Author: Dominic Bell

Monitoring Tech for Sleeping Babies

Dominic Bell2 Comments

1) Safety and Health:  

  • The first few years of a baby’s life are usually the more dangerous as they need to be watched at all times to ensure that they remain healthy and safe throughout their early development. Up to this point, many parents have used devices to listen for irregular activity, however OSPICON has developed a sleep monitoring mat take baby care to the next level.

2) Technology:

  • The sleep mat is used by caregivers to monitor respiratory rates and ambient air temperature
  • Once irregular breathing is detected, such as a slowdown or sudden increase in breath count, a breath event alarm is sent directly to the baby’s parents
  • It design also emits less energy than a flashlight without external wires or cords
  • A Sleep- Mat mobile app comes free with the device and can be connected to through Bluetooth or Wi-Fi to track irregular movements as well

3) Stakeholders:

  • Hospitals
  • New Parents
  • Caregivers

4) Deployment:

  • Test out the product more thoroughly with a large sample size to fix any possible bugs in the system design
  • Work with hospitals and neonatal care centers to push for adding the devices within the institutions to develop a norm of operations
  • Develop a business care for dispersing the technology into homes after babies have left the hospital

5) Student Post: 

“The business model of Plantagon is based on retrofitting, extending existing buildings, developing new buildings and establishing a symbiotic system. The whole goal of the initiative is to reduce transportation costs and emissions.”

https://makeasmartcity.com/2017/11/25/urban-vertical-farming/comment-page-1/#comment-1508

Sources: 

http://mashable.com/2015/11/02/singapore-healthcare-innovation/#o.6KKWIq6Gqr

http://ospicon.com/the-sleep-mat/

Dominic Bell (dlb2189)

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Plastic Reuse for Practical Use

Dominic Bell5 Comments

1) Waste & Civic Engagement: 

Plastics and other waste are discarded in developed countries where every convenient because little value is seen in them after they have served their purpose. This causes pollution of the oceans, streets filled with waste, and little social change. The Hamilton Perkins Collection has come up with a way to work with developing countries to convert plastic waste around the world into valuable products by adding value.

2) Technology:

  • Canvas is made out of recycled bottles and recycled vinyl billboards to produce bags
  • The plastics are recovered from Haiti by community members in developing countries and recycling centers clean and crush the plastic
  • The business estimates that compared to normal duffel bags, 15,000 pounds of CO2 is saved in emissions

3) Stakeholders:

  • Residents in developing countries
  • Retail Businesses
  • Customers valuing causes

4) Deployment: 

  • Generate pipelines for gathering plastics
  • Partner with other developing countries to increase scale of production
  • Partner with store front businesses to diversify the market

5) Student Post:

“The roads are made from plastic soda bottles which allows the DOT in Texas so save almost $700,000 in traditional repair. With this model they found a way to save money in repairs and also take plastics out of landfills.”

https://makeasmartcity.com/2017/11/16/drb2171-2/comment-page-1/#comment-1415

Source:

https://www.fastcompany.com/3061905/these-pretty-travel-bags-are-made-from-recycled-plastic-bottles-and-billboards

Dominic Bell (dlb2189)

How About Some “Light” Cleaning?

Dominic BellLeave a comment

1) Problem: Health

  • Over the years companies have come up with numerous ways to attack the problem of growing bacteria rates with a goal of keeping people and patients healthy. While this has been so, what are the adverse effects of such products and at what cost does their introduction impose on the future health of the planet and the other organisms that inhabit it?

2) Technology:

  • Indigo – Clean has developed technology that uses visible light to disinfect the environment that it is in contact with
  • The technology emits light at the 405 nm range, reflecting off various surfaces and eventually hitting harmful bacteria and micro-organisms
  • The level of light attacks the porphyrins that are present in bacteria and is absorbed, initiating for a process where Reactive Oxygen Molecules are produced and provides a chemical reaction similar to that of bleach
  • From this the bacteria becomes inactive and can no longer replicate

3) Stakeholders:

  • Hospitals
  • Patients
  • Governments
  • People with low immune systems

4) Deployment:

  • Obtain investments to push R&D to increase the range of product for targeting bacteria and scale up operations
  • Initiate government contracts to subsidize the product for widespread distribution
  • Phase out lighting in buildings to prevent infections and sickness both in surgical operations and within homes and workplace

5) Student Comment:

https://makeasmartcity.com/2017/10/24/surtrac-ai-enabled-traffic-signals/comment-page-1/#comment-1318

The system is also decentralized, making it possible for each signal to make its own decisions in terms of traffic timing. As said in the articles, traditional models of traffic systems occasionally use older algorithms making them more troublesome in the future when driving patterns have changed yet the light says red for a considerable amount of time. Or the opposite of having no cars on the street yet you need to stop at each light.

