Building equipment and envelope scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory were recognized for research excellence during the ASHRAE 2024 summer conference held in Indianapolis.
Candle flames, cars, and airplanes emit harmful gases and particles, which are formed through highly complex processes involving extremely fast reactions and often transient flow conditions. To better understand these processes, scientists from the USA and Europe developed the fastest 2D planar imaging system.
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a new automated drone inspection system that can respond rapidly to unusual electric grid behavior, especially in remote areas that are tough for a worker to reach. ORNL demonstrated the new approach at a training facility for powerline workers owned by utility partner EPB of Chattanooga in Tennessee.
Winning the 2024 Human Rover Explorer Challenge (HERC) provided an engineering student team at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of the University of Alabama System, the opportunity to perform STEM outreach in the Dominican Republic (DR) this summer.
A pilot’s initiative to track the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane that decimated the Florida Keys marked the beginning of the era of today’s legendary hurricane hunters.
An insect species that evolved 130 million years ago is the inspiration for a new research study to improve navigation systems in drones, robots, and orbiting satellites.
Whisper Aero, a start-up in Crossville, Tennessee, is revolutionizing aviation with its ultra-quiet electric ducted fan technology. Using the Summit supercomputer, the company is designing the Whisper Jet, a nine-passenger electric plane featuring 20 to 30 small, silent EDFs to drastically reduce noise and emissions compared to traditional engines. Summit’s advanced simulations have accelerated their design process by over 20%, enabling rapid development and optimization of their aircraft. The technology is also being adapted for quieter commercial products like leaf blowers.
A discovery that uncovered the surprising way atoms arrange themselves and find their preferred neighbors in multi-principal element alloys (MPEA) could enable engineers to “tune” these unique and useful materials for enhanced performance in specific applications ranging from advanced power plants to aerospace technologies, according to the researchers who made the finding.
A new joint study by RMIT and The University of Bristol has revealed the secrets to the remarkably steady flight of kestrels and could inform future drone designs and flight control strategies.
A University of Kentucky researcher is creating innovative methods to make drones safer and smarter. Xu Jin, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in the UK Stanley and Karen Pigman College of Engineering, has received the prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award.
This August, a student team at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of the University of Alabama System, is set to launch its biggest payload yet into the upper atmosphere from the NASA Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va.
A Southwest Airlines flight crew is under investigation after flying dangerously close to the ocean when attempting to land at Tampa International Airport on July 14th. The plane dropped to 150 feet above the water - the height of an average water tower - before accelerating to regain altitude. This is the third time Southwest has had a low-altitude incident this year.
A battery component innovation could help keep power delivery high when electric aircraft land with low charge, according to a study led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory with expertise from the University of Michigan.
In a new study, a team of researchers led by Berkeley Lab used a bioscience technique to study the intricate interactions within the anode, cathode, and electrolyte of electric aircraft batteries. One of the most significant findings was the discovery that certain salts mixed into the battery electrolyte formed a protective coating on cathode particles, making them far more resistant to corrosion, thereby enhancing battery life.
Boeing has decided to plead guilty to a criminal fraud charge after it violated a deal struck with the U.S. Department of Justice in the aftermath of two deadly crashes involving the 737 Max jet. ...
A pivotal review in servo systems engineering underscores a significant leap in motor technologies and control strategies. This research encapsulates the critical advancements propelling precision and performance to new heights, essential for high-stakes industries like aerospace and medical robotics where accuracy is paramount.