August 16, 2014

Rail companies to experiment with lasers against leaves

Filed under: Technology by Branko Collin @ 3:54 pm

ProRail is planning to use lasers to burn off the leafy mulch that coats rails in the autumn, Z24 reports.

The experiment is a collaboration between ProRail (network), Dutch Rail (operator) and Delft University of Technology. In another test, suggested by a train driver and also held this autumn, ProRail will wet rails to prevent leaves from sticking to them.

A similar trial with lasers was done in 2006 in the UK. At the time, ProRail felt the technology was not good enough. Industrial Laser Solutions has an interesting article about the technology.

In the autumn falling leaves form a mulch that cause train wheels to slip and slide. As a result, both braking and accelerating go slower, causing delays in the service.

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May 18, 2014

Dutch spaceman Wubbo Ockels dies

Filed under: History,Sustainability,Technology by Branko Collin @ 2:16 pm

wubbo-ockels-jens-nielsen-pdFormer Dutch astronaut Wubbo Ockels died earlier today in Amsterdam as the result of cancer, NRC writes.

Ockels was born in 1946 in Almelo. In 1985 he spent 7 days in space on board the US space shuttle Challenger which made him the first Dutch astronaut.

In the late 1980s Ockels’ reputation took a dive when he caused havoc with private air planes. On 5 December 1989 his plane taxied to a runway in Lille, France, when an Airbus came in a for a landing. The Airbus totalled Ockels’ plane, but curiously everybody got out alive.

Back on the ground Ockels became a professor of air and space technology at Delft University in 1992. He used this position for a great number of sustainable inventions. Together with his students he worked on projects that often involved converting wind energy into electricity, such as a laddermill and an energy-neutral sailboat. He also worked on the Superbus, bringing the speed and aesthetics of Formula One to the world of public transport.

Ockels’ daughter Gean published the book De Zeven Levens van Wubbo Ockels in 2010 (The Seven Lives of Wubbo Ockels). By then he had escaped death five times. And although he had allegedly tweeted he would cheat the grim reaper for a sixth time in combating cancer (“I am Wubbo Ockels, the strange geezer who always finds a way out”), he succumbed to his illness this morning.

(Photo by Jens Nielsen who released it into the public domain)

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May 3, 2014

Measuring rain with smart umbrella invented by Rolf ‘MacGyver’ Hut

Filed under: Technology by Branko Collin @ 11:32 am

umbrella-55laney69Rolf Hut from Delft University of Technology wants to turn umbrellas into devices that help scientists measure rain, BBC reports.

Apparently measuring the old fashioned way using rain gauges has become too expensive. Dr Hut’s umbrellas will be outfitted with a piezo sensor stuck under the canvas to measure vibrations caused by falling rain and with Bluetooth capabilities.

The inventor told BBC: “Eventually every umbrella would come with this technology, or at least premium umbrellas would. And if you wanted to be involved, the moment you opened the umbrella, it would start sending data to your phone which uploads it to the cloud.”

It strikes me that there are all kinds of statistical problems with this idea. You’d first need to know when owners use their umbrellas. Some people may stay in during heavy rain regardless of whether they own an umbrella or not, some will use umbrellas in drizzles, some will use umbrellas in the sun.

In fact for a moment I thought this was a belated April Fools’ joke, especially considering the ‘uploading rain to the clouds’ comment above, but apparently the umbrella was presented in a Pooh bear prototype form to the general assembly of the European Geosciences Union which took place last week.

Dr Hut says on his university profile web page that his colleagues have dubbed him the ‘MacGyver scientist’ for coming up with innovative ways of measuring weather using off-the-shelf technology.

(Link: Bright, Photo: 55Laney69, some rights reserved)

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March 4, 2014

Dutch boffins create the world’s smallest drone

Filed under: Design,Technology by Orangemaster @ 3:56 pm

delflyExplorer2

The DelFly Explorer, the world’s smallest drone, has flapping wings and can fly around by itself, avoiding obstacles, according to developer Guido de Croon of the Delft University of Technology. Weighing 20 grammes, the robot dragonfly uses two tiny low-resolution video cameras, reproducing the 3-D vision of human eyes, and an on-board computer to see its surroundings and avoid crashing into things. It can fly around for up to 9 minutes without needing external control.

Smaller ‘flapping’ drones exist, such as the RoboBee developed by Harvard University students in the US, but they are not autonomous. “The Explorer has its own small lithium polymer battery that allows it to fly for around 9 minutes, while it ‘sees’ with its onboard processor and a specially developed algorithm to make instant decisions.

The drone’s predecessor, the DelFly Micro, was declared the ‘smallest camera equipped aircraft in the world’ in 2008 by the Guinness Book of Records.

(Links: phys.org, www.delfly.nl, Photo of the DelFly Explorer by www.delfly.nl)

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October 11, 2013

Nuna7 nabs World Solar Challenge title in Australia

Filed under: Automobiles,Science,Sustainability by Orangemaster @ 3:30 pm

The Delft University of Technology won its fourth title back in 2007 with its solar powered car Nuna4, but this year with Nuna7 it picked up its fifth title in Adelaide, Australia yesterday.

The Dutch beat their archrivals of Tokai University, Japan who had won the last two editions.

There were obstacles on the way to the finish line: temperatures of almost 50 celsius in the cockpit, taking big chances with specially designed lenses to soak up solar rays, and a grasshopper that bounced around the cockpit.

