From tmcnet.com, July 14, 2011, by Cheryl Kaften:  "An Israeli startup company is marketing the world's first solar-powered window-a double-glass pane embedded with PV cells that deliver energy efficiency, high-power density, and transparency.

Pythagoras Solar, a provider of photovoltaic glass unit (PVGU) technology based in Jerusalem, came to public attention in late June, when the company was selected as a winner of  the GE ecomagination Challenge, which recognizes the most promising building energy innovations. Winners were chosen from among nearly 5,000 entrants, based on originality, feasibility, and potential impact of their entries.

Stamford, Connecticut-based General Electric commented, 'Pythagoras Solar's window technology, an innovation for the real world, revolutionizes the design and construction of buildings, and answers market demand for aesthetically appealing architectural solutions that offer sustainability benefits and fast return on investment. With commercial installations underway, a growing project pipeline, and this prestigious award, Pythagoras Solar is well-positioned for success in the global marketplace.' "

Source:

Click on the link to read the full article

Green Technology World, tmcnet.com:  http://green.tmcnet.com/channels/solar-power/articles/196835-israeli-firm-says-no-pane-no-ga-with.htm   

Pythagoras Solar:  http://www.pythagoras-solar.com/company/news-and-events/pressrelease-pythagoras-solar-wins-ge-ecomagination-innovation-award.php  

Visit the GE ecomagination Website: http://www.ecomagination.com/  

Image: Pythagoras Solar 

From Defense Tech Briefs, April 1, 2011:  "A technology initially designed to lubricate aircraft parts could lead to more durable nonstick cookware and prosthetic bone-repair implants.

A technology initial

ly designed to lubricate aircraft parts could lead to more durable nonstick cookware and prosthetic bone-repair implants. Through a 2000 SBIR Phase II contract, the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO), a

predecessor of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), funded the Annapolis, MD-based company Technology Assessment & Transfer, Inc. (TA&T) to develop a low-friction, low-wear lubricant for the moving parts of missiles and aircraft.

After successfully developing a lubricant that met the SBIR contract's goals, the TA&T researchers determined that the chemistry and techniques involved in making the lubricant could be used to create hardened, wear-resistant coatings not just for improving the durability of defense technologies, but also for improving cooking equipment."

Source:

Click on the link to read the full article

Defense Tech Briefs:  http://www.defensetechbriefs.com/component/content/article/9638  

Learn More About: Technology Assessment & Transfer, Inc.  

Image: Defense Tech Briefs  

From Ohio State University Research News, 2011, by Pam Frost Gorder:  "Last year's $2 billion shutdown of European airspace following a volcanic eruption in Iceland alerted everyone to the danger that ash clouds can pose to aircraft engines.

Now, researchers have discovered that a new class of ceramic coatings could offer jet engines special protection against volcanic ash damage in the future.

For a study published online in the Early View edition of the journal Advanced Materials, the researchers tested two coatings that were originally developed to keep airborne sand from damaging jet engines, and found that the coatings also resist damage caused by ash deposits.

'Of course, it's best for jets to avoid ash in the first place,' said Nitin Padture, College of Engineering Distinguished Professor at the Ohio State University, who led the study. 'That's not always possible. We determined that these coatings could offer sufficient protection against small amounts of ash ingested by the engine over time.'

However, large amounts of ash can temporarily jam a jet engine and cause it to stall, he explained. These coatings would not be useful in those extreme circumstances."

Source:  

Click on the link to read the entire article:

Ohio State University Research News:  http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/volcanojet.htm   

From AZoNano.com, July 19, 2011, by J.Y. Chung, et al.:  

"Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have demonstrated a measurement technique that reliably determines three fundamental mechanical properties of near-nanoscale films. The technique, which highlights the challenge of making mechanical measurements on an object with at least one dimension comparable to the size of a virus, should enable better design and engineering for a variety of thin-film technologies, particularly reverse-osmosis membranes for water purification.

Reverse-osmosis membranes, explains NIST researcher Chris Stafford, are an interesting challenge for the materials scientist. The membranes are used in water purification systems - a polyamide film no more than 200 nanometers thick backed by a thicker, porous support layer. Water holding dissolved salts or other contaminants is forced against one side of the membrane at substantial pressures up to about a thousand psi (roughly 7 megapascal), and comes out the other side leaving most of the impurities behind. The mechanical integrity of the membrane is obviously essential - it can't tear or develop pinhole leaks under the pressure - but engineers lacked a good way to measure the strength and breaking point, under stress, of these extremely thin films." 

From AZoNano.com, July 5, 2011, by AZoNano Editors:

"The study of fatigue and fracture processes is possible by allowing repeated contact through impact. It is possible to sense the onset of damage as an "in situ" wear test and acquire mechanistic information that can be much more advantageous in intelligent coating design than simply reporting an average wear rate or hardness.

Nano-Impact was developed and has been patented by Micro Materials according to EU Patent 1095254 and is fast becoming a vital research tool in the very best global research institutions. Nano-Impact can operate at high strain rates and provides important additional information to nanoindentation. A wear test sample is shown..."    

Source:  

From Materials Views, July 13, 2011, by Geoffrey Ozin: 

"There is a lot to brag about these days in the field of nanoparticles. Control of their composition, size and shape, surface chemical and physical properties, and self-assembly into a myriad of forms are notable contributions of a nanochemistry approach to their study. They are attracting increasing interest for integration into advanced materials and biomedical devices. 

