Suspended Particle Device (SPD) technology is a “switchable” light-control technology that has numerous performance and cost advantages over other technologies. SPD-Smart products allow you to instantly and precisely control how clear or dark glass or plastic is, and to easily adjust the light transmission of the product manually or automatically. This is made possible by a thin, flexible SPD film invented by Research Frontiers.
Available as a film or already incorporated into glass, SPD film can be easily adapted to a variety of products that people use every day, such as architectural windows, automotive windows, sunglasses, display screens for laptop computers, cellular telephones, instrument panels, electronic games and point-of-purchase and advertising displays, billboards and road signs. [Excerpted from the Smartglass website; suggested by Jeff Miller, Seattle.]
Dennis Lin designed these Braille tiles when he was looking for a way to express a message in a literal, but subtle, way: "If the writing ain't on the wall already, these tiles provide the perfect way to get it up there."
Each 6" x 12"cast polymer tile represents a character of the Braille alphabet, and costs $50. Custom 'tactile messages' may be ordered directly from Totem Design. [Excerpted from the Totem Design website; suggested by Peter Girgis, New York.]
Inaba Electric Works has developed Eco-Curtain, a wind-powered system designed for integration in building facades. The curtain, displayed here above the entrance to a shopping mall in Nagoya, Japan, demonstrates a creative solution for environmentally-friendly power generation within a dense urban environment. The structure is comprised by 775 vertical-axis windmills which should produce 7,551 kilowatt-hours annually. Inaba has also integrated solar panels at the top of the structure for increased generation capacity. [Excerpted from Worldchanging; suggested by Bonnie Duncan, Seattle.]
Pervious Pavement is a cement-based concrete product that has a porous structure which allows rainwater to pass directly through the pavement and into the soil naturally. This porosity is achieved without compromising the strength, durability, or integrity of the concrete structure itself.
The pavement is comprised of a special blend of Portland Cement, coarse aggregate rock, and water. Once dried, the pavement has a porous texture that allows water to drain through it at the rate of 8 to 12 gallons per minute per square foot. For reference, tests conclude that a square foot of bahia sod drains at the rate of 2 1/2 to 3 gallons per minute. According to the manufacturer, this rapid flow-through ratio inspired the phrase "the pavement that drinks water." [Excerpted from the Central Concrete Supply website; suggested by Lilian Asperin-Clyman, San Francisco.]
A paint that soaks up some of the most noxious gases from vehicle exhausts will go on sale in Europe in March. Its makers hope it will give architects and town planners a new weapon in the fight against pollution.
Called Ecopaint, the substance is designed to reduce levels of the nitrogen oxides, collectively known as the NOx gases, which cause respiratory problems and trigger smog production.
Patents filed last week show how the novel coating works. The paint's base is polysiloxane, a silicon-based polymer. Embedded in it are spherical nanoparticles of titanium dioxide and calcium carbonate 30 nanometres wide. Because the particles are so small, the paint is clear, but pigment can be added. The first paint to go on sale will be white.
The polysiloxane base is porous enough to allow NOx to diffuse though it and adhere to the titanium dioxide particles. The particles absorb ultraviolet radiation in sunlight and use this energy to convert NOx to nitric acid.
The acid is then either washed away in rain, or neutralized by the alkaline calcium carbonate particles, producing harmless quantities of carbon dioxide, water and calcium nitrate, which will also wash away. [Excerpted from Jenny Hogan, "Smog-busting paint soaks up noxious gases," NewScientist.com; suggested by Margaret Montgomery, Seattle]
Malaysia supplies 50 percent of the world's palm oil, a raw material in high demand for the food processing and chemical industries. In this country, palm trees flourish on nearly eight percent of the land. Their fruit is roughly the size of a plum and grows in umbels. It is harvested every two months for the production of oil. In addition to the stripped fruit stalks, palm leaves and parts of the tree trunk make up the large quantities of waste left behind in the oil production process. Yet these materials are too valuable a resource to merely throw away or burn. Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research, Wilhelm Klauditz Institute, WKI, have been cooperating with the Malaysian Palm Oil Board to investigate ways of using this vast volume of fibrous waste. The conclusion: the fibers have been found to be highly suitable for the manufacture of fiberboard for the construction and furniture industries.