(Link: www.kennislink.nl, Photo of Nuna7 by Nuon, some rights reserved)

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September 17, 2013

Dutchman breaks world cycling record at 133,78 km/h

Filed under: Bicycles,Dutch first by Orangemaster @ 1:36 pm

Dutchman Sebastiaan Bowier has broken the previous 2009 record of Canadian cyclist Sam Wittigham by just 0.6 km/h by reaching a speed of 133,78 km/h, making him the fastest cyclist in the world. Students from the Delft University of Technology and the VU University Amsterdam joined forces to beat this record in a high-tech recumbent whizzing through the Nevada desert in the United States. The speeds were measured over a distance of 200 metres, after accelerating on an eight kilometre straight road. It’s the special coating of the recumbent that gave it 90% less wind resistance than a normal bicycle.

Wil Baselmans, the second cyclist of the Delft/Amsterdam team also reached a world class speed of 127,43 km/h, making him the third fastest man on earth, right after Bowier and Wittingham.

(Link: www.hptdelft.nl)

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August 9, 2013

Solar-powered bicycle lights made in The Netherlands

Filed under: Bicycles,Design,Sustainability by Orangemaster @ 8:00 am

The Pixio bike light has a built-in solar panel with a battery that charges up during sunny days when a bike is parked outside. Five days is enough for two years of biking with the lights on and the Pixio is already good to go for two years of biking with the lights on when you buy it. It comes in a range of colours, and a set of Pixios (back and front, as the law requires) will set you back 55 euro, but then those cheap bike lights and their batteries will run you a lot as well in the long run, never mind the stress they cause. It even has a locking mechanism so you can actually leave it on your bike, as long as your entire bike doesn’t get stolen or removed.

One obviously drawback is if you leave the lights on by mistake, but then that goes for battery-powered lights as well. Raise your hand if you’ve turned off someone else’s bike lights off as a courtesy. Parking your bike indoors like many people do won’t charge your light up, but then if you’re good to go for two years, you can cross that bridge when you get to it.

(Link: www.bright.nl, Screenshot: Rydon.eu)

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June 10, 2013

The Upcycle recycles bicycle parts

Filed under: Bicycles,Design,Sustainability by Branko Collin @ 1:00 pm

Two young designers from Delft have started making desk lamps, trouser belts, jewelry and even bicycles from impounded bicycles.

MSN writes:

Industrial design student Lodewijk Bosman, 25, and Hidde van der Straaten, 28, founded “The Upcycle” in university city Delft in January 2012 to exploit a typically Dutch problem. With so many bikes [in the Netherlands] come parking problems, and if they are left in the wrong place or simply abandoned, the authorities pick them up and take them to the pound.

Lodewijk and Hidde [buy these] abandoned bikes and parts […].

A Upcycle bedside lamp, priced at 88 euro, consists of a bike light with a new LED bulb fitted to a stem made of a few chain links and intertwined spokes — all standing on a wooden base wrapped in plaited inner tubes.

Dutch cities impound tens of thousands of bikes each year. Sometimes they are oprhan bicycles, abandoned by their last owner, but often cities just steal bikes under the guise of keeping bicycle parking manageable and keeping the streets clean. The bikes are stored at a depot, which in the case of Amsterdam, is far way from downtown. The rightful owners can retrieve their bikes after paying a fee—a fine, as the city spin doctors call it. The depot is so far out of town that there is even a cab service in Amsterdam that advertises its rides to the depot. As a result, lots of people don’t bother collecting their bikes, and those that are not retrieved are sold off to second-hand bike shops and to The Upcycle apparently.

(Photo: The Upcycle)

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June 4, 2013

Mobile football stadium solves problem of derelict stadiums

Filed under: Architecture,Design by Orangemaster @ 11:20 am

Marcel Klomp, a graduating student from the TU Delft, has designed a mobile stadium that seats 50,000 and can be taken apart to fit in 150 40-foot containers. It is a serious solution to the international problem of building a huge stadium like in South Africa for the World Football Cup or in Beijing for the Summer Olympics with the stadium barely being used afterwards.

His design made from aluminium and steel allows installers to put the stadium up in eight months. “If the stadium is used eight times in 30 years, it will be profitable. It will cost about 250 million euro and can last 50 years”, Klomp claims. A permanent stadium costs much more time and money to build, is usually not profitable and is done out of prestige rather than future need. It is probably time for many countries to stop building uselessly and look at a realistic alternative like the mobile stadium. In fact, one of the reasons the Dutch population is not on board with Amsterdam having put in a bid for the 2028 Summer Olympics is knowing that the entire endeavour is a big loss from the get-go.

Klomp says the interest in his design is ‘overwhelming’, and since it is a graduation project, it needs to be worked out 100%.

(Link: www.kennislink.nl, Photo by Wikimedia user Carolus Ludovicus, some rights reserved)

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September 1, 2012

Money bra wins HEMA design award

Filed under: Design by Branko Collin @ 11:17 am

A student at the Delft University of Technology has won the audience award of a design competition held every year by Dutch department chain store HEMA.

Hiske Elferink designed a brassiere that contains a small wallet which can hold some change, a bank card and perhaps a key. She told Radio Netherlands (see the interview below) that she got the idea because when she goes clubbing, she puts her bank notes in her bra. The problem arises when you get change, because coins will slide down and jangle.

A quick Google taught me that this is not the first money bra.

The professional jury did not award a first prize this year. The winners and runners-up will be on display at the public library of Amsterdam (OBA) until October 31.

HEMA organises a yearly design competition for students. In the past, several of the winners and runners-up have made it into the store’s inventory, such as the 103% Vase, a vase that had a little side vase for the inevitable broken flower.

See also:

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