — there’s another three years and $3.1 million to go before the project wraps up. If all goes according to plan, though, we’ll have electric cars and plug-in hybrids that can not only tell when they’ve seen better days but can eke out extra miles through smarter battery designs.
Filed under: Transportation
Ford, GE and University of Michigan team up on sensor to track EV battery life, keep us on the road originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 05 Aug 2012 12:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