Fraunhofer researchers started by studying the untreated raw materials at their laboratory in Brunswick. "The first experimental investigations quickly showed that the various residual materials have the right attributes for being processed to make medium-density fiberboard - MDF," reports engineer Volker Thole of the WKI. "We optimized the various stages of the process for pulping the fibers and processing them into materials for making fiberboard. The stripped fruit stalks, palm leaves and other residual materials are crushed and then pulped into fibrous material in a thermomechanical process. Steam heats the fibers and then the soft raw material is ground in a refiner. Finally, adhesive is added and the material hot-pressed to achieve the desired density and final solid form of the fiberboard.
"Alternative raw materials such as palm tree waste offer a great opportunity for Malaysia and other countries to conserve their primary rainforests," sums up project manager Thole. After all, what was once fibrous waste from oil production can become the rear wall of storage units, closets, kitchen furniture or laminated floor coverings. [Excerpted from the Fraunhofer Institute website.]
Like structural glass channels, corrugated glass experienced its first widespread use in industrial buildings in Europe due to its structural integrity and relative economy, and was later adopted by the international design community for aesthetic reasons. Until recently, however, it has been difficult to find a producer of corrugated glass in North America.
Joel Berman Glass Studios in Vancouver, BC now produces 53" x 118" corrugated glass panels of varying depths, profiles, and colors. The panels may be tempered or laminated, and the corrugations can run in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal direction. The sides of the panels are flanged to accommodate a variety of framing systems.
The Dimension Elevator serves as a publicly accessible forum for immersive art. Environments are realized through synchronized video projections on four walls accompanied by four-channel audio. Imagine four large video screens arranged to form a room for up to 20 people. Vivid panoramic imagery and sounds surround and engage you. The focus of the installation is to provide a new level of viewer experience and encourage creative explorations for both new media artists and the viewing public.
While immersive experiences have long been available in venues such as IMAX theatres, rides at theme parks, and arcade hall videogames, the Dimension Elevator is different in that it is accessible to both artists and art viewers. Rather than requiring a company to spend a year creating a show that is highly strategized and targeted so that it can be economically successful, a single person can create a unique sensory experiment in an afternoon.
Originally the dream of architecture student and programmer Stephen Holland-Chang, the Dimension Elevator premiered July 2001 at Consolidated Works, a contemporary arts center in Seattle, Washington. Twelve local artists and artist teams responded to create the eighteen environments exhibited. [Excerpted from the Dandelion Collective website.]
SUN-TEC is a producer of transparent LED embedded films specifically designed for lamination in glass. These films are made of PVB or resin. Applications include architectural glass in commercial and residential buildings, interior design, automobile windows and sunroofs, aircraft and marine lighting and windows, floors, walls, ceilings, doors, mirrors, windows and any other possibility where glass can be used to good effect.
The SUN-TEC system is low-voltage, and has extremely long life. Both white and colored LEDs are available, and the LED layout is entirely customizable. [Excerpted from the Sun-Tec Florida website; suggested by Diane Lasko, Seattle.]
Polyal is produced from manufacturing overruns that were once discarded directly into landfills. The extra polystyrene and aluminum (hence the name Polyal) from the production of yogurt containers are heated and compressed into a solid sheet. As the sheet hardens, the aluminum slivers begin to stratify and impart rigidity to the material. The resulting solid surface material is attractive, tough and weatherproof. It is ideal for tabletops, shower surrounds, transaction counters, and any application that is appropriate for solid surface material. It is also heat resistant and food-safe.
Polyal is available in several colors and thickness. Each piece is unique because the foil and original flavor of the container determine its characteristics. Polyal can be cut, drilled and shaped like any other solid surface material. For furniture and tabletops, it can be supplied to size in rectangles, rounds and boat shapes as well as having various edge treatments effected at the factory. [Excerpted from the decorcable website.]
"Imagine ... A city square by night, the paving is scattered with hundreds or thousands of tiny lights. Each light is set into the paving and sparkles and shimmers. Walking across the square is like walking over a magical glowing sea of sparkly lights." - SVA
The Tsola is a light-tile that works on sunlight. Measuring 20 x 20 cm, the tile contains a solar cell. The tile is illuminated by sunlight during the day and emits light for approximately eight hours at night. Its major advantage is that it needs no wiring; hence, it is less likely to malfunction. Applications include parks, walks, car parks, steps, and drives.
