University Technology Exposure Program 2022: April Update

This article is a part of our University Technology Exposure Program. The program aims to recognize and reward innovation from engineering students and researchers across the globe.

Community voting is now live. Vote for your favorite submission by visiting: University Technology Exposure Program Community Vote.

Wevolver, as a part of the University Technology Exposure Program 2022, provides an opportunity for students and researchers working in any discipline of engineering, technology, and science to present their innovations in front of hundreds of thousands of readers from the industry, academia, and beyond.

In this article, we present a summary of the 5 submissions we received in April 2022 as a part of the event.

Submissions from April 2022

#1. Innovative MGV Machine for Transporting Parts in Production Lines By Reza Fakour

Moving parts from one point to another in production lines is one of the most basic tasks performed by factory workers across all the manufacturing industries. The transport equipment requires a driver and comes with high maintenance costs.

In this article, Reza explains a project about simple, effective, compact, and heavy-duty mechanical guided vehicles that navigate through the factory and stop at stations automatically for loading/offloading. The product comes with a 400V DC motor and can be manufactured for a lower price compared to conventional industrial transport systems.

Read the complete article here.

#2. The Future of Wind Energy is Modular By Peter Taylor

To harness maximum wind energy, increasing the size of turbines has been considered an effective strategy. It brings down fixed costs, largely because it reduces the number of installations required for a given wind farm.  But, there are certain economic and technical limits that we are beginning to reach.

Peter Taylor proposes a multi-rotor wind turbine (MRWT), an array of many smaller rotors on a single support structure rather than using a single large rotor like the conventional wind turbines. The new design improves performance, reduces maintenance costs, and looks great at the same time. 

Check out the details by visiting this link.

#3. Spiderweb Microchip Sensors Allow One of the World's Mmost Precise Microchip Sensor By Andrea Cupertino

Isolation from surrounding vibrations is one of the biggest challenges to operating vibrating microchip sensors. These devices are in high demand for quantum technologies and precision sensing applications at room temperature. The signals detected via these sensors are often so tiny that they are hidden by ambient thermal noise, requiring temperatures close to absolute zero to detect them. This has driven the discovery of new strategies to improve the system's degree of isolation.

Andrea Cupertino’s project demonstrates the ability of machine learning to work in tandem with human intuition to augment creative possibilities and uncover new strategies in computing and nanotechnology for recovering most data using a spiderweb microchip sensor. The project could just be the first step towards the rational design of the next generation of microchip vibrating sensors. The author believes the same design strategy can possibly be applied to a wide range of applications yet to be discovered.

#4. Biologically inspired robotic fish for dense 3D data collection By Michael Da Silva

The collection of temperature data underwater is a challenging task that is presently carried out using expensive ocean gliders costing anywhere between $125,000 and $500,000. Besides being expensive, they are sometimes too large to navigate to all portions of the reef.

The article by Michael Da Silva showcases a biologically inspired robotic fish that navigates through the complex microenvironments and collects 3D temperature data. The robotic fish uses 3D printed, cable-actuated wave springtails made from soft materials. It is affordable, durable, robust, and runs for hundreds of thousands of cycles without any degradation to systems.

#5. FRESH: Friendly peRsonalised Environmental Screening for Healthy living By Tara Sharp

Air pollution is among the greatest environmental risks to human health. It is directly or indirectly a cause of millions of deaths every year. Given its massive impact on the lives of every living entity on the planet, it is necessary to take steps to mitigate it.

Tara Sharp presents FRESH: Friendly peRsonalised Environmental Screening for Healthy living, an affordable solution for gathering data for dozens of air quality indicators like Carbon Monoxide, Sulfur Dioxide, Nitrogen Dioxide, Ozone, Carbon Dioxide, Total Volatile Organic Compounds, Particulate Matter, Ultraviolet Radiation and even odor and noise.

About the University Technology Exposure Program 2022

Wevolver, in partnership with Mouser Electronics and Ansys, is excited to announce the launch of the University Technology Exposure Program 2022. The program aims to recognize and reward innovation from engineering students and researchers across the globe. Learn more about the program here.