Colloidal stability enables the formation of thin films of nanoparticles by simple techniques such as spin and dip coating. Thin films can be formed from many types of nanoparticles, regardless of whether they are mono- or polydispersed in size and spherical or non-spherical in shape. By stacking multiple nanoparticle films of different refractive indices on top of one another it is possible to create superlattices with photonic properties that are dependent upon the geometrical thickness and refractive index of the component layers. This kind of multilayer architecture has an interesting history."

Source: Click the link to read the full article:

Materials Views: http://www.materialsviews.com/details/news/1240037/Bragging_about_Nanoparticles.html?utm_source=svc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=svc_mailing 

Image: Dr. Daniel Puzzo 

From International Powder Metallurgy Directory (ipmd.net), July 20, 2011:  "The paper by J Bris and S Lascano (Universidad del Norte, Barranquilla, Colombia); Y Torres, G Hernandez and J Rodriquez (Universidad de Sevilla, Spain) and J Pavon (Universidad de Antioquia, Medellin, Colombia) compared  two techniques for the preparation of porous samples from commercial purity Titanium grade-4 - loose powder sintering, followed by vacuum sintering at either 1000°C or 1100°C, and uniaxial compaction of powder mixes incorporating space-holder additions of NaCl in the volume fraction range of 40-70%, followed by space-holder removal in warm distilled water (50-60°C) for 4 hours and vacuum sintering at 1250°C.

The aim of this project was to address the problem of bone resorption resulting from the stress shielding effect arising from the stiffness ratio between the bone and the implant by producing porous titanium with stiffness comparable to that of cortical bone." 

Source: Click on the link to read the entire article:

International Powder Metallurgy Directory: http://www.ipmd.net/articles/001332.html  

Image: MPIF  

From Green-Buildings.com, by Sarah Gudeman: "Glazing can take several forms in a building application including curtain wall, operable windows, storefront, skylights and architectural glass. And while glazing has myriad properties that would be essential to consider from a building occupant, owner or architectural perspective, the ones called out specifically in energy codes and standards are u-value (also commonly referred to as u-factor) and solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC).

Essential Glazing Factors

U-value represents the thermal transmittance, or heat transmission through a unit area of material or construction assembly and the boundary air films, induced by unit temperature difference between the environments on each side, measured in Btu/hr-sq ft-°F.

SHGC is the ratio of the solar heat gain entering the space through the fenestration area to the incident solar radiation. Solar heat gain includes directly transmitted solar heat and absorbed solar radiation, which is then reradiated, conducted, or convected into space. The fenestration area (at least as far as ASHRAE 90.1 is concerned) refers to the total area measured using the rough opening and including the glazing, sash, and frame. So when the standard calls out an assembly maximum, it's not just center-of-glass values we need to take into consideration."

Source: Click the link to read the full article. 

Green-Buildings.com: http://www.green-buildings.com/content/781972-architectural-glass-6-glazing-technologies-consider 

From ColnatechNews Release, July 19, 2011: "Gilbert-based Colnatec LLC, a designer, developer and manufacturer of state-of-the-art sensors and electronic instrumentation, has been awarded a Phase II $450,000 U.S.
Department of Energy research grant to continue development of a self-cleaning, process control sensor for the manufacture of thin film (CIGS) solar cells. This follows a Phase I award the firm received last year, and it allows them to build upon current state-of-the-art technology and develop enhancements that will result in the production of an unlimited lifetime sensor capable of improving solar cell conversion efficiencies. 

"This sensor is a revolutionary development in continuous vacuum coating technology," said Colnatec CTO Scott Grimshaw. "Receiving the Phase II grant award will allow us to build and deliver first generation prototypes to thin film solar cell and flexible lighting manufacturers. We now can go from
concept to reality on an accelerated schedule to stay in-sync with a rapidly developing solar market." The successful construction of a heated, self-cleaning microbalance sensor will have applications far beyond thin film solar cell production according to Mr. Grimshaw. This includes furnace processing,
chemical vapor deposition (CVD), atomic layer deposition (ALD) and low temperature thin film processing. Also included is a new class of organic thin film devices known to be difficult to monitor in vacuum processing lines, such as OLEDs (Organic Light Emitting Diodes) and thin film lighting."  

Source: Click the link to read the full article.   

Colnatec: http://colnatec.com/uploads/Phase_II_SBIR_Colnatec.pdf

From Displaybank, June 30, 2011:  China's fast-paced investments in LEDs are expected to drive them to be #1 in number of MOCVDs globally by 2012. China is rapidly recruiting engineers from more technologically developed countries such as Korea. Brian Bae, senior analyst at Displaybank research noted that "we really need to pay closer attention to China where there is great potential for not only prices and capacity but also in terms of patents, performance and quality."  

Demand for MOCVD is also expected to increase in Korea, Taiwan and Japan as LEDs are used more in general lighting and with growth of LED backlight for large-sized LCDs. 

Source: Click the link to read the full article.

Displaybank:  http://www.displaybank.com/eng/info/sread.php?id=5945&pg=1&device2= 

Image: Displaybank 

From MIT News, July 11, 2011: MIT researchers have developed an inexpensive, simple solar cell on a "flimsy sheet, formed from special "inks" deposited on the paper. You can even fold it up to slip into a pocket, then unfold it and watch it generating electricity again in the sunlight.  

"The basic process is essentially the same as the one used to make the silvery lining in your bag of potato chips: a vapor-deposition process that can be carried out inexpensively on a vast commercial scale."

Source: Click the link to read the full article.

MIT News:  http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/printable-solar-cells-0711.html

Image: Patrick Gillooly