The lamp inside a Tsola Light is available in a range of colours and has a life of twenty years. The light can also be made to shimmer or even flash like a camera.
The light looks like an unobtrusive glass panel measuring about 200mm or 8 inches square. It can be set flush with paving, lawns or flower beds, or it can be turned on its side and set into walls. [Excerpted from the Sutter Vane and O2 websites; suggested by Cortney Langevin, San Francisco.]
GlassFresco is an innovative new product that combines continuous-tone color imagery with Cesar Color's proprietary interlayer technology. Working from photographs, slides, digital-data files or customer provided artwork, it is possible to create dramatic architectural glass products in opaque, transparent or translucent compositions. As shown in Amanda Weil's three-sided shower design above, fine art and photographic images can now be used as design elements achieving effects not previously possible.
Processed under heat and pressure, Cesar Color's tough and resilient thermoplastic laminating interlayer permanently bonds two lights of glass. The completed product is a laminated safety glass which complies with all major building codes and industry standards. Laminated glass resists penetration by impacting objects and is almost impossible to cut from one side. GlassFresco offers significantly greater resistance to forced entry than ordinary monolithic glass.
Cesar Color's design staff assist specifiers by facilitating the transfer of artistic expressions within the glass medium. Custom applications and designs are encouraged. [Excerpted from the Cesar Color website.]
It's maybe a bit too expensive to use for the baubles on a Christmas tree, but it's already available for car owners who like to "be different": a paint that shimmers in a myriad of colors like an oil slick on a wet road. The appearance of all the colors of the rainbow is created by the interference pattern of extremely thin films applied to minute flakes. These microparticles measure less than a tenth of a millimeter across. The special properties of these tiny particles make them increasingly popular, because they can give products undreamed-of capabilities.
Microparticles are used to give many materials additional, unusual properties: like the screws that stick fast when they are tightened, because the thread is coated with microcapsules containing adhesive. A familiar product is the carbonless paper used for multiple copies of forms - they contain minute encapsulated particles of ink. There are plastics with incorporated hard microparticles, which can be shaped like any other plastic but offer unusual resistance to impact. In medicine, capsules of drugs containing particles of iron can be directed to the place where they are to act by means of magnetic fields.
Altogether, experts estimate that the world market for micro-encapsulated products is worth around five billion US dollars per year. But numerous problems have to be solved before a product can go into mass production: What powders can be obtained by drying a very finely sprayed suspension? What methods can be used to create crystals of precisely uniform size from an emulsion, i.e. minute droplets suspended in a liquid? Which reactive resins or plastics are the most suitable for use in the encapsulation of microparticles? Answering these questions calls for highly advanced expertise in chemistry and process engineering. Professor Rolf Kümmel of the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology UMSICHT explains: "We use computer simulations to analyze the behavior of the microparticles. This helps us to understand the finer details of what happens during various manufacturing processes." [Excerpted from the Fraunhofer Institute website.]
Trespa Meteon is an extremely weather resistant panel material, unaffected by sunlight, rain - including “acid rain” - or moisture. The phenolic-based material is also highly impact resistant, and the surface of the panel has a closed structure, which does not attract dirt and makes deliberate defacing difficult. The fire behavior of the panel material is safe - it does not melt, drip or explode and retains its stability for a long time. Furthermore, Trespa Meteon is easy to work with and simple to maintain. There’s no need to paint, finish or cover the surfaces or cut edges. Sawing, drilling and tooling can be carried out with standard hardwood tools.
Trespa Meteon is available in more than 50 colors, ranging from primary to metallic colors, with a decorative surface on one or both sides. Trespa Meteon is supplied in three standard sheet sizes and four thicknesses. There is also a choice of grades: standard with a black core and fire retardant (FR) with brown core. [Excerpted from Trespa's website.]
The Transportation Analysis and Simulation System, or TRANSIMS, is an integrated system of travel forecasting models designed to give transportation planners accurate, complete information on traffic impacts, congestion, and pollution. Los Alamos National Laboratory is leading this effort to develop new transportation and air quality forecasting procedures required by the Clean Air Act, the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, and other regulations. It is part of the Travel Model Improvement Program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Energy.