 

Sources:

http://www.indigo-clean.com/index.html

https://getreferralmd.com/2016/01/healthcare-technology-2016/

Dominic Bell (dlb2189)

Solar Powered Aircraft

Dominic Bell2 Comments

1) Energy & Waste: The aircraft industry contributes to 9% of the total CO2 emissions among the transportation sector in the United States. These emissions are expected to triple by 2050 without the establishment of policy regulations. Ultimately, alternative sources energy and a transition away from harmful pollutants into the atmosphere need to be developed to align environmental concerns with transportation demands. As such, Solar Impulse has developed to fully solar power aircraft to tackle the issue.

2) Technology:

  • The project took 12 years of research and development to come to fruition, resulting in a 2.3 ton aircraft with over 17,000 solar cells (23% energy efficient) that were each tested 3 times
  • The PV cells are protected from UV radiation with a polymer film and many of the components are made with carbon fiber and alveolate foam in a honey comb structure
  • It consists of multiple lightweight characteristics such as led lights and structural components, solar cells, energy dense batteries, energy efficient electric motors (97% efficient), and thermal insulation
  • The aircraft has the capacity for only one pilot at a time and is composed of an unheated and unpressurized cockpit measuring 3.8 cubic meters

3) Organizational Stakeholders:

  • Engineers and designers at Solar Impulse
  • Aircraft carriers
  • Customers for transportation needs (potentially)

4) Deployment:

  • Conduct further test runs of the technology to boost accuracy and make improvements
  • Invest in more R&D and materials evaluations for increase the size/capacity of individual aircrafts
  • Incorporate innovations in battery storage and solar energy conversion to drive efficiency and product reliability

5) Student Comment: 

https://makeasmartcity.com/2017/10/06/affordable-and-mobile-alpod-house-bt2443/comment-page-1/#comment-1225

Sources: 

http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/products_design/caitlin_kauffman/world%E2%80%99s_first_solar-powered_plane_making_its_way_aro

http://www.solarimpulse.com/

https://www.c2es.org/federal/executive/epa/reducing-aircraft-carbon-emissions

 

Dominic Bell (dlb2189)

Fog Harvesting for Water Resources

Dominic Bell2 Comments

1) Water and Health: There are areas around the world with limited access to natural water resources but with considerable proximity to fog. This is where fog harvesting can come into play but capturing fog and producing useful water because without water, people cannot survive.

2) Technology: 

  • Dar Si Hamad has established a 600 square meter installation in Morocco, becoming the largest fog harvesting site
  • MIT was able to develop material that could produce 5 times more water with a mesh made from stainless steel filaments
  • The mesh is dip-coated, causing droplets to flow down to a water basin quickly rather than getting lost back to the environment

3) Stakeholders:

  • Inhabitants of arid regions
  • Manufacturing companies
  • Metals sourcing companies

4) Deployment: 

  • Raise financial support for R&D
  • Have research teams improve the technology further for greater efficiency
  • Work with manufacturer to scale up development

5) Comment for other post: 

https://makeasmartcity.com/2017/10/12/eco-friendly-toilets-for-refugee-camps/comment-page-1/#comment-1197

 

Source:

https://inhabitat.com/worlds-largest-fog-harvester-produces-water-from-thin-air-in-the-moroccan-desert/

https://inhabitat.com/mit-develops-advanced-fog-harvesting-material-that-pulls-5x-more-water-from-thin-air/

Image Source:

https://inhabitat.com/tag/fog-harvesting/

 

By: Dominic Bell (dlb2189)

Car to Car Communication

Dominic Bell2 Comments

Problem: Safety  

With a estimated 1.3 million deaths per year and 20-50 million injuries due to motor vehicle related incidents, the ways in which we interact with cars presents a significant sustainably risk to both drivers and pedestrians.