TRANSIMS models create a virtual metropolitan region with a complete representation of the region's individuals, their activities, and the transportation infrastructure. Trips are planned to satisfy the individuals' activity patterns. TRANSIMS then simulates the movement of individuals across the transportation network, including their use of vehicles such as cars or buses, on a second-by-second basis. This virtual world of travelers mimics the traveling and driving behavior of real people in the region. The interactions of individual vehicles produce realistic traffic dynamics from which analysts using TRANSIMS can estimate vehicle emissions and judge the overall performance of the transportation system. [Excerpted from the Transims website.]
Spacer is a high-tech upholstery fabric with a three-dimensional look. Visually, it appears to be three separate fabrics that have been connected. This look is achieved by a complex knitting process allowing all layers to be knitted at once which makes it incredibly strong. This structure makes the fabric thick without being too dense. Consequently, Spacer is a very comfortable fabric to sit on.
This fabric is available in five bright colors. The bright colors are achieved by digitally printing the color onto the fabric. This also enhances the three-dimensional appearance because the color is sprayed through the top surface. Spraying, as opposed to piece dyeing, allows the middle layer to remain white. [Excerpted from the JhaneBarnesTextiles website.]
Our longing for summer and sunshine has not been answered too often this year. But no sooner do the sun's rays make their way through the clouds, complaints abound about the heat and dazzling light this generates in our modern glass buildings. Venetian blinds, shutter blinds and curtains are rolled up and down, pulled from left to right.
A markedly more elegant and less bothersome solution is provided by windows that automatically produce their own shade. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP, Stuttgart, under contract to industry, are developing window panes which transform to a milky white when temperatures reach a certain level, thus serving as protection from the sun.
Dr. Holger Gödeke, an engineer at the IBP, explains, "The goal of our work was to find a thermotropic system that could be easily produced and thus compete with conventional mechanical sun-shade installations." The outcome is T-OPAL, a cast resin glass with an integrated polymer layer. "Cast resin glass has long been used in fire and sound insulation. In order to provide protection against the sun, the production method is slightly altered," Gödeke explains. "The polymer is poured between two panes of glass as a thin liquid mass. When exposed to UV rays the polymers turn into a solid mass." When temperatures reach a specific point, established during production, the structure of crystals stored in the polymer layer changes, making the initially transparent window opaque.
On sunny winter days, however, the sun can shine into the building unhindered, allowing for the use of its solar energy, since it is the combination of temperature and intensity of the UV rays that triggers the transformation of the polymer layer. "Once the glass has become opaque, the temperature must drop about 5 to 10 degrees, as it does for example overnight, for the glass to return to its transparent state." These inexpensive glass panes are also well-suited for sun protection in winter gardens, glass domes, green houses or automobiles, and serve as protection against dazzle from skylights and glazed roof panels in train stations and museums, or to prevent the overheating of solar collector panels. [Excerpted from the Fraunhofer Institute website.]
British scientists have invented the darkest material on Earth. The super-black coating was developed by researchers at the National Physical Laboratory in London. It could revolutionize optical instruments because it reflects 10 to 20 times less light than the black paint currently used to reduce unwanted reflections.
The key to the nickel and phosphorous coating's blackness is that its surface is pitted with microscopic craters. "Super-black" is especially effective at absorbing light which hits it at an angle. With the light source at right angles, the coating reflects less than 0.35%. Black paint reflects about 2.5% - seven times more.
One of the early applications might be on star-trackers, navigational aids which help spacecraft stay on course by fixing on pinpricks of light in the heavens. The material could also be used in works of art. NPL says several artists have shown an interest.
Nigel Fox, who heads the optics group at NPL, said: "When you look at the black, it is an incredibly beautiful surface. It's like black velvet." [Excerpted from the Ananova website; suggested by Gary Cruce, Seattle.]
Developed by New Zealand-based Zephyr Technology Ltd., iMAT is sensing technology which uses electric field measuring techniques to determine the distance between two surfaces. This technology allows flexible and formable sensors that can measure displacement, force, pressue, weight, impact events, movement, and breathing.
iMAT sensors are cost effective, flexible, and may be manufactured in a variety of shapes. Any compressible medium such as PE foam or EVA may be used. Typical applications include wearable smart fabrics, 3D mapping of bodies, non-contact patient movement and respiratory analysis, real-time radio-linked pressure mapping, in-field patient monitoring, and body armor impact sensing. [Excerpted from the Zephyr website; suggested by Ben Zuckerman, Vancouver, BC.]