Technology: 

  • Car to Car communication allows for the transfer to data from a few hundred meters away
  • Information on cars position, speed, steering wheel position, brake status, and more is relayed
  • Readings from other cars are transmitted every 10 seconds

Stakeholders: 

  • -Governments
  • -Automobile Companies
  • -Pedestrians
  • -Vehicle Consumers

Deployment:

  • The first step with be developing reliable prototypes of the technology to initiate its position in the market.
  • Agreements between car companies will need to be made to create a communication system that is universal or compatible across the industry.
  • Due to the high level of cost needed to implement the systems initially, involvement from governments will be needed to drive policy change and provide subsidies to reduce overall cost.

Comment to other post: 

https://makeasmartcity.com/2017/10/05/air-conditioner-whaleair-conditioner-plug-in/comment-page-1/#comment-1126

 

Sources:

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/534981/car-to-car-communication/#comments

http://asirt.org/initiatives/informing-road-users/road-safety-facts/road-crash-statistics

Image Source:

http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2014/02/nhtsa-moving-ahead-car-car-communication.html

 

By Dominic Bell (dlb2189)

 

Air Quality Improvement with “Bioweapon Defense Mode”

Dominic BellLeave a comment

Sustainability Problem: Air Quality and Air Pollution (Health and Safety)

The World Health Organization estimates that over 3 million people die each year from environmental health related impacts. Tesla has recently used this statistic as a marketing tactic to promote its new “Bioweapon Defense Mode” implemented in it’s vehicles using HEPA filtration system technology.

The Technology: 

  • While HEPA filters are not new technology, Tesla’s innovation of combining them with their car models allows for air quality standard to be met in unconventional spaces such as cars.
  • True HEPA filters are 99.9% efficient at removing even small particles from the air and they have 3 filter layers: a prefilter that blocks large particles and dust, a HEPA filter that traps germs and other small particles, and a charcoal filter that removes odors and purifies the air.
  • In test environments with near-lethal doses of pollution, the system was able to completely clean the air inside the car within 2 minutes.
  • More importantly, the tests showed that it was also able to filter the air outside of the vehicle as well to reduce pollution levels by 40%.

Organizational Stakeholders:

  • Automotive industry
  • Consumers in air polluted countries
  • Wealthy individuals in polluted areas
  • Individuals with asthma

Technology Deployment: 

  • While this adaptation is already being used by Tesla, the next step would be to enhance technological recognition beyond the buzz around Tesla to get more people involved in backing clean air conditions.
  • Next the improvement of current vehicles is important to help drive down the cost of the technology. Currently, the problem with implementing HEPA filters in existing vehicles is that they lack an air-tight cabin needed for efficiency.
  • Then Initiate government involvement in subsidizing the cost for less wealthy consumers.

Links: 

https://www.tesla.com/blog/putting-tesla-hepa-filter-and-bioweapon-defense-mode-to-the-test

https://techcrunch.com/2016/05/02/tesla-bioweapon-mode-for-whiffy-cities/

http://www.lennox.com/products/indoor-air-quality/air-purification/hepa

http://resources.lennox.com/FileUploads/Lennox_HEPA_Filtration_System.pdf

Dominic Bell (dlb2189)
Image Source:

Repurposing Waste Heat for Battery Storage

Dominic BellLeave a comment

Alphabet Energy

 

1) Sustainability Problem:

  • Energy – Waste: Since the 1800’s the idea and practice of converting heat into energy has been inefficient and has only been useful for projects that require low levels on energy to function

2) The Technology:

  • Alphabet Energy has implemented nanotechnology into the process to make energy generation more efficient and viable for larger scale generator and battery systems
  • The California based startup has developed it batteries (PowerBlocks) to collect heat generated by engine exhaust to produce energy and re-power engines
  • Thermoelectric generators are able to improve fuel efficiency for by 5%, helping to bridge the gap between the fuel efficiency of cars and the upcoming US Cafe Standards
  • Traditionally two-thirds of the heat generated by power stations is lost and transferred to the atmosphere, becoming a major motivator for Alphabet Energy’s work

3) Stakeholders:

  • Energy intensive companies: oil, gas, mining, manufacturing and transportation companies
  • Car companies
  • Car consumers

4) Deployment:

  • Greater understanding of the processes involved in industries of production to identify improvement areas and establish an even stronger financial benefit case
  • Stronger brand recognition to influence the market
  • Further improvements for the energy conversion efficiency of the batteries (i.e. shorter charge and cooling times)

 

Sources:

https://www.eniday.com/en/technology_en/rethinking-thermoelectric-generator/

https://www.alphabetenergy.com/products/

 

Dominic Bell (dlb2189)