While the traditional open fireplace is appealing, it is often incompatible with modern housing and contemporary living standards and lacks the necessary environmental care, efficiency and design flexibility that consumers are looking for. The EcoSmart Fire presents a solution to these problems.
The EcoSmart Fire is an Australian innovation - an environmentally friendly open fireplace. Flue-less and easily transportable, the EcoSmart Fire does not require any installation or utility connection for fuel supply, which makes it ideal for apartment and city living. Fuelled by a renewable energy (Denatured Ethanol), it burns clean and is virtually maintenance free.
The fuel is housed in a stainless steel chamber called the EcoSmart Burner. The built-in regulatory mechanism allows you to regulate and extinguish the flame, which means you can manipulate the amount of heat being generated and the quantity of fuel used. The life of the fire is determined by the amount of fuel in the burner. Once the fuel is burnt there is nothing to clean or clear.
EcoSmart Fires can be free standing, wall mounted, fully fitted into a range of personalized finishes, shapes and colors or inserted into a closed-off fireplace. The burner can also be inserted into joinery to create a streamlined bench top feature. Without the need for flue or pipe connections, EcoSmart Fires offer remarkable design flexibility previously unavailable to the consumer. [Excerpted from the EcoSmart website; suggested by Stasia Czech, Columbus, OH.]
After a bomb went off in 1988 on Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 passengers onboard, the Federal Aviation Administration created standards that industry would have to meet if it chooses to deploy luggage containers capable of withstanding such a blast. During the 1990s, the FAA tested 10 hardened luggage containers made from a variety of materials, including reinforced aluminum, fiberglass, aramid fibers and polymers.
Only one container - concocted from fiber-metal laminates developed originally by the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands - passed the FAA's test and received certification. The material, called Glare (short for glass reinforced), consists of multiple aluminum layers interspersed with layers of fiberglass and adhesive bonding that are supple yet strong. When used in fabricating luggage containers, Glare can absorb bomb blasts without breaching.
As Glare expands with a blast, it absorbs the explosive energy and redistributes the impact load to the adjacent surface area rather than to one specific weak spot. The bomb blast leaves a sizable deformation in the container's surface, but it remains intact. Moreover, whereas other FAA-tested containers were also able to contain the bomb blast, Glare, whose glass fibers boast a melting point of 1,500 degrees Celsius, could resist the subsequent luggage-fueled fire inside the container. The post-blast fire melts Glare's innermost aluminum layer, but in doing so the underlying adhesive bond carbonizes, keeping the fiberglass layers in place and effectively forming a fire wall that prevents the container from collapsing.
Glare is considered suitable for any application where a strong and relatively lightweight material is desirable. It may be fashioned into windmill blades, the hull of a high-speed boat, or a police shield. [Excerpted from David McMullin, "Lockerbie Insurance" in
Scientific American, January 2002, pp.15-16]
Film Speaker
Q-TI has produced a speaker which is as thin as paper, transparent as glass, light as vinyl, and can be rolled up like tape. The speaker emits audio in all directions, and can be printed or painted with any image.
Film Speaker is made of a piezoelectric coating bonded with PVDF (Poly Vinylidene Fluoride). Previously, it had been very difficult to adhere any material to a PVDF surface. However, a new surface modification technology makes it possible to form electrodes on the PVDF surface with strong adhesion.
After the polymer surface is irradiated by a low energy ion beam in a reactive gas environment, polar functional groups can be formed on the surface and change into a hydrophilic state. This IAR treated polymer can be easily printed with strong adhesion. Ultra flat and uniform film can be obtained using a P&I coating technique (PICT).
Electrical signal from audio source, such as tape or CD player, is transmitted to a speaker via electric wire or wave. Then a diaphragm vibrates air and reproduces the original sound. Conventional speakers occupy significant space and require a fixed form like a cone or oval shape in order to reproduce good sound with the help of resonance. There are also many ceramic parts in a conventional speaker and many steps are required for the parts to be created.
Film Speaker, on the other hand, is made with a simple process. A simple sandwich structure is created by forming polymeric electrodes on both sides of the surface-modified PVDF film. Sound can then be generated from a sheet of film without any thermal treatment and additional process. [Suggested by Gary Cruce, Seattle